INTRODUCTION
At various times Tim Walberg has claimed that his Father, John A. Walberg was either:
· An “Anchor Baby”
· A “DACA kid”
· Or that his Father immigrated from Sweden with his Grandparents.
Tim Walberg has also claimed multiple times that he is:
· A “first-generation American citizen”
Public records show that all four of Walberg’s claims are false. Census records show Tim Walberg’s Grandmother, Alma Walberg (maiden surname: Larson) indeed immigrated from Sweden in 1889. She became a US citizen in 1901. Tim Walberg’s Father was born in Illinois in 1907. Therefore, neither term, “Anchor Baby” or “DACA” have any bearing to the story of Tim Walberg’s immigrant ancestors.
There is no basis for Tim Walberg to claim that his Father immigrated to the U.S. with his Grandparents. He cannot claim ignorance of that fact either, otherwise he would not have stated such a falsehood so many times with such confidence. Furthermore, with his other statements about his Father having been an “Anchor Baby”, Tim Walberg demonstrates a willingness to lie about his family’s citizenship. His use of terms “DACA kid” and “Anchor Baby” are together callous and contradictory. Either Tim Walberg is ignorant of those issues, or he does not take them seriously enough to represent them accurately.
Tim Walberg’s job is to Represent. The public entrusts him to make powerful, consequential decisions over issues such as the fate and well-being of other migrants to this country. By lying about his own family’s migrant story, Tim Walberg fundamentally fails as a Representative.
This report contains: 7 occurrences of Walberg saying his father was an Immigrant
And: 4 occurrences of Walberg saying his father was an “Anchor Baby”
DEFINITIONS
“Anchor Baby”: an insulting term for a child born to a non-citizen mother in a country that grants automatic citizenship to children born on its soil.
DACA:(Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), A contested immigration policy granting legal status to non-citizen applicants who were brought to the country undocumented as children.
First-Generation American Citizen: A person who has either been naturalized as an American citizen, or the child of that person.
1 - Tim Walberg Claiming his Father Immigrated to the U.S. like a “DACA kid”
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Thursday, June 21, 2018
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The Guy Gordon Show
Radio Call-In
Detroit, MI
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Tim Walberg: “Goodlatte fully funds the wall. In the case of the wall, it says that there will be no legal status given to the DACA recipient until the wall is completed. And so that’s intended for five years. They have a six-year automatically renewable opportunity stay as that status. It also ends chain-migration. It ends diversity visas, goes to a merit-based visa like we used to have, and like every other country in the world basically has.”
Guy Gordon: “Because we need these skills Congressman, I mean, we’ve got shortages of labor now-“
Walberg: “We do.”
Gordon: “-In a number of sectors.”
Walberg: “And to enhance when we don’t have American citizens who are either trained, or willing to do the work, certainly immigrants can add to that. And, you know, being a first-generation American citizen myself, with my Dad having been brought over, I guess you could’a called him a DACA kid in the past, cause he came over, brought by parents through no plan of his own, but came legally, and they went through Ellis Island, did everything right by the books back then, there was no illegality about it, but that’s what we need here in this country, but it has to be done legally. And I believe both of the bills will do that.”
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Official Death Certificate (above) shows Tim Walberg’s Father was born in the US, not “brought over”
1 - Tim Walberg referring to his Father as an “Anchor Baby”
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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
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Campaign Meet and Greet
Jackson, MI
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Video (0:25 mark):
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Walberg: “A Russian lady last night over in Coldwater, who attended one of our town hall meetings, who has a green card. She’s married to an American husband, and she says, ‘All I ask is that everybody goes through the same process I’m going through. I want to be an American citizen now, but I know the process means I’ve got to be here four more years. And I’m willing to take that, but everybody ought to go through the same thing.’ That’s all we’re saying. My father was an ‘anchor baby’. No he wasn’t. They would call him an ‘anchor baby’ today, but when Grandma and Grandpa came over, they came over, as Grandma said to me many times, cause she lived with us, ‘Ve’re Americans. Ve no longer Svedes. God bless America.’ And she didn’t talk Swedish unless she was arguing - arguing with her Sister over theology. And she cleaned toilets and sewed dresses for rich ladies on the north shore of Chicago, but she was glad to do that, cause her two Sons now had the opportunity, if they chose, to go to Northwestern University, or go to New Trier high school – never made it to Northwestern when the Depression hit, but they did achieve, and I’m thankful that they gave me a start in a free country.”
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The 1920 US Census, Illinois (above) shows Tim Walberg’s Grandmother arrived in 1889 from Sweden, attained US Citizenship in 1901. His father was born in Illinois in 1907. So terms like DACA and “Anchor Baby” have no bearing on their actual citizenship statuses. Why does Tim Walberg keep using those terms, falsifying the history of his own Father and Grandmother?
2 - Walberg Claiming that his Father Immigrated to the U.S.
Friday, August 23, 2013
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Town Hall
Chelsea, MI
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Walberg: “The United States is a country of immigrants. I’m first-generation American. My Father, Uncle, Grandparents came over from Sweden during the height of the potato famine there. Grandma Walberg wanted the opportunity for her sons that America afforded, and while she cleaned rich people’s houses on the north shore of Chicago: Winnetka - Wilmette - Glencoe area. Sewed the clothes for the ladies there in those homes. She understood that was privileged opportunity for her. So her sons could be in the same schools that those rich families’ were in. That’s America. And so we need to find a way that immigration continues to go in this country strongly, to increase our gene pool, to bring in creativity and opportunity, provide workforce, whatever. In high tech, or in low tech, or in non-tech, whatever it is. As well as give people like my Grandmother and Grandfather, and my Father an opportunity that America affords like no other nation in the world.”
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Walberg’s description of the Swedish famine was false, and does not align with the timeline for the arrival of his ancestors. The famine in Sweden and Finland occurred in 1866-1868, and affected a lot of crops in addition to potatoes. It was about 20 years after the major famine in Ireland. The famine in Sweden was the last major famine in Europe, and caused a surge in migration to the U.S. and other countries. As shown in the Census on the previous page, Walberg’s Grandmother immigrated to the U.S. a generation later in 1889. Furthermore, she was born about ten years after the famine in Sweden happened. Walberg’s Father and Uncle were born about 40 years after the famine in Sweden happened. Walberg never mentioned the famine in Sweden in any of the other examples of his family’s immigration.
3 - Walberg Claiming that his Father Immigrated to the U.S.
Friday, May 26, 2017
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Coffee Hour
Coldwater, MI
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Walberg: “Whatever works best: drones, electronic surveillance, cyber, fence, wall, whatever. And so I think that is said to countries that have really pushed their people to make these decisions. And some of those, many of those people, good people who are sick and tired of the way their governments’ been treating them, have come to America, but you’ve gotta come legally. My Dad came legally, and he benefitted this country, I can tell you that. And his parents and grandparents benefitted this country. If you go to Chicago, and drive down Michigan Avenue, and you see Wrigley Building. My family was involved in building that.”
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4 - Walberg Claiming that his Father Immigrated to the U.S.
Monday, August 7, 2017
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Coffee Hour
Delta Township, MI
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Video (19:05 mark):
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Walberg: “Is there a way that we can substantiate the fact that we are a nation of laws, but still deal with specific issues that might encourage us to keep certain people here, and not break up families? We have to do that. And I know that’s how my father came across from Sweden. And I’m glad he did. And I’m glad he benefitted from America. But I’m also glad that my family put back into America once they came as well. And we want to encourage that. They spoke English. I don’t speak Swedish, because my Grandma used to say when I asked her, because I’d hear her debating theology with my Aunt in Swedish, and it sounded like a lot of fun as a little kid. I learned some Swedish pastries. I learned lutfisk, which I don’t understand why Swedes eat.”
Heckle from Constituent: “Wasting time!”
Walberg: “No. I’m being a human being, answering a question, and - Have your own town hall meeting some time. But my parents, my people came across and they spoke English, and Grandma said, ‘We’re Americans. We no longer Svedes. God bless America.’ - Smile folks! Come on! Smile!”
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5 - Walberg Claiming that his Father Immigrated to the U.S.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
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Coffee Hour
Hudson, MI
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Video (37:00 mark)
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Walberg: “Where did we get to a point where we attack people who have succeeded? As opposed to saying, ‘Let’s all be given a chance to succeed!’ Let’s build that middle class which we’ve destroyed in the last eight years. The middle class is hurtin’. It’s gone away. I want more people to think beyond the minimum wage, and even the concept of a living wage, as to what I can achieve without people, especially the government, standing in my way and making choices for me that I’m not happy with. So in America, we understand, even with our Pledge of Allegiance: equal justice and liberty for all – We ought’a espouse that. So again, the taxes? There are taxes across the board. Should we leave the taxes of Obamacare on the rich, whatever figure that make it (sic)? 250,000, or more? A million, or more? Or, what do we do with that? Or, should we say, ‘Let’s make it more opportunity for everybody to move up that ladder, and be in the wealthy.’ And if not that, at least the middle class? That’s, I believe, is what I believe America is. That’s what my father, and parents came from Sweden for - for that opportunity. And they added to America. That’s my position.”
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6 - Walberg Claiming that his Father Immigrated to the U.S.
Monday, October 16, 2017
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Coffee Hour
Tecumseh, MI
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Video (31:00 mark):
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Walberg: “Our ‘Better Way’ plan had a protection of our border. Our ‘Better Way’ plan had immigration reform, that included dealing with DACA. So I support the efforts, and we’re gonna move forward. I support on DACA. I support the fact that the President has done what Barack Obama said should’ve been done, and then ultimately he didn’t do. He said that was a responsibility of Congress. And so we have had that thrown back to us, and that’s the right thing. Congress ought’a deal with DACA. We ought’a come up with a solution to that. We ought’a make sure that we have secure borders. We ought’a make sure that we have people that can come to the United States legally, and benefit by all that the U.S. has to offer, and give to the United States as well, even as my father did. That’s what I support, and I believe that’s the same plan that the President has, and so we’re working together on it.”
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7 - Walberg Claiming that his Father Immigrated to the U.S.
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
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Coffee Hour
Olivet, MI
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Walberg: “Ronald Reagan was known to say that, ‘The gates to the United States ought to swing wide and free for all who desire to experience the American dream, and participate in the American way, but they’ve got to sign the guest book.’ And when you have a secure border, then you can more easily make sure people sign the guest book. Speak our language. Love America. We ought to mandate that if you’re coming here, you come because you LOVE AMERICA, and the way America does things. If that’s not the case, why are you comin’ here? Now I don’t want to be as blunt as that. I don’t wanna be – I don’t wanna show any lack of compassion. I’m here because of immigration of my father and grandparents. They loved America to the point that Grandma never taught us Swedish. We asked her to teach us Swedish, - ‘No, no, no. Ve’re Americans. God bless America.’ That was her personal opinion. I wish she would’a taught me Swedish though. Heh, heh, heh, heh. And rather than eating lutfisk. I still don’t understand why Swedes like lutfisk, or say they do.”
[Skip to 22:25 mark]
Walberg: “Historically there were boatloads of people sent back because of sickness, because of no assurance that they had anything that they could give to America. My family came over as stone masons and you can go along Michigan Avenue in Chicago right now, see the efforts, their labors, their results. And they added to. But we had people. You just have to go to Ellis Island, read the sad stories, families that were split apart because a certain member was sick with a disease that America couldn’t bring into their borders at that time, they didn’t believe that they should. And so they were put on the boat and sent back – heart-wrenching stories that went that way. But it was done, at least perceived at that time for the best benefit of America. And that still should be the place, and it’s a difficult thing to do, but we can’t just throw the borders wide open.”
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Note: Walberg’s apparent “wide” contradiction above.
See Walberg’s Reagan quote on the next page. I cannot find any Reagan quotes that resemble what Walberg has been attributing to Reagan at countless events for almost a decade.
2 - Walberg referring to his Father as an “Anchor Baby”
Thursday, May 27, 2010
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Campaign Meet and Greet
Charlotte, MI
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Walberg: “We have the President of Mexico come in - and make a mockery of our country, and letting our President allow him to make a mockery of our country, and make a mockery of a sovereign state of Arizona – even though it isn’t as good as Michigan – a sovereign state of Arizona, telling them that they’re wrong in saying, ‘Doggonit, the Federal government is responsible for this, and yet they won’t carry out the law.’ Sonny Bono, when he was asked - while he was alive of course, when he was in Congress, the question, ‘What do you think of illegal immigration?’ And his response was simply this, ‘What’s that first word?’ – ‘Illegal.’ – And he simply said, ‘Carry out the law.’”
“That’s all the American people are asking for. Most of us, myself included, are immigrant-based. My father was an ‘Anchor baby’, but no he wasn’t. My Grandmother came over, she came from ‘Sveden’ and she said, ‘Ve’re no longer Svedes. Ve’re Americans. God bless America.’ And my Father was not an ‘Anchor baby’. He was there for the privileged opportunity. And my Grandmother was a domestic house servant in Winnetka and Glencoe, Illinois. And all too happy to clean toilets and sew things for these people because her two sons could go to New Trier High School, and could be in the shadow of Northwestern University, and could have and opportunity, but for The Depression that hit.”
“But even after that, they still knew in America you could still get up and go on even after failure. And we want, we want, as Reagan said, ‘That the gates to freedom for people who desire and yearn to be free, to be Americans, to speak our language, to honor our flag, to honor our laws, that gate to swing wide and free.’ but as I say, along with Reagan, ‘Sign the guest book, and live by our law.’ So, that has to come.”
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Excerpt of Felipe Calderón’s address to U.S. Congress (Thursday, May 20, 2010):
“My Government does not favor the breaking of the rules. I fully respect the right of any country to enact and enforce its own laws … I want to recognize the hard work and leadership of many of you in the Senate and in the House, and of President Obama, who are determined to find responsible and objective answers to this issue. I am convinced that a comprehensive immigration reform is also crucial to securing our common border. However, I strongly disagree with your recently adopted law in Arizona. It is a law that not only ignores the reality that cannot be erased by decree, but also introduces a terrible idea: using racial profiling as a basis for law enforcement. And that is why I agree, I agree with President who said the new law carries a great amount of risk when core values that we all care about are breached.”
3 - Walberg referring to his Father as an “Anchor Baby”
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
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Campaign Meet and Greet
Tekonsha, MI
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Walberg: “The Federal Government didn’t ride in on the great white horse. So ultimately Governor Brewer and the rest of the legislature said, ‘Well we’re gonna have to do it.’ Probably some of you’ve read that bill. Same language as in the Federal law, and they implemented it. Just by passing it, they’ve seen the problem start to decrease. They’ve seen people going back. AndCalderón – President Calderón of Mexico, puts out memos to social service agencies there to get them ready for the influx of a large group of their people returning from Arizona. Who says it doesn’t work?”
Attendee’s question: “Don’t these other nations have immigration laws?”
“Oh, they’re far more brutal than ours, aren’t they?" [Walberg smiled broadly while saying that.] "So I mean – I think American citizens – I won’t ask for a raise of hands – but I can tell ya’, my Father was an ‘anchor baby’, even though he wasn’t, but he would’a been called an ‘anchor baby’, when my Grandmother and Grandfather came over from Sweden. John Walberg came shortly after. And Grandma Walberg said many times to her two Grandsons – my Brother and myself, ‘Ve’re Americans. Ve no longer Svedes. God bless America.’ That was when we were asking her to teach us some Swedish. Didn’t speak Swedish, unless she got into a theological discussion with her Sister, then a lot of Swedish! Other than that, it was American. May’a had a ‘Svedish’ accent, but it was American. She cleaned toilets and sewed for the rich people on the north shore of Chicago. And was happy to do it.”
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4 - Walberg referring to his Father as an “Anchor Baby”
Thursday, September 2, 2010
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Campaign Meet and Greet
Hanover, MI
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Attendee’s question: “Do you think they will stop the, what do they call it, ‘bucket babies’ or somethin’, where they come across?
Others in the room: “Anchor babies-”
Walberg: “If the bucket’s full of concrete, and you throw it over the side of your boat! That’s a bucket! Well I think we have to stand up to the fact what the constitution meant. The 14th Amendment, that was for freeborn slaves. It wasn’t for - You know my Dad, my Grandmother, Grandfather came over from ‘Sveden’. And my Dad was born shortly after that. He was an ‘anchor baby’. My Grandma Walberg came over, and said this many times to my twin brother and me, ‘Ve’re Americans. Ve no longer Svedes. God bless America.’ She wouldn’t talk Swedish. I’m glad she cooked Swedish, other than lutfisk. That’s terrible stuff.”
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Walberg instantly contradicted himself from one sentence to the next. He said that his father came over from Sweden, and in the next sentence, that his father was born shortly after his Grandparents arrived. Walberg’s father was born in 1907, and according to the 1920 census Walberg’s Grandmother came over in 1889. She would have been a young teen at the time she immigrated. She lived in this country for 18 years, and attained citizenship before she gave birth to Walberg’s father.
I’m not sure what point Walberg was trying to make with the 14th Amendment if not to suggest that the children of immigrants should not have the same constitutional rights as the children of slaves. He trailed off mid-sentence. I would like to ask him to clarify whatever he was suggesting there.
