WOP

By the time I'd become a young adult WOP, without papers, had become
wop, a term of affection for our Italian classmates. How had that set
of immigration issues been resolved?

Harry Thompson...

I must be old. So far as I remember, "wop" was NEVER acceptable. There was
an awful joke using "wop" but you had to be Italian to get away with telling
it.

Jean Smith...

That was probably what was going on considering the names of those
involved.

George Z. Bush...

When WOP replaced SPIC as a derogatory reference to Italians, there were no
immigration issues; immigrants to this country were invariably and
overwhelmingly legal.

AIR, an immigrant could only get a visa to come into the country if his
country of origin's annual quota had not yet been reached, if he or she
could provide a medical certificate to insure freedom from communicable
disease, and if he or she had a sponsor who acknowledged in writing a
willingness to provide financial support to the immigrant in order to
prevent him or her from becoming a public charge, i.e. - welfare recipient.

Upon arrival, he or she had to pass a medical exam by a government
immigration physician to insure freedom from communicable diseases before
being released from quarantine. I don't remember any other requirements,
although there may be some.

George Z