Immigration, walls, and intense vetting all are hot button topics in today’s America. On Monday, September 10, at 7:30 pm, Newtown Historical Society will host “Coming To America” in the community room of C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street.

The program will share the stories of four Newtown residents who arrived in this county from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Sometimes the routes were circuitous, the motives varied, and all will share their experiences with the audience.

The United States has often been called a “nation of immigrants,” but our history is more complicated than that. There has always been a love-hate relationship with immigration.

Kevin Jennings, president of the Tenement Museum in New York, will provide the historical context for today’s debates over immigration, tracing how American attitudes and policies have fluctuated even going back to colonial days.

Helga Maier has lived in the US since 1986. Her story is not the typical one of escape from political or economical turmoil in her home country, coming to America to create a new life for herself. Rather, it was because of her faith that she felt compelled to come and work here to make a difference.

At an age when most feel they want to change the world, Ms Maier was given an opportunity to impact lives in other countries, a self-appointed challenge she still holds herself to. She has been a permanent resident of the United States since 1988.

Sabeena Ali has a mixed background from Canada and Pakistan. She and her husband Iftikhar moved back to Canada in 1993, to the United States in 1995, and then into this area in 1996. The couple became citizens in 2007, and they are raising their three daughters to follow their dreams and aspirations.

Neil Randle was born in Kenya, and his family moved to England soon after. He was first attracted to the United States as a 12-year-old, on hearing Bruce Springsteen singing about the “Swamps of New Jersey.” The attraction stayed with him into adulthood, when Mr Randle got a job working for Dove soap.

A few years later, he met the purchasing manager for Dove Fragrance, who lived in New Jersey. After they were wed, Mr Randle was able to commute on the New Jersey Turnpike, driving himself through the long fascinating Jersey swamps. Eventually, the Springsteen moment passed, and Neil and his wife Donna now live in Sandy Hook with their twins.

Newtown Historical Society programs are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the program.

For further information call 203-426-5937 or visit www.newtownhistory.org.