Immigration's impossible mission

This is where the American dream becomes a reality or is dashedforever for thousands of Eastern Europeans, Middle Easterners andAfricans.

The United States embassy in Rome, where the hard-pressedImmigration and Naturalization Service has its regional headquarters,is trying to fulfill an impossible mission: granting entry to peoplefleeing the violence of war or religious, political or racialpersecution.

Only a miniscule percentage of the uprooted, often destitutehuman beings who have become refugees can be accommodated by theAmerican refugee program despite its recent expansion. Even if theintake were doubled, the effect on the overall problem still would …