Both Mr. Mazur and Dirk's parents paid that 10k deposit on entering the US, didn't you know?
I don't know about Dirk's parents but mine didn't pay a dime. Instead, to be allowed to immigrate to the US, I had to do a couple of things:
1. Show my diploma as a proof that I had the skills the US economy needed. Check.
2. Submit to a comprehensive medical examination including TB and STD's. Check.
3. Have a sponsor. Check
4. Show that I had sufficient funds. I had $1500 on me, which in 1967 was about 10 grand in today's money. Check.
5. Swear that I never was a member of the communist party, committed a crime or engaged in prostitution. Check.
No, I didn't have anyone in the US I would be coming to. I left everything and everybody back in Poland. In five years I was a citizen, and in two more I stopped speaking Polish. In the entire 51 years, I never took a dime in welfare. Now, I want a statue to honor all the immigrants like me with "Poor and Uneducated - Stay the F*** away" on it.