Not So Different

From 1855 to 1954, approximately 20 million people immigrated to the United States through the ports of New York alone. They were mainly Irish, German, English, and Scandinavian and if they were lucky enough to be able to afford a second class ticket on one of the many ocean liners crossing the Atlantic during that time they were allowed to enter the US without inspection.
Immigrants too poor to buy a second class ticket traveled to the US as stearage passengers and were subject to physical examinations, literacy tests, and a federal immigration interview often at the now famous Ellis Island station.
I am Danish, German, English, and Native American. The only part of me that belongs here is the 1/8th of me that isn't immigrant. Luckily, the remaining 7/8th are of "Northern European" origins or perhaps I wouldn't be here.
In 1924 the United States Congress enacted the "National Origins Act", a percentage system by which ethnic groups already in the US were allowed greater immigration numbers. This act virtually excluded Asians and severely limited Southern and Eastern Europeans, groups that were considered "inferior" to Northern Europeans.

Now, fast forward about 80 years. Can you imagine the US screaming about Italians, French, Spanish, or Asian immigrants? No? That's because they probably don't want to come here. Hard to blame them. But what the screaming is all about is the 1.3 million Hispanic immigrant that enter the US each year.
1 million immigrants receive permanent, legal status every year, leaving around 500,000 illegal aliens entering the country each year. Once in the US, they work low paying, dangerous, labor-intensive jobs that few Americans want. They send money home to their families in impoverished areas of Latin America. They often pay taxes despite receiving none of the very limited benefits provided by our government to legal taxpayers.
Now there are certain groups of government officials who would like to build a fence along our southern border. We are a nation built on immigrants, many who were poor and desperate when they arrived on these shores. They worked hard in hard conditions and they built this country. Our ancestors would be disappointed to find that the US has become so isolated from it's own history. Instead of welcoming new immigrants, the United States would rather fester in isolationism. How sad.