My honest opinion? We Italians and Irish should have NEVER been allowed to come over by millions and millions!!
How do you vet all those people? Many came with little or no money and the 5 points were a disaster and there was a lot of crime from both groups early on.
But America got lucky. They were still Europeans with at least an IDEA of freedom and opportunity.
Tough 20 or 30 years but that was it.
Blacks haven’t changed in 140 years. Hispanics aren’t exactly racing up the economic ladder either.
Maybe it is because of the welfare state that everything got screwed up.
When the mass migration in the 1890s-early 1990s came along, there WAS no welfare to mooch off of.
Probably because the average American at the time was likely to be poor themselves, and of course there was no income taxes.
When folks came here 100 years ago, they knew they needed to WORK.
Ergo, the immigrants of 100 years ago were most welcome, because they wanted to be AMERICAN. Period.
And the US has been blessed by their presence.
Many times over.
In 2016, we have complete sponges crossing the border, who literally COST the average Joe money.
Not to mention the crime and disease.
We've become a victim of our own success.