The truth is the truth. Our lack of control of our borders does not make it any less true. Hell most families have been in this country less than 200 years. My moms family came to the USA from Germany in the 1880's. My dads(Germany) has been here since the 1840's. When compared with European history timelines most of us have been here only for a short while. Your beef is all abour border control and our lack of it. Immigration is just a side effect of the larger question. Nothing simple about that.
When I say its technically untrue, I speak of the fact that most Americans are native-born, and therefore not immigrants. This has always been the case in America, unless you consider colonists and pioneers to be the same as modern day immigrants, and its definitely been the case for the United States of America.
It may be true that compared to Europe, most of us haven't been here long, but this whole descendant-based idea of a 'nation of immigrants' can be applied to virtually every nation on earth...if you want to take it far enough. The inhabitants of every nation come from a group that at some point moved to that land from another.
But again, my main point is that this platitude has been used to debase and bastardize the debate over immigration. Immigration is a very complex issue, yet no matter the complexities being discussed, you can count on someone to chime in with the pointless 'we're a nation of immigrants' line, as if it is actually an insightful point!Those who use this line are usually those arguing for amnesty, and ever greater amounts of legal immigration, though sometimes a 'hardliner' will preface his comments with this line in a futile attempt to protect himself from the inevitable name-calling. I'm not saying you fall into either category, and I admit I'm putting too much effort into nothing here, but its a pet peeve of mine, and I'd very much like it if that line were never uttered again during a debate over immigration because it adds nothing to the debate except an attempt at creating guilt.