Hey, at least you didn't just quote the Emma Lazarus couplet and leave it at that, as if that by itself guarantees unlimited open borders for the United States

Hey, at least you didn't just quote the Emma Lazarus couplet and leave it at that, as if that by itself guarantees unlimited open borders for the United States for all time. Now, someone is going to ... quote said couplet and leave it at that. So: First, Lazarus's bad poetry was added to the base of the Statue of Liberty 20 years after the statue itself, as a fundraising effort. Second, poetry (regardless of quality) does not policy nor law make. Third, in any case, every single person who came through Ellis Island * was a legal immigrant * had passed a medical inspection * had proof of having enough resources to pay for their upkeep in the US, or a US financial sponsor guaranteeing same * was turned away if failing any of the above tests, with no possibility of appeal I, for one, am very much in favor of reinstating such barriers to entering the US. PS - One more thing: Every single person who came through Ellis Island was coming to a country with an enormous demand for unskilled labor. This is no longer true.