You can't invoke America's track record of immigration without noting that, the last time the foreign born population hit present levels, the country pumped the

You can't invoke America's track record of immigration without noting that, the last time the foreign born population hit present levels, the country pumped the brakes on immigration through restrictive immigration policy that dropped the foreign-born population from 15% in 1920 to under 5% by 1970. The country also aggressively pushed immigrants to abandon their cultural identities and assimilate into Anglo culture. You also can't overlook that prior waves of mass immigration also caused decades of negative consequences in the meantime, from the emergence of nationality-based political machines in major cities to the Italian mafia. And you can't overlook that mass immigration changed the culture of parts of the country permanently, in many cases for the worse. Immigrants that formed enclaves in New Jersey never fully adopted the American attitudes towards civic society, the role of government, the rule of law, etc., that still exist in pockets of the country like New Hampshire.