Can we seriously equate today's immigrants with those of a hundred years ago?

Welcome to the new breed of immigrant:

They want to BE in America, NOT BE AMERICANS!

It's how they got here that's truly disturbing.

Let's face it, the Mexican government isn't sending their best and brightest! Mexico successfully encourages the mass exit by printing and distributing a HOW-TO booklet on becoming an Illegal. What other country pulls this scam?

Today's immigrants are not committing a genocide on the local population. And since there were no laws back then, it was hard to be illegal.

That being said, the current immigration law is an absolute disaster. If the law would be fair and have a reasonal path to legal immigration, then there would be less illegal and more legal immigrants.

I do agree with you that it's almost impossible for Europeans to immigrate in the USA. It really bothers me that all the talk is about amnesty for illegals while people who respect the law have no real perspective of even getting a green card.

I agree that there is a difference in assimilation and loyalty. And no, we cannot equate today to 100 years ago. Likewise, we cannot compare 100 years ago to 200 years ago. Yes the immigrants 100 years ago were mostly European, but please don't forget the Africans brought against their will from the 1700's - 1850's, and the Chinese wave of immigration 170-ish years ago. Both groups made MANY contributions that helped to build our country. It was not just the Europeans.

You are very wrong. You stated that the past immigrants came here skilled and fully educated. That is a false statement, one of which you can find to be correctly wrong in many textbooks. There were many immigrants, most specifically from east and southern europe, who came without essential 'skill's. Americans (forgetting that years earlier they too had grandparents who migrated) protested against these new peoples. Since they had no new skills that could take them up the social ladder many immigrants succumbed to work in factories. they lived in slums and all that jazz. as years past, they assimilated and worked their way up. i believe todays immigrants are going through similar barriers although it is harder with all the more protests and legal limitations.

iuYou are talking about the USA and its the same over here in the British Isles. They are coming in their thousands, and its now the turn of Rumania, and the other Eastern bloc Countries. This Government we have do not put and block on this insane move, but seem to encourage it. We live in a very small Island, which is now being covered in Housing, and eating all our green fields and Countryside away. We will soon be living among a suffication of bricks and cement. But does anyone care....NO of course they dont !

I disagree with you on only one account.Workers from the Early Immigration from the late 1800's/early 1900's were all not skilled laborers.The differences were...

A. There were more jobs because the automation and assembly line ideals were not as implemented as now.

B. Those people of that time,came here out of desperation to make a new life,wanted to learn "english"(it paid them better to learn it) and wanted to follow the American dream(something they couldnt accomplish in their native countries)

They believed in America,and helped build it.

The Immigrants of today are different.75% of them stay and work here for short amounts of time,sending their wages back home to buy property,etc on the back of our economy.Then they leave and a new wave starts,doing the same thing.Out of the 25% left,maybe about 10-15% are here to live the same dream as the early immigrants and they tend to not want to assimilate into our society,but impose their native lifestyle upon ours.

Absolutely not, and please let me explain why. The immigrants of the early 20th century were also uneducated to some extent, however, they became US citizens the legal way. They worked hard, a lot of them became extremely wealthy, and although they still had their their culture and customs, they were extremely proud to be Americans. I have a friend who is from London, married an American, and the feat he has had becoming a US citizen is insane, and Congress wants the illegals to have amnesty? I do not think so. Get in line!

Sounds like a fairy tale, you must have never been to New York City, Boston, Chicago any major city in the United States. That have German, Italian, Jewish, Polish, Russian etc. niegborhoods with only the ethnic language is spoken.

There are 330 ethnic languages Spoken in the United States.

http://www.ncpa.org/pd/immigrat/pd053000c.html

All the immigrants are the same ,they come to the US looking for a better life.

constructive. Christianity is approximately seven-hundred years older than Islam. If religions mature on the comparable value, then it rather is logical to think of the state of modern-day Islam is on par with the state of Christianity from seven-hundred years in the past.

100 years age they were killing, robbing, lieing and manipulating my ancestors...

but we as a country have laws and must live with them.

no we cannot equate the 2 different waves of immigrants

it would be like apples and oranges.

the only thing that remains the same.... those of us that are native dont want either group here

I agree 100%. It's so funny that someone can try to compare immigrants of today with immigrants of over 100 years ago. Hello, it's 2008. I think many people are just trying to justify illegal invasion so they come up with ludicrous claims about immigrants of yesteryear and phony stories of how Native Americas had laws and owned land in the U.S.

It's all just a pathetic attempt to make themselves feel better for condoning illegal immigration and the destruction of the U.S.