Well, it is true that American history is chock full of people who came here for the sole purpose of making money.
I kind of like the fact that there was, at one time, so much freedom that we couldn’t keep out people who came here to make a living and get ahead in life.
Sure, lots of people came due to hunger, repression, etc, but a lot of people made a choice to come here not because someone was going to take care of them, but because they would be free to take care of themselves.
I find that very powerful and compelling.
America was a great country long before we became a rich nation.
One of the metrics we can assess this country contrasted to others is... how many other countries do people line up to get into compared to the USA?