Replies

"Now even if you ridiculously choose to compare Mexican street "gangs" to the organized gangs of Capone, Luciano, and Gambino decades ago -- which were comparatively minuscule in number -- at least they were in this country legally. Capisci?"

WOW!

That made a difference!

They had green cards!

ROTFLMAO!!!

"And for your information -- while Capone and Luciano were doing their thing, MY family -- along with 500,000 other Italian-Americans -- were fighting, bleeding, and dying in the Pacific and Europe during WWII just so YOU can open you big mouth today here in America."

Hispanics on the Rise as Largest U.S. Ethnicity

 

 By Staff Sgt. Alicia K. Borlik
 
American Forces Press Service


 WASHINGTON -- Hispanics account for almost 11 percent of the 
 American population, numbering near 30 million, according to the 
 U.S. Census Bureau. And their numbers are expected to triple by 
 the middle of the next century, accounting for nearly a quarter 
 of America's population.
 
 The fastest growing ethnic group in America is also increasing 
 its presence in the military. Since 1987, the percentage of 
 Hispanics in uniform has increased more than any other group, up 
 3 percent to almost 100,000 in strength, according to statistics 
 from the Defense Manpower Data Center in Monterey, Calif.
 
 The Army shows the largest Hispanic increase in the past 10 
 years. Despite the drawdown, the number of Hispanic soldiers 
 increased 10 percent even as the ranks of white and black 
 soldiers decreased about 40 percent each. Hispanic soldiers 
 currently account for nearly 7 percent of the Army.

Source:U.S. Depertment of Defense

"Now even if you ridiculously choose to compare Mexican street "gangs" to the organized gangs of Capone, Luciano, and Gambino decades ago."

You're downright PROUD of your criminal ancestors, aren't you?

By the way FooFighter, there was no such thing as "legally" when your people came here.

Immigration Facts Pre-1880 Immigration
Before the 1880-1920 arrival of “the new immigrant,” most immigrants to the United States arrived from Western and Northern European nations. During the colonial period, the population was mainly English with large populations of Germans (6% of total population—150,000—by 1775) and Scotch-Irish (7% of population—175,000—by 1775). About 5% of the population were other European groups—French, Dutch, Welsh, Swedes, Jews, Irish, Swiss. 20% of the 1775 population were African slaves—forced immigrants.
Following the American Revolution, immigrants continued to be from Western and Northern European nations at a rate of approximately 60,000 people a year. In the 1840s, the immigration rate tripled and in the 1850s quadrupled in part because of the Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine of the mid-1840s and Germans fleeing crop failures, as well as the 1848 collapse of the countries’ democratic revolutions. Between 1830 and 1860, approximately 2 million Irish immigrants and 1.5 million German immigrants arrived. The total number of immigrants for the same 30-year period was approximately 4.9 million, with the overwhelming majority coming from Europe. These immigrants generally were Protestant with some Catholics (particularly the Irish) and their cultures easily meshed into the American culture. Numbers of immigrants declined slightly during the 1860s due to the Civil War but rose in the 1870s and exploded in the 1880s.
Also in the early to mid-nineteenth century, unskilled workers from China migrated to California and the western states seeking work. Unlike European immigrants who came in family groups, this immigration was primarily by males seeking work with the ultimate goal of returning to China. Very few Chinese women immigrated during this period and the few who came to California were already or became prostitutes. Chinese immigration began in 1820 and exploded during the 1848 Gold Rush. These immigrants primarily labored in mines, worked on railroads, and transformed the dry landscape into farmland. As more Americans moved to the West Coast and the once booming economy waned, anti-Chinese riots occurred in the late 1870s and 1880s (imagine that, the Chinese came, did all the dirty work, then people rioted against them). In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United States for ten years, and further immigration legislation continued the ban until 1940 when the act was repealed and limits on Chinese immigration were lifted. Following the 1882 act, only certain Chinese merchants and their families were allowed to enter the country and these immigrants faced strict regulation and laws that deemed them ineligible for citizenship.
Immigration between 1880-1920 and the Age of the "New Immigrant" -- (your people arrive FooFighter!)
Between 1880 and 1920, almost 24 million immigrants arrived in the United States. These "New Immigrants" were primarily from Southern and Eastern European nations — Italy, Croatia, Greece, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungry, and Russia. In 1882, immigration reached a new high with 788,992 persons arriving that year. During this forty-year period, the "New Immigrants" came to the United States for a variety of reasons. The population of Europe had doubled over the course of the 1800s, and the growing population (and the United States) faced the challenges associated with industrialization. During the second half of the 19th century, industrialization (the rise of cities and manufacturing) upset the fragile lifestyle and stability of the peasant classes.
Millions moved to European cities seeking work and a decent life following the decline of agriculture and their way of life. Approximately 60 million people fled Europe during this period, with almost half that number coming to the United States.
Low wages, unemployment, disease, forced military conscription, and religious persecution (particularly Eastern European and Russian Jews forced from their homes by Pogroms) all inspired immigrants to flee their homelands and come to the United States. These immigrants were inspired to come to America by its reputation as the "Land Of Liberty" and also by the inspiring letters of friends and relatives already in the United States. These "New Immigrants" fleeing poverty and persecution faced difficulties in assimilating into American culture that immigrants in the 1840s did not. Most could not speak English, nor were they literate in their own language. They came from nondemocratic governments and were often distrustful of government. Immigrants during this period crammed into cities in the Northeast (although many did migrate to the Midwestern city of Chicago), and created small ethnic communities where they preserved the culture of their homelands. Immigrants maintained their culture by publishing newspapers in their native languages, opening specialty grocery stores and restaurants, and establishing churches, synagogues, and schools. But these communities could not protect immigrants from discrimination inflicted by native-born Americans. (your people sound like Mexicans FooFighter)
The New Immigrants during the 1880-1920 period typically settled in the cities along the eastern seaboard and entered low-paying, wage-labor jobs (you guys had the crap jobs before the Mexicans came!). They filled the growing factories and also worked at other poorly-paid jobs such as construction work or sewing. These immigrants often arrived with little money and were forced into substandard housing in the worst sections of the overcrowded cities (East L.A.?>. With their populations rising exponentially, the infrastructure of the cities could not handle the effects of overcrowding. Many cities had problems with sanitation, leading to overflowing sewers, uncollected garbage, impure water, and a general stench in the air. Combined with soaring populations and overcrowding, crime rates rose. Many nativeborn Americans blamed the New Immigrants for the unsettling situation in the cities and for taking over “their” nation (WHOA!!!! You sound just like the people who beat up on your people! FooFighter!)
. In 1882, Congress began to pass legislation limiting immigration. This first immigration act levied a fifty-cent tax on each immigrant and prohibited people previously convicted of political offences, "lunatics," and those likely to become public charges. In 1891, legislation established the Bureau of Immigration within the Treasury Department and made polygamists, those afflicted with a "loathsome" or "dangerous" disease, and those convicted of a crime involving "moral turpitude" disqualified for immigration. In 1917, Congress chose to override Woodrow Wilson’s presidential veto to enact legislation that required a literacy test for immigration — an adult immigrant had to be able to read forty words in any language. This legislation also barred immigration from Asia except Japan and the Philippines. Following American involvement in the First World War (1917-1918), anti-immigrant sentiment grew as thousands of people from war-torn Europe flooded the U.S. In 1920-1921, approximately 800,000 people came to the United States; about two-thirds of that number were from southern and eastern Europe. In 1921, Congress enacted the Emergency Quota Act, the first quantitative immigration law. This stopgap legislation restricted the number of immigrants by their country of origin. Only 3% of the number of persons from that nation living in the U.S., according to the 1910 census, were allowed to immigrate. The Immigration Act of 1924 made the quota system permanent and reduced the percentage allowed into the U.S. from 3% based on the 1910 census to 2% based on the 1890 census numbers. This change from the 1910 to the 1890 census shifted the nationality totals to a time when relatively few southern and eastern European immigrants had arrived. The legislation was enacted in order to limit more “New Immigrants” from arriving and essentially the U.S. closed itself to mass immigration.

There was no "legality" to coming to America when your people got here FooFighter.

Had your people been able to walk here, they would have.