It's the California socialist welfare state that has brought this attitude about. They feel entitled to everything. I recently moved to Indiana, and I teach ESL here. The immigrants (some legal, some not) that we get here have different attitudes. The ones straight from Mexico or coming from most of the states have pretty good attitudes, attend ESL classes, get educated, follow the rules, and try hard to make it. The ones from California and sometimes Colorado have learned one word very well in English..."Gimme". I teach in the part of the state with the highest concentration of hispanics, but it's still only 4%. They learn quickly that there are no programs here for them like that. They look at me and expect me to be sympathetic with them, but I'm not and I don't know any hard working people who are, immigrants or not. If things keep going the way they're going in all states, it's only a matter of time before entitlements are in place in all 50 states and we are all taxed to death to pay for people who are greedy yet don't want to work or get educated to earn money for the lifestyle they envy. 4% is a whole lot better situation than 40%, so people here for the most part still either assimilate or move somewhere else. I agree with others on this thread that it's not immigration that's the problem, it's the deluge of unskilled, welfare-state-wanting, unassimilating illegal immigrants who put a drain on society.
Social security was ok when it was started because there were so many more workers compared to retired people then. Now, when there are too many retired and not enough workers, it's a burden. Same with the immigration of low-skilled people. A small percentage is supportable by the working public, even though it still sucks. A larger percentage, like it is now in California, is a HUGE burden. If anyone doubts, look at California.
Anyone pretending that we can have free immigration of unskilled workers without a huge welfare state is absurd. What are we going to do with these people? Let them all live in tents on the hillsides of SoCal? Never going to happen, not with all the social advocacy groups out there. Would you really want people living in tents near your neighborhood, anyway? Crapping in buckets and dumping it in the gutters? That IS what would happen if we had completely open borders. Let them all cram together in garages and apartments, with 4-6 people to a room? Can you imagine the crime that will go along with having that many people envying what others have gotten through hard work? Wait, nobody has to imagine. Read Mexifornia, that describes the situation as it is already.
Wow, I am writing books on this subject today.