You're so right. People then had to learn English, know the Constitution, have sponsors, wait for years and years to be admitted - sometimes in DP camps - be healthy, those old enough had to have jobs, and so on. Once they arrived, they had to reestablish themselves, often taking jobs in sweatshops and doing whatever it took. They sure didn't come over, get handouts, and cause trouble once they were fortunate enough to arrive.
Amen. Parents insisted that their children be American, while keeping their home culture, traditions, food.
Now I have to press #1 for English... WTH? In the USA.
I could tell you stories of hospital closings, children coming to go to school with not one immunization... ever, outbreaks of TB and crime. Parents taking the Board of Ed to hearings ($2000), they speak English, but they want their child in a monoligual class... grandma at home speaks Spanish... they want them to keep their culture. Ridiculous... yet they get it, no papers, nothing but the original birth certificate from whereever... no one asks.
Where I live, I have parents complaining to my boss how they have to send their child further away because the school down the street is ALL spanish/mono... in this country. Don't get me started on the job market... you need to be bilingual to get a lot of jobs in the city.