"Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. "
Present day Americans are looking at that past with rose colored glasses.
If you go back and read articles during the flood of immigration early in the 20th century, the public was very angry.
The complaints and fears of the American people of the time came to pass, as the new immigrants changed America, and started, and fed, the movements that we now call the left and liberalism.
There should be immigration, but there should also be a procedure of strong assimilation, encouraging and nudging them toward becoming American American. Your remark about people looking at past immigration through rose-colored glasses is spot on. They should have been encouraged even more than they were (which was more than today) to have shed their old culture (for the second generation, to shed a culture which isn't even theirs), and immigrants today should also undergo a rigorous encouragement to assimilate. All Americans should kindly pressure them to do so, and not pander to them.
The Kennedys and the Kerrys.
"If you go back and read articles during the flood of immigration early in the 20th century, the public was very angry."
But the anger was soon proven to be misplaced, because the immigrants turned out to be fine, proud Americans.
And it is very important to note these immigrants were legal, even if Americans were angry about their arrival.
My wife's grandparents came from Italy, never to return. Their sons served in WWII, earning Purple Hearts.
The children of early 20th century immigrants learned perfect English; which is hardly true for the illegals of today.