“The US has accepted 20-30million economic refugees. More than any country at any time in the history of the world.”
“Although, as a percentage of population, it’s not that much more as a percentage of population than came here back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, for much the same reasons.”
The 20-30 million illegal latin American aliens, mostly Mexicans I’m concluding, that have come to this country in the last twenty years are not much more than all of the various northern and southern European immigrants, many educated and skilled, that immigrated here legally in both the 19th and 20th centuries?
Since you put it that way . . . well, that makes me feel a lot better:
See tagline.
"Legal" is a slippery word in that context: although there were laws governing naturalization, there weren't any immigration laws to speak of until about the 1880s (the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882), and no really comprehensive immigration laws until about 1921.
Moreover, many of the cultural and educational arguments applied to Mexicans today, were similarly applied to the millions of Irish, Polish, Italian, and other immigrant groups who came here back then. True, many immigrants back then were skilled and educated; and a whole lot more of them were not. Conversely, I'd venture to guess that many contemporary Mexican illegals are as skilled and educated as, say, the average Polish or Italian immigrants of old.
The circumstances of Mexican immigration are certainly different in many respects, including the fact that we share a border with their home country; and also that political events there will inevitably have an impact here.
We shouldn't assume that Mexican immigration will turn out as well as the old-time immigration did. But at the same time, we probably also shouldn't assume that a bad outcome is inevitable.
Good advice in your tagline!