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Well it's all just my opinion, no research or references ...

but I think you've hit the nail on the head.

The immigrants who came to the country a century ago came here legally and without a safety net. I'm sure they had romantic ideas about streets paved with gold but it didn't much matter. They came to escape starvation and other hardships in Europe. When they arrived they were NOT welcomed with open arms. Many arrived with virtually nothing and knew they had to struggle to survive. They too were desperate labor. But pick themselves up by their bootstraps they did. The Irish had an advantage in the English language. The Italians had a language barrier and a heritage of very, very close family ties that tended to bind them together versus everyone else. They may not have wanted to assimilate but the government wasn't going to set up Italian language schools for their kids nor were they going to encourage the entire working class of Italy to use any criminal means available to sneak into the US. Nonassimilation was simply not going to be accepted by the rest of the country. They could not achieve any of the benefits they perceived in America by remaining unassimilated. (Keep in mind that this was all before the depression era government safety nets were put in place)

My perception is that none of these people came here to recreate their countries on US soil. They came here because they saw such good and opportunity in the US that they wanted to BE "American". I have no doubt that very many immigrants today feel this way. I have known and spoken to many over the years.

I don't think that immigration is a bad thing per se. I, myself, can not trace my heritage here more than two generations back. Illegal immigration is very dangerous from a security perspective and we just can't look the other way any longer. Legal immigration can be positive so long as the immigrants are not encouraged to set up their own legal, linguistic, cultural islands within our society. You have actually made a subtle but very important point in the issues you highlighted (govt subsidies and assimilation). It is not the immigrants that are a problem it is the way our government manages the situation that is problematic.

Allowing them uncontrolled, illegal entry (huge economic and security risk), using tax money and private regulation to provide them with benefits that my family doesn't get (subsidizing their presence and thus reinforcing an us / them attitude), and encouraging them to remain culturally separate (mandatory bilingual schools and college entrance exams ...) is a formula for US disintegration.

If the US opened its borders, millions upon millions of people would flood in from all over the world. There are, what, 5-7 billion people in the world and something like 290 million people in the US? Surely they don't all want to come here but many, many do and would. There must be limits set or the US that everyone wants to get to will no longer exist. The world is much too big for us to conform to the potential immigrants. They must assimilate or stay home.
Sorry about the long winded response. I guess the bottom line is that the immigrants of a century ago were controlled on entry and were allowed to sink or swim on their own merits. Today we are encouraging a flood of illegal, unskilled entrants and we are confiscating existing citizens property (we call it taxes and regulation) to pay for it. Even the recent, legal immigrants are largely furious over what's going on.

Oh thanks for the well thought out, insightful post. You were not long winded at all! I agree with everything you said.

But your deserve credit for the point "It is not the immigrants that are a problem it is the way our government manages the situation that is problematic." not me.

My parents are immigrants and I have no issue with LEGAL immigration. It's the illegal part, along with the lack of assimilation that are the real problems. It is not right that you can go to certain areas of this country and not be able to converse with your fellow citizens (I am speaking about your cultural islands).

It is clear that people who support divisive measures like bilingual education want to keep these newcomers down, not raise them up so that they can participate in the American dream.