The USA put an end to mass immigration in 1924 under Calvin Coolidge and kept the borders more or less closed to illegals for years.
The Johnson-Reed Act, which Congress overwhelmingly passed, was a necessary step, as I am confident the coming mass deportation operation will prove to be.
It did this, I believe, because our country was in danger of balkanization. Then, as now, there was a noticeable tendency among recent immigrants (many of whom were of European origin) to assimilate into our melting pot culture.
This new adherence to the law of our land allowed the new generations born into America's immigrant families to integrate into society and re-solidify our national identity, in my estimation.
E Pluribus, Unum.
I think this was a major factor in WW2.
It also contributed in no small measure to America's ascendance in the postwar era, I believe.
We developed our nation internally, built the infrastructure that for decades was the envy of the world, and eventually innovated our way into outer space.
Under President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s we had balanced budgets while building the interstate highway system, and he undertook mass deportations of ills aliens in "Operation Wetback" to help keep America's workforce strong.
Nobody called him racist, because he forced Democrats to integrate public schools at bayonet point.
Hyperventilating over ‘skilled immigration’ as today's Democrats do, seems a little desperate.
Some people really want to stack that business bottom line and keep wages down, it seems.
But I think the country is at least as bad as it was in 1924. It lacks coherence, which these debates - especially in their overtly ethnic tone - reveals.
So let’s take another long break. And the businessmen will do fine - they will adjust.