Ellis Island and Other Myths
We have often been told that “America was built by immigrants.”
Certainly our nation has been one of the most welcoming nations in the world if not the most welcoming nation. Anually, the United States grants lawful immigrant status to more than 1.1 million aliens–immediately placing them on the pathway to United States citizenship.
The issue is that those who advocate open borders and unlimited immigration have seized on that phrase about America having been built by immigrants as a way of persuading as many people as possible- among them our fellow Americans as well as our leaders, that the American Dream was the result of this massive influx of immigrants. If you accept this hypothesis that the American Dream is largely attributable to huge numbers of immigrants being admitted into the United States, it becomes easy to then presume that even more immigrants will create even more success for our nation and our citizens.
The problem is that the underlying foundation of our nation’s successes is not simply the result of immigration but the result of our Constitution and the freedoms it guaranteed its citizens. Our nation’s incredible and unparalleled successes are also the result of economic opportunities that our economic system provided. This was the concept that became known as the “American Dream.”
And now… the rest of the story. …..
Harold
