Or that a) immigration was at one point VASTLY easier than it is today. Not much more than get to Ellis Island or the like and pass a TB test; and b) many of the later "good" European immigrants were also illegals. The anti-Italian slur "Wop" is short for "without papers".
So yeah, iratemoderate, there are a lot of 4th generation descendants of immigrants who supported Trump's mass deportation policies, but wouldn't be here today if such policies were in effect for their ancestors.
The popular image of the quick to assimilate and legal "unlike today" European immigrant is frankly mostly a myth.
Yup. Italian immigrants took a long time to take out citizenship and a lot never even learned English.
I'm guessing this is pretty much forgotten. Those descended from the Ellis Island wave are mostly 3rd and 4th generation now. The 2nd generation is pretty much 80+ and I suspect even they would be of the view that "my parents played by the rules, today's immigrants are jumping the queue."
