No matter their home, immigrants have not usually come from the most successful and cultured parts of their societies. Instead, they were, in the words of Emma Lazarus on the base of the Statue of Liberty, “wretched refuse.” While they may have been “yearning to breathe free,” they were often troublesome and dangerous when they set foot on American soil.

The van used to transport prisoners became known as a “paddy wagon” due to the nationality of many of its 19th-century riders. Long-settled German Jews looked with dismay at their later-arriving “cousins” from Eastern Europe. A classic survey of New York immigrants in 1890 described the Chinese as the most vicious and criminal. Today, they are regarded as a model minority.

What happened? A host of institutions, some public, like the schools, and many private, like settlement houses, clubs, and civic groups, helped immigrants assimilate. The process did not happen quickly or fully; ethnic differences still add to our culture. But no longer are past immigrant groups the threat they once were.

Scholars disagree about how well this process works today and whether Mexican immigrants present special problems, chiefly due to low skill-levels, a barrier in an increasingly high-skilled economy. But important as controlling our borders might be, Donald Trump and others should be talking more about what we need to do to help people coming to our country learn how to be Americans.

Sources:

Donald Trump presidential announcement

Emma Lazarus poem

Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 1890.

Scholars disagree: For a review, see: Stephanie Hanes, “Immigration: Assimilation and the Measure of an American,” The Christian Science Monitor, July 7, 2013.