[redwitch]

America has never been wide open to everyone who wanted to come here -- at least not since the Civil War (when even states had immigration laws). As was said, you had to have a sponsor or the financial means to support yourself; you could not be carrying a communicable disease. There was and is a quota system for each nation/region as to how may immigrants are allowed to come to America. Political asylum is left for those who have something to offer America, rarely the common man.

Immigration laws banning certain people deemed undesirable (originally, Chinese railroad laborers) were implemented in the 1870s (causing the first run of illegal immigrants). Laws before then were actually more about deporting undesirables and obtaining American citizenship than any sort of limits as to who could come to the U.S.

In reality, Lady Liberty's poem was always just that -- a poem. It was never meant to be taken literally. The Statue of Liberty began being built in 1875 -- after our first laws prohibiting Chinese laborers. Rather made it a sad farce, didn't it?

Personally, I don't mind an open-door policy. I do mind forcing taxpayers to support those coming in. Come to America, find a job, pay taxes, make this your home (not just a way to make money with the plan to leave here as soon as you've earned enough money). Learn English (no ESL in schools or elsewhere). Become an American citizen. Love this country as much as we do. Those that come with those goals, whether arriving legally or illegally, are welcome in my mind.