>>>>>>But Australia is much smaller in population than USA.
>>>>
>>>>it's per-capita, meaning the total $ amounts would be colossal in the US.
>>>>
>>>>>> And (if my geography is correct) does not have a border with Mexico
>>>>
>>>>LOL... but you could make all illegal immigrants citizens overnight and you'd be even better off: immigrant populations are younger, which increases the magic of compound returns from their contributions.
>>>
>>>If you make them citizens they will immediately invite all of their relatives <g>. And we will be like China <g>. Just today I heard on tv a commercial by some "immigration group" (sorry didn't catch their name) that call for reducing legal immigration to the USA on the basis that we don't have enough jobs for Americans. It used to be that many were against illegal immigrants; now the legals are in the same boat.
>>
>>FWIW, there's a long history of anti-immigrant sentiment in this country. Recent years are the exception, not the rule.
>>
>>Check out an old song called "No Irish need apply." Each group of new immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ran into a lot of discrimination and unpleasantness. And, fwiw, it was at least partly that anti-immigrant sentiment (along with antisemitism in the State department) that accounts for why Jews fleeing Nazi Germany weren't able to come to the US in large numbers.
>>
>>Tamar
>
>
>Remember to differentiate between legal and illegal.

First, until the late 19th century, there was no such distinction.

The point I was making, though, was that, for a long period of American history, legal immigrants were treated badly by those already here.

Tamar