The history of immigration in this country is one of exploitation; the wealthy, property owning classes exploiting the poor and desperate. We saw this when our parents and grandparents immigrated to America and we still see it today. When cheap labor was needed, the gates to the United States were thrown open and a tidal wave of immigrants flooded into the country, but when times were hard or jobs scarce, the immigrants were scapegoated and either expelled or excluded.

A hundred years ago America imported low wage workers to work in the factories. Today, we export factories to third world countries where they have an endless supply of cheap labor. That’s the American way of doing business. Once the Western railroads were built and Chinese “coolies” were no longer needed, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which stayed in effect until 1943. Italians and Jews posed an even greater threat to the Nativists. Italians were considered anarchists and murderers and Jews were Bolsheviks and labor agitators.