March 2, 2024

John F. Kennedy coined the term “a nation of immigrants” for his 1958 book of the same name. Kennedy was proud of the immigrants who built the most prosperous nation on earth. He wanted more of the same, as do all Americans.

‘); googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1609268089992-0’); }); document.write(”); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.pubads().addEventListener(‘slotRenderEnded’, function(event) { if (event.slot.getSlotElementId() == “div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3028”) { googletag.display(“div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3028”); } }); }); }

But that’s not what Americans are getting. Instead, they’re getting a government that’s been manipulating immigration policies for over half a century to maintain political power. In the process, they are undermining a foundation that turned a fledgling nation into a global power in less than 150 years.

Democrat policies (aided by Republicans) have encouraged millions of, at best, loosely vetted immigrants to live in America. They’ve simultaneously dismissed the importance of good moral character and the need to integrate immigrants by having them adopt American values. No wonder so almost 90% of Americans believe that uncontrolled illegal immigration is a threat to America.

Biden and his Cuban émigré Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, excuse the crisis by invoking Kennedy’s “nation of immigrants” term and insisting that the problem isn’t because of their policies. The system, they say, has been broken for decades. That’s rich. In fact, they follow a long tradition of corrupt Democrat politicians who, since the 1960s, have been selling America’s soul for political gain and fame while outrageously presenting their actions as humanitarian.

‘); googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1609270365559-0’); }); document.write(”); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.pubads().addEventListener(‘slotRenderEnded’, function(event) { if (event.slot.getSlotElementId() == “div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3035”) { googletag.display(“div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3035”); } }); }); }

JFK celebrated America’s diverse European immigrants. They wanted nothing from America but a chance to improve their lives and build a great country. And that’s what they got and what they did. Hundreds of thousands of wannabe immigrants were turned away or later deported because they were likely public charges—and Americans applauded.

Image: An English language class for immigrants in Michigan. 1909. Library of Congress.

After World War II, Americans were happy with immigrants who worked hard, were self-reliant, law abiding, valued education, and learned or spoke English. Like Kennedy, they wanted immigrants to integrate—to become Americans by adopting America’s values, just as they had. That formula still works, as we’ve seen with the waves of Asian and East Asian Indians who have embraced America’s values and thrived.

As the descendant of Irish Catholic immigrants, JFK knew first-hand that when Irish Catholics integrated as Americans, the sky was the limit. However, his successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, didn’t care if immigrants integrated by adopting American values. LBJ saw unintegrated immigrants as the ticket to Democrats controlling the government forever.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1965 made America an all-comers nation. People from countries that hate or love America—along with those who love or hate Jews, Christians, blacks, whites, or Asians—were all welcome. At the act’s signing, LBJ said the Act “does not affect the lives of millions.”

That promise didn’t age well, but it was not because the Act made America the world’s most “diverse” nation. America had already demonstrated that it had a formula to dispel the conflict inherent in increased diversity. The problem with the act was that LBJ supported torching the idea that immigrants must be integrated through adopting American values.

There’s a body of research (see here and here), including the rocky history of diversity in America before people figured out that newcomers needed to be educated in America’s common values, that true integration is the only way to resolve ethnic, racial, and religious discrimination. And only in that way can both immigrants and the host countries succeed. Democratic leaders, however, framed integration as hegemonic and attracted new immigrants to their party by saying that, once in America, they didn’t actually need to become Americans.