Deciding exactly whom we should welcome to our shores is a matter of ever-shifting public debate and ever-changing public sentiment.
It turns out that, as with tariffs and the origins of the Civil War, there is no Final Word on immigration in the United States. It is a problem that has vexed the republic from its start, has agitated the politics of this epoch and many others, and is subject to periodic upheavals in public sentiment. We are indeed “a nation of immigrants,” as we tell ourselves. But immigration law is largely a reflection, at any given time, of what kind of immigrants we welcome to our shores and what kind we stop at the border. Dividing these two categories is a matter of ever-shifting judgment and debate.