Originally Posted by onesnowyowl

/me waves

First generation American here.

Betcha would've never guessed, huh? My dad immigrated to the US as a youngster. Just to give you an idea of the family background--when they came here, my dad spoke zero English, as did my grandmother. My grandfather spoke English passably well, mostly because he studied it in school. Once my uncle was born in the States, they stopped speaking Dutch at home. Yet despite being immigrants, having a language barrier, and being extremely poor while my dad and uncle were kids, my grandparents managed to raise two men who have Master's degrees. My uncle is a bigwig in the Dept. of Corrections and my dad is an award-winning high school principal. My grandfather was also no drain on society--he was the top salesman for KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) for several years running.

My point is--where would we be without immigrants? Both of our countries are made of them--from start to finish. The question is--how far back did you immigrate? Keep in mind that at one point it's more than likely that your relatives did not speak English or French. Shoot, NONE of my relatives spoke English natively when they came to the United States. Also, the labor market NEEDS immigration, regardless of where you live. There are, quite simply, jobs we are unable to perform (for whatever reason) that immigrants can and will do.