"The Mexicans didn't steal your jobs."

This is true when it's true and false when it's false.

Regardless of age or ethnicity, if a Mexican national (who is in the country illegally) is willing to work under the table for $7.00 less than an American, then he or she did in effect steal the job from an American. The same logic applies to prison labor.

"The Muslims aren't raping "your" women."

This is true when it's true and false when it's false.

If "your" woman wasn't raped by a Muslim then it's true, if "your" woman was raped by a Muslim then it's false.

I think the main gist here is that just like every other nation-state in the history of the world; it behooves the system to do its level best to qualify people before allowing entry into the country. Most nations-states do this, and very rarely are they accused of racism because of it.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The sonnet on the plaque was written at a time when America's industrial base was strong, and there were no social welfare programs. At the time, when people wanted to migrate to America (just like when someone wants to take a vacation) they'd have to save up for the trip and all the expenses it entails. Generally, an aspiring migrant might have people already living in the country willing to sponsor them for long enough as to get them on their feet. Either that or they already had a job lined up. There was no guarantee of free anything when they arrived. Perhaps, there was a good chance at ample job opportunity, but that was the extent of it.

I think Americans who are opposed to unchecked immigration for the right reasons—are opposed to the criminal element, and those who abuse welfare programs. America is traditionally a very capitalist society. However, somewhere along the way, it has evolved into an insidiously socialist system which taxes people to the point where men and women are forced to live from paycheck to paycheck. In 1893, when the above poem was written by Emma Lazarus, there was no income tax. Whereas now, you have people coming into the country and drawing benefits from a system they haven't yet substantially contributed to.

I think if you nix all the social programs in America, or make them voluntary and stop the rapists and criminals and drug dealers at the gates. You'll find out that all these people who you think are racist don't care so much about immigration, just so long as employers are forced to hire people at legal wages. This key element is what will allow Americans an equal opportunity to get the job. Depending on the employer, it will generally be either the most qualified or hardest-working candidate who gets the position. I also think that corporations who take advantage of cheap prison labor should be forced to pay minimum wage.

That right there would unburden family members of those corralled in by the prison industrial complex. Not everything is so simple as racism; there are lots of moving parts in what makes or breaks America. All the socialist ideas that the Democrats have been pushing is the final nail in the coffin. Hyperinflation is the last trick for a fiat system whose currency is on the verge of collapse. They want to print us into oblivion, that way when it fails, everyone who had their hands out and fell for the free money bit can share in the blame of the destruction of our economy.