text: Mazie Hirono comes out and says our nation was founded on the free entry of the poor and uneducated as immigrants.  Well, Mazie...things have changed and your are entirely disingenuous to ignore the major differences between then and now.  Back then, immigrants had to provide for themselves.  They had to make an economic go of it because there was no welfare; no "nanny state" to bail them out.  No job?  They didn't eat.  Back then, immigrants were not the financial burden that they are today if they fail, and many do fail at supporting themselves.  So if you want to harken back to the "good old days" of rampant immigration, then we should also make sure these newcomers and their families don't get the taxpayer support we can't even afford due to our reckless overspending and expanding national debt.  So let's be sure that if someone wants to come to America to live, that they can, and will, support themselves and their families without taxpayer help or be expelled.  Period.