[eli_gottlieb]

My ancestors went to the United States in the days of Ellis Island and had just enough education to work as bakers and butchers. Many other Asians, Irish, and Jews worked as outright laborers, often in hazardous conditions. Many died as a result of the way society treated them.

The immigration system of the old days wasn't meritocratic; it was simply exploitative.

And really, so is the immigration system today, except that it exploits largely by keeping the threat of deportation hanging over the immigrant's head (including, yes, under the H1-B program for white-collar workers).

[was_hellbanned]

I fail to see how your comment is the least bit relevant.

in the days of Ellis Island and had just enough education to work as bakers and butchers

So in other words, for the time in which they lived, they were pretty skilled.

The immigration system of the old days wasn't meritocratic; it was simply exploitative

That's irrelevant to the parent comments claim that societal meddling has left some population groups behind. It's also irrelevant to my point distinguishing between people who were already here and pushed out, or forcibly brought here, compared to population groups primarily composed of modern, legal immigrants.

However, it doesn't matter. Coming here in "the days of Ellis Island" required a tremendous amount of dedication and daring, and the places they were coming from were likely even worse off. It was self-selecting for driven people.