Thomas Jefferson on immigration.

Thomas Jefferson saw the new government as a unique combination of the freest elements of English law and political custom. He was concerned that unrestricted immigration of peoples from lands unacquainted with the principle of representative government might undo the careful work of our Founding Fathers. “Yet,” he said prophetically, “from such we are to expect the greatest number of immigrants.”

Even if these immigrants could throw off the principles of the governments they left, Jefferson feared that they would merely pass”from one extreme to the other. It would be a miracle were they to stop precisely at the point of temperate liberty.” He added, “In proportion to their numbers, they will share legislation with us. They will infuse into it their spirit, warp or bias its direction and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent mass.”