If literally the entire world decided they wanted to move within the borders of the United States next year, and let the rest of the world return to the wild, I would accept them with open arms. I simply do not understand what assimilation concerns Americans have about immigration — basically everyone at this point speaks a reasonable amount of English and has extensive exposure to US politics, media, and culture. Our whole jam is that our culture is a melting pot, what do you mean that we’re going to lose our culture to dilution by immigrants? There is literally nothing more American than immigrating to the United States from another country regardless of what the current residents think.
It would depends on how much infrastructure they can pass to receive them.
Ideally it would be “unlimited.”
Immigration is just good for the US economy because they tend to skew young and (to be blunt) low wage when they get here, and just look at how far immigrants go here. In most countries, it’s supposed to be a cornerstone of US culture, and the country is freaking huge.
Integration? America was originally a hodgepodge of homesteads; that’s the idea.
The limiting factor is housing, schooling, occupation, just having somewhere for them to go and live.
TL;DR: As many as possible as long as they aren’t forced into poverty.
…Hence, I find it incredible that we, as a country, collectively decided to squander that massive strategic advantage for… what?
It just doesn’t make any sense, even if you set morality aside. Or truly believe in the propaganda that they’re responsible for most crime, which is nonsense.
As high as is practicable. Have you forgotten that you live on stolen land? Did you think that was just a slogan without any meaning?
What I take from this fact is that we, the current citizens of the US, don’t have any actual moral right to the land of the US. (Except citizens of native descent.) If practicality weren’t a concern, the moral thing to do would be to give all the land back to the native peoples. But practically, that isn’t possible. The 300+ million citizens of the US have nowhere else to go. Trying to give all the land back would create humanitarian crisis of similar or greater magnitude, by raw numbers, to the genocide that wiped out most of the Native Americans.
Instead, I recognize I have a practical, but not moral, right to live and own property in the US. I have a right to stay here simply because trying to kick everyone out would be impossible. Any attempt would likely trigger a civil war and even further violence against native peoples.
This matters because I ultimately don’t have a right to tell people they don’t have a right to come to the US. If we’re going to justify not returning the land based entirely on practical grounds, then it becomes our duty to ensure that the land we’re not giving back is used for the greatest good for the greatest number of people. A random citizen of Somalia has as much moral right to a patch of ground in the US as I do, and I had an ancestor on the Mayflower. That’s how far back my roots here go.
We should accept as many immigrants as is practical. Obviously we can’t let in a billion people tomorrow. We need to be able to accommodate everyone who arrives. But ethnic or cultural identity is completely irrelevant. Hell, if you’re worried about housing, we should offer an unlimited quantity of visas for anyone around the world skilled in the trades and home building. If you know how to do construction, you get a visa. You’ll build your own housing and then some.
In short, figure out the maximum rate of immigration that our systems can handle, and set that as the level.
Infinity.