The Know-Nothing Party ultimately failed at mid-century to stop the immigration of both Irish and Germans. And because they failed, Frederich Christ Trump could immigrate to America in 1885. That decade, 5.2 million immigrants arrived in the U.S., and 3.7 million immigrants arrived the next decade. The unskilled German laborers competed with Americans. The skilled German craftsmen competed with Americans. The German farmers competed with Americans.
Some of the Americans lost jobs or income.
Today, there are nearly 50 million Americans of German ancestry. Many have hazy, romanticized notions of the time when their ancestors came to America. And some, like Trump, champion restrictionist views on immigration that would’ve barred their own grandfathers from coming here had bygone Americans applied them. This despite the fact that, compared to Hispanic immigration today, the waves of 19th-century immigration imposed far higher costs on those already here: Contagious diseases killed more people; those at the bottom of the economic ladder vying with newcomers for work had less of a safety net to fall back on if outcompeted; radical political ideas from abroad led to violent clashes; immigrant riots rocked numerous cities; and every cost was born by a much, much poorer America.