Way back when, a bunch of Puritans fled England to practice their religious beliefs. They pushed back the people who were already here. Later, they persecuted Quakers who publicly preached a different religious view.
Opportunists saw large areas of land to raise cotton and tobacco. By hook or crook they laid claims to that land, pushing back the people who were already there. To make matters worse, they bought people who were kidnapped from their homes and put on ships in chains. They put these people to hard work, whipping them if they slacked off or showed any signs of independence. They often quoted select passages from the Bible to justify the situation, completely ignoring “Do unto others…"
Later on, Irish escaped the famine brought on partly because the English took away some of the best farmland. When they came to the U.S., they were often greeted with signs “No Irish need apply!” Now people who have no Irish ancestry celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Swedes came in large numbers for better farmland than was available in Sweden. Because their English was not perfect they were often called “dumb Swedes”. This dumb whatever naming continued when immigrants from many other lands came to the U.S.
Russian Jews had their land expropriated by Tsarist thugs. They fled to the U.S. and made many cultural and business contributions. At the same time they were ostracized by “Christians” and kept out of many groups.
People of European descent kept pushing west taking land from Indians and Mexicans. For a variety of reasons, successive governments in Mexico were often corrupt and did not create an economy that benefited all the people. Many of these people sought jobs in the U.S., often in land that once was Mexico. They are paid lower wages than those whose ancestors took the land would accept.
The U.S. waged several wars in the Mideast to ensure a supply of oil, often corrupting or overthrowing governments to do so. Many people from these countries fled to the U.S. for a more stable life. Also large corporations hired many of the highly educated of these people because they worked for less and the corporations didn’t have to pay the taxes to educate them.
On and on it goes. “Why don’t you go back to where you came from?” This is directed at people whose families have been here for generations as well as people who have helped enhance the bottom line of large corporations. And how does one go back to where they came from if their ancestors came from many different places?
On top of all of this, the descendants of dissenters who left their homelands now want others to believe just as they do.
“When will we ever learn!”
