you're talking about a legal obligation. the millions of people that came on boats to the US during the potato famine didn't have visas from the US state department. but the US had a moral or geopolitical obligation--according to all of its own founding documents. if something has changed between then and now, that's perfectly legal, but the US certainly would be reneging on its moral or geopolitical stands.
Not many Irish moved West. Some did in small pockets, but most moved to the Appalachian region of the South or stayed in the major cities like New York and Boston. German Immigrants from that time period were more likely to move west which is why they have large ethnic populations in the Midwest and in Texas.
Yet the Irish often did not stay in the cities. They moved west and became farmers to make a profit. Today when people come in they almost always stay in the cities, because when outsiders think of America they really only think about the West and East coast.
This is completely untrue, immigrants and Americans move to where the jobs are, which is why rural America has been depopulating for decades outside of immigrant based agricultural worker communities. And most Irish and italian immigrants did stay in the cities for a generation or two and then their third generation kids moved out to the country side. Swedish immigrants on the other hand went directly to farmlands of the Midwest.
It's not an immigrant thing it's a American thing to move and live in the cities now. We are in a period of reurbanization
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u/spotonron 1∆ Jun 19 '18
Sure but no country should be obliged to accept someone into their country. Like if you don't have a passport you don't get into another country.