People came to America because 1) land were free and 2) there were barely any taxation in the first place. Now, if we are talking about the immigration in the late 1900 and early 2000 things were pretty on the rise, instead of a decline when it comes to the American workforce. Working in a restaurant at nights and affording college without a loan were easy 1950, but the thing is that today, being poor often means you have no to little chance of rising in the social hierarchy, without higher education.