America started doing so at the end of the civil war. The constitution was amended then to overturn the Dred Scott decision of 1857, which held that black people were not Americans. The 14th Amendment ensured that freed slaves and their children would henceforth be citizens.

Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. doesn't have to have "the dumbest immigration policy in the world" simply because the nation was founded by immigrants.