Supreme Court gets history lesson as it threatens to blow up birthright citizenship

"The biggest myth about American immigration is that until the federal government started enforcing our borders in the late 19th century, it was just open borders," said Anna O. Law, the Herbert Kurz chair in constitutional rights at CUNY Brooklyn College.

"It feeds right into the American dream myth, right?" Law added. "'My ancestors came with nothing but the clothes on their back and a willingness to work hard century."

However, she was shocked to learn how some elements of present-day immigration law, such as the assumption that poorer migrants would become wards of the state, originated during the colonial era.

"'People who can’t economically take care of themselves, we don’t want them' –