Imagine that: Immigrants come to America and have kids in whom they instill work ethic. That used to be the story we told about immigrants as country, at least when we weren’t vilifying them as polluting the gene pool and stealing jobs from deserving Americans.

The immigrants haven’t changed, of course. They overwhelmingly still come to provide a better life for themselves and their kids. Even when undocumented and hence “illegal,” they almost always live honorable lives on the straight and narrow and add to the country’s wealth and possibilities. They continue to define the American experience in important ways, both by betting on a future in a country built upon immigration and by facing toxic attitudes from natives.

Well, as Yogi used to say, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”