My great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Sicily, Italy...but they did it legally.
Your great-grandparents were able to come to this country because we had a nearly complete open door policy when it came to immigration. As long as you did not have a disease or a criminal record you were usually allowed in the country. Only 1 in 50 immigrants were turned down for some reason, usually medical, and not allowed to enter the country as a legal resident. Under today's immigration system your illiterate, uneducated, working-class great-grandparents would not be allowed into the United States or, if they wanted to come legally, they would have to fight with millions of other immigrants for the 4,000 visas given out every year to unskilled workers. I'm pretty sure if America had its current immigration system in place back in the 1880s or 1890s or whenever your family came to this nation they almost certain would have come here illegally.
