And the white immigrants had it far worse than the slaves did. Slaves were valuable property and were very rarely abused. White immigrants were a cost to businesses and disposable. No one cared that they got mangled in industrial accidents, suffocated in mine cave-ins or died from diseases caused by living in squalid tenements. Most “voluntary” immigrants were driven to immigrate by starvation or lack of opportunity in their home country. My Scottish ancestor was a son of Lord Spencer, the rich head of Clan Spencer. The first son got the land and title, the second son had a army commission bought for him, the third went into the clergy, the fourth and later sons got nothing but maybe a little money, a handshake and a kick out the door. That’s the way UK society worked back then.