In the neighborhood we call Rhode Island, every family comes from somewhere else. If any state can be said to be a laboratory of immigration, it is our tiny corner of New England.

The first white settler, Roger Williams, was a rebel and advocate of religious freedom who landed in Providence in 1636 because he was banished from the suffocating theocracy of Massachusetts.

Later, thousands of immigrants would come to Rhode Island. Some, like Williams, were fleeing tyranny. Many more were seeking jobs and a foothold in a society where they could support their families.

The Irish, running from a poor and famine plagued country, were first. They were followed by French Canadians, Scots, Swedes, Aremenians, Jews, Russians, Polish, Portuguese, Greeks, Italians and Cape Verdeans.

By 1905, 7 of every 10 Rhode Islanders were either first or second generation Americans. This ethnic ballet made Rhode Island the first state to have a Roman Catholic majority, in 1905.

Just about every immigrant group had the same experience. The first generation endured discrimination in every realm of life and at work, where they labored as maids, gardeners, maintenance workers or in the mind-numbing clatter of a textile or jewelry sweat shop.

Now, Rhode Island again is the golden door for a new stream of immigrants, fleeing an African civil war or the poverty of a dusty back road in Latin America.

And once again, natives are debating how to treat them. At the State House there is debate about measures to crack down on illegal immigration by making it harder for businesses to hire immigrants. Some want to make English the state’s official language.

Under one bill approved last year by the House, but not the Senate, Rhode Island businesses would be required to use an electronic data base called E-Verify, to ensure their employees are in the U.S. legally.

It seems some supporters of these measures suffer from a form of ethnic amnesia. In the web of myth and nostalgia, some descendants of Canadian and European immigrants assert their ancestors came here legally, learned English overnight and stayed to raise stable nuclear families.

The facts are less tidy. In the early 1920s, America’s  Protestant majority convinced Congress to slam the door on immigration, especially from southern Europe.

Today, immigrants from other cultures are at risk. In Providence’s large Liberian community, immigrants wait every year for the president to decide where they can stay for another 12 months.

Rhode Islanders and other Americans want the laws enforced and our borders protected. But even in our poor economy, there is a serious disconnect between the views of  most Rhode Islanders and the vocal anti-immigrant voices at the State House and on commercial talk radio.

A Brown University public opinion survey released last week showed that most Rhode Islanders do not see illegal immigration as a top issue. When asked  "what do you think is the most important problem facing the country today?,’’ less than 2 percent named illegal immigration. More than 50 percent cited jobs and the economy. The poll of 451 state registered voters carried an error margin of about 5 percent.

There are voices who insist we need to force businesses to use the federal E-Verify electronic database to ensure only legal residents are hired.

But as we confront the future, let us not forget the past. Especially the contributions of those from other cultures and lands who made us what we are today.