Why are there per-country caps to immigration? Perhaps, looking at the history of the Mexican Republic of Texas can shed some light:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Texas" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Texas</a><p>> additional groups of settlers, known as Empresarios, continued to colonize Mexican Texas from the United States. A spike in the price of cotton, and the success of plantations in Mississippi encouraged large numbers of white Americans to migrate to Texas and obtain slaves to try to replicate the business model<p>> Angered at the interference of the Mexican government, the Empresarios held the Convention of 1832, which was the first formal step in what became the Texas Revolution<p>> By 1834, the American settlers in the area outnumbered Mexicans by a considerable margin. Following a series of minor skirmishes between Mexican authorities and the settlers, the Mexican government, fearing open rebellion of their Anglo subjects, began to step up military presence in Texas<p>> In March 1, 1836 the Convention of 1836 came to order, and the next day declared independence from Mexico, establishing the Republic of Texas.