4 ms·

One problem people seem to skip over is that the current state of immigration is broken. Regardless of the number of immigrants you think should be allowed in,

by xupybd 10y ago

One problem people seem to skip over is that the current state of immigration is broken. Regardless of the number of immigrants you think should be allowed in, none of those should be illegal. The presence of illegal immigrants hurts everyone, especially those who have no legal status. They are removed from normal legal protections, this needs to be fixed. You can not have a large part of the population in such an exploitable position. Some people who agree with what Trump is say are swayed by this side of the argument and it's valid.

snowwrestler 10y ago
> Regardless of the number of immigrants you think should be allowed in, none of those should be illegal. The obvious technical solution is to greatly increase the number of legal immigration slots--boom, problem solved, everyone now has legal status. Unfortunately this solution would not change the conversation. Why? Because most anti-immigration folks are not concerned about protecting immigrants from exploitation, they are concerned about Mexicans and Muslims. A bunch of legal Mexicans moving into their town is no better to them than a bunch of illegal Mexicans. In fact they prefer to keep the system the broken way it is now, because it gives them a "rule of law" fig leaf to place over their racism.
- someguydave 10y ago
  It's good that casting aspersions on large groups of strangers is limited only to most anti-immigration folks.
bdcravens 10y ago
> The presence of illegal immigrants hurts everyone There is a tremendous amount of work and economy in cities like Houston done by illegal immigrants. Ethics aside, there are those who benefit from this arrangement.
- xupybd 10y ago
  True, but where they paid fair wages? Did they pay taxes? If not there is also a negative impact from all that work they did. Don't get me wrong the taxes argument is crap when you look at the tax dodge most large companies are doing via Ireland, but still.
  - bdcravens 10y ago
    Why I said "ethics aside" :-)
millstone 10y ago
Let's please distinguish between "illegal immigrants" and "people who entered the country illegally." Illegal immigrants very often entered legally, e.g. visa overstays.

by xupybd 10y ago

snowwrestler 10y ago

> Regardless of the number of immigrants you think should be allowed in, none of those should be illegal. The obvious technical solution is to greatly increase the number of legal immigration slots--boom, problem solved, everyone now has legal status. Unfortunately this solution would not change the conversation. Why? Because most anti-immigration folks are not concerned about protecting immigrants from exploitation, they are concerned about Mexicans and Muslims. A bunch of legal Mexicans moving into their town is no better to them than a bunch of illegal Mexicans. In fact they prefer to keep the system the broken way it is now, because it gives them a "rule of law" fig leaf to place over their racism.

someguydave 10y ago
It's good that casting aspersions on large groups of strangers is limited only to most anti-immigration folks.

bdcravens 10y ago

> The presence of illegal immigrants hurts everyone There is a tremendous amount of work and economy in cities like Houston done by illegal immigrants. Ethics aside, there are those who benefit from this arrangement.

xupybd 10y ago
True, but where they paid fair wages? Did they pay taxes? If not there is also a negative impact from all that work they did. Don't get me wrong the taxes argument is crap when you look at the tax dodge most large companies are doing via Ireland, but still.
- bdcravens 10y ago
  Why I said "ethics aside" :-)

millstone 10y ago

Let's please distinguish between "illegal immigrants" and "people who entered the country illegally." Illegal immigrants very often entered legally, e.g. visa overstays.