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> If you had to be poor somewhere, would the US be your first choice? The millions of folks traveling from all over the world to enter the US, often enough ill
by brightlancer 4y ago
> If you had to be poor somewhere, would the US be your first choice?
The millions of folks traveling from all over the world to enter the US, often enough illegally, suggests that lots of people would choose the US.
- amrocha 4y agoThis is disingenuous. People entering the US illegally are often here in order to provide for their families in other parts of the world, where even high paying careers can't compete with the dollar. It says nothing about their lives here vs in other places.
- brightlancer 4y ago> This is disingenuous. Don't impugn my motives. > People entering the US illegally are often here in order to provide for their families in other parts of the world, where even high paying careers can't compete with the dollar. That's not representative of the whole. Plenty of articles have been written about the "unaccompanied minors" illegally entering the US; sometimes they are joining parents who already entered the US illegally, sometimes they're joining other family (here legally or not), sometimes they are the first member of their family and are staying with friends or by themselves. Post Sept 11th, the percentage of illegal aliens who were in families increased; it was an unintended side effect that restricting border crossings meant that the prior model, where men would travel back and forth frequently to support their family elsewhere, was no longer viable, so the entire family entered the US illegally.
- amrocha 4y agoWell, I assumed that you're knowledgeable enough to know why people immigrate illegally to the US, so I went with disingenuous. If you don't know then misinformed is the better term. >That's not representative of the whole. I wasn't claiming to represent the entire demographic, just providing a counter argument to your statement that people move to the US because it's better than being poor elsewhere. I could have also mentioned the people escaping violence.
- crawfordcomeaux 4y agoYes, and there's also the myths of what it's like to live in America
- notch898a 4y agoI would predict with tighter security, those with families would be more likely to get caught (and thus recorded in the statistics). If you've ever travelled with a child, you'll understand what I mean. Whether that means the proportion that are families is greater or less is an open question. The model being used for illegal crossing right now has changed a bit, as we have an agreement with Mexico to immediately send them back while allowing (most?) others to claim asylum and not be sent back until seen by a judge. Mexican are more likely to have single men working crossing than most other latin nations, for example. The effect is the cartels are dumping the families and "other than mexican" to intentionally get caught (they want to get caught to claim asylum. Legit asylum seekers go through the process and fakers just disappear after release), overwhelming the resources of the CBP, and then while CBP is overwhelmed the Mexicans and others like migrant workers cross the desert. Such action would seriously skew the statistics.
- P_I_Staker 4y agoThere would be several other countries in Europe that would be better.
- yallpendantools 4y agoI agree with you but unfortunately beggars can't be choosers. America speaking English, strength of the USD, all contribute to making the US the most attractive (if not the only) option. When you're poor and just taking chances, you make the best of what you're presented.
- P_I_Staker 4y agoI'm gonna ask you a question, and want you to answer very seriously. Do you think the homeless should be eating out of the trash? I have no problem with them having steak dinners. ... but I bet you will never answer for that. Beggars SHOULD BE CHOOSERS.
- fifticon 4y agoThey are not planning to be poor, they are temporarily embarrassed millionaires.