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The U.S. is approving citizenship applications at the fastest speed in years
- like_any_other 2y agoOriginal article, not the msn.com repost: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-09-26/with-an-election-looming-the-u-s-is-approving-citizenship-applications-at-the-fastest-speed-in-years https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-09-26/with-an-el...
- adamc 2y agoMSN version isn't paywalled, though.
- nobody9999 2y agohttps://archive.ph/VXszZ https://archive.ph/VXszZ
- like_any_other 2y agoOdd, I didn't get a paywall. I guess they're being sneaky with it.
- estebank 2y ago> the uptick in new citizens is due to efforts to reduce a backlog of applications that began during the Trump administration and exploded amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
- johann8384 2y agoProbably because if Trump gets elected they'll crawl to a halt again.
- msandford 2y agoBiden has 3.5 years to adjust the policy and only now have the numbers gone up? It's probably not strictly partisan.
- chiefalchemist 2y agoDon't quote me but I swear I remember hearing somewhere the Obama actually deported more immigrants than Trump. Or maybe it wasn't Trump? The gist was that Obama wasn't as pro-immigrants as most thought he was.
- thephyber 2y agoTrue, but with some important caveats. Trump technically deported fewer people per term than Biden’s term or either of Obama’s terms. But the definition of “deported” is important here. From what I remember, the definition of “encounter” (when CPB catches people crossing the border or in that buffer zone within 50 miles inland of the border/port of entry) changed around 2014. With it, the definition of who is “deported” versus simply turned away as they try to enter changed. Also important to know that Obama most likely increased deportations during a specific period strategically to give Democrats leverage to negotiate for better policy and to establish legitimacy in the negotiations. Around 2013, there was a concerted effort in the Senate to come up with a comprehensive immigration reform package — something that hadn’t happened since the late 1980s. IIRC this was called the “Gang of Eight” — 4 Dems, 4 Repubs hashing out a framework before they were going to send a bill to the floor for negotiation. The gang never delivered a bill because the 2 parties are dysfunctional and would rather have a broken immigration system to complain about than risk actually solving it and gaining some downside risk that voters won’t actually like the effects/consequences. Anyway, Obama’s last 2 years in office had lower immigration partly because of the change in definition, partly due to changes in policy for CPB, partly due to not needing leverage against Republicans for an immigration bill that no longer had a chance of passing, and partly due to changes in geopolitics / “push factors” of the countries where the most immigrants across the southern border came from. After the Gang of Eight failed, Obama then pushed for reasonable treatment of the most sympathetic and least culpable undocumented immigrants — the DREAMers. Honestly it totally made sense to me because Congress, not the president sets the budget for border patrol / immigration. Every president maxes out the budget every year. The DREAM Act was simply a way to deprioritize those least likely to be a legal problem to shift budget priorities towards the parts of immigration management that need it more.
- AtlasBarfed 2y agoImmigration is an economic geopolitical weapon against Russia and China.
- slim 2y agoIMHO just weapon. War effort. Cannon fodder.
- foogazi 2y agoAmerica’s secret weapon, right there with no nearby enemies and two oceans
- jcranmer 2y ago> with no nearby enemies What is Cuba then?
- throw-the-towel 2y agoToo weak to be an enemy?
- 1oooqooq 2y agohow old are you?
- jcranmer 2y agoI mean, Cuba has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the US (see https://www.state.gov/state-sponsors-of-terrorism/ https://www.state.gov/state-sponsors-of-terrorism/), which is not a bad signal for "US enemy." I'm actually surprised it's listed as January 12, 2021... I'm guessing Obama delisted it and then Trump relisted it right before leaving office?
- ChumpGPT 2y agoIt's a long process and people who have been vetted and through it don't deserve to be held up unless there is a good reason. I can understand if there is something amiss but to just put the entire thing on hold for "theater" is wrong. Still from what I understand the US takes in more immigrants every year than any other country. Worldwide, the United States is home to more international migrants than any other country, and more than the next four countries—Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United Kingdom—combined https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states-2024 https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested...
- skissane 2y ago> Worldwide, the United States is home to more international migrants than any other country, and more than the next four countries—Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United Kingdom—combined That's a somewhat misleading way of presenting data. It is true that in absolute terms, the US contains more immigrants than any other country on earth. However, on a percentage of the population basis, the US is actually only around the OECD average in terms of numbers of immigrants: https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/foreign-born-population.html https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/foreign-born-populat... – in 2019, Luxembourg was 47.30% foreign-born, Australia 29.90%, Switzerland 29.70%, Israel 21.20%, Sweden 19.50%. At 13.60%, the US was around the middle. The fact that the US comes first in absolute terms, is not because the US is unusually welcoming to immigrants, it is because (among developed countries) it is unusually populous – at 333 million people, it is over 2.5 times more populous than the 2nd most populous OECD member (Japan).
- benreesman 2y agoThe top five countries in the world by population are China, India, United States, Indonesia, and Pakistan. As mega-population superpower/rising-power type countries go, the United states is it for the embrace of immigration. Our anti-immigration lobby is loud and politicized, but there are smart people doing policy behind the scenes no matter which bunch of belligerent blowhards are in office in a given year. We should be even more welcoming of immigration than we are, and we should clean up our act on e.g. the southern border and the humanitarian crisis that's completely avoidable there. We don't have this right yet. But when it comes down to it in realpolitik terms, populous nations are strong nations both today, and especially in 20-40 years when powers like the PRC are going to be faltering badly because of demographic collapse and we're still going strong because new blood kept the country young and vibrant.
- nektro 2y agoyay
- dyauspitr 2y agoAccording to the article they just brought it back to 2014 levels.
- chasil 2y agoAs long as my social security checks do not bounce starting in ten years, let as many people in as you want. Burning a bit of karma never hurts now and then.
- jfengel 2y agoImmigrants are generally young and seeking employment. Bringing in young workers is the best way to guarantee social security for yourself.
- thephyber 2y agoSocial Security benefits will reduce _despite_ immigrants, not _because_ of them. Americans voted in extremely good terms on SS (always good COLA adjustments, the age of SS retirement never adjusting for longer lifetimes or easier labor). It was never sustainable without consistent massive economic growth.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoBased on the SSA’s own published findings, they will need to reduce benefits by 25% starting in 2034. Unless of course something changes to collect more taxes.
- nobody9999 2y agoLike removing the cap on contributions?
- firecall 2y agoAustralia, on both sides of the house, also understands the importance of Immigration. However we just neglected to build anywhere for them to live... We are in a cost-of-living crisis, a per-capita recession. One of the reasons we are not in a full-blown recessions is the wealth that immigrants brought with them! Building firms are going under, and we gutted the trade schools years ago. So the housing crisis isn't going to resolve anytime soon...
- daft_pink 2y agoI think there is a lot of divisiveness towards illegal immigration in the United States and securing the border, but there is a lot of agreement that the mechanism for legal immigration here is also broken and should be fixed and that’s a totally different thing. It’s sad that the fix is about who they think these people will vote for though.
- redandblack 2y agoI never understood that lack of understanding by politicians on what people need - totally understandable in US where corporate lobbyists rule congress. Australia, Canada governance are mysteries to me. On the residential homes - i assume it not a question of land/resources.
- awkii 2y agoThe Australian and the USA's immigration system are substantially different in terms of underlying values. The Australian system assigns points based on skill and merit. The US has an emphasis on reuniting families, a lottery system, and difficulty through ambiguity. Anecdotally, my friend who immigrated from Silicon Valley to Australia was able to explain his process to me in about an hour. In contrast, I have had the USA system explained to me many times, and it still hasn't clicked. I can't help but to feel like this is by design. As for our (USA's) housing crisis, the New York Times had a podcast about that just four days ago [1]. There are some notable parallels to what you have described. TL;DR: The 2008 recession pushed us from building 2.2 million houses a year to 600K, for the last 20ish years. The skilled laborers and tradesmen who used to build houses have closed shop. Now here we are years later and millions of houses short with no clear way to reboot the industry. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/24/podcasts/the-daily/housing-crisis-michigan.html https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/24/podcasts/the-daily/housin...
- ashconnor 2y agoIf only Green Card processing was as efficient.
- mlinhares 2y agoNow this is asking too much dude, the government can't get efficient in two places at the same time, that would be cheating.
- redandblack 2y agoIt is limited right? I assume the quotas are done by October / early November I assume.
- daft_pink 2y agoAs with everything in the us immigration system. It’s not fast enough!
- jdlyga 2y agoI remember my wife going through all stages of visas. Student visa, H1B, green card, then citizen. If you've never gone through it, it's complicated and involves a lot of waiting. Green card was the most complex out of all of them. We had less paperwork getting a mortgage and buying a house. It's very bureaucratic, and could use with some simplification. But once you're a citizen, it's smooth sailing.
- irjustin 2y ago> We had less paperwork getting a mortgage and buying a house. Generally, yes, this is the way it should be. Path from visitor to citizen should involve way more checks than owning a home.
- bdhess 2y agoWhat is the check that we need to do for aspiring citizens that wouldn’t interest a lender? Also, making sure the house is sufficient collateral for the loan is a whole bunch of additional overhead.
- ChumpGPT 2y agoUS Citizenship is worth a lot more than a house....
- irjustin 2y ago> aspiring citizens that wouldn’t interest a lender If it was possible the lender doesn't care who you are just your ability and willingness to pay for the loan. The best signals for that is history of repayment combined with cash, salary and collateral. All other checks are the ones because those signals weren't strong enough and gov requirements for anti AML, good person, etc but those are gov reqs.
- redandblack 2y agoAs much I like the points based system, I feel the family-based approach to which US pivoted to in 60s was the correct approach - you really cannot predict where the next einstein is going to be show up, and I always tell my wife we already lost her in Iran or Afghansitan
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- rayiner 2y ago[flagged]
- smrtinsert 2y agoBe brave and expressive. Whatever do you mean?
- RajT88 2y agoThe party bemoaning illegal immigration when in power tried to entirely kill off immigration and naturalization - which are totally unrelated to such a complaint. Not to mention birthright citizenship. I could spell it out more plainly if you like, but if you are at all familiar with the parties, you should know by now which which one tried these things.
- rayiner 2y agoI come from a country where the Anglo-American tradition of participatory self-government is a totally alien concept. They view government as a parental entity and would be perfectly happy with a well functioning autocracy like China’s. This is true of my family members who became naturalized citizens, even after decades in America. There is one party that benefits from people with foreign mindsets participating in American elections.
- umbra07 2y agoWhat country is that? I've heard a similar sentiment from many of my transfer student acquaintances/friends from various Asian countries.
- rayiner 2y agoBangladesh, but I suspect that the same could be said for most Asian countries. The west in general, and America in particular, is the product of mindsets and modes of thinking that were centuries in the making and are different from the dominant ways of thinking elsewhere in the world. Your average westerner can’t articulate these ideas precisely, but has an intuitive understanding of them because they were raised in western society. You can’t take an adult raised somewhere like Bangladesh and expect them to think like an American just because they’ve lived here for 7-10 years and been naturalized.
- ozzyoli 2y agoFormer Green card holder now Citizen as of a few days ago. Submitted an online form 4 months ago, received an interview date two months ago, had my interview last week. Interview was at 8:30am Oath ceremony was at 9am Registered to vote at 9.15am Back at work at 10am! Submitted passport application the day after. Interview was straightforward and most of the time was double checking all the information I had previously submitted was accurate. Learning the answers to the civics test was fun. I think there is a cliche of a stern interviewer who is looking for any excuse to say no, but this officer was kind and encouraging. The oath ceremony was actually quite moving. I often see most displays of patriotism as some kind of pseudo mental illness but the patriotism shown by the officiant was actually rational, inclusive and inspiring. All that to say, am lucky and pleased to have such a smooth journey to citizenship and am happy to be able to vote!
- justin66 2y agoCongratulations!
- belgiandudette 2y agoOurs was even faster. Submitted our naturalization application March 31. Had passport in hand by mid May. Interview and ceremony was between those dates.
- godsinhisheaven 2y ago>I often see most displays of patriotism as some kind of pseudo mental illness Why is that? It just doesn't seem rational to me to see it that way, but if that is how you feel then that is how you feel. I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise, I already know I can't, but just some explanation would be valuable.
- smokedetector1 2y agoA patriotism that sounds like "we are the best" often coincides with spurning rational and empathetic assessment of reality in favor of using this patriotism as a prideful crutch.
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- slowhadoken 2y agoI’ve known many people that immigrated to the US. I grew up in a neighborhood that was 98% southeast Asian immigrants. The 1990’s and 2000’s were a better time in a lot of ways. But in 2024 with the recession still on and housing costing a fortune where are they going to go??? I mean especially considering the overwhelmingly high record numbers too. I mean this in the most practical and sincere way.
- phillypham 2y agoAs an American with Southeast Asian immigrant parents, they will live in a way that most Americans would find intolerable. Whole families in a 1 bedroom, very long commutes, taking buses, and living apart from their children (CPS, I know). To be clear, I did not grow up like this, but I know many that did.
- slowhadoken 2y agoSome, yeah. I grew up with the 1990’s OGs. Outside my project and literally across the street was a pocket of county within city limits and all the Hmong and Laos families lived like that there. I courted a girl that lived with like 15 people in a 2 bed 1 bath house there. But the families in my project had to follow government rules with respect to the number of people living in one unit.
- tiahura 2y agoExtending the franchise devalues the franchise.
- zachf 2y agoI remember hearing that exact phrase, word for word, back in 2008 about gay marriage. Guess what happened next?
- like_any_other 2y agoUnlike marriage, voting is a zero-sum game.
- zachf 2y agoSo you would support naturalization of immigrants who agree with your views, then?
- like_any_other 2y agoYou're asking the wrong question. Conflicts arise not just from differing views on general questions about governance, but from competing groups each fighting for their own self-interest. "Agreeing with views", for one fleeting moment in time, means little for the long-term cohesion of a country, or the prosperity and sovereignty of a people. See for example Kashmir [1] - whether the coming immigrants agree with the natives on e.g. the tax rate, term limits for politicians, or environmental laws, don't even come up as concerns. Nor did Czechoslovakia split over gay marriage, or Yugoslavia over differing views on abortion. This focus on "views" to the exclusion of all else is a purely American phenomenon, and a recent one at that - only six decades old. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new-status-could-bring-demographic-change-drawing-comparisons-west-bank/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new...
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