4 ms·

That guy had been overstaying a tourist visa for something like 17 years, and only started the green card process in April 2025. I don't think people who have o

That guy had been overstaying a tourist visa for something like 17 years, and only started the green card process in April 2025. I don't think people who have overstayed tourist visas for 17 years should be eligible for any kind of permanent residency in the US, and would support laws making it impossible for someone in his position to get a green card or a work permit. The fact that he is a white Irishman is legally irrelevant and enforcing immigration law in a race-neutral way is pretty un-Gestapo-like behavior.

deepsun 9mo ago
Only because we made the "overstaying" an illegal offense. But there's no reason to -- if the guy was paying taxes the whole time, and never committed a serious crime, then we should be happy to welcome such guys, ramping up our GDP. Don't forget that the paperwork costs a lot, if one has children, can get close to $10k. Look at Spain -- instead of deporting "illegals", they just made them "legals" (those without a criminal record). Easy, problem solved.
- direwolf20 9mo ago
  [flagged]
- tick_tock_tick 9mo ago
  If he was paying taxes during that time period he was also committing a felony.
  - bryanrasmussen 9mo ago
    I like this theory of paying taxes is a felony, tell me more!! Levity aside, working on a tourist visa is a violation but generally isn't prosecuted as a felony. Also the grandparent post said "They seized a white Irishman last October who had a valid work permit and was just about to head to his green card interview." If he had a valid work permit I suppose this means that he was allowed to work and pay taxes on that work, in other words - no, he was not committing a felony.
    - deleted 9mo ago
      [deleted]
  - deepsun 9mo ago
    All you need to pay taxes is an SSN. One can get an SSN in many ways, e.g. long ago on another visa. Same as income to pay on -- can be earned in many ways.
    - monocasa 9mo ago
      You don't even need that. The IRS will give you a TIN to pay taxes with if you don't have an SSN.
  - coin 9mo ago
    Sounds like B.S. Anyone not eligible for a SSN can get a TIN and pay taxes to the IRS. * https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identification-number-itin https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identificat... * https://www.nilc.org/resources/itinfaq/ https://www.nilc.org/resources/itinfaq/ And all those payments has contributed trillions of dollars https://www.cato.org/blog/cato-study-immigrants-reduced-deficits-145-trillion-1994 https://www.cato.org/blog/cato-study-immigrants-reduced-defi...
- broken-kebab 9mo ago
  You make it sound like deportations happen because of some mistaken legal wording. That's distortion of reality. A significant amount of US citizens voted for them to happen. I'm sure they heard about GDP many times and still found other reasons more important. It wouldn't be a wild guess to assume that they won't buy Spain as a good example.
  - deepsun 9mo ago
    Xenophobia, of course. I just point out that to me "overstaying visa" is such a completely artificial concept, with arbitrary timelines, and is not explainable by any rational considerations of the state. Otherwise they'd neglect it. Or, as I saw myself in another country, a border guy is like "Wow, you overstayed your visa by N years! Don't worry, let me correct that. I recommend getting a permanent residency, would be easier for you to pay taxes and use our government systems. Welcome!"
    - philipallstar 8mo ago
      > Xenophobia, of course. Not of course. If you know you're not willing to understand why people think the way they do then what's the point in drawing conclusions from your biases? > I just point out that to me "overstaying visa" is such a completely artificial concept So is the concept of a "country" or a "state". Everything is an artificial concept. The first duty of the state is to have border integrity, so the country means something, and that includes deciding who can come in and for how long. This is very, very basic stuff that's normal in every country in the world. The US lets the most people in legally in the entire world, and by quite some measure[0]. If you think it's some xenophobic nightmare of a place then that seems an extremely narrow understanding of the world and the US's place in it. [0] https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/top-statistics-global-migration-migrants-2025 https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/top-statistics-globa...
      - deepsun 8mo ago
        Far from it. Concept of "country" or a "state" are way less artificial. Up until 1924 USA welcomed almost anyone with any background. Many countries don't care about it today. Australia was populated with literal criminals. The concept of a "state" and its borders is to determine where its laws apply to. Historically, there was rarely even resources to mark the boundary in any meaningful way. But the problem of two kinds claiming sovereignty over a territory got resolved pretty easily -- whoever has the ability to collect taxes (aka tribute). Immigration was not a major concern at all. If anything, a feudal was more concerned of their tax base moving OUT of their jurisdiction, not preventing movement IN. As I said above, Spain just gave permanent residency to everyone "overstaying" the visa. Does the concept of Spain as a country stopped "meaning something"? > The US lets the most people in legally in the entire world, and by quite some measure[0]. If you think it's some xenophobic nightmare of a place then that seems an extremely narrow understanding of the world and the US's place in it. USA immigration process is very hostile, compared to almost any other country in the world (IMO only UK and Switzerland are comparable). I went through it, as well as in other countries, can compare. Why are you so sure I have the "extremely narrow understanding"? Even paying $700+ for just one form, without any guarantees or money back is already sus.
slg 9mo ago
The first lady originally came to the US on a tourist visa before getting work as a model and eventually applying for a green card several years later. Musk came to the US on a student visa for a program that he never actually enrolled in. Even if you want to argue its "race-neutral", it's certainly not "proximity to the president neutral" so it still is very much "Gestapo-like behavior".
- broken-kebab 9mo ago
  It's not Gestapo-like, and whatever is your position on political spectrum it's ridiculous to put things like Stalin-Hitler-Mao-Pol Pot repressions on the same level as anything happening in the US.
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
- philipallstar 9mo ago
  This constant dilution of how bad the Gestapo were is appalling.
  - slg 9mo ago
    Some people have this weird view of history in which everything is judged by the end state. They believe we can’t compare a situation to something like Nazi Germany if it is not identical to the final stages of that fascist regime. The problem with that thinking is it ignores how these regimes got to that point. Not only do they constantly escalate their atrocities growing worse over time, but many of those atrocities simply weren’t and won’t be known until the regime is deposed meaning the in the moment understandings of their evilness is incomplete.

deepsun 9mo ago

Only because we made the "overstaying" an illegal offense. But there's no reason to -- if the guy was paying taxes the whole time, and never committed a serious crime, then we should be happy to welcome such guys, ramping up our GDP. Don't forget that the paperwork costs a lot, if one has children, can get close to $10k. Look at Spain -- instead of deporting "illegals", they just made them "legals" (those without a criminal record). Easy, problem solved.

direwolf20 9mo ago
[flagged]
tick_tock_tick 9mo ago
If he was paying taxes during that time period he was also committing a felony.
- bryanrasmussen 9mo ago
  I like this theory of paying taxes is a felony, tell me more!! Levity aside, working on a tourist visa is a violation but generally isn't prosecuted as a felony. Also the grandparent post said "They seized a white Irishman last October who had a valid work permit and was just about to head to his green card interview." If he had a valid work permit I suppose this means that he was allowed to work and pay taxes on that work, in other words - no, he was not committing a felony.
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
- deepsun 9mo ago
  All you need to pay taxes is an SSN. One can get an SSN in many ways, e.g. long ago on another visa. Same as income to pay on -- can be earned in many ways.
  - monocasa 9mo ago
    You don't even need that. The IRS will give you a TIN to pay taxes with if you don't have an SSN.
- coin 9mo ago
  Sounds like B.S. Anyone not eligible for a SSN can get a TIN and pay taxes to the IRS. * https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identification-number-itin https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identificat... * https://www.nilc.org/resources/itinfaq/ https://www.nilc.org/resources/itinfaq/ And all those payments has contributed trillions of dollars https://www.cato.org/blog/cato-study-immigrants-reduced-deficits-145-trillion-1994 https://www.cato.org/blog/cato-study-immigrants-reduced-defi...
broken-kebab 9mo ago
You make it sound like deportations happen because of some mistaken legal wording. That's distortion of reality. A significant amount of US citizens voted for them to happen. I'm sure they heard about GDP many times and still found other reasons more important. It wouldn't be a wild guess to assume that they won't buy Spain as a good example.
- deepsun 9mo ago
  Xenophobia, of course. I just point out that to me "overstaying visa" is such a completely artificial concept, with arbitrary timelines, and is not explainable by any rational considerations of the state. Otherwise they'd neglect it. Or, as I saw myself in another country, a border guy is like "Wow, you overstayed your visa by N years! Don't worry, let me correct that. I recommend getting a permanent residency, would be easier for you to pay taxes and use our government systems. Welcome!"
  - philipallstar 8mo ago
    > Xenophobia, of course. Not of course. If you know you're not willing to understand why people think the way they do then what's the point in drawing conclusions from your biases? > I just point out that to me "overstaying visa" is such a completely artificial concept So is the concept of a "country" or a "state". Everything is an artificial concept. The first duty of the state is to have border integrity, so the country means something, and that includes deciding who can come in and for how long. This is very, very basic stuff that's normal in every country in the world. The US lets the most people in legally in the entire world, and by quite some measure[0]. If you think it's some xenophobic nightmare of a place then that seems an extremely narrow understanding of the world and the US's place in it. [0] https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/top-statistics-global-migration-migrants-2025 https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/top-statistics-globa...
    - deepsun 8mo ago
      Far from it. Concept of "country" or a "state" are way less artificial. Up until 1924 USA welcomed almost anyone with any background. Many countries don't care about it today. Australia was populated with literal criminals. The concept of a "state" and its borders is to determine where its laws apply to. Historically, there was rarely even resources to mark the boundary in any meaningful way. But the problem of two kinds claiming sovereignty over a territory got resolved pretty easily -- whoever has the ability to collect taxes (aka tribute). Immigration was not a major concern at all. If anything, a feudal was more concerned of their tax base moving OUT of their jurisdiction, not preventing movement IN. As I said above, Spain just gave permanent residency to everyone "overstaying" the visa. Does the concept of Spain as a country stopped "meaning something"? > The US lets the most people in legally in the entire world, and by quite some measure[0]. If you think it's some xenophobic nightmare of a place then that seems an extremely narrow understanding of the world and the US's place in it. USA immigration process is very hostile, compared to almost any other country in the world (IMO only UK and Switzerland are comparable). I went through it, as well as in other countries, can compare. Why are you so sure I have the "extremely narrow understanding"? Even paying $700+ for just one form, without any guarantees or money back is already sus.

slg 9mo ago

The first lady originally came to the US on a tourist visa before getting work as a model and eventually applying for a green card several years later. Musk came to the US on a student visa for a program that he never actually enrolled in. Even if you want to argue its "race-neutral", it's certainly not "proximity to the president neutral" so it still is very much "Gestapo-like behavior".

broken-kebab 9mo ago
It's not Gestapo-like, and whatever is your position on political spectrum it's ridiculous to put things like Stalin-Hitler-Mao-Pol Pot repressions on the same level as anything happening in the US.
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
philipallstar 9mo ago
This constant dilution of how bad the Gestapo were is appalling.
- slg 9mo ago
  Some people have this weird view of history in which everything is judged by the end state. They believe we can’t compare a situation to something like Nazi Germany if it is not identical to the final stages of that fascist regime. The problem with that thinking is it ignores how these regimes got to that point. Not only do they constantly escalate their atrocities growing worse over time, but many of those atrocities simply weren’t and won’t be known until the regime is deposed meaning the in the moment understandings of their evilness is incomplete.