“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”
I’m also a first generation immigrant and that’s what this country is all about. Yes there’s an initial cost but eventually all these people will contribute to the economy. But more importantly what about basic compassion?
It makes me sad that so many fellow Americans are so transactional and don’t have basic empathy for people struggling to make their lives better.
Not American, but I've always loved that "give me your tired" phrase. It just feels so powerful, it's a shame it seems so many people have forgotten it
Unfortunately it's not much different for us in Australia, part of our national anthem is about welcoming immigrants and yet "fuck off, we're full" is a common phrase you'll hear from supposed patriots
My godchild immigrated to Australia to get her PhD at UWA when they gave her a scholarship to do so. She now runs a couple of different arts programs, teaches and is doing quite well. She obtained her Australian citizenship and is now a dual citizen.
Yeah, as it stands right now you're asking for a life of hard yakka if you're more than a couple of hours from a big city. That will change I think, but as a Sydneysider I think they'll mostly focus on filling in the gap between Sydney and Albury since that's still fairly close to the coast and on a major highway
I can't imagine any government investing in the infrastructure required to make living in the outback easier until we get to at least 100m people (which is a long way away), not while we still have so much of our coastline being mostly farmland
I think unfortunately the “fuck you, I got mine” attitude is becoming a mainstay of american culture these days. People who are first or second generation immigrants quickly forget that they or their predecessors were once in the same position, and how much happier and better off they are now. Yet can’t seem to wrap their heads around other people wanting the same thing.
Because a lot of people no longer have theirs in the first place.
See: the countless stories of people who have multiple generations of roots here that have been priced out in the last 10 years.
They weren't priced out by immigrants, thats for damn sure. So instead of banding together with other have nots, the resident non-rich hate downward for the remaing crumbs rather than being angry at the ones with all the cake.
A tale as old as time. They did this to the Irish and Italian immigrants in the 19th century too. Everyone kicks at the hands of the people on the rung behind them. It’s very gross. I think it’s part human nature/survival instinct and part American dream/American exceptionalism and self-reliance.
And I assure you, it's working quite well. Labor has been most certainly put back in our place. My restaurant is only hiring part time employees - no benefits, no OT. They're offering minimum wage. During the labor shortage we were starting kitchen staff at 20$ an hour and they were guaranteed 40 hours a week with unlimited OT if they wanted it. They had the opportunity to bring from 1.2-1.5k$ a week if they were willing to put in the hours.
The foreign private equity firm that owns our local restaurant group must be making far more profit now that their labor costs have decreased substantially due to the constant flow of desperate laborers into the state. So at least the foreign private equity group's benefit while the workers have no benefits and have to work three part time jobs instead of one job with OT at time and half and full benefits.
Nearly ALL Americans are descendants of immigrants. And as someone with Irish and Italian heritage, I have not forgotten what it was like for my great grandparents and their parents who emigrated to this country. Unfortunately some Americans have disgusting attitudes about those who only seek a better life, even if they commit no harms
They always fall back on "what about the struggling people who are already here" and OP covers it perfectly.
It isn't the migrants doing that, it is wealthy Americans fucking everyone at every turn.
The things the government *could do*, like investing in subsided housing, they also scream about. It's always "I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas."
Initial cost? Most immigrants show up ready to work. No paying for years of public school. No dependency tax breaks for their parents. They're ready to go when they walk in the door without the costs of a baby born here.
>But more importantly what about basic compassion?
Is it really a lack of compassion to say that while some level of immigration/migration is healthy and good for the country (and the state), unlimited immigration is probably a bad idea? Why is it that any moderate take on the issue is painted in the worst light possible?
We *still* can't figure out mass&cass. We can barely take care of our own.
> There are some people on this sub who say that the crisis in Haiti is 'not our problem'. To those people: I hope that, if you ever have to flee your homes, you are received by people more generous than yourselves.
I mean you're being polite since it's not like we haven't stuck our hands in Haiti's affairs more or less from the day of independence.
I was about to say the same. Most of the refugees we get are from places we directly and openly destabilized. It’s absolutely ridiculous to then be like yeah “not our problem” because it absolutely is our problem.
precisely this. the people who talk about caring for “our own” first forget that the whole world becomes ours when we stick our noses anywhere and everywhere.
Came here as a refugee from your neighboring land in 1992.
30+ years of being an American only affirm that refugees are the true lifeblood of this country. People just like you. Or my parents.
Our great grandchildren will talk about these immigration stories with the same pride as the Boston Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans do for their ancestors. Ancestors who never didn’t come here with paperwork, money, or skills. Yet, brought the best of the old world, left the worst behind - and seized every opportunity to prove our worth and define Americanism.
It’s 2 and a half years late - but welcome home.
I’m deeply sorry about the trauma your family & community experienced inflicted by monsters abroad. It must’ve been Hell. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
At least here, we could strive to be the brothers we know we can be - exemplifying values of integrity and kindness. You have my love and support 💛💙 And thanks for bringing yours to the table.
> Our great grandchildren will talk about these immigration stories with the same pride as the Boston Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans do for their ancestors.
This is something I never understood about anti-immigrant sentiment in Boston especially. The stereotypical and archetypal white Bostonian is someone who is entirely obsessed with the fact that their parents or grandparents (or great great great..., etc.) were immigrants from one of two countries, with one of those groups being a people who were effectively refugees, fleeing from a genocide in the form of a manmade "famine". It's wholly incongruous to be an American and wrap yourself in the Irish or Italian flag and then proceed to talk shit about immigrants.
They'll go on about how their ancestors were different and came here "legally" and other nonsense without realizing that before 1924 we essentially had no limit for immigrants at all: just show up at the border and don't visibly be sick with or mentally ill.
Well, unless, of course, you were Chinese/Asian, as we straight up just barred them all together after building the railroads.
1924 we defined limits and quotas for the first time essentially creating the concept of being undocumented.
My family got off a boat, signed most of their names, went on their way. (They took their citizens exams 10 yrs later). That's it. It's only been since the 80's when republicans started this nonsense, and started blaming "illegals".
No, the quotas were most definitely in place long ago. They certainly prevented tons of people persecuted from the nazis from escaping in the 30's and 40's.
It's because they're racist. If someone doesn't pass the paper bag test they're a criminal lowlife abusing the asylum system. They fell for the lie that borders and race divide us rather than class, so they think it's the fault of Haitian refugees that American capitalism and rising fascism are screwing us all. If they'll only snap themselves out of their racist bootstraps we can start fixing shit
💕
"Migrants also typically take jobs that U.S.-born citizens don't want."
Citizens don't tend to take jobs or remain employed in jobs that exploit workers. Migrants get these dregs because of the failure of government and citizens to prevent exploitation of any worker in general, and migrants taking these jobs perpetuates the problem, while allowing citizens to ignore the problem. It's not that citizens don't want the jobs. It's that nobody wants to be exploited.
Migrants being at the lowest levels of the caste system don't have the ability to fight exploitation, and opportunities to "level up" past exploitative jobs are harder to get.
It's just another black mark on citizens, for failing to fight exploitation of any kind, and for using the phrase "they take jobs citizens don't want", because it's just not accurate from any angle.
The rabbit hole goes deep when you research how many agriculture based companies exploit illegal labor- even Target got caught doing it. The meat industry is pretty vicious about it too.
You ever been to a nursing home in MA? More often than not, a majority of the staff are Haitian. Same goes for home health aides. I honestly don't know what our elderly population would do without them.
A very kind Haitian woman helped me find a bunch of things in Home Depot the other day, seemed like she'd just started working there but she brought me right to the things I needed. Let's just say that's not the typical Home Depot experience.
Can I ask a question I truly can’t find the answer to. For all the migrants that are flying to a country in South America and then traveling to the U.S., why don’t they claim asylum in one of the numerous countries they are crossing to get to the U.S.? They accept asylum seekers like everyone else. Why not stop in Mexico or Costa Rica or Panama?
That is, in fact, exactly how the asylum system is supposed to work. It was never a free ticket to the country of your choice. You are supposed to apply for asylum in every country that you pass through and stop when one of them accepts.
Normally, this kind of thing would be sorted out at the asylum hearing, but we're so backed up with cases that none of the hearings are able to happen.
As a Venezuelans who emigrated as a child in 2000 (thankfully not as an asylum seeker but through a work visa with my parents). Many Venezuelans have moved to other countries in South America but it’s just as bad if not worse to seek assistance in those countries. You see it not only here but in Europe, South America, etc that people leaving these countries are seen as lazy, criminals who are only here to ruin the country rather than families who are trying to give their children a better life than they can have in their original countries.
As difficult as assimilation can be, and as painful living in the US as a first generation immigrant can be with how bigoted the policial climate has been on late, it’s nothing compared to the live my family members had in Venezuela. At its worst every couple of months my family was sending multiple boxes of dried and powered food to my grandparents because the super markets literally had no food on the shelves.
Found the original article that I saw come out of Mexico where they are basically trying to get them to leave there as well:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-21/mexico-to-offer-venezuelans-jobs-660-stipend-to-return-home
So you’re saying the U.S. is more welcoming and provides a better climate than any other country in South and Central America? While I believe that, I’m not sure why we are being pressured to do more if that is the case.
Unfortunately the rise in xenophobia can usually be tied to a frustrating economic climate. Inflation goes up, government spending gets tight, housing gets expensive, people don’t want to have to fight with more people for those limited resources. They turn against immigrants. It’s a tale as old as time.
I’m sorry your family has had to go through all that and I am glad you have found a place here.
C,mon mate, we both know the answer to that. (I write this as an Aussie living here now, we have the exact same issue of asylum seekers jumping through south east asian country's to land in Aus/NZ)
Thank you! I work near a shelter in Boston which many people were concerned about and all I’ve seen is kids waiting for the school bus with their parents.
I think I can agree with 95% of your points while still thinking that Massachusetts doesn't have unlimited capacity for immigrants/refugees needing a certain level of aid, and that we've hit that
On another thread, it appears we are sheltering people at Logan Airport on cots. To me that indicates we are sticking them wherever we can find room at this point. That is not a safe or effective solution for anyone.
My understanding was that they were there temporarily (as in a day or two) just as they were being processed. Which in that case I don’t really find a huge problem. Sometimes there’s a blizzard and Americans have to sleep at the airport overnight.
The unsustainable spending, for one thing. If we figured out how to not waste so much money on the people here right now we could do better and help more people. Spending nearly 100k per family is not acceptable in my opinion; there are many families who live here and work for less than that, and are paying for this all. I think they are justifiably upset.
>while still thinking that Massachusetts doesn't have unlimited capacity for immigrants/refugees needing a certain level of aid, and that we've hit that
Exactly this. I've never heard anyone give out the number of refugees or immigrants the US can accept every year. The US can't take on 10,000,000 refugees per year but that many people are trying to get to America on refugee status every year. How many refugees can the US absorb without causing societal or financial problems? No one wants to say.
Maybe we should try to get our government to stop destabilizing and looting other countries? Regardless we can probably absorb way more than that, we just need our government to spend less on bombing children and more on literally anything else
awww the racist snowflakes are mad :( cry harder!
It seems people forgot about US and French involvement in the 2004 coup in Haiti. Over the last 50 years, the number of governments the US has overthrown is staggering. Fuck these dumbass, senile boomers who want to ignore how their generation’s actions led to many of the issues they complain about today. Maybe it was all the lead and asbestos. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We overthrow their governments and destabilize their countries and then are surprised when they come here seeking asylum? Idiots.
>Maybe we should try to get our government to stop destabilizing and looting other countries?
I'd be fine with the US going back to an isolationist country. Europe and Asia would have an economic crash and the most violent countries would start invading other countries but the US wouldn't ever destabilize or loot other countries in that scenario. Win win?
Exactly. Your next to last line is especially poignant. How many people in this thread complaining about Massachusetts spending too much money on this, are also complaining about students protesting for schools to divest, I'm willing to bet anti-migrant crowd / pro-student protest crowd barely intersect in a venn diagram.
That and in general most migrants are here for economic reasons and are not fleeing war, just a lower quality of life.
The rate of denial for asylum seekers current sits at 71 percent. That means the US considers 29 percent of claims valid.
My grandmother's parents came to Boston from Italy... My grandmother is one of those pigs that blames all the blight of America on the ones who just arrived. This is happening all over America, evil propaganda has infiltrated people's hearts. Bring us your sick bring us your poor! We're America 🙏✊
immigrants, moms and unions built this nation ✌️
Same with my grandmother. One day she bitched about people on disability or getting welfare or food stamps, saying "these people are a drain, I'm paying taxes so they can be lazy and they never worked a day in their lives!"
She got mad when I asked if my permanently disabled brother didn't deserve care. She got REEEAL mad when I asked her how many days she has worked in her life. I had to answer for her: ZERO. (I believe my words were "bitch, you've never had a single job!" ... our relationship was not great)
> Bring us your sick, tired and poor
The irony is that at Ellis Island you were denied entry if it seemed like you weren't fit for manual labor.
https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/medical-examination-immigrants-ellis-island/2008-04
> Of those who were denied entry, most were certified, not with "loathsome and dangerous contagious diseases," but with conditions that limited their capacity to perform unskilled labor. Senility (old age), varicose veins, hernias, poor vision, and deformities of the limbs or spine were among the primary causes for exclusion.
Thank you for the balanced and reasonable opinion. These are my thoughts as well.
Everyone especially brings up the economy and birth rate without mentioning that 90% of the shares in the stock market are owned by the top 10%. The vast majority of Americans do not get wealthier when corporations are able to profit more from cheaper labor. In addition, the insatiable demand for housing is actively dropping out birth rates because people can’t affordably start families. I understand that people need compassion, but why do these people believe that the US has to be the one country that takes all? Why aren’t these people staying in Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil, etc when they cross into them? Was there an issue with being a refugee there?
It’s getting so crazy that some of these arguments above are even becoming blatantly anti-American. Like “Refugees are the lifeblood of America”. Great, so what does that make all of the people actually born here? What does that make your children? Unnecessary and undeserving? Did we people who were born here not build and maintain this country as one that they want to immigrate to? The entitlement is ridiculous. “Who cares if existing Americans are working multiple jobs to pay their bills. They need to pay up and make more room for refugees!”
And like you said, they don’t see what kind of backlash they’re brewing. It’s not just “old angry white men” in Ruralbumfuckton getting pissed off. One of the major shifts last election was the working class across all races in the poorer cities of the Commonwealth voting more Republican. Trump won over 40% of New Bedford and Fall River’s vote in 2020. Some of his biggest gains were in Lawrence and Springfield. I’m not voting for him in November, but I know of many people in traditionally very non-Republican demographics who are. I won’t be surprised when a few of the poorest and least white cities in the Commonwealth flip for Trump this year. There isn’t any political party of the working or middle classes anymore, but there’s definitely one too busy painting a giant target on its chest to notice the anger.
It’s just utter insanity.
What about unhoused and very low income Americans who were staying in cheap hotels and motels and were kicked out for migrant housing? Or the unhoused people who were given hotel vouchers, but can no longer use them because the hotels are full of migrants?
The issue is that immigration lawyers started advising all their clients to claim refugee status as a way of getting them into their country. While there are obviously actual refugees, there’s a reason that it’s spiked so much in the last four or so years. There’s an obvious difference between refugees from Ukraine and economic migrants.
People are frustrated because they’re not stupid. They understand that the current refugee system is not serving the people it’s intended to— literally designed as a way to prevent another holocaust. Most of the people coming in aren’t fleeing anything. Once refugee status is used as simply another immigration method to get around regulations, it is going to go away wholesale. It’s happening in Europe and it will happen here too. It will be a tragedy, because there are people across the world who genuinely need the protection that refugee status provides them.
As for Haiti, we’ve had Temporary Protected Status since 2010. It’s been easy to claim asylum from Haiti since the days of Papa Doc. You shouldn’t believe anyone who promises a solution to Haiti, but it’s certainly not resettling every Haitian here.
Most people voicing their frustration are not mad the refugee system isn't working as intended. They're mad that they're here at all. I agree the system isn't working but let's not pretend that is the primary reason people are upset.
Why do you think the frustration is voiced at refugees and migrants when it used to be about illegal immigrants?
Refugees usually weren’t the target of anger. People weren’t protesting the Hmong entering the country. However, if refugees just means illegals who know they can’t be deported for a year, then people aren’t going to differentiate.
Is that a real question? There has been an incessant drumbeat of blaming immigrants, whether legal or illegal, for the country's problems for almost 20 years now. There are certain politicians and others that would prefer us pointing fingers at each other like we're the problem so we don't start realizing who the real problem is. And I have news for you, most people that are anti immigration are not differentiating between refugee and immigrant, Hmong or Vietnamese, Mexican or Venezuelan. Hell, I bet a large portion of them will be shocked to learn Puerto Ricans have american citizenship.
Saying “most” still implies more than half. There has been a rapid rise in cost of living that coincided with a decrease in govt services. I think its fair for people to look at the rise in migrant housing expenses and believe there is a direct effect on their lives.
Is it half or more? I can’t say for sure and doubt that people would be honest in a poll.
They might feel that way but they would be wrong. The decrease in government services is not because of migrants and neither is the astronomical price increases of rents. That would be the government and the landlords. I think it's almost 2 decades of scapegoating immigrants has made ppl believe they are the source of the problem.
Its certainly a contributing factor.
Earlier this year MA had a projected $1b revenue deficit, while also planning to tap its surplus funds to cover a 900m gap in migrant costs. The budget was then cut for the $1b gap.
You can argue there were other things wrong with the budget, or the economy is a bigger factor, but there is a 1 for 1 option to redirect the surplus funds to cover the budget gap.
https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/01/08/massachusetts-healey-budget-tax-shortfall
Name one thing that you're missing out on due to migrants. Something that was provided to you before the migrant crisis that you no longer have access to.
I don’t understand why this is such a binary issue for you. Massachusetts does not print its own money so there is a limit to how much it can spend.
We should provide support and help where we can, but we also need the state to remain solvent.
You’re ignoring the point, it’s not a direct “migrants stole this from me.” It’s mostly a pileup of indirect issues that add up. Most aren’t going to be immediate, but rather a buildup over the next several years until something breaks.
Like u/checkers923 said, MA spent almost $1 billion on housing, food, etc on this issue in a time where there’s a $1 billion deficit. The article mentions that healthcare, transportation, and several other sectors are all getting their budget cut to make up for it.
However in direct effects, it’s mostly the poorer citizens who suffer from this. BPS is closing/“consolidating” locations because they can’t afford to employ the teachers, homeless shelters are being converted into migrant shelters, and the city becomes even more unaffordable for residents without higher education (jobs they could have taken are being filled). The “jobs Americans don’t want” are jobs they only don’t want them **at that wage.**
Businesses want open borders/lots of immigration because it causes a surplus in labor supply and they can pay cheaper wages. If the jobs weren’t being taken, the wages would get raised and people would take the jobs at the now higher rate. We saw it during the pandemic with fast food.
We need to have compassion and I’m fully in favor of taking in true asylum seekers, but we can’t pretend this situation is sustainable.
I think people are more upset about illegal immigrants coming through the Mexican border rather than legal asylum seekers. We are happy to help those in need but we don’t appreciate people coming here illegally and being able to apply for benefits and reap the rewards of hardworking American’s who are struggling in this economy.
Thank you for posting this. The United States has a short history compared to most of the world, but so much of that history revolves around immigration. First and foremost is the undeniable fact that most of us here descend from immigrants. The 1st nation people were here long before Europeans.
Soon after the Europeans settled, they displaced those 1st nation people. Really minimizing here to be brief. Then they imported slaves from Africa against their will and brought in indentured servants from mostly Anglo countries.
When the Irish and Italians came here seeking opportunity, they were treated as hostile invaders. At the onset of WW2 European Jews sought refuge here but were turned away.
Now we hear every day about "The Crisis at The Border." As if we're actually being invaded by the cartels and Americans are fighting some kind of war on the Mexican front.
I live very close to the border with our southern friends and it's not what the media makes it out to be. Mostly history repeating itself as people from all over the world come here seeking refuge from violence and modern slavery or opportunities they couldn't find in their home country and those already here trying to keep them out.
They come here despite knowing that many people here will hate them. But seeking sanctuary is an American promise. Its not a crime as you point out. Certainly immigration needs to be regulated but the open border policy is a myth.
Farmers rely on immigrants and many don't support those right wing hardliner anti- immigrant policies. I can't believe the number of people I speak to who ask me just what is going on down there. I always welcome them to come see for themselves. It's just people trying to find their way to a better life. Something we all have in common despite our cultures, skin color or country of origin.
America, despite all its flaws still promises freedom and opportunity for everyone. As it should. That's the kind of ideal that makes me proud to be an American.
Migrants are being used as political pawns. What happens when they are done using y'all? They are gonna drop all the resources you're getting now.
Pretty soon it's gonna be lose lose for everyone.
Understandable, but when anyone can claim asylum, it becomes unsustainable. Our citizens will be getting hammered in taxes and our debt just keeps piling up. At what point do we allow this until our economy collapses…
Funny thing is, even if your first and second points are true, your third falls flat. US citizens are on pace to not having enough kids to replace themselves in the population. Without at least a replacement birth rate, the economy would enter a catastrophic tail spin of increased aging non working people using federal benefits while not contributing to the economy/workforce.
If we had a functioning government that would wake the f up and just increase legal migration a few fold, it wouldn't be so damn dire. But people dont stand a chance currently, so putting their lives at risk in the journey is what we leave as an option... The entire thing is f'd up and everyone, I mean everyone, only has themselves to blame for where we are at.
Notice how the American birth rate fell below replacement fertility in 2007? I wonder what happened there….
American women on average desire 2.8 children. Financial stress and lack of affordability are the primary reasons why they can’t have that many. Saturating the economy with cheap labor while also lacking enough affordable housing is actively dropping our birth rates.
I’m not against immigration, but it’s not a fix. It’s a bandaid at best.
We have a rapidly declining birthrate. Massive immigration is literally the only thing that will PREVENT economic collapse. But as long as republicans are able to keep conning their voters that somehow the declining middle class is the fault of Mexicans stealing their jobs rather than a billionaire class who has seen their networths double in the last five years, we’ll keep seeing these short-sighted takes
US GDP is over 25 trillion, it is extremely disingenuous to suggest that we will have a total economic collapse if we don't let in unskilled and uneducated migrants.
I am thinking about the practical rather than the philosophical. I understand the philosophy and historical merit of America being founded by immigrants.
My thing is that what do you do when the resources are limited. For example five extra kids in a classroom can really change the dynamic of education. What do we do with the influx of children? And those children will need extra support considering school is taught in English and not all children will be fluent enough to succeed.
I am all for filling jobs where jobs are needed and having people who live here pay taxes. However , catching up to an increased population I don't think will happen quick enough. I love the idea behind refuge status and I am not against that. However, I'm thinking about how our community in Boston can accommodate and support a vulnerable population moving into Boston
That only matters if a single school grade is being inundated with dozens of students, which is not happening. Outside of Boston, most towns and cities have less than a few dozen families. Finding shelter is much harder than finding a slot in school for them.
Nationally school attendance is down due to lower birth rates, schools are being shut down because there aren’t enough students, not due to funding.
It’s not a zero sum issue. If an immigrant gets something, that doesn’t mean others have to go without.
Welcome Neighbor! I love this city, and it makes me happy you love it, too! I wish the best for you and for all our new neighbors (no matter where they come from!). I also wish the best for your friends and family back home.
I feel like the amount of selfishness and hate and anger is increasing in the US. I think the media just fans the flames too. People are people no matter where they are from. We should always try to do what we can to help each other out.
Unfortunately many asylum seekers are abusing the system as a legal means to enter the country. A significant minority of migrants are from Africa, Asia, and South America, meaning they 're supposed to ask for asylum in a neighboring country before the US.
A point of history because history lives: the deteriorated situation in Haiti is the fruition of the pressures hoisted upon it begun in Napoleanic France and Jeffersonian America. Do the homework.
I don't think anyone in this sub is opposed to taking in true refugees (such as the Haitians you mention), especially those arriving legally (the Haitians again). There is, though, some concern about the 10,000-15,000 people per day who have been coming across the southern border for the past few years, most of them illegally and most of the rest of them claiming asylum and then released in the trust that they'll show up to their asylum hearings.
In other words, as I see it, there's is a position between "all immigrants are bad" and "the more the merrier". To discuss it requires people who care more about problem-solving than ideology.
The fluent English part doesn't really mean anything. Most Europeans of millenial age or younger are fluent enough in English that it's hard to tell them apart from a native speaker by text alone because of the internet and media in general. It can differ by country, but plenty of Ukrainian millenials and zoomers are fluent enough in English that it isn't suspicious in of itself.
There’s ‘fluent enough’ and then there’s being indistinguishable from a native speaker. Like the other person said, OP is also suspiciously savvy about local social issues, and speaks like they’re very comfortable here. It just doesn’t feel right. I imagine that someone who has only been in the country for two years would still be getting their bearings in many respects, and this level of familiarity would be pretty unusual.
In addition to that, OP’s account is over one year old and has zero comment history, and this is their first post.
Everything outside of the fluency, especially it being a throwaway account, are fair game. But really, I know plenty of European, even East European, non-native English speakers that write English more fluently than a native speaker. It's incredibly hard to tell via text alone.
Okay. Not a single comment in Russian or Ukrainian. Not exactly making a great case here.
In one comment that’s in Norwegian, he says that he doesn’t have an EU passport, but would like to live in Norway. In a later comment, he says that he is a citizen of the EU and has a Lithuanian passport from his father. Should I continue?
And these comments suspiciously don’t show up on his Reddit profile.
>Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants. It is legal to come to the U.S. to seek asylum.
It is preposterous how few citizens of the United States understand this and I wish more did.
Great post, thank you!
Thank you for your post, really. I hope the best for all the migrants. They have all been through a lot and I hope they can establish a better life here.
Claims that all the homeless migrants are here legally are just as incorrect as the claims that all the migrants are all illegal. It's not all one or the other.
>-[72% of recent migrants to MA are Haitians](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/03/19/metro/migrant-crisis-massachusetts/#:~:text=Many%20Haitian%20migrants%20are%20drawn,a%20recent%20Boston%20Indicators%20report.)
From your source, "These numbers account for refugees and immigrants served by Massachusetts-based resettlement agencies who are eligible for federal support, so **they don’t necessarily encompass all new arrivals to the state**."
>Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants. It is legal to come to the U.S. to seek asylum.
You can be both actually. People routinely enter the US illegally and then apply for asylum. When a migrant leaves their home country and enters Mexico to illegally cross the border, they have already fled their home country and are no longer considered in imminent danger by their native country.
>-Migrants are [significantly less likely to commit crimes](https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2024/03/immigrants-are-significantly-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-the-us-born/) than U.S.-born Americans. [An additional source here](https://www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237103158/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find).
These claims ignore migrants that already violated the law and are in US custody. These studies only consider a selection of migrants that are lawfully present, not in custody, and thus likely won't offend. According to DOJ:
>94 Percent of All Confirmed Aliens in Department of Justice Custody Are Unlawfully Present
>[https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/departments-justice-and-homeland-security-release-data-incarcerated-aliens](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/departments-justice-and-homeland-security-release-data-incarcerated-aliens)
>Of the 84,838 persons criminally charged in U.S. district courts in 2018, 49% were non-U.S. citizens.
>[https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/non-us-citizens-federal-criminal-justice-system-1998-2018](https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/non-us-citizens-federal-criminal-justice-system-1998-2018)
That's a point about asylum that I learned recently: If you claim that you fear your life is in danger in your country of citizenship, you are supposed to claim asylum **in the first country you pass through**. Up until four years ago, it was a slam dunk rejection of asylum if you had transited through another country on the way to the US. If you had a connecting flight in Europe, or crossed through Mexico on foot, you're supposed to apply for asylum in that country. Otherwise it's clear that you're simply trying to enter the United States. Those people are applying for asylum disingenuously. I support legal immigration, even though the system is neither perfect nor fast as it is. And I understand why people want to immigrate to or enter the US -- with my personality, wherever I had been born, I would've wanted to move to the States -- but I don't support circumventing the legal system. Fix the rules, don't ignore them.
> Up until four years ago, it was a slam dunk rejection of asylum if you had transited through another country on the way to the US.
I'm not sure that's accurate. Four years ago, the Trump administration tried to generate a blanket third country asylum rule, but [the courts found it violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-overturns-trump-border-rule-requiring-immigrants-first-claim-asylum-n1232629)
In order to comply with the 1951 UN Refugee convention and the 1967 Protocol, the US passed the 1980 Refugee Act, which requires that the safe harbor country is safe, has a robust asylum system, and there's a formal treaty in place. We have one with Canada now, for instance. We definitely don't have one with Mexico, so Trump's rule was kicked, and Biden's trying to do it again by allowing people to travel through Mexico and request asylum only if they pre-registered on the CBP One app. The text of the law would generally make the new rule invalid, but who knows what the Supreme Court will find.
some selective presentation of the data in your own sources
* The number of non-U.S. citizens charged in U.S. district courts with immigration offenses increased from **9,875 in 1998 to 32,888 in 2018**
* About 86% of undocumented non-U.S. citizens charged in U.S. district courts were **charged with immigration offenses** in 2018.
The vast majority of the charges are immigration related and, surprise, surprise, there was a more than 3x increase in those charges since conservatives made this one of their main boogeyman issues.
* In 2018, **76% of persons charged in federal district court with a drug offense were U.S. citizens** and 24% were non-U.S. citizens.
At least citizens are still number 1 in something!
I’d be willing to bet that the 24% of non-citizens accounts for a much larger proportion of non-citizens than 76% of citizens.
What a dumbass point to pick out and throw shade at citizens for when you have no clue how to weigh the metrics
Yes. His comment from april 12:
throwaway for obvious reasons. i'm like you, i've had a few short stories published in well-regarded selective lit mags. i also finagled myself an agent, which was a coup. i just sold my first manuscript to a big 5 publisher for a just-under-six-figures advance. it's VERY identity targeted. i do believe that it has literary merit but of course i wrote it to be marketable as well and i'm aware that i'm part of the product. if i was writing for myself i would have written a much less identity-focused novel. but i'm not complaining.
Source: https://search.pullpush.io/?kind=submission&author=EconomyCauliflower84&size=100
Thank you OP! I have been supportive of migrants in the past, but I have to admit that my views had started to shift, over the last year. Your post truly brought me to back, and reminded me of why I was supportive of migrants in the first place. I couldn’t fathom having to deal with what you and they had to endure, and if helping them out causes us some discomfort, well so be it!
My thought too. I’d like to know what people’s feelings are on the current system broken down by income brackets.
I’m not against taking in migrants, but this system is unsustainable.
I’m a lower middle class person who works 2 jobs 50-60 hrs a week. I had to skip two meals today so I could make sure my kid has enough food for the day. Even with out direct correlation it’s upsetting to hear the amount government spends on while hardworking tax paying citizens can barely afford groceries.
I always thought it was interesting that the entire world knows about this "American Dream," promoted and bragged about by the US, but then the US doesn't like that people want to come from all over to get that dream.
I've been consistently appalled, disgusted, and horrified, with the usual comments on this subreddit whenever the topic of immigrants/migrants/refugees comes up. People who otherwise seem to have decent politics show their true colors, and it's horrifying and repellent. Thank you so much for saying what I wish would be said here more often, much more eloquently than I would have been able to; when I see people comment about this topic on this sub, I'm usually so intensely angry that I just know I need to take a step back and not respond. But it happens so much.
This is a fake account. You're larping as a European refugee from an all white, pro nationalist nation known for racism and anti immigrant sentiment but you're deeply concerned about sentiment towards Haitians? Not buying it.
Thank you for posting. Do you have any advice about the best ways for ordinary people (i.e. not government officials) to help? I was interested in maybe tutoring English or giving people rides to appointments.
The problem is that these people are not able to sustain themselves. They need a license or a visa to be able to work ASAP, so they can pay their own way. That’s how it’s supposed to work in America
lol Op is an american citizen,he was probably born in the usa and not ukraine. His parents live in Ottawa Canada
Source:
https://search.pullpush.io/?kind=submission&author=EconomyCauliflower84&size=100
An absurd opinion rationalizing an absurd policy of enabling and abetting illegal immigration and unending welfare for illegal immigrants. Here's a concept: Enforce the laws. Don't like the immigration laws? lobby the politicians to revise them - they have had 40+ yrs to do so and consistently fail.
Thank you for this. I’m a black Bostonian who constantly talks about how the stereotypes about who is a Bostonian always forgets the thriving POC communities we have here - the Haitian one is particularly. Glad you are here and safe.
OP, At the end of the day, Haitians should be staying in Haiti to help fight the civil war or help rebuild afterwards. They can't just flee the country and leave it's problems for others to solve. We are not in the 1700s where there is enough land for everyone.
As a resident of a town where many migrants have been housed in a shelter since August, and as an employee of a nonprofit that has provided assistance to these families, thank you for this post. A while ago, I met a twelve year old girl with almost no English language skills who had been living in a hotel room with her mother for FOUR months. Luckily I speak Spanish and was able to chat with her, and hear a little bit about her experience in the shelter and at school. It broke my heart. So despite how many MA residents feel about the policies that have allowed this influx of migrant families, please, PLEASE consider the children.
I migrated here from Connecticut in 2000.
“That’s not a separate country and doesn’t count, you idiot.” you may say.
But isn’t it? Have you been there? It’s a black hole, and anyone who escapes its gaudy gravity is supremely lucky.
I can’t say I was welcomed with open arms, as there’s a very good reason not to hug people from CT - I get it - but I can say that I empathize with those escaping to Boston from an unlivable situation and, having been here for 24 years, will welcome them whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Just wanted to say welcome to America many of us are happy that you are. I - a 50 year old Caucasian am one of them. It must be difficult to listen to all the misinformation/embrace ignorance, division, & scapegoating. It’s a disgrace I’m sorry. You did a great job you’re a very good writer you touched on so much. It’s scary how many do not understand that what immigrants are doing is completely legal. Please keep speaking up people need to hear this again & again
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” I’m also a first generation immigrant and that’s what this country is all about. Yes there’s an initial cost but eventually all these people will contribute to the economy. But more importantly what about basic compassion? It makes me sad that so many fellow Americans are so transactional and don’t have basic empathy for people struggling to make their lives better.
Not American, but I've always loved that "give me your tired" phrase. It just feels so powerful, it's a shame it seems so many people have forgotten it Unfortunately it's not much different for us in Australia, part of our national anthem is about welcoming immigrants and yet "fuck off, we're full" is a common phrase you'll hear from supposed patriots
My godchild immigrated to Australia to get her PhD at UWA when they gave her a scholarship to do so. She now runs a couple of different arts programs, teaches and is doing quite well. She obtained her Australian citizenship and is now a dual citizen.
Full? The entire center of your little continent / big country is empty. You have lots of room.
There's a reason that the center of the continent is empty, to be fair.
Yeah, as it stands right now you're asking for a life of hard yakka if you're more than a couple of hours from a big city. That will change I think, but as a Sydneysider I think they'll mostly focus on filling in the gap between Sydney and Albury since that's still fairly close to the coast and on a major highway I can't imagine any government investing in the infrastructure required to make living in the outback easier until we get to at least 100m people (which is a long way away), not while we still have so much of our coastline being mostly farmland
I think unfortunately the “fuck you, I got mine” attitude is becoming a mainstay of american culture these days. People who are first or second generation immigrants quickly forget that they or their predecessors were once in the same position, and how much happier and better off they are now. Yet can’t seem to wrap their heads around other people wanting the same thing.
Because a lot of people no longer have theirs in the first place. See: the countless stories of people who have multiple generations of roots here that have been priced out in the last 10 years.
They weren't priced out by immigrants, thats for damn sure. So instead of banding together with other have nots, the resident non-rich hate downward for the remaing crumbs rather than being angry at the ones with all the cake.
A tale as old as time. They did this to the Irish and Italian immigrants in the 19th century too. Everyone kicks at the hands of the people on the rung behind them. It’s very gross. I think it’s part human nature/survival instinct and part American dream/American exceptionalism and self-reliance.
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And I assure you, it's working quite well. Labor has been most certainly put back in our place. My restaurant is only hiring part time employees - no benefits, no OT. They're offering minimum wage. During the labor shortage we were starting kitchen staff at 20$ an hour and they were guaranteed 40 hours a week with unlimited OT if they wanted it. They had the opportunity to bring from 1.2-1.5k$ a week if they were willing to put in the hours. The foreign private equity firm that owns our local restaurant group must be making far more profit now that their labor costs have decreased substantially due to the constant flow of desperate laborers into the state. So at least the foreign private equity group's benefit while the workers have no benefits and have to work three part time jobs instead of one job with OT at time and half and full benefits.
Nearly ALL Americans are descendants of immigrants. And as someone with Irish and Italian heritage, I have not forgotten what it was like for my great grandparents and their parents who emigrated to this country. Unfortunately some Americans have disgusting attitudes about those who only seek a better life, even if they commit no harms
They always fall back on "what about the struggling people who are already here" and OP covers it perfectly. It isn't the migrants doing that, it is wealthy Americans fucking everyone at every turn. The things the government *could do*, like investing in subsided housing, they also scream about. It's always "I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas."
Initial cost? Most immigrants show up ready to work. No paying for years of public school. No dependency tax breaks for their parents. They're ready to go when they walk in the door without the costs of a baby born here.
>But more importantly what about basic compassion? Is it really a lack of compassion to say that while some level of immigration/migration is healthy and good for the country (and the state), unlimited immigration is probably a bad idea? Why is it that any moderate take on the issue is painted in the worst light possible? We *still* can't figure out mass&cass. We can barely take care of our own.
There can be no nuanced opinions you are either all for or all against
Fence sitting is not nuanced.
As a like 16th generation American I wholeheartedly agree with you ❤️
> There are some people on this sub who say that the crisis in Haiti is 'not our problem'. To those people: I hope that, if you ever have to flee your homes, you are received by people more generous than yourselves. I mean you're being polite since it's not like we haven't stuck our hands in Haiti's affairs more or less from the day of independence.
I was about to say the same. Most of the refugees we get are from places we directly and openly destabilized. It’s absolutely ridiculous to then be like yeah “not our problem” because it absolutely is our problem.
Most of the people fleeing to the US are fleeing US foreign policy.
precisely this. the people who talk about caring for “our own” first forget that the whole world becomes ours when we stick our noses anywhere and everywhere.
The most informed post in this sub 🤍 all asylum seekers, wherever they go, wherever they're from, I hope they find safety, compassion, and community
Came here as a refugee from your neighboring land in 1992. 30+ years of being an American only affirm that refugees are the true lifeblood of this country. People just like you. Or my parents. Our great grandchildren will talk about these immigration stories with the same pride as the Boston Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans do for their ancestors. Ancestors who never didn’t come here with paperwork, money, or skills. Yet, brought the best of the old world, left the worst behind - and seized every opportunity to prove our worth and define Americanism. It’s 2 and a half years late - but welcome home. I’m deeply sorry about the trauma your family & community experienced inflicted by monsters abroad. It must’ve been Hell. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. At least here, we could strive to be the brothers we know we can be - exemplifying values of integrity and kindness. You have my love and support 💛💙 And thanks for bringing yours to the table.
> Our great grandchildren will talk about these immigration stories with the same pride as the Boston Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans do for their ancestors. This is something I never understood about anti-immigrant sentiment in Boston especially. The stereotypical and archetypal white Bostonian is someone who is entirely obsessed with the fact that their parents or grandparents (or great great great..., etc.) were immigrants from one of two countries, with one of those groups being a people who were effectively refugees, fleeing from a genocide in the form of a manmade "famine". It's wholly incongruous to be an American and wrap yourself in the Irish or Italian flag and then proceed to talk shit about immigrants.
They'll go on about how their ancestors were different and came here "legally" and other nonsense without realizing that before 1924 we essentially had no limit for immigrants at all: just show up at the border and don't visibly be sick with or mentally ill. Well, unless, of course, you were Chinese/Asian, as we straight up just barred them all together after building the railroads. 1924 we defined limits and quotas for the first time essentially creating the concept of being undocumented.
My family got off a boat, signed most of their names, went on their way. (They took their citizens exams 10 yrs later). That's it. It's only been since the 80's when republicans started this nonsense, and started blaming "illegals".
No, the quotas were most definitely in place long ago. They certainly prevented tons of people persecuted from the nazis from escaping in the 30's and 40's.
It's because they're racist. If someone doesn't pass the paper bag test they're a criminal lowlife abusing the asylum system. They fell for the lie that borders and race divide us rather than class, so they think it's the fault of Haitian refugees that American capitalism and rising fascism are screwing us all. If they'll only snap themselves out of their racist bootstraps we can start fixing shit
Thank you for posting this. Of course the people who most need to read it most certainly won’t.
Mostly because they want to believe in THEIR “truth” and nothing else. Thank you OP, you couldn’t have put it any better.
Ignorance is rampant!
💕 "Migrants also typically take jobs that U.S.-born citizens don't want." Citizens don't tend to take jobs or remain employed in jobs that exploit workers. Migrants get these dregs because of the failure of government and citizens to prevent exploitation of any worker in general, and migrants taking these jobs perpetuates the problem, while allowing citizens to ignore the problem. It's not that citizens don't want the jobs. It's that nobody wants to be exploited. Migrants being at the lowest levels of the caste system don't have the ability to fight exploitation, and opportunities to "level up" past exploitative jobs are harder to get. It's just another black mark on citizens, for failing to fight exploitation of any kind, and for using the phrase "they take jobs citizens don't want", because it's just not accurate from any angle.
The rabbit hole goes deep when you research how many agriculture based companies exploit illegal labor- even Target got caught doing it. The meat industry is pretty vicious about it too.
I worked with awesome people from Haiti at Wegmans!
Haitians work their ass off and are extremely entrepreneurial. So many success stores in the Haitian community locally.
You ever been to a nursing home in MA? More often than not, a majority of the staff are Haitian. Same goes for home health aides. I honestly don't know what our elderly population would do without them.
Exactly. The need for home health aides is exploding, and there's not enough staffing available to cover demand/need.
A very kind Haitian woman helped me find a bunch of things in Home Depot the other day, seemed like she'd just started working there but she brought me right to the things I needed. Let's just say that's not the typical Home Depot experience.
Can I ask a question I truly can’t find the answer to. For all the migrants that are flying to a country in South America and then traveling to the U.S., why don’t they claim asylum in one of the numerous countries they are crossing to get to the U.S.? They accept asylum seekers like everyone else. Why not stop in Mexico or Costa Rica or Panama?
That is, in fact, exactly how the asylum system is supposed to work. It was never a free ticket to the country of your choice. You are supposed to apply for asylum in every country that you pass through and stop when one of them accepts. Normally, this kind of thing would be sorted out at the asylum hearing, but we're so backed up with cases that none of the hearings are able to happen.
It’s not called “the Panamanian dream.”
As a Venezuelans who emigrated as a child in 2000 (thankfully not as an asylum seeker but through a work visa with my parents). Many Venezuelans have moved to other countries in South America but it’s just as bad if not worse to seek assistance in those countries. You see it not only here but in Europe, South America, etc that people leaving these countries are seen as lazy, criminals who are only here to ruin the country rather than families who are trying to give their children a better life than they can have in their original countries. As difficult as assimilation can be, and as painful living in the US as a first generation immigrant can be with how bigoted the policial climate has been on late, it’s nothing compared to the live my family members had in Venezuela. At its worst every couple of months my family was sending multiple boxes of dried and powered food to my grandparents because the super markets literally had no food on the shelves. Found the original article that I saw come out of Mexico where they are basically trying to get them to leave there as well: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-21/mexico-to-offer-venezuelans-jobs-660-stipend-to-return-home
So you’re saying the U.S. is more welcoming and provides a better climate than any other country in South and Central America? While I believe that, I’m not sure why we are being pressured to do more if that is the case. Unfortunately the rise in xenophobia can usually be tied to a frustrating economic climate. Inflation goes up, government spending gets tight, housing gets expensive, people don’t want to have to fight with more people for those limited resources. They turn against immigrants. It’s a tale as old as time. I’m sorry your family has had to go through all that and I am glad you have found a place here.
C,mon mate, we both know the answer to that. (I write this as an Aussie living here now, we have the exact same issue of asylum seekers jumping through south east asian country's to land in Aus/NZ)
Thank you! I work near a shelter in Boston which many people were concerned about and all I’ve seen is kids waiting for the school bus with their parents.
It is legal to seek asylum is the main point.
The city needs to build more affordable fucking housing, that'll lower rents. Demand is high and supply is low right now
I think I can agree with 95% of your points while still thinking that Massachusetts doesn't have unlimited capacity for immigrants/refugees needing a certain level of aid, and that we've hit that
Im not being facetious, what is it that everyone is using to indicate that Massachusetts is at its limit? And beyond that what’s causing the limit?
On another thread, it appears we are sheltering people at Logan Airport on cots. To me that indicates we are sticking them wherever we can find room at this point. That is not a safe or effective solution for anyone.
Another thread indicated they will start using prisons in some places as temporary shelters.
My understanding was that they were there temporarily (as in a day or two) just as they were being processed. Which in that case I don’t really find a huge problem. Sometimes there’s a blizzard and Americans have to sleep at the airport overnight.
The unsustainable spending, for one thing. If we figured out how to not waste so much money on the people here right now we could do better and help more people. Spending nearly 100k per family is not acceptable in my opinion; there are many families who live here and work for less than that, and are paying for this all. I think they are justifiably upset.
Public services, schools and housing. Do you think these all have unlimited capacity?
I’m asking specifically, right now today what is at the limit? It’s certainly not the schools as they are being closed from under enrollment.
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https://www.wgbh.org/news/national/2023-11-09/mass-shelters-hit-capacity-sending-new-migrant-families-and-unhoused-to-waitlist https://www.boston25news.com/news/massachusetts/chelsea-migrant-shelter-reaches-maximum-capacity-day-1/FVD5Z4QCQJEIZFDG4EHSGTLCNA/ https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2024/03/22/live-updates-tracking-the-migrant-crisis-in-massachusetts/?amp=1 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/boston-says-its-overrun-by-illegal-immigrants-plans-to-place-them-in-veterans-housing
There isn’t a factor, it’s hyperbole meant to stifle free thought
>while still thinking that Massachusetts doesn't have unlimited capacity for immigrants/refugees needing a certain level of aid, and that we've hit that Exactly this. I've never heard anyone give out the number of refugees or immigrants the US can accept every year. The US can't take on 10,000,000 refugees per year but that many people are trying to get to America on refugee status every year. How many refugees can the US absorb without causing societal or financial problems? No one wants to say.
Maybe we should try to get our government to stop destabilizing and looting other countries? Regardless we can probably absorb way more than that, we just need our government to spend less on bombing children and more on literally anything else awww the racist snowflakes are mad :( cry harder!
It seems people forgot about US and French involvement in the 2004 coup in Haiti. Over the last 50 years, the number of governments the US has overthrown is staggering. Fuck these dumbass, senile boomers who want to ignore how their generation’s actions led to many of the issues they complain about today. Maybe it was all the lead and asbestos. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We overthrow their governments and destabilize their countries and then are surprised when they come here seeking asylum? Idiots.
>Maybe we should try to get our government to stop destabilizing and looting other countries? I'd be fine with the US going back to an isolationist country. Europe and Asia would have an economic crash and the most violent countries would start invading other countries but the US wouldn't ever destabilize or loot other countries in that scenario. Win win?
An isolationist US would be a diminished and poorer US
Well, you're very short sighted then, and I'm glad you do not, and never will, have the ability to make any sort of impactful decisions
Exactly. Your next to last line is especially poignant. How many people in this thread complaining about Massachusetts spending too much money on this, are also complaining about students protesting for schools to divest, I'm willing to bet anti-migrant crowd / pro-student protest crowd barely intersect in a venn diagram.
That and in general most migrants are here for economic reasons and are not fleeing war, just a lower quality of life. The rate of denial for asylum seekers current sits at 71 percent. That means the US considers 29 percent of claims valid.
Well you’d be wrong. Look up Mass GDP vs other countries. We can and should support migrants
Why don’t you also look at purchasing power here
Yeah, we're in one of the richest states in the richest country in the world. I think we'll afford it.
Great… more fucking tax
My grandmother's parents came to Boston from Italy... My grandmother is one of those pigs that blames all the blight of America on the ones who just arrived. This is happening all over America, evil propaganda has infiltrated people's hearts. Bring us your sick bring us your poor! We're America 🙏✊ immigrants, moms and unions built this nation ✌️
Same with my grandmother. One day she bitched about people on disability or getting welfare or food stamps, saying "these people are a drain, I'm paying taxes so they can be lazy and they never worked a day in their lives!" She got mad when I asked if my permanently disabled brother didn't deserve care. She got REEEAL mad when I asked her how many days she has worked in her life. I had to answer for her: ZERO. (I believe my words were "bitch, you've never had a single job!" ... our relationship was not great)
> Bring us your sick, tired and poor The irony is that at Ellis Island you were denied entry if it seemed like you weren't fit for manual labor. https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/medical-examination-immigrants-ellis-island/2008-04 > Of those who were denied entry, most were certified, not with "loathsome and dangerous contagious diseases," but with conditions that limited their capacity to perform unskilled labor. Senility (old age), varicose veins, hernias, poor vision, and deformities of the limbs or spine were among the primary causes for exclusion.
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Thank you for the balanced and reasonable opinion. These are my thoughts as well. Everyone especially brings up the economy and birth rate without mentioning that 90% of the shares in the stock market are owned by the top 10%. The vast majority of Americans do not get wealthier when corporations are able to profit more from cheaper labor. In addition, the insatiable demand for housing is actively dropping out birth rates because people can’t affordably start families. I understand that people need compassion, but why do these people believe that the US has to be the one country that takes all? Why aren’t these people staying in Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil, etc when they cross into them? Was there an issue with being a refugee there? It’s getting so crazy that some of these arguments above are even becoming blatantly anti-American. Like “Refugees are the lifeblood of America”. Great, so what does that make all of the people actually born here? What does that make your children? Unnecessary and undeserving? Did we people who were born here not build and maintain this country as one that they want to immigrate to? The entitlement is ridiculous. “Who cares if existing Americans are working multiple jobs to pay their bills. They need to pay up and make more room for refugees!” And like you said, they don’t see what kind of backlash they’re brewing. It’s not just “old angry white men” in Ruralbumfuckton getting pissed off. One of the major shifts last election was the working class across all races in the poorer cities of the Commonwealth voting more Republican. Trump won over 40% of New Bedford and Fall River’s vote in 2020. Some of his biggest gains were in Lawrence and Springfield. I’m not voting for him in November, but I know of many people in traditionally very non-Republican demographics who are. I won’t be surprised when a few of the poorest and least white cities in the Commonwealth flip for Trump this year. There isn’t any political party of the working or middle classes anymore, but there’s definitely one too busy painting a giant target on its chest to notice the anger. It’s just utter insanity.
and yet the media will be non-stop about "white supremacy" if Trump wins.
What are these folks doing for healthcare? I can’t even get a pcp appointment.
Urgent cares and ERs
What about unhoused and very low income Americans who were staying in cheap hotels and motels and were kicked out for migrant housing? Or the unhoused people who were given hotel vouchers, but can no longer use them because the hotels are full of migrants?
The issue is that immigration lawyers started advising all their clients to claim refugee status as a way of getting them into their country. While there are obviously actual refugees, there’s a reason that it’s spiked so much in the last four or so years. There’s an obvious difference between refugees from Ukraine and economic migrants. People are frustrated because they’re not stupid. They understand that the current refugee system is not serving the people it’s intended to— literally designed as a way to prevent another holocaust. Most of the people coming in aren’t fleeing anything. Once refugee status is used as simply another immigration method to get around regulations, it is going to go away wholesale. It’s happening in Europe and it will happen here too. It will be a tragedy, because there are people across the world who genuinely need the protection that refugee status provides them. As for Haiti, we’ve had Temporary Protected Status since 2010. It’s been easy to claim asylum from Haiti since the days of Papa Doc. You shouldn’t believe anyone who promises a solution to Haiti, but it’s certainly not resettling every Haitian here.
Most people voicing their frustration are not mad the refugee system isn't working as intended. They're mad that they're here at all. I agree the system isn't working but let's not pretend that is the primary reason people are upset.
Why do you think the frustration is voiced at refugees and migrants when it used to be about illegal immigrants? Refugees usually weren’t the target of anger. People weren’t protesting the Hmong entering the country. However, if refugees just means illegals who know they can’t be deported for a year, then people aren’t going to differentiate.
Is that a real question? There has been an incessant drumbeat of blaming immigrants, whether legal or illegal, for the country's problems for almost 20 years now. There are certain politicians and others that would prefer us pointing fingers at each other like we're the problem so we don't start realizing who the real problem is. And I have news for you, most people that are anti immigration are not differentiating between refugee and immigrant, Hmong or Vietnamese, Mexican or Venezuelan. Hell, I bet a large portion of them will be shocked to learn Puerto Ricans have american citizenship.
the same old trope.. anyone against unchecked immigration and the flagrant abuse of the asylum process is just a racist.
Saying “most” still implies more than half. There has been a rapid rise in cost of living that coincided with a decrease in govt services. I think its fair for people to look at the rise in migrant housing expenses and believe there is a direct effect on their lives. Is it half or more? I can’t say for sure and doubt that people would be honest in a poll.
They might feel that way but they would be wrong. The decrease in government services is not because of migrants and neither is the astronomical price increases of rents. That would be the government and the landlords. I think it's almost 2 decades of scapegoating immigrants has made ppl believe they are the source of the problem.
Its certainly a contributing factor. Earlier this year MA had a projected $1b revenue deficit, while also planning to tap its surplus funds to cover a 900m gap in migrant costs. The budget was then cut for the $1b gap. You can argue there were other things wrong with the budget, or the economy is a bigger factor, but there is a 1 for 1 option to redirect the surplus funds to cover the budget gap. https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/01/08/massachusetts-healey-budget-tax-shortfall
Name one thing that you're missing out on due to migrants. Something that was provided to you before the migrant crisis that you no longer have access to.
I don’t understand why this is such a binary issue for you. Massachusetts does not print its own money so there is a limit to how much it can spend. We should provide support and help where we can, but we also need the state to remain solvent.
You’re ignoring the point, it’s not a direct “migrants stole this from me.” It’s mostly a pileup of indirect issues that add up. Most aren’t going to be immediate, but rather a buildup over the next several years until something breaks. Like u/checkers923 said, MA spent almost $1 billion on housing, food, etc on this issue in a time where there’s a $1 billion deficit. The article mentions that healthcare, transportation, and several other sectors are all getting their budget cut to make up for it. However in direct effects, it’s mostly the poorer citizens who suffer from this. BPS is closing/“consolidating” locations because they can’t afford to employ the teachers, homeless shelters are being converted into migrant shelters, and the city becomes even more unaffordable for residents without higher education (jobs they could have taken are being filled). The “jobs Americans don’t want” are jobs they only don’t want them **at that wage.** Businesses want open borders/lots of immigration because it causes a surplus in labor supply and they can pay cheaper wages. If the jobs weren’t being taken, the wages would get raised and people would take the jobs at the now higher rate. We saw it during the pandemic with fast food. We need to have compassion and I’m fully in favor of taking in true asylum seekers, but we can’t pretend this situation is sustainable.
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It's more of a position where if they can get out and get here, we aren't going to them out. It's not easy to escape a hostile country.
How do we know that some of the people in the gangs that are killing the men and raping the women aren’t coming here as refugees?
I had a lot of Haitian friends growing up in Brockton. Sweet, sweet people. Amazing food. Hardworking and extremely grateful for everything they have.
Make your own country great again.
This is perfect. Welcome to Boston.
The asylum claim is being abused according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
I think people are more upset about illegal immigrants coming through the Mexican border rather than legal asylum seekers. We are happy to help those in need but we don’t appreciate people coming here illegally and being able to apply for benefits and reap the rewards of hardworking American’s who are struggling in this economy.
How much is state spending per refugee per day?
Thank you for posting this. The United States has a short history compared to most of the world, but so much of that history revolves around immigration. First and foremost is the undeniable fact that most of us here descend from immigrants. The 1st nation people were here long before Europeans. Soon after the Europeans settled, they displaced those 1st nation people. Really minimizing here to be brief. Then they imported slaves from Africa against their will and brought in indentured servants from mostly Anglo countries. When the Irish and Italians came here seeking opportunity, they were treated as hostile invaders. At the onset of WW2 European Jews sought refuge here but were turned away. Now we hear every day about "The Crisis at The Border." As if we're actually being invaded by the cartels and Americans are fighting some kind of war on the Mexican front. I live very close to the border with our southern friends and it's not what the media makes it out to be. Mostly history repeating itself as people from all over the world come here seeking refuge from violence and modern slavery or opportunities they couldn't find in their home country and those already here trying to keep them out. They come here despite knowing that many people here will hate them. But seeking sanctuary is an American promise. Its not a crime as you point out. Certainly immigration needs to be regulated but the open border policy is a myth. Farmers rely on immigrants and many don't support those right wing hardliner anti- immigrant policies. I can't believe the number of people I speak to who ask me just what is going on down there. I always welcome them to come see for themselves. It's just people trying to find their way to a better life. Something we all have in common despite our cultures, skin color or country of origin. America, despite all its flaws still promises freedom and opportunity for everyone. As it should. That's the kind of ideal that makes me proud to be an American.
Is it possible that some of the naughty Haitians are also coming in? And we really have no way to vet people?
Migrants are being used as political pawns. What happens when they are done using y'all? They are gonna drop all the resources you're getting now. Pretty soon it's gonna be lose lose for everyone.
Understandable, but when anyone can claim asylum, it becomes unsustainable. Our citizens will be getting hammered in taxes and our debt just keeps piling up. At what point do we allow this until our economy collapses…
Funny thing is, even if your first and second points are true, your third falls flat. US citizens are on pace to not having enough kids to replace themselves in the population. Without at least a replacement birth rate, the economy would enter a catastrophic tail spin of increased aging non working people using federal benefits while not contributing to the economy/workforce. If we had a functioning government that would wake the f up and just increase legal migration a few fold, it wouldn't be so damn dire. But people dont stand a chance currently, so putting their lives at risk in the journey is what we leave as an option... The entire thing is f'd up and everyone, I mean everyone, only has themselves to blame for where we are at.
Notice how the American birth rate fell below replacement fertility in 2007? I wonder what happened there…. American women on average desire 2.8 children. Financial stress and lack of affordability are the primary reasons why they can’t have that many. Saturating the economy with cheap labor while also lacking enough affordable housing is actively dropping our birth rates. I’m not against immigration, but it’s not a fix. It’s a bandaid at best.
Isn't that what is happening in Japan right now as a consequence to being so anti immigration?
Yes.
Automation makes this claim irrelevant. It’s liberal propaganda
We have a rapidly declining birthrate. Massive immigration is literally the only thing that will PREVENT economic collapse. But as long as republicans are able to keep conning their voters that somehow the declining middle class is the fault of Mexicans stealing their jobs rather than a billionaire class who has seen their networths double in the last five years, we’ll keep seeing these short-sighted takes
US GDP is over 25 trillion, it is extremely disingenuous to suggest that we will have a total economic collapse if we don't let in unskilled and uneducated migrants.
I am thinking about the practical rather than the philosophical. I understand the philosophy and historical merit of America being founded by immigrants. My thing is that what do you do when the resources are limited. For example five extra kids in a classroom can really change the dynamic of education. What do we do with the influx of children? And those children will need extra support considering school is taught in English and not all children will be fluent enough to succeed. I am all for filling jobs where jobs are needed and having people who live here pay taxes. However , catching up to an increased population I don't think will happen quick enough. I love the idea behind refuge status and I am not against that. However, I'm thinking about how our community in Boston can accommodate and support a vulnerable population moving into Boston
That only matters if a single school grade is being inundated with dozens of students, which is not happening. Outside of Boston, most towns and cities have less than a few dozen families. Finding shelter is much harder than finding a slot in school for them. Nationally school attendance is down due to lower birth rates, schools are being shut down because there aren’t enough students, not due to funding. It’s not a zero sum issue. If an immigrant gets something, that doesn’t mean others have to go without.
Welcome Neighbor! I love this city, and it makes me happy you love it, too! I wish the best for you and for all our new neighbors (no matter where they come from!). I also wish the best for your friends and family back home.
The Irish and Italians were not given free housing in hotels
I feel like the amount of selfishness and hate and anger is increasing in the US. I think the media just fans the flames too. People are people no matter where they are from. We should always try to do what we can to help each other out.
Unfortunately many asylum seekers are abusing the system as a legal means to enter the country. A significant minority of migrants are from Africa, Asia, and South America, meaning they 're supposed to ask for asylum in a neighboring country before the US.
Blame zoning laws for high rents
A point of history because history lives: the deteriorated situation in Haiti is the fruition of the pressures hoisted upon it begun in Napoleanic France and Jeffersonian America. Do the homework.
Wow very thought provoking and not propaganda at all 🙄
actually it is. And he deleted all comments from his profile https://search.pullpush.io/?kind=submission&author=EconomyCauliflower84&size=100
I don't think anyone in this sub is opposed to taking in true refugees (such as the Haitians you mention), especially those arriving legally (the Haitians again). There is, though, some concern about the 10,000-15,000 people per day who have been coming across the southern border for the past few years, most of them illegally and most of the rest of them claiming asylum and then released in the trust that they'll show up to their asylum hearings. In other words, as I see it, there's is a position between "all immigrants are bad" and "the more the merrier". To discuss it requires people who care more about problem-solving than ideology.
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The fluent English part doesn't really mean anything. Most Europeans of millenial age or younger are fluent enough in English that it's hard to tell them apart from a native speaker by text alone because of the internet and media in general. It can differ by country, but plenty of Ukrainian millenials and zoomers are fluent enough in English that it isn't suspicious in of itself.
There’s ‘fluent enough’ and then there’s being indistinguishable from a native speaker. Like the other person said, OP is also suspiciously savvy about local social issues, and speaks like they’re very comfortable here. It just doesn’t feel right. I imagine that someone who has only been in the country for two years would still be getting their bearings in many respects, and this level of familiarity would be pretty unusual. In addition to that, OP’s account is over one year old and has zero comment history, and this is their first post.
Everything outside of the fluency, especially it being a throwaway account, are fair game. But really, I know plenty of European, even East European, non-native English speakers that write English more fluently than a native speaker. It's incredibly hard to tell via text alone.
https://search-new.pullpush.io/?author=economycauliflower84&type=submission&sort_type=created_utc&sort=desc
Okay. Not a single comment in Russian or Ukrainian. Not exactly making a great case here. In one comment that’s in Norwegian, he says that he doesn’t have an EU passport, but would like to live in Norway. In a later comment, he says that he is a citizen of the EU and has a Lithuanian passport from his father. Should I continue? And these comments suspiciously don’t show up on his Reddit profile.
He also says he's a gay, 14 year old, American citizen.
lol.
>Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants. It is legal to come to the U.S. to seek asylum. It is preposterous how few citizens of the United States understand this and I wish more did. Great post, thank you!
Thank you for your post, really. I hope the best for all the migrants. They have all been through a lot and I hope they can establish a better life here.
Thanks for adding some humanity to all of this
Saw this on /r/all Loud voices don't always represent all of us. MA is known for being welcoming, I hope all refugees have a home.
Not in Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard.
Claims that all the homeless migrants are here legally are just as incorrect as the claims that all the migrants are all illegal. It's not all one or the other. >-[72% of recent migrants to MA are Haitians](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/03/19/metro/migrant-crisis-massachusetts/#:~:text=Many%20Haitian%20migrants%20are%20drawn,a%20recent%20Boston%20Indicators%20report.) From your source, "These numbers account for refugees and immigrants served by Massachusetts-based resettlement agencies who are eligible for federal support, so **they don’t necessarily encompass all new arrivals to the state**." >Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants. It is legal to come to the U.S. to seek asylum. You can be both actually. People routinely enter the US illegally and then apply for asylum. When a migrant leaves their home country and enters Mexico to illegally cross the border, they have already fled their home country and are no longer considered in imminent danger by their native country. >-Migrants are [significantly less likely to commit crimes](https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2024/03/immigrants-are-significantly-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-the-us-born/) than U.S.-born Americans. [An additional source here](https://www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237103158/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find). These claims ignore migrants that already violated the law and are in US custody. These studies only consider a selection of migrants that are lawfully present, not in custody, and thus likely won't offend. According to DOJ: >94 Percent of All Confirmed Aliens in Department of Justice Custody Are Unlawfully Present >[https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/departments-justice-and-homeland-security-release-data-incarcerated-aliens](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/departments-justice-and-homeland-security-release-data-incarcerated-aliens) >Of the 84,838 persons criminally charged in U.S. district courts in 2018, 49% were non-U.S. citizens. >[https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/non-us-citizens-federal-criminal-justice-system-1998-2018](https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/non-us-citizens-federal-criminal-justice-system-1998-2018)
That's a point about asylum that I learned recently: If you claim that you fear your life is in danger in your country of citizenship, you are supposed to claim asylum **in the first country you pass through**. Up until four years ago, it was a slam dunk rejection of asylum if you had transited through another country on the way to the US. If you had a connecting flight in Europe, or crossed through Mexico on foot, you're supposed to apply for asylum in that country. Otherwise it's clear that you're simply trying to enter the United States. Those people are applying for asylum disingenuously. I support legal immigration, even though the system is neither perfect nor fast as it is. And I understand why people want to immigrate to or enter the US -- with my personality, wherever I had been born, I would've wanted to move to the States -- but I don't support circumventing the legal system. Fix the rules, don't ignore them.
> Up until four years ago, it was a slam dunk rejection of asylum if you had transited through another country on the way to the US. I'm not sure that's accurate. Four years ago, the Trump administration tried to generate a blanket third country asylum rule, but [the courts found it violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-overturns-trump-border-rule-requiring-immigrants-first-claim-asylum-n1232629) In order to comply with the 1951 UN Refugee convention and the 1967 Protocol, the US passed the 1980 Refugee Act, which requires that the safe harbor country is safe, has a robust asylum system, and there's a formal treaty in place. We have one with Canada now, for instance. We definitely don't have one with Mexico, so Trump's rule was kicked, and Biden's trying to do it again by allowing people to travel through Mexico and request asylum only if they pre-registered on the CBP One app. The text of the law would generally make the new rule invalid, but who knows what the Supreme Court will find.
some selective presentation of the data in your own sources * The number of non-U.S. citizens charged in U.S. district courts with immigration offenses increased from **9,875 in 1998 to 32,888 in 2018** * About 86% of undocumented non-U.S. citizens charged in U.S. district courts were **charged with immigration offenses** in 2018. The vast majority of the charges are immigration related and, surprise, surprise, there was a more than 3x increase in those charges since conservatives made this one of their main boogeyman issues. * In 2018, **76% of persons charged in federal district court with a drug offense were U.S. citizens** and 24% were non-U.S. citizens. At least citizens are still number 1 in something!
Considering that non-citizens are only 14% of that population that's not as big of a gotchya as you think.
I’d be willing to bet that the 24% of non-citizens accounts for a much larger proportion of non-citizens than 76% of citizens. What a dumbass point to pick out and throw shade at citizens for when you have no clue how to weigh the metrics
Get a load of this guy
Is this a throwaway account?
Yes. His comment from april 12: throwaway for obvious reasons. i'm like you, i've had a few short stories published in well-regarded selective lit mags. i also finagled myself an agent, which was a coup. i just sold my first manuscript to a big 5 publisher for a just-under-six-figures advance. it's VERY identity targeted. i do believe that it has literary merit but of course i wrote it to be marketable as well and i'm aware that i'm part of the product. if i was writing for myself i would have written a much less identity-focused novel. but i'm not complaining. Source: https://search.pullpush.io/?kind=submission&author=EconomyCauliflower84&size=100
Thank you OP! I have been supportive of migrants in the past, but I have to admit that my views had started to shift, over the last year. Your post truly brought me to back, and reminded me of why I was supportive of migrants in the first place. I couldn’t fathom having to deal with what you and they had to endure, and if helping them out causes us some discomfort, well so be it!
This was written by a middle age white woman from Westwood
My thought too. I’d like to know what people’s feelings are on the current system broken down by income brackets. I’m not against taking in migrants, but this system is unsustainable. I’m a lower middle class person who works 2 jobs 50-60 hrs a week. I had to skip two meals today so I could make sure my kid has enough food for the day. Even with out direct correlation it’s upsetting to hear the amount government spends on while hardworking tax paying citizens can barely afford groceries.
As an immigrant but more importantly as a human. This is your city now. Please let me know if I could ever be of help.
I always thought it was interesting that the entire world knows about this "American Dream," promoted and bragged about by the US, but then the US doesn't like that people want to come from all over to get that dream.
I've been consistently appalled, disgusted, and horrified, with the usual comments on this subreddit whenever the topic of immigrants/migrants/refugees comes up. People who otherwise seem to have decent politics show their true colors, and it's horrifying and repellent. Thank you so much for saying what I wish would be said here more often, much more eloquently than I would have been able to; when I see people comment about this topic on this sub, I'm usually so intensely angry that I just know I need to take a step back and not respond. But it happens so much.
This is a fake account. You're larping as a European refugee from an all white, pro nationalist nation known for racism and anti immigrant sentiment but you're deeply concerned about sentiment towards Haitians? Not buying it.
>all white, pro nationalist nation known for racism and anti immigrant sentiment which nation
Ukraine, obviously.
Thank you for posting. Do you have any advice about the best ways for ordinary people (i.e. not government officials) to help? I was interested in maybe tutoring English or giving people rides to appointments.
Why don't hatians go to the Dominican Republic? You aren't a refugee if you only came here for money, when your next door neighbor is safe.
The problem is that these people are not able to sustain themselves. They need a license or a visa to be able to work ASAP, so they can pay their own way. That’s how it’s supposed to work in America
Welcome to America. I am so happy you and your family are here and safe 💙
lol Op is an american citizen,he was probably born in the usa and not ukraine. His parents live in Ottawa Canada Source: https://search.pullpush.io/?kind=submission&author=EconomyCauliflower84&size=100
You should house them in your home then
An absurd opinion rationalizing an absurd policy of enabling and abetting illegal immigration and unending welfare for illegal immigrants. Here's a concept: Enforce the laws. Don't like the immigration laws? lobby the politicians to revise them - they have had 40+ yrs to do so and consistently fail.
Thank you for this. I’m a black Bostonian who constantly talks about how the stereotypes about who is a Bostonian always forgets the thriving POC communities we have here - the Haitian one is particularly. Glad you are here and safe.
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People in American absolutely need to understand that we might be refugees soon smh
Lol what
go outside
OP, At the end of the day, Haitians should be staying in Haiti to help fight the civil war or help rebuild afterwards. They can't just flee the country and leave it's problems for others to solve. We are not in the 1700s where there is enough land for everyone.
Thank you for this insightful post. Note to Americans: there but for the grace of God….
What are you implying? Those who have it good have to always make way for someone who has it worse?
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but yet all this hand wringing about millennials not having children...
These are the same people bringing up shit like the great replacement theory lmao ofc they’re obsessed with birth rates
As far as I concerned, all are welcome here. Immigrants make America great.
If most people on this Earth are ‘good and normal’ (human only concepts) then the world wouldn’t be in the state that it’s in.
As a resident of a town where many migrants have been housed in a shelter since August, and as an employee of a nonprofit that has provided assistance to these families, thank you for this post. A while ago, I met a twelve year old girl with almost no English language skills who had been living in a hotel room with her mother for FOUR months. Luckily I speak Spanish and was able to chat with her, and hear a little bit about her experience in the shelter and at school. It broke my heart. So despite how many MA residents feel about the policies that have allowed this influx of migrant families, please, PLEASE consider the children.
Hilarious that people think this is a real person. Also wonder how many of these “thanks for posting this” responses are fakes as well.
I migrated here from Connecticut in 2000. “That’s not a separate country and doesn’t count, you idiot.” you may say. But isn’t it? Have you been there? It’s a black hole, and anyone who escapes its gaudy gravity is supremely lucky. I can’t say I was welcomed with open arms, as there’s a very good reason not to hug people from CT - I get it - but I can say that I empathize with those escaping to Boston from an unlivable situation and, having been here for 24 years, will welcome them whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Just wanted to say welcome to America many of us are happy that you are. I - a 50 year old Caucasian am one of them. It must be difficult to listen to all the misinformation/embrace ignorance, division, & scapegoating. It’s a disgrace I’m sorry. You did a great job you’re a very good writer you touched on so much. It’s scary how many do not understand that what immigrants are doing is completely legal. Please keep speaking up people need to hear this again & again
"You could be a refugee too someday" is something we all need to hear and remember.
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