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Hello, I am an immigrant from Canada. I am a Canadian citizen but live and work here in the US and also went to university here. Anyways, I am wondering why the US needs so many more immigrants. For example, why does the US let places like California continue to take in millions of immigrants (especially illegals) when it has the worst economy. For insance I was reading that California has the most people on welfare of any state per capita (1/3 of Americans on it are from CA). Also since Americans (white and black) are seeing a net decline from California and moving to places like Nevada and Washington doesnt that mean that it will be much harder for the current stream of migrants to assimilate?
Also, why does the US always give citizenship to illegal immigrants who break the law coming here? I don't understand that. If I want to get citizenship and some handouts should I sneak in across the Rio Grande? I dont think it is fair to those of us who wait years and years, but I am curious to know what the logic is. What I mean is that when you go to LA you can see the police pulling over people for speeding, but they dont seem to mind the illegal immigrant standing on the corner looking to provide manual labor. Thanks for the answers, I am just curious as to why people want this and what is the logic or longterm goal behind it.
Canada has like twice the immigration rate of the U.S., so it's very odd that we would have a Canadian here complaining the U.S. has too much immigration.
And since when does the US "give citizenship to illegal immigrants"? If they're found, they're generally deported. There have been some naturalization campaigns for illegals in past decades, but none in many, many years.
Also, why does the US always give citizenship to illegal immigrants who break the law coming here?
Where did you read that the US always gives citizenship to illegal immigrants? This current administration is one of the more aggressive in deporting illegal immigrants.
The US does not "give citizenship" to illegals. When found to be illegal they are generally deported, though the process can take years. The "path to citizenship" is much of what the whole immigration reform battle is about because mass deportations are unworkable and will never happen here--not with an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. And don't forgot that while most of them are Mexican, there are also tons from other Latin American countries, China and other Asian countries, and in New York, many from the Caribbean and even Europe. All immigrants don't end up in California and Texas because all of them don't come from Mexico.
But as to why the US "needs" immigration? Like many Western countries the birth rate of native-born Americans is falling and it will be increasingly difficult to support an aging population with fewer working people. Look at Japan to see what that's about. It's a nation in long-term population decline because Japanese women aren't having enough babies and as a result the country is finding it very hard to support its old, non-working population.
And of course the dirty little secret is that many businesses love having illegal immigrant workers because they can employ them on the cheap and even abuse them with little fear that they'll be reported because the immigrants fear deportation. There is an ongoing tension here between those types of businesses and Americans who feel culturally overwhelmed by immigration and don't like it.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Low birthrates - this is the Number One factor no one talks about. The jobs immigrants do - fast food, farm help, cleaning - used to be done be teenagers. Today there are fewer native born young people
A large percent of able bodied Americans draw welfare/ SS and chose not to work - when you can get $1200 just for being "special" why work a menial job? There are counties in my home state where HALF the "income" is Social Security. Lawyer specialize in appealing disability denials to get people "drawing" (a check).
Additionally some people have a criminal history and in the USA that keeps you from getting a job in even the easiest jobs to get. It's a no second chance society BUT we still want things to be cheap Americans prefer becoming more diverse to keep things cheap to by rather than see prices go up and remain homogenous (like Japan)
With so many of us NOT be able to find jobs AND wages DROPPING for blue collar trades people; the "we need immigrants" bit doesn't fly with me at all. Especially ILLEGAL aliens; everyone of their kind need to be deported AND take their US born kinds unless the other parent is at least a legal alien.
I have a couple of residences...and travel all over.
Personally, I know FAR more blatant illegal immigrants, workers, visa violators hanging out near my home in Florida than I do from any other country. Florida is FULL of illegals from Canada.
We call them "stealth Americans", because they are the ones who BLEND in - why? most are WHITE and speak standard English with little accent.
The illegals who get the 'ink' around my home in FL are the darker skinned, Spanish-speaking ones from ALL over Latin America - and strangely enough, most of these groups that I know aren't "illegal" at all ! many of them are BORN in the US in states like TX and AZ. Whites just "assume" that every Spanish speaking resident "must be illegal" ! Just ask any long time resident of Miami-Dade who also just "happens" to speak Spanish "first".
Uh; if a US citizen looks "Mexican"; speaking Spanish ain't real smart in 2014. It is what it is. Even many Chicanos are pissed off at illegal aliens because the illegals HURT the 1st group's rep.
Where did you read that the US always gives citizenship to illegal immigrants? This current administration is one of the more aggressive in deporting illegal immigrants.
^Wrong!
Obama has admitted to cooking the books when it comes to those deportation figures. I don't know why, despite him doing that, people insist on perpetuating this lie.
The US does not "give citizenship" to illegals. When found to be illegal they are generally deported, though the process can take years. The "path to citizenship" is much of what the whole immigration reform battle is about because mass deportations are unworkable and will never happen here--not with an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. And don't forgot that while most of them are Mexican, there are also tons from other Latin American countries, China and other Asian countries, and in New York, many from the Caribbean and even Europe. All immigrants don't end up in California and Texas because all of them don't come from Mexico.
But as to why the US "needs" immigration? Like many Western countries the birth rate of native-born Americans is falling and it will be increasingly difficult to support an aging population with fewer working people. Look at Japan to see what that's about. It's a nation in long-term population decline because Japanese women aren't having enough babies and as a result the country is finding it very hard to support its old, non-working population.
And of course the dirty little secret is that many businesses love having illegal immigrant workers because they can employ them on the cheap and even abuse them with little fear that they'll be reported because the immigrants fear deportation. There is an ongoing tension here between those types of businesses and Americans who feel culturally overwhelmed by immigration and don't like it.
First of all, no one is talking about doing "mass deportations". Instead, make E-verify the law of the land and run everybody in the work force through it to get rid of the 8 million no-match SSNs. Next, fix that glaring loophole in the law that says it's okay if someone uses your SSN as long as they don't use your name with it. As it stands now, scores of people could be using your SSN right now but not your name with it. The SSA won't tell you about this. You only find out when the IRS comes after you for not filing tax returns on a job you never worked. We also need to put an end to the whole anchor baby/birth tourism baby fiasco.
We don't need to push for so-called "immigration reform". We need to take away the freebies and incentives plus secure the border.
As for this whole nonsense of declining birth rate---what do you want exactly? A country with 1 billion people and not enough potable water? You know, just like India.
At one time liberals were all about ZPG (zero population growth). They were very concerned about depleting resources. Now, they've done a 180 and want to overpopulate the country, which is very, very wrong.
With E-verify being the law of the land, many (if not most) employers won't be able to get away with hiring illegals. That should either end or seriously cut down on sleazy employers who deliberately hire cheap, exploitable, illegal labor.
I don't feel "culturally overwhelmed" when it comes to legal immigration. However, I think that it is insane to allow 1 million legal immigrants into this country on an annual basis. It's also insane to base this on chain migration.
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