Ross Douthat thinks we're (Democrats) in trouble because of too much immigration, and that we need to do something about that. Here's his article. There should be no paywall, but I won't swear to it.
Ross Douthat thinks we're (Democrats) in trouble because of too much immigration, and that we need to do something about that. Here's his article. There should be no paywall, but I won't swear to it.
"Asylum is the biggest issue in these immigration talks: Many of the people crossing the border illegally actually want to be caught by border patrols so they can request asylum. It’s really hard to get asylum granted. But immigration experts I’ve talked to say that many migrants find a way to stay anyway: They ask for asylum and settle into the country while they wait for a court date that might be years away, and then few are deported, even if their asylum request is denied.
Republicans want to put major restrictions on this process. Some have suggested wider use of ankle monitoring — including for children migrants.
What this means politically: Giving Republicans some of what they want at the border wouldn’t be all bad for Biden. The border has been a weak spot for him pretty much since he got into office. Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans don’t approve of how he’s handling it. (One reason experts say migrants are coming in such high numbers: Fairly or not, they think a Biden administration is more open to immigration than the Trump administration was.)
“Honestly, if I were the president,” McConnell told reporters recently, “looking at my numbers on this, I’d want to do something about it.”
Mass immigration is big biz' way of keeping wages down.
The labor participation rate--the percentage of working age Americans who are working or looking for jobs, is now only about 67%. Employers looking for workers need to raise wages.
This is not a criticism of immigrants. They are good people. It IS a criticism of employers, the Koch organization, big biz, etc., who work to keep wages down, yet pay themselves hundreds of times what they pay workers.
Absolutely on target, David H. The people who hire "illegal immigrants" never suffer from breaking the law. Only the immigrants, so the high end restaurants, meat packers, and everyone in between can keep getting low wage workers. It is an insidious system and ought to be morally outrageous and legally "out". My two cents worth.......
But what I am very worried about is the possibility that Biden will lose, in part because people don't like major change, including seeing their towns become Spanish speaking. As a 12 year old, I lived in Paris for a year. I'd always been interested in foreigners at home. I'd go up to them in Harvard square, and ask them where they were from, and I didn't understand why the Parisians never spoke to me. Years later, I came to understand it. Paris was flooded with Americans. Our border towns are in the same situation, and it's not helping the Democratic Party, which encourages the migration.
Like the Irish with the "dirty, garlic-smelling, superstitious Italians":---who practiced their religion in the streets with processions (cf. Robert Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street; popular religion/people's religion at its best.) Communities get really dislocated, etc. until they get through the process---which seems to be harder or more contentious now---but the historian in me says, only it only seems less so in the past .....
Ross Douthat thinks we're (Democrats) in trouble because of too much immigration, and that we need to do something about that. Here's his article. There should be no paywall, but I won't swear to it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/09/opinion/joe-biden-immigration.html
There's more along these lines from the WaPo:
"Asylum is the biggest issue in these immigration talks: Many of the people crossing the border illegally actually want to be caught by border patrols so they can request asylum. It’s really hard to get asylum granted. But immigration experts I’ve talked to say that many migrants find a way to stay anyway: They ask for asylum and settle into the country while they wait for a court date that might be years away, and then few are deported, even if their asylum request is denied.
Republicans want to put major restrictions on this process. Some have suggested wider use of ankle monitoring — including for children migrants.
What this means politically: Giving Republicans some of what they want at the border wouldn’t be all bad for Biden. The border has been a weak spot for him pretty much since he got into office. Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans don’t approve of how he’s handling it. (One reason experts say migrants are coming in such high numbers: Fairly or not, they think a Biden administration is more open to immigration than the Trump administration was.)
“Honestly, if I were the president,” McConnell told reporters recently, “looking at my numbers on this, I’d want to do something about it.”
https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=5969f94b9bbc0f6d71c876ed&s=657790d4b900b84386c6f10d&linknum=2&linktot=50&linknum=2&linktot=50
Immigrants are needed to fill jobs. They work, pay taxes and stay out of trouble.
In 1980, meat packers were Black. They were earning middle class wages, thanks to decades of organizing.
By that decades end, meat packers were mostly immigrants, toiling under atrocious conditions, for barely above minimum wage.
That change was repeated in other trades and jobs over the last 40 years, which is why workers' wages barely budged.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html
Mass immigration is big biz' way of keeping wages down.
The labor participation rate--the percentage of working age Americans who are working or looking for jobs, is now only about 67%. Employers looking for workers need to raise wages.
This is not a criticism of immigrants. They are good people. It IS a criticism of employers, the Koch organization, big biz, etc., who work to keep wages down, yet pay themselves hundreds of times what they pay workers.
Absolutely on target, David H. The people who hire "illegal immigrants" never suffer from breaking the law. Only the immigrants, so the high end restaurants, meat packers, and everyone in between can keep getting low wage workers. It is an insidious system and ought to be morally outrageous and legally "out". My two cents worth.......
But what I am very worried about is the possibility that Biden will lose, in part because people don't like major change, including seeing their towns become Spanish speaking. As a 12 year old, I lived in Paris for a year. I'd always been interested in foreigners at home. I'd go up to them in Harvard square, and ask them where they were from, and I didn't understand why the Parisians never spoke to me. Years later, I came to understand it. Paris was flooded with Americans. Our border towns are in the same situation, and it's not helping the Democratic Party, which encourages the migration.
Like the Irish with the "dirty, garlic-smelling, superstitious Italians":---who practiced their religion in the streets with processions (cf. Robert Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street; popular religion/people's religion at its best.) Communities get really dislocated, etc. until they get through the process---which seems to be harder or more contentious now---but the historian in me says, only it only seems less so in the past .....
And Jessica Craven has all the Congressional and Senate phone numbers to call, over and over to tell the Dems to get on it, or anything else.
Thanks! I have my own senators and reps' numbers, but none for anyone else.