Imigration

[Thorne]

Can't speak for Americans and Mexicans, but over here, it is frequently pointed out to the anti-immigration lobby that for all the "burden" they place on us, we still benefit economically (not to mention socially and culturally) from immigration.

While there will always be a subset of people who are against anyone different, the main problem as Americans see it is illegal immigrants, those entering without passports or visas, who create phony ID's (or steal other people's ID's) in order to get jobs, who benefit from social services designed to help legal immigrants and citizens and who don't pay taxes. Personally, I regard these kinds of immigrants, whether they be black, white, Hispanic, Canadian, British, French or any other group, as criminals who should be arrested and deported.

We frequently hear that, They're taking our jobs, claiming social benefits and having babies for free on the NHS!!! What this really means is that immigrants are doing work we are too "good" for, are sometimes given enough money for food, clothes and sanitary towels, and have been royally screwed by the people already living here before they try to send them back home.

So by keeping the illegals out we are actually protecting them from the unscrupulous parasites who prey upon them! Another reason to obey the laws!

I don't know whether it's true of other cultures, but Anglo-Saxons seem to have such a self-regard that they see it as noble to keep themselves pure and separate from other peoples regardless of how it muddles their thinking and distorts their behaviour.

From my admittedly limited experience, every race and/or culture generates their fair share of bigots. It's a universal condition which can only slowly be overcome by education.

Surely it can't possibly be the same in that huge melting-pot of humanity called the USA

Absolutely NOT! As long as you're a white Christian, anyway.

(Do I detect a hint of the kettle calling the melting pot black? )

[MMI]

While there will always be a subset of people who are against anyone different, the main problem as Americans see it is illegal immigrants, those entering without passports or visas, who create phony ID's (or steal other people's ID's) in order to get jobs, who benefit from social services designed to help legal immigrants and citizens and who don't pay taxes. Personally, I regard these kinds of immigrants, whether they be black, white, Hispanic, Canadian, British, French or any other group, as criminals who should be arrested and deported.

I was including "illegals" as net providers of benefits ... some are undoubtedly criminals - traffikers, thieves, killers, rapists and so on, others are poor, desperate people looking for a safer, better life. And I suspect that, even among the "illegals" they are the greater part.

So by keeping the illegals out we are actually protecting them from the unscrupulous parasites who prey upon them! Another reason to obey the laws!

That is EXACTLY the kind of thinking I deplore

(Do I detect a hint of the kettle calling the melting pot black? )

Very astute ... or perhaps, "Hey, you look just like me."

[Thorne]

I was including "illegals" as net providers of benefits ... some are undoubtedly criminals

Since they are breaking the law simply by crossing the borders, they are all criminals. Admittedly, they are not all violent criminals, but they are criminals just the same. The person who steals your car when you are away from it is no less a criminal than the person who carjacks you at gunpoint. And while I can sympathize with the person who will steal food to feed his family, his acts lose some of their nobility when you see someone else's children starving because their bread was stolen.

That is EXACTLY the kind of thinking I deplore

Obviously my facetious font did not translate into the Queen's English.

[DuncanONeil]

I was including "illegals" as net providers of benefits ... some are undoubtedly criminals - traffikers, thieves, killers, rapists and so on, others are poor, desperate people looking for a safer, better life. And I suspect that, even among the "illegals" they are the greater part.

Some are criminals?? What part of the term illegals eludes you? That in and of itself makes you criminal!

That is EXACTLY the kind of thinking I deplore

You mean the kind of think that protects others from parasites. Like the coyotes that charge exorbitant fees to move them across the border, maybe, and treat them as less than human. After all, what are coyotes? Aren't they SCAVENGERS?