Shayde on 27/6/2006 at 07:19
I actually sympathise with America a little on this issue.
South Africa has a similar problem in that we get a huge amount of illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, hell most Southern African states.
And xenophobia here is rampant with Nigerians being blamed for all the drug running and Zimbabweans being blamed for the crime. Obviously this isn't true.
But the huge amounts of people flooding our borders does put a strain on our (somewhat limited) resources. Our state hospitals tend towards the nightmarish, now add hundreds of thousands more people that need that service and it collapses.
The difference between SA and USA on this issue though is that we encourage LEGAL immigrants. Doctors, business people, teachers etc do not have to slit their wrists and sell their souls to beaurocracy to get SA citizenship. Americas system makes little sense to me, to be almost isolationist when it comes to legal immigrants and turn a blind eye to the illegal ones.
Malygris on 27/6/2006 at 07:33
And what do you call your illegals?
Haegan on 27/6/2006 at 07:34
Haegan: Votes to boot 'jprobs'
Dammit! This isn't Counter-Strike!
Shayde on 27/6/2006 at 07:34
Makwerekwere
Malygris on 27/6/2006 at 07:51
I take great offense at that.
*edit* This was meant as a poke at Stronts' hyper-reactionary I AM OFFENDED bullshit, and is not meant to be taken seriously. I can't even pronounce that word, much less be offended by it.
Shayde on 27/6/2006 at 07:53
Yes, it's a dreadful word, but it's what people use here.
Scots Taffer on 27/6/2006 at 07:54
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
Bile-filled? In
this thread? And I was so careful to avoid the use of bile too, even though I would have been well within my rights to :(
No, not in this thread specifically, only a tiny touch, but that's the point - you think it's your right as a moral crusader to segregate debate into tiny pockets when really there are bigger issues at stake, but even so, the smaller details can be handled with a bit of discretion. And no, it doesn't matter if the person who raises those issues is a flaming fuckwad (I'm not saying that's the case in this thread, I'm speaking in generalities) because the old "as soon as you descend to their level" rule applies. If you are uncomfortable with blanket generalisations, don't make them yourself, that's my point.
Thief13x on 27/6/2006 at 08:05
Quote Posted by WAREAGLE
no.
one of my biggest thoughts on this is why should we? living close to miami, ill tell you this, american born citizens arent the trouble makers.
Yup, I can definatly agree living close to miami. Not to mention the overcrowded countries are coming to the US for a reason...lets not make the US another one....no offense to any immigrants
Lazarus411 on 27/6/2006 at 09:02
Quote Posted by OrbWeaver
What's in it for the US?
Like it or not, most entities act in their own best interests. Countries are no different.
True, but I think most people agree the US is a country founded on the back of mass immigration from every part of the world, and made it what it is today (i.e. world's biggest superpower). Why is that now people believe that immigration will suddenly drag down the country to third-world status or something, when history has shown that immigrants have always integrated successfully into the culture, and on the whole put more back in than what they take out. Haven't seen any convincing arguments that say otherwise to date.
Phydeaux on 27/6/2006 at 09:04
Quote Posted by Strontium Dog
That's a somewhat specious argument that isn't borne out by the statistics, I have to say, although your use of the highly offensive term "illegals" suggests that we oughtn't give much credence to your opinion either way.
Nevertheless, it seems quite clear that the thread starter was referring to an increase in
legal immigration, so why you chose to bring illegal immigrants into it is a little on the mystifying side.
What's offensive about the term "illegals"? What should I call them? Uninvited non-residents? Unlawful immigrants? I can think of a lot of offensive terms, but I won't say them here (just watch 20 seconds of Carlos Mancia and you'll hear all of them).
Illegals are a drain on the system and my tax dollars. As I said before, I work and have worked with many legal non-Americans here. My boss is Vietnamese (permanent USA resident). One of my former bosses was a limey (sorry, is this term offensive too?:rolleyes: ). I work with 3 Russians, and several more Russians work at other branches. A few Canadians. And they were all here legally and working legally. That means paying taxes, social security, etc. They're not a drain on the system (in fact, since they'll probably never receive SS, they're even a less a drain than anybody else). I have no problem whatsoever with these folks. They're the same kind of hard working people that originally populated this country and made it what it is. Illegals however can go fuck themselves.
BTW, take a gander at Mexico's immigration/visa laws, and tell me that those are the slightest bit fair compared to USA's.
