Can Biden find the right balance on immigration?

I don't think it's up to Biden to find 'the right balance'. I think it's up to the people of the United States. And fixing the problems in their homelands would help, too.

An important topic. America, and Japan as well for that matter, are dependent on qualified immigrants filling skilled jobs.

I used to work for a trucking company that would have had to close their doors, if not for the qualified mechanics who immigrated from Latin America.

Our personal doctor, who is very highly rated, escaped from Iran.

Many, many nurses over here came from other countries.

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, was born in South Africa. Came to the US at 19. It is hard for me to imagine America without Teslas.

And so on, and so on. Shutting down immigration would destroy America.

That’s right, you can’t put this one on him. The errors and disasters have been made for centuries and especially last some decades. So it’s now have become irrelevant if he ever tries to stop or to further accelerate anything. Over and out.

Three of my four grandparents were immigrants to the US. They simply showed up one day at a port and came in. They applied for residence when they arrived. One grandparent never spoke a word of English and my father grew up speaking her language as well as English. My wife and step daughter are both immigrants and while the step daughter is fully Americanized my wife still is obviously foreign. I listen to the often harsh words directed at immigrants, especially those that are not white and it makes me sick. I have seen deputy sheriffs talk down to and demean my wife, unaware she has a BSEE and works for the Navy doing very special things. I would rather have an immigrant who struggles with English and maybe struggles to pay the bills for my neighbor than a better off financially but morally sick white bigot. The immigrants in my experience work harder and appreciate the country more than too many of those who are born here and seemingly seek to destroy it all.

The more America blocks immigrants - the building blocks of America - the better it is for the rest of us. Keep on keeping them out America, the rest of us won't cry while you guys stagnate.

The more America blocks immigrants - the building blocks of America - the better it is for the rest of us. Keep on keeping them out America, the rest of us won't cry while you guys stagnate.

The world we live in is not a zero sum game. The world is worse off when nations fail. And obtw, the philosophy of Yin-Yang is worth understanding. Nothing is 100% good or 100% bad, the boundary between good and bad is vague and ill defined, and even the good has a little bad in it and the bad a little good.

The world we live in is not a zero sum game. The world is worse off when nations fail.

With a finite number of migrants, and a finite amount of knowledge, it is indeed a zero-sum game. When America denies or repels a skilled immigrant who goes to another country, that's America's loss and the other country's gain.

As such, I fully support America building a wall and blocking ALL immigrants. They are dangerous to America.

1glennNov. 29 10:26 am JST

And so on, and so on. Shutting down immigration would destroy America.

The overwhelming number of Americans do not talk about shutting down immigration. What people are concerned about is illegal immigration.  There is a humongous difference which some people just don’t seem to understand. Why do people get these two things mixed up?

The only person who I ever heard say to shut down immigration entirely was a liberal friend who feared that if more people came to America, especially from places like Haiti and Central America, they would want to live like Americans and produce more waste per person than anywhere in the world, as Americans supposedly do. This was the craziest reason I ever heard for ending immigration, but it is his opinion.

There is a difference in going into a country respecting the laws, learning the language and becoming a citizen. In most cases these immigrants come to the US and try to change the country into a place where they came from. The truth is no education, high birth rates and the use of tax paying dollars. The more kids they have the more money they get on average $3500 per month, the husband or bf works cuts lawns pays no taxes making $40-50K and they live a middle class lifestyle. All in the name of Gratis!!!

In most cases these immigrants come to the US and try to change the country into a place where they came from. 

That criticism is as old as America and patently untrue. Like I mentioned one grandmother never learned a word of English. No need, there was a huge community of people who immigrated from the same country who all spoke the old language (and their people were disparaged widely for their lack of English skills, for their religion, organized crime syndicates and the tea-totalers didn't approve of their drinking wine and beer with every meal, called it immoral). She lived most of her life in the US but never learned English. But all her sons but one served in the US military (the eldest was too old and had kids) and had children who are as American as any. In fact my old man was sent by the US Army to fight the country of his parents birth. When the locals trashed talked the American GIs thinking they didn't know what they were saying my dad would trash talk them back in their own language, sometimes even their own dialect! My wife's daughter, my step daughter came her from another country but you would never guess to speak to her. Perfect American English and thoroughly Americanized. The first generation to immigrate here clings to their old language and habits. Change for older people takes time, but their kids and especially their grand kids are indistinguishable from anyone else born here. You need to get over your fears of immigrants. Your parents, grandparents or maybe great grand parents most likely came here from somewhere far away speaking a funny language, eating strange foods and adhering to foreign customs. That is what built America and gives it great strength.

The overwhelming number of Americans do not talk about shutting down immigration. What people are concerned about is illegal immigration. There is a humongous difference which some people just don’t seem to understand. Why do people get these two things mixed up?

When my grandparents came here there was no such thing as "illegal immigration". You showed up at a port of entry, filled out some papers, got poked and prodded by somebody who may or may not have had some sort of medical training and once all the papers were stamped you got busy building a new life here. There were huge communities full of your former countrymen and women who came here earlier (ethnic ghettos) to show you the ropes and help you find work and a place to live. Everyone spoke he old country's language so no need to learn English right away. One grandmother never did. No need. I had cousins who likewise never spoke English. Ask why that makes you so uncomfortable (I know it does). And if are honest about American history you admit immigrants throughout the nation's history have been feared, loathed, disparaged, called names and vilified in the press. And then their grandkids make the same mistakes and vilify and disparage the next wave of immigrants to the US from a different part of the world, forsaking their own immigrant roots.

The overwhelming number of Americans do not talk about shutting down immigration.

The previous administration and their allies wanted to do exactly that. Legal immigration numbers each year 2017-2019. Immigration declined by half in 2020 but that is largely due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. Refugee numbers were reduced by an order of magnitude however. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the US admitted around 100,000 refugees per year. In 2020 only 11,000 were admitted.

-Border Patrol agents on horseback using aggressive tactics.

At the time they were described as herding them like cattle. Or slaves.

It is unwise to promise a fix for something that you simply cannot fix. And not mentioning it any more makes the Democrats look hypocritical. If you promise something that you cannot deliver, you'll get what you deserve when you do not deliver it.

Ironically, the US labour market is desperately short of staff, and Biden's infrastructure plan has no chance of happening without migrant labour. Every major infrastructural upgrade that the US has implemented has relied on migrant workers. Of course that might be moot if Trump gets back in and cancels it.

I guess the political situation in the US is now so polarised and so toxic, that no compromises are possible, nobody can afford to be honest, and the American people no longer accept the reality of the situation they are in, on contentious issues.

When Biden took office, he promised a pathway to U.S. citizenship for millions of people in the country illegally.

Why reward people for their criminal behavior?

Remember--Democrats voted for this guy, and support these kind of bizarre platforms.

Why reward people for their criminal behavior?

Because a lot of us have immigrant roots, that's why. Everyone in the US does except the Native Americans. My grandparents and wife came her for the very things you despise immigrants for. One grandfather came here fleeing a king that was going to send him off to fight colonial wars. Oooh, a "draft dodger", oh the horror. He got on a ship with his wife and came to America. Didn't apply first or anything. Just showed up. They were poor, they struggled and one grandparent never learned English so we understand both the aspirations and the struggles of immigrants. Another grandfather came here from a different country speaking a different language and joined he US Marines (before WWI). He would go on to own some auto repair shops but never had an education to speak of. It was the second generation before anyone in either side of the family went to college but now we have advanced degrees. I could not be true to my own family and at the same time begrudge them. But I do have problems with the kinds of bigots who run immigrants down. I'd rather have a poor struggling immigrant for a neighbor than a born in the USA bigot, any day of the week.

I am violently sick of all this jingoistic smugness that has colored and hardened American society during the past few decades. There's been so many lies and hatred spewed out, and fibs galore about a Latino/a 'invasion' that doesn't exist. There is no invasion, the US borders are secure. I am sick of the lies from that sassybrat Hitler boy who wanted a Berlin-ish totalitarian wall like the Communist East German regime had. Have we learned anything from the Cold War?

All this hateful rhetoric, all the racist lies, look at the violence and gross human rights violations committed by a sociopathic traitor and his hatemongering sheep. All this lippy rhetoric and all these stupid fabrications. It makes me revolyingly SICK.

1glennNov. 29  10:26 am JST

An important topic. America, and Japan as well for that matter, are dependent on qualified immigrants filling skilled jobs.

I used to work for a trucking company that would have had to close their doors, if not for the qualified mechanics who immigrated from Latin America.

Our personal doctor, who is very highly rated, escaped from Iran.

Many, many nurses over here came from other countries.

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, was born in South Africa. Came to the US at 19. It is hard for me to imagine America without Teslas.

And so on, and so on. Shutting down immigration would destroy America.

There you have it. And when I was stationed in California I visited the beautiful Napa Valley and there are Mexican migrant laborers who work good and hard in the fields. There's been a few black widow spiders in the fields and I HATE THOSE THINGS. If these fellows are willing to work in the fields like that, I say have at it. And they are very hard-working and industrious. That's why I didn't and don't fall for the lies trump bellowed out. It's a lie. As for drugs, most of that comes to our ports, sometimes in robot submarines. With my experiences in the Navy and from what my 'Coastie' friends have told me, I know better.

Immigrants often take the jobs nobody else wants but as you mentioned, the Middle East and India subcontinent has given us some smart knowledgable doctors and professors. One of my doctors at my VA is from India, and another one who is now retired is very knowlable and well regarded. He escaped Taiwan when it fell into dictatorship and he has medical degrees from universities in Taipei and Honolulu.

You can't convince me that immigrants are no good. And there are no free rides.

Can Biden find the right balance on immigration?

He hasn't yet.

Desert TortoiseNov. 30  07:16 am JST

When my grandparents came here there was no such thing as "illegal immigration".

Then they did not enter illegally, and thus did not commit a crime.

Desert TortoiseNov. 30  11:01 pm JST

He got on a ship with his wife and came to America. Didn't apply first or anything. Just showed up.

And as you noted, there was no such thing as illegal immigration then. But nice story.

And these days, there is "illegal immigration."

So back to my original post:

RegBilkNov. 30  12:34 pm JST

Why reward people for their criminal behavior?

Desert TortoiseNov. 30 07:16 am JST

...Everyone spoke he old country's language so no need to learn English right away. One grandmother never did. No need. I had cousins who likewise never spoke English. Ask why that makes you so uncomfortable (I know it does). And if are honest about American history you admit immigrants throughout the nation's history have been feared, loathed, disparaged, called names and vilified in the press. And then their grandkids make the same mistakes and vilify and disparage the next wave of immigrants to the US from a different part of the world, forsaking their own immigrant roots.

Uh, you need some clarification to your assumptions (and you must know one of the meanings of the word "assume", just like "snafu" has different descriptions of the words' meaning). Why do you think that older people that never spoke English and lived in the US makes me uncomfortable? If you know what other people are thinking and feeling, then you should have no trouble picking the winning mega-millions lotto numbers. As Mark Twain said: "Get the facts straight, then you can distort them anyway you wish". Certainly if older people don't learn English after coming to the US, that is understandable. My grandparents came to the US with very limited English, and they came legally. Have you ever heard of Ellis Island? They learned more English here, especially watching TV (The Price is Right) and speaking to us grandchildren. My mother still did the property taxes and other paperwork for them as she was born here (high school valeditorian by the way). But half of the time they spoke their native tongue, especially to other friends and relatives their age. I often listened to them and understood much of the language, but responded in English, which did not lead to my learning the language as much as possible. My grandparents were also the recipients of discrimination, but their work ethic convinced many that they were not so bad after all. The vast majority of immigrants face some type of discrimination, but they also meet very nice and accepting people, too. This is not new in anyway. However, if a person comes to the US at a young age and does not learn English, that is a problem. Not only does that limit their opportunities, but it does demonstrate that they don't want to assimilate to a new country. The government cannot construct road signs for the highway in over 200 different languages, all on the same piece of metal. Learning the language of the country in which you live is essential in order to fully experience the country and function in society. You don't need to be fluent, but at least the basics of the language is a necessity for everyday life. This is not rocket science!

starpunkToday 01:21 am JST

There's been so many lies and hatred spewed out, and fibs galore about a Latino/a 'invasion' that doesn't exist. There is no invasion, the US borders are secure.

I beg to disagree. The northern border is secure, although some illegally try to cross there, too. But the southern border is a different story. How can you say it is secure when there are well over 10 million people living illegally in the country? Not everyone came legally (land borders, airports, cruise ships etc.) and overstayed their particular visa or time allotted as a visitor. Almost all the illegals arrived at the southern border, or never showed up for their court hearing to determine if they can stay in the country. People don't come illegally on a commercial aircraft. The airline won't let them board the aircraft without proper documents. Some do arrive with criminal records, but are arrested if necessary. Any guess on how many claim asylum at the southern border, get a court date to appear before an immigration judge while living in the US, and don't show up for their court date? I bet it is more than two people. They now live in the shadows, working under the table, many obtaining a fraudulent social security number if needed and not paying taxes, not having car insurance, yet they drive, etc.. Many do it the right way and pay their share of taxes. In case you were not aware, there are many Latinos that have come legally and despise those Latinos that did not. Latinos are wonderful people, but they also need to follow the rules. Not to mention many countries have a quota on how many people can immigrate to the US, based on US quota numbers. Thus, those coming illegally are not playing fair. The southern border is not secure despite the hard work of the border officers. It is just too overwhelming. We are not even talking about the drug trade and cartels getting drugs across the border. Much come commercially, but with tens of thousands of trucks crossing every few days, they cannot all possible be checked. If you want to see an interesting picture, google the Latino that were sewn into the backrest of a car seat. Or those hiding where the front passenger air bag was. Yes, it happened, and continues to do so. The crisis at the southern border is why Biden is now enforcing the "Remain in Mexico" policy that he decried as terrible when Trump did it. The chickens are coming home to roost.

There's been so many lies and hatred spewed out, and fibs galore about a Latino/a 'invasion' that doesn't exist.

That is not true, have you watched the news lately?

*There is no invasion, the US borders are secure. *

You are joking, right?

*I am sick of the lies from that sassybrat Hitler boy who wanted a Berlin-ish totalitarian wall like the Communist East German regime had. *Have we learned anything from the Cold War? 

Ok, so once again (and I don't know what it is with you and TDS) you think that thousands of illegals pouring in on a daily basis is not a big thing? The former President should have just allowed everyone in? NO COUNTRY does that. NONE and if you don't have a secure border you have no country. Why is it that this President and other celebs can build walls around their homes, but I can't? Why is it mandatory to get the shot, but illegals don't. Why is it ok that illegals get housing accommodations and money and in some cases rewarded for breaking the law and talks about being compensated, but for the rest of native-born Americans, we just don't and are not allowed the God-given birthrights to object to this admin putting illegals before the native citizens of this country, that is acceptable to you? If thousands of Chinese would stream into Japan daily they wouldn't have the right to complain? Do you even think the government would allow such a move?

*All this hateful rhetoric, all the racist lies, look at the violence and gross human rights violations committed by a sociopathic traitor and his hatemongering sheep. All this lippy rhetoric and all these stupid fabrications. It makes me revolyingly SICK.*

I have no idea what that rant meant, but I will say this, this admin is done and that is a fact, their poll numbers are in the toilet, and next year when the GOP retakes the House a lot of this madness will end. People are fed up with this President, Myorkas has been a complete and utter disaster, not to mention the embarrassment, anger, and shame of having to deal with this, you have the absolute right as an American citizen to demand that our government protects and keeps us safe and that includes arresting and detaining and sending back or arresting lawbreakers that violate our sovereignty.

There you have it. And when I was stationed in California I visited the beautiful Napa Valley and there are Mexican migrant laborers who work good and hard in the fields.

Yes, the majority of immigrants work hard, nothing new.

*There's been a few black widow spiders in the fields and I HATE THOSE THINGS. If these fellows are willing to work in the fields like that, I say have at it. And they are very hard-working and industrious. *

I agree as long as they are legal, no problem.

That's why I didn't and don't fall for the lies trump bellowed out. It's a lie. As for drugs, most of that comes to our ports, sometimes in robot submarines. With my experiences in the Navy and from what my 'Coastie' friends have told me, I know better. 

Ok, you just don't have a clue here. First of all, the vast majority of drugs that are manufactured come from countries that Colombia, Mexico, and Guatemala, and the Tijuana border is where the vast majority come in now with the thousands of legal working migrants or citizens with dual visas streaming through the border daily drugs are always being moved and CBP usually get only 1/3 of these drugs and everyone literally has either their hand or some connection as to how to get these drugs in.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/southwest/more-us-citizens-apprehended-for-moving-drugs-over-border/

Most illegal drugs in the U.S., particularly narcotics, enter at the southern border. Americans are critical to these operations, trafficking experts say.

“The perception is that U.S. citizens are given less scrutiny by Border Patrol and CBP,” said Michael Corbett, who worked at the Drug Enforcement Administration for 30 years and is now a narcotics expert witness. “Smuggling drugs is a risk management enterprise. They’re looking for whatever methods they can come across to most safely and efficiently move drugs across the border.”

That's the drug part. As far as the influx of illegals coming in, turn on your TV, check Youtube and you'll see it. Trump is absolutely right when it comes to the border. Now all of these mostly low-skilled workers are in the country and now what? What and how can they contribute to society? They have no skills, not enough jobs to give to these people, many businesses are still closed and many won't come back and the less the nation generates revenue, the fewer people will spend and you don't want to create stagnation like that, not to mention you are compounding to the already out of control homeless population, there is no way that this admin can accommodate all of these illegals, no way.

Immigrants often take the jobs nobody else wants but as you mentioned, the Middle East and India subcontinent has given us some smart knowledgable doctors and professors.

True, but a lot of these jobs now during this pandemic where employers are looking for help are mostly high skilled jobs and the lower-skilled jobs are vanishing and fast because of the current situation, people can't work and are cutting back and letting people go, downsizing.

One of my doctors at my VA is from India, and another one who is now retired is very knowlable and well regarded. He escaped Taiwan when it fell into dictatorship and he has medical degrees from universities in Taipei and Honolulu. 

Yes, these are the people that we want and need high-skilled workers, we need more of those people without a doubt, but flooding the country will low-skilled illegals is just not only unsustainable but it violates everything that Americans were taught and what they expected from their government and this admin is shocked that they will be in the minority next year and for a very, very long time.

You can't convince me that immigrants are no good. And there are no free rides.

Immigrants are great as long as they enter the nation legally, follow our laws, and that our government properly vets these people, and anyone with a criminal record is denied and sent back immediately. As an immigrant Myorkas should be completely ashamed of himself an utter disgrace.

Now that many countries are tightening up requirements for legal entries such as requiring Covid tests, and vaccinations, any reason the US doesn't test illegal entries and require vaccinations of them at its southern border?

 First of all, the vast majority of drugs that are manufactured come from countries that Colombia, Mexico, and Guatemala, and the Tijuana border is where the vast majority come in now with the thousands of legal working migrants 

Not exactly. It's really easy to smuggle dope ashore. A lot of robot submarines are used for that, and dealers await on shore. And much dope is flown in too. Ever see the movie 'Cocaine Bear'?