Trump is awful but I want helicopter money and illegal immigration to stop

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP,

Immigration is a global problem. Not political party can fix it, anywhere in the world. I am French, and I am acutely aware of how challenging it is for the European Union to regulate the millions of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean. Images of drowned toddlers on beaches are traumatizing. Some countries' coastguards have been accused of letting migrant boats capsize and not rush to their aid. Yet no country can withstand that much migration, so Europe needs to control the flow.
It's an awful situation.

What people fail to understand is that migration doesn't get solved at the border. By then it's too late. You will create human suffering whether or not you create an impenetrable wall.

Migration exists because some countries are dirt poor and some are insanely wealthy. Climate change worsens migration significantly. So do criminal organizations: American demands for drugs and weapons push South and Central American countries into drug lord governance and weaken democracies who could rduce violence and keep their populations inside their own borders.

The GOP has traditionally not been receptive to gun control, and the Democrats have traditionally not been receptive to drug control. They are both to blame for much upstream decisions that create criminal opportunities in Latin America, and force desperate people to leave for greener pastures.

Europe has similar problems.

It's useful to vote for idiots who make grand promises but will clearly not do a thing to address the core issues. Harris at least is trying - she traveled to Latin America to strengthen democratic and economic ties in a bid to keep people where they are. It's very uphill work, and the democrats can't solve it unless they also crack down on drug crime, which also means cracking down on lax gun laws. You can't do one with the others! And Republicans will never agree to gun control.

So please vote for something your chosen party can actually make happen, OP. Because migration is not solvable with the parties we have currently.

And yet many countries do not have a migrant problem. Is it possibly because their policies positively discourage migration?

All the desirable (wealthy and tolerant) countries without daunting ocean protections have immigration problems. Are you thinking of Japan? It’s an extremely insular and xenophobic country. I can say that, I’m Japanese.

Doesn't Japan also have a declining population problem?

dp, yes, as does South Korea (I'm Korean American with family still there), and Korea is relying on immigrants to deal with the labor shortage.

Agree, other countries that are not as homogeneous and are wealthy have immigration issues (UK and France).

OP. I don’t see why population decline has to be a bad thing. There are trade-offs but ultimately it would be better for the environment if we stop focusing on growth and focus on quality of life and the environment. Cheap labor is actually one of the factors that enables our American lifestyle that contributes to so much pollution and waste. Do you think that so many private homes and corporate campuses would have expenses of lawn and landscaping that require constant labor, if they had to pay a “living wage”? That is just one example.

It may be that some well-off retirees need to tighten their belts a little bit and not take so many cruises and whatnot. There might need to be a little redistribution to ensure elderly people aren’t living in poverty. But it’s not a terrible thing if so many people aren’t dying rich and leaving tons of money to their kids, which is a huge driver in racial inequality.

We should all do less BS office work and spend more time tending our own yards, caring for our own kids, doing our own chores and cooking our own food, instead of relying upon cheap labor. Yes I realize that is not good for the stock market, but the stock market is not a good measure of true societal wealth.

And yes, I realize that Trump is not going to do anything for the environment, but honestly, I don’t see the Biden administration or Kamala is having a truly positive impact on that either. It’s all smoke and mirrors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trump is awful and I think JD was the wrong pick. But I just can’t take Kamala seriously about the border and inflation. And these things do matter.
At least with Trump there is a chance of getting these huge problems fixed because there will be other individuals at the helm making things happen. With Kamala, not a chance.
We are so screwed.

Maybe we should be looking at the damage the GOP has done to the economy and the debt since the turn of the century?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP,

Immigration is a global problem. Not political party can fix it, anywhere in the world. I am French, and I am acutely aware of how challenging it is for the European Union to regulate the millions of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean. Images of drowned toddlers on beaches are traumatizing. Some countries' coastguards have been accused of letting migrant boats capsize and not rush to their aid. Yet no country can withstand that much migration, so Europe needs to control the flow.
It's an awful situation.

What people fail to understand is that migration doesn't get solved at the border. By then it's too late. You will create human suffering whether or not you create an impenetrable wall.

Migration exists because some countries are dirt poor and some are insanely wealthy. Climate change worsens migration significantly. So do criminal organizations: American demands for drugs and weapons push South and Central American countries into drug lord governance and weaken democracies who could rduce violence and keep their populations inside their own borders.

The GOP has traditionally not been receptive to gun control, and the Democrats have traditionally not been receptive to drug control. They are both to blame for much upstream decisions that create criminal opportunities in Latin America, and force desperate people to leave for greener pastures.

Europe has similar problems.

It's useful to vote for idiots who make grand promises but will clearly not do a thing to address the core issues. Harris at least is trying - she traveled to Latin America to strengthen democratic and economic ties in a bid to keep people where they are. It's very uphill work, and the democrats can't solve it unless they also crack down on drug crime, which also means cracking down on lax gun laws. You can't do one with the others! And Republicans will never agree to gun control.

So please vote for something your chosen party can actually make happen, OP. Because migration is not solvable with the parties we have currently.

And yet many countries do not have a migrant problem. Is it possibly because their policies positively discourage migration?

All the desirable (wealthy and tolerant) countries without daunting ocean protections have immigration problems. Are you thinking of Japan? It’s an extremely insular and xenophobic country. I can say that, I’m Japanese.

Doesn't Japan also have a declining population problem?

dp, yes, as does South Korea (I'm Korean American with family still there), and Korea is relying on immigrants to deal with the labor shortage.

Agree, other countries that are not as homogeneous and are wealthy have immigration issues (UK and France).

OP. I don’t see why population decline has to be a bad thing. There are trade-offs but ultimately it would be better for the environment if we stop focusing on growth and focus on quality of life and the environment. Cheap labor is actually one of the factors that enables our American lifestyle that contributes to so much pollution and waste. Do you think that so many private homes and corporate campuses would have expenses of lawn and landscaping that require constant labor, if they had to pay a “living wage”? That is just one example.

It may be that some well-off retirees need to tighten their belts a little bit and not take so many cruises and whatnot. There might need to be a little redistribution to ensure elderly people aren’t living in poverty. But it’s not a terrible thing if so many people aren’t dying rich and leaving tons of money to their kids, which is a huge driver in racial inequality.

We should all do less BS office work and spend more time tending our own yards, caring for our own kids, doing our own chores and cooking our own food, instead of relying upon cheap labor. Yes I realize that is not good for the stock market, but the stock market is not a good measure of true societal wealth.

And yes, I realize that Trump is not going to do anything for the environment, but honestly, I don’t see the Biden administration or Kamala is having a truly positive impact on that either. It’s all smoke and mirrors.

Sounds like Tim Walz!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trump is awful and I think JD was the wrong pick. But I just can’t take Kamala seriously about the border and inflation. And these things do matter.
At least with Trump there is a chance of getting these huge problems fixed because there will be other individuals at the helm making things happen. With Kamala, not a chance.
We are so screwed.

Trump fixed nothing and passed no significant legislation in his 4 years. Nothing. And has no specific proposals to fix anything now.

Truth! And the executive office and Senate were both Red at the time. Remember in Trump's term, Mitch McConnell was the majority leader. Trump could not get anything accomplished when everything was Republican. He's a loser. All he did was so chaos and discontent. That's the only thing he is great at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trump didn't do anything good for his entire term and he still won't do anything good the second time around. Still waiting on my "beautiful healthcare plan".

There were far far fewer migrants with faux asylum claims coming in under Trump. That is a fact.

COVID will do that.

It is also down currently. Where is your praise for the current lack of situation? Or is that only reserved for the GOP?

DP. Seriously? We all know it is currently down because Biden FINALLY used the EO that he insisted - for 3 1/2 years - he was unable to use. Remember that? “I can’t do anything about the border crisis.” Turns out, he certainly could - but he decided to wait until an election year to do so.

So spare us all, looking for praise for something he should have done long ago, instead of overturning all of Trump’s border EOs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP,

Immigration is a global problem. Not political party can fix it, anywhere in the world. I am French, and I am acutely aware of how challenging it is for the European Union to regulate the millions of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean. Images of drowned toddlers on beaches are traumatizing. Some countries' coastguards have been accused of letting migrant boats capsize and not rush to their aid. Yet no country can withstand that much migration, so Europe needs to control the flow.
It's an awful situation.

What people fail to understand is that migration doesn't get solved at the border. By then it's too late. You will create human suffering whether or not you create an impenetrable wall.

Migration exists because some countries are dirt poor and some are insanely wealthy. Climate change worsens migration significantly. So do criminal organizations: American demands for drugs and weapons push South and Central American countries into drug lord governance and weaken democracies who could rduce violence and keep their populations inside their own borders.

The GOP has traditionally not been receptive to gun control, and the Democrats have traditionally not been receptive to drug control. They are both to blame for much upstream decisions that create criminal opportunities in Latin America, and force desperate people to leave for greener pastures.

Europe has similar problems.

It's useful to vote for idiots who make grand promises but will clearly not do a thing to address the core issues. Harris at least is trying - she traveled to Latin America to strengthen democratic and economic ties in a bid to keep people where they are. It's very uphill work, and the democrats can't solve it unless they also crack down on drug crime, which also means cracking down on lax gun laws. You can't do one with the others! And Republicans will never agree to gun control.

So please vote for something your chosen party can actually make happen, OP. Because migration is not solvable with the parties we have currently.

And yet many countries do not have a migrant problem. Is it possibly because their policies positively discourage migration?

Which countries don’t have a migrant problem?

Just about any country in Asia, most countries in Africa and South and Central America, Canada, and Australia. latter two now thinking they may have over welcomed migrants, almost all of whom are legal.

Illegal migration is basically a European, UK, and US problem.

And why do you suppose people seek asylum in liberal democracies? Why do you suppose economic migrants seeks desperately to gain a toehold in these countries?

Hint: Rule of law.

So absolutely if you vote for Trump, he will destroy the United States and rid us of immigrants. But if they don’t want to live here, you won’t want to either.

This seems to be an admission that the people claiming to be asylum seekers are actually economic migrants.

some are; some aren't. Some are escaping violence, where gangs are running rampant. Some are escaping poverty.

But, let's be honest, most of our ancestors were escaping poverty when they fled their countries. It's easy right now to say, "Yea, but they did it legally" ( though, some did not), but the truth is that for over 100 years, the US had racist immigration policies. Your ancestors had the right skin color.

Look at the Chinese immigrants in CA and the racist policies that prevented them from becoming citizens.

Point being: most Americans are descendants of people escaping poverty, just like many are today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trump didn't do anything good for his entire term and he still won't do anything good the second time around. Still waiting on my "beautiful healthcare plan".

There were far far fewer migrants with faux asylum claims coming in under Trump. That is a fact.

Please articulate how migrants seeking asylum are affecting your daily life.

It’s clear your kids don’t attend school with hundreds of children of illegal immigrants, none of whom speak English. You realize those kids take time and resources from the other students, right? And that this shouldn’t be happening? Not to mention the vast resources expended on illegal immigrants using ERs as their free healthcare while the rest of us pay for it with ever higher premiums. But do continue pretending none of this is affecting Americans in any way.
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trump didn't do anything good for his entire term and he still won't do anything good the second time around. Still waiting on my "beautiful healthcare plan".

There were far far fewer migrants with faux asylum claims coming in under Trump. That is a fact.

Please articulate how migrants seeking asylum are affecting your daily life.

It’s clear your kids don’t attend school with hundreds of children of illegal immigrants, none of whom speak English. You realize those kids take time and resources from the other students, right? And that this shouldn’t be happening? Not to mention the vast resources expended on illegal immigrants using ERs as their free healthcare while the rest of us pay for it with ever higher premiums. But do continue pretending none of this is affecting Americans in any way.
DP

Where do you live at there are "hundreds of illegal immigrant children" at your school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trump didn't do anything good for his entire term and he still won't do anything good the second time around. Still waiting on my "beautiful healthcare plan".

There were far far fewer migrants with faux asylum claims coming in under Trump. That is a fact.

Please articulate how migrants seeking asylum are affecting your daily life.

I’m a Democrat and I will be voting for Harris/Walz. But you’re actually nuts if you’re serious about this question. I live in NYC and the crisis is everywhere. A direct impact on me is that the city had to cut funding to every city service by 5-10% to fund shelter and services for migrants. I don’t have kids in the public school system, but the influx of high-need, low-income, non-English speaking kids is another direct impact on NYC children whose parents are taxpayers.

I pay a LOT in taxes, and I’m happy to, for a well-run city with good services. I have no choice but to fund this, and obviously once they’ve arrived in NYC, it’s better to have them housed and fed than have depression-esque tent cities everywhere, but they shouldn’t be here at all. The asylum system is a total joke.

Obviously I get that a legislative solution is needed and that the GOP isn’t operating in good faith on this, but Democrats’ messaging (both domestically and externally, to potential migrants) needs to change. There is definitely a perception that the Democrats are the “compassionate” ones on this issue and that a Democratic administration will not take border security seriously. I’d like to see the Remain in Mexico policy put back in place as a starting point. Trump was actually right on that one.

Please remember that employed but undocumented immigrants pay taxes.

Some do. I’m not talking about sales taxes, I’m talking about income and payroll taxes that are paid by people who earn their income on the books. Which is typically not the case for undocumented immigrants, who for obvious reasons tend to work cash jobs. I wouldn’t say it’s universal, and the newly-arrived migrants are certainly not paying state and city income taxes on the whole.

There are billions of dollars paid into this system by undocumented workers who use fake SSN etc to gain employment who will never draw on these benefits. Documented fact, look it up.

It's also true that people who have never worked a day in the US come here, get legal status and then draw retirement out of the social security system.

Not if they haven’t subsequently worked the requisite years.

Have you never dealt with SSA? The documentation required to get any payment is enormous.

IDK about today, but decades ago, this did happen. They declared disability to collect ss. Maybe the rules are tighter now.

Yes. The rules are very tight now. I’m sure there continues to be some abuse in the disability category. Doctors can be paid off. But SSA is very very thorough.

+1. You need to pay into Social Security for 10 years to get any kind of benefit at all, at that's a really tiny benefit. This is because SSA calculates your benefit using a 35-year average of your wages, so you can see how lots of 0s in that average would lead to a low benefit. To get any kind of benefit at all you need at least 30 years of paying into the system.

To get SSDI, it's normal to go through being denied once and then appeal it at least once. This happened to severely disabled BIL and my IL's even got him an SSDI lawyer. It's not easy to get SSDI, at all. But most people give up the first time they're denied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP,

Immigration is a global problem. Not political party can fix it, anywhere in the world. I am French, and I am acutely aware of how challenging it is for the European Union to regulate the millions of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean. Images of drowned toddlers on beaches are traumatizing. Some countries' coastguards have been accused of letting migrant boats capsize and not rush to their aid. Yet no country can withstand that much migration, so Europe needs to control the flow.
It's an awful situation.

What people fail to understand is that migration doesn't get solved at the border. By then it's too late. You will create human suffering whether or not you create an impenetrable wall.

Migration exists because some countries are dirt poor and some are insanely wealthy. Climate change worsens migration significantly. So do criminal organizations: American demands for drugs and weapons push South and Central American countries into drug lord governance and weaken democracies who could rduce violence and keep their populations inside their own borders.

The GOP has traditionally not been receptive to gun control, and the Democrats have traditionally not been receptive to drug control. They are both to blame for much upstream decisions that create criminal opportunities in Latin America, and force desperate people to leave for greener pastures.

Europe has similar problems.

It's useful to vote for idiots who make grand promises but will clearly not do a thing to address the core issues. Harris at least is trying - she traveled to Latin America to strengthen democratic and economic ties in a bid to keep people where they are. It's very uphill work, and the democrats can't solve it unless they also crack down on drug crime, which also means cracking down on lax gun laws. You can't do one with the others! And Republicans will never agree to gun control.

So please vote for something your chosen party can actually make happen, OP. Because migration is not solvable with the parties we have currently.

And yet many countries do not have a migrant problem. Is it possibly because their policies positively discourage migration?

All the desirable (wealthy and tolerant) countries without daunting ocean protections have immigration problems. Are you thinking of Japan? It’s an extremely insular and xenophobic country. I can say that, I’m Japanese.

Doesn't Japan also have a declining population problem?

dp, yes, as does South Korea (I'm Korean American with family still there), and Korea is relying on immigrants to deal with the labor shortage.

Agree, other countries that are not as homogeneous and are wealthy have immigration issues (UK and France).

OP. I don’t see why population decline has to be a bad thing. There are trade-offs but ultimately it would be better for the environment if we stop focusing on growth and focus on quality of life and the environment. Cheap labor is actually one of the factors that enables our American lifestyle that contributes to so much pollution and waste. Do you think that so many private homes and corporate campuses would have expenses of lawn and landscaping that require constant labor, if they had to pay a “living wage”? That is just one example.

It may be that some well-off retirees need to tighten their belts a little bit and not take so many cruises and whatnot. There might need to be a little redistribution to ensure elderly people aren’t living in poverty. But it’s not a terrible thing if so many people aren’t dying rich and leaving tons of money to their kids, which is a huge driver in racial inequality.

We should all do less BS office work and spend more time tending our own yards, caring for our own kids, doing our own chores and cooking our own food, instead of relying upon cheap labor. Yes I realize that is not good for the stock market, but the stock market is not a good measure of true societal wealth.

And yes, I realize that Trump is not going to do anything for the environment, but honestly, I don’t see the Biden administration or Kamala is having a truly positive impact on that either. It’s all smoke and mirrors.

Do you really think Trump and MAGA want a redistribution of wealth to help the elderly?

Your response is overly simplistic.

It's not just about money. A country needs a workforce to survive, able bodied young people. People are living longer; we need more doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, home health aides, etc.. to support an aging population.

I do agree that the world is over populated, but there's an imbalance of it. The countries with a growing population are mostly 3rd world countries; the countries that are shrinking are mostly developed countries.

You can't force those 3rd world countries to stop reproducing. But, since the developed countries are shrinking, and their population is aging, those countries are going to have to rely on those 3rd world countries to keep their economy going.

And I disagree that Biden/Harris are doing nothing about climate change. They can only do so much, but they have done something. He's signed into law rules to reduce our reliance on oil, and reduce emissions generated by corporations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trump didn't do anything good for his entire term and he still won't do anything good the second time around. Still waiting on my "beautiful healthcare plan".

There were far far fewer migrants with faux asylum claims coming in under Trump. That is a fact.

Please articulate how migrants seeking asylum are affecting your daily life.

I’m a Democrat and I will be voting for Harris/Walz. But you’re actually nuts if you’re serious about this question. I live in NYC and the crisis is everywhere. A direct impact on me is that the city had to cut funding to every city service by 5-10% to fund shelter and services for migrants. I don’t have kids in the public school system, but the influx of high-need, low-income, non-English speaking kids is another direct impact on NYC children whose parents are taxpayers.

I pay a LOT in taxes, and I’m happy to, for a well-run city with good services. I have no choice but to fund this, and obviously once they’ve arrived in NYC, it’s better to have them housed and fed than have depression-esque tent cities everywhere, but they shouldn’t be here at all. The asylum system is a total joke.

Obviously I get that a legislative solution is needed and that the GOP isn’t operating in good faith on this, but Democrats’ messaging (both domestically and externally, to potential migrants) needs to change. There is definitely a perception that the Democrats are the “compassionate” ones on this issue and that a Democratic administration will not take border security seriously. I’d like to see the Remain in Mexico policy put back in place as a starting point. Trump was actually right on that one.

Please remember that employed but undocumented immigrants pay taxes.

Some do. I’m not talking about sales taxes, I’m talking about income and payroll taxes that are paid by people who earn their income on the books. Which is typically not the case for undocumented immigrants, who for obvious reasons tend to work cash jobs. I wouldn’t say it’s universal, and the newly-arrived migrants are certainly not paying state and city income taxes on the whole.

There are billions of dollars paid into this system by undocumented workers who use fake SSN etc to gain employment who will never draw on these benefits. Documented fact, look it up.

It's also true that people who have never worked a day in the US come here, get legal status and then draw retirement out of the social security system.

Not if they haven’t subsequently worked the requisite years.

Have you never dealt with SSA? The documentation required to get any payment is enormous.

IDK about today, but decades ago, this did happen. They declared disability to collect ss. Maybe the rules are tighter now.

Yes. The rules are very tight now. I’m sure there continues to be some abuse in the disability category. Doctors can be paid off. But SSA is very very thorough.

+1. You need to pay into Social Security for 10 years to get any kind of benefit at all, at that's a really tiny benefit. This is because SSA calculates your benefit using a 35-year average of your wages, so you can see how lots of 0s in that average would lead to a low benefit. To get any kind of benefit at all you need at least 30 years of paying into the system.

To get SSDI, it's normal to go through being denied once and then appeal it at least once. This happened to severely disabled BIL and my IL's even got him an SSDI lawyer. It's not easy to get SSDI, at all. But most people give up the first time they're denied.

I don't think the 10 year rule applies to disability, does it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trump didn't do anything good for his entire term and he still won't do anything good the second time around. Still waiting on my "beautiful healthcare plan".

There were far far fewer migrants with faux asylum claims coming in under Trump. That is a fact.

Please articulate how migrants seeking asylum are affecting your daily life.

It’s clear your kids don’t attend school with hundreds of children of illegal immigrants, none of whom speak English. You realize those kids take time and resources from the other students, right? And that this shouldn’t be happening? Not to mention the vast resources expended on illegal immigrants using ERs as their free healthcare while the rest of us pay for it with ever higher premiums. But do continue pretending none of this is affecting Americans in any way.
DP

I live in Texas and I honestly do not care. A person is a person regardless of where they come from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trump didn't do anything good for his entire term and he still won't do anything good the second time around. Still waiting on my "beautiful healthcare plan".

There were far far fewer migrants with faux asylum claims coming in under Trump. That is a fact.

Please articulate how migrants seeking asylum are affecting your daily life.

I’m a Democrat and I will be voting for Harris/Walz. But you’re actually nuts if you’re serious about this question. I live in NYC and the crisis is everywhere. A direct impact on me is that the city had to cut funding to every city service by 5-10% to fund shelter and services for migrants. I don’t have kids in the public school system, but the influx of high-need, low-income, non-English speaking kids is another direct impact on NYC children whose parents are taxpayers.

I pay a LOT in taxes, and I’m happy to, for a well-run city with good services. I have no choice but to fund this, and obviously once they’ve arrived in NYC, it’s better to have them housed and fed than have depression-esque tent cities everywhere, but they shouldn’t be here at all. The asylum system is a total joke.

Obviously I get that a legislative solution is needed and that the GOP isn’t operating in good faith on this, but Democrats’ messaging (both domestically and externally, to potential migrants) needs to change. There is definitely a perception that the Democrats are the “compassionate” ones on this issue and that a Democratic administration will not take border security seriously. I’d like to see the Remain in Mexico policy put back in place as a starting point. Trump was actually right on that one.

Please remember that employed but undocumented immigrants pay taxes.

Some do. I’m not talking about sales taxes, I’m talking about income and payroll taxes that are paid by people who earn their income on the books. Which is typically not the case for undocumented immigrants, who for obvious reasons tend to work cash jobs. I wouldn’t say it’s universal, and the newly-arrived migrants are certainly not paying state and city income taxes on the whole.

There are billions of dollars paid into this system by undocumented workers who use fake SSN etc to gain employment who will never draw on these benefits. Documented fact, look it up.

It's also true that people who have never worked a day in the US come here, get legal status and then draw retirement out of the social security system.

Not if they haven’t subsequently worked the requisite years.

Have you never dealt with SSA? The documentation required to get any payment is enormous.

IDK about today, but decades ago, this did happen. They declared disability to collect ss. Maybe the rules are tighter now.

Yes. The rules are very tight now. I’m sure there continues to be some abuse in the disability category. Doctors can be paid off. But SSA is very very thorough.

+1. You need to pay into Social Security for 10 years to get any kind of benefit at all, at that's a really tiny benefit. This is because SSA calculates your benefit using a 35-year average of your wages, so you can see how lots of 0s in that average would lead to a low benefit. To get any kind of benefit at all you need at least 30 years of paying into the system.

To get SSDI, it's normal to go through being denied once and then appeal it at least once. This happened to severely disabled BIL and my IL's even got him an SSDI lawyer. It's not easy to get SSDI, at all. But most people give up the first time they're denied.

I don't think the 10 year rule applies to disability, does it?

No, it doesn't. But you need a bona fide disability that passes SSA muster, including an initial denial and then at least one appeal. You can't just turn up, as an illegal immigrant, and live off SSDI. Especially if you can't afford to pay off doctors and pay for SSDI lawyers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP,

Immigration is a global problem. Not political party can fix it, anywhere in the world. I am French, and I am acutely aware of how challenging it is for the European Union to regulate the millions of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean. Images of drowned toddlers on beaches are traumatizing. Some countries' coastguards have been accused of letting migrant boats capsize and not rush to their aid. Yet no country can withstand that much migration, so Europe needs to control the flow.
It's an awful situation.

What people fail to understand is that migration doesn't get solved at the border. By then it's too late. You will create human suffering whether or not you create an impenetrable wall.

Migration exists because some countries are dirt poor and some are insanely wealthy. Climate change worsens migration significantly. So do criminal organizations: American demands for drugs and weapons push South and Central American countries into drug lord governance and weaken democracies who could rduce violence and keep their populations inside their own borders.

The GOP has traditionally not been receptive to gun control, and the Democrats have traditionally not been receptive to drug control. They are both to blame for much upstream decisions that create criminal opportunities in Latin America, and force desperate people to leave for greener pastures.

Europe has similar problems.

It's useful to vote for idiots who make grand promises but will clearly not do a thing to address the core issues. Harris at least is trying - she traveled to Latin America to strengthen democratic and economic ties in a bid to keep people where they are. It's very uphill work, and the democrats can't solve it unless they also crack down on drug crime, which also means cracking down on lax gun laws. You can't do one with the others! And Republicans will never agree to gun control.

So please vote for something your chosen party can actually make happen, OP. Because migration is not solvable with the parties we have currently.

And yet many countries do not have a migrant problem. Is it possibly because their policies positively discourage migration?

All the desirable (wealthy and tolerant) countries without daunting ocean protections have immigration problems. Are you thinking of Japan? It’s an extremely insular and xenophobic country. I can say that, I’m Japanese.

Doesn't Japan also have a declining population problem?

dp, yes, as does South Korea (I'm Korean American with family still there), and Korea is relying on immigrants to deal with the labor shortage.

Agree, other countries that are not as homogeneous and are wealthy have immigration issues (UK and France).

OP. I don’t see why population decline has to be a bad thing. There are trade-offs but ultimately it would be better for the environment if we stop focusing on growth and focus on quality of life and the environment. Cheap labor is actually one of the factors that enables our American lifestyle that contributes to so much pollution and waste. Do you think that so many private homes and corporate campuses would have expenses of lawn and landscaping that require constant labor, if they had to pay a “living wage”? That is just one example.

It may be that some well-off retirees need to tighten their belts a little bit and not take so many cruises and whatnot. There might need to be a little redistribution to ensure elderly people aren’t living in poverty. But it’s not a terrible thing if so many people aren’t dying rich and leaving tons of money to their kids, which is a huge driver in racial inequality.

We should all do less BS office work and spend more time tending our own yards, caring for our own kids, doing our own chores and cooking our own food, instead of relying upon cheap labor. Yes I realize that is not good for the stock market, but the stock market is not a good measure of true societal wealth.

And yes, I realize that Trump is not going to do anything for the environment, but honestly, I don’t see the Biden administration or Kamala is having a truly positive impact on that either. It’s all smoke and mirrors.

Oh goodie another right winger both sidesing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The border requires legislation and it has since Reagan was in office. At every change, the GOP has refused a bi-partisan solution, most recently when Trump jettisoned a bill that had 80% of what the GOP wanted.

That it is keeping you angry tells me their ploy is successful.

Inflation is a result of COVID and the subsequent bounceback. It is a global phenomenon. Inflation is better in the US than anywhere else in the world.

How do you reduce inflation? Bring down core costs. For housing, that means getting more built. The GOP opposed the government efforts to do this. it means bringing drug costs down. the GOP opposes the government getting involved with this. It means passing anti-price-gouging legislation. The GOP opposed such passage.

What is the GOP plan for the border? Pass the bill it opposed under Biden.

What is the GOP plan for inflation? Who knows. What we do know is that Trump wants to pass a VAT to replace the current tax system, which would be a boon for the upper class and an anchor for the lower and middle class. Trump also wants to increase tariffs, which is highly inflationary.

Please tell us what you think the GOP will do about the border and inflation.

The border does not require legislation. Adhere to the legislation already in place.