Immigration - how is it such a huge issue in this race?

[Anonymous]

The ugly truth is that people see brown and equate these people with illegal immigrants. The big issue for the GOP isn’t really illegal immigration but that birth rite citizens from brown immigrants have a higher birth rate than white Americans. The suburbs that are now Hispanic and suffered white flight are not filled with people who crossed the border in the last several years. They are filled with Latinos who have been here for well over 10 -20 plus years and have many children.

[Anonymous]

What's in it for Biden administration? If problem is as severe then why they don't see the severity?

[Anonymous]

Biden Harris had absolutely no reason to reverse Trump immigration policies. If they had retained them I’d have considered that a good faith signal in the negotiation over more permanent legislation. Instead they decided to flood already stressed communities in the interest of long term political benefits and certain business interests. They of course don’t live in these communities that are impacted. So they don’t care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apologies if there’s another thread on this…

But really? It seems like people I know who are not particularly affected by this issue are focused on it as a deciding factor in the election. It’s immigration, immigration, immigration. e

Is immigration that terrible for our country? In my world at least, the most obvious related issue I see is that small businesses don’t have enough labor. So immigration is a good thing.

Maybe I’m myopic. Can someone please explain?

It seems like people I know who are not particularly affected by this issue are focused on it as a deciding factor in the election.

You should ask those people, because we don’t know what they are thinking.

Immigration is a completely different topic than illegal immigration. Immigration is immigration, our government has rules that immigrants follow to legally apply to enter and become Americans.

Illegal immigration is probably what the people you know are concerned about, but you will have to clarify that with them.

Illegal immigration is the problem that many Americans are concerned with and are trying to find a solution for, because people who are illegally in the US are taking a huge amount of financial resources from Americans who pay taxes and are themselves struggling to provide for themselves and their families.

Schools, hospitals, medical clinics, social services, law enforcement, etc, are stretched thin trying to deal with illegal immigrants. This condition is unacceptable. America doesn’t have enough money to take care of our own citizens. Why are we allowing millions to enter the US illegally while our own citizens need our help?

But again: no one here knows what the people you know are thinking. They could have different reasons and other concerns that we do not know about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it's because as pp said resources are finite. We've seen this first hand. When your kids are in a school where poverty has grown to over 60% free lunch in less than 10 yrs, the school starts scaling back.
Ex. Your child is reading below grade level or you suspect an issue you are told all is fine. That's because there are so many children at the school who are either doing worse or who are new arrivals and cannot read at all.

Yikes. This hits home in FCPS.

come to Sterling Middle school and see what Democrat policies have done to the middle class. Title one school , gangs, kids without parents, kids cant speak English.

and Democratic politicians are NEVER seen there. Warner, Kaine, Conelly never seen or helping.

Come to western Fairfax.

I know we get what we deserve in Alexandria, but our schools are imploding because of illegal immigrants. But the idealistic progressives supported a property tax increase to fund the disaster that is ACPS. Someone highlighted the unlicensed businesses in Arlandria that the police force had hailed on its own FB, and in true ALX fashion the person suggesting the police not promote illegal businesses was called a racist. Housing Alexandria unapologetically does not require proof of legal status and allows applicants to hand fill in income declarations - no W2 required. This is consistent with HHS policy under the Biden-Harris administration. My child was assaulted and robbed by a non-English speaking person on the DASH bus. Illegal immigration affects many of us every single day. Worrying that my daughter may not be able to get an abortion is a worry that never enters my mind; but her 45% ELL and growing classroom affects her every single day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apologies if there’s another thread on this…

But really? It seems like people I know who are not particularly affected by this issue are focused on it as a deciding factor in the election. It’s immigration, immigration, immigration.

Is immigration that terrible for our country? In my world at least, the most obvious related issue I see is that small businesses don’t have enough labor. So immigration is a good thing.

Maybe I’m myopic. Can someone please explain?

In a nutshell, the immigrants that used to disappear into Texas or Manassas or Hyattsville are now showing up in Montgomery, and Fairfax and NYC and causing Democrats to freak out. Immigration wasn't a problem for them as long as they went "somewhere else."

Op just checking in now. Quite the discussion! I’m a New Yorker. Immigration doesn’t affect my daily life at all, nor does it affect anyone’s I know, in NY or out, other than small businesses who WANT more workers. Our

So again, I’ll ask, why is it such a hot button issue? Do I think it’s not *an* issue at all? No, of course not. But why is it THE defining issue to so many who it really doesn’t affect?? And why doesn’t anyone discuss how global issues out of our control affected recent waves of immigration much more than specific US policies?

If specific policies didn’t affect immigration, why have the numbers gone down after Biden issued his recent executive order? Specific policies absolutely do affect the numbers arriving at our border. The massive flow started almost immediately after Biden entered office and reversed Trump’s executive orders. Economic migrants in Latin America, and especially the human traffickers and cartels that are facilitating the illegal immigration flow, do pay attention to US immigration policies. Cartels are making more money from human trafficking during the Biden administration than they are from drug trafficking.

Illegal immigration absolutely does affect people’s daily lives if you live in a community that has absorbed large numbers of illegal immigrants. It affects housing costs, education of children due to so many resources being dedicated to ELL, local healthcare systems, and government resources. Many of the illegal immigrants make no effort to assimilate. I have had a handful of people approach me speaking in Spanish recently. I thought it was very rude of them to approach me and talk to me in a foreign language, assuming that I understand them and will learn their language to accommodate them.

[Anonymous]

Many of the immigrants you see entered legally under a TSP program (temporary protected status) which was an entry program begun by President Bush #1 I think designed to help people fleeing natural disasters.

Haiti is a mess. Venezuela is a mess (due somewhat to the Us imposition of sanctions). Thats why Harris was dispatched to South America to see what those countries could do to make conditions bettter there so feeder people wanted to leave.

That didn’t work and the volume of those who leaving only increased (the NYT had an interesting article about how the rise of social media has helped fueled this with influencers documenting journeys that inspire many others to leave)

And the volume of new arrivals to states which didn’t have to deal with immigrants before has overwhelmed their systems.

It is a problem. We need some level of immigration especially as existing US citizens have fewer children. But the current t volume is unsubstantial.

I wish this issue wasn’t politicized and there could be real reform.

Biden did make a mistake by opening things up too much. And then it was a clear political move to try to reverse things once this was clearly a successful issue for Trump to run on.

He received numerous letters from northern state D governors pleading for assistance. He should have treated that as a national emergency.

[Anonymous]

Biden and Harris denied the border crisis for years, even after Democrat governors and mayors complained about the strains the influx was putting on their localities. They gaslighted us to tell us the border was “secure” instead of changing policies to reduce the influx. This is why people like myself don’t trust Kamala to handle immigration and the border. Their polices created a disaster, and they only changed course because of political considerations with the election upcoming. They otherwise refused to act for years. I voted for a Trump mainly over this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ugly truth is that people see brown and equate these people with illegal immigrants. The big issue for the GOP isn’t really illegal immigration but that birth rite citizens from brown immigrants have a higher birth rate than white Americans. The suburbs that are now Hispanic and suffered white flight are not filled with people who crossed the border in the last several years. They are filled with Latinos who have been here for well over 10 -20 plus years and have many children.

So your position is that illegal immigration isn't actually a real thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t be ridiculous. Of course Americans are upset about immigration. Parents don’t want their schools overcrowded from illegal immigration.

+1
And to the OP - the issue is ILLEGAL immigration.

Stop gaslighting. You don’t want any more brown or Black people, legal or not, in your neighborhood, town, county, state, or country. Stop using your kids as political pawns for your bigotry. Kids don’t have a problem with new or different kids, unless their parents force them to. I say this as someone in 3rd grade in the South when our school was desegregated and as parent of 3 children who benefited from very diverse public schools. You guys are saying the same shit as every bigot in history.

I am a “brown” daughter of immigrants. I’m a Democrat and will be voting for Harris, but you’re being myopic if you think everyone concerned about the effects of the migrant crisis is concerned because they’re racist.

I live in NYC. The city is spending literally billions of dollars of taxpayer money on housing, feeding, and caring for migrants. NYC had to institute across the board cuts to all city programs and services to pay for this. The migrants are all over the subway and the sidewalks panhandling, often with children (who are not in school, and therefore may eventually become taxpayer liabilities as adults) in tow. And the kids who are in enrolled in school (as they should be) are consuming resources paid for by US citizen taxpayers, and because resources are finite, taking them from the children of US citizen taxpayers.

You might not personally care about this, but it’s insane for you not to realize or care that other people do. Maybe for the most hardened MAGA types it’s a question of racism, but not for everyone. Many Democrats are concerned too. And acting like this isn’t a problem is not going to help Democrats get elected.

New Yorker here. You are exaggerating and fear mongering. My kids attend nyc publics. Everything is fine. And they are certainly not all over the sidewalks panhandling. You are a disgusting liar.

PP be like "sWArMs Of TheM aRE iN thE CLasSRoOmS EaTinG CaTS aND DoGS!!!!1!" 🤪

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apologies if there’s another thread on this…

But really? It seems like people I know who are not particularly affected by this issue are focused on it as a deciding factor in the election. It’s immigration, immigration, immigration.

Is immigration that terrible for our country? In my world at least, the most obvious related issue I see is that small businesses don’t have enough labor. So immigration is a good thing.

Maybe I’m myopic. Can someone please explain?

In a nutshell, the immigrants that used to disappear into Texas or Manassas or Hyattsville are now showing up in Montgomery, and Fairfax and NYC and causing Democrats to freak out. Immigration wasn't a problem for them as long as they went "somewhere else."

Op just checking in now. Quite the discussion! I’m a New Yorker. Immigration doesn’t affect my daily life at all, nor does it affect anyone’s I know, in NY or out, other than small businesses who WANT more workers. Our

So again, I’ll ask, why is it such a hot button issue? Do I think it’s not *an* issue at all? No, of course not. But why is it THE defining issue to so many who it really doesn’t affect?? And why doesn’t anyone discuss how global issues out of our control affected recent waves of immigration much more than specific US policies?

If specific policies didn’t affect immigration, why have the numbers gone down after Biden issued his recent executive order? Specific policies absolutely do affect the numbers arriving at our border. The massive flow started almost immediately after Biden entered office and reversed Trump’s executive orders. Economic migrants in Latin America, and especially the human traffickers and cartels that are facilitating the illegal immigration flow, do pay attention to US immigration policies. Cartels are making more money from human trafficking during the Biden administration than they are from drug trafficking.

Illegal immigration absolutely does affect people’s daily lives if you live in a community that has absorbed large numbers of illegal immigrants. It affects housing costs, education of children due to so many resources being dedicated to ELL, local healthcare systems, and government resources. Many of the illegal immigrants make no effort to assimilate. I have had a handful of people approach me speaking in Spanish recently. I thought it was very rude of them to approach me and talk to me in a foreign language, assuming that I understand them and will learn their language to accommodate them.

I live in NYC, the place the poster above insisted was overrun with immigrants on the streets and subways and crowding out our schools. Not accurate whatsoever at all. My children and almost all of my neighbors children attend public school. I ride the subways and walk the streets, frequent small businesses, go to work, etc, rather than sitting in my basement imagining the worst after listening to Fox News. New York always has an influx of immigrants, including my own family decades ago. NYC life goes on. The fact is that these newcomers are important contributors to our vibrant communities, and we need their labor.

The primary issue affecting people I know have little to do with this issue being pushed by the republican propaganda machine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it's because as pp said resources are finite. We've seen this first hand. When your kids are in a school where poverty has grown to over 60% free lunch in less than 10 yrs, the school starts scaling back.
Ex. Your child is reading below grade level or you suspect an issue you are told all is fine. That's because there are so many children at the school who are either doing worse or who are new arrivals and cannot read at all.

Yikes. This hits home in FCPS.

come to Sterling Middle school and see what Democrat policies have done to the middle class. Title one school , gangs, kids without parents, kids cant speak English.

and Democratic politicians are NEVER seen there. Warner, Kaine, Conelly never seen or helping.

When they don't visit the schools or see firsthand what's happening, they can pretend problems don't exist.

My children attend public schools in a city people claim is ‘overrun’ with immigrants. No issues for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many of the immigrants you see entered legally under a TSP program (temporary protected status) which was an entry program begun by President Bush #1 I think designed to help people fleeing natural disasters.

Haiti is a mess. Venezuela is a mess (due somewhat to the Us imposition of sanctions). Thats why Harris was dispatched to South America to see what those countries could do to make conditions bettter there so feeder people wanted to leave.

That didn’t work and the volume of those who leaving only increased (the NYT had an interesting article about how the rise of social media has helped fueled this with influencers documenting journeys that inspire many others to leave)

And the volume of new arrivals to states which didn’t have to deal with immigrants before has overwhelmed their systems.

It is a problem. We need some level of immigration especially as existing US citizens have fewer children. But the current t volume is unsubstantial.

I wish this issue wasn’t politicized and there could be real reform.

Biden did make a mistake by opening things up too much. And then it was a clear political move to try to reverse things once this was clearly a successful issue for Trump to run on.

He received numerous letters from northern state D governors pleading for assistance. He should have treated that as a national emergency.

TPS is not an entry program. It is a program for people who were already in the country illegally and the president grants temporary amnesty for 18 months stretches to protect them from deportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apologies if there’s another thread on this…

But really? It seems like people I know who are not particularly affected by this issue are focused on it as a deciding factor in the election. It’s immigration, immigration, immigration.

Is immigration that terrible for our country? In my world at least, the most obvious related issue I see is that small businesses don’t have enough labor. So immigration is a good thing.

Maybe I’m myopic. Can someone please explain?

In a nutshell, the immigrants that used to disappear into Texas or Manassas or Hyattsville are now showing up in Montgomery, and Fairfax and NYC and causing Democrats to freak out. Immigration wasn't a problem for them as long as they went "somewhere else."

Op just checking in now. Quite the discussion! I’m a New Yorker. Immigration doesn’t affect my daily life at all, nor does it affect anyone’s I know, in NY or out, other than small businesses who WANT more workers. Our

So again, I’ll ask, why is it such a hot button issue? Do I think it’s not *an* issue at all? No, of course not. But why is it THE defining issue to so many who it really doesn’t affect?? And why doesn’t anyone discuss how global issues out of our control affected recent waves of immigration much more than specific US policies?

If specific policies didn’t affect immigration, why have the numbers gone down after Biden issued his recent executive order? Specific policies absolutely do affect the numbers arriving at our border. The massive flow started almost immediately after Biden entered office and reversed Trump’s executive orders. Economic migrants in Latin America, and especially the human traffickers and cartels that are facilitating the illegal immigration flow, do pay attention to US immigration policies. Cartels are making more money from human trafficking during the Biden administration than they are from drug trafficking.

Illegal immigration absolutely does affect people’s daily lives if you live in a community that has absorbed large numbers of illegal immigrants. It affects housing costs, education of children due to so many resources being dedicated to ELL, local healthcare systems, and government resources. Many of the illegal immigrants make no effort to assimilate. I have had a handful of people approach me speaking in Spanish recently. I thought it was very rude of them to approach me and talk to me in a foreign language, assuming that I understand them and will learn their language to accommodate them.

I live in NYC, the place the poster above insisted was overrun with immigrants on the streets and subways and crowding out our schools. Not accurate whatsoever at all. My children and almost all of my neighbors children attend public school. I ride the subways and walk the streets, frequent small businesses, go to work, etc, rather than sitting in my basement imagining the worst after listening to Fox News. New York always has an influx of immigrants, including my own family decades ago. NYC life goes on. The fact is that these newcomers are important contributors to our vibrant communities, and we need their labor.

The primary issue affecting people I know have little to do with this issue being pushed by the republican propaganda machine.

Other NYers feel differently. Including news outlets and your own mayor.

Our schools are overwhelmed and the test scores are tanking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apologies if there’s another thread on this…

But really? It seems like people I know who are not particularly affected by this issue are focused on it as a deciding factor in the election. It’s immigration, immigration, immigration.

Is immigration that terrible for our country? In my world at least, the most obvious related issue I see is that small businesses don’t have enough labor. So immigration is a good thing.

Maybe I’m myopic. Can someone please explain?

It is all Fox News talks about. Tune in sometime.