Reply to Should Natural Born US Citizens have more rights than "Naturalized" US Citizens? Why or Why Not?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I do not think there should be two tiers of citizenship, but I do think the US needs a moratorium on most immigration for at least 50 years. We’ve had way too many immigrants from too many disparate groups and cultures in too short of a period. Now we have Ilhan Omar advocating for her home country of Somalia, we have Mexicans waving the Mexican flag around, we have Indians who only hire other Indians and want to bring in lots more Indians on H1bs when Americans should get priority for those jobs. Each group is fighting for its own group and people, instead of for America.

America used to have a powerful ability to transmogrify immigrants into Anglos. We are quickly losing that ability. Today’s immigrants view America as simply an economic zone where they don’t have to give up loyalty to their home countries and people. It has destroyed social cohesion. We need at least two generations to assimilate the existing immigrants.[/quote]
Have you considered that people like you--with such unthinkingly racist, hostile and arrogant mindsets--are why immigrants of color have not been able to assimilate?

The previous generations of immigrants who you claim were turned into anglos were WHITE immigrants. That has never been an option for visibly non-white immigrants. There is no pathway for immigrants of color to be accepted in America the way white immigrants were and still are. We are perpetual guests in the minds of people like you and THAT is why we cannot fully assimilate and often give up. It has nothing to do with recency of immigration and everything to do with race in this country.

Speaking as a very well-educated, worldly immigrant of color, I have found native-born Americans extremely schizophrenic in behavior. On the one hand, native-born Americans happily exploit the benefits of immigration: the contributions to the tax base, the skill set, the work ethic, and the visionary abilities that immigrants disproportionately bring to the table. On the other hand, native-born Americans dislike immigrants of color and do not see us as equals or as people. They resent and envy us the fruits of our labor when we are successful and they begrudge us the right to seek help from the systems we contribute to when we are in need. Even democrats and liberals who consider themselves our "allies" really like us only to the degree we play our assigned roles in their political machinations. Immigrants of color who are conservative can drop dead as far as democrats are concerned. Republicans typically make no bones about their disdain for us and would prefer all of us who are successful be stripped of our property and status.

White immigrants, however, are treated as legitimate Americans almost immediately. Data and experience establish that my recently naturalized blue-collar Romanian friend who has a thick accent has less to fear from ICE than I, an accentless, upper middle class citizen of 30 years. She comes and goes to Romania as she pleases. I am afraid to travel even for work because every time immigration is on the agenda, such as under Obama, Trump I, and now again, I start getting detained for extra vetting, sometimes held in rooms for hours without explanation, by TSA upon returning to the country.

When you come to America as an immigrant of color, you are initially excited about the country because you believe all the positive PR and you can't wait to begin fitting in. Eventually, however, you realize that fully assimilating into this country is not possible because the people do not want you to take your place as one of them. They want to "other" you and hold you at arm's length, pulling you close temporarily only when you can be of use to them as a political talking point, voter, exotic pet, or source of funds.

The result is that immigrants of color like me--who originally had almost exclusive American friends upon moving here, married a white American, lost my accent, and really threw myself into becoming American--find ourselves isolated and really friendless in the moments of life when we really need people to count on. We see our children othered not only by white people, but even by Americans of color, whose perception of us as white people's pets and resentment of our success, pops up at times like college admissions and job hunts.

The rejection and constant slaps force us and our children to open our eyes to the fact that we will never be American in the eyes of native-born Americans, even as they expect us to cut off all ties to our country of origin as part of a neverending loyalty test. We end up realizing that, even after decades here, the only people who are going to show up for us are still the people from our community of origin. So, we end up retreating back into pockets of our communities because that is what any logical human being would do.

It is extremely unfair and dishonest not to take stock of all the ways in which people like you, PP, smear and reject immigrants before announcing we don't want to fit in.

America has to choose between maintaining whiteness as a standard and building a cohesive nation. So far, elevating whiteness is what you are all choosing.[/quote]

I imagine when you bring your mixed-race children to your country of origin, they, too, experience that sense of not belonging. [/quote]
PP here. It's understandable you'd imagine that since white people here like to reject half-white children whose other half isn't white. That's not how it works in my country, however. [/quote]

Well you need to share your country, then. Because I guarantee that once you do, all of its hypocrisy and terrible events will be revealed. Smugness is often the result of ignorance. [/quote]
You read that lengthy, insightful post and it was so above your intelligence that all you could come away with is this ego-driven, moronic whine? How emblematic of the widespread stupidity and arrogance running our nation into the ground.[/quote]

Ego-driven moronic whine? And a knock against intelligence. Oh my. That will hurt someone's feelings.

When I read responses like yours, I'm convinced you 1) don't operate in the real world or 2) use AI to generate your response. Either way, I'm embarrassed for you. [/quote]

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