What's the True Cost of Mass Immigration?

As someone who navigates U.S. immigration red tape for a living (IANAL, but I’m a paralegal for an immigration law firm specializing in employment-based visas/green cards), I can tell you that a skilled immigrant has many other avenues for immigrating besides paying a smuggler $30k. A gross oversimplification: in general, if a person (regardless of nationality) is qualified to do a job that requires a bachelor’s degree in a specific field, he/she can get an H-1B visa for waaaaay less than $30k.
And that’s just one of potentially limitless examples.

Of course, this doesn’t help impoverished peasants and the like, but I felt I had to throw it in.

[list=1]
[li]STOP WITH THE COLORS ALREADY! YOU’RE MAKING ME SEASICK![/li][li]kuk, when you use bits and snappets of Spanish and ethnic slang in the fashion that you do, it’s obvious you hate non-whites. To give us all proof of this, please answer #3 below[/li][li]You still haven’t told us how you feel about Jews. Don’t you have even one tired, worn-out innuendo about how they control the media with an iron fist? ;j :wink: [/li][li]STOP WITH THE COLORS ALREADY! [/li][/list=1]

Nobody is going to buy your garbage here, kuk. So either read some of the nice posts, & thereby learn something, or please voluntarily vamoose the ranch, cowboy.

To the rest of the Board, I pose the question–

Is baiting a Race-Baiter a form of, well…baiting? :smiley:

Please respond to this last question, rather than feeding the trolls

I agree completely, Eva. My point was that unfettered immigration allows skilled workers to continue to enter the US and work legally.

True enough, but there’s still a HUGE number of, say, Chinese who don’t have the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree (who maybe have some lesserlevel of education or know some skilled trade), but could come up with $5,000 if it meant living in the U.S. I’m no restrictionist, but I don’t think there’s room here for all those people.

Fair enough, but the data seem to suggest that there are a lot more who can’t, and who are reliant on the $30,000 “loans” to bring them here. So like I said, remove the market incentives for immigrant finance and you cut down on the total number of immigrants.

I happily agree to disregard the Skittlewit.

I don’t see a lot of baiting going on here, unless you count stuff like your own:

If you mean, asking leading questions in a mocking tone, then no, there isn’t a lot of value to it. It’s probably better than getting hysterical and pointing fingers and resorting to vulgar epithets, which can backfire by giving the casual observer on the sidelines the impression that somebody’s ox is being deservedly gored.

Rather, I see in this thread, for the most part, a serious and patient effort on the part of most SDMB regulars to demonstrate why Kuk’s assertions make no sense, whether examined factually or logically, historically or ethically. This is a valuable function of these boards – not because the original claimant is likely to change his mind (and Kuk is proving himself more immune to reason than most), but because the primary audience, I believe, is not the pool of actual debate participants.

I’m not the first to observe the value of remembering the lurkers, and to point out that even a stupid argument is worth refuting for the benefit of the silent readers. Indeed, I’ve found this to be exceptionally useful at times; for example, I have a co-worker who is prone to flights of lunacy in his politics (“I think Israel should kill a thousand Palestinians for every Israeli killed by terrorists; that’d solve the problem real quick” – a word-for-word quote), and when I can direct him to a preconstructed debate, in which someone mirroring his philosophy elaborately articulates his argument and is then summarily demolished, I no longer have to engage him in pointless bickering.

That’s what these threads really represent for me, and it’s why I tend to pick and choose my participation carefully. I’m not as disciplined as I’d like to be, of course, and sometimes I slip, but for the most part I respond in GD only when I think I have either (1) an important point nobody else has mentioned, or (2) an important question nobody else has asked. I really do try to treat these threads as “packaged discussions under construction,” to which anyone can return later, recognize statements that he or she might have made, and see how they stand up. Saves a heck of a lot of time, I think, and cuts past the standard bullshit.

So no, I don’t think “baiting” these types is a waste of time, though again that depends on how you define the term.
“Skittlewit” = somebody who thinks a mix of pretty colors is an adequate substitute for a coherent argument.

kook
(irrelevant to everyone else)
your diagnosis has been upgraded from A-hole disorder to acute chronic A-hole personality disorder (check the dsm tr, it’s a criterion added for further study, maybe the apa will pay you to be a case study)

taco bell isn’t immigrant food, it’s about as american as hot dogs, ah, now wait, that’s german, well, now, it’s about as american as pizza…

but let’s suppose (as you seem to) that mexicans are to blame for your weight problem (ie: taco bell), and then realize that:

taco bell is big business
which is good for the economy (there are actually taco bells in mexico city now, bringing foreign money to the us)
which is what you’re saying immigrants are bad for (in technicolor)

do mexican immigrants get credit for that one?

anyway, i’m right, your wrong, buh bye, i have 3.9 other posts to write

for everyone else
has anyone directed the debate toward the notion that we actually create the circumstances that make immigration desirable? necessary?
That the exploitable people perform a necessary function (even if only keeping the cost of produce and construction work down)?

ah crap! just realized my error,

:smack:

anyway, i stand by my diagnosis

greck

Not as far as I can make out, but the colors have been a bit blinding. It would make a good topic, though.

Can I ask that we make one distinction, please? Can everyone please try to distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants? Technically, despite being a U.S. citizen, I am the former, but I have never been the latter. Also, from first hand experience, legal immigrants certainly pay income taxes, property taxes, etc. and it used to be, back in the 1970’s, that we had to register with the government once a year.

Thanks,
CJ

Actually, the registration requirement never went away; INS just stopped enforcing it. All non-citizens are now required to report all changes of address to INS within 10 days of moving, in any case. (Details upon request.)

RickJay, I find your arguement a little strange. It’s true what you say: more people means more jobs to be had in the long term, in addition to more competition for jobs in the short term. But it’s not clear whether this will on balance help or hurt the workers who would compete most with immigrant labor. And besides, it’s pretty strange to focus on those workers anyway. It’s like (to borrow an analougy from Steven Landsberg) you’re an 18th century abolitionist who for some reason is trying to argue that ending slavery is good for slaveowners. Maybe it would be, maybe not: but that’s hardly the point. The whole point of ending slavery is for the good it does to the slaves, and perhaps the white migrant workers. Likewise, in our situation here with immigration, you’re ignoring the most obvious beneficiaries: the immigrants themselves, and the American consumers that benefit from their services (if they didn’t provide real economic benefit, no one would hire them, in which case why complain about job stealing to begin with?).

Thanks Eva Luna. Back around 1980 or so, I remember announcements on television which said, in effect, “All aliens must register,” at the local post office, I think. They were embarrassing at the time, although I was also a teenager then and rather easily embarrassed.

CJ

“The US has a lot of open spaces, and can support many more people.”

If population far outpaces the ability of sewage treatment plants to cope, soon the groundwater won’t be useful for much of anything. Something similar can be said of all facets of the infrastructure of civilization.

Here’s a site dedicated to returning ancestral lands to (southwestern) Native Americans.

There is an economic benefit to immigration which my quick scan of this thread did not pick up on. The biggest reason immigrant labor is actually a benefit to the host society is because it increases the labor supply free of cost. The sending society underwrites the cost of caring for and educating a future worker until the age at which he or she can start working. When the worker emigrates, the source country ends up having subsidized the economy of the host country.

[quote]
“The US has a lot of open spaces, and can support many more people.”

If population far outpaces the ability of sewage treatment plants to cope, soon the groundwater won’t be useful for much of anything. Something similar can be said of all facets of the infrastructure of civilization.
/quote]

Yes, but we have the resources to build more sewage plants, more effecient water treatment plants, better yeilding crops, an could build effecient cheap low income housing. (we could even do urban renewal, to lower urban sprawl). Arguing about lack of space is not the best way to go. KKK should focus on “open boarders let terrorists” in and ignore the rest of his racists rhetoric.

I hear ya, but it’s overwhelmingly clear by now that when Kukulkon refers to “immigrants”, what he really means is “illegal Hispanic immigrants”, specifically Mexicans.

Your cite below in support of this is completely worthless, on four counts.

Your original statement was “illegals” and “immigrants”, plural. First, your cite refers to only one case, not multiple cases. One case does not prove anything. Second, the issue of Jesus Apodaca is a very problematic and complex case, and by itself doesn’t even come close to proving your broad general point that illegal immigrants are getting cheap university educations. Third, Jesus Apodaca isn’t even in college–you can’t use him as proof that illegal immigrants are getting cheap college educations. The Denver Post article that your cite is so outraged about is only saying that Jesus Apodaca ought to be allowed to go to college, not that he is in college. Fourth, your cite is nothing more than an opinion piece, and it’s from a anti-immigration, heavily biased website. Here is its opening paragraph:

*I mean, I’m sorry, but if you want us to debate you seriously on this subject, you have to give us more support for your ideas than biased, hysterical, paranoid websites and quotes like this. If you want to bring up Jesus Apodaca, then bring a cite from an unbiased website.

Like this one.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_1457816,00.html

So, we can talk about whether Jesus Apodaca ought to be allowed to go to college, or whether he ought to be deported, and whether he ought to get any scholarship money, and whether he ought to pay in-state or out-of-state tuition, but you can’t use him to prove your statement that illegal immigrants are getting cheap college educations.

Okay, prove this. Bring us a cite that shows that 1/3 of all prisoners in the United States are foreign nationals, whether legal or illegal.

Betcha can’t, because it isn’t true.

Kukulkon, you sir ignorant.

To be an American is to be an immigrant, legal or otherwise. Everyone here with the exception of the Native American population is here as a result of immigration. A huge number of those immigrant are here without recourse to legal application to immigrate. That would include anyone to arrive before there was an immigration bureaucracy as well as the multitude that have since entered without papers from all over the world since that time.

These same arguments were made about my people when they arrived on these shores.
Anti-Irish Racism in the United States

We seem to have adapted pretty well and are now considered as American as the Know Nothings that passed laws trying to ban us as you seem to be promoting for Hispanics.

They seem to be making the same kind of progress we made 150 years ago.

César Chávez
Union Leader
Mexican American
1927–1993

Jaime Escalante
Teacher (Stand and Deliver)
Bolivian
American Born 1930

Rita Moreno
Actor
Puerto Rican
Born 1932

Roberto Clemente
Baseball Player
Puerto Rican
1934–1972

Federico Peña
Former United States Secretary of Transportation, Former Secretary of Energy
Mexican American
Born 1947

Franklin R. Chang-Díaz
Astronaut
Costa Rican American
Born 1950

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Congresswoman
Cuban American
Born 1952

Nancy Lopez
Professional Golfer
Mexican American
Born 1957

Gloria Estefan
Singer and Musician
Cuban American
Born 1957

Ellen Ochoa
Astronaut
Mexican American
Born 1958

Lee Trevino
professional golfer
Mexico

Isabel Allende
author
Chile

Edwidge Danticat
author Breath, Eyes, Memory
Haiti

Oscar de la Renta
fashion designer
Dominican Republic

Mel Martinez
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Cuba

Ricardo Montalban
actor
Mexico

Cesar Pelli
architect/educator
Argentina

Anthony Quinn
Academy Award-winning actor
Mexico

Carlos Santana
Grammy Award winning rock/jazz guitarist
Mexico

Luis Walter Alvarez
Nobel Prize for Physics
(1910-1988)

Mario Molina
Native of Mexico
Researcher and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
(1943-)

All of the members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus

I could of course go on but I think you get the point.

I don’t think people should be sent back to where they came from unless they are here illegally. I do agree that the borders should be closed to all but the best and most educated. People have this idea that this country has limitless supply and they have a right to be here. Not so. Keep the borders closed.

Reconstituting the Holy Roman Empire might help somewhat if you weren’t part Irish…
I just find it amusing that a guy named after the Mayan god of wisdom is incoherently ranting about all these Mexicans.

Would you also keep the borders closed to the close family members (spouses, children, parents, siblings) of legal immigrants and/or U.S. citizens? They are the overwhelming bulk of legal immigration to the U.S. And what about refugees?

comFirst of all…Tars…my friend…Im over you!
Its just not that fun to keep playing football in the backyard with the 5 year olds! :slight_smile:

IMHO…You need to keep getting on that School Bus of yours, keeping working toward your education (In Biology?)…When you get your eduction, move out of your mom’s house…and learn enough to debate me…then We’ll talk more…until then its just not FAIR for me to keep on Spank’in you!

BTW…I put the name John in the Enviromental debate so as to judge just how much you know about such matters…and as per the reast of your comments…You failed!
You cant get out of the Univesity…With a Major in Biology…and not know who the FOUNDER of the Enviromental system in this nation was!

…nice try, small fry!:slight_smile:

moving on:

“The biggest reason immigrant labor is actually a benefit to the host society is because it increases the labor supply free of cost”

Yea…and thats also the Biggest Problem…one mans Slave…is another families lost JOB and income…ECONOMICS 101.

" when you use bits and snappets of Spanish and ethnic slang in the fashion that you do, it’s obvious you hate non-whites."
Yea…“obviously”…now will you children please go back to bed so the adults can have a real debate?

Our Canadian “economist” has returned:

"There are 280 million people in the United States. There are 85 million people in Germany. Therefore, there are more people looking for jobs in the USA, right? So why is the unemployment rate higher in Germany? "
Well Rick.Germany has 7% and we have 6% its a ZERO sum game right? Except of course that Germany doesnt have 1 in 4 families Working without a “living wage”…they dont have Slaves there like we do…there are a host of reason why my friend, an being an economist im sure your aware that Germany has a Socialist economy…right Rick?

BTW…Rick let me ask you a question…if the total number of folks in a nation dictates the total value of the nations economy…Why isnt India much more wealthy than say Sweden?

How come the Swiss are so much richer than the Nigeria?
How come the Norse are so much more wealthy than the Paki’s?

…ohhh heres the answer:

“If you add 1 millionm people to the United States, you add not only the DEMAND for jobs, but also the SUPPLY of jobs, because more people = more demand for products and services = more jobs.”

You see Mr. Economist sir…the Wealth of the Citizens of a nation= the Nations total Wealth…/…Divided by…the nations total number of people…thats why Americans have not have a lift in their buying power since 1965!

… is not intersting that the exact same year we started Mass Immigration…We stoped gaining?(hmmmm)

BTW…nations who chose to follow us into the Third world pit have also have the exact same things happen to their people…just look at England, Spain, France…all have lost ground to those who didnt want a third world hell hole for a nation!!

… This is also the reason that Sir John Templeton (you know who he is right MR. economist?) has put his money into nations like Australia (who have made immigration a national issue)…and taken his Billions OUT of the USA and…CANADA!!!

…why would the most important Investor in the world do that Rick? Because he agrees with ME…and rejects folks like you!

This one is sad Sir:

"The immigrants, dummy. They pay taxes, ya know. Yes, immigrants pay taxes, roughly proportional to their income, just like everyone else. "

Ahhhh…are you sure your “economist”…Rick?

…WRONG!!!

Every "economist knows that only the top ~40% of Incomes pay Income Tax in this nation…ricky! (got that?)

Infact…the top ~20% pay almost 50% of all Taxes…and the Top 40% pay about ~90% of the Tax in this nation Rick (dont know about Canada?) But you are very incorrect!!!

So…NO! The vast majority of Immigrants that come to the USA have vey few skills…very low earnings…very little assets…and PAY NO INCOME TAX…nill…nada…no!

(would really think that an "ecnonmist like you would know that?..you didnt get your “edumakashion” at the same “university” as old Tars did you ?) :wink:

You stand correct Sir!

"Claiming “immigrants cost the taxpayer money!” isn’t evidence. Back it up with real facts. "

Hey…no problem sir…lets just see what I can find in todays papers…shall we?

Here ya go…

"Border Patrol detained suspect in nun’s slaying earlier this year -Esparza (an ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT)is charged with raping two nuns on a bike trail last month and strangling one – Helen Chaska, who went by the name Sister Helena Maria – with her rosary beads. The nuns were members of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, an order unaffiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. Esparza pleaded innocent to murder, rape and sodomy charges and awaits trial.

…how much does that COST RICK?

http://www.eastsidejournal.com/sited/story/html/107916

Here ya Go Rick…

“FOREIGN INMATES A BURDEN!!!”
"BY DAWN HOUSE
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

Utah taxpayers are forking over millions each year to imprison criminals who have slipped into the United States illegally and then violated laws.
The Utah State Prison spent $5.7 million in 2001 alone to incarcerate 235 males and two women who entered this country illegally and committed felony offenses!!!"

http://www.sltrib.com/10082002/utah/5122.htm

…5.7 MILLION RICK !!thats… $5,700,000 TAX PAYER BUCKS RICK!!!(and thats just TODAYS BILL FROM 1 CITY!!!)

“Phoenix police report that 60 percent of the homicides involve Mexicans mixed up in both smuggling drugs and people”
…Who do you think gets the BILLS for all these thugs? Police…Courts…Lawyers…Judges…Jails…the costs of having our people gunned down( Hey how much does that cost our economy each year rick…dead Americans by the thousands due to Immigrants…how much does that cost Rick $$$$$?)[/COLOR]

…60% of ALL KILLERS IN PHOENIX ARE MEXICAN NATIONALS!!!

http://www.sonorannews.com/guest.html
Here…County election officials spent about $500,000 designing and printing the new documents (Because Immigrants dont know English!!!)

…$500,000 TAX PAYER Bucks …RICK!

http://members.tripod.com/~reconquista/NEWS/BilingualBallots021011CA_.html
Here ya go Rick…MALARIA…(probably from Migrant Mexicans ) How much will MALARIA cost us rick? how many Amerians will die ? What the total Cost for our economy Rick?
“The owner of a company that raises grass on the uninhabited Montgomery County island where malaria-infected mosquitoes have been found plans to have the 20 employees who worked on the island tested for malaria!!”

http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.malaria10oct10.story

Here ya go Ricky Boy…Yet Another American Attacked nearly Killed By Mexican ILLEGALS…RICK!! How much will this cost us Rick??

“Hereford, AZ - Oct. 10 – A young American was attacked by two illegal aliens in a school parking lot just north of the Mexican border Tuesday evening. Tyler Goodman had stopped at the school at 7:30 p.m. to get water for his overheating car when a Mexican knocked him to the ground and started choking him. Only the arrival a school janitor saved him from being killed. The Mexicans stole his car. It was later recovered when the Border Patrol stopped the Mexicans at a checkpoint.”

http://members.tripod.com/~cochiseguardian/NEWS/CarjackPalominasAZ_021010.html

…and more!!!

“Asbury Park Press
5 likely Mexican nationals charged in attack on 2 officers”
“Other charges against some of the men included attempted robbery, aggravated assault, possession of a controlled dangerous substance (crack cocaine), attempted theft of motor vehicle, resisting arrest, riot and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, police said.”

http://www.app.com/app2001/story/0%2C21133%2C627074%2C00.html

and more…

"STATE OF DENIAL OVER TERRORIST VISAS

Reporter Joel Mowbray of National Review says the State Department is in denial over mistakes made in the visa issuance process that led to at least 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers getting visas. “Now that the world knows that the State Department was responsible for granting visas to the 9/11 terrorists in direct violation of the law” "

http://www.nationalreview.com/mowbray/mowbray101002.asp
…and more!!!

“Tuberculosis gains ground in county health watch
Immigrant-related numbers are cause for concern, not alarm, authorities say”
“Immigrants from countries with high rates of tuberculosis are increasing the number of cases in King County”

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/tb21.shtml
JIHAD IN …MAINE???..HELL IT AINT EVEN SAFE IN…MAINE…FROM IMMIGRANTS ANYMORE!!!
“Maine: Somali migrants stab man”
“They don’t like us and we don’t like them,”

http://www.sunjournal.com/story.asp?slg=100402brawl
…here ya RICK…how much will this COST $$$???

“3 border agents shot at in 2 weeks”
"Three U.S. Border Patrol agents have reported being shot at in separate incidents west of Tucson since Sept. 23. "

http://www.azstarnet.com/border/21005PATROLSHOOTINGS2fpmb.html

…hey RICK CHECK THIS ONE OUT:what the BILL on this one?

“NIGERIAN MIGRANT ACCUSED OF RAPING 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL !”

“Akhiktemelo Braimah rolled under the defense side’s table, moaned, urinated and cried out for at least 10 minutes before being taken to Creighton University Medical Center.
Braimah, a Nigerian, is accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl”

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=520520

…SAME OLD STORY EVERYWHERE EHHHH RICK?
“Muslim migrants rape young Danish Girls…68% OF TOTAL RAPES IN DUTCH HOMELAND FROM IMMIGRANTS”

…why are letting these SAVAGE people into our Civil Nations??? WHY RICK?

“Alarmed at last week’s police statistics, which revealed that in 68% of all rapes committed this year the perpetrator was from an ethnic minority”

http://cphpost.periskop.dk/default.asp?id=16937
…Ahhhhh AT LAST…“MuLtIcUlTuRaLiSm”…you moment of Zen!

“Preparing for Jihad … in Alabama
Islamic Militant Training Camp Allegedly Operating in Alabama !!!”

“A training camp linked to Islamic militants has been operating in Alabama, and European law enforcement officials believe Muslim extremists were using it to prepare for a holy war.”

"An investigation by Britain’s Scotland Yard led to the discovery of the camp in Marion, Ala. The facility is called “Ground Zero USA.”

Bullet-riddled police cars and a school bus with mannequin targets are scattered around the property. Inside a huge shed is an equally macabre scene — shot-up mannequins, male and female, in domestic settings, some with red, blood-like stains on them"
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/WNT_alabama_camp020725.html
JIHAD IN LOS ANGELES…LAX KILLER YET ANOTHER IMMIGRANT DESTROYING AMERICA:

“WASHINGTON –– The man who became the Los Angeles International Airport killer had so many credibility problems seven years ago that U.S. immigration service officers questioned his assertions of peaceful intentions toward his own country of Egypt, a newly disclosed document shows.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64024-2002Oct9.html
… NOW THIS IS JUST WHAT I FOUND…TODAY…IN A QUICK SEARCH…and no dought there lots more where these came from!!!

…So what the cost rick?

how do you calculate numbers this high?
…So…Ill leave it to you “economists” to the figure the Total calculus on the Total Bill …for TODAYS IMMIGRANT TAX PAYER COST TOTAL!!!

Whatever the total in money…lets admit the real cost is for our people…our children…our GRANDMOTHERS…and our nation!!

So sad to think that only ~30 years ago…this was a nice nation to live in!! A nice place to have a family.!!

Mass Immigration has turned nearly every major city in this nation into a Sewer!!!..in only ~30 years!(next its on to your town…your family…your GRANDMOTHERS!

the question is…how long are you people planning on taking this ?

Sick and sad…but mad as hell!

Kukulkon

[COLOR=red] You people have 3 choices…

hide in your dream world…and pretend evreything is “great” (afterall your T.V.'s tell you so!!)

Move to Iceland

OR WAKE THE HELL UP!!!

Ohhh…Rick P.S…didnt want you to feel left out…Yes people like are turning even Canada into third world hell hole…

"Canada: Illegal alien serial rapist from Jamaica rapes another woman "

"An illegal immigrant serving time for raping a grandmother and two other women in Brampton in 1991 has allegedly been linked by DNA to the beating and rape of an Etobicoke woman. Police charged the man after allegedly matching DNA evidence, bringing to four the number of cold sex-assault cases in Toronto that have led to charges since the DNA databank opened in June 2000.

She was followed from a bus stop by a masked man, beaten with a brick in her driveway and dragged into some nearby bushes, where she was raped at knifepoint. The suspect in this case is serving 13 1/2 years at Warkworth prison after he pleaded guilty to raping a 71-year-old widow in her home. He stuffed a pillow in her face when she began to have an asthma attack and raped her at knifepoint. He also admitted to sexually assaulting two women, aged 29 and 47.

Errol Edwards, 38, who was earlier found to be in Canada illegally from Jamaica, is charged with aggravated sex assault, threatening death, aggravated assault and wearing a disguise. "

http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=194838;article=1207;date_query=1033770863
Dont worry Rick…its ing to your town SOOOOON!!!