By your example, they are. Whether or not they should be alarmed by that threat is another question, entirely.
Fair enough. However when a lot of conservatives talk about “rights”, it does seem like they are talking about their “right” to keep their world locked in time in 1950.
I’d argue that none of these is available to the average Mexican.
Most Mexicans are not going to have an immediate family member living legally in the United States to sponsor them. Not are most Mexicans going to be pre-hired for a job in the United States.
Most Mexicans who request political asylum in the United States are denied (while 29% of all asylum requests are granted, only 3.3% of asylum requests by Mexicans are granted). And Mexicans are not eligible for diversity slots.
What’s the evidence for this claim? Speaking strictly about legal immigration, what policies have been promoted by conservatives to facilitate legal immigration, or aid legal immigrants once they’ve settled here?
Conservative view point here: Open the borders and do away with the minimum wage laws. Let the market of labor evolve freely.
Conservatives certainly love Cuban immigrants as well as immigrants from the former Soviet Union, if for no other reason that they tend to vote Republican.
This is an important point. Conservatives are alleged to dislike women, blacks, immigrants, “brown people of all stripes (heh),” etc.
But you know what? All of these are welcome if their politics are conservative. This is why Rush Limbaugh had Clarence Thomas stand as Best Man at one of his weddings and Elton John perform at his most recent wedding (accompanied by Elton’s husband David Furnish). It’s why Condoleeza Rice, a woman and a black, was a Republican National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, and why Alberto Gonzales, a Republican, became the first Hispanic Attorney General of the United States. And there are countless members of these groups serving as Republicans in state and congressional offices all across the country.
I don’t know that the liberal meme that Republicans hate everyone but old rich white guys is a ploy or a genuine belief, but either way anyone with a smidgeon of critical thinking ability should be able to look around and see that it’s false.
Obviously as others have said…the distinction between legal and illegal is cruicial.
However people further contest that even legal immigration is NECESSARY - with things like ‘good for our culture’ and other happy thoughts sprinkled on it to mask their own desire to accept others without really knowing why.
Here is a general top ten of myths that are perpetrated and passed along amongst western society for the last four decades.
You can thank deranged liberals and corporate wingnuts for this mentality.
) They are an economic necessity - Not true. The idea that a bunch of desperately poor, uneducated, unskilled, non-English speaking foreigners are an economic necessity is ludicrous. In fact, when you compare cost vs. benefit, it is obvious that they are not only NOT a necessity, they are not even an asset. Rather, they are a liability and a huge one at that.
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They do work Americans won’t do - Not true. They do work Americans won’t do for $7 an hour (especially if Americans can collect welfare and unemployment instead). Of course, if you got rid of the illegals, the jobs wouldn’t pay $7 an hour. The people who wanted the work done would have to pay a wage that was attractive enough to get Americans to do the work. And it might even be enough to get Americans off the unemployment and welfare dole and back into the taxpaying workforce!
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We benefit from all that “cheap” labor - This is nonsense. The only people who benefit from the cheap labor are the unscrupulous people who hire illegal immigrants. Taxpayers are left holding the bag. Ultimately, it is they who must pay to support all the Americans who have been put out of work by illegals and must also provide billions of dollars in services and benefits to the illegals themselves.
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They are just trying to make better lives - Aren’t we all? The difference is that most of us understand that we DO NOT have a right to acquire by illegal means those things that we find difficult to acquire by legal means. And we certainly don’t have the right to do it in a foreign country.
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It is impossible to round up and deport the illegals - We don’t have to. All we have to do is remove the incentives that brought them here in the first place. No jobs. No housing. No taxpayer financed services or benefits (including education). Once we remove the incentives that brought them here, they will leave on their own.
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Immigration control is racist / xenophobic - This is just another play of the race card by people who have no other cards to play. Immigration control is the world-wide status quo. There is nothing racist about it. Furthermore, the USA welcomes LEGAL immigrants of all races and ethnicities from all over the world who have gone through the legal immigration process. This is not just a bad argument, it is an attempt to create racial hatred and division.
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We are a nation of immigrants - This is the “BIG LIE”. The vast majority of Americans are native-born. I am not an immigrant. Nor were my parents. Nor were my grandparents. We are a nation that has, historically, allowed and even encouraged LEGAL immigration. And we continue to do so. The issue at hand is illegal immigration, which has nothing to do with legal immigration.
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They are people. We must treat them humanely - Yes & yes. But lets not pretend like they are victims who were dragged here kicking and screaming against their will. Nothing could be further from the truth. They came of their own free will and for their own benefit and they broke the law to do it. People should not be rewarded for breaking laws and committing crimes. Sending them home is the right thing to do. There is nothing “draconian” or “mean-spirited” about it.
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It is wrong to break up families- Yes. Unfortunately, families are often broken up by criminal activity. If you don’t believe it, just drop by any prison or jail on visiting day. We can’t keep families together if some family members choose to participate in criminal activity.
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They work & contribute to our society - So do I. And if I break the law and commit crimes, I can expect to pay a penalty of some kind. Anything from a small fine to the death penalty. I do not receive a reward. Why should we treat foreign criminals better than our own citizens?
Superb.
Overly wordy but short on facts? Yes, I can see why you’d admire it.
It wasn’t a recitation of data, it was a common sense statement of truth. A truth this country’s liberals, as is usually the case, seek desperately to deny.
It was a list of opinions you agree with. If it comforts you to call it “truth,” then swaddle away.
There’s a big difference between our experiences here:
My parents were immigrants to the US. So were my grandparents. So were my wife’s parents. So were most of my bosses. All legal, I hasten to add. So I’m used to being around immigrants. I’m used to seeing how productive they are, how driven they are to succeed. We could just plain use more people like that, IMO.
Yet you also know that first generation immigrants (and what they taught their direct ancestors) are a universe away from what issues (social and lawful) that immigrants cause and face into today’s western society.
That much we don’t have to debate on.
The point - not that I believe you need a reiteration for your benefit! - was that the overbearing view that immigrants ‘built this country’ influences people into further thinking that immigrants will continue to help the country evolve. Well they are right it will evolve, yet it won’t be into anything positive.
Immigrants of the nature we really have to concern ourselves with, are those whom come to exploit rather than embrace.
And as you’ve probably noted, those immigrants you speak of all learned to speak English, integrate and respect American culture and build a life for themselves.
Which is all admirable yet not enough evidence or support of why we should be so open to immigration as a concept.
The idea that ‘because our forefathers were immigrants..’ is not relevant. Just as it’s not relevant to call the United States a Republic anymore - times changed.
As I said.. myths.
What we should really be doing is spending a small portion of time and money to look for and allow applications on those who are advantageous to our economy, our education and our law/military firms. If you qualify you and your immediate family are given VISA status and fast-tracked citizenship (of course providing other checks along the months/years).
I would wager that for every ten thousand immigrants legal or illegal, only one thousand are actually ‘necessary’ for America’s needs.
Wild speculation on numbers? Maybe.
Concerned that the ratio of useful to not useful is extremely high? Definitely.
And to be specific on topic, conservatives do not dislike immigrants, nor do they like them. They’re intolerant, as most people should be.
What right minded person is PRO immigrant? On what grounds? I suspect the top ten answers will be the opposite (or on point) of the top ten I gave against it.
Coincidence?
See below amendment to sentence in bold.
“And to be specific on topic, conservatives do not dislike immigrants, nor do they like them. They’re indifferent, as most people should be.”
I said ‘intolerant’ the first time… hmm Freudian slip?
It depends on what you mean by conservatives. It is arguable that today’s conservatives are actually the Democrats with the Republicans being right wing radical extremists.
You don’t appear to have any left of center politics in the US anymore.