Of course it was hostility to white immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe that led to the immigration quotas of the 1920s that didn’t get struck down until the mid-60s.
I think a lot of people who’ve never been to Canada have really silly ideas about what Canadians are like.
You always trot out this horseshit, but my own experience is that a lot of those complaining in those states that actually have illegal immigrant issues are themselves ‘brown people’…like my dad. And like many people in my family.
My guess is that you don’t live in a border state, unless it’s California which is much more diverse than, say, Arizona, New Mexico or Texas (though Texas is more diverse than Arizona or New Mexico…though still have a large percentage of folks who self identify as Hispanic). It’s a more complex issue than your knee jerk ‘white people hate and fear brown people’ meme.
Well, I got a minor chuckle out of this:
The combined population of Quebec and New Brunswick is less than nine million, and the subset who are not functional in English is smaller still.
To add to RickJay’s post about the situation in Canada, there was actually something of a significant scandal recently about the use of immigrant labour wherein a program to bring in foreign workers was severely restricted - in part to protect Canadian workers - but also because employers were seen as abusing the program at the expense of said foreign workers, who were being brought in to work minimum wage jobs and then exploited because of their temporary status.
Er, while I am not John Mace and cannot speak for him, I didn’t get the impression that he believed that to be an accurate description of real-life French-Canadians.
AFAICT it was merely a fanciful hypothetical: “Suppose there were 10M poor non-Anglophone French-Canadians trying to cross our northern border to escape their wretched lives back home.”
Yes, I gathered, I just thought it was amusing as I read it and thought “Are there that many French-Canadians?”
And, well… no.
That was then, this is now. You don’t see much talk about the Yellow Peril anymore either. Or even with Mexicans, you don’t see many people bring up their tendency to be Catholic, which used to be a big deal.
Which brand of bigotry is fashionable tends to change a lot. Right now it’s demonizing Hispanics.
I expect they’ll change their opinion when and if they get their way, there’s a “crackdown on illegal immigration”, and they find themselves being among those harassed.
It says right over every post, Location: California. And I live in an apartment building filled with brown Spanish speaking people who have yet to kill me or infect me with anything or any of the other things people are so paranoid about. And what makes you think there isn’t plenty of anti-immigrant ranting and raving in California? According to some people here the illegal immigrant hordes are planning to start an uprising and force the state to join Mexico.
No; people are pretending that it’s more complex, but it isn’t.
As I wrote previously, the population of other nations seems to support control at the borders, but I’m branded at a raciest, gun toting nut case for wanting the same for the United States. Are we allowed any control of our country while still be classified as a “good Americans?”
What is your solution? Completely open borders? I’m sure you’ll want some middle ground but what is that? Closing the borders on odd days?
A lot of people here want to believe anti-immigrant sentiment MUST be racist in nature. Personally, if I hated Mexicans, I should probably stop marrying them. I can honestly say not only that “Some of my best friends are Hispanic” but “MOST of my family and best friends are Hispanic.”
Lest anyone think anti-immigrant feeling is purely related to racism, here’s something to consider" Cesar Chavez HATED “wetbacks” (HIS word, not mine).
He and his brother organized groups of Hispanic American union farm workers to beat up Mexicans who tried to cross the border. He didn’t view Mexicans as his brown-skinned brethren, he saw them for what they were: foreign scabs who were helping Big Growers to hold down wages.
MOST of us on the SDMB are educated, and most of us are working at jobs that Mexican immigrants aren’t likely to take. As a result, many of us are too blase about the effect illegal immigrants have on blue collar workers of ALL races in the USA.
The unemployment rate among black Americans is extremely high. How can anyone argue we need millions more foreigners to fill blue collar jobs? UNLESS, that is, you’re saying black Americans don’t want to work (IS that what you’re implying?).
My first wife’s father was a Texas-born Hispanic. He worked in the oil fields of South Texas most of his life. It was hard, but he made enough money to buy a house and put two kids through college. HE’S the type of man whose job would have been threatened by illegal immigration.
I don’t hate Mexicans. I don’t even BLAME them for wanting to come here. Their skin tone and their language is different, but in most respects, a Mexican crossing the border probably probably has a lot in common with my peasant Irish ancestors. It’s just an unfortunate FACT that the USA can’t take in EVERYBODY who wants to come here.
Do I like being on the side of SOME anti-immigrant folks who definitely ARE racist? No- but shouldn’t YOU be uneasy about being on the side of Big Growers and Big Business?
It was a hypothetical. I thought that was obvious. I used Canada because it has a long, shared border with the US and a certain population whose first language is not English. That is all.
For the record, I’ve been to Canada many times.
I’m not clear on the context of your quote, but I would offer that the USA has been in an economic slump for the past 6 years. Immigrants make a great target for blame, God forbid we put whitie criminals in jail, God forbid whitie criminals even lose their jobs.
Must easier blaming darkies.
Sure…nations with much smaller borders than the U.S.
Which way do you think is best to secure the U.S.'s 2k mile border with Mexico? Can you find a comparable border that was made secure by another country?
The best we can do is make it difficult. The border is just too damn big. As someone said in another thread, “Show me a 10 foot wall and I’ll show you an 11 foot ladder.”
That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that just because something is a problem doesn’t mean it needs to be blasted on the news 24/7. Just fix it.
This isn’t a new problem either. Border security (specifically in the south) has been a problem and Americans have been racist and xenophobic as long as I can remember.
Again, it’s not about “fixing problems”. Politicians don’t care about getting things done. They care about getting themselves and their party elected. The easiest way to do that is to point out at the oppositions failures (real or imagined).
The Republicans are a lot better at that than the Democrats. At least in the sense that they can take something that appears to be a positive trait and turn it into a liability or at least cast doubt. Kind of like dumbass high school jocks making fun of the nerd who got into Harvard.
Its funny how the conservatived think that there is room in our system for the millions of aborted children but 36000 Guatemalan kids would strain the system to the breaking point. I dont know if they have really thought this through.
It’s due to the nature of the current Republican Party. The mainstream Republicans have been positively paralyzed by the batshit Teabag wing to the point where they don’t dare propose any solutions to any problems, lest they be accused of trying to make government work. Since they have been effectively self-expelled from the policy arena, the only thing they can do to get people to vote for them is to gin up hatred of “others”. Immigrants make a handy target for them, so they beat the drums about how the Hispanic Horde is going to come north and take jobs away from us and vote for those socialist Democrats. Since their tent is shrinking, Republicans have no choice to drum up hysteria among that shrinking base in order to get them motivated to vote.
Got a cite for that “a lot of people” bit? AFAICT, the only poster here taking such a strongly absolutist “opposition to illegal immigration = racism” stance is Der Trihs.
Why? Their people too!
See maginot line.
They’re.