This just goes to show the stupidity of the American electorate. The cost alone of mass deportations could bankrupt this nation. Even if we put every federal resource at ICE’s disposal and drafted local and state police enforcement agencies, it would still take more than a decade, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars we can hardly waste.
Not to mention, utilizing federal and state resources for mass deportations would mean these resources aren’t available for every day policing, which means crime rates would increase exponentially. Criminal cases would collapse, and crime would run rampant.
Additionally, Immigrants contribute approximately $3.3 trillion a year to our GDP. Allowing the 11 million undocumented a path to citizenship would increase or boost GDP by an additional $1.7 trillion.
Given our massive debt of over $39 trillion and an annual deficit of approximately 1.88 trillion, we need all the additional GDP we can muster. Deporting these undocumented workers and families will only destroy local economies are the country (these people spend in the local economies for food, housing and other services), and increase the price of goods and services, as undocumented workers do the jobs Americans don’t want: agriculture, slaughter houses, etc……
I think it’s unfair and intolerant to say this shows the “stupidity of the American people.” This has been a growing problem my entire life. (I’m 56) I’ve lived in immigration states like California regularly and see the difficulties faced in those areas. While mass deportation is far too extreme and would surely be as difficult and expensive as you say, what you are actually seeing in these polls is folks expressing their frustration that it’s a problem constantly ignored. And ignoring that reality is how we are facing the fight of our lives to keep Trump out of office and save Democracy.
I don’t disagree with your analysis. My argument isn’t whether the electorate is wrong when it comes to immigration. They just don’t think logically about actual solutions that could achieve the goal of securing the border. Instead, they buy the ludicrous ideas of cheap snake oil salesmen.
Seriously, build a wall (1,950 miles)? It’s ineffective, expensive and would require the use of eminent domain which could take years to work its way through legal challenges, and still not achieve an iota of the desired result.
Yet, a majority of Americans believe this is an actual solution to the problem. Trump built 52 miles of new wall at a cost of $500 million per mile (expensive). Ten miles of it blew down in a wind storm, and migrants managed to cut through several other areas of Trump’s wall with a $150 electric chainsaw from Home Depot.
My point? A percentage of the electorate is STUPID, because they continually listen to, and elect incompetent charlatans who have never actually delivered on a policy plan for the border.
In fact, all they have ever been is the problem, not the solution. Democrats tried to negotiate an immigration deal as soon as Biden was elected. Republicans refused to negotiate in good faith, and when Biden requested additional funds for detention facilities at the border because of the influx of immigrants, republicans refused to fund it. In fact, every budget put forward by republicans cut funding for border security when democrats are in power. Yet, apparently this country is being overrun and unable to function!
And you wonder why legally Biden had to release so many undocumented into the country without supervision? It’s because it’s the law. If you don’t have enough beds, the migrants must be released. This is what republicans do. They deny democrats the proper funding, and when things go bad, it’s all the democrats fault.
Fair enough, I be more considerate. I don’t mean to imply they’re actually stupid, but was saying they are making stupid decisions. That said, point taken…:)
Yes. I know and agree with all of this. And I know that a discussion forum (even a well considered and polite one!) is not enough space to cover an epically complicated issue. I feel your frustration and am with you. I just struggle (like everyone on here!) with calling people I know and love stupid, even when I totally don't understand and disagree with their politics.
Yes, but when people don’t bother to think even the littlest bit down the road of what these policies will *actually* do in terms of “collateral damage”, what can you say about these people, regardless of whether they’re friends or family?
Maybe “stupid” isn’t right. How about “intentionally uninformed”? “Purposefully ignorant”?
Nope. I get it. I do. I was just explaining why I was a bit triggered by the original post that felt a little aggressive. Sigh. I have days when I call folks stupid myself, and days when calling folks stupid makes me feel sad and frustrated. Apparently today was the latter.
To put a finer point on it, I believe that Americans are like Trump in favor of deporting non-white immigrants. They don’t have a problem with white immigrants
“And when I said, you know, ‘Why can’t we allow people to come in from nice countries,’ I’m trying to be nice. Nice countries, you know like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?” - Donald J. Trump
If he could be bothered to even understand something as simple as this, he’d get the fact that people from those northern EU countries have NO interest in emigrating here, given how much higher the “happiness index” is in Norway, Sweden, etc. and how much better their social services, lack of poverty, etc. actually are?
It’s always astonished me that Trump said something *this* easily understood…
I almost didn't watch this given the title but forced myself and am glad I did. I think there's room for the Harris-Walz team to grow on immigration by expanding upon their proposed plans, how they aim to achieve them, and really hit home on how MAGA has thrown a wrench in the works of some significant legislative progress. Thoughts?
Right, it’s not like Trump, who when elected, and had majorities in the House and Senate, couldn’t have solved this issue. Oh wait, there was a bi-partisan bill that passed the house and senate, only to be vetoed by Trump.
And now we had a bi-partisan bill that was the most popular with republicans, ever agreed to by democrats, and ready to be voted into law when the anointed one decided to KILL it because it would have hurt his chances of retaking the Oval.
These aren’t half truths, they are facts. And feel free to elaborate and educate, but don’t even try to insult my intelligence with your nonsensical response!
That’s all @dutchmaga has, blatantly incorrect comments that he never takes the consideration of documenting. I’ve read enough of his comments to know that is what I’d call “intellectual laziness”…
How exactly did Dems create this mess? Biden actually kept Trump’s border executive orders in place as long as he could. However, independent lawsuits used the CONSTITUTION to have it over ruled. You can not pin the border problems on one party. It’s been decades of self serving choices stacked like Jenga. Pro business folks want cheap labor they can abuse and can’t unionize. Citizens have enjoyed cheap child care, house cleaners and gardeners. Economists like the consumer boost from immigrants. Government is more than happy to collect more SS taxes. Simplifying this down to one party - especially after sinking a strong compromise bill - is disingenuous at best. And I lived in California when the GOP’s god Reagan offered up amnesty with a whole lot of false promises to fix the border. I think the border mess needs to be solved absolutely. But Trump’s over simplified schtick didn’t get it done with all branches in GOP hands. How will it be any different this time? I am legitimately asking since you say want to engage intelligently and reasonably.
Not that you offered a very serious or thoughtful answer, but you are obviously aware that you are over-simplifying. If we want to go straight to numbers of crossings and deportations, did you support President Obama? Nvm, you just want to troll and occasionally pretend to be thoughtful and reasonable.
Yes, Obama deported lots of undesirables. I worked for DOJ at the time and it was a large portion of our job. There is a mechanism to accomplish this mission. It is made more difficult because of large numbers who have invaded our country illegally. It can and needs to be done!
It's painful to see this without any acknowledgment of the morality or immorality in passing -- like looking at polling and commentary about whether desegregation was a good or bad thing politically for local and state politicians back in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s with no comment addressing the fact it was profoundly morally wrong. (Yes there was a difference between "de jure" (by law) segregation and "de facto" (actual) segregation but the results were often similar and yes, it's probably wrong to cut this off in the 1970s as the latter continued.) If you lived through that time, think about it. If you didn't, you might want to talk to your parents or grandparents.
Taking that approach to "tactical" choices about racism and segregation ("Wallace should go all in on this" to win would be the analogy to this column) also makes it harder today to assess our far-right Supreme Court, created by Trump, which denies the use of affirmative action by both public and private actors and frequently supports voter suppression and destruction of the Voting Rights Act's provisions.
I just don't see how these are morally neutral topics or why there is no reason to even acknowledge in passing that these are immoral choices.
I mostly hear and agree with you and certainly have enough compassion not to want to cause unnecessary hardship on anyone of any race or color. But I do feel like we slip into treating immigrants as though they are our wards, rather than independent, intelligent humans who can forge their own path. I don’t believe desegregation is a clear parallel. Those were descendants of folks literally captured against their will and bought and sold like cattle. Abhorrent on a whole other level with far less choice and options than independent people. Immigrants might be coming from some shockingly tough situations, but they do have choice and autonomy. They can work to fix their own country’s governments and economies rather than illegally coming to ours. I work in dog rescue. I am in NO WAY comparing any humans to dogs. But it has taught me lessons. Many many rescuers start out with the best intentions and do a wonderful job. But more often than not, the need is bottomless. They are asked to take on more and more and struggle to say no even when the resources are gone. Then they end up as “hoarders” and no pet is getting good care. We need to make immigration safe and reasonable for both the immigrants and the hosts. The resources have to be there.
The last question, how would this work, is the key. Plus, what would the ramifications be for so many industries? Who is going to pick our food? Who will hang the drywall? (Personal experience there!) Who will work the poultry factories? Americans? Proven that won't happen without a HUGE salary increase. Will tariffs pay for that too?
And the humanitarian cost! Are we going to split up families? Parents from children?
Yeah, it sounds great until you actually start to think about it, but that has never been Trump's strong suit!
Wouldn't it be FANTASTIC if there actually was a sarcasm font?? So many people just don't seem to have the sarcasm gene, especially since the advent of social media.
Yes, those are interesting stats. They're also depressing. To begin with, Trump's mass deportation promise is this year's version of the bogus Wall promise. It will never happen. If it did, we'd soon regret it. As with several issues, the American public is badly misinformed, and as to immigration, the misinformation is a deliberate function of Trump's demagoguery. Border security is a valid issue. But evidence suggests we need the workers, regardless of their status. Unemployment remains low. Wages have been rising. Throw out all those workers and we'd have a massive -- and highly inflationary - labor crisis.
Well reasoned, Todd, as always. If you drive through towns in my state, everywhere you look you will see "help wanted" or "closing early due to lack of staff" signs. They can find people to work. Immigrants aren't the problem and the idea of rounding people up like cattle and sending them "back" is as foolish as it is heartless.
That is so depressing. America was/is built on its immigrants, we were ALL immigrants once. Just a very sad state of affairs that we have lost our way so badly. Also just HOW do they plan to do that?
Crossing the border and entering the country illegally is in its nature against the law, not a huge leap to see this.
Deporting undesirable people from our country does not make someone a scapegoat in any way. They should not be here. Deporting illegal aliens is routinely done within the federal court system. Nothing different here just the volume of people allowed by JB/KH.
I suggests you look into the immigration history of one Abraham Hamadeh. He was born here but his parents were not. I won't spoil the story for you, but this Trumpy rightwing Republican is going to be elected to Congress from Arizona this November.
Legal immigration not these folks going around our immigration system and laws. They are not welcome. What if everyone just decided they didn’t want to follow the law?
Changing existing immigration and asylum laws are different than using police and the military to round up illegal immigrants already in the country. Voters aren’t thinking about the massive logistics and inevitable tragedies of moving that many people to…where exactly? Camps? Seeking asylum also isn’t breaking the law. And breaking the law doesn’t mean you deserve to be a scapegoat by cynical and powerful people desperate to get re elected so they can avoid their own reckoning with the law.
PS I am also reminded that, during WW II, a vast majority of Americans polled did not support welcoming Jewish refugees in, to save them from what everyone knew was a genocide in the making. Even when the poll asked if children should be admitted, a majority said no!
Haven't seen a budget on mass deportation yet. Could this be another Wall project which was said but not implemented as much as they said it would be? Probably could find similar polling in Europe. When UK started to implement, people really didn't like it and it was hugely expensive. Poll should have asked follow up 'are you willng to have increased taxes to support mass deportation and disruption to our economy? Many who will be deported are working and paying taxes. They married USA citizens. If GOP didn't want to pay for 1500 new border patrol, how are they paying payroll for ICE, national guard, local police, etc. for 21m? Have nephew adopted from South American country. Has all his papers. Will he be questioned all the time about his right to be here as part of the round up? Probably. Swept up in deportation? Not sure but history does show Americans were deportated. This Project 2025 plan is not well thought out. Led by Stephen Miller. He would be happy to deport anyone starting with American poor people.
Other than as a humanitarian crisis at the border, I care very little about immigration. Honest question: why should I? In other words, change my mind!
Your comment reminded me that in the eighties and nineties, the Wall Street Journal was a strong proponent of open borders. I'm sure most people now would say that our current situation proves the folly of that. I'm not sure I agree. Immigrants wouldn't be forced to come in through a limited number of access points. There would be no market for human smuggling. It would reduce the need for such a large Border Patrol.
I'm just daydreaming, so please don't tell what an idiot I am.
When someone you know is harmed by an illegal alien you will care. I know, it’s never gonna happen to me, but unfortunately it does. Sad and heartbreaking stories all over our country about the harm illegal aliens have caused American families.
There are such incidents but nowhere near the numbers that Convicted Felon Trump and his acolytes claim. In fact, you're more likely to be harmed by a native born American than an "illegal alien."
Correct. @dutchmaga’s comments are strictly anecdotal and not indicative of the national as a whole. The simple facts, per data from the FBI and police reporting, is that undocumented immigrants try to “fly under the radar”, as they don’t want to be identified and deported. They are *substantially* less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.
I’d love to see @dutchmaga back up his assertions with anything other than his precious “feelings”, but I ain’t holdin’ my breath!
People are in favor of the IDEA of getting illegal immigrants out. If those same folks understood the ramifications of that policy...like they have to mow their own lawn and pay double the current price for food, etc...that great idea might seem like a bad one.
Without a somewhat detailed explanation of a "plan" for the mass deportation program, I suspect the polls on this issue are meaningless. It's just one more way to stir up more hatred in the country and/or one more way to get clicks. Perhaps Trump will develop a "concept of a plan" for the mass deportation but, in the meantime, intelligent people won't give much credence to this idea. BTW, mass deportation will surely get the agriculture community (i.e. farmers) upset because it will take away a very large chunk of their workforce. I'm just pointing out the obvious..........
For all of those who are in favor of mass deportation, I wonder who you think will be picking our fruit, mowing our lawns, etc. I wonder how you will feel when there is a spike in food prices because the cost of getting it to the supermarket has gone up exponentially.
This just goes to show the stupidity of the American electorate. The cost alone of mass deportations could bankrupt this nation. Even if we put every federal resource at ICE’s disposal and drafted local and state police enforcement agencies, it would still take more than a decade, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars we can hardly waste.
Not to mention, utilizing federal and state resources for mass deportations would mean these resources aren’t available for every day policing, which means crime rates would increase exponentially. Criminal cases would collapse, and crime would run rampant.
Additionally, Immigrants contribute approximately $3.3 trillion a year to our GDP. Allowing the 11 million undocumented a path to citizenship would increase or boost GDP by an additional $1.7 trillion.
Given our massive debt of over $39 trillion and an annual deficit of approximately 1.88 trillion, we need all the additional GDP we can muster. Deporting these undocumented workers and families will only destroy local economies are the country (these people spend in the local economies for food, housing and other services), and increase the price of goods and services, as undocumented workers do the jobs Americans don’t want: agriculture, slaughter houses, etc……
Just some thoughts….:)
My first thought was what the economic impact would be. Thanks for addressing it.
I think it’s unfair and intolerant to say this shows the “stupidity of the American people.” This has been a growing problem my entire life. (I’m 56) I’ve lived in immigration states like California regularly and see the difficulties faced in those areas. While mass deportation is far too extreme and would surely be as difficult and expensive as you say, what you are actually seeing in these polls is folks expressing their frustration that it’s a problem constantly ignored. And ignoring that reality is how we are facing the fight of our lives to keep Trump out of office and save Democracy.
I don’t disagree with your analysis. My argument isn’t whether the electorate is wrong when it comes to immigration. They just don’t think logically about actual solutions that could achieve the goal of securing the border. Instead, they buy the ludicrous ideas of cheap snake oil salesmen.
Seriously, build a wall (1,950 miles)? It’s ineffective, expensive and would require the use of eminent domain which could take years to work its way through legal challenges, and still not achieve an iota of the desired result.
Yet, a majority of Americans believe this is an actual solution to the problem. Trump built 52 miles of new wall at a cost of $500 million per mile (expensive). Ten miles of it blew down in a wind storm, and migrants managed to cut through several other areas of Trump’s wall with a $150 electric chainsaw from Home Depot.
My point? A percentage of the electorate is STUPID, because they continually listen to, and elect incompetent charlatans who have never actually delivered on a policy plan for the border.
In fact, all they have ever been is the problem, not the solution. Democrats tried to negotiate an immigration deal as soon as Biden was elected. Republicans refused to negotiate in good faith, and when Biden requested additional funds for detention facilities at the border because of the influx of immigrants, republicans refused to fund it. In fact, every budget put forward by republicans cut funding for border security when democrats are in power. Yet, apparently this country is being overrun and unable to function!
And you wonder why legally Biden had to release so many undocumented into the country without supervision? It’s because it’s the law. If you don’t have enough beds, the migrants must be released. This is what republicans do. They deny democrats the proper funding, and when things go bad, it’s all the democrats fault.
Hope this helps..:)
Fair enough, I be more considerate. I don’t mean to imply they’re actually stupid, but was saying they are making stupid decisions. That said, point taken…:)
Yes. I know and agree with all of this. And I know that a discussion forum (even a well considered and polite one!) is not enough space to cover an epically complicated issue. I feel your frustration and am with you. I just struggle (like everyone on here!) with calling people I know and love stupid, even when I totally don't understand and disagree with their politics.
Yes, but when people don’t bother to think even the littlest bit down the road of what these policies will *actually* do in terms of “collateral damage”, what can you say about these people, regardless of whether they’re friends or family?
Maybe “stupid” isn’t right. How about “intentionally uninformed”? “Purposefully ignorant”?
Nope. I get it. I do. I was just explaining why I was a bit triggered by the original post that felt a little aggressive. Sigh. I have days when I call folks stupid myself, and days when calling folks stupid makes me feel sad and frustrated. Apparently today was the latter.
To put a finer point on it, I believe that Americans are like Trump in favor of deporting non-white immigrants. They don’t have a problem with white immigrants
“And when I said, you know, ‘Why can’t we allow people to come in from nice countries,’ I’m trying to be nice. Nice countries, you know like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?” - Donald J. Trump
If he could be bothered to even understand something as simple as this, he’d get the fact that people from those northern EU countries have NO interest in emigrating here, given how much higher the “happiness index” is in Norway, Sweden, etc. and how much better their social services, lack of poverty, etc. actually are?
It’s always astonished me that Trump said something *this* easily understood…
Wat?!?
Direct quote from DJT that shows he only wants white immigrants.
I almost didn't watch this given the title but forced myself and am glad I did. I think there's room for the Harris-Walz team to grow on immigration by expanding upon their proposed plans, how they aim to achieve them, and really hit home on how MAGA has thrown a wrench in the works of some significant legislative progress. Thoughts?
No room to grow on immigration for Dems, they’ve created this mess…. LOL
Congress as a whole created this problem by not dealing with immigration reform ever.
Right, it’s not like Trump, who when elected, and had majorities in the House and Senate, couldn’t have solved this issue. Oh wait, there was a bi-partisan bill that passed the house and senate, only to be vetoed by Trump.
And now we had a bi-partisan bill that was the most popular with republicans, ever agreed to by democrats, and ready to be voted into law when the anointed one decided to KILL it because it would have hurt his chances of retaking the Oval.
Do you sense a pattern yet?..:)
1/2 truths yet again….
These aren’t half truths, they are facts. And feel free to elaborate and educate, but don’t even try to insult my intelligence with your nonsensical response!
That’s all @dutchmaga has, blatantly incorrect comments that he never takes the consideration of documenting. I’ve read enough of his comments to know that is what I’d call “intellectual laziness”…
Thanks…:)
How exactly did Dems create this mess? Biden actually kept Trump’s border executive orders in place as long as he could. However, independent lawsuits used the CONSTITUTION to have it over ruled. You can not pin the border problems on one party. It’s been decades of self serving choices stacked like Jenga. Pro business folks want cheap labor they can abuse and can’t unionize. Citizens have enjoyed cheap child care, house cleaners and gardeners. Economists like the consumer boost from immigrants. Government is more than happy to collect more SS taxes. Simplifying this down to one party - especially after sinking a strong compromise bill - is disingenuous at best. And I lived in California when the GOP’s god Reagan offered up amnesty with a whole lot of false promises to fix the border. I think the border mess needs to be solved absolutely. But Trump’s over simplified schtick didn’t get it done with all branches in GOP hands. How will it be any different this time? I am legitimately asking since you say want to engage intelligently and reasonably.
Very very simple. Compare the number of illegal border crossings during the Trump administration and the Biden administration.
Ladies and gentleman of the jury I ask you to find the JB administration guilty in the case. Thank you!
Not that you offered a very serious or thoughtful answer, but you are obviously aware that you are over-simplifying. If we want to go straight to numbers of crossings and deportations, did you support President Obama? Nvm, you just want to troll and occasionally pretend to be thoughtful and reasonable.
Yes, Obama deported lots of undesirables. I worked for DOJ at the time and it was a large portion of our job. There is a mechanism to accomplish this mission. It is made more difficult because of large numbers who have invaded our country illegally. It can and needs to be done!
On another note, the FED cut rates by .5% 💥
It's painful to see this without any acknowledgment of the morality or immorality in passing -- like looking at polling and commentary about whether desegregation was a good or bad thing politically for local and state politicians back in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s with no comment addressing the fact it was profoundly morally wrong. (Yes there was a difference between "de jure" (by law) segregation and "de facto" (actual) segregation but the results were often similar and yes, it's probably wrong to cut this off in the 1970s as the latter continued.) If you lived through that time, think about it. If you didn't, you might want to talk to your parents or grandparents.
Taking that approach to "tactical" choices about racism and segregation ("Wallace should go all in on this" to win would be the analogy to this column) also makes it harder today to assess our far-right Supreme Court, created by Trump, which denies the use of affirmative action by both public and private actors and frequently supports voter suppression and destruction of the Voting Rights Act's provisions.
I just don't see how these are morally neutral topics or why there is no reason to even acknowledge in passing that these are immoral choices.
Well said Ester!!
I mostly hear and agree with you and certainly have enough compassion not to want to cause unnecessary hardship on anyone of any race or color. But I do feel like we slip into treating immigrants as though they are our wards, rather than independent, intelligent humans who can forge their own path. I don’t believe desegregation is a clear parallel. Those were descendants of folks literally captured against their will and bought and sold like cattle. Abhorrent on a whole other level with far less choice and options than independent people. Immigrants might be coming from some shockingly tough situations, but they do have choice and autonomy. They can work to fix their own country’s governments and economies rather than illegally coming to ours. I work in dog rescue. I am in NO WAY comparing any humans to dogs. But it has taught me lessons. Many many rescuers start out with the best intentions and do a wonderful job. But more often than not, the need is bottomless. They are asked to take on more and more and struggle to say no even when the resources are gone. Then they end up as “hoarders” and no pet is getting good care. We need to make immigration safe and reasonable for both the immigrants and the hosts. The resources have to be there.
The last question, how would this work, is the key. Plus, what would the ramifications be for so many industries? Who is going to pick our food? Who will hang the drywall? (Personal experience there!) Who will work the poultry factories? Americans? Proven that won't happen without a HUGE salary increase. Will tariffs pay for that too?
And the humanitarian cost! Are we going to split up families? Parents from children?
Yeah, it sounds great until you actually start to think about it, but that has never been Trump's strong suit!
[Enabling sarcasm font]
What? Are you implying Trump doesn't think things through with his deeply analytical mind? He is a stable genius! He told us so!
[Disabling sarcasm font]
Wouldn't it be FANTASTIC if there actually was a sarcasm font?? So many people just don't seem to have the sarcasm gene, especially since the advent of social media.
Yes, those are interesting stats. They're also depressing. To begin with, Trump's mass deportation promise is this year's version of the bogus Wall promise. It will never happen. If it did, we'd soon regret it. As with several issues, the American public is badly misinformed, and as to immigration, the misinformation is a deliberate function of Trump's demagoguery. Border security is a valid issue. But evidence suggests we need the workers, regardless of their status. Unemployment remains low. Wages have been rising. Throw out all those workers and we'd have a massive -- and highly inflationary - labor crisis.
Well reasoned, Todd, as always. If you drive through towns in my state, everywhere you look you will see "help wanted" or "closing early due to lack of staff" signs. They can find people to work. Immigrants aren't the problem and the idea of rounding people up like cattle and sending them "back" is as foolish as it is heartless.
oops, should say can't find people, not can...my bad
FYI -- if you click on the three dots to the right of your own messages, you can edit them.
thank you!
That is so depressing. America was/is built on its immigrants, we were ALL immigrants once. Just a very sad state of affairs that we have lost our way so badly. Also just HOW do they plan to do that?
Crossing the border and entering the country illegally is in its nature against the law, not a huge leap to see this.
Deporting undesirable people from our country does not make someone a scapegoat in any way. They should not be here. Deporting illegal aliens is routinely done within the federal court system. Nothing different here just the volume of people allowed by JB/KH.
I suggests you look into the immigration history of one Abraham Hamadeh. He was born here but his parents were not. I won't spoil the story for you, but this Trumpy rightwing Republican is going to be elected to Congress from Arizona this November.
Legal immigration not these folks going around our immigration system and laws. They are not welcome. What if everyone just decided they didn’t want to follow the law?
Changing existing immigration and asylum laws are different than using police and the military to round up illegal immigrants already in the country. Voters aren’t thinking about the massive logistics and inevitable tragedies of moving that many people to…where exactly? Camps? Seeking asylum also isn’t breaking the law. And breaking the law doesn’t mean you deserve to be a scapegoat by cynical and powerful people desperate to get re elected so they can avoid their own reckoning with the law.
PS I am also reminded that, during WW II, a vast majority of Americans polled did not support welcoming Jewish refugees in, to save them from what everyone knew was a genocide in the making. Even when the poll asked if children should be admitted, a majority said no!
The more thngs change....
DonOLD calling for mass deportation is like his old-time clarion call:
Build a wall!
And who's gonna pay for the wall?
Mexico's gonna pay for the wall!!!
Ya. Let's remember how that turned out.
Wow. So a path to citizenship is over and we’re just going to collapse our economy. I cannot believe how stupid we are collectively.
You neglected to address plans he started at end of his administration to deport immigrants who are US citizens.
He has also threatened to send the Haitians in Springfield, Ohio "back to Venezuela."
Haven't seen a budget on mass deportation yet. Could this be another Wall project which was said but not implemented as much as they said it would be? Probably could find similar polling in Europe. When UK started to implement, people really didn't like it and it was hugely expensive. Poll should have asked follow up 'are you willng to have increased taxes to support mass deportation and disruption to our economy? Many who will be deported are working and paying taxes. They married USA citizens. If GOP didn't want to pay for 1500 new border patrol, how are they paying payroll for ICE, national guard, local police, etc. for 21m? Have nephew adopted from South American country. Has all his papers. Will he be questioned all the time about his right to be here as part of the round up? Probably. Swept up in deportation? Not sure but history does show Americans were deportated. This Project 2025 plan is not well thought out. Led by Stephen Miller. He would be happy to deport anyone starting with American poor people.
Other than as a humanitarian crisis at the border, I care very little about immigration. Honest question: why should I? In other words, change my mind!
Your comment reminded me that in the eighties and nineties, the Wall Street Journal was a strong proponent of open borders. I'm sure most people now would say that our current situation proves the folly of that. I'm not sure I agree. Immigrants wouldn't be forced to come in through a limited number of access points. There would be no market for human smuggling. It would reduce the need for such a large Border Patrol.
I'm just daydreaming, so please don't tell what an idiot I am.
When someone you know is harmed by an illegal alien you will care. I know, it’s never gonna happen to me, but unfortunately it does. Sad and heartbreaking stories all over our country about the harm illegal aliens have caused American families.
There are such incidents but nowhere near the numbers that Convicted Felon Trump and his acolytes claim. In fact, you're more likely to be harmed by a native born American than an "illegal alien."
Correct. @dutchmaga’s comments are strictly anecdotal and not indicative of the national as a whole. The simple facts, per data from the FBI and police reporting, is that undocumented immigrants try to “fly under the radar”, as they don’t want to be identified and deported. They are *substantially* less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.
I’d love to see @dutchmaga back up his assertions with anything other than his precious “feelings”, but I ain’t holdin’ my breath!
Btw, I’m not asking for Chris to change my mind—he has plenty to do. Maybe a right-leaning reader…?
People are in favor of the IDEA of getting illegal immigrants out. If those same folks understood the ramifications of that policy...like they have to mow their own lawn and pay double the current price for food, etc...that great idea might seem like a bad one.
Without a somewhat detailed explanation of a "plan" for the mass deportation program, I suspect the polls on this issue are meaningless. It's just one more way to stir up more hatred in the country and/or one more way to get clicks. Perhaps Trump will develop a "concept of a plan" for the mass deportation but, in the meantime, intelligent people won't give much credence to this idea. BTW, mass deportation will surely get the agriculture community (i.e. farmers) upset because it will take away a very large chunk of their workforce. I'm just pointing out the obvious..........
It's like those "caravans" that are covered hysterically on FOX Noise in the fall and then vanish after Election Day.
For all of those who are in favor of mass deportation, I wonder who you think will be picking our fruit, mowing our lawns, etc. I wonder how you will feel when there is a spike in food prices because the cost of getting it to the supermarket has gone up exponentially.
Just throwing that out there...................