- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.org
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.org
Many on the right claim the U.S. is being “invaded” by migrants but also want to wait until Donald Trump is elected president again to stop it.
For months, Republicans have shouted from the rooftops about a migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border and how President Joe Biden needs to act to address it, insisting the flow of migrants is an urgent national security threat.
Now many on the right are urging their party to reject the very same things they said were needed to fix the problem, including tougher enforcement measures and a proposal to automatically shut down border crossings when it is overwhelmed. Instead, they appear set on impeaching the top Cabinet official in charge of the border, even though there is no evidence of a crime.
The GOP’s contortions aren’t just grating for Democrats but also on some conservative Republicans who have been deeply involved in crafting bipartisan legislation, which is expected to be unveiled soon, that would overhaul how migrants are processed at the border.
“It is interesting. Republicans four months ago… locked arms together and said, ‘We’re not going to give you money for this. We want a change in law,’” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the GOP’s lead negotiator on a deal pairing immigration changes with assistance to Ukraine and other allies, said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“A few months later, when we’re finally getting to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding. I actually don’t want a change in law because it’s a presidential election year,’” he added.
A steady stream of people showing up daily with nothing, starting from scratch, is not a crisis to you?
What do we do with those who show up to find all the farm jobs in Idaho and other places are filled? Furthermore, do you condone the treatment refugees receive while working these jobs?
There are certainly racists opposed to letting in refugees, and a lot of them make policy on such things. But minimizing the long term need to assist the ongoing influx of people as purely racism isn’t productive. We have no solution for what to do with all of them.
Leaving drugs completely out of discussion, this is a humanitarian crisis. Do you think just opening up the border and letting whatever happens afterward work itself out is the answer?
Correct.
Lol, you have no clue how farming works. But to be clear the US currently has historic low unemployment. Your remember that time when no employer is hiring at minimum wage? That’s what historically low unemployment does.
There is plenty of work available.
No, I don’t. In fact, these “make the border strong” and “deport everyone” chants are used by employers of undocumented workers to get away with serious abuse. People that employee undocumented workers use the threat of deportation as a control method to stop their workers from demanding fair treatment.
The only form of border control I support is strict punishments and fines of employers of undocumented workers. That’s the only way to improve working conditions and hopefully end up with reforms that make getting documentation not the nightmare process it is today.
It is racism because all this fear mongering is targeted at a single source of illegal immigration, the Mexican border. And it’s targeted through evil and inhumane methods like putting razor wire in waterways. That’s racism, it’s not “solving problems” it’s killing brown people.
We have other borders and mechanisms that people enter the US. This one is what racists cling to because nothing is more scary than a group of brown people on Fox News.
Yes, because you may not know this, but that’s exactly how the US operated for a century. It wasn’t until the 90s that the border became this huge scary thing that racists clung to. Famously, Ronald Reagan granted citizenship to every Cuban who landed on US shores. That hasn’t destroyed the nation, it was the backbone of major US cities like Miami.
And, again, I’ll point to Europe which does effectively have open borders, particularly for EU citizens. This has not lead to the collapse of the EU. Though it did lead to brexit which has supremely hurt the UK.
We’ll never stop undocumented workers, so how about we put into place mechanisms to. 1. Make getting documentation super easy, and 2. Provide these people with a leg up to actively contribute.
And if you say “we should do that for citizens” yes, we should. We can do two things.
You can tell it’s racism because they never suggest going after the corporations that hire undocumented immigrants to pay them substandard wages for backbreaking work, using the threat of outing them to ICE to disguise the awful way they get treated. Seems like a much more effective way to curb undocumented immigration would be to remove the reason for it if, you know, the GOP were actually interested in solving a problem.
Yup, but also the people crossing the border are never painted as having any sort of value. They are always framed as if they are valueless drains on society. Never mind the fact that they are often working various service, care, construction, and agricultural work. Nevermind the fact that these people often have educations or prior work experience. Nevermind the fact that these are people every bit as capable of learning new skills/trades as any american citizen. No, instead it’s “they are here to drain society!”
This is why it’s racist. Even with historically low unemployment levels the fear monger is still “They are taking all the jobs!”.
I’d argue that the 1882 Chinese Exclusion act was when it started, but the 90’s with AM radio and Fox was definitely the “pour jet fuel on the fire” moment.