Comment by bulbar
2 days ago
Happens as well in Germany and it's pure insanity. The US at least does not depend on migration as much as Germany, I believe.
Even the current right wing party CDU doesn't seem to want to make migration harder, but when the extremist party AfD gets voted into office, an already highly damaged balance will break.
Sad how people become so detected from reality that they make their society irrelevant and destroying a lot of wealth in the process.
> The US at least does not depend on migration as much as Germany, I believe.
To me it feels like the US pretends they don’t need immigrants when:
1. The overwhelming majority of current US residents were immigrants themselves at some point in the last 150 years (only natives were there, everyone else immigrated from somewhere)
2. The US wouldn’t function without illegal immigrants
3. Every country is short of workers in one domain or another. Encouraging immigration in these domains (see how Canada does it for instance) would be the smart move. But instead… yeah let’s make it even harder across the board
1. Appealing to the attitudes of 150+ years ago leads to all sorts of absurdities. We live in 2026.
2. The US not functioning without illegal immigrants is a bad thing. More often than not, employers like illegal immigrants because they can abuse them in some way or another. If you actually interact with illegal immigrants or the people that employ them, this is clear. “We need modern indentured servitude” is not the country I want to live in. I would rather these industries just be subsidized by the government to whatever extent it takes for US citizens to take the jobs with all of the protections we expect workers to have.
3. Not every country is short of workers. Employers may be short of workers that they can lord over, but refer back to point 2. Pointing to Canada’s policy as an example of a “smart move” is a strange play.
The current administration is certainly not working on the above premises, but I’m floored when I hear supposedly progressive people going on about who is going to work the psychologically scarring meatpacking plants if we don’t take on an undefined number of people who are only here to get shit on for a good paycheck. I have compassion for illegal immigrants, which is exactly why I don’t want them in the US.
My point wasn’t that exploiting illegal immigrants is good.
My point was that with the sorely lacking rules already in place, illegal immigration is a problem and at the same time there is still a supply problem.
So acting even more high and mighty like it’s the greatest place on earth to be and require people who want in to grovel even more certainly isn’t good policy.
I’m also confused why you think Canada isn’t doing it better? You can immigrate but your profile needs to match what the country needs: its win win, because once you’re there you have a fair chance at a good life (integration, job, etc) vs taking anyone in and then having issues with people who can’t find jobs, be happy in the country, and integrate into society.
But the process around the US visa and immigration program is a lot more hostile than it needs to be. I had the displeasure to deal with this grinder and it’s really showing that the attitude is “you’re less than nothing, it’s up to you to prove you’re worthy of us even reading the forms you filled in and paid for, fuck you very much”
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As far as I know agriculture works similar in Germany in the sense that it relies on cheap labor. Except, I believe it's mostly legal because they come from inside the EU, making it easier to work here. Also giving them the same rights, in theory at least. In practice it often doesn't work out like that, but that can't be easily changed I guess. Can't imagine they actually get German minimum wage. In that case and in that sense, they actually don't work here legally I guess.
From what I remember, most of them don't migrate though but return to their home country after a season. Back to their families and a country with much less living cost.
Was some time ago that I last read about that topic though.
> The overwhelming majority of current US residents were immigrants themselves at some point in the last 150 years (only natives were there, everyone else immigrated from somewhere)
Having an ancestor who immigrated to one’s country does not make one an immigrant.
Depends who you ask.
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Here is the 1870 census of the USA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1870_United_States_census
Note, indigenous people were less than 1%. New York City had the largest proportion of immigrants at 45%. Your claims of "only natives were there" and "everyone else immigrated from somewhere" are demonstrably false.
How is it false? “Natives: 25,731, total population: 38,925,598“
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In the Netherland, as an immigrant - not sure if always, but definitely in tech - 30% of your income are tax free for the first 5 years. I am actually looking for jobs there right now because of that.
You could take the unemployed workers you have and train them instead.
People are repelled by country shopping by 3rd worlders.
EU countries are working on imigration rules that would allow for bringing imigrant labour without ever extending citizen privileges to them. A sort of permanent uderclass. This is what voters want at this time.
In EU, I don't think an underclass is what is wished. What we lack is being able to chose who is allowed to stay or not. Currently it's whoever manages to come illegaly is allowed to stay. It's madness
And then, people who come to work and use the official processes for legal migration suffer from complicated and insane rules and huge inefficiency. I have seen it with people I know, it's unfathomable.
Administration trying to force somebody out of the country to apply for a work visa just after they finished their 3 year training ("Ausbildung") on a training visa.
Before, the mother was not allowed to bring her child (10 years old) even though legally she had the right to do so. Fighting for a year, then paying a lawyer to solve the problem within a few weeks.
All while we are in desperate need of those people. In healthcare and other security as well.
It's madness as well and unfortunately people fail to realize both sides of the story, only seeing one of them.
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