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this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2024
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Let me just say the bill is terrible, because it grants a wishlist of right-wing "solutions" turning the border into a militarized zone.
The "crisis" we have is turning away refugees because their skin is the wrong color.
One of my main Biden criticisms is he's been no different than Trump when it comes to the border. He's continued horrible Trump era policies that are responsible for both death and family separation.
Rather than staking a leftwing position, he's ceded all discussion about the border to the rightwing narratives. And I doubt a single person has been swayed by this.
We don't need to "protect" the border. Europe by and large did away with borders and it's been a huge stabilizing factor for them.
The whole "drug smuggling" shit is equally garbage. To the extent drugs cross the border, it's through legal ports of entry. And, it's entirely silly to build up the Mexican border when the Canadian border is basically wide open. Newsflash, drug smugglers know about Canada. Further, we have ports with giant shipping containers of goods that enter and leave the US every day. Do these rightwing idiots really believe drug smugglers wouldn't simply hide drugs in a giant container of soybeans or other food item?
There's a million ways to get drugs into the country, the one way they are the least likely to come in is via some undocumented worker looking to get a job working on a farm in Idaho.
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.