When I read an NY Times opinion piece, I find it most enlightening to go the the comments by Times readers that are most recced by Times readers. Yesterday, the Times published a pro-immigration piece “For Dreamers, Action Will Speak Louder Than Words, by Korina Irbe”
I went to the comments to read the pro and con discussion among the most recced Times readers. There was no discussion. I read many, but there were no “pros”. Excerpts from the most recced comments:
To get a work permit in Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, and especially in Australia and New Zealand is a lengthy and expensive process. I know because I have been through it.
Why should any illegal immigrant get priority over legal immigrants?
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Someone explain to me why legal immigrants who play by the rules have to go to the end of the line while illegal immigrants from Mexico who violate all of our immigration laws go the front. This is totally indefensible.
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However, blanket amnesty is not and never has been the solution. We've been told time and time again that it's a "One time solution" to a crisis, and each time it just encourages more and more illegal immigration until, lo and behold, another crisis means we should grant blanket amnesty to another 10+ million people.
...
If Biden legalizes 11M undocumented persons and/or gives them subsidized healthcare, you can be guarantee Democrats in general will not be re-elected.
It appears that Democrats need to be extremely careful with this issue.
On a personal note, I grew up in rural Texas (waaay back when Texas was solidly Democratic), and I grew up with Mexicans. They are my favorite people (bar none), they are hard working, honest, kind, and generous to a fault.
I find it strange that I haven’t read any discussion of climate change in connection with immigration. The population of Central America is about 180 million, and their lands, together with most of the tropics, will become uninhabitable. Already, a great proportion of those fleeing north are climate refugees. How many can we possibly absorb? We will hardly be able to resettle our own refugees from LA, Houston, New Orleans, Miami, New York …
It’s been obvious to me my entire adult life that we are doomed by overpopulation. If the Earth’s population were a tenth (better a hundredth) what it is now, there would be no climate change crisis, fewer wars (wars are usually over territory), no extermination of the beautiful animals that share our once-beautiful world. And if we had pandemics, they’d be a lot easier to handle (large populations breed many mutations).
It seems that we can’t even discuss the real problem.
Have a nice day.