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> no basis in law or social norms

To push back a little...

I'm generally pro immigration and didn't vote for Trump (partly for these reasons). But there are valid points to be made about:

* what a healthy level of immigration is

* what a healthy immigration process looks like

* how much should family concerns affect immigration chances

* how much should professional skills affect immigration chances

* how to enforce immigration laws

The above are entirely about law and social norms. Just because you disagree doesn't mean there are no valid points.

Not engaging those points is just retrenching people, promoting more division, and making reasonable people side with unreasonable ones like Trump. I'm gathering that most people who voted for Trump voted for the least bad option in their minds, not because they wanted a buffoon for a president.




* what a healthy level of immigration is

specifically, what reasons is it being used for? It's been discussed here many times that the H1B program for tech workers is being used to depress wages and remove the immigrants' rights to competition. So while a politician may seem so shiny and "progressive" for increasing immigration, you never know if their back pockets are being padded by the tech corporations who save billions of dollars by not paying the "free market" rate for the skilled work.


wow, i must suck at writing because you just made the same point i did.

namely: legal and illegal immigration are completely different things and anyone who says otherwise is disregarding law and social norms.


I was saying that social norms and ideal laws aren't uniform and it's more productive to start from there.

The point about legal vs. illegal immigration being different is well taken. I presume even Trump agrees with that given his immigrant family.




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