Agreed. I over-generalized.
I’ve met a lot of Mexicans and I know why those who chose to cross illegally do so. Most would prefer to live and work in their own country.
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Where’s that facepalm image…
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You would need a Ron Burgundy picture the size of a small moon to express how fast that would escalate…
I don’t see how you can call an immigration laws “racist.” “Xenophobic,” perhaps, but they are not inherently racist. (Unless of course, you’re talking about something like the Chinese Exclusion Act, but I don’t think you are.)
We’re talking about people that are immigrating illegally. They took the risk, and now they got caught. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them, since there is a process that allows you to do this legally. Is it adequate? No. Does it need expanded? Yes. Does it need streamlined? Yes.
Also, we’re not talking about someone getting exploited here. We’re talking about them getting found out through their own (in)actions. Should we encourage people, regardless of immigration status to feel (and actually be) safe when talking to the police to report a crime? Absolutely. There’s simply no justification to allow crime (including worker exploitation) to continue. These are basic human rights. Driving without a license? No one can do that, not even in Mexico. Fuck 'em.
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On the one hand, if you get pepper sprayed while trying to restrain police from making an arrest- it’s not really beyond the realm of imagination and humanity on their part. On the other hand, civil disobedience is exactly that- if it’s not illegal, it’s not disobedience. I wouldn’t mind being pepper-sprayed in the service of a good cause, but I wouldn’t want the issue to turn on whether or not I was disobedient. I was disobedient! There was a reason! I’d rather talk about that! I’m less bothered by the police using pepper spray than every disrupted protest getting turned into a discussion about bad law and bad cops.
Yes, there is bad law, and there are bad cops, and there are good cops who enforce bad law. But none of this is immediately relevant to the fact that we’re creating a servant class in this country. Or how to serve that effect, a citizen must now embroil themselves in an increasing list of perpetual subscriptions and programs of state control. I hate how the only news about protests we hear anymore is about protests, not about the causes and issues these protests represent. I’m not saying we can’t ever talk about police overreach- but I think there are certainly better test cases than this one.
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Um, what? Our immigration laws are different for people from different countries. People from happy Whiter countries like Canada don’t even require a visa to visit in most cases. People from Browner countries tend to have a harder time.
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Honestly it’s more about rich and poor countries, the presumption being that people from rich countries (most of which have far better services and safety nets than we do) are less likely to stay illegally. People from Japan and South Korea and Taiwan don’t need visas either, and you can see the demarcation very clearly there, because Taiwanese citizens don’t need visas and mainlanders do.
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Then why don’t famously oil-rich nations get the same benefit? The UAE is a good example of a tiny population of people (we could probably absorb the whole citezenry without noticeable effect) who aren’t likely to overstay.
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Plenty of “white” countries whose citizens need visas to get into other white countries, including the USA.
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You presume that they were unable to get a legal Mexican driving license. It is perfectly acceptable for a foreign national to drive on US roads with a valid foreign permit, as this driver should have had. I am an expat in a foreign country, and I know better than to drive around on an expired permit.
“When you surround the enemy
Always allow them an escape route.
They must see that there is
An alternative to death.”
—Sun Tzu, The Art of War,
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Plenty, but how many of brown citizenries as a ratio to whiter citizenries get favorable visa terms to the United States.
Because they don’t participate in the visa waiver program. If you check the list, you’ll find it is made up of two large groups.
Members of the five star Alliance and most of the EU plus Sweden and Norway, both closely associated to the EU in many ways concerning freedom on movement and travel.
But it’s not only them. Even if you coun’t Japan as “white”, Taiwan, Brunei and Singapore aren’t.
Just check the requirements for countries to take part of the visa waiver programme.
You really are writing that without a hint of irony, aren’t you? They don’t “participate”. Suuure.
Designation as a VWP country is at the discretion of the U.S.
government. Meeting the objective requirements of the VWP does not
guarantee a country will receive VWP designation.
Source: 404 - Page Not Found
I don’t know what fantasy world you live in where the United States could never be racist in immigration policy. That’s been the rule, rather than the exception. Also, you never answered my question about the proportion of countries. Pointing out a couple of countries doesn’t make us the super-awesome-inclusiveness club.
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Similarly, pointing out one rich non-predominantly-white country that’s not in the visa waiver program doesn’t change what I said about it being about rich and poor. I could easily point out that Argentina is a predominantly white country that’s not a part of that program. Now, I would certainly admit that which countries are rich and poor right now has a lot to do with the legacy of European colonialism, but, by your own standards which you just expressed, your counterargument to the rich and poor hypothesis doesn’t hold water. Especially considering that Brunei, very similar to the UAE economically and also not predominantly white, is in the visa waiver program.
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So you claim that Japan, Taiwan, Brunei and Singapore are “white” countries?
Oh, I remember, you wanted to know the percentage. Yes, it’s smaller for “non-wite countries”. Which - surprise - are usually kinda richer than the global average and more in line with US security concerns. Unless they are Russia, of course, who wouldn’t share data with the US to the same extent our cronies do. (Yes, I’d have Germany gladly drop out of the program, if that were there price for less snooping.)
There’s certainly racism in the United States (and Europe, too, of course) and racial profiling within the countries should be abolished, if only because it hits again and again perfectly normal citizens who happen to look different from the local norm, but unless you can show that that, lets say, a black South African or German gets turned away more often than a white one, the discrimination is based on countries’s perceived reliability and wealth,
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For the record its Taser, with an “s.” It’s an acronym for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle,” a reference to a series of kid’s books that the engineer at NASA who invented the Taser liked as a youth.
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What would happen if you got caught with a broken plate light, no drivers license, no valid insurance, and no valid passport in your average European country?
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Umm, first of all a large number of “illegal immigrants” come into US legally and then decline to go back.
Second of all, they probably don’t spend any more time thinking about whether it’s OK than USians do thinking about how US foreign policy hurts Mexico and its economy. They probably reason that they can make more money and therefore a better life for their families by working illegally in the US and that they’re willing to take the risks for the sake of improving the lives of their loved ones.
Which, if you actually think about it, is actually completely morally justifiable. There’s no reason why a Mexican citizen should hold the sovereign law of a foreign country in higher regard than the well-being of their families. And in that respect USians can’t brag about being any better than the Mexicans – we certainly don’t value the sovereignty of foreign countries above and beyond the convenience and well-being of ourselves or our loved ones.
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