If Biden wins, I can't imagine what will happen after another 10 million illegals have poured through the border in 4 years. 20 million over 2 terms, not including ~20 million already here before Biden and millions of gotaways. Child trafficking, fentanyl, and gangs are not mere claims - they are happening every day thanks to this administration. Laken Riley is one of many Americans directly harmed by illegals who should never have been allowed in. Migrant mobs attacked NYPD in Times Square, just a stones throw from the New York Times building but they will never cover these incidents.
Trump brought illegal immigration down to record lows with no new legislation. Then Biden intentionally opened to border to record highs along with his toady Mayorkas. American citizens have credible fear of millions of unvetted military-aged men taking over their cities and neighborhoods, all funded by we the taxpayer. The vast majority of the illegals are young men, but your photos and MSM depict the minority demographic of women, children, and older men to emotionally manipulate sympathy for lawbreakers taking advantage of our government/NGO pathological altruism.
For the past few years, Special Forces veteran Michael Yon has traveled throughout Central America documenting the coordinated invasion. He has been trying to warn us. Perhaps should head down to the Darien Gap and interview him: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-invade-the-usa-30-min-podcast
You don't need to imagine. Go to England and look around London (then treat yourself to a trip to the shires and see what England *used* to be like before mass migration). Go to Paris. Go to Stockholm. Nearly every city in Western Europe is being ripped apart by migrants with no connection to the land, community, or care for people.
Regardless of whether new immigrants are skilled are not belies the fact our infrastructure cannot absorb this number of new bodies. Our healthcare system is crumbing, schools jammed to the rafters and a serious housing crisis. The Trudeau government is rapidly turning a migration success story into a disaster for both sides by placing too much pressure on our system. Crime is increasing in all our major centres right at the time our judiciary has become fully activist and does next to nothing to incarcerate dangerous offenders. It’s as if all these Western democracies are creating policy from the same manual…….what could that be?
We spent some time in eastern Canada last summer and our tour guide, a French Canadian, told us that Canada has very strict immigration laws and they do not just let anyone in. You have to be educated, able to speak English, and willing to learn French. You have to have job ready skills. If you can’t meet these requirements you do not enter. This is one reason Canada took in so many Ukrainian refugees, because they are well educated and skilled laborers and speak fluent English in addition to Ukrainian and Russian. There is no “disaster in the making” in Canada. They’re upgrading their work force and making sure they don’t become top heavy in old people as a result of a progressively declining birth rate. We should be doing the same thing.
I guess there must be 2 Canada's....Sure not the one I am living in. Our immigrants are from the Middle East and India with little or no job skills and the illegals of which we have many are from the United States. Our country is in debt up to its ears and we are becoming the woke capital of the world. Beware of tour guides...they are paid to spread fibs.
According to this summary by the Council on Foreign Relations, updated March 2024, the two main vehicles for immigration to Canada are both skill based economic enhancement programs, namely Express Entry (a points system based on education and skill levels with language proficiency in both English and French) and the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) where each province sets its own rules based on their economic needs in terms of skills and age (a lot of this is trying to attract young people to move to Canada as a result of the low birth rate).
The next 3 categories, all involving smaller numbers are Family (you are sponsored by a legal permanent resident as a family member), Refugee (you are sponsored by a government agency or the UN), and Humanitarian (qualifications vary, the most recent number being 40,000 admitted in one year).
This summary lines up closely with what our tour guide told us. I seriously doubt that tour guides are being paid to lie. Our trip was with Tauck, a Canadian company that’s been in business forever. They wouldn’t stoop to such behavior.
I’m sorry if your experience has been that people from India have no skills and don’t contribute. Where I live they are mostly doctors and engineers or tech workers. My daughter is a PhD in math and a software engineer for Intel. Both in grad school and at work the majority of the personnel come from India. There are very few white Americans who can do these jobs, so they are top heavy with Indians and Asians. Young white US college grads usually don’t go to grad school in either math or engineering or computer science. Until that changes we will need the highly skilled immigrants who come from Asia and India and are willing to do the work it takes to acquire these skills and do these jobs. From where I sit, Canada has the better immigration system and I wish we would duplicate it.
Were you to consult the US State Department guidelines for legal immigration you would find similar niceties. The problem is that Western countries are not enforcing the laws and rules that already exist, let alone amending them to meet the current crisis. Saying Canada has no immigration crisis because of the policies you cite is like saying there is no Fentanyl crisis because our policy is that it is not legal.
I watched a documentary about immigrants to Canada from Syria (large numbers admitted because of the war there and standard admission criteria suspension for humanitarian reasons) who, years after immigration, are still idling away their days in state-funded housing having not learned English, not acquired employment skills, nor taken advantage of programs to provide either. Immigrants from India and the far east are the exception and generally arrive well-prepared to contribute and come legally.
I'm with Wanda Lambert on this, that might have been the guy speaking about Quebec which is always a little different. Esp the demand to learn French, that sounds VERY Quebecois. I'm an American who moved to Ontario 19 years ago and Canada had easier immigration laws than several European countries. It's a big pain in the ass, but not impossible if you qualify as I did under the Skilled Worker Program. There's an Express program now for some esp those looking for oil work in the Maritimes (the northeastern provinces) and Alberta. And I live in Canada's Ground Zero for Ukrainian refugees, I am up to my arse in them in my immigrant 'hood, and some speak English and some don't - like the folks down the hall who a year later are still Uke-only.
In 2015, when he was stumping for election, Justin Trudeau promised 50k new Syrian refugees (Syrians were the hot-ticket refugees for libs at the time) and I wasn't happy about that because of the Islamic terrorism problem, which Syria has. I'm not sure how well-screened they were, it didn't happen all at once, it wasn't the shitshow the US has become. But anyway...French I think is more required for Quebec, AFAIK no other provinces require it. Not even New Brunswick, which is the only *officially* bilingual province in Canada (no, not Quebec!)
But you're right about the declining birth rate. In fact, one of my Substacks I just got yesterday mentioned it's at an all-time low. Canada has historically had to import new people to keep up the population, I can tell you as a younger immigrant the men were just terrified of women or something. Like seriously, for the longest time I thought Canadian men were a bunch of virgins :)
Thanks for the polite reply, and the information! The Council on Foreign Relations report, as I stated, is not put out by the Canadian government, so it doesn’t have an axe to grind, but it doesn’t really contradict anything you’ve said. They do mention both French and English as language requirements though. Read through it and let me know what you think.
Most western countries are suffering from a low birth rate epidemic. Even China and Japan are, although China’s was self-inflicted. And notice that Wanda is complaining about the immigrants from India having no skills and being unemployed and a drain on the economy. That’s just not true. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. It sounds like from what you and ex nihilo have said that the 2015 Trudeau policy on the Syrians caused a huge problem. But the numbers from 2024 don’t support that as a continuing concern. However, if they haven’t adapted and are not being deported that is a problem. The CFR report admits as much. But the overall numbers are minuscule compared to the US, which I like.
I don't think I can be arsed to read the CFR report, but no matter. It sounds like something someone threw in there to keep the Quebecois language police happy, LOL. Ontario never expected me to speak French although I got points (literal ones) for having basic French (they're getting much better now...I'm on Duolingo). Most Torontonians I know, not counting the immigrants, don't speak much French, if any, although I have several friends who do. I can tell you, as someone who does phone sales and has been calling all over the country for many years, the only places I encounter anything other than the requisite auto-greeting in two languages (or just "Appuyez le deux pour Francais") is Quebec, Manitoba, and occasionally the Maritimes (which I don't call much). In Quebec, when you get beyond the tourist cities, it's Francais-only.
Not everyone assimilates as well as they might, although I pretty much have no complaints about my fellow immigrants. I *do* think immigrants should make at least some effort - staying multicultural is fine, but make some effort. I've talked about this with other immigrants and my feeling is a nice mixture of multiculturalism - which the US could use more of - and assimilation - which Canada could use a leeeeeeetle more of. Hybrid is the best ;)
My issue with the Syrians was less the folks moving here - who simply didn't want to get shot at anymore - but the kids and grandkids, because that's where the radicalization often takes place, including in the US. But...we'll see. What's done is done and so far we haven't had a really big Islamism problem.
I totally agree with you on this! I backpacked Europe in the early eighties after college. That sparked a love of travel to see different cultures in different countries but now unfortunately all the big cities are like NYC. I can take a train in to NYC to feel unsafe in a big city
I literally just got back from a week in Paris and went everywhere either on foot or in the metro and never for one minute did I feel unsafe. Our taxi driver from CDG to the hotel was from Senegal and spoke perfect French. On leaving, our taxi driver from the hotel to CDG was originally from Sri Lanka, but had been in Paris for 34 years, and had two daughters, both of them in medical school. The sales girls in La Samaritane and Bon Marche were for the most part Asian. The young man who helped me was a white life long Parisian. All the waiters we had in every single restaurant were your traditional Parisian waiters (which for me means friendly and not rude, maybe because I’m fluent in French, who knows, I’ve never had a bad experience). The maids in the hotel were black, whereas in the US they tend to be Hispanic. I’ve been going to France and to Paris regularly for over 40 years, and frankly the only thing I saw that was different was that some of the metro lines now have glass walls with sliding glass doors along the edge of the platform to keep people from either falling or getting pushed onto the tracks. They are upgrading all the metro lines, so it will take time to get these protective walls in place everywhere. My husband and I and our 30-something son had a wonderful time. Son is now back in Madrid where he lives and works. We will be in London again this summer for Wimbledon and I expect to have a good time there too. Marine Le Pen might agree with your POV, but I don’t.
Paris, like many cities, has the parts where the attractions are, where visitors spend money, and where great effort is expended toward the safety of tourists and visiting business people. Get off at one of the Metro stops in the "wrong" arrondissement and you will surface in a different world of low-income housing blocks, urban blight, and crime. Bet your 40 years in Paris never included a tour of the immigrant districts. Do you really think the fawning waiters and shop clerks hoping for a bit of your cash aren't disguising profound contempt for arrogant people like you? Just as in NYC, Chicago, LA, or DC, there are parts of Paris no one explores for fun and outsiders are not welcome. I doubt that you will take time out from your Wimbleton trip to imbibe the gritty side of London either. Let me guess: luxe hotel, expensive restaurants, high-end shopping, West End theater, maybe some museums or palaces. If you think that what affluent tourists experience of a city is ever connected to reality you are deluded. Your name-dropping and bragging about your cosmopolitan doctor children does not convey an image of solidarity with the underclass nor connection to the actual world that the overwhelming majority of people are obliged to live in.
The two doctor daughters belong to the cab driver from Sri Lanka, not me. Not only can you not spell, you can't read or comprehend. The point was an immigrant family contributing to French society. Maybe you got hit in the head so often as a child that your brain no longer functions. Get help.
We don’t stay in luxe hotels, nor do we eat in expensive restaurants or do high end shopping. My husband bought a new Samsonite suitcase this past trip at the Bona Marche store for $260 because his Samsonite he took on the trip was old and one of the wheels fell off. We had three different meals at each of the three Chartier Bouillon restaurants in Paris where an entree costs $15, an appetizer costs $6 and a dessert costs $3. You can get a bottle of the house red for $15, or a carafe of red for $10. The burger place where we had dinner the last night cost us $30 for two people and it had been voted “best burger in Paris” by some tourist magazine. The hotel room was $200/night. We took the metro or walked everywhere because taxis are too expensive. We bought a museum pass which gets you in cheaper and lets you skip the lines. We visited the Eglise Saint Sulpice for free which has some amazing art work by Delacroix. Attended a free organ concert there as well. One day we took a train to Luxembourg (cheap) and had a cheap lunch at an Indian restaurant in the grungy neighborhood around the train station and then went back to Paris on the train. It got my husband an extra country on his 100 places list.
Our trip to London for Wimbledon is a bucket list item now that we’re both retired. It’s a package deal for the women’s tennis since the men’s are too expensive. It includes the hotel, but I think it’s just a Holiday Inn. When we went to Edinburgh we stayed in a Holiday Inn. My kids are not doctors. What are you talking about? And so what if they have graduate degrees? They went to college on scholarship and they got grad school paid for with teaching assistant jobs. You could do that to if you worked hard enough, or your kids worked hard enough. I went to college on a scholarship and got student loans for law school, which I paid off. We’ve been in the same house for 38 years and paid off the mtge years ago. We drive 10 year old Hondas. Do you enjoy being so angry and jealous and judgmental? Good grief, I grew up in a mediocre neighborhood in New Orleans, and my husband’s parents were from the wrong side of the tracks in rural Indiana. We all worked hard. FIL worked his way through college on a combo football scholarship and a job cleaning the cafeteria at night. He took the classes his football buddies took after they took them to get their hand-me-down textbooks. But he grew up to have his own travel agency and ride in the Concorde. Are you jealous? Or just a lazy complainer?
My comments were preceded by the acknowledgemnt that I was making a "guess". You provided personal extraneous (what does "Wimbleton" have to do with immigration?) details upon which I hazarded a guess to make a point. You have no such information about me and yet you pass judgement upon me in the absence of any information and without qualifying it as a guess. That is called presumption.
Attempting to walk back your comments with a disadvantaged-origin story is a variation of humble-bragging. "We are now erudite cosmopolitans only through our own worthiness." Well here is my origin story: My mother came to the US at age 20 with me in her womb. She had a 6th grade education and no vocational skills. Two years after arriving my father was murdered. We lived on public assistance until my mom remarried an abusive man who was not only a poor provider but stole money from me regularly and would hit me in the face if he didn't like my expression. I worked 30 hours a week at a nursing home cleaning bedpans (I shit you not!). After high school I went to a 3rd tier public college, which I paid for with no assistance from anyone, continuing to work year-round. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to medical school where many hours that I would have preferred to be studying were devoted to working to pay bills or fixing my beater car or one of the dilapidated appliances where I lived. My career has been the antithesis of "laziness". I've spent thousands of long ,stress-filled days and nights in OR's and many 80-hour weeks without complaint.
Medicine provided me material abundance greater than I had ever imagined, allowing me to also travel extensively and (mea culpa) expensively. However, I compulsively refrain from name dropping about my dinner at Tour Argent or Lac des Cygnes at Palais Garnier especially around the barely above minimum wage scrub techs in the OR for whom travel is not a budget line item. Neither do I sport a decal on my car from the elite University my son graduated from and, when asked, tell people he attended a school in Connecticut. I write these things now only to correct your angry misconceptions and I make it a habit not to ever mention anything about myself in posts. So no I am not "jealous" of your experiences.
Neither do I assume that my tourist adventures qualify me to render assessment of the international immigration crisis. Your experience with the brown, black, and yellow people who seem so safe and friendly as they clean your room, bring your food, and wait on you in the shops is an incredibly distorted vantage that gives you zero insight into the profound problems relating to mass immigration. I seriously doubt you have ever visited the impoverished immigrant suburbs of Paris where the graffiti clad projects loom over menacing, crime-ridden neighborhoods.
Your disdain for Marine le Pen, your law degree, and your Boomer age tempts me to another guess: you identify as liberal. If not, my bad. If so, you should be informed that the rules have changed while you were away overseas. Assimilation is now a vile characteristic of oppressor-colonialism; your moral passport has been stamped "White Privilege". Referencing extensive leisure travel is a dog whistle for "elite". Not my idea, but true. If your moral compass swings to the Green view, you should also consider the obscene amount of CO2 those wide body jets that we travel on spew out. And the Concorde! You might as well say you're a MAGA supporter. The travel agency thing might be better unsaid as well. So, if you want to remain in good standing with highly-educated, cosmopolitan, sophisticates you might need to update to the new liberalism.
Okay, since Mary pushed the button, have you had a bad experience in France because you either are or look Jewish? My only connection to that possibility is my Jewish friend from New Orleans. He’s from a VERY wealthy Jewish family who’ve had money for generations and they all have Ivy League degrees fwiw. He’s a bicycle touring fanatic and has spent the last 10-15 years every summer going on a Tour de France “tour” in France where you spend big bucks to ride the same route the competing cyclists ride, except that you have a team of assistants driving with you in a van where you can store your bikes and there’s lots of provisions in case you need them. Every night they stay in a luxury hotel, eat and drink well, shower and sleep. When they get ahead of the tour, they will take a day to set up a special viewing area, drink champagne and watch the “real” competitors ride by.
This means that my friend has been spending a month in France every summer for many years, dealing with the French who put the tour together, staff the ride, staff the hotels and restaurants, the transportation, basically everything. He’s never had a problem or a complaint. He also went on our last Ponant cruise with us, where the entire crew of the ship are French as in FRENCH by the roots. He had no problems whatsoever and loved it.
Now I guess this may not be everyone’s experience, and maybe it has not been yours. If so, I’m sorry. My friend’s Jewish family spends a lot of time abroad and his parents and grandparents spent a lot of time in France. They had no problems there. Where they DID have problems being Jews was in New Orleans. They were excluded from all the old line Mardi Gras krewes and the exclusive eating clubs. Their law partners could not invite them to lunch “at the club” because it was “no Jews allowed”. They couldn’t go to debutante balls because “no Jews allowed”. So what did they do? They went skiing in Colorado.
Yep, my Jewish friend is a great snow skier because his family literally left town every Mardi Gras to avoid having to watch themselves get discriminated against by the very same people they did business with every day. And he’s not my only Jewish friend. I went to Tulane undergrad and law school. Tulane was then then and now roughly a 40% Jewish student body. I have several good friends from both experiences. There was a time when I thought New Orleans was 50/50 Catholic/Jewish. I literally didn’t meet a Protestant until college (the neighbors were Jewish, my school was Catholic).
So anyway, if you have your own story about France, tell me.
I'm Jewish. And the news coming out of France are very very alarming. French Jews have been leaving France in droves. I've met many, and the literally all say the same. Everybody knows that France isn't safe if you are visibly Jewish. And the problem isn't the native French, but the immigrants from Muslim countries who are violently antisemitic. The worst attack on European Jews always happened in France, and they aren't rare. I'm talking about everything from kidnapping to burning alive.
Of course, if you are a wealthy Jew who can't even easily be identified as a Jew, like I assume your friend is, it's very possible to curate some wonderful experiences and have a good time in France. This doesn't negate the experiences of the ordinary middle class and working class French Jews who want to be able to safely visit the kosher grocery store, go to the synagogue, send their kids to school, or wear a kippah, etc without having to worry about somebody beheading them.
Comparing your wealthy friend's experiences on a luxury trip to the experiences of ordinary Jews just trying to survive is like saying that there are no cartels in Mexico, I didn't see any when I visited the country on a luxury vacation.
We’re all experiencing this, even here in the US. It’s unconscionable and shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone. Antisemitism is a scourge that I’ve never understood. Whether it’s keeping your Jewish law partner out of your private lunch club, or running him down in the street with your car. I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and went to a university where almost half the students there were Jewish. My Jewish law school friend handled my mother’s estate when she died, and my other Jewish law school friend’s daughter, an associate in the same Jewish law firm assisted in the legal proceedings. These are the people I trust. I don’t want anything bad to happen to them and will fight such injustice with everything I have. We all should.
Thanks for the response. My friend is very visibly Jewish, especially to the type of person who has certain features memorized. And I grant you that his trips in France don’t expose him to the type of people you describe, ie, Muslim immigrants to France. It’s those second and third generation French Muslims who are doing the things you describe, not what I would call the “real French” (which is racist, but still a worthy distinction in light of your post). Was Samuel Paty, the teacher who was beheaded by an Islamist terrorist, Jewish? No, he wasn’t.
Yes, there was the horrific attack on the Jewish grocery store that occurred around the same time that the terrorist attacks took place on Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan. There was also the murder of the elderly Jewish woman by a young French Muslim. I remember that. This is a problem that France has with its Muslim immigrant community, and it’s a very big problem. They know it’s a huge problem, which is why they have bans on head scarves in schools and a government sponsored non-profit agency, The French Council of the Muslim Faith (Conseil Français du Culte Musulman), to serve as an official interlocutor with the French state in the regulation of Muslim religious activities. The CFCM was started in 2003 by Sarkozy and a group of Muslim students who wanted to make things better. Obviously, there’s a lot of work still to do, but trust me, the French people don’t like any of this any more than you do. Muslim terrorists killed 130 people and wounded 350 in the Bataclan attack. They weren’t going after Jews, they were going after the French. Ditto the people killed at Charlie Hebdo.
My original assumption was that you were somehow saying that Jews were not safe in France due to “the French”, implying they were all antisemites (which I think Marine Le Pen’s voters probably are, ditto her niece Marion’s political party), but it seems you’re really talking about the Muslim immigrants, which is a whole different ball game. I sincerely hope France gets this under control, but you know, a lot of French people who are not Jewish have been harmed by this problem, not just French Jews. I had just left Nice, France in 2016 a few days before a Tunisian immigrant drove his truck down the Promenade des Anglais, killing 86 people and injuring 434 others. They weren’t Jews, they were just ordinary French people. Fortunately, the friends I was visiting in Nice weren’t on the street that night. Ordinary French people just trying to live their lives. Not wealthy. Just people.
Why don’t you let Deborah answer for herself? Obviously, she thinks that the French hate Jews and that Jewish people are treated differently in France. Why can’t she just say that? Has it been her personal experience? If so, let her tell me about it. You should just butt out, or go talk to Lynne.
The sliding glass doors along the edge of the platform to keep people from either falling or getting pushed onto the tracks sound like a good idea. Too bad cities like NYC and Chicago are so broke from supporting illegals that they have no money for such projects.
Another interesting thing we learned from the “rich” Aussies on the Ponant ship was that they totally don’t understand why anyone in the US pays exorbitant school fees for an Ivy League education. In Australia, even if you’re rich and have two Mercedes in the garage, the kids go to the nearest public university and live at home if they can and commute. It doesn’t make sense to them that a kid would go away for college and pay room and board, much less high tuition. There is no job advantage you get from going to this or that “name” university. A degree is a degree is a degree. They thought paying more than $10,000/yr for college was insane. Personally, I think we could learn a lot from these countries. My friend from France says the same thing. You get you “bac” from high school and either go to trade school or the closest university to where you live. Since everyone does that, the universities in France don’t have dorms. Saves everyone a lot of money.
I went to a state school for both my undergrad and law school, and in those ancient days, costs were pretty reasonable. I also had scholarships that helped. My son went to GWU, which was expensive 25 years ago and even more so now. I agree that tuition at elite schools is out of hand, which is inexcusable when, for we example, Harvard has a $50B+ endowment. A friend's daughter got a degree but is now making good money working construction.
It’s France. They probably just paid for it with more taxes. The annual income for being considered wealthy in France is $42k/yr. If you earn too much, they tax you down to the same level as anyone else. I know there are millionaires in France, but by and large they are people like the family that owns LVMH. Plus they “live small”. One example is that luxury items like purses (my personal sin) cost about 25% less in France than in the US, even accounting for export fees (some LV purses are made in the US at the LV factory in Texas). The “rich” women in France don’t have enough money to pay the same prices we pay here in the US.
Another example, we took a Ponant cruise in January (a French luxury cruise line) and discovered from some of the Australian passengers that the cost of the cruise was 15% higher for the US passengers than for either the Aussies or the French (cruise left out of NZ). The Australians don’t have enough money to pay more and neither do the French. Ponant sets the price based on what they think the market will bear. When a country has high taxes, the “rich” citizens have less take home pay. We don’t plan on taking any more Ponant cruises now that we know they discriminate against US citizens. And being French, they really don’t care if we stop cruising with them. We did, however, get two great Antarctica cruises and this last one was the New Zealand subantarctic islands. The wildlife was spectacular. Zodiacs and all that.
Oh my, Ann. You took a luxury cruise in January. Just got back from a week in Paris. Will be heading for Wimbledon this Summer. Earlier took multiple Antarctica cruises ("Zodiacs and all that.").
Wow. Might I suggest that the Paris/London/etc. that you have experienced is substantially different than how locals and most visitors experience the once-great capitals of Europe. I'm glad that your wealth has seemingly shielded you from the realities that many others deal with, but you might consider that your perspective is somewhat limited.
Oh, Mary, you know that’s just jealousy talking and not real experience or thoughtful analysis. My cruise story points out some significant differences in how people in the US live versus people in Australia. The Aussies don’t spend much money on college and university and they don’t take out loans to get fancy degrees. That’s a significant difference in how college is viewed in the US. Did you even read the whole comment. Bob did and he agrees with me. You just like complaining.
I have extensive conversations with cab drivers, waiters, and salespeople in France. I talk to the young people who work in the small cafes and the cheap burger joints. I stay in cheap hotels that my in-laws turn their noses up at. I take public transportation everywhere when my SIL takes taxis because she thinks the metro is dirty and unsafe. I’m friends with grad students in the local state University who come to the US from France (and even Russia). Those grad students are not from rich families, and I’ve met their parents and siblings when they come here to visit. My son lives and works as a school teacher in a suburb of Madrid. It’s a public school with ordinary families.
What’s your experience with these places and these people? Do you even have any? My husband and I are both retired and we have money because we’ve lived frugally together for 42 years. So screw you and your criticism. Jealousy is not a good look.
FWIW, I also live in a modest neighborhood in the same house we’ve owned for 38 years. We bought it for $115,000 and it’s now worth $230,000, well below the US average. I drive a 10 year old Honda CRV. Go take a hike.
I speak a non-useful amount of French. I was last in Paris in 2019. Gare du Norde was gross, 3rd worlders everywhere. Two African taxi drivers in a fistfight at the taxi stand. Local colleague warning me of pickpockets.
Well there are pickpockets in every big city, and my H got pickpocketed last year in Paris, not this time. But all they got was an empty bag he keeps his camera in (he was using the camera when they got him) and a cloth face mask (still some Covid restrictions). We took a train from Gare de L’Est this time and it was beautiful, sparkling clean. We took a train two years ago from Paris to Bordeaux from Gare Montparnasse and it was nice too. In fact, leaving Gare Montparnasse on return to Paris, I had trouble with my suitcase falling over on the down escalator and a young black man helped me get it off the ground so I didn’t cause a pile up of other passengers leaving the escalator. He was very nice and I really needed help that very instant. You sound a little triggered by all these references to black people. I grew up in New Orleans, so I know the difference between black criminals and nice black people and also crazy black people. You shouldn’t generalize and make it sound like these problems are all race based, or even nationality based. The pickpockets in Rome are all Italians.
I didn’t think there were too many non-white French in the either the train stations or the metro. I mean yeah, they’re some, but really, “third worlders”? That’s a little stuck up don’t you think? So what? They should stay put?
Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Auckland, Vancouver...I could go on. Lots of major cities are not teeming with foreign criminals. And yes, obviously importing 3rd worlders makes the recipient nation more 3rd world - you yourself just cited being a victim of a crime in FR but earlier you said you had no problems (I've been to 40 countries on six continents, lived abroad nearly 20 years - only robbed once, in Malaysia [EDIT - twice, another time in Budapest]. Getting robbed is a problem!). Look at NYC today, right now - consequences of importing 3rd worlders.
My H was pickpocketed and they got an empty bag and a cloth Covid mask. Big deal. It was the first time in 40 years and the only time. He was talking a photo of Notre Dame, which is prime time for pickpockets. So what? Things happen. We were warned about pickpockets in Rome 20 years ago when we went. Nothing happened. Nothing has ever happened to us except that one ridiculously tiny incident. You got robbed in Malaysia (my H has been there) and in Budapest (we’ve been there twice and my PhD math daughter spent her semester abroad in Budapest studying math). My son lived in France for two years and has been living in Spain for the last 10 years, teaching English. He’s had no problems, never been robbed or anything, and get a great health insurance from his job.
You want a dangerous city where you can get robbed in broad daylight or shot, murdered, carjacked, raped? Try New Orleans. The most dangerous city in the US. You take your life in your hands walking out of your hotel and onto the street. The last time we had to go there we stayed in a hotel on St. Charles Ave and the guy at the front desk told us not to take the street car after dark because it was too dangerous. Also don’t walk anywhere. He recommended a taxi or an Uber after dark in the most expensive part of the city. I went to a law school reunion in the Garden District where the host had hired armed guards posted at both street corners to protect us as we went back and forth to our cars. Stay away!!!
NYC was a lot more dangerous back in the day than it is now. The first time I went there was in 1977 and it was like the Wild West. Crime and filth everywhere and no “3rd worlders”. Giuliani started the cleanup. Disney cleaned up the theater district and Bloomberg finished the job. Yes, they have problems now, but no worse than it used to be in the 70’s when “immigration” wasn’t the problem of the day. Chicago has always been dangerous. Same thing, visited a sorority sister in 1974. She was a native and knew which neighborhoods to avoid. If you went to the University of Chicago you knew not to leave campus. Nothing new there either.
We spent this past New Years in Sydney for the fireworks (H’s bucket list). It was great, no problems. There were so many Asians you’d have thought you were in China or Japan, but so what? We ate in an Indian restaurant in an obscure location near the tower. They were surprised we came in, being not just tourists, but white people. But we like Indian food and eat at the Indian restaurant near our house (a university town with a lot of people from India, Asia, and the Middle East). We finished up that trip in Auckland and had a great time there as well. We took two day tours with two different local NZ people. The guy loved the previous government, the woman hated them because they were being tough on the farmers for environmental reasons. Interesting conversations, nothing about “too many foreigners”.
You should look into this 100 Places Club that my H is trying to qualify for. He’s been traveling his whole life due to his dad’s travel agency and his parents thirst to see the world. His parents grew up in almost poverty in rural Indiana and when they finally had money they were out the gate like a racehorse. Because of that and his ability to do these things frugally, he’s up to 98 places (not countries necessarily, like Martinique is a separate place from France, even though it is part of France). But you may not care. Whatever.
And the reason I still say I’ve had no problems is that the thief got nothing. We protect the important stuff. If a pickpocket wants an empty zip bag and a Covid mask, welcome to it. They’re not going to get the camera or the wallet or the passport or anything important. Fwiw, the US tech industry depends on workers from Asia and India. France has a lot of African immigrants because they had African colonies and some of those people have a constitutional right to emigrate to France as a result. I still think you’re being ugly with this 3rd worlder stuff.
Come on, would you say that about your own ancestors? How recently did your family come to this country? Do you now feel a connection to the land, community, and people here? What is different about these immigrants? If it is the sheer number of them, then I do agree we need to take steps to make the process more orderly and perhaps impose fair limits. But to argue that these people cannot be good American citizens seems to me to be a dangerous rhetorical bridge to cross, absent additional evidence.
The article doesn't mention that the cartels are cleaning up, collecting $10,000 per person to cross the border. While most of the migrants are men, the women who come face a good chance of being raped on the way north. And allowing illegal immigration undermines the rule of law and cheats those who go through the process of entering legally. Trump didn't seal the border but he did a much better job than Biden, on whose watch new records of illegal entry are set monthly. I hope voters see open borders as an unsustainable problem.
The plan is to make them citizens and the Democrats a permanent majority. The country will then resemble Venezuela. The good news is illegal immigration will stop once this country is as big of a sh*thole as the ones most immigrants are escaping from.
Tip of the hat to Yuri for his logical take on the matter.
A few thoughts. First it doesn’t matter what the reality of latino voting trends are. It matters what Democrats who are in favor of this believe. They believe Latinos will vote Democrat. This belief is visible by their actions and public statements. Second pointing out Republicans historic stance on immigration is a bad faith argument. It completely ignores the massive shift that has occurred in what it means to be a Republican. Least Savodnik forget that Wall Street gave more money to Biden than Trump. Who is trying to import change labor again? Not blue collar Trump voters.
Also, I would say Savodnik’s emotional appeal of using photos taken of migrants is a classic left/right divide. Wealthy elites on the left are moved by images of poverty they have no relation to. It shocks them. The working class right haven’t just seen poor people before. They may have been poor growing up or have friends that are struggling. So, this emotional appeal falls flat. The solution to global poverty isn’t to move the entire population of the world into the United States.
I think a reasoned take here is important but it comes across rather often that Savodnik has contempt for Republicans. I think myself rational. I’ve voted for both political parties in my life time. Its not hard to recognize that the Republican party today isn’t same thing it was when George W. Bush was in office. Has your attitude adjusted to reflect that? I never expected to be Republican and yet here I am. I can and will change my mind in light of new information.
Someone said on the radio this week that the putative "broken immigration system" isn't necessarily the same problem as the border, or at least, we don't have to treat them as such. We can secure the border AND solve the so-called broken immigration system. But, as you say, the solution can't be "well, just open the floodgates, then!" That solves neither problem!
I hear pols use the phrase "broken immigration system" ad nauseum, but I never hear how it's "broken." It seems to work quite well looking at the numbers posted by our government.
There is no new information ,do you want to be overrun if so vote Biden if you don’t then vote Trump. If you are in a sanctuary city, never mind abortion laws, and want your space invaded, your pavements inhabited by tents then vote blue, if you don’t vote red. America is on the line here I think it’s important that we all know what’s at stake.
The "migrants" that Savodnik interviewed made it plain that they want Biden to win. How many of them who are already here are likely to do whatever they can to cast a ballot? How many are likely to be enabled in that by Democrats?
If they are told by some vote harvester (ballot facilitator) that they are eligible to vote, and said harvester gets them to sign a ballot with Biden's name on it, don't you think they will believe they are eligible to vote, and then do so? The Biden Administration is using taxpayer dollars to pay college students to register other college students to vote, and has told colleges and universities that they must go along with this effort or endanger their federal funding. We all know how those college kids will vote. I'm guessing quite a few illegals will vote this year too.
We all hear from MSM sources that our elections are secure and there can't be fraud. Those so-called journalists never do the research and reporting that would prove these claims.
This is an excellent interview. I had listened to a great interview of Bret Weinstein with Tucker Carlson just after Bret had returned from the Darien Gap. I enjoyed it because Tucker did not interrupt him much and he gave a very full picture of the perils of this current migration. People need to listen to these two conversations to get a better understanding of what is happening at our southern border. It truly is a serious matter.
From what I can see, liberals have indeed adjusted their attitude. They now yearn of the nostalgic years of Bush II. Dick Cheney, the Darth Vader or the Bush II Era, is not welcomed in good grace for the "good old days". Liz Cheney is the new Joan of Arc. Everything they hated about Republicans back then are now totally forgotten. They all got a massive epidemic of total amnesia. That's the summary of their attitude adjustment.
"Republicans ultimately killed the measure—after Trump came out against it."
No. The bill sucked. We don't need a new border security bill, we need to enforce the laws already on the books. Any bill on the border should not be tied to funding foreign wars.
The media keeps pounding on that drum--that Republicans are voting against fixing the border--intentionally ignoring the poison pill of Ukraine funding that the Democrats have insisted on tying to any effort to protect our own border from invasion.
The Republicans are finding a way to swallow that “poison pill” of Ukraine funding as we speak. Meanwhile, the immigration bill is dead which would have addressed the crazy asylum laws we now operate under is dead. We all know why. Trump made it clear he didn’t want Biden to have that win. So we wait. You all are under the illusion that Trump will solve this problem but he didn’t before and he won’t now. He won’t because he can’t. He doesn’t have the chops to do it. There’s a reason he wasn’t able to fulfill any of his campaign promises. He doesn’t know how to govern. I’m no fan of how Democrats have handled / ignored the border. But as usual Trump will be all talk, make a few big gesture executive action type but ultimately unsustainable attempts, fail to pass any meaningful legislation, and then lose interest or get distracted by others things.
"Trump made it clear he didn’t want Biden to have that win."
What win? No one supported the border deal. You make it sound as if opposition from Republicans was merely playing politics, which of course is not true but it certainly is a convenient thing for Democrats to tell themselves. The fact remains the border crises cannot be solved by legislation because the legislation is already on the books and giving more powers to an administration that refuses to use the powers it already has is pointless. This is all obvious and known, but there remains a certain kind of person who prefers to tell themselves opposition was merely to deny biden a "win."
How and why the bill failed is just to just be dueling stories with all sorts of spin. So I'll set that aside for now. Maybe the most important point is why legislation IS necessary. It's a go-to Republican talking point that legislation isn't needed, that we only need, as you say, to follow existing laws. But the existing asylum law, which is the major draw for most of the immigrants at the border, is woefully out of date, way too liberal (allowing people entry into the US first then allowing them to stay for five years for the claim to be resolved.) On top of that there are not enough people to evaluate claims at the border and in the courts after. ONLY CONGRESS can allocate spending. This requires legislation. The border bill would have allocated those funds and significantly tightened the asylum laws among other things. Re: simply "closing" the border. Does the president have this power? What kinds of legal justifications are required to close how many ports of entry and to whom? . During Covid when there was a national health emergency declared the president was able to use the emergency as a justification. Trump succeeded in one instance that was upheld by the courts, Trump vs. Hawaii when he initiated a travel ban on people from 7 countries arguing that they posed a terrorist threat. His other efforts did not stand up to judicial scrutiny. This is all to say that while a president can try to play around with fighting for particular bans, go to court to defend them, in a kind of wack-a-mole approach to dealing with immigration and border security, but wouldn't it simply be smarter to change the law?
If it had passed, you bet NYT and NPR et al would praise Biden to high heaven, and all our zombie friends who only read these trusted news source would buy the fairy tale hook line and sinker. That would've been the win.
It's so disingenuous to refer to that thing as a "border bill." Like the "don't say gay" bill, changing the title changed the messaging. The Republicans' objections had nothing to do with the border part. The problem was the rest of it.
The Congressional democrats will never stop promoting the need for new laws. They don’t have the guts to write new immigration laws because they know the public would never agree to legal “open borders” and voting rights for anyone who happens to wander in. They pretend that the system is “broken”, but concede their responsibility to enact legislation to the President through Executive orders.
You are correct. We do have Immigration laws designed to offer a humane and fair process for people who immigrate to our country. It is the vetting criteria ( meant to ensure our safety and security)contained in those laws that the democrats object to.
Agree! How are we attempting to solve border security (not immigration, that is a separate but important issue to also consider) by setting a number of illegal persons allowed to enter before we act, AND tying it to funding for Ukraine? Sometimes I think our elected representatives have gone mad!
The bill may have 'sucked', Lauren, but we do indeed need to revamp our asylum law. Big time. As it stands, all an asylum seeker has to do is land on American soil anywhere, say the right things to Border agents, and voila. He or she is in. They cannot by law be turned away. It's been like that for at least seventy years, and when migrants or people fleeing political prosecution seeking entry totalled fifty or so thousand a year, it was never an issue. But the system is so hopelessly overwhelmed now that limits need to be imposed - and only legislation can provide that. I agree that there are things Biden can do (I favour shutting the asylum system down temporarily to clear the backlog) and I agree he has been sending the wrong signal these past three years - but in the end it takes Congress to do it. The problem today is not illegal immigrants, it is the steady stream of legal asylum seekers.
Yeah, but they're not coming to seek asylum. Brett Weinstein was there. He can attest to that fact, but because it flies in the face of your protect-Biden-at-all-costs narrative you won't believe it (or anything MSNBC tells you not to.)
If Biden wanted to revamp our asylum law he would not have hung the welcome sign out his first days in office. And now, 7 month before the election with him way behind in the polls, he throws a weak hail Mary that if passed, he'd undo again given the chance.
Smart Americans will do their best to see he does not get that chance.
You sound angry, 234. I actually wrote that I think Biden should shut the system down. How does that fit with my 'protect Biden at all costs' analogy? I also said he put up a welcome sign - a big mistake, of which I alluded to. So, relax a bit.. I am no apologist.
Btw, on realClearPolitics where polls are aggregated - Trump leads Biden 46.9% to 45.8. So, yeah, Biden is way behind..
But watch for that Hail Mary you refer to, because it just may happen..
I am angry and may have jumped to conclusions....apologies.
Doesn't change the fact that we have not begun to see the fallout from open borders: drugs, sex/human trafficking, crime, which goes unpunished, rigged elections if Democrats can figure out how to allow illegals to vote, squaters, etc.
No worries on the apology - we have had good exchanges of which I've enjoyed. I do get angry. My anger stems from the inability of the two opposing parties to work together unless a gun is pointed at them, and from how both parties are caught out by their extremist factions. Biden on immigration by his insufferable progressive wing - and Trump by his far right wing who want to isolate America from the rest of the world (my biased opinion, of course). The tail seems to wag the dog. I also can't stand the fact these two old men are fighting for President again. I dislike one and abhor the other. We can do better. We need new blood on both sides, new ideas and policy - and a willingness to compromise.
I think the Democrats have a legitimate claim to compromising on their goals and supporting the bipartisan legislation in the Senate. Trump tanked it because him winning (the presidency) is more important to him than you winning (by fixing immigration for everyone). This issue is an effective cudgel for him, not to be solved by anyone else but him, thankyouverymuch.
But can you imagine him supporting a bipartisan bill? He'll never pass a thing on this issue (unless, perhaps, Republicans get to 50+ in the Senate and blow up the filibuster the way the far left wants to today. Just imagine the chaos and vitriol in our politics if that happens).
That the bill had some things Republicans didn't like is a feature, not a bug. It's how bipartisan legislation works. Ask the left flank of the Democratic party what they thought of it and you'll get similar dismissal of the bill. It's a shame that this continues to be a third rail of politics as attempts to compromise are defeated time and again and the problem just gets worse.
Why did Biden wait till the 11th hour, 7 months before the election, to offer another left wing biased bill? He couldn't have done this three years ago?
Oh, I forgot, he invited the world to waltz right in.
Why should Trump/Republican party sign on now giving Biden a much needed victory? Democrats wouldn't play this hand. Neither should Republicans.
If you want to play politics with the issue, then perhaps you're right. But that is how we got here. This was a bipartisan chance to do something about it, but hey, let's kick the can down the road because politics (and then complain about how it never gets fixed and it's the other team's fault).
There's no reason Republicans couldn't position themselves as heroes for being the ones to get this done (the lead negotiator was Republican, it did things like fund a border wall). Both sides could brag about a big win to their base, instead of pointing fingers while everyone loses. Imagine a politics that worked that way.
I didn't red the bill and didn't care to. People I respect said it was BS, for instance there was language that said the border would remain open...WHAT?
If Biden is serious about this, then why did he invite the world in during his first days in office? And why did he wait till the 11th hour?
But I must repeat myself for people who won't answer direct questions.
You are right. That bill will be used by the Democrats throughout this election period so that they can blame the Republicans and Trump for the chaos at the border. The creation of this legislation was intentionally done in secret. They knew that it wouldn't pass the House. If you truly want to make some effective legislation, you do not do it in a cocoon. It needs to be done in the light of day with input from everyone. This is a messy lengthy process, but it is necessary.. But for the legacy media and Democrats to keep throwing that legislation that simply codified mass migration into the conversation is very disingenuous
No, we need to change the wording in legislation we have on asylum. We have to tighten the language to reject “credible fear“ - they're using the wording from the law - I think here it's “well-founded fear“ - the wording is too broad.
“(42) The term “refugee” means (A) any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, or (B) in such special circumstances as the President after appropriate consultation (as defined in section 1157(e) of this title ) may specify, any person who is within the country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, within the country in which such person is habitually residing, and who is persecuted or who has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The term “refugee” does not include any person who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. For purposes of determinations under this chapter, a person who has been forced to abort a pregnancy or to undergo involuntary sterilization, or who has been persecuted for failure or refusal to undergo such a procedure or for other resistance to a coercive population control program, shall be deemed to have been persecuted on account of political opinion, and a person who has a well founded fear that he or she will be forced to undergo such a procedure or subject to persecution for such failure, refusal, or resistance shall be deemed to have a well founded fear of persecution on account of political opinion.“
The media never talks to the public school parents that have seen their schools overrun with border kids. Teachers can't teach them and it affects the U.S. kids who actually want to learn. My heart goes out to the parents that can't afford private schools and are stuck with their zoned public school that is more or less a babysitter for all the incoming border crossers. Classroom learning is on the back burner for all as a result. A big reason why test scores are falling and classes continue to get easier. We can't expect the teachers to be miracle workers; hard to blame them for wanting to push kids through and be done with them.
What you say is so true. It is not fair to the American school children and teachers, and it isn't fair to these migrant children. We have had a Refugee Center in our small-town Idaho area for about 25 years. As a school teacher in the 90s and on to 2016, I have seen the pressure put on schools and the students. And this refuge center is a thoughtful system meant to help people integrate into their community. There is none of that forethought or planning going into this mass migration.
It will end up crushing our education systems and our health systems.
ESL is worthless. Immersion in language beginning in Kindergarten age is necessary before children can go into a classroom and learn to read or write in English or do math. Many years ago I volunteered to help at my son’s bilingual math class. Everything took longer for the teacher to explain since she had to repeat in 2 languages.
In the early 1900’s when many immigrants came to this country legally, they learned English before entering school. No other country allows people to not speak their main language.
“Despite conservatives, led by GOP senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, having squeezed tons of border-security concessions out of the White House, Republicans ultimately killed the measure—after Trump came out against it.”
Care to expand on why Republicans killed it?? It’s not just because of Trump.
And I don’t think there is a single American who appreciates these massive, multi-issue bills.
that's exactly why they didn't vote for it though - they're scared of Trump and the MAGA base. It's no different than the Dems and the Progressives/Squad. Small steps are better than no steps but people on the fringes are absolutists and refuse any compromise no matter what positive effects it could have.
and this is why MAGA will continue to elect Dems who will then allow Progressives to rule. You all would rather do nothing and complain than do something. The bill was supported until Trump said he opposed it because he needs immigration to run on. For him, it's better to allow tens of thousands of migrants to come into the country illegally and disappear into society than take steps to limit it now. It's not about policy, it's about Trump.
That bill simply codified illegal immigration. It did provide some dollars for more border agents. Republicans were not in favor of it long before Trump said something. But TDS is a powerful tool of the Left so they will continue to act like this was wonderful legislation even though it was kept under wraps during the entire process of writing it!
Some dollars for more border agents - more agents who would simply interview immigrants, hear "temor creible", give out an order to appear and let the immigrants in. Those additional agents were not intended to stop immigration, Biden Admin was going to use them to speed up the influx.
Yes. That is exactly true. And I believe that it allowed 5000 illegals per day before any sort of limits would be put in place. It really was absurd. I was disappointed because I have liked James Lankford. He was used--or as the legacy media pundits love to say--he was co-opted!. I would have liked to ask him some questions.
I think it is an excellent and non-partisan article. I'm a Dem but this article made me worry about four more years of Biden. But Trump is a greater evil to me but Biden needs to do something now!
Oh wow- thanks so much for this article Peter- what a great job you do of explaining the "plight" of these immigrants, their aspirations, their fears, the risks they took to ILLEGALLY enter our Country because all of a sudden Biden sent out the message that ALL ARE WELCOME.
The only thing missing were the interviews of those involved with human amd sex trafficking that will now be taking place in The United States. Oh and the interviews of those who are threatened by the large drug cartels to sell fentanyl to our children and young adults- you know- the drug that is now KILLING 100,000 Americans ANNUALLY. I would have loved to hear their stories.
And of course would love to Hear from the masses of young single men coming from so many OTHER countries, including ....wait...China??? What's there deal Peter? What are their intentions ? So many countries hate us and are looking for the opportune time to take revenge.
I'm sure all of THEIR STORIES are so emotionally touching as well, but you didn't bother to report?
Maybe as a follow up you can interview all the LEGAL US CITIZENS that are now being pushed out of schools, the homeless that are not getting help, the drug addicted, the CITIZENS with mental health issues, our Vets, who have now been cast aside by the BIDEN Administration in order to groom more Democratic voters- oh I'm sorry....I mean to give the oppressed a better life here in these UNITES STATES of AMERICA- I wouldn't want to sound Xenophobic.
I listened to Andrew McCarthy of National Review, former federal prosecutor and Never Trumper who thought Trump should have been impeached, rip the Langford border bill to shreds. I’m sure there were a few MAGA extremists who were against the bill because Trump was, but the vast majority of Republicans hated it because it was a bad bill. The Republican House passed a tough border bill in May that Schumer won’t bring to the senate floor for a vote. So no Peter, this border disaster is entirely on Biden and Schumer. PERIOD
Yes. The Democrats refuse to bring the House legislation to the floor because it has some teeth in it. I always wonder why more people don't bring that up because that was the of the first things that this Republican House did.
For a second there I thought you were talking about the actor from the 80s brat pack and was excited to see one single cool person from Hollywood seeing the light, as all my former idols have so so disappointed me turning out to be militant woke morons (exhibit #1 John Cusack). Then I saw you were talking about a different Andrew McCarthy and realized I got excited too soon. Never mind. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Again with the biased images. Our heart goes out to young families but the majority are young men.There are thousands of gang members and likely hundreds of terrorist and spies. We must close the border and have a policy of LEGAL immigration for vetted persons to enter in higher numbers. We deport college educated employed people and let in poor and unemployed. Until democrats stop trying to import votes and destabilize the country there is no way to add same policy. Current leaders are power hungry corrupt and evil. Most of these people would prefer to be at home but tyrannical governments destroyed their countries. I bet most of these countries are in total collapse and the citizens were denied the right to bear arms and they had corrupted elections. Sound familiar? Are we headed there? Joe Biden is not in charge, the Democrats did not allow Kennedy to primary Biden as he could not be controlled by Biden's handlers. No serious person can think voter ID is a problem to install. To not go there is to embrace fraud. We should have voter registration that requires proof of citizenship, then an voter ID card that is bar coded and there should be a database where you can go after election to verify your vote was actually and accurately counted. A self audit would help expose cheating.
1) Biden, almost immediately upon entering office, didn't just "consider legislation" - using executive actions he ended Trump's Remain in Mexico executive action which played a huge role in opening the floodgates at the border. And he could use executive action right now, without a vote in Congress, to fix that mistake.
2) The border bill wasn't squashed just because Trump came out against it. It didn't have the support of the majority of Republicans from the beginning because all it did was fund more of the same existing policy. The only good thing in it was the emergency caps on the number of migrants that could be let in per day. It didn't change the fundamental problems that are keeping the flood coming. And if the Republicans did sign that bill, then they get to eat the problem as being theirs as well. It was a politically expedient move by the Democrats to try and force the GOP to be complicit in the border problem (and it's worked as the MSM and Biden keep pointing their fingers at that bill and trying to shift all the blame to the GOP).
RIP Virginia Dept of Correction K-9 named Rivan, repeatedly stabbed and beaten in Sussex 1 State prison protecting his DOC handler and another inmate from MS-13 gang members from South America, who were arrested and found to be here illegally.
"The crisis no one wants to solve?!?!?" Are there actually any Republicans saying "gosh darn it someone should really do something about this, golly gumdrops I wish someone would"? Republicans have been pretty vocal that the administration should enforce existing federal law and CLOSE THE BORDER! This has become a catastrophe in every way, humanitarian, economic, crime, security. Honestly this dwarfs the Hunter stuff in terms of grounds for impeachment.
Perhaps by "the crisis no one wants to solve" you were referring to the national debt and entitlement spending.
Are you aware that the House introduced comprehensive immigration legislation shortly after the Republicans had the majority? Chuck Schumer refuses to introduce it to the Senate for consideration. So, there's that.
I want to know why the self-appointed morally superior get their panties in a bunch over the mere suggestion that these people would be better off staying in their own countries, and that these countries need to be repaired.
They don't seem able to connect the dots between the "Socialism" that created these shit holes, which they want to happen here.
Venezuela is in shambles in part due to corruption so deep and so dark, criminals run the streets. My boyfriend's parents drive an armored car. Any Venezuelan student I've ever had, expresses dismay at being able to walk around on city streets without a bodyguard.
Yet Progressive Wailing is doing that to OUR STREETS. Allowing perps with gazillions of prior arrests to run amok on the streets of NYC.
What could possibly be the benefit of trucking in all these unskilled people and GIVING THEM HANDOUTS? How is this beneficial, beyond the purported Democratic vote script they've been fed?
I think there should be a moratorium on immigration. We have a housing crisis here (supposedly, according to Progressives, homelessness is the result of escalating rents) and yet they insist on pouring more people into the mix, thus raising rents due to supply and demand.
Joe Biden also flies about 400,000 illegals by plane paid for by taxpayers of the United States into many cities in this country! he must not be elected again, and we must get a Republican Senate.
Most of them come directly from Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti. And one other South American country that I can't remember. 80% of them are flown directly to Texas and Florida without notifying those states that they are coming. Meanwhile some progressive organization is suing DeSantis and others to the tune of $1.5 million for flying 50 illegals to Martha's Vineyard without having plans for their shelter and jobs! You can't make this stuff up. But the "poor"people of Martha's Vineyard quickly moved these 50 illegals to the nearest military base since they didn't have accommodations for them in their community!
Peter, I usually enjoy your posts on the FP. You are clearly on the left on this and not even attempting to accurately report what Biden did his first few days in office. He stopped the building of the wall and reversed "remain in Mexico." Your "reporting" leaves much to be desired. Are you going to become one of the mainstream one sided media? If so, FP loses my money. I am moderate, not a Trump supporter who wants the truth - not bias reporting. That is why I am a FP supporter. A clearly bias article. I asked my Republican representative to NOT support the bill. It was full of crap and did nothing new but add more deficit. Did you read any of it? We already have numerous laws about immigration but the Dems don't want to uphold them. Some Republicans I'm sure as well. Do Better!!
I'm not sure "truth - not biased reporting" is possible anymore. We have become so politically and ideologically divided, a person's worldview biases their "reporting" almost universally. Readers must engage their critical thinking skills and review source documents (not just news and FB) to discern truth. Also, there is no such thing as "my truth".
I see many "progressive" left talking points in this article. Not to mention the photographs that pull on readers' heartstrings. I love the Free Press because it typically does not pepper its writing with far left propagandist techniques. No-one should get across our border, no matter how many doe-eyed children they have in tow, unless there is a reason they are seeking asylum. Wanting a job in the U.S. is not one of those reasons. If I see Mr. Savodnik write about the millions of single men coming across the border -- no pictures of children -- including conversations with at least 100 of them, I'd feel this topic had been more fairly handled.
Yes it does pull on heart strings because they are people after all, I feel for them. But we still need to close the border now. We simply cannot let the world come into America.
This issue, along with much of the woke stuff (race, criminal justice, the relentless trans stuff) contribute to the sense of many of us who voted for Biden that he isn’t in charge. He’s a senile figurehead. This immigration mess - like all the other work stuff - is completely out of step with THE ENTIRETY of his career. Are we to believe he was suddenly enlightened by hiring Karine Jean-Pierre and abandoned all prior beliefs to embrace the progressive “truth”? Biden of 1998 would be as hard on open borders as Trump. Additionally, can TFP explain how states and localities can simply decide not work with federal authorities and ignore federal law? I get federalism, but they don’t get to pick and choose other laws or constitutional amendments. The whole sanctuary thing is nuts
100% - it's been clear for his entire time in office that he is being driven/steered by a group of unelected advisors/staff that are extremely progressive. They control his twitter account and give him talking points. And as soon as he starts to stray from those talking points they come out to wrangle him back into the shadows and issue "clarifications" to his comments that don't fit their narrative or make him look like a senile old man.
If Biden wins, I can't imagine what will happen after another 10 million illegals have poured through the border in 4 years. 20 million over 2 terms, not including ~20 million already here before Biden and millions of gotaways. Child trafficking, fentanyl, and gangs are not mere claims - they are happening every day thanks to this administration. Laken Riley is one of many Americans directly harmed by illegals who should never have been allowed in. Migrant mobs attacked NYPD in Times Square, just a stones throw from the New York Times building but they will never cover these incidents.
Trump brought illegal immigration down to record lows with no new legislation. Then Biden intentionally opened to border to record highs along with his toady Mayorkas. American citizens have credible fear of millions of unvetted military-aged men taking over their cities and neighborhoods, all funded by we the taxpayer. The vast majority of the illegals are young men, but your photos and MSM depict the minority demographic of women, children, and older men to emotionally manipulate sympathy for lawbreakers taking advantage of our government/NGO pathological altruism.
For the past few years, Special Forces veteran Michael Yon has traveled throughout Central America documenting the coordinated invasion. He has been trying to warn us. Perhaps should head down to the Darien Gap and interview him: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-invade-the-usa-30-min-podcast
You don't need to imagine. Go to England and look around London (then treat yourself to a trip to the shires and see what England *used* to be like before mass migration). Go to Paris. Go to Stockholm. Nearly every city in Western Europe is being ripped apart by migrants with no connection to the land, community, or care for people.
Don't forget Canada.....millions pouring in under trudeau and more to come. A disaster in the making.
Regardless of whether new immigrants are skilled are not belies the fact our infrastructure cannot absorb this number of new bodies. Our healthcare system is crumbing, schools jammed to the rafters and a serious housing crisis. The Trudeau government is rapidly turning a migration success story into a disaster for both sides by placing too much pressure on our system. Crime is increasing in all our major centres right at the time our judiciary has become fully activist and does next to nothing to incarcerate dangerous offenders. It’s as if all these Western democracies are creating policy from the same manual…….what could that be?
We spent some time in eastern Canada last summer and our tour guide, a French Canadian, told us that Canada has very strict immigration laws and they do not just let anyone in. You have to be educated, able to speak English, and willing to learn French. You have to have job ready skills. If you can’t meet these requirements you do not enter. This is one reason Canada took in so many Ukrainian refugees, because they are well educated and skilled laborers and speak fluent English in addition to Ukrainian and Russian. There is no “disaster in the making” in Canada. They’re upgrading their work force and making sure they don’t become top heavy in old people as a result of a progressively declining birth rate. We should be doing the same thing.
I guess there must be 2 Canada's....Sure not the one I am living in. Our immigrants are from the Middle East and India with little or no job skills and the illegals of which we have many are from the United States. Our country is in debt up to its ears and we are becoming the woke capital of the world. Beware of tour guides...they are paid to spread fibs.
So is this assessment not accurate? It was updated in March 2024.
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-canadas-immigration-policy
According to this summary by the Council on Foreign Relations, updated March 2024, the two main vehicles for immigration to Canada are both skill based economic enhancement programs, namely Express Entry (a points system based on education and skill levels with language proficiency in both English and French) and the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) where each province sets its own rules based on their economic needs in terms of skills and age (a lot of this is trying to attract young people to move to Canada as a result of the low birth rate).
The next 3 categories, all involving smaller numbers are Family (you are sponsored by a legal permanent resident as a family member), Refugee (you are sponsored by a government agency or the UN), and Humanitarian (qualifications vary, the most recent number being 40,000 admitted in one year).
This summary lines up closely with what our tour guide told us. I seriously doubt that tour guides are being paid to lie. Our trip was with Tauck, a Canadian company that’s been in business forever. They wouldn’t stoop to such behavior.
I’m sorry if your experience has been that people from India have no skills and don’t contribute. Where I live they are mostly doctors and engineers or tech workers. My daughter is a PhD in math and a software engineer for Intel. Both in grad school and at work the majority of the personnel come from India. There are very few white Americans who can do these jobs, so they are top heavy with Indians and Asians. Young white US college grads usually don’t go to grad school in either math or engineering or computer science. Until that changes we will need the highly skilled immigrants who come from Asia and India and are willing to do the work it takes to acquire these skills and do these jobs. From where I sit, Canada has the better immigration system and I wish we would duplicate it.
Were you to consult the US State Department guidelines for legal immigration you would find similar niceties. The problem is that Western countries are not enforcing the laws and rules that already exist, let alone amending them to meet the current crisis. Saying Canada has no immigration crisis because of the policies you cite is like saying there is no Fentanyl crisis because our policy is that it is not legal.
I watched a documentary about immigrants to Canada from Syria (large numbers admitted because of the war there and standard admission criteria suspension for humanitarian reasons) who, years after immigration, are still idling away their days in state-funded housing having not learned English, not acquired employment skills, nor taken advantage of programs to provide either. Immigrants from India and the far east are the exception and generally arrive well-prepared to contribute and come legally.
my god. After reading through this thread, you are easily the most obnoxious, narcissistic braggart posting on TFP.
I'm with Wanda Lambert on this, that might have been the guy speaking about Quebec which is always a little different. Esp the demand to learn French, that sounds VERY Quebecois. I'm an American who moved to Ontario 19 years ago and Canada had easier immigration laws than several European countries. It's a big pain in the ass, but not impossible if you qualify as I did under the Skilled Worker Program. There's an Express program now for some esp those looking for oil work in the Maritimes (the northeastern provinces) and Alberta. And I live in Canada's Ground Zero for Ukrainian refugees, I am up to my arse in them in my immigrant 'hood, and some speak English and some don't - like the folks down the hall who a year later are still Uke-only.
In 2015, when he was stumping for election, Justin Trudeau promised 50k new Syrian refugees (Syrians were the hot-ticket refugees for libs at the time) and I wasn't happy about that because of the Islamic terrorism problem, which Syria has. I'm not sure how well-screened they were, it didn't happen all at once, it wasn't the shitshow the US has become. But anyway...French I think is more required for Quebec, AFAIK no other provinces require it. Not even New Brunswick, which is the only *officially* bilingual province in Canada (no, not Quebec!)
But you're right about the declining birth rate. In fact, one of my Substacks I just got yesterday mentioned it's at an all-time low. Canada has historically had to import new people to keep up the population, I can tell you as a younger immigrant the men were just terrified of women or something. Like seriously, for the longest time I thought Canadian men were a bunch of virgins :)
Thanks for the polite reply, and the information! The Council on Foreign Relations report, as I stated, is not put out by the Canadian government, so it doesn’t have an axe to grind, but it doesn’t really contradict anything you’ve said. They do mention both French and English as language requirements though. Read through it and let me know what you think.
Most western countries are suffering from a low birth rate epidemic. Even China and Japan are, although China’s was self-inflicted. And notice that Wanda is complaining about the immigrants from India having no skills and being unemployed and a drain on the economy. That’s just not true. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. It sounds like from what you and ex nihilo have said that the 2015 Trudeau policy on the Syrians caused a huge problem. But the numbers from 2024 don’t support that as a continuing concern. However, if they haven’t adapted and are not being deported that is a problem. The CFR report admits as much. But the overall numbers are minuscule compared to the US, which I like.
I don't think I can be arsed to read the CFR report, but no matter. It sounds like something someone threw in there to keep the Quebecois language police happy, LOL. Ontario never expected me to speak French although I got points (literal ones) for having basic French (they're getting much better now...I'm on Duolingo). Most Torontonians I know, not counting the immigrants, don't speak much French, if any, although I have several friends who do. I can tell you, as someone who does phone sales and has been calling all over the country for many years, the only places I encounter anything other than the requisite auto-greeting in two languages (or just "Appuyez le deux pour Francais") is Quebec, Manitoba, and occasionally the Maritimes (which I don't call much). In Quebec, when you get beyond the tourist cities, it's Francais-only.
Not everyone assimilates as well as they might, although I pretty much have no complaints about my fellow immigrants. I *do* think immigrants should make at least some effort - staying multicultural is fine, but make some effort. I've talked about this with other immigrants and my feeling is a nice mixture of multiculturalism - which the US could use more of - and assimilation - which Canada could use a leeeeeeetle more of. Hybrid is the best ;)
My issue with the Syrians was less the folks moving here - who simply didn't want to get shot at anymore - but the kids and grandkids, because that's where the radicalization often takes place, including in the US. But...we'll see. What's done is done and so far we haven't had a really big Islamism problem.
Check this out from the mayor of Chicago. https://www.aol.com/chicago-mayor-urges-biden-grant-210355642.html
I totally agree with you on this! I backpacked Europe in the early eighties after college. That sparked a love of travel to see different cultures in different countries but now unfortunately all the big cities are like NYC. I can take a train in to NYC to feel unsafe in a big city
Dublin as well.
I literally just got back from a week in Paris and went everywhere either on foot or in the metro and never for one minute did I feel unsafe. Our taxi driver from CDG to the hotel was from Senegal and spoke perfect French. On leaving, our taxi driver from the hotel to CDG was originally from Sri Lanka, but had been in Paris for 34 years, and had two daughters, both of them in medical school. The sales girls in La Samaritane and Bon Marche were for the most part Asian. The young man who helped me was a white life long Parisian. All the waiters we had in every single restaurant were your traditional Parisian waiters (which for me means friendly and not rude, maybe because I’m fluent in French, who knows, I’ve never had a bad experience). The maids in the hotel were black, whereas in the US they tend to be Hispanic. I’ve been going to France and to Paris regularly for over 40 years, and frankly the only thing I saw that was different was that some of the metro lines now have glass walls with sliding glass doors along the edge of the platform to keep people from either falling or getting pushed onto the tracks. They are upgrading all the metro lines, so it will take time to get these protective walls in place everywhere. My husband and I and our 30-something son had a wonderful time. Son is now back in Madrid where he lives and works. We will be in London again this summer for Wimbledon and I expect to have a good time there too. Marine Le Pen might agree with your POV, but I don’t.
Paris, like many cities, has the parts where the attractions are, where visitors spend money, and where great effort is expended toward the safety of tourists and visiting business people. Get off at one of the Metro stops in the "wrong" arrondissement and you will surface in a different world of low-income housing blocks, urban blight, and crime. Bet your 40 years in Paris never included a tour of the immigrant districts. Do you really think the fawning waiters and shop clerks hoping for a bit of your cash aren't disguising profound contempt for arrogant people like you? Just as in NYC, Chicago, LA, or DC, there are parts of Paris no one explores for fun and outsiders are not welcome. I doubt that you will take time out from your Wimbleton trip to imbibe the gritty side of London either. Let me guess: luxe hotel, expensive restaurants, high-end shopping, West End theater, maybe some museums or palaces. If you think that what affluent tourists experience of a city is ever connected to reality you are deluded. Your name-dropping and bragging about your cosmopolitan doctor children does not convey an image of solidarity with the underclass nor connection to the actual world that the overwhelming majority of people are obliged to live in.
The two doctor daughters belong to the cab driver from Sri Lanka, not me. Not only can you not spell, you can't read or comprehend. The point was an immigrant family contributing to French society. Maybe you got hit in the head so often as a child that your brain no longer functions. Get help.
We don’t stay in luxe hotels, nor do we eat in expensive restaurants or do high end shopping. My husband bought a new Samsonite suitcase this past trip at the Bona Marche store for $260 because his Samsonite he took on the trip was old and one of the wheels fell off. We had three different meals at each of the three Chartier Bouillon restaurants in Paris where an entree costs $15, an appetizer costs $6 and a dessert costs $3. You can get a bottle of the house red for $15, or a carafe of red for $10. The burger place where we had dinner the last night cost us $30 for two people and it had been voted “best burger in Paris” by some tourist magazine. The hotel room was $200/night. We took the metro or walked everywhere because taxis are too expensive. We bought a museum pass which gets you in cheaper and lets you skip the lines. We visited the Eglise Saint Sulpice for free which has some amazing art work by Delacroix. Attended a free organ concert there as well. One day we took a train to Luxembourg (cheap) and had a cheap lunch at an Indian restaurant in the grungy neighborhood around the train station and then went back to Paris on the train. It got my husband an extra country on his 100 places list.
Our trip to London for Wimbledon is a bucket list item now that we’re both retired. It’s a package deal for the women’s tennis since the men’s are too expensive. It includes the hotel, but I think it’s just a Holiday Inn. When we went to Edinburgh we stayed in a Holiday Inn. My kids are not doctors. What are you talking about? And so what if they have graduate degrees? They went to college on scholarship and they got grad school paid for with teaching assistant jobs. You could do that to if you worked hard enough, or your kids worked hard enough. I went to college on a scholarship and got student loans for law school, which I paid off. We’ve been in the same house for 38 years and paid off the mtge years ago. We drive 10 year old Hondas. Do you enjoy being so angry and jealous and judgmental? Good grief, I grew up in a mediocre neighborhood in New Orleans, and my husband’s parents were from the wrong side of the tracks in rural Indiana. We all worked hard. FIL worked his way through college on a combo football scholarship and a job cleaning the cafeteria at night. He took the classes his football buddies took after they took them to get their hand-me-down textbooks. But he grew up to have his own travel agency and ride in the Concorde. Are you jealous? Or just a lazy complainer?
Mon Dieu! Where to begin?!
My comments were preceded by the acknowledgemnt that I was making a "guess". You provided personal extraneous (what does "Wimbleton" have to do with immigration?) details upon which I hazarded a guess to make a point. You have no such information about me and yet you pass judgement upon me in the absence of any information and without qualifying it as a guess. That is called presumption.
Attempting to walk back your comments with a disadvantaged-origin story is a variation of humble-bragging. "We are now erudite cosmopolitans only through our own worthiness." Well here is my origin story: My mother came to the US at age 20 with me in her womb. She had a 6th grade education and no vocational skills. Two years after arriving my father was murdered. We lived on public assistance until my mom remarried an abusive man who was not only a poor provider but stole money from me regularly and would hit me in the face if he didn't like my expression. I worked 30 hours a week at a nursing home cleaning bedpans (I shit you not!). After high school I went to a 3rd tier public college, which I paid for with no assistance from anyone, continuing to work year-round. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to medical school where many hours that I would have preferred to be studying were devoted to working to pay bills or fixing my beater car or one of the dilapidated appliances where I lived. My career has been the antithesis of "laziness". I've spent thousands of long ,stress-filled days and nights in OR's and many 80-hour weeks without complaint.
Medicine provided me material abundance greater than I had ever imagined, allowing me to also travel extensively and (mea culpa) expensively. However, I compulsively refrain from name dropping about my dinner at Tour Argent or Lac des Cygnes at Palais Garnier especially around the barely above minimum wage scrub techs in the OR for whom travel is not a budget line item. Neither do I sport a decal on my car from the elite University my son graduated from and, when asked, tell people he attended a school in Connecticut. I write these things now only to correct your angry misconceptions and I make it a habit not to ever mention anything about myself in posts. So no I am not "jealous" of your experiences.
Neither do I assume that my tourist adventures qualify me to render assessment of the international immigration crisis. Your experience with the brown, black, and yellow people who seem so safe and friendly as they clean your room, bring your food, and wait on you in the shops is an incredibly distorted vantage that gives you zero insight into the profound problems relating to mass immigration. I seriously doubt you have ever visited the impoverished immigrant suburbs of Paris where the graffiti clad projects loom over menacing, crime-ridden neighborhoods.
Your disdain for Marine le Pen, your law degree, and your Boomer age tempts me to another guess: you identify as liberal. If not, my bad. If so, you should be informed that the rules have changed while you were away overseas. Assimilation is now a vile characteristic of oppressor-colonialism; your moral passport has been stamped "White Privilege". Referencing extensive leisure travel is a dog whistle for "elite". Not my idea, but true. If your moral compass swings to the Green view, you should also consider the obscene amount of CO2 those wide body jets that we travel on spew out. And the Concorde! You might as well say you're a MAGA supporter. The travel agency thing might be better unsaid as well. So, if you want to remain in good standing with highly-educated, cosmopolitan, sophisticates you might need to update to the new liberalism.
Get help. You need it. I'll pray for you in the meantime.
And it's Wimbledon with a D. You misspelled it twice.
I take it you aren't Jewish, or at least not visibly Jewish.
Okay, since Mary pushed the button, have you had a bad experience in France because you either are or look Jewish? My only connection to that possibility is my Jewish friend from New Orleans. He’s from a VERY wealthy Jewish family who’ve had money for generations and they all have Ivy League degrees fwiw. He’s a bicycle touring fanatic and has spent the last 10-15 years every summer going on a Tour de France “tour” in France where you spend big bucks to ride the same route the competing cyclists ride, except that you have a team of assistants driving with you in a van where you can store your bikes and there’s lots of provisions in case you need them. Every night they stay in a luxury hotel, eat and drink well, shower and sleep. When they get ahead of the tour, they will take a day to set up a special viewing area, drink champagne and watch the “real” competitors ride by.
This means that my friend has been spending a month in France every summer for many years, dealing with the French who put the tour together, staff the ride, staff the hotels and restaurants, the transportation, basically everything. He’s never had a problem or a complaint. He also went on our last Ponant cruise with us, where the entire crew of the ship are French as in FRENCH by the roots. He had no problems whatsoever and loved it.
Now I guess this may not be everyone’s experience, and maybe it has not been yours. If so, I’m sorry. My friend’s Jewish family spends a lot of time abroad and his parents and grandparents spent a lot of time in France. They had no problems there. Where they DID have problems being Jews was in New Orleans. They were excluded from all the old line Mardi Gras krewes and the exclusive eating clubs. Their law partners could not invite them to lunch “at the club” because it was “no Jews allowed”. They couldn’t go to debutante balls because “no Jews allowed”. So what did they do? They went skiing in Colorado.
Yep, my Jewish friend is a great snow skier because his family literally left town every Mardi Gras to avoid having to watch themselves get discriminated against by the very same people they did business with every day. And he’s not my only Jewish friend. I went to Tulane undergrad and law school. Tulane was then then and now roughly a 40% Jewish student body. I have several good friends from both experiences. There was a time when I thought New Orleans was 50/50 Catholic/Jewish. I literally didn’t meet a Protestant until college (the neighbors were Jewish, my school was Catholic).
So anyway, if you have your own story about France, tell me.
I'm Jewish. And the news coming out of France are very very alarming. French Jews have been leaving France in droves. I've met many, and the literally all say the same. Everybody knows that France isn't safe if you are visibly Jewish. And the problem isn't the native French, but the immigrants from Muslim countries who are violently antisemitic. The worst attack on European Jews always happened in France, and they aren't rare. I'm talking about everything from kidnapping to burning alive.
Of course, if you are a wealthy Jew who can't even easily be identified as a Jew, like I assume your friend is, it's very possible to curate some wonderful experiences and have a good time in France. This doesn't negate the experiences of the ordinary middle class and working class French Jews who want to be able to safely visit the kosher grocery store, go to the synagogue, send their kids to school, or wear a kippah, etc without having to worry about somebody beheading them.
Comparing your wealthy friend's experiences on a luxury trip to the experiences of ordinary Jews just trying to survive is like saying that there are no cartels in Mexico, I didn't see any when I visited the country on a luxury vacation.
Then I guess there’s also the more recent stuff going on in France post-Oct 7th:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/02/antisemitism-jews-france-emmanuel-macron-israel-hamas-war
We’re all experiencing this, even here in the US. It’s unconscionable and shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone. Antisemitism is a scourge that I’ve never understood. Whether it’s keeping your Jewish law partner out of your private lunch club, or running him down in the street with your car. I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and went to a university where almost half the students there were Jewish. My Jewish law school friend handled my mother’s estate when she died, and my other Jewish law school friend’s daughter, an associate in the same Jewish law firm assisted in the legal proceedings. These are the people I trust. I don’t want anything bad to happen to them and will fight such injustice with everything I have. We all should.
Thanks for the response. My friend is very visibly Jewish, especially to the type of person who has certain features memorized. And I grant you that his trips in France don’t expose him to the type of people you describe, ie, Muslim immigrants to France. It’s those second and third generation French Muslims who are doing the things you describe, not what I would call the “real French” (which is racist, but still a worthy distinction in light of your post). Was Samuel Paty, the teacher who was beheaded by an Islamist terrorist, Jewish? No, he wasn’t.
Yes, there was the horrific attack on the Jewish grocery store that occurred around the same time that the terrorist attacks took place on Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan. There was also the murder of the elderly Jewish woman by a young French Muslim. I remember that. This is a problem that France has with its Muslim immigrant community, and it’s a very big problem. They know it’s a huge problem, which is why they have bans on head scarves in schools and a government sponsored non-profit agency, The French Council of the Muslim Faith (Conseil Français du Culte Musulman), to serve as an official interlocutor with the French state in the regulation of Muslim religious activities. The CFCM was started in 2003 by Sarkozy and a group of Muslim students who wanted to make things better. Obviously, there’s a lot of work still to do, but trust me, the French people don’t like any of this any more than you do. Muslim terrorists killed 130 people and wounded 350 in the Bataclan attack. They weren’t going after Jews, they were going after the French. Ditto the people killed at Charlie Hebdo.
My original assumption was that you were somehow saying that Jews were not safe in France due to “the French”, implying they were all antisemites (which I think Marine Le Pen’s voters probably are, ditto her niece Marion’s political party), but it seems you’re really talking about the Muslim immigrants, which is a whole different ball game. I sincerely hope France gets this under control, but you know, a lot of French people who are not Jewish have been harmed by this problem, not just French Jews. I had just left Nice, France in 2016 a few days before a Tunisian immigrant drove his truck down the Promenade des Anglais, killing 86 people and injuring 434 others. They weren’t Jews, they were just ordinary French people. Fortunately, the friends I was visiting in Nice weren’t on the street that night. Ordinary French people just trying to live their lives. Not wealthy. Just people.
No, I’m not. In France they tend to think I’m either Irish or British. Why?
"Why?"
Okay, Ann. Now I think that you're just trolling for outrage.
Why don’t you let Deborah answer for herself? Obviously, she thinks that the French hate Jews and that Jewish people are treated differently in France. Why can’t she just say that? Has it been her personal experience? If so, let her tell me about it. You should just butt out, or go talk to Lynne.
The sliding glass doors along the edge of the platform to keep people from either falling or getting pushed onto the tracks sound like a good idea. Too bad cities like NYC and Chicago are so broke from supporting illegals that they have no money for such projects.
Another interesting thing we learned from the “rich” Aussies on the Ponant ship was that they totally don’t understand why anyone in the US pays exorbitant school fees for an Ivy League education. In Australia, even if you’re rich and have two Mercedes in the garage, the kids go to the nearest public university and live at home if they can and commute. It doesn’t make sense to them that a kid would go away for college and pay room and board, much less high tuition. There is no job advantage you get from going to this or that “name” university. A degree is a degree is a degree. They thought paying more than $10,000/yr for college was insane. Personally, I think we could learn a lot from these countries. My friend from France says the same thing. You get you “bac” from high school and either go to trade school or the closest university to where you live. Since everyone does that, the universities in France don’t have dorms. Saves everyone a lot of money.
I went to a state school for both my undergrad and law school, and in those ancient days, costs were pretty reasonable. I also had scholarships that helped. My son went to GWU, which was expensive 25 years ago and even more so now. I agree that tuition at elite schools is out of hand, which is inexcusable when, for we example, Harvard has a $50B+ endowment. A friend's daughter got a degree but is now making good money working construction.
It’s France. They probably just paid for it with more taxes. The annual income for being considered wealthy in France is $42k/yr. If you earn too much, they tax you down to the same level as anyone else. I know there are millionaires in France, but by and large they are people like the family that owns LVMH. Plus they “live small”. One example is that luxury items like purses (my personal sin) cost about 25% less in France than in the US, even accounting for export fees (some LV purses are made in the US at the LV factory in Texas). The “rich” women in France don’t have enough money to pay the same prices we pay here in the US.
Another example, we took a Ponant cruise in January (a French luxury cruise line) and discovered from some of the Australian passengers that the cost of the cruise was 15% higher for the US passengers than for either the Aussies or the French (cruise left out of NZ). The Australians don’t have enough money to pay more and neither do the French. Ponant sets the price based on what they think the market will bear. When a country has high taxes, the “rich” citizens have less take home pay. We don’t plan on taking any more Ponant cruises now that we know they discriminate against US citizens. And being French, they really don’t care if we stop cruising with them. We did, however, get two great Antarctica cruises and this last one was the New Zealand subantarctic islands. The wildlife was spectacular. Zodiacs and all that.
Oh my, Ann. You took a luxury cruise in January. Just got back from a week in Paris. Will be heading for Wimbledon this Summer. Earlier took multiple Antarctica cruises ("Zodiacs and all that.").
Wow. Might I suggest that the Paris/London/etc. that you have experienced is substantially different than how locals and most visitors experience the once-great capitals of Europe. I'm glad that your wealth has seemingly shielded you from the realities that many others deal with, but you might consider that your perspective is somewhat limited.
Oh, Mary, you know that’s just jealousy talking and not real experience or thoughtful analysis. My cruise story points out some significant differences in how people in the US live versus people in Australia. The Aussies don’t spend much money on college and university and they don’t take out loans to get fancy degrees. That’s a significant difference in how college is viewed in the US. Did you even read the whole comment. Bob did and he agrees with me. You just like complaining.
I have extensive conversations with cab drivers, waiters, and salespeople in France. I talk to the young people who work in the small cafes and the cheap burger joints. I stay in cheap hotels that my in-laws turn their noses up at. I take public transportation everywhere when my SIL takes taxis because she thinks the metro is dirty and unsafe. I’m friends with grad students in the local state University who come to the US from France (and even Russia). Those grad students are not from rich families, and I’ve met their parents and siblings when they come here to visit. My son lives and works as a school teacher in a suburb of Madrid. It’s a public school with ordinary families.
What’s your experience with these places and these people? Do you even have any? My husband and I are both retired and we have money because we’ve lived frugally together for 42 years. So screw you and your criticism. Jealousy is not a good look.
FWIW, I also live in a modest neighborhood in the same house we’ve owned for 38 years. We bought it for $115,000 and it’s now worth $230,000, well below the US average. I drive a 10 year old Honda CRV. Go take a hike.
I speak a non-useful amount of French. I was last in Paris in 2019. Gare du Norde was gross, 3rd worlders everywhere. Two African taxi drivers in a fistfight at the taxi stand. Local colleague warning me of pickpockets.
Well there are pickpockets in every big city, and my H got pickpocketed last year in Paris, not this time. But all they got was an empty bag he keeps his camera in (he was using the camera when they got him) and a cloth face mask (still some Covid restrictions). We took a train from Gare de L’Est this time and it was beautiful, sparkling clean. We took a train two years ago from Paris to Bordeaux from Gare Montparnasse and it was nice too. In fact, leaving Gare Montparnasse on return to Paris, I had trouble with my suitcase falling over on the down escalator and a young black man helped me get it off the ground so I didn’t cause a pile up of other passengers leaving the escalator. He was very nice and I really needed help that very instant. You sound a little triggered by all these references to black people. I grew up in New Orleans, so I know the difference between black criminals and nice black people and also crazy black people. You shouldn’t generalize and make it sound like these problems are all race based, or even nationality based. The pickpockets in Rome are all Italians.
I didn’t think there were too many non-white French in the either the train stations or the metro. I mean yeah, they’re some, but really, “third worlders”? That’s a little stuck up don’t you think? So what? They should stay put?
Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Auckland, Vancouver...I could go on. Lots of major cities are not teeming with foreign criminals. And yes, obviously importing 3rd worlders makes the recipient nation more 3rd world - you yourself just cited being a victim of a crime in FR but earlier you said you had no problems (I've been to 40 countries on six continents, lived abroad nearly 20 years - only robbed once, in Malaysia [EDIT - twice, another time in Budapest]. Getting robbed is a problem!). Look at NYC today, right now - consequences of importing 3rd worlders.
My H was pickpocketed and they got an empty bag and a cloth Covid mask. Big deal. It was the first time in 40 years and the only time. He was talking a photo of Notre Dame, which is prime time for pickpockets. So what? Things happen. We were warned about pickpockets in Rome 20 years ago when we went. Nothing happened. Nothing has ever happened to us except that one ridiculously tiny incident. You got robbed in Malaysia (my H has been there) and in Budapest (we’ve been there twice and my PhD math daughter spent her semester abroad in Budapest studying math). My son lived in France for two years and has been living in Spain for the last 10 years, teaching English. He’s had no problems, never been robbed or anything, and get a great health insurance from his job.
You want a dangerous city where you can get robbed in broad daylight or shot, murdered, carjacked, raped? Try New Orleans. The most dangerous city in the US. You take your life in your hands walking out of your hotel and onto the street. The last time we had to go there we stayed in a hotel on St. Charles Ave and the guy at the front desk told us not to take the street car after dark because it was too dangerous. Also don’t walk anywhere. He recommended a taxi or an Uber after dark in the most expensive part of the city. I went to a law school reunion in the Garden District where the host had hired armed guards posted at both street corners to protect us as we went back and forth to our cars. Stay away!!!
NYC was a lot more dangerous back in the day than it is now. The first time I went there was in 1977 and it was like the Wild West. Crime and filth everywhere and no “3rd worlders”. Giuliani started the cleanup. Disney cleaned up the theater district and Bloomberg finished the job. Yes, they have problems now, but no worse than it used to be in the 70’s when “immigration” wasn’t the problem of the day. Chicago has always been dangerous. Same thing, visited a sorority sister in 1974. She was a native and knew which neighborhoods to avoid. If you went to the University of Chicago you knew not to leave campus. Nothing new there either.
We spent this past New Years in Sydney for the fireworks (H’s bucket list). It was great, no problems. There were so many Asians you’d have thought you were in China or Japan, but so what? We ate in an Indian restaurant in an obscure location near the tower. They were surprised we came in, being not just tourists, but white people. But we like Indian food and eat at the Indian restaurant near our house (a university town with a lot of people from India, Asia, and the Middle East). We finished up that trip in Auckland and had a great time there as well. We took two day tours with two different local NZ people. The guy loved the previous government, the woman hated them because they were being tough on the farmers for environmental reasons. Interesting conversations, nothing about “too many foreigners”.
You should look into this 100 Places Club that my H is trying to qualify for. He’s been traveling his whole life due to his dad’s travel agency and his parents thirst to see the world. His parents grew up in almost poverty in rural Indiana and when they finally had money they were out the gate like a racehorse. Because of that and his ability to do these things frugally, he’s up to 98 places (not countries necessarily, like Martinique is a separate place from France, even though it is part of France). But you may not care. Whatever.
And the reason I still say I’ve had no problems is that the thief got nothing. We protect the important stuff. If a pickpocket wants an empty zip bag and a Covid mask, welcome to it. They’re not going to get the camera or the wallet or the passport or anything important. Fwiw, the US tech industry depends on workers from Asia and India. France has a lot of African immigrants because they had African colonies and some of those people have a constitutional right to emigrate to France as a result. I still think you’re being ugly with this 3rd worlder stuff.
Come on, would you say that about your own ancestors? How recently did your family come to this country? Do you now feel a connection to the land, community, and people here? What is different about these immigrants? If it is the sheer number of them, then I do agree we need to take steps to make the process more orderly and perhaps impose fair limits. But to argue that these people cannot be good American citizens seems to me to be a dangerous rhetorical bridge to cross, absent additional evidence.
The article doesn't mention that the cartels are cleaning up, collecting $10,000 per person to cross the border. While most of the migrants are men, the women who come face a good chance of being raped on the way north. And allowing illegal immigration undermines the rule of law and cheats those who go through the process of entering legally. Trump didn't seal the border but he did a much better job than Biden, on whose watch new records of illegal entry are set monthly. I hope voters see open borders as an unsustainable problem.
The plan is to make them citizens and the Democrats a permanent majority. The country will then resemble Venezuela. The good news is illegal immigration will stop once this country is as big of a sh*thole as the ones most immigrants are escaping from.
If Biden wins
"I see the bad moon a-rising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightning
I see bad times today
Hope you got your things together
Hope you are quite prepared to die
Looks like we're in for nasty weather
One eye is taken for an eye"
John Fogerty
And That is assuming the election is Pure As The Driven Snow. If it is Not, Katy Bar The Door.
Yes another 10 million if Biden wins. Most folks who partially support Biden on immigration don’t bring this up.
and don't want the illegal migrants in their neighborhoods - the same hypocrisy as the MV crowd.
Yuri did a better job than the author maybe Yuri needs a new gig.
Once again, Yuri, perfectly said.
Tip of the hat to Yuri for his logical take on the matter.
A few thoughts. First it doesn’t matter what the reality of latino voting trends are. It matters what Democrats who are in favor of this believe. They believe Latinos will vote Democrat. This belief is visible by their actions and public statements. Second pointing out Republicans historic stance on immigration is a bad faith argument. It completely ignores the massive shift that has occurred in what it means to be a Republican. Least Savodnik forget that Wall Street gave more money to Biden than Trump. Who is trying to import change labor again? Not blue collar Trump voters.
Also, I would say Savodnik’s emotional appeal of using photos taken of migrants is a classic left/right divide. Wealthy elites on the left are moved by images of poverty they have no relation to. It shocks them. The working class right haven’t just seen poor people before. They may have been poor growing up or have friends that are struggling. So, this emotional appeal falls flat. The solution to global poverty isn’t to move the entire population of the world into the United States.
I think a reasoned take here is important but it comes across rather often that Savodnik has contempt for Republicans. I think myself rational. I’ve voted for both political parties in my life time. Its not hard to recognize that the Republican party today isn’t same thing it was when George W. Bush was in office. Has your attitude adjusted to reflect that? I never expected to be Republican and yet here I am. I can and will change my mind in light of new information.
Someone said on the radio this week that the putative "broken immigration system" isn't necessarily the same problem as the border, or at least, we don't have to treat them as such. We can secure the border AND solve the so-called broken immigration system. But, as you say, the solution can't be "well, just open the floodgates, then!" That solves neither problem!
Absolutely this. It’s a straw man to present it as ‘solve one or the other’ when you can do both, and the country does neither.
I hear pols use the phrase "broken immigration system" ad nauseum, but I never hear how it's "broken." It seems to work quite well looking at the numbers posted by our government.
There is no new information ,do you want to be overrun if so vote Biden if you don’t then vote Trump. If you are in a sanctuary city, never mind abortion laws, and want your space invaded, your pavements inhabited by tents then vote blue, if you don’t vote red. America is on the line here I think it’s important that we all know what’s at stake.
Abortion is irrelevant. Get over it.
Exactly get over it!!
The "migrants" that Savodnik interviewed made it plain that they want Biden to win. How many of them who are already here are likely to do whatever they can to cast a ballot? How many are likely to be enabled in that by Democrats?
Giving them full voting rights has already started with local elections in some blue cities. The camel's nose is in the tent.
The sell-out of our beautiful country by this newer Democratic Party is absolutely disgusting.
If they are told by some vote harvester (ballot facilitator) that they are eligible to vote, and said harvester gets them to sign a ballot with Biden's name on it, don't you think they will believe they are eligible to vote, and then do so? The Biden Administration is using taxpayer dollars to pay college students to register other college students to vote, and has told colleges and universities that they must go along with this effort or endanger their federal funding. We all know how those college kids will vote. I'm guessing quite a few illegals will vote this year too.
We all hear from MSM sources that our elections are secure and there can't be fraud. Those so-called journalists never do the research and reporting that would prove these claims.
As a lifetime Democrat it unnerves me to contemplate that Dems would violate election laws like that.
But contemplate it I do, sadly.
Jordan Peterson interview with Bret Weinstein may "change your mind in light of new information."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkC1BYzK4NA
This is an excellent interview. I had listened to a great interview of Bret Weinstein with Tucker Carlson just after Bret had returned from the Darien Gap. I enjoyed it because Tucker did not interrupt him much and he gave a very full picture of the perils of this current migration. People need to listen to these two conversations to get a better understanding of what is happening at our southern border. It truly is a serious matter.
One of the best discussions I’ve watched between two intellectual powerhouses. Thank you for posting the link.
"Has your attitude adjusted to reflect that?"
From what I can see, liberals have indeed adjusted their attitude. They now yearn of the nostalgic years of Bush II. Dick Cheney, the Darth Vader or the Bush II Era, is not welcomed in good grace for the "good old days". Liz Cheney is the new Joan of Arc. Everything they hated about Republicans back then are now totally forgotten. They all got a massive epidemic of total amnesia. That's the summary of their attitude adjustment.
"Republicans ultimately killed the measure—after Trump came out against it."
No. The bill sucked. We don't need a new border security bill, we need to enforce the laws already on the books. Any bill on the border should not be tied to funding foreign wars.
The media keeps pounding on that drum--that Republicans are voting against fixing the border--intentionally ignoring the poison pill of Ukraine funding that the Democrats have insisted on tying to any effort to protect our own border from invasion.
The Republicans are finding a way to swallow that “poison pill” of Ukraine funding as we speak. Meanwhile, the immigration bill is dead which would have addressed the crazy asylum laws we now operate under is dead. We all know why. Trump made it clear he didn’t want Biden to have that win. So we wait. You all are under the illusion that Trump will solve this problem but he didn’t before and he won’t now. He won’t because he can’t. He doesn’t have the chops to do it. There’s a reason he wasn’t able to fulfill any of his campaign promises. He doesn’t know how to govern. I’m no fan of how Democrats have handled / ignored the border. But as usual Trump will be all talk, make a few big gesture executive action type but ultimately unsustainable attempts, fail to pass any meaningful legislation, and then lose interest or get distracted by others things.
"Trump made it clear he didn’t want Biden to have that win."
What win? No one supported the border deal. You make it sound as if opposition from Republicans was merely playing politics, which of course is not true but it certainly is a convenient thing for Democrats to tell themselves. The fact remains the border crises cannot be solved by legislation because the legislation is already on the books and giving more powers to an administration that refuses to use the powers it already has is pointless. This is all obvious and known, but there remains a certain kind of person who prefers to tell themselves opposition was merely to deny biden a "win."
What win?
How and why the bill failed is just to just be dueling stories with all sorts of spin. So I'll set that aside for now. Maybe the most important point is why legislation IS necessary. It's a go-to Republican talking point that legislation isn't needed, that we only need, as you say, to follow existing laws. But the existing asylum law, which is the major draw for most of the immigrants at the border, is woefully out of date, way too liberal (allowing people entry into the US first then allowing them to stay for five years for the claim to be resolved.) On top of that there are not enough people to evaluate claims at the border and in the courts after. ONLY CONGRESS can allocate spending. This requires legislation. The border bill would have allocated those funds and significantly tightened the asylum laws among other things. Re: simply "closing" the border. Does the president have this power? What kinds of legal justifications are required to close how many ports of entry and to whom? . During Covid when there was a national health emergency declared the president was able to use the emergency as a justification. Trump succeeded in one instance that was upheld by the courts, Trump vs. Hawaii when he initiated a travel ban on people from 7 countries arguing that they posed a terrorist threat. His other efforts did not stand up to judicial scrutiny. This is all to say that while a president can try to play around with fighting for particular bans, go to court to defend them, in a kind of wack-a-mole approach to dealing with immigration and border security, but wouldn't it simply be smarter to change the law?
If it had passed, you bet NYT and NPR et al would praise Biden to high heaven, and all our zombie friends who only read these trusted news source would buy the fairy tale hook line and sinker. That would've been the win.
It's so disingenuous to refer to that thing as a "border bill." Like the "don't say gay" bill, changing the title changed the messaging. The Republicans' objections had nothing to do with the border part. The problem was the rest of it.
The Congressional democrats will never stop promoting the need for new laws. They don’t have the guts to write new immigration laws because they know the public would never agree to legal “open borders” and voting rights for anyone who happens to wander in. They pretend that the system is “broken”, but concede their responsibility to enact legislation to the President through Executive orders.
You are correct. We do have Immigration laws designed to offer a humane and fair process for people who immigrate to our country. It is the vetting criteria ( meant to ensure our safety and security)contained in those laws that the democrats object to.
Agree! How are we attempting to solve border security (not immigration, that is a separate but important issue to also consider) by setting a number of illegal persons allowed to enter before we act, AND tying it to funding for Ukraine? Sometimes I think our elected representatives have gone mad!
The bill may have 'sucked', Lauren, but we do indeed need to revamp our asylum law. Big time. As it stands, all an asylum seeker has to do is land on American soil anywhere, say the right things to Border agents, and voila. He or she is in. They cannot by law be turned away. It's been like that for at least seventy years, and when migrants or people fleeing political prosecution seeking entry totalled fifty or so thousand a year, it was never an issue. But the system is so hopelessly overwhelmed now that limits need to be imposed - and only legislation can provide that. I agree that there are things Biden can do (I favour shutting the asylum system down temporarily to clear the backlog) and I agree he has been sending the wrong signal these past three years - but in the end it takes Congress to do it. The problem today is not illegal immigrants, it is the steady stream of legal asylum seekers.
Yeah, but they're not coming to seek asylum. Brett Weinstein was there. He can attest to that fact, but because it flies in the face of your protect-Biden-at-all-costs narrative you won't believe it (or anything MSNBC tells you not to.)
If Biden wanted to revamp our asylum law he would not have hung the welcome sign out his first days in office. And now, 7 month before the election with him way behind in the polls, he throws a weak hail Mary that if passed, he'd undo again given the chance.
Smart Americans will do their best to see he does not get that chance.
You sound angry, 234. I actually wrote that I think Biden should shut the system down. How does that fit with my 'protect Biden at all costs' analogy? I also said he put up a welcome sign - a big mistake, of which I alluded to. So, relax a bit.. I am no apologist.
Btw, on realClearPolitics where polls are aggregated - Trump leads Biden 46.9% to 45.8. So, yeah, Biden is way behind..
But watch for that Hail Mary you refer to, because it just may happen..
I am angry and may have jumped to conclusions....apologies.
Doesn't change the fact that we have not begun to see the fallout from open borders: drugs, sex/human trafficking, crime, which goes unpunished, rigged elections if Democrats can figure out how to allow illegals to vote, squaters, etc.
I'd like to think you share my anger.
No worries on the apology - we have had good exchanges of which I've enjoyed. I do get angry. My anger stems from the inability of the two opposing parties to work together unless a gun is pointed at them, and from how both parties are caught out by their extremist factions. Biden on immigration by his insufferable progressive wing - and Trump by his far right wing who want to isolate America from the rest of the world (my biased opinion, of course). The tail seems to wag the dog. I also can't stand the fact these two old men are fighting for President again. I dislike one and abhor the other. We can do better. We need new blood on both sides, new ideas and policy - and a willingness to compromise.
Be well..
I think the Democrats have a legitimate claim to compromising on their goals and supporting the bipartisan legislation in the Senate. Trump tanked it because him winning (the presidency) is more important to him than you winning (by fixing immigration for everyone). This issue is an effective cudgel for him, not to be solved by anyone else but him, thankyouverymuch.
But can you imagine him supporting a bipartisan bill? He'll never pass a thing on this issue (unless, perhaps, Republicans get to 50+ in the Senate and blow up the filibuster the way the far left wants to today. Just imagine the chaos and vitriol in our politics if that happens).
That the bill had some things Republicans didn't like is a feature, not a bug. It's how bipartisan legislation works. Ask the left flank of the Democratic party what they thought of it and you'll get similar dismissal of the bill. It's a shame that this continues to be a third rail of politics as attempts to compromise are defeated time and again and the problem just gets worse.
Why did Biden wait till the 11th hour, 7 months before the election, to offer another left wing biased bill? He couldn't have done this three years ago?
Oh, I forgot, he invited the world to waltz right in.
Why should Trump/Republican party sign on now giving Biden a much needed victory? Democrats wouldn't play this hand. Neither should Republicans.
If you want to play politics with the issue, then perhaps you're right. But that is how we got here. This was a bipartisan chance to do something about it, but hey, let's kick the can down the road because politics (and then complain about how it never gets fixed and it's the other team's fault).
There's no reason Republicans couldn't position themselves as heroes for being the ones to get this done (the lead negotiator was Republican, it did things like fund a border wall). Both sides could brag about a big win to their base, instead of pointing fingers while everyone loses. Imagine a politics that worked that way.
Don't be a fool. Both sides play politics.
I didn't red the bill and didn't care to. People I respect said it was BS, for instance there was language that said the border would remain open...WHAT?
If Biden is serious about this, then why did he invite the world in during his first days in office? And why did he wait till the 11th hour?
But I must repeat myself for people who won't answer direct questions.
Right you are..
You are right. That bill will be used by the Democrats throughout this election period so that they can blame the Republicans and Trump for the chaos at the border. The creation of this legislation was intentionally done in secret. They knew that it wouldn't pass the House. If you truly want to make some effective legislation, you do not do it in a cocoon. It needs to be done in the light of day with input from everyone. This is a messy lengthy process, but it is necessary.. But for the legacy media and Democrats to keep throwing that legislation that simply codified mass migration into the conversation is very disingenuous
I am hopeful that the majority of us still have the intelligence to see through the dishonesty.
as if trump holds sway over all republicans
No, we need to change the wording in legislation we have on asylum. We have to tighten the language to reject “credible fear“ - they're using the wording from the law - I think here it's “well-founded fear“ - the wording is too broad.
“(42) The term “refugee” means (A) any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, or (B) in such special circumstances as the President after appropriate consultation (as defined in section 1157(e) of this title ) may specify, any person who is within the country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, within the country in which such person is habitually residing, and who is persecuted or who has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The term “refugee” does not include any person who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. For purposes of determinations under this chapter, a person who has been forced to abort a pregnancy or to undergo involuntary sterilization, or who has been persecuted for failure or refusal to undergo such a procedure or for other resistance to a coercive population control program, shall be deemed to have been persecuted on account of political opinion, and a person who has a well founded fear that he or she will be forced to undergo such a procedure or subject to persecution for such failure, refusal, or resistance shall be deemed to have a well founded fear of persecution on account of political opinion.“
YES
The media never talks to the public school parents that have seen their schools overrun with border kids. Teachers can't teach them and it affects the U.S. kids who actually want to learn. My heart goes out to the parents that can't afford private schools and are stuck with their zoned public school that is more or less a babysitter for all the incoming border crossers. Classroom learning is on the back burner for all as a result. A big reason why test scores are falling and classes continue to get easier. We can't expect the teachers to be miracle workers; hard to blame them for wanting to push kids through and be done with them.
Don’t forget medical care…they cannot be denied access. You think healthcare is expensive now! We all know access is also an issue everywhere.
People will not realize what it happening until it is far too late to stop it. Actually, it's already too late.
What you say is so true. It is not fair to the American school children and teachers, and it isn't fair to these migrant children. We have had a Refugee Center in our small-town Idaho area for about 25 years. As a school teacher in the 90s and on to 2016, I have seen the pressure put on schools and the students. And this refuge center is a thoughtful system meant to help people integrate into their community. There is none of that forethought or planning going into this mass migration.
It will end up crushing our education systems and our health systems.
Yes the majority of my kid’s school’s budget goes to ESL, I live in CT
ESL is worthless. Immersion in language beginning in Kindergarten age is necessary before children can go into a classroom and learn to read or write in English or do math. Many years ago I volunteered to help at my son’s bilingual math class. Everything took longer for the teacher to explain since she had to repeat in 2 languages.
In the early 1900’s when many immigrants came to this country legally, they learned English before entering school. No other country allows people to not speak their main language.
“Despite conservatives, led by GOP senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, having squeezed tons of border-security concessions out of the White House, Republicans ultimately killed the measure—after Trump came out against it.”
Care to expand on why Republicans killed it?? It’s not just because of Trump.
And I don’t think there is a single American who appreciates these massive, multi-issue bills.
He is simply doing his job, spread the DNC talking points with no evidence or rational debate.
Exactly. He should ask Republicans why they didn't vote for the bill. I highly doubt it's because Trump said it was bad on Truth Social.
that's exactly why they didn't vote for it though - they're scared of Trump and the MAGA base. It's no different than the Dems and the Progressives/Squad. Small steps are better than no steps but people on the fringes are absolutists and refuse any compromise no matter what positive effects it could have.
It was a terrible bill. There are no "small steps" needed. We simply need to enforce our current immigration laws.
and this is why MAGA will continue to elect Dems who will then allow Progressives to rule. You all would rather do nothing and complain than do something. The bill was supported until Trump said he opposed it because he needs immigration to run on. For him, it's better to allow tens of thousands of migrants to come into the country illegally and disappear into society than take steps to limit it now. It's not about policy, it's about Trump.
Why would anyone trust the stooge who hung the welcome sign in his first days in office to reverse course?
10’s of thousands of others also said it was a shit bill. It was a bill which poured accelerant onto an already burning problem.
It's who Savodnik is.
That bill simply codified illegal immigration. It did provide some dollars for more border agents. Republicans were not in favor of it long before Trump said something. But TDS is a powerful tool of the Left so they will continue to act like this was wonderful legislation even though it was kept under wraps during the entire process of writing it!
Some dollars for more border agents - more agents who would simply interview immigrants, hear "temor creible", give out an order to appear and let the immigrants in. Those additional agents were not intended to stop immigration, Biden Admin was going to use them to speed up the influx.
Yes. That is exactly true. And I believe that it allowed 5000 illegals per day before any sort of limits would be put in place. It really was absurd. I was disappointed because I have liked James Lankford. He was used--or as the legacy media pundits love to say--he was co-opted!. I would have liked to ask him some questions.
Republicans in Congress are mostly good at getting played - co-opted - by the Democrats. This bill would have been a PR bonanza for the Dems.
Exactly! Can you imagine codifying ILLEGAL immigration…which if codified makes it…ah, not illegal anymore.
Do you think the author knows this and left out this little detail on purpose?
Yes, this is a very slanted piece.
I think it is an excellent and non-partisan article. I'm a Dem but this article made me worry about four more years of Biden. But Trump is a greater evil to me but Biden needs to do something now!
Why not a year ago? Or two years ago? Why did he hang the welcome sign out to begin with? Why now, 7 months before an election he's way behind in?
Oh wow- thanks so much for this article Peter- what a great job you do of explaining the "plight" of these immigrants, their aspirations, their fears, the risks they took to ILLEGALLY enter our Country because all of a sudden Biden sent out the message that ALL ARE WELCOME.
The only thing missing were the interviews of those involved with human amd sex trafficking that will now be taking place in The United States. Oh and the interviews of those who are threatened by the large drug cartels to sell fentanyl to our children and young adults- you know- the drug that is now KILLING 100,000 Americans ANNUALLY. I would have loved to hear their stories.
And of course would love to Hear from the masses of young single men coming from so many OTHER countries, including ....wait...China??? What's there deal Peter? What are their intentions ? So many countries hate us and are looking for the opportune time to take revenge.
I'm sure all of THEIR STORIES are so emotionally touching as well, but you didn't bother to report?
Maybe as a follow up you can interview all the LEGAL US CITIZENS that are now being pushed out of schools, the homeless that are not getting help, the drug addicted, the CITIZENS with mental health issues, our Vets, who have now been cast aside by the BIDEN Administration in order to groom more Democratic voters- oh I'm sorry....I mean to give the oppressed a better life here in these UNITES STATES of AMERICA- I wouldn't want to sound Xenophobic.
Yes!
Spot on!
I listened to Andrew McCarthy of National Review, former federal prosecutor and Never Trumper who thought Trump should have been impeached, rip the Langford border bill to shreds. I’m sure there were a few MAGA extremists who were against the bill because Trump was, but the vast majority of Republicans hated it because it was a bad bill. The Republican House passed a tough border bill in May that Schumer won’t bring to the senate floor for a vote. So no Peter, this border disaster is entirely on Biden and Schumer. PERIOD
Yes. The Democrats refuse to bring the House legislation to the floor because it has some teeth in it. I always wonder why more people don't bring that up because that was the of the first things that this Republican House did.
For a second there I thought you were talking about the actor from the 80s brat pack and was excited to see one single cool person from Hollywood seeing the light, as all my former idols have so so disappointed me turning out to be militant woke morons (exhibit #1 John Cusack). Then I saw you were talking about a different Andrew McCarthy and realized I got excited too soon. Never mind. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
YES
Again with the biased images. Our heart goes out to young families but the majority are young men.There are thousands of gang members and likely hundreds of terrorist and spies. We must close the border and have a policy of LEGAL immigration for vetted persons to enter in higher numbers. We deport college educated employed people and let in poor and unemployed. Until democrats stop trying to import votes and destabilize the country there is no way to add same policy. Current leaders are power hungry corrupt and evil. Most of these people would prefer to be at home but tyrannical governments destroyed their countries. I bet most of these countries are in total collapse and the citizens were denied the right to bear arms and they had corrupted elections. Sound familiar? Are we headed there? Joe Biden is not in charge, the Democrats did not allow Kennedy to primary Biden as he could not be controlled by Biden's handlers. No serious person can think voter ID is a problem to install. To not go there is to embrace fraud. We should have voter registration that requires proof of citizenship, then an voter ID card that is bar coded and there should be a database where you can go after election to verify your vote was actually and accurately counted. A self audit would help expose cheating.
where do I go to get numbers on which types of people are entering (young unmarried men, women, families, etc.)?
I would LOVE to see the demographics on the "asylum seekers" and their "credible fears" that have been processed so far. 70% or more male I am sure.
This piece glossed over two important things:
1) Biden, almost immediately upon entering office, didn't just "consider legislation" - using executive actions he ended Trump's Remain in Mexico executive action which played a huge role in opening the floodgates at the border. And he could use executive action right now, without a vote in Congress, to fix that mistake.
2) The border bill wasn't squashed just because Trump came out against it. It didn't have the support of the majority of Republicans from the beginning because all it did was fund more of the same existing policy. The only good thing in it was the emergency caps on the number of migrants that could be let in per day. It didn't change the fundamental problems that are keeping the flood coming. And if the Republicans did sign that bill, then they get to eat the problem as being theirs as well. It was a politically expedient move by the Democrats to try and force the GOP to be complicit in the border problem (and it's worked as the MSM and Biden keep pointing their fingers at that bill and trying to shift all the blame to the GOP).
They planned it perfectly! It codified at least 5000 illegals a day. That's no small number!!
Here’s my list , so far, on the lovely “migrants” who have invaded, so far. Feel free to add to it
1 yr old murdered in Rhode Island
14 yr old raped in Kenner
14 year old raped in VA
Young woman Murder in Athens GA
2 yr old murdered in maryland
15 year old raped in MD
3 time rapist Washington county OR
State trooper killed in WA
Hospital patient raped by illegal in Tulsa
Teenager murdered in Edna Texas.
12 year old killed by illegal driver without documents in MO
Young woman kidnapped and raped by 3 illegals in Palm Beach FL
6 yr old raped by illegal in mD working as a teacher
15 yr old disabled girl raped by illegal in Mass
15 yr old girl raped by illegal in Connecticut
Woman murdered in NY stuffed in duffle bag
3 children abused by illegal working as a teacher? in MD
25 yr old woman killed in carjacking by illegal in Grand Rapids
14 year old mentally challenged girl raped by illegal in AL
11 yr old Hispanic girl raped and murdered in TX and stuffed in laundry basket
22 year old female shot to death by illegal in Grand Rapids in front of one year old
7 year old found in illegals squatting drug den in NYC
And those are just the ones who made national news.
RIP Virginia Dept of Correction K-9 named Rivan, repeatedly stabbed and beaten in Sussex 1 State prison protecting his DOC handler and another inmate from MS-13 gang members from South America, who were arrested and found to be here illegally.
Added to my list
And if anything, this is the worst.
"The crisis no one wants to solve?!?!?" Are there actually any Republicans saying "gosh darn it someone should really do something about this, golly gumdrops I wish someone would"? Republicans have been pretty vocal that the administration should enforce existing federal law and CLOSE THE BORDER! This has become a catastrophe in every way, humanitarian, economic, crime, security. Honestly this dwarfs the Hunter stuff in terms of grounds for impeachment.
Perhaps by "the crisis no one wants to solve" you were referring to the national debt and entitlement spending.
The House passed a comprehensive immigration bill last year and the Senate (Dems) refuses to bring it up for a vote. Check it out.
Are you aware that the House introduced comprehensive immigration legislation shortly after the Republicans had the majority? Chuck Schumer refuses to introduce it to the Senate for consideration. So, there's that.
Deco - yes. The eternal bipartisan issue that errybody agrees on: annual deficit spending forever.
I want to know why the self-appointed morally superior get their panties in a bunch over the mere suggestion that these people would be better off staying in their own countries, and that these countries need to be repaired.
They don't seem able to connect the dots between the "Socialism" that created these shit holes, which they want to happen here.
Venezuela is in shambles in part due to corruption so deep and so dark, criminals run the streets. My boyfriend's parents drive an armored car. Any Venezuelan student I've ever had, expresses dismay at being able to walk around on city streets without a bodyguard.
Yet Progressive Wailing is doing that to OUR STREETS. Allowing perps with gazillions of prior arrests to run amok on the streets of NYC.
What could possibly be the benefit of trucking in all these unskilled people and GIVING THEM HANDOUTS? How is this beneficial, beyond the purported Democratic vote script they've been fed?
I think there should be a moratorium on immigration. We have a housing crisis here (supposedly, according to Progressives, homelessness is the result of escalating rents) and yet they insist on pouring more people into the mix, thus raising rents due to supply and demand.
It all makes sense when you realize that the central goal of the Progressive Left is to destroy Western civilization.
Or that the globalists want to make America more like other countries. Less prosperous, successful, and free.
Joe Biden also flies about 400,000 illegals by plane paid for by taxpayers of the United States into many cities in this country! he must not be elected again, and we must get a Republican Senate.
I have not seen that. How? Why? From what countries?
Most of them come directly from Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti. And one other South American country that I can't remember. 80% of them are flown directly to Texas and Florida without notifying those states that they are coming. Meanwhile some progressive organization is suing DeSantis and others to the tune of $1.5 million for flying 50 illegals to Martha's Vineyard without having plans for their shelter and jobs! You can't make this stuff up. But the "poor"people of Martha's Vineyard quickly moved these 50 illegals to the nearest military base since they didn't have accommodations for them in their community!
https://www.gop.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=742
Thank you
Peter, I usually enjoy your posts on the FP. You are clearly on the left on this and not even attempting to accurately report what Biden did his first few days in office. He stopped the building of the wall and reversed "remain in Mexico." Your "reporting" leaves much to be desired. Are you going to become one of the mainstream one sided media? If so, FP loses my money. I am moderate, not a Trump supporter who wants the truth - not bias reporting. That is why I am a FP supporter. A clearly bias article. I asked my Republican representative to NOT support the bill. It was full of crap and did nothing new but add more deficit. Did you read any of it? We already have numerous laws about immigration but the Dems don't want to uphold them. Some Republicans I'm sure as well. Do Better!!
I've suggested multiple times that Bari stop printing Peter's heavily biased articles.
Feel free to say it louder
I'm not sure "truth - not biased reporting" is possible anymore. We have become so politically and ideologically divided, a person's worldview biases their "reporting" almost universally. Readers must engage their critical thinking skills and review source documents (not just news and FB) to discern truth. Also, there is no such thing as "my truth".
Unfortunately we need to rely on photo journalists. The Left has plenty. The center and conservatives should get out there.
I see many "progressive" left talking points in this article. Not to mention the photographs that pull on readers' heartstrings. I love the Free Press because it typically does not pepper its writing with far left propagandist techniques. No-one should get across our border, no matter how many doe-eyed children they have in tow, unless there is a reason they are seeking asylum. Wanting a job in the U.S. is not one of those reasons. If I see Mr. Savodnik write about the millions of single men coming across the border -- no pictures of children -- including conversations with at least 100 of them, I'd feel this topic had been more fairly handled.
TFP really ought to jettison Savodnik. He is the emblematic of the kind of Leftist "journalism" we can read for free in the mainstream media.
Yes it does pull on heart strings because they are people after all, I feel for them. But we still need to close the border now. We simply cannot let the world come into America.
This issue, along with much of the woke stuff (race, criminal justice, the relentless trans stuff) contribute to the sense of many of us who voted for Biden that he isn’t in charge. He’s a senile figurehead. This immigration mess - like all the other work stuff - is completely out of step with THE ENTIRETY of his career. Are we to believe he was suddenly enlightened by hiring Karine Jean-Pierre and abandoned all prior beliefs to embrace the progressive “truth”? Biden of 1998 would be as hard on open borders as Trump. Additionally, can TFP explain how states and localities can simply decide not work with federal authorities and ignore federal law? I get federalism, but they don’t get to pick and choose other laws or constitutional amendments. The whole sanctuary thing is nuts
Biden is daft & senile. His wife is running the show ie keeping his CPAP machine going whilst Obama’s former staff is ‘transforming America’.
100% - it's been clear for his entire time in office that he is being driven/steered by a group of unelected advisors/staff that are extremely progressive. They control his twitter account and give him talking points. And as soon as he starts to stray from those talking points they come out to wrangle him back into the shadows and issue "clarifications" to his comments that don't fit their narrative or make him look like a senile old man.