NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm an expatriate living in Japan, a country with quite stict immigration laws (stricter than the US in my experience).

I have been talking with various friends about the recent debate (?) in the US over immigration. I notice people who've lived overseas seem to be more sympathetic to immigration.

So here's the straw poll:
Does travel or living overseas make you more sympathetic towards the illegal immigrants in the US?

I'm an expatriate living in Japan, a country with quite stict immigration laws (stricter than the US in my experience).

I have been talking with various friends about the recent debate (?) in the US over immigration. I notice people who've lived overseas seem to be more sympathetic to immigration.

So here's the straw poll:
Does travel or living overseas make you more sympathetic towards the illegal immigrants in the US?

i have lived overseas for the majority of my life, and i am sympathetic to imiigration. However i am not sympathetic to illegal immigration, i feel these illegal immigrants are the reason why it is hard enough for someone else to want to come into the country legaly

^^ Couldn't have said it much better myself, People Without Names.

Also, what is there to be sympathetic for?

^^ Couldn't have said it much better myself, People Without Names.

Also, what is there to be sympathetic for?

there sint much besides their conditions of coming over here, but they cause that on them self by coming here illegally.

people will say jose here had to hide in a grain truck for 15 hours and cross a dessert with out any food or water. well why did he have to do that?

because he is hiding from the INS

i feel these illegal immigrants are the reason why it is hard enough for someone else to want to come into the country legaly

on what possible rational grounds do you arrive at that conclusion?

I am an expat Brit. I live in a country (Brazil) which has its share of illegal immigrants (from Paraguay/Bolivia/Peru etc.) as well as one that provides a fair number of illegals going to the USA (Florida being the main recipient).

Am I more tolerant of illegal immigrantsbeing an immigrant myself? - no. I had to deal with all the bureaucracy to get a legal ststus here, why can't others do the same. If you do not have the conditions/skills/circumstances to obtain permission to live and work in a country then you should not try to live and work there.

As for those that go to the USA seeking the streets paved with gold, wel, they are just hopeless cases. First they believe the Hollywood image of the USA, second they pay enough money to start a successful business here just to be smuggled into the USA to work illegaly washing dishes or whatever. Why do they do it?

In part the USA has itself to blame by painting a false picture of universal prosperity. Nothing shown here on open TV ever indicates that there are poor people in the USA. Nothing whatsoever. I remember people arguing that the images post Katrina had to be of somewhere in Mexico as there were no poor in the USA. etc. The propoganda disease, with which the USA convinces itself that all is fine in the land of Uncle Sam also convinces others that if they could only get there then they too would live a life of luxury and leisure (washing dishes).

I'm an ex-pat living in Australia, and I have NO sympathy for Illegals. My father, a man with strong skills and much to offer, had to wait a year to immigrate to the US to marry his first wife in the 1950s. After the death of my mother, his second wife, he had to wait two years before he was allowed to immigrate back to Australia - despite having once been an Australian citizen and indicating his intent to recover that status. (I, having been born in the US, chose to retain my US citizenship, and now live as a permanent resident here.)

Jumping through the bureaucratic hoops takes time and effort, but is ultimately worthwhile. I can now come and go between the US and Australia as I please, work in either country, and as long as I spend no more than six months outside Australia, my status will not change. More, by doing so I have shown that I respect and acknowledge the law and custom of both nations.

All that an illegal has shown is contempt for that law. We have no obligations to those who flout our laws.

I'm an Italy to US immigrant and I have no sympathy for illegal immigrants.

I believe people should be able to immigrate, however, I don't think they should have the right to do it illegally. If they were unable to get green cards, or unable to get US citizenship then I would be sympathetic however, they are able to do both and choose not to. That deserves no sympathy from me.

I'm an expatriate living in Japan, a country with quite stict immigration laws (stricter than the US in my experience).

I have been talking with various friends about the recent debate (?) in the US over immigration. I notice people who've lived overseas seem to be more sympathetic to immigration.

So here's the straw poll:
Does travel or living overseas make you more sympathetic towards the illegal immigrants in the US?Well, yeah. Growing up next to one has made me rather aversive to walls.

I'm a current U.S citizen and through my travels I have grown to become sympathetic to illegal immigration. The U.S immigration policy, while somewhat more just then it used to be, is still quite unfair to immigrants by their ethnicity, rather than their skills. Seeing many talented and skilled businessmen and businesswomen in countries such as Peru and Ecuador who cannot escape the countries that they live in because of U.S immigration laws makes myself sympathetic to their cause.