Immigration

[Nessa 23]

I liked the poll

[sparkofcreation 0]

Interesting that the prevailing attitude seems to be "I don't want so many damn furriners here!" (see question 1) when this is a site for people who are TRYING TO BRING THOSE DAMN FURRINERS HERE.

Hypocrites much?

[Henia 11]

intereting poll gupt lol

[chri'stina 190]

I missed this poll...thanks Laura for linking it in another thread.

While I understand and agree with some of the restrictions put into place after 9/11, I think it is way too hard for certain people to ever enter the US. I would like to see a decrease in illegal immigration, of course. But not a decrease in legal immigration.

I feel like there is little chance Suj's family will ever be able to visit us here. And I wish that would change. I find it sad that some people will never be allowed to enter the US, who have only good motives, who just want to come visit here to see places like Disney World or visit family. If Suj's family really never will be allowed to come here, like if they are denied visas to visit if they try, I will be ticked off. They aren't rich, but aren't poor, just middle class in their own country. But it happens to many well intentioned people(visa denial). I know there has to be a lot of scrutiny for those who receive visas, but still, I just wish they'd be allowed to visit. We'll try one day for them to go to a visa interview to see what happens. I would be shocked if it was approved. It's not fair that they would never be able to see where their son's new life is.

Edited May 2, 2007 by stina&suj

[LaL 418]

i find the results pretty interesting for this site.

[^KK^ 3]

we have to read all that dubage- couldnt you make it simpler?

I know right...people like to keep it simple

[Saddle Bronc 124]

1. increase
   
2. fluent English should be mandatory, certain professions (lawyers comes to mind) should be denied
   
3. illegals should be deported
   

[Alex+R 0]

People on VJ are no less xenophobic than anywhere else. People want "their" immigrant here but not the poor ones, the uneducated ones, etc. That's my take on why the number of "let's decrease immigration" is so high.

We really do need more immigrants. Especially H1B immigrants, although a need for unskilled worker visas would probably become very clear very fast if we deported all the illegal immigrants.

eta: I find some posts on here relatively shocking occasionally. For example, I recently saw a post complaining about Mexican culture invading the poster's town and that seemed to be that person's main complaint about the immigrants. Many people have a problem with change.

eta2: How can 15 people think English fluency should be a requirement!? For H1B seekers, sounds like a good idea (as long as it's necessary to the job), but family members? What about people bringing their mother from a tiny Southeast Asian village without a lot of opportunity for gaining English fluency? What about kids coming with parents? What about SOs of Americans who are fluent in another language? Frankly, if you come from a country where English skills are attainable and you had the time to do it, then you're a fool to not learn English before coming, but that doesn't work for every class of immigrant and I suspect xenophobia and bad experiences with immigrants currently here fueled people to answer that English fluency should be a requirement.

Edited May 2, 2007 by Alex+R

[Fandango 1,439]

People on VJ are no less xenophobic than anywhere else. People want "their" immigrant here but not the poor ones, the uneducated ones, etc. That's my take on why the number of "let's decrease immigration" is so high.

We really do need more immigrants. Especially H1B immigrants, although a need for unskilled worker visas would probably become very clear very fast if we deported all the illegal immigrants.

eta: I find some posts on here relatively shocking occasionally. For example, I recently saw a post complaining about Mexican culture invading the poster's town and that seemed to be that person's main complaint about the immigrants. Many people have a problem with change.

eta2: How can 15 people think English fluency should be a requirement!? For H1B seekers, sounds like a good idea (as long as it's necessary to the job), but family members? What about people bringing their mother from a tiny Southeast Asian village without a lot of opportunity for gaining English fluency? What about kids coming with parents? What about SOs of Americans who are fluent in another language? Frankly, if you come from a country where English skills are attainable and you had the time to do it, then you're a fool to not learn English before coming, but that doesn't work for every class of immigrant and I suspect xenophobia and bad experiences with immigrants currently here fueled people to answer that English fluency should be a requirement.

I don't think that's true....surely there's some middle groud tho between 'all' and 'none'?

As far as the English fluency...well I'm not so sure where I stand on that...but try driving in Miami where many signs are in Spanish and if you're not bilingual, you're pretty much screwed. That's not cool either. But these problems are on opposite sides of the spectrum really, but still problems nonetheless.

I believe that every American should learn a second language. Many other countries have English as a second...or at least unofficial...language. They didn't have to learn it, but they did, and I think that makes a more well rounded individual.

Edited May 2, 2007 by LisaD

[CarolineM 0]

There are countries that require a knowledge of english to immigrate...Australia being one of them. I think that it should be a requirement...It's been addressed in 100's of threads and debated over and over, but that's just my two cents. Kids that come here with their parents...where the parents don't speak a work of english really suffer. I see them in our schools every day. They can't excel as much because they aren't getting the reading/speaking practice at home. They are behind their peers for the most part from MY experience.

[peejay 327]

People on VJ are no less xenophobic than anywhere else. People want "their" immigrant here but not the poor ones, the uneducated ones, etc. That's my take on why the number of "let's decrease immigration" is so high.

We really do need more immigrants. Especially H1B immigrants, although a need for unskilled worker visas would probably become very clear very fast if we deported all the illegal immigrants.

Fortunately there are some people in the USA that recognize that mass relocation of billions of people to the USA is not the answer to the world's myriad of problems.

Why is it that the same people that advocate unrestricted mass immigration are also the same ones that complain the loudest about Global Warming, pollution, US energy consumption, carbon reduction, nature conservation, the environment, clean water, etc., etc., etc.?

Do you really think adding 100 million+ more people to the USA helps in any of these regards? Apparently most that responded to the poll don't think so either.

[Niels Bohr 72]

Geezes. Some of the options aren't even possible to implement. My wife doesn't speak English, but she's learning. I hope those who checked out English as a prerequisite will reconsider.

[Alex+R 0]

People on VJ are no less xenophobic than anywhere else. People want "their" immigrant here but not the poor ones, the uneducated ones, etc. That's my take on why the number of "let's decrease immigration" is so high.

We really do need more immigrants. Especially H1B immigrants, although a need for unskilled worker visas would probably become very clear very fast if we deported all the illegal immigrants.

Fortunately there are some people in the USA that recognize that mass relocation of billions of people to the USA is not the answer to the world's myriad of problems.

Why is it that the same people that advocate unrestricted mass immigration are also the same ones that complain the loudest about Global Warming, pollution, US energy consumption, carbon reduction, nature conservation, the environment, clean water, etc., etc., etc.?

Do you really think adding 100 million+ more people to the USA helps in any of these regards? Apparently most that responded to the poll don't think so either.

Where did I advocate adding 100 million+ more people? Do you even know what an H1B visa is?

I'm all for more regulation of immigration and I'm not for an open-door policy at all.

[Caladan 19]

Who the hell is advocating mass relocation of billions? (Say "billions" in the Dr. Evil voice.) Where's the 100 million figure coming from? At max, there's about 15 million illegals here. Are they all going to split, like amoebas?

Seriously. Has anyone seriously advocated for unrestricted immigration? There's a whole middle ground between "NO ONE SHOULD IMMIGRATE (BUT MY FIANCÉE BECAUSE WE'RE IN LURRRRVE)" and "LET EVERYONE COME IN."

A work visa isn't unrestricted immigration. Neither's the H1-B.

[raymaga 25]

- Legals only (there can't be laws for some, and different laws for others.... this IS America)

- Must speak English (as I would expect to have to speak the language of anywhere that I immigrated to)

- The whole immigration process needs to be made simpler and quicker

Edited May 2, 2007 by raymaga