Why enter illegally?

[TBoneTX 44,691]

11 hours ago, Umka36 said:

In regards to safety/security, that's something that needs to be addressed by the UN in my opinion.

The U.N. needs to make itself useful and relevant somehow.

Someone in another thread/forum suggested that the U.N. establish "safe zones" in these imperiled countries.

(Not sure how realistic this would be in practice, but it sounds good in theory.)

If this were to happen, in-country residents would be clamoring to get in and might forget about the USA.

[TBoneTX 44,691]

12 hours ago, Mina90 said:

why do you think US is the primary choice of country for most? Distance? Accessibility? 

 

Other countries (Australia, most of Europe, Dubai/UAE, Canada, etc. are good places to live, at least IMO) Most folks choose the US.

Agree with reasons stated:  reputation for being able to make money, lax enforcement of immigration/residency laws, and (chief among the reasons) accessibility by land.

[TBoneTX 44,691]

12 hours ago, Mina90 said:

the quantity of most illegal people in the states are usually people who have once entered on a non-immigrant visa (i.e. B1/B2) and never left more so than those who hop the border

Overstays are almost certainly the larger group.

The U.S. has no exit controls; CBP checks you in when you seek to enter, but no one checks you "out."

CBP is permitted to (and often does) conduct outbound searches of people & vehicles, but this involves money & goods, not citizenship or visa status.

[TBoneTX 44,691]

11 hours ago, Umka36 said:

The US politician likes to make laws they don't really get enforced. We keep talking about overhauling our immigration policies because it's "broken", yet repeat the same thing once a new law passes.

This hits it on the head.  A "best-kept secret," one universally underreported or unreported by the media, is that most of the "harsh enforcement" being committed under the Trump administration involves attention to laws already on the books.  And how many people knew, for example, that the Obama administration began the "separation of parents from children" enforcement?  Obama's former head of (I think) DHS was very frank in admitting this not long ago.

9 hours ago, YecaCruz said:

the news would rather talk about the president's latest tweet

This applies not just to Nicaragua (which is very sad), but also to that just above.

[TBoneTX 44,691]

9 hours ago, YecaCruz said:

Most of the illegals in our church have been here minimum of a decade and while most send much of their money back home to help support family, the others are pretty much trying to make as much as they can before they're caught.

This is consistent with what I've gathered.

The longer most are here, the more they seem to relax in regard to the prospect of getting caught.

The newspapers always help with these "cry for the poor oppressed immigrant about to be deported" stories.

If someone burst into your church and shouted "La migra!", would most of the illegals run, or be resigned to their fate?

[TBoneTX 44,691]

9 hours ago, YecaCruz said:

I can speak up if I don't like something the gov't does and I won't get shot or thrown in prison.

Amidst the constant histrionics of the news media here in regard to the current administration ("it's a dictatorship!!!"), this reality is forgotten.  We should all appreciate this and be massively thankful for no official oppression.

[TBoneTX 44,691]

9 hours ago, YecaCruz said:

How many of us have bus money, lunch money, a reliable vehicle, or even more than 1 vehicle!...and all those kinds of things that make us look like dollar signs with legs. And it's true to an extent; I mean my little family isn't rich by US standards but to those in the third world I am very rich indeed.

We take these things for granted.

For example, I currently have a extremely corpulent feline asleep on my lap.

She gets dry food, soft food, treats, brushing, and toys.

Mrs. T-B. has pointed out that if people in Ecuador were poor and hungry enough, they'd eat her.

This is probably happening already in desperate places.

This sort of need causes the economically desperate to risk their lives and pay coyotes to smuggle them here.

[TBoneTX 44,691]

9 hours ago, YecaCruz said:

I won't ever be able to comprehend the situations that force these people to leave. I don't blame them. I don't feel bad when they get caught because yes, they broke the law.

This concisely articulates one of the most circumspect analyses of the situation that I've ever read -- and I suspect that millions of other regular Americans feel exactly the same but don't know how to express it.

[LeesaMarie 206]

Just posting a story I know.

 

About 15 years ago, a person I knew in the UK just got up and left, decided they did not want to be here anymore. Booked flights to the US, and overstayed their VISA intentionally. No economic issues, no criminal past, quite a stand up person. They just did not want to be in London anymore, or even the UK. This person has remained in America, owns their own house (he would never have had such luck in London), works, and contributes to their community. (I didn't ask how they have managed to remain so I can't provide any other details). 

 

But yeah, sometimes people just decide they want to leave their environment, and want a different type of life. To my own surprise they settled in the deep south. 

 

I think maybe for someone who feels utterly lost in their life, being told to wait x amount of months to be approved or denied is just too much to tolerate, so perhaps this factors into this choice that they make.

[YecaCruz 379]

10 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

If someone burst into your church and shouted "La migra!", would most of the illegals run, or be resigned to their fate?

uffdah! hope that never happens. I only speculate but I think most would just surrender based on what they've said in conversation as far as "if I'm caught I don't think I'd try to come back" -type stuff. Maybe one or two of the younger ones might shoot for the emergency exit. They'd have to run through shelter belt, crp, and random people's sporadically placed backyards to go hide in the area's 1 cornfield (because who hides in soybeans!) that could maybe hide them since there's only one entrance/exit to the parking lot.

 

For the few that have asked my husband as the pastor like "what should I do if I get caught" he tells them something like 'the Lord has allowed you to be here for this time. You have to be prepared to face to consequences of your breaking the law, even if it means getting sent back, and be thankful for the time that the door was open for you to be here and make some money to support yourself/family.' That happened to one of our church comers. Got caught driving without a valid license in fall of 2017 and is now in line for the judge which they keep moving back. Right now his hearing is scheduled for 2020. He still drives and works though since he was able to pay the 7k bond to get released. We know of some others from Peru who's bond to pay was something like 17k per person. Crazy bond money the government gets from illegals!

 

Husband knows a guy from Serbia he met from playing soccer. Nice guy and started a delivery business from scratch and is very successful. He was at our house talking about greencards and playing Mariokart on N64 and dropped the bomb that he's paying a lady to be his wife so he can get citizenship. I'm like whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? He says he feels bad since his first "marriage" is not even real and I'm thinking what do you even say to that!?

Edited August 17, 2018 by YecaCruz

[TBoneTX 44,691]

Really dig your input in this thread.  "Dakotaraguans" is a gem.

The hypothetical reactions of the illegals is probably what to expect in general, I'm guessing.

Speechless re the Serbian dude.  Dumb of him to admit what he did.

[Umka36 781]

2 hours ago, YecaCruz said:

uffdah! hope that never happens. I only speculate but I think most would just surrender based on what they've said in conversation as far as "if I'm caught I don't think I'd try to come back" -type stuff. Maybe one or two of the younger ones might shoot for the emergency exit. They'd have to run through shelter belt, crp, and random people's sporadically placed backyards to go hide in the area's 1 cornfield (because who hides in soybeans!) that could maybe hide them since there's only one entrance/exit to the parking lot.

 

For the few that have asked my husband as the pastor like "what should I do if I get caught" he tells them something like 'the Lord has allowed you to be here for this time. You have to be prepared to face to consequences of your breaking the law, even if it means getting sent back, and be thankful for the time that the door was open for you to be here and make some money to support yourself/family.' That happened to one of our church comers. Got caught driving without a valid license in fall of 2017 and is now in line for the judge which they keep moving back. Right now his hearing is scheduled for 2020. He still drives and works though since he was able to pay the 7k bond to get released. We know of some others from Peru who's bond to pay was something like 17k per person. Crazy bond money the government gets from illegals!

 

Husband knows a guy from Serbia he met from playing soccer. Nice guy and started a delivery business from scratch and is very successful. He was at our house talking about greencards and playing Mariokart on N64 and dropped the bomb that he's paying a lady to be his wife so he can get citizenship. I'm like whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? He says he feels bad since his first "marriage" is not even real and I'm thinking what do you even say to that!?

The bond money is just a tool to make sure someone shows back up in court, and it applies to not just an illegal person.

 

Report the Serbia guy for committing immigration fraud?

[Mina90 134]

2 hours ago, YecaCruz said:

uffdah! hope that never happens. I only speculate but I think most would just surrender based on what they've said in conversation as far as "if I'm caught I don't think I'd try to come back" -type stuff. Maybe one or two of the younger ones might shoot for the emergency exit. They'd have to run through shelter belt, crp, and random people's sporadically placed backyards to go hide in the area's 1 cornfield (because who hides in soybeans!) that could maybe hide them since there's only one entrance/exit to the parking lot.

 

For the few that have asked my husband as the pastor like "what should I do if I get caught" he tells them something like 'the Lord has allowed you to be here for this time. You have to be prepared to face to consequences of your breaking the law, even if it means getting sent back, and be thankful for the time that the door was open for you to be here and make some money to support yourself/family.' That happened to one of our church comers. Got caught driving without a valid license in fall of 2017 and is now in line for the judge which they keep moving back. Right now his hearing is scheduled for 2020. He still drives and works though since he was able to pay the 7k bond to get released. We know of some others from Peru who's bond to pay was something like 17k per person. Crazy bond money the government gets from illegals!

 

Husband knows a guy from Serbia he met from playing soccer. Nice guy and started a delivery business from scratch and is very successful. He was at our house talking about greencards and playing Mariokart on N64 and dropped the bomb that he's paying a lady to be his wife so he can get citizenship. I'm like whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? He says he feels bad since his first "marriage" is not even real and I'm thinking what do you even say to that!?

OhMyWord. Unfortunately, I heard a similar story from my mother. She had an old co-worker (who was a widow and a US citizen around the age of 50ish) some guy from Pakistan (the guy already had a wife back in his homeland and kids) convinced the co-worker to somehow to marry him so he could get a green card and he will pay her for it. Apparently, the co-worker's son was outraged when he found out what his mom did and completely cut all ties with her. My mom was saying how the co-worker was expressing her regret of doing such a thing (the fake husband guy had what he wanted by that time). I don't know what happened with that lady afterwards since my mom said she quit and no one heard from her again. 

8 hours ago, LeesaMarie said:

Just posting a story I know.

 

About 15 years ago, a person I knew in the UK just got up and left, decided they did not want to be here anymore. Booked flights to the US, and overstayed their VISA intentionally. No economic issues, no criminal past, quite a stand up person. They just did not want to be in London anymore, or even the UK. This person has remained in America, owns their own house (he would never have had such luck in London), works, and contributes to their community. (I didn't ask how they have managed to remain so I can't provide any other details). 

 

But yeah, sometimes people just decide they want to leave their environment, and want a different type of life. To my own surprise they settled in the deep south. 

 

I think maybe for someone who feels utterly lost in their life, being told to wait x amount of months to be approved or denied is just too much to tolerate, so perhaps this factors into this choice that they make.

That person might have thought he was making a change just for his life, but he is part of the problem because his choice indirectly impacts others who want to migrate here or visit here from his country and it adds more time to the process. Likewise, for all countries. 

[LeesaMarie 206]

15 hours ago, Mina90 said:

That person might have thought he was making a change just for his life, but he is part of the problem because his choice indirectly impacts others who want to migrate here or visit here from his country and it adds more time to the process. Likewise, for all countries. 

respectfully, I didn't think this thread was about opinions on illegal immigration and effects people think it has, it was providing reasons for why people from all over the world might enter illegally. this is just a story I thought I'd share as the only illegal immigration stories that you tend read or hear about are people fleeing bad situations. important to remember that this isn't always the case, furthermore it's definitely not my place to comment on another country's immigration policy.

[Mina90 134]

4 hours ago, LeesaMarie said:

respectfully, I didn't think this thread was about opinions on illegal immigration and effects people think it has, it was providing reasons for why people from all over the world might enter illegally. this is just a story I thought I'd share as the only illegal immigration stories that you tend read or hear about are people fleeing bad situations. important to remember that this isn't always the case, furthermore it's definitely not my place to comment on another country's immigration policy.

Agreed. I was just adding a side-note.