In feb. 2014 the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that recent immigration to the U.S. will lead to a $1 trillion increase in government revenue over the next decade, and that the U.S. economy will grow by $7 trillion due to immigration over the same period, according to reports on the CBO's findings. This increase in revenue is primarily attributed to the increased economic activity and tax contributions from the growing immigrant population.
Immigration is clearly good for America and one of the reasons the US faired better than most other advanced economies after COVID. But I don’t think that this is the reason public opinion is shifting.
The assault on immigrants is similar to the Fugitive Slave Act in both its cruelty and its effect on public sentiment . Passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act enabled Southern slave catchers to come North and take people accused of being escaped slaves back to their “owners” in the South. As people who had lived and worked for years in their committees were suddenly and violently ripped away, slavery stopped being an abstraction and became a very real and manifest evil.
The unintended effect of the Fugitive Slave Act was to increase and harden Northern opposition to slavery. Trump and his Gestapo nightmare are doing the same thing for support for immigrants.
Actually, there had a Fugitive Slave Law on the books since 1793, but it wasn't well-enforced partly because accused runaways could actually defend themselves in court. That, along with sympathetic Northern judges and juries, made recovery of the "lost property" pretty difficult if not impossible. The 1850 version fixed those problems by virtually denying a defendant's ability to defend themselves and by authorizing the appointment of special commissioners (rather than the "unreliable" civil courts) to handle runaway slave cases. Moreover, the law stipulated that these commissioners would be awarded ten dollars for every suspected fugitive returned to slavery, but only five dollars if the suspect went free (note that every African-American north of the Mason-Dixon Line could be considered a suspect).
So it's not just about the cruelty. It's also about the money.
Excellent point about the money. Recent reports have shown the prison population will decline as inmates swept up from 1970-2010 age out of the system and crime rates are low. Building and staffing prisons was for many states an economic development tactic for rural areas. The OBBA funding creates another subsidized employment opportunity for people who remain in rural areas.
Which was based on a clause of the Constitution. Didn’t realize how much harsher the 1850 Act was. I think the comment above yours is right - it’s fostering sympathy for immigrants. And unlike with slavery, ICE is rounding up people all over the country so the impact won’t be purely sectional (though they do seem to be targeting blue cities for now).
Immigration isn’t a threat—it’s this country’s future strength. But the MAGA crowd is stuck in reverse, gripped by fear as America’s skin tone deepens and its values evolve. They don’t want progress—they want a return to the days when women were silent, people of color were invisible, and power was never questioned.
The idea that women might control their own bodies? To them, that's heresy. How dare they make decisions without permission from men in power? This isn’t about morality—it’s about control. And they’ll cling to it by any means necessary.
Hardcore MAGA haven’t changed. The WSJ has an editorial suggesting that Trump do something to legalize the “Dreamers” (DACA)—people brought here illegally as children.
I read about 100 comments there perhaps five favourable. The rest were “kick them out.”
The entire American model is premised to quite an extent on immigration being a good thing.
Incidentally, one of the reasons the North circa 1860 was such a healthier society than the South, and was able to outlast it, was that it turned itself into a magnet for easy immigration. It was for all intents and purposes open borders, and while the immigrants didn't have it easy, they still had far more opportunity than they did back home and the same basic rights as the native-born. End result, a fast-growing and very loyal population, which not only helped grow the economy but provided a pretty big numerical advantage when the societies finally came to blows.
The US does not want more immigrants, no country does. No problem, but please be honest about it. In the US it is the citizens who have immigration rights, not random foreigners from around the world. US Citizens can bring in Immediate Relatives (parents, spouses, minor children) and Family Members (siblings with their families, adult children with family).
All others interested in immigration here, can forget about it. Unless they manage to fit in one of the exceptions. Like Melania Knavs who came based on the H-1B Tits&Ass exception, an EB-1 Green Card, then Citizenship. And of course people well-educated, moving in the same higher levels of society as Mr. Krugman. These are welcome too. As are those who have One Million dollars that they can spare for a while to buy their way in.
In 1996 - under Prez Clinton - the "anti-immigrant" legislation was enacted. Forcing people who wanted to migrate here but had no option to do so legally, to trek through the deserts, or swim the river. Hundreds (possibly thousands) perished by dehydration or by drowning because of that law. These rules are also the cause of many of the current issues. Prez Obama had at least 3 Million illegal migrants removed (most soon after arriving here, but still). But he also enacted DACA.
The U.S. DOES want immigrants. Did you not look at the chart in this post? Only maga bigots oppose immigration. Republicans PRETEND that they don't want them, and make it difficult, but then they hire them, because the GOP is the party of greed, and the more potential workers, the easier it is to exploit them.
I have been told over and over how the US does not want more immigrants, how it does not need them. How work-bound immigrants take the jobs that US people so badly need. "And on top of the legal immigration there is so much illegal immigration! They take even more jobs!"
Mr. Krugman shows charts, just like other economists. But what is he showing? We immigrants are the charts. But we have no voice, so whatever we try to contribute, or correct, is drowned out. By people who just look at the charts.
The US brings in about One Million immigrants every year and USers think that means this country is so generous for immigrants from all over the world. NO. You are generous towards US citizens! They can bring in family members - and in total about 650-700,000 newcomers every year. For them there are no requirements re. education, skills, work-experience, command of the English language, health (except for some contagious diseases).
Come based on a job offer - unless it is in academia - you will be sent to hell and back. Again, if this country still accepts immigrants, why are about 500,000 LEGAL well-educated non-immigrants NOT allowed to work? No one has ever given me an answer to that question. Because they are mainly women and mostly come from India?
You do not need to be Trump voting, gun-toting to be anti worker-immigration. I know this from bitter experience.
So tell me again how the US wants well-educated, skilled, experienced, much needed, foreign workers. My experience tells me otherwise.
I didn't write anything about foreign workers. But the U.S. does not "bring in" a million immigrants a year; most of the surges of immigrants over 1 million since the year 2000 have been refugees or asylum seekers, many from nations the U..S. destabilized or failed to protect. But my point still stands: Democrats have been trying to pass new immigration laws for decades, but have been blocked by Republican lawmakers, who are are responsible for limiting immigration and work visas, as Democrats haven't had a filibuster-proof majority in the senate since the Carter administration.
Republicans are no more generous to American citizens unless they happen to be wealthy enough to make huge "campaign donations." What's happening now is 100% the worst parts of the Republican agenda, and the majority of Americans are horrified.
Also, if there's country on earth that gives every immigrant and immigrant spouse a work visa, it's because they're desperate for every able body and every penny. If you're well-educated, skilled, experienced, and much needed, you should go where you can find a job in one of the marvelous countries that offer jobs to all immigrants if such a place exists, if that's what's important to you, because with Trump back in office, things are going to get worse here before they get better.
I am talking legal immigration. About One Million newcomers are (permanently) allowed in every year, they are issued Green Cards. The numbers are legally mandated, as are the categories. Party-affiliation of the US citizen sponsor (in some cases LPR's) is immaterial.
Also about 750,000 non-immigrants - mainly foreign workers - come in on an alphabet-soup of different visas that have all different rules&requirements.
If the Dem had not voted for the "anti-immigrant" legislation in 1996, signed by then-Prez Clinton, the US would not be in the mess it finds itself in now.
How many of the undocumented flee violence I do not know. I think the number is growing. Most illegal migrants I encountered over the years came for lack of opportunities in the home country. They found them here - a job, their own business.
Currently 130 Million people are trying to find a better home - more and more are fleeing war, famine, etc. Better solutions - helping to find options in a neighboring country - have to be explored. The limited number of people you allow in, are a drop in a hot plate.
Maybe first look up US immigration regulation? You do not seem adequately informed. Also look into the rules as set by developed/civilized countries, where "accompanying" spouses (like I was) are allowed to work. Not because these countries are desperate, but because they realize we live in the Third Millennium, and that women are human beings too.
Countries limit immigration, curtailing the numbers. People who come legally are mostly family members of Citizens. Several years ago, Canada made its immigration rules even stricter. They only have a limited number of people "who just came and stayed". Their illegal immigrants do not have gov. sponsored health insurance. ("We do not want to attract more people by being too generous.")
Yes, countries benefit - from the young, well-educated, prosperous, healthy, people they allow in. But many people who flee their home country are none of that. For them Canada also closed the doors, makes only limited exceptions for some refugees.
The UK is trying to close the door - but people keep coming, mainly in little boats. Immigration was the main issue why the UK left the EU. They tried to transport asylum seekers to Ruanda for the wait to be processed - but had to walk the idea back. Germany indeed now has a Skilled Worker act, but tries to restrict the "irregular immigration" of the past. Like several other countries of the borderless" Schengen area it recently re-introduced border controls.
Australia, once an important immigration destination, "offshores" to two islands outside its territory to processing refugees, some people wait there for years. The reason: reducing the numbers by making it harder to migrate.
Iran and Pakistan recently kicked out about 8 Million refugees from Afghanistan - back to where they came from. Some had been in the refuge-country for 20-30 years already and built a new life. Bangladesh, more recently, took in a large number of Rohingya refugees but did/does not give them status, which means they are not allowed to work. Etc.
So yes, for some young healthy well-educated, moderately prosperous, white-skinned people, preferably males, immigration can still be possible - if they are lucky. But to me being an immigrant means leaving it all behind to go to a country where you hope to build a better life. Currently about 130 Million people are on the move trying to realize that idea.
The idea of running a country like a business is totally wrong in almost every possible way. The biggest problem with that is being demonstrated by Trump and his Dirty Cabal in almost every possible way. (Repeat of words intended)
Now we can expect those numbers to trend negative, and that's before even taking all these insane tariffs into account, along with other moronic economic policies.
Here’s another important fact: When the poor do better, everyone does better. Every dollar that goes to a poor person typically gets spent—and then re-spent—circulating through the economy five to seven times. That means each dollar becomes $5 to $7 in economic stimulus.
Because the poor spend nearly all their income just to get by, their money flows immediately into local economies—on food, rent, and necessities—often at businesses owned by middle-class entrepreneurs. Helping the poor isn’t charity; it’s smart economics.
Have you seen graphs, charts by economists in books like Wealth & Democracy by Kevin Phillips, probably those by Piketty, whom I haven't read, etc? The 1970's was the apex of equality in wealth & incomes, but the oligarchs want to go back to the Gilded Age. Apparently, life's no fun if one is merely affluent--rather than filthy rich. Middle-class entrepreneurs are too independent-minded. You have to eliminate them as competition and make them precariously employed, always fearful of ending up homeless, therefore compliant.
Facts - Do you think for one second facts could infiltrate a MAGA* brain? Tell them some alternative facts that confirm their bigotry and they buy it lock stock & barrel.
I never know whether to laugh or cry with "facts" like that. When I came to the US I was told that I could not be allowed to work, that the jobs were needed for Americans! If we (H-4 non-immigrant wives) would also be allowed to accept a job, the whole of the US economy would be destroyed! Next thing I hear is how much immigrants contribute to the economy, how important they are, how much revenue they bring, that more migrants should be admitted, etc. How can both be true? Can economists please make up their minds - before I lose mine.
Antoinette, serious economists, like Paul Krugman and myself, follow facts, teach those, publish those, but do not make the rules. Politicians make the rules and have opinions that are aligned with the interests of the people that pay them most, which mostly are not the voters. These simple facts explain your confusion.
I am not confused. Politicians make the rules, but their ideas do not come out of thin air. They listen to big donors and lobbyists? Yes, but they also absorb what economists write in books, articles, or say in interviews, or contribute when asked. All that influences, it also reaches politicians and their staff/advisers.
I do wonder what the average economist knows about US immigration rules.
Facts can be distorted. This time by myself... The date of the CBO's findings is not 2014, but 2024!! Sorry about that. But then again: every politician currently in office should know this!
Another agency reporting to Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) provided several report with a range of immigration advice to Congress in 2014. Maybe that caused the confusion?
I remember 20+ years ago I did a little volunteer work recruiting churches to sponsor refugees. Even then I found that our native population growth was so low that NY (as one example) would have lost a million-person population decline between the previous and current census if not for the immigration of 900,000+ immigrants. This was true of many states.
I shared my apartment with two “free case” refugee men (no family or friends in the USA) who had fled the religious wars in the Balkans. I have since housed refugees from Ukraine and Ethiopia. I can state unequivocally that these refugees are hardworking, grateful to be safe and more patriotic than many of the native-born US citizens. I could often pinpoint the moment when they felt safe because they began to sing while they worked. When 9/11 occurred, I saw the tiny American flags they displayed in their homes and I cherish their effort to comfort me. After all they had been through - nearly every one experienced or witnessed torture - my hurt was that important to them.
And yet, no better immigration regulation. Too much money is made of illegal immigrants. Till the US discovers it gets too many if them. The result is unmitigated cruelty.
Nothing funny or cute about it. It WILL become a death camp because you know that there will be no resources devoted to keeping the inmates alive beyond meager rations and maybe a once-a-month visit by a certified nurse to provide "medical care."
I agree with all your comments here, John. It's not just that this "facility's" name got tossed around long enough to become part of the national vocabulary, it's that some cretin(s) obviously thought it was a humdinger of an idea. I mean, OFFICIAL ROAD SIGNS were designed, produced, and ready to go for the big reveal! This ugly, ghastly thing (and everyone associated with it) will live in infamy! An irradicable mark of shame on this country. It's sickening.
In all honesty, I think it's irrelevant what we call it. We all know what it is, we know what they're doing there. We can all agree that it needs to be shut down. It needs to stop. No matter what we name it.
And the Trumpists are planning to build many more of these, to be filled by a vastly expanded ICE/Gestapo. It should be noted that some Floridians did try to stop this defilement.
Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but I picked up sarcasm when he used the word "cute" followed by a correct assessment of it being a concentration camp. And rather than taking a wild swing at my take on it, I was picking up on things he has said before, in videos with others. Either way, I agree with you, there is nothing cute about the name, the place, or anything associated with what this administration is doing.
I live 5 mins from where this song is based in Ireland … Kilkelly ! Conditions were real bad back then and immigration was first choice option in the midst of abject poverty and hopelessness. America was the destination and the land of hope, glory and opportunity and for so many it was the lifechanger. I remember older relatives getting mail during the year with a few dollars from friends and relatives who had made that trip. Some of these people never came home again but they didn’t forget. That on its its own a testament to the opportunity of America . That was back then and thankfully is no longer the case for Ireland . There’s a sense of sadness , loss and anger now in Ireland versus America and the Trump ‘ administration’ . A big dark cloud. Everything that America stood for is greedily being removed and realigned by this kakistocracy.
Unfortunately to date I have never been to America … I’m just gone 60 and had it in my raider. Not now or maybe never…. certainly not in these years during which the story of America is being dismantled.
The roles have been reversed. To many Americans, Ireland now looks like a beacon of freedom and prosperity. Not to mention music and good cheer. My most recent immigrant ancestor came from Dublin in 1825, and had the good sense to marry a prosperous widow.
My latest came from Germany in the mid-1800s - or maybe England about the same time. The German guy changed his name from "Schwarzwalder" to "Blackwelder" when he found that people in North Carolina couldn't pronounce his name.
Prez Obama did not call them criminals but he deported about 3 Million immigrants who had entered undocumented or overstayed, mainly because of "job stealing". He however did not do it as heavy-handed (cruel beyond belief) as the current administration.
Trump/Miller/Vought/Vance, c.s. created an unimaginable low, no doubts about that. But the tendency to see immigrants as "the others" is not new and has lead to what is now happening. Hardly anyone protested the 100's (maybe 1000's) that died from dehydration thanks to the "anti-immigrant" law of 1996, signed by Prez Clinton. The comment I made was related to "job stealing", something we are regularly accused of and punished for.
Look at your immigration legislation and you can find out.
The well-educated H-4 and O-3 non-immigrants - obviously legally here - would love to work, pay taxes, contribute to Soc.Sec. ! But they are forbidden to do so.
You do not even have to like us, just issue that EAD (Work Permit).
"Will the public backlash against Trump’s immigration policies force ICE to stand down? Probably not, although the courts may at least slow the mass arrests."
In that case, I believe, having allocated resources to build up this type of quasi-militia, legal or not, that they would find other purposes to use ICE.
I confess I’m surprised by how many Americans, who as federal employees, took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, are behaving brutally and cruelly as part of this new American Gestapo. How is it they missed the message that they public servants? Working for the public good. With integrity and good character. There’s no room anywhere for “fucking” in a legitimate arrest for cause.
I'm not surprised at all. Law enforcement historically attracts highly conservative individuals. Not all of them are bad, of course, but there is no shortage of people who are mostly interested in wielding a lot of unchecked power against people they already think are the problem with society.
Yeah, this. Cops have been breaking the law and violating people's constitutional rights for decades, even centuries. It's part of the package. This happens to be especially egregious even by those standards, but the root of the problem was there.
Changing public opinion is all to the good. But we must be concerned about what Trump/Miller will do with the $75 billion in the OBBBA for increased ICE agents and detention centers when they have few undocumented criminals to pursue.
I'm not sure about that. For better or worse, Nazis in general were proud of their role, and it would've been unthinkable for them to hide their faces behind balaclavas. I believe that this behavior of ICE is maybe familiar from organized crime, but unprecedented for government bodies.
BTW: Gestapo (= "Geheime Staatspolizei") is female, therefore it should be "Die Neue Gestapo." You can use Google for that sort of thing, it has become surprisingly accurate:
Thanks for the info. I'll spell it that way from here on out.
As for hiding their faces, I thinks it's fair to assume that a good number of these goons aren't actual ICE but rather self appointed and "deputized" thugs.
There's a video I saw on substack of a bunch of them being driven off by an angry crowd - they escaped in the back of a rental truck, not any government issued vehicle.
“Business may also have a say, as labor shortages disrupt agriculture, construction and more.”
I would urge you to beware business bearing gifts, Timothy Snyder recently made this point: We should remember what drew I.G Farben into Auschwitz: profit.
One of Stalin’s original interests in the Gulag system was cheap labour, he also put quotas on the number of arrests authorities were meant to make.
Business helped put Trump in office, maybe this is why.
Yes, Thinking About…American Concentration Camps…About which Tim Snyder warns us all. And I ask, ‘When did for-profit prisons really take root in America?’
Work permits of all kinds - a true alphabet soup - have been issued for many years. Some employers find cumbersome, not all petitions are processed/approved, almost all are limited in time allowed.
The H-2A as used in AG makes employers responsible for housing and transportation for the workers, etc. So it is easier to hire just a number of undocumented workers already here. Also, H-2A workers are supposed not to bring spouses/children, the illegal ones usually have a house, a family, etc. Which makes them dependable, long-term workers.
How come people all of a sudden write about gulags, slave labor, but never had an issue with workers supposed to arrive here without their loves ones? Or that workers lived for years in stress, without options to secure their future?
Workers needed in this country should not have to jump through so many hoops. Just issue them Green Cards. A conditional one for the first two years and after approval an unconditional one. No more insecurity, no more looking over the shoulder.
That is what you should "urge" for. Stop the comparisons that are not helpful.
I recall reading that many more slave laborers died building the V-2 rockets than were killed by the V-2s themselves. (source: the footnotes in "V2: A novel of World War II" by Robert Harris).
All the ICE raids I've seen in posted videos clearly look like the "agents" are rounding up anyone who looks Latino, or speaks Spanish. They are not just detaining people from a list of known criminal immigrants, but haphazardly grabbing anyone they think looks "illegal". And strutting around with their pounds of armor and gear to look tough. Mexican search and rescue teams crossed the border to help find people in the Guadalupe River flood, only to get handcuffed and detained as "illegal immigrants". After rescuing survivors! Governor Abbott approved the draconian act. No wonder people are second guessing this "mass deportation" effort. It's a blatantly racist intent to rid the US of Latinos, since even citizens are being rounded up, and detained for weeks, before some, at least, are being released.
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
Unfortunately so. I will have to look more closely at sources, I thought it came from a good one. Usually I know better than to accept something just because it reinforces my views.
'Mexican search and rescue teams crossed the border to help find people in the Guadalupe River flood, only to get handcuffed and detained as "illegal immigrants". After rescuing survivors! Governor Abbott approved the draconian act.'
I cannot find any source for this on right or left wing websites. I think this is baloney.
The fact that this is likely false shouldn't obscure the fact that Mexican emergency services workers who had visas did travel as volunteers to Kerr County to assist the search and rescue effort. (There were also volunteer teams from Mexico who came to help fight the California fires.) The contrast between their readiness to help and the administration's eagerness to hurt is grotesque.
Here is Snopes showing the Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum praised the Mexican volunteers but did not take credit for sending them in. Imagine Trump giving positive credit where credit is due.
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
Not me, but my bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
One of the things about having been a Republican for a couple years in my youth two decades ago is that looking at their policies is a constant back and forth between "oh, I remember when I was dumb enough to believe that" and "yeah, I was never dumb enough to believe that."
Idolizing and wanting to join the military, the police, the CIA, the FBI? Yeah, I remember being that kid. Idolizing and wanting to join immigration enforcement? Nah, I was never that kid. Even back in the 2000s when I was mostly just following the post-9/11 zeitgeist, it was already obvious to me that these people were, at BEST, the modern version of Prohibition enforcers - busybodies hassling ordinary people who aren't bothering anyone and are just trying to get by.
Here is an article about a man from Venezuela scheduled to be deported back to Venezuela, whose mother in Venezuela was looking forward to seeing him for the first time in six years. Instead, he was deported to Cecot in El Salvador to be tortured.
It's hard to imagine a context where "it's sitting on my desk" actually means, "it's not sitting on my desk, it doesn't exist, and I've never heard of it."
No, there are plenty of Epstein files. The rabbit hole people are incensed because a) the files were released years ago, and b) all of the juicy bits are still blacked out.
I recently heard it said that “some of the best Americans I know just got here.” That has been true of my experience with immigrants my entire life, whether they had become citizens or were peacefully living and working in my community with perseverance and dignity. More of us in this country know this to be true than those who deny it, so the cruelty and dehumanizing will not, in my opinion, be normalized.
In order to become citizens, they're required to know more about American history than most born Americans. This becomes obvious when you hear King MAGA talk about American history.
I recently made a somewhat similar observation here in Europe: Whenever a civilian saves the day from domestic terrorism, or an accident, or some other disaster, that civilian tends to be an asylum seeker or some other non-white immigrant from the lowest rungs of the social hierarchy.
OK. Now suppose you have two nephews who went to college, racked up student debt, learned to code etc. - but they cannot find work. Immigrants from India keep arriving to fill jobs in tech. Will you still like us so much? (Just asking.)
Many of us live in and around Blue cities also have MAGA relatives who live elsewhere, and they make references to how our kid's baseball teams are staffed with trans kids and our cities are hellscapes. So we're like, "huh?" It would be laughable but for the damage done by all this brainwashing.
The misguided immigration policy of the Trump-Stephen Miller-Tom Homan-Kristi Noem crowd is the exact opposite of what the US should be doing. Their "cruelty is the point" approach prevents them from realizing that, in addition to the usual valuable natural resources (rare earth metals, oil, wind/solar energy, etc.), the time is rapidly approaching where PEOPLE are the most valuable natural resource.
Other well-known anti-immigrant politicians recognize the threat to their economies that the shortage of workers presents. Even Giorgia Meloni, Italy's hard-right prime minister and prominent strong promoter of anti-immigration policy, has agreed to let almost 500,000 documented non-EU nationals into Italy over the next 3 years to combat labor shortages.
Meanwhile, the Trump banana republic regime is laser-focused on anti-immigration policies that will reduce our economy's vitality and productivity. Stupid is as stupid does is the rule of the day.
Here are the facts:
In feb. 2014 the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that recent immigration to the U.S. will lead to a $1 trillion increase in government revenue over the next decade, and that the U.S. economy will grow by $7 trillion due to immigration over the same period, according to reports on the CBO's findings. This increase in revenue is primarily attributed to the increased economic activity and tax contributions from the growing immigrant population.
Immigration is clearly good for America and one of the reasons the US faired better than most other advanced economies after COVID. But I don’t think that this is the reason public opinion is shifting.
The assault on immigrants is similar to the Fugitive Slave Act in both its cruelty and its effect on public sentiment . Passed as part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act enabled Southern slave catchers to come North and take people accused of being escaped slaves back to their “owners” in the South. As people who had lived and worked for years in their committees were suddenly and violently ripped away, slavery stopped being an abstraction and became a very real and manifest evil.
The unintended effect of the Fugitive Slave Act was to increase and harden Northern opposition to slavery. Trump and his Gestapo nightmare are doing the same thing for support for immigrants.
Actually, there had a Fugitive Slave Law on the books since 1793, but it wasn't well-enforced partly because accused runaways could actually defend themselves in court. That, along with sympathetic Northern judges and juries, made recovery of the "lost property" pretty difficult if not impossible. The 1850 version fixed those problems by virtually denying a defendant's ability to defend themselves and by authorizing the appointment of special commissioners (rather than the "unreliable" civil courts) to handle runaway slave cases. Moreover, the law stipulated that these commissioners would be awarded ten dollars for every suspected fugitive returned to slavery, but only five dollars if the suspect went free (note that every African-American north of the Mason-Dixon Line could be considered a suspect).
So it's not just about the cruelty. It's also about the money.
Excellent point about the money. Recent reports have shown the prison population will decline as inmates swept up from 1970-2010 age out of the system and crime rates are low. Building and staffing prisons was for many states an economic development tactic for rural areas. The OBBA funding creates another subsidized employment opportunity for people who remain in rural areas.
Which was based on a clause of the Constitution. Didn’t realize how much harsher the 1850 Act was. I think the comment above yours is right - it’s fostering sympathy for immigrants. And unlike with slavery, ICE is rounding up people all over the country so the impact won’t be purely sectional (though they do seem to be targeting blue cities for now).
Note Texas, who has almost as many immigrants as California, has no National Guard or Marines in their State.
Yup, that’s the problem. This is being used to attack blue states.
Sorry, I forgot they were at the border for awhile now.
Immigration isn’t a threat—it’s this country’s future strength. But the MAGA crowd is stuck in reverse, gripped by fear as America’s skin tone deepens and its values evolve. They don’t want progress—they want a return to the days when women were silent, people of color were invisible, and power was never questioned.
The idea that women might control their own bodies? To them, that's heresy. How dare they make decisions without permission from men in power? This isn’t about morality—it’s about control. And they’ll cling to it by any means necessary.
Agree, MAGA is made up of people without a shred of empathy.
Hardcore MAGA haven’t changed. The WSJ has an editorial suggesting that Trump do something to legalize the “Dreamers” (DACA)—people brought here illegally as children.
I read about 100 comments there perhaps five favourable. The rest were “kick them out.”
Francis, you should start your own substack and stop spamming others.
The entire American model is premised to quite an extent on immigration being a good thing.
Incidentally, one of the reasons the North circa 1860 was such a healthier society than the South, and was able to outlast it, was that it turned itself into a magnet for easy immigration. It was for all intents and purposes open borders, and while the immigrants didn't have it easy, they still had far more opportunity than they did back home and the same basic rights as the native-born. End result, a fast-growing and very loyal population, which not only helped grow the economy but provided a pretty big numerical advantage when the societies finally came to blows.
Blue staters should take notice of this.
The US does not want more immigrants, no country does. No problem, but please be honest about it. In the US it is the citizens who have immigration rights, not random foreigners from around the world. US Citizens can bring in Immediate Relatives (parents, spouses, minor children) and Family Members (siblings with their families, adult children with family).
All others interested in immigration here, can forget about it. Unless they manage to fit in one of the exceptions. Like Melania Knavs who came based on the H-1B Tits&Ass exception, an EB-1 Green Card, then Citizenship. And of course people well-educated, moving in the same higher levels of society as Mr. Krugman. These are welcome too. As are those who have One Million dollars that they can spare for a while to buy their way in.
In 1996 - under Prez Clinton - the "anti-immigrant" legislation was enacted. Forcing people who wanted to migrate here but had no option to do so legally, to trek through the deserts, or swim the river. Hundreds (possibly thousands) perished by dehydration or by drowning because of that law. These rules are also the cause of many of the current issues. Prez Obama had at least 3 Million illegal migrants removed (most soon after arriving here, but still). But he also enacted DACA.
The U.S. DOES want immigrants. Did you not look at the chart in this post? Only maga bigots oppose immigration. Republicans PRETEND that they don't want them, and make it difficult, but then they hire them, because the GOP is the party of greed, and the more potential workers, the easier it is to exploit them.
I have been told over and over how the US does not want more immigrants, how it does not need them. How work-bound immigrants take the jobs that US people so badly need. "And on top of the legal immigration there is so much illegal immigration! They take even more jobs!"
Mr. Krugman shows charts, just like other economists. But what is he showing? We immigrants are the charts. But we have no voice, so whatever we try to contribute, or correct, is drowned out. By people who just look at the charts.
The US brings in about One Million immigrants every year and USers think that means this country is so generous for immigrants from all over the world. NO. You are generous towards US citizens! They can bring in family members - and in total about 650-700,000 newcomers every year. For them there are no requirements re. education, skills, work-experience, command of the English language, health (except for some contagious diseases).
Come based on a job offer - unless it is in academia - you will be sent to hell and back. Again, if this country still accepts immigrants, why are about 500,000 LEGAL well-educated non-immigrants NOT allowed to work? No one has ever given me an answer to that question. Because they are mainly women and mostly come from India?
You do not need to be Trump voting, gun-toting to be anti worker-immigration. I know this from bitter experience.
So tell me again how the US wants well-educated, skilled, experienced, much needed, foreign workers. My experience tells me otherwise.
I didn't write anything about foreign workers. But the U.S. does not "bring in" a million immigrants a year; most of the surges of immigrants over 1 million since the year 2000 have been refugees or asylum seekers, many from nations the U..S. destabilized or failed to protect. But my point still stands: Democrats have been trying to pass new immigration laws for decades, but have been blocked by Republican lawmakers, who are are responsible for limiting immigration and work visas, as Democrats haven't had a filibuster-proof majority in the senate since the Carter administration.
Republicans are no more generous to American citizens unless they happen to be wealthy enough to make huge "campaign donations." What's happening now is 100% the worst parts of the Republican agenda, and the majority of Americans are horrified.
Also, if there's country on earth that gives every immigrant and immigrant spouse a work visa, it's because they're desperate for every able body and every penny. If you're well-educated, skilled, experienced, and much needed, you should go where you can find a job in one of the marvelous countries that offer jobs to all immigrants if such a place exists, if that's what's important to you, because with Trump back in office, things are going to get worse here before they get better.
I am talking legal immigration. About One Million newcomers are (permanently) allowed in every year, they are issued Green Cards. The numbers are legally mandated, as are the categories. Party-affiliation of the US citizen sponsor (in some cases LPR's) is immaterial.
Also about 750,000 non-immigrants - mainly foreign workers - come in on an alphabet-soup of different visas that have all different rules&requirements.
If the Dem had not voted for the "anti-immigrant" legislation in 1996, signed by then-Prez Clinton, the US would not be in the mess it finds itself in now.
How many of the undocumented flee violence I do not know. I think the number is growing. Most illegal migrants I encountered over the years came for lack of opportunities in the home country. They found them here - a job, their own business.
Currently 130 Million people are trying to find a better home - more and more are fleeing war, famine, etc. Better solutions - helping to find options in a neighboring country - have to be explored. The limited number of people you allow in, are a drop in a hot plate.
Maybe first look up US immigration regulation? You do not seem adequately informed. Also look into the rules as set by developed/civilized countries, where "accompanying" spouses (like I was) are allowed to work. Not because these countries are desperate, but because they realize we live in the Third Millennium, and that women are human beings too.
"The US does not want more immigrants, no country does."
So Canada must not be a country.
Many countries in the western hemisphere benefit greatly by immigration. As well as many European countries, like Germany & the UK.
Countries limit immigration, curtailing the numbers. People who come legally are mostly family members of Citizens. Several years ago, Canada made its immigration rules even stricter. They only have a limited number of people "who just came and stayed". Their illegal immigrants do not have gov. sponsored health insurance. ("We do not want to attract more people by being too generous.")
Yes, countries benefit - from the young, well-educated, prosperous, healthy, people they allow in. But many people who flee their home country are none of that. For them Canada also closed the doors, makes only limited exceptions for some refugees.
The UK is trying to close the door - but people keep coming, mainly in little boats. Immigration was the main issue why the UK left the EU. They tried to transport asylum seekers to Ruanda for the wait to be processed - but had to walk the idea back. Germany indeed now has a Skilled Worker act, but tries to restrict the "irregular immigration" of the past. Like several other countries of the borderless" Schengen area it recently re-introduced border controls.
Australia, once an important immigration destination, "offshores" to two islands outside its territory to processing refugees, some people wait there for years. The reason: reducing the numbers by making it harder to migrate.
Iran and Pakistan recently kicked out about 8 Million refugees from Afghanistan - back to where they came from. Some had been in the refuge-country for 20-30 years already and built a new life. Bangladesh, more recently, took in a large number of Rohingya refugees but did/does not give them status, which means they are not allowed to work. Etc.
So yes, for some young healthy well-educated, moderately prosperous, white-skinned people, preferably males, immigration can still be possible - if they are lucky. But to me being an immigrant means leaving it all behind to go to a country where you hope to build a better life. Currently about 130 Million people are on the move trying to realize that idea.
One More Wanted Immigrant: https://www.wbez.org/immigration/2025/07/22/a-family-came-to-chicago-seeking-asylum-he-was-deported-now-she-wants-to-leave?DE=WBEZEmail
Green energy also brings in a ton of money, but Trump and his party hate that, too.
Funny thing, coming from a party that is always telling us that we'd be better off if we "ran government like a business."
But golly, gee! Trump has been running businesses for decades - right into the ground.
The idea of running a country like a business is totally wrong in almost every possible way. The biggest problem with that is being demonstrated by Trump and his Dirty Cabal in almost every possible way. (Repeat of words intended)
Now we can expect those numbers to trend negative, and that's before even taking all these insane tariffs into account, along with other moronic economic policies.
Here’s another important fact: When the poor do better, everyone does better. Every dollar that goes to a poor person typically gets spent—and then re-spent—circulating through the economy five to seven times. That means each dollar becomes $5 to $7 in economic stimulus.
Because the poor spend nearly all their income just to get by, their money flows immediately into local economies—on food, rent, and necessities—often at businesses owned by middle-class entrepreneurs. Helping the poor isn’t charity; it’s smart economics.
Trickle upward.
Have you seen graphs, charts by economists in books like Wealth & Democracy by Kevin Phillips, probably those by Piketty, whom I haven't read, etc? The 1970's was the apex of equality in wealth & incomes, but the oligarchs want to go back to the Gilded Age. Apparently, life's no fun if one is merely affluent--rather than filthy rich. Middle-class entrepreneurs are too independent-minded. You have to eliminate them as competition and make them precariously employed, always fearful of ending up homeless, therefore compliant.
Facts - Do you think for one second facts could infiltrate a MAGA* brain? Tell them some alternative facts that confirm their bigotry and they buy it lock stock & barrel.
*Morons Are Governing America
I never know whether to laugh or cry with "facts" like that. When I came to the US I was told that I could not be allowed to work, that the jobs were needed for Americans! If we (H-4 non-immigrant wives) would also be allowed to accept a job, the whole of the US economy would be destroyed! Next thing I hear is how much immigrants contribute to the economy, how important they are, how much revenue they bring, that more migrants should be admitted, etc. How can both be true? Can economists please make up their minds - before I lose mine.
Antoinette, serious economists, like Paul Krugman and myself, follow facts, teach those, publish those, but do not make the rules. Politicians make the rules and have opinions that are aligned with the interests of the people that pay them most, which mostly are not the voters. These simple facts explain your confusion.
I am not confused. Politicians make the rules, but their ideas do not come out of thin air. They listen to big donors and lobbyists? Yes, but they also absorb what economists write in books, articles, or say in interviews, or contribute when asked. All that influences, it also reaches politicians and their staff/advisers.
I do wonder what the average economist knows about US immigration rules.
Facts can be distorted. This time by myself... The date of the CBO's findings is not 2014, but 2024!! Sorry about that. But then again: every politician currently in office should know this!
Another agency reporting to Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) provided several report with a range of immigration advice to Congress in 2014. Maybe that caused the confusion?
I remember 20+ years ago I did a little volunteer work recruiting churches to sponsor refugees. Even then I found that our native population growth was so low that NY (as one example) would have lost a million-person population decline between the previous and current census if not for the immigration of 900,000+ immigrants. This was true of many states.
I shared my apartment with two “free case” refugee men (no family or friends in the USA) who had fled the religious wars in the Balkans. I have since housed refugees from Ukraine and Ethiopia. I can state unequivocally that these refugees are hardworking, grateful to be safe and more patriotic than many of the native-born US citizens. I could often pinpoint the moment when they felt safe because they began to sing while they worked. When 9/11 occurred, I saw the tiny American flags they displayed in their homes and I cherish their effort to comfort me. After all they had been through - nearly every one experienced or witnessed torture - my hurt was that important to them.
And yet, no better immigration regulation. Too much money is made of illegal immigrants. Till the US discovers it gets too many if them. The result is unmitigated cruelty.
Sorry, “Alligator Alcatraz” is not a "cute" name. Why not call it what it is: The Everglades Concentration Camp.
When you are told that your government plans to be as miserable, nasty, crude as possible, believe them.
It will actually be worse.
How about "Alligator Auschwitz"?
Sorry, I just find anything that tries to make it funny or cute sickening; just how I feel about it
Nothing funny or cute about it. It WILL become a death camp because you know that there will be no resources devoted to keeping the inmates alive beyond meager rations and maybe a once-a-month visit by a certified nurse to provide "medical care."
That’s why it ought to be called by what it is. Not some nonsensical alliterative play on a tragedy from another time. Again just MHO
I agree with all your comments here, John. It's not just that this "facility's" name got tossed around long enough to become part of the national vocabulary, it's that some cretin(s) obviously thought it was a humdinger of an idea. I mean, OFFICIAL ROAD SIGNS were designed, produced, and ready to go for the big reveal! This ugly, ghastly thing (and everyone associated with it) will live in infamy! An irradicable mark of shame on this country. It's sickening.
In all honesty, I think it's irrelevant what we call it. We all know what it is, we know what they're doing there. We can all agree that it needs to be shut down. It needs to stop. No matter what we name it.
And the Trumpists are planning to build many more of these, to be filled by a vastly expanded ICE/Gestapo. It should be noted that some Floridians did try to stop this defilement.
I think Paul was been sardonic
Yes, but I think any usage of that expression is offensive
Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but I picked up sarcasm when he used the word "cute" followed by a correct assessment of it being a concentration camp. And rather than taking a wild swing at my take on it, I was picking up on things he has said before, in videos with others. Either way, I agree with you, there is nothing cute about the name, the place, or anything associated with what this administration is doing.
Krugman did call it a concentration camp. He was mocking the government officials who came up with the name in the first place.
I believe he was being sarcastic.
Or quote Jeff Tiedrich: Alligator Auschwitz.
Thank you. This is exactly what it is. This is what I will call it.
Good idea. I shall follow your suggestion.
I live 5 mins from where this song is based in Ireland … Kilkelly ! Conditions were real bad back then and immigration was first choice option in the midst of abject poverty and hopelessness. America was the destination and the land of hope, glory and opportunity and for so many it was the lifechanger. I remember older relatives getting mail during the year with a few dollars from friends and relatives who had made that trip. Some of these people never came home again but they didn’t forget. That on its its own a testament to the opportunity of America . That was back then and thankfully is no longer the case for Ireland . There’s a sense of sadness , loss and anger now in Ireland versus America and the Trump ‘ administration’ . A big dark cloud. Everything that America stood for is greedily being removed and realigned by this kakistocracy.
Unfortunately to date I have never been to America … I’m just gone 60 and had it in my raider. Not now or maybe never…. certainly not in these years during which the story of America is being dismantled.
The roles have been reversed. To many Americans, Ireland now looks like a beacon of freedom and prosperity. Not to mention music and good cheer. My most recent immigrant ancestor came from Dublin in 1825, and had the good sense to marry a prosperous widow.
My latest came from Germany in the mid-1800s - or maybe England about the same time. The German guy changed his name from "Schwarzwalder" to "Blackwelder" when he found that people in North Carolina couldn't pronounce his name.
What's not to like about immigrants working and paying taxes for social security for baby boomers?
Hey, them criminals are take'n away good jobs from us 'mericans!
Signed, MAGA.
Planning on picking vegetables, MAGA? Then STFU.
Prez Obama did not call them criminals but he deported about 3 Million immigrants who had entered undocumented or overstayed, mainly because of "job stealing". He however did not do it as heavy-handed (cruel beyond belief) as the current administration.
Did he send them to 3rd world prisons to rot in a cell?
Trump/Miller/Vought/Vance, c.s. created an unimaginable low, no doubts about that. But the tendency to see immigrants as "the others" is not new and has lead to what is now happening. Hardly anyone protested the 100's (maybe 1000's) that died from dehydration thanks to the "anti-immigrant" law of 1996, signed by Prez Clinton. The comment I made was related to "job stealing", something we are regularly accused of and punished for.
Look at your immigration legislation and you can find out.
The well-educated H-4 and O-3 non-immigrants - obviously legally here - would love to work, pay taxes, contribute to Soc.Sec. ! But they are forbidden to do so.
You do not even have to like us, just issue that EAD (Work Permit).
"Will the public backlash against Trump’s immigration policies force ICE to stand down? Probably not, although the courts may at least slow the mass arrests."
In that case, I believe, having allocated resources to build up this type of quasi-militia, legal or not, that they would find other purposes to use ICE.
That's the goal.
Trump won’t stop. His base is very fond of all his actions with migrants.
Yes and when it’s decided that ICE is not sufficiently cruel, they’ll bring in Eric Prince and Blackwater - the US’s Prighozin and Wagner.
I confess I’m surprised by how many Americans, who as federal employees, took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, are behaving brutally and cruelly as part of this new American Gestapo. How is it they missed the message that they public servants? Working for the public good. With integrity and good character. There’s no room anywhere for “fucking” in a legitimate arrest for cause.
I'm not surprised at all. Law enforcement historically attracts highly conservative individuals. Not all of them are bad, of course, but there is no shortage of people who are mostly interested in wielding a lot of unchecked power against people they already think are the problem with society.
Yeah, this. Cops have been breaking the law and violating people's constitutional rights for decades, even centuries. It's part of the package. This happens to be especially egregious even by those standards, but the root of the problem was there.
Your comment goes too far. What you describe can be true for some LEO's but not for all of them.
At this point in the sequence, they're his "Brownshirts."
Agree, but the billions afforded them by the OBBB will end the current SA and birth the SS.
One more cruel and immoral policy on behalf of the folks who hold bibles in the air(upside down) and crosses around their necks.
Can't just complain in our living rooms, action is called for.
GOOD TROUBLE July17
Exactly! Doing it here in Michigan! 👊🏻
Changing public opinion is all to the good. But we must be concerned about what Trump/Miller will do with the $75 billion in the OBBBA for increased ICE agents and detention centers when they have few undocumented criminals to pursue.
Der Neu Gestapo.
I'm not sure about that. For better or worse, Nazis in general were proud of their role, and it would've been unthinkable for them to hide their faces behind balaclavas. I believe that this behavior of ICE is maybe familiar from organized crime, but unprecedented for government bodies.
BTW: Gestapo (= "Geheime Staatspolizei") is female, therefore it should be "Die Neue Gestapo." You can use Google for that sort of thing, it has become surprisingly accurate:
https://translate.google.com/?sl=en&tl=de&text=the%20new%20gestapo&op=translate
Thanks for the info. I'll spell it that way from here on out.
As for hiding their faces, I thinks it's fair to assume that a good number of these goons aren't actual ICE but rather self appointed and "deputized" thugs.
There's a video I saw on substack of a bunch of them being driven off by an angry crowd - they escaped in the back of a rental truck, not any government issued vehicle.
“Business may also have a say, as labor shortages disrupt agriculture, construction and more.”
I would urge you to beware business bearing gifts, Timothy Snyder recently made this point: We should remember what drew I.G Farben into Auschwitz: profit.
One of Stalin’s original interests in the Gulag system was cheap labour, he also put quotas on the number of arrests authorities were meant to make.
Business helped put Trump in office, maybe this is why.
Snyder’s piece: https://snyder.substack.com/p/concentration-camp-labor
Yes, Thinking About…American Concentration Camps…About which Tim Snyder warns us all. And I ask, ‘When did for-profit prisons really take root in America?’
Circa Early 1980s, Reagan Years.
Work permits of all kinds - a true alphabet soup - have been issued for many years. Some employers find cumbersome, not all petitions are processed/approved, almost all are limited in time allowed.
The H-2A as used in AG makes employers responsible for housing and transportation for the workers, etc. So it is easier to hire just a number of undocumented workers already here. Also, H-2A workers are supposed not to bring spouses/children, the illegal ones usually have a house, a family, etc. Which makes them dependable, long-term workers.
How come people all of a sudden write about gulags, slave labor, but never had an issue with workers supposed to arrive here without their loves ones? Or that workers lived for years in stress, without options to secure their future?
Workers needed in this country should not have to jump through so many hoops. Just issue them Green Cards. A conditional one for the first two years and after approval an unconditional one. No more insecurity, no more looking over the shoulder.
That is what you should "urge" for. Stop the comparisons that are not helpful.
I recall reading that many more slave laborers died building the V-2 rockets than were killed by the V-2s themselves. (source: the footnotes in "V2: A novel of World War II" by Robert Harris).
All the ICE raids I've seen in posted videos clearly look like the "agents" are rounding up anyone who looks Latino, or speaks Spanish. They are not just detaining people from a list of known criminal immigrants, but haphazardly grabbing anyone they think looks "illegal". And strutting around with their pounds of armor and gear to look tough. Mexican search and rescue teams crossed the border to help find people in the Guadalupe River flood, only to get handcuffed and detained as "illegal immigrants". After rescuing survivors! Governor Abbott approved the draconian act. No wonder people are second guessing this "mass deportation" effort. It's a blatantly racist intent to rid the US of Latinos, since even citizens are being rounded up, and detained for weeks, before some, at least, are being released.
Source please for the Texas treatment of the Mexican rescue team. It should be widely circulated.
Yes, I had the same reaction. If this took place, we need to know.
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
This deepfake stuff is getting good.
Unfortunately so. I will have to look more closely at sources, I thought it came from a good one. Usually I know better than to accept something just because it reinforces my views.
'Mexican search and rescue teams crossed the border to help find people in the Guadalupe River flood, only to get handcuffed and detained as "illegal immigrants". After rescuing survivors! Governor Abbott approved the draconian act.'
I cannot find any source for this on right or left wing websites. I think this is baloney.
The fact that this is likely false shouldn't obscure the fact that Mexican emergency services workers who had visas did travel as volunteers to Kerr County to assist the search and rescue effort. (There were also volunteer teams from Mexico who came to help fight the California fires.) The contrast between their readiness to help and the administration's eagerness to hurt is grotesque.
Could not agree more:
Here's one of many stories of the Mexican volunteers:
https://www.kut.org/texas/2025-07-13/mexican-firefighters-volunteers-search-rescue-texas-kerr-county-flooding-border-visas-permits
Here is Snopes showing the Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum praised the Mexican volunteers but did not take credit for sending them in. Imagine Trump giving positive credit where credit is due.
https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/07/09/mexican-president-texas-rescue-teams/
They are truly a blessing. Abbott is a terrible & nasty man.
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
Thank you for taking responsibility! Your honesty puts you above the entire Republican party.
Thanks for owning up to it.
Everyone must be so very careful about the dissemination of "facts".
The commenter explains above. He was fooled by a deepfake.
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
I did a few minutes of research and there is no credibility for the claim that Mexican rescuers were handcuffed and detained.
Ditto. Not that I'd put it past them or anything, but there are no reports of it as of yet.
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
No problem. It's all too easy to believe. Especially when it comes to either Abbott or King MAGA.
It’s a deepfake.
Were you able to find any non-credible sources? I couldn't. Perhaps Rain Robinson made it up.
Not me, but my bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
My bad, I just discovered it was an AI fake. I apologize profusely.
AI deep fake of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bragging about deporting Mexican firefighters goes viral | San Antonio | San Antonio Current https://share.google/bdpyl2dSeq0j0Gsk7
It’s ok. It’s hard to tell the difference. Mistakes happen.
ICE's big budget boost will result in many, many new hires. What kind of person aims to work for the current ICE? Pretty scary
One of the things about having been a Republican for a couple years in my youth two decades ago is that looking at their policies is a constant back and forth between "oh, I remember when I was dumb enough to believe that" and "yeah, I was never dumb enough to believe that."
Idolizing and wanting to join the military, the police, the CIA, the FBI? Yeah, I remember being that kid. Idolizing and wanting to join immigration enforcement? Nah, I was never that kid. Even back in the 2000s when I was mostly just following the post-9/11 zeitgeist, it was already obvious to me that these people were, at BEST, the modern version of Prohibition enforcers - busybodies hassling ordinary people who aren't bothering anyone and are just trying to get by.
All the reichwing militia types. They're just itching to be fitted with jackboots.
Here is an article about a man from Venezuela scheduled to be deported back to Venezuela, whose mother in Venezuela was looking forward to seeing him for the first time in six years. Instead, he was deported to Cecot in El Salvador to be tortured.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/13/2332959/-It-was-a-kidnapping-Mom-shares-horror-of-son-s-inhumane-deportation?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_6&pm_medium=web
Yes, cruelty is the point.
So, they're NOT eating the pets, they're actually doing the work, or were until we deported some and scared many others.
What's next?
Gonna tell me there are no Epstein files?
According to Bimbo Bondi, when she said the client list was on her desk, her words were "taken out of context". Then she "self disappeared".
It's hard to imagine a context where "it's sitting on my desk" actually means, "it's not sitting on my desk, it doesn't exist, and I've never heard of it."
In the bizarro world of Trumpkopf, anything is possible. Up is down, down is up, War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.
It probably actually WAS sitting on her desk, and DonnyJon nearly had a heart attck when she said that. "DON'T YOU DARE RELEASE THAT LIST!!!!"
No, there are plenty of Epstein files. The rabbit hole people are incensed because a) the files were released years ago, and b) all of the juicy bits are still blacked out.
I recently heard it said that “some of the best Americans I know just got here.” That has been true of my experience with immigrants my entire life, whether they had become citizens or were peacefully living and working in my community with perseverance and dignity. More of us in this country know this to be true than those who deny it, so the cruelty and dehumanizing will not, in my opinion, be normalized.
In order to become citizens, they're required to know more about American history than most born Americans. This becomes obvious when you hear King MAGA talk about American history.
Or Alito.
Oh Alito knows it alright. He just deliberately ignores it.
I recently made a somewhat similar observation here in Europe: Whenever a civilian saves the day from domestic terrorism, or an accident, or some other disaster, that civilian tends to be an asylum seeker or some other non-white immigrant from the lowest rungs of the social hierarchy.
OK. Now suppose you have two nephews who went to college, racked up student debt, learned to code etc. - but they cannot find work. Immigrants from India keep arriving to fill jobs in tech. Will you still like us so much? (Just asking.)
Many of us live in and around Blue cities also have MAGA relatives who live elsewhere, and they make references to how our kid's baseball teams are staffed with trans kids and our cities are hellscapes. So we're like, "huh?" It would be laughable but for the damage done by all this brainwashing.
The misguided immigration policy of the Trump-Stephen Miller-Tom Homan-Kristi Noem crowd is the exact opposite of what the US should be doing. Their "cruelty is the point" approach prevents them from realizing that, in addition to the usual valuable natural resources (rare earth metals, oil, wind/solar energy, etc.), the time is rapidly approaching where PEOPLE are the most valuable natural resource.
As of 2023 nearly two-thirds of the world's population lived in areas where the fertility rate is below replacement level, approx. 2.1 (https://www.ined.fr/en/publications/editions/population-and-societies/mapping-the-massive-global-fertility-decline-over-the-last-20-years/?utm_source=chatgpt.com). By 2050 76% of countries will have fertility rates below replacement level (https://www.ft.com/content/318ff981-d189-4bd6-b608-a9709097eedc?utm_source=chatgpt.com).
Other well-known anti-immigrant politicians recognize the threat to their economies that the shortage of workers presents. Even Giorgia Meloni, Italy's hard-right prime minister and prominent strong promoter of anti-immigration policy, has agreed to let almost 500,000 documented non-EU nationals into Italy over the next 3 years to combat labor shortages.
Meanwhile, the Trump banana republic regime is laser-focused on anti-immigration policies that will reduce our economy's vitality and productivity. Stupid is as stupid does is the rule of the day.
Trump is the child of a first generation American and an immigrant. He has twice been married to immigrants.
To really be an American, you had at least be fifth generation. Of not, you are an immigrant.
Almost all people living in the US are decendents of immigrants.
The argument is: they came legally! (Because they could.)