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I always found it odd how restricted immigration is in the US, considering it's a country recently founded by immigrants.

krapp 2y ago
The US wasn't founded by immigrants, it was founded by white supremacist colonizers. There is a reason Americans don't care about immigration from Canada but wanted to build a wall with moats, gun turrets and razor wire across the southern border.
- gtirloni 2y ago
  Even if it wasn't like that, it's pretty normal for people to settle in and dictate cultural norms. (Legal and not ostracized) immigrants don't feel like immigrants after a few generations. Their children are now native, treated as native and the original immigrant reality fades away. For example, my family immigrated to South America from Italy 3 generations ago. I don't say I'm Italian and don't feel like an immigrant. My point is that there has to be an extra force that keeps reminding them "this place is what it is and it was built by immigrants and we value that". If that exists or not in the US, I can't comment from the outside but without that core value being shared, people won't naturally think "oh, immigrants == good" (especially when illegal immigrants are being called refugees in some cases).
  - mcphage 2y ago
    > My point is that there has to be an extra force that keeps reminding them "this place is what it is and it was built by immigrants and we value that". If that exists or not in the US, I can't comment from the outside It does, there’s a pretty strong message in the US that it was built by and for immigrants. But it turns a large number of people have heard that and said “well now that we’re here, let’s close the gate”.
- dotnet00 2y ago
  Americans don't care about immigration from Canada because they're culturally almost indistinguishable and have little reason to illegally stay anyway, as Canadian living standards are not that different from those of Americans. Similarly, you don't see much concern about illegal immigration from, say, South Korea, Singapore or Japan, or from rich middle eastern countries like Saudi Arabia or Dubai. If you look for racism everywhere, you'll see it everywhere.
seneca 2y ago
> I always found it odd how restricted immigration is in the US The US is home to more migrants than any other country in the world. More than the next four countries combined. You should question why you believe the opposite of reality.

krapp 2y ago

The US wasn't founded by immigrants, it was founded by white supremacist colonizers. There is a reason Americans don't care about immigration from Canada but wanted to build a wall with moats, gun turrets and razor wire across the southern border.

gtirloni 2y ago
Even if it wasn't like that, it's pretty normal for people to settle in and dictate cultural norms. (Legal and not ostracized) immigrants don't feel like immigrants after a few generations. Their children are now native, treated as native and the original immigrant reality fades away. For example, my family immigrated to South America from Italy 3 generations ago. I don't say I'm Italian and don't feel like an immigrant. My point is that there has to be an extra force that keeps reminding them "this place is what it is and it was built by immigrants and we value that". If that exists or not in the US, I can't comment from the outside but without that core value being shared, people won't naturally think "oh, immigrants == good" (especially when illegal immigrants are being called refugees in some cases).
- mcphage 2y ago
  > My point is that there has to be an extra force that keeps reminding them "this place is what it is and it was built by immigrants and we value that". If that exists or not in the US, I can't comment from the outside It does, there’s a pretty strong message in the US that it was built by and for immigrants. But it turns a large number of people have heard that and said “well now that we’re here, let’s close the gate”.
dotnet00 2y ago
Americans don't care about immigration from Canada because they're culturally almost indistinguishable and have little reason to illegally stay anyway, as Canadian living standards are not that different from those of Americans. Similarly, you don't see much concern about illegal immigration from, say, South Korea, Singapore or Japan, or from rich middle eastern countries like Saudi Arabia or Dubai. If you look for racism everywhere, you'll see it everywhere.

seneca 2y ago

> I always found it odd how restricted immigration is in the US The US is home to more migrants than any other country in the world. More than the next four countries combined. You should question why you believe the opposite of reality.