>>Agreed. And I'll add that there's a double standard: some people apparently feel the U.S. needs to be more tolerant than other industrialized nations....and much of it is tied to this moral aggrandizing that "all of us in America are immigrants", the "Give us your tired, your poor", etc.
>>
>More tolerant - nope. But seen from here low-wage immigrants mostly from the south ***seem*** to be a bigger part of working economy(not tried to verify myself, as probably can be done only via estimates of perhaps also partially illegal work contracts).
>
>If that really is the case, it would be reason for me to feel the US needs to balance both concepts better ;-)
>Obamas dreamer "solution" a step in the correct direction, but no solution, as Trump could unravel it with ease...
>
>>>Until I see the wailers targeting Congress that actually can do something about this, all I see are useful idiots who must be delighting Putin who in his wildest dreams never could have hoped to "collude" this destruction of political civility or trashing of respect for US institutions.
>>
>>Again, I understand where you're coming from, and the point about the homeless veterans is spot on.
>
>Hope another foreigner is allowed a "ditto"
>
>>The libertarian in me has always felt, "I don't care who comes to this country, so long as they behave themselves and obey our laws". Of course, the illegal border crossings sort of strike out the last part.
>
>For me the crucial/critical point is how to get rid of the unwanted? The big plus of channeling via allowed entry points is the option of identification and later deportation to either land of entry or homeland. So I cannot fault the logic of Trump trying to close illegal entry, but I'd couple it with better chances of entering. More carrot ***and*** stick, Trump too much stick and Merkel too much carrot...
>
>And I'd try to give deportation bigger teeth, esp. in my country - as some time in our prison plus time spent free is preferable to some conditions would-be-immigrants flee, a fast closed door for repeated minor crimes IMO is warranted. The legal options exist, but have not been used, as being allowed to stay in todays PC has moved from a privilege to a right. I might have mentioned that I am mostly against PC ;-)


Can't speak for EU, but the practical history of immigration into the US, legal and illegal, argues overwhelmingly that there's not too much, but rather too little.


Fact A:
We're running out of people here.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44151642


Fact B:
We need new blood because the old blood is getting dumber and lazier.
Immigrants are a lot smarter and more industrious than the natives.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/09/27/scores-new-sat-show-large-gaps-race-and-ethnicity

Fact C:
No one else wants to mow lawns or wash dishes.
Here in Hamilton, NJ two of our best restaurants are owned and operated by Hispanic immigrants who started as teenage dish washers. That story is repeating itself. Lawn maintenance companies that employed immigrants are now being run by them. So are some construction companies.

Immigration topics have been the darlings of demagogues since WR Hearst famously evoked the "Yellow Peril"

Again, I realize that there are other issues in the EU, but the facts here seem pretty clear to me.