I will have to work my way through all of these threads this weekend. I wish I could be there in person to listen to you advocate on this issue. A lot of the people who talk about the illegal immigrants sucking up our resources in the US ignore how much they contribute through their work in the underground economy ... in fact, they work harder than most Americans do, it's heartbreaking (and back breaking and limb removing for them). And interestingly enough the entire welfare system has been quite effectively presented to the US public as something supporting inner city blacks, making it easy for a lot of middle class (white) Americans to say they're against it ... despite the fact that in fact it supports far more poverty stricken whites. The success of right wing media manipulation is truly depressing
The US system is similarly f**ed up (like the British). We call all Haitians economic refugees, as if it wasn't US policy that made them all so destitute, and then have a blanket acceptance policy about Cuban refugees (*if* they make it to shore) as they are fleeing a regime that we want to make a point about ... and the Cuban voting block in Florida is *very powerful.* Um, I mean, as the Cubans are fleeing EVIL COMMUNISM whereas the Haitians are merely fleeing starvation and midnight execution, so they're not "political" refugees.
That's a lot of stuff to read but it's good to read it all
The US system is similarly f**ed up (like the British). We call all Haitians economic refugees, as if it wasn't US policy that made them all so destitute, and then have a blanket acceptance policy about Cuban refugees (*if* they make it to shore) as they are fleeing a regime that we want to make a point about ... and the Cuban voting block in Florida is *very powerful.* Um, I mean, as the Cubans are fleeing EVIL COMMUNISM whereas the Haitians are merely fleeing starvation and midnight execution, so they're not "political" refugees.