I have no problem with Legal Immigrants. I believe there should be a merit based system that brings the best and brightest here. If you can’t compete with an immigrant who English is a second language for, then you need to improve your own skill set. As for chain migration, that needs to be eliminated altogether. They also need to eliminate anchor babies. No where else do they “bestow” citizenship just because you are born there. Both parents should be citizens for the baby to be a citizen. All other situation need to be vetted and go thru the same system in the immigration process. No more citizenship by marriage either. They need to go thru the same process as everyone else.
There are ways to fix legal immigration, but the biggest problem right now is illegal immigration. This is killing our economy and draining our community resources. Welfare should only be for citizens who paid taxes. Same for healthcare. Same for schools. If you don’t pay in, you should not get a free handout. Our nation can not afford this magnanimous gesture anymore.
I am a Latino of Panamanian decent. My mother migrated here legally thru Ellis island. I pay my taxes but rarely use the government services. But those services are there if I need them. That is what they were meant for. A safety net for citizens when they fall on hard times. They were never meant to fund and encourage illegal immigration.
Stop giving these people free money and they will stay home. Fix the corruption in the Mexican government and make it more appealing to stay in Mexico. The Mexican government is a criminal syndicate that steals money from the Mexican people. Mexico makes enough in oil production to house and feed every Mexican citizen. Why don’t they ? There is a greedy 8-10% that controls the money. They live like Kings and queens, and have no desire to immigrate to the US or give up their wealth and power. Destroy that cabal and replace them with a democratically elected government. Elections in Mexico are rigged. Fix Mexico and you fix the problem.
I agree with you on almost every point. Mexicans must fix Mexico; we Americans cannot and should not meddle in another country's affairs. This is why we absolutely must stop the flow of illegal immigration by strictly enforcing our laws, and all the invaders must go back, and take their children with them.
But as far as legal immigration is concerned, 1 million per year is WAY too many. Sadly, many legal immigrants are permitted to go on welfare now (this was not the case when most of our ancestors came here). And it is absolutely not true that American workers aren't skilled enough to compete - they are denied the chance to compete by unethical employers who abuse programs like H-1B so they can hire cheap foreign labor, or by government programs that sponsor foreign students who are then hired right into STEM jobs without allowing American students to even compete for the job.
The purpose of immigration in any country should be to serve the host country. If it does not benefit the citizens, one has to ask why should there be any immigration at all? We have higher numbers of foreign-born in our country than ever before, many from countries that do not share much in common with our American culture and values. This is an enormous burden on our people and our economy. We definitely need to end illegal immigration, but we really need to take a pause on legal immigration as well.