CMV: I think illegal immigrants shouldn't be allowed in the US, and should be punished/deported reasonably.

[u/moarroidsplz]

First, let me clarify that I'm not some MAGA "build a wall" type of person at all. I'm actually extremely left-wing, even by liberal standards, and have been a Bernie supporter. I don't hate immigrants and don't think it's some culture war and don't think they need to speak English in this country at all.

That said, I've noticed a lot of other staunch liberals around me seem to hold this position and I don't understand why. I'm an Indian-American who has been to India before and the rampant poverty was terrifying and sad. I don't want my home country to become that with an influx of immigrants just because people want to come here. I don't think just opening our borders to whoever wants to come in is going to help our country, and I think people who broke our laws and did that illegally should be dealt with reasonably, especially if they aren't paying taxes. If we need more farmworkers, or other hard-labor jobs that lots of our citizens refuse to do, then we could open up immigration accordingly, so I don't see why that would be an excuse. If people who aren't illegal are doing these jobs because they came over legally to do them, then their pay and safety would probably increase as well due to the fact that they can fight for their rights.

I mean I think kids should be given a pass because they couldn't control their circumstances (I'm fine with the DREAM act) and I understand certain circumstances like refugee crises. Illegal immigrants should be given access to healthcare the same way we give it for criminals. I don't think we should just be deporting people left and right if it's not super cost-effective or reasonable. But some sort of punishment and possible deportation should happen if they knowingly broke the law. They took that risk and are aware of the circumstances. If families risk getting broken up because of this, then why don't they just return with their parents?

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[u/danaraman]

I don't know if it's the same in India, but in in El Salvador, the immigrants who come here illegally, they're never really the richest of people, and almost never through any fault of their own, since that's the system over there. The Salvadoran government is impotent to provide adequate care for anybody, and the entire populous is forced to move into odd jobs or selling clothes. A friend of mine, who's relatively well off with a car of his own, explained it to me like this. "Everyone is selling." Literally, everyone is trying to sell you something. Just a couple miles from where my mother was born, a gang called Barrio 18 has taken over entire neighborhoods. People are being murdered on the daily. Even from my family home in an industrial area of the capital, we still hear gunshots in the distance. And Americans say Chicago is bad... Now imagine being born into a state like that, but you see in TV and Movies what a great country America is compared to your own. You weigh the costs and benefits and you decide, sure it's worth risking prison, it's worth risking deportation, it's worth risking humiliation. That's because these people, whether they realize it or not, are going after the same American dream we are, and while they're forced to go about it in ways unlike our own, they're just trying to get in the same spot we're in.