A lot of people are saying this. So sad!

The problem isn't that we process refugees; you need to stop for a second & think *why* all those refugees are trying to be processed by Canada rather than the US: it's because the US is much less likely to accept them. In other words, we Americans look for any excuse so we don't have to accept all those dirty, disease-ridden darkies.

Fuck. I didn't mean to star my own submission. I'll accept dairyqueen's rating below as a pre-emptive punishment for my transgression.

Kind of interesting. I'll admit, what I don't know about immigration could fill a warehouse. I remember looking at some European countries and Australia a while back, fantasy kind of thing, I think I remember it being kinda of tricky, which is fair, I don't bring a lot to the table. I am, generally in favor of regulation - just depending on what's happening in the world. Look at Cuba/Florida in the 80's. Everyone loves Cubans, but that immigration wave, at that particular time, rocked Floridas dick. Any kind of triage can seem heartless, but it may be the most logical thing.

All of this is pre-Trump. ^ He'll probably go in a more extreme direction.

Funny that you should mention the Cubans; that's the only time (that I can think of) where the miscategorization of refugees went the other direction; many (although not all) of the Cubans that arrived in Florida were immigrants, not refugees. Yes, some of them were fleeing for their lives, but others were leaving not because of oppression, but because they didn't want to live under Communism. (I.e. they were seeking better lives for themselves & their children, which is a textbook example of an "immigrant".) However, the US government at the time bent the rules & categorized them as refugees in order to score PR points against Castro.

That's a good point. I've probably conflated refugees with immigrants other times as well. Those two things are very different and should be handled accordingly. I think my position on immigration is alright, but if people are being murdered, well shit, there's lots of room in the middle.

Immigrants & refugees are two totally different groups, and this video deals with refugees.

Reasonable people can disagree about how many immigrants we want to allow into the US, as well as what criteria we want to use to screen prospective immigrants. However, when it comes to refugees, there's a lot less grey area: if someone flees their homeland because they're afraid for their lives, they're refugees & should be let in. We have a moral obligation to accept them, and I believe we have a legal obligation as well: if I remember correctly, we've signed international treaties saying that we'll accept refugees.

But of course, we only have to accept refugees if, well, they're *categorized* as refugees. And that's where the bullshit starts. Because the US is a shitty country filled with racist, fearful dumbasses, our government does everything in its power to categorize these people as "immigrants".... which can be turned away. Which is why those people are risking their lives in order to sneak into Canada & get processed there.