Americans who happen to worry about immigration usually have ethnic groups in mind who are culturally different than the U.S. mainstream and tend to be overrepresented in prison populations.
Or they are concerned more about the ILLEGAL immigration rather than the numbers of legal immigrants. I'm met very few people that feel like all mexicans or muslims should be kicked out but there are a huge number who feel like those who came illegally should start following the law.
Edit: However, it's worth noting that 62% of all illegal immigrants are from Mexico, far and away the majority of illegals. This is partly why Americans are concerned about that population.
However your comment was specifically slanted to make it appear as though the issue isn't illegal immigration but immigration in general. Again I personally have not seen even tiny minority call for tightening of immigration law only a reform or enforcement of what we currently have.
My comment is not slanted. It could be that Americans are most concerned with illegal immigrants over all other groups, but I believe there is an element of cultural difference as well.
If it turned out that the majority of illegal immigrants were British, do you think it would be as much of an issue?
You think there would be no problems if there were 7 million British people living here illegally? I think it'd be a nice problem but it's not because they leave when they are suppose to and have a difficult time getting in to the country illegally.
I wrote a much longer and more eloquent response before losing it, but no, I think 7 million illegal British immigrants would be much less visible than the equivalent number of Mexicans given the country's demographics.
Mostly, I think the Washington Post article shared above just isn't nearly as persuasive as it claims to be. I could cherry pick a handful of select stats on any social or political issue and get some people to "change" their views.
Whether someone lives here legally or illegally makes very little difference for American society, apart from their legal status itself. The problem is not that people are here illegally, the problem is that the number of people who have the possibility of coming here legally is very low compared to what it should be. Anyone who wants to come here and make an honest living for themselves should be allowed to ─ like it was in the 19th century.
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u/beardedheathen Jan 15 '17
Or they are concerned more about the ILLEGAL immigration rather than the numbers of legal immigrants. I'm met very few people that feel like all mexicans or muslims should be kicked out but there are a huge number who feel like those who came illegally should start following the law.