Summary

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned that Trump’s mass deportation policy could lead to labor shortages and higher grocery prices.

Experts say agriculture, construction, and healthcare will be hardest hit, with farm output losses estimated between $30 and $60 billion.

Deportations could cost the U.S. economy up to $88 billion annually.

AOC argued that immigrant labor is vital to economic stability, urging Congress to pursue immigration reform.

  • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    25
    ·
    4 hours ago

    I understand higher food prices is rough for the general public, but I’m struggling to find a reason we shouldnt deport illegal immigrants. I’m concerned that illegal immigrant labor is akin to H1b or prison labor, where the worker has diminished rights and is abused more than other groups.

    Why are democrats or people in general in favor of illegal immigration?

    • gamer@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      2 hours ago

      but I’m struggling to find a reason we shouldnt deport illegal immigrants.

      Are you specifically concerned about illegal immigration, or just immigration in general? Because if it’s the former, that’s a silly distinction because the government (we the people, aka Elon Musk) decides what is illegal or not. If the next wave of politicians decides we should have actually open borders, then there would be no such thing as “illegal immigration”.

      I’m concerned that illegal immigrant labor is akin to H1b or prison labor, where the worker has diminished rights and is abused more than other groups.

      Do you have specific examples in mind where immigrants are exploited? If you do, look at those examples and ask yourself: “could we pass laws to protect these people from abuse?”, and you’ll find that the answer is obviously yes.

      Maybe your definition of “abuse” is that they need to work harder to earn less? Well, that’s the society we live in. Capitalism has its problems, but it has worked good enough for us for the past 248 years. For the immigrant, US minimum wage is likely far better than whatever they received in their home country, and I suspect most would happily take that deal. I think that’s what they’d call “the American dream”, as their children will be able to go to school and have a better future than they did.

      …If your issue is with immigration in general, then I don’t know what to tell you. That’s entirely opinion based, and nobody knows what the correct answer is (despite what they might claim). 100% open borders has risks, 100% closed borders has risks.

          • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            11 minutes ago

            Right, he made the great point that maybe we could pass laws to protect people we dont even know are in the country. That makes a lot of sense. Illegal immigrants are a protected class now!

            I’m frustrated that everything trump does gets misrepresented to the point where people are just shouting random fears into the void. Apologies for refusing to jump to conclusions like the rest of the circle-jerkers on this platform.

            I am opposed to quite a lot of what trump does but kicking people out of the country who didnt arrive legally isn’t one of them, because I simply can’t think of a reason why people who broke into the country deserve the right to stay.

        • gamer@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          2 hours ago

          So you don’t care about immigration, you only care about the “illegal” aspect of it? Does that mean you’re pro-immigration reform, so that more people can immigrate to the US without “breaking laws”?

    • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      27
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      4 hours ago

      You know what a “false dichotomy” is? If no, this is a beautiful example. Immigration reform is an entire world of options, “deport all the brown people” and “open borders and free subsidized piñatas for everyone” aren’t the only options like you’re presenting here.

      • Madison420@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        18
        ·
        4 hours ago

        The programs that work get killed because they require companies to pay on the books and at a reasonable rate and provide certain protections which effects company profits.

        • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          ·
          4 hours ago

          Nobody likes being told to stop exploiting something when they’ve been doing it for years…

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        3 hours ago

        This, I find most of people’s problems with “The Left” are based on their failure to understand what a False Dichotomy is

        I had a friend of mine tell me that he didn’t support Democrats or Republicans because he felt the options were “I can vote Right and get politicians who wanna kill black people, or vote Left and get politicians who worship black people like Gods!”

        and I had to be the one to tell him, that no one is out here worshiping black people as gods.

        Well, maybe fans of Morgan Freeman in reference to his role as God in Bruce Almighty, but even then that’s just one black guy and not all black people.

        He tried to say that “Some Leftists do…”, but ultimately he caved and realized how silly his claim was…

        I still can’t get him to vote, though he claims he supports Democrats as a lesser evil option…

        Which doesn’t really matter because he doesn’t fucking vote.

      • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        10
        ·
        4 hours ago

        You literally avoided my whole question. Why do you want illegal immigrants here? I’d think youd want them here legally rather but maybe I’m just crazy. Is it just mean to deport people? If I was in Canada illegally and they arrested me and sent me back to the US, I wouldnt think Canada was a shitty country for it.

        • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          ·
          4 hours ago

          I addressed the premise of the question because it’s fundamentally flawed, any direct answer would have to tacitly acknowledge those flaws as valid or be intellectually dishonest.

          Left-wing people aren’t in favor of “illegal immigration”, they are in favor of immigration reform.

          • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            8
            ·
            2 hours ago

            And what do we do in the meantime while we dont have immigration reform? Pretend we do and ignore laws?

            • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              8
              ·
              edit-2
              2 hours ago

              You know what a “false dichotomy” is? If no, this is a beautiful example. Immigration reform is an entire world of options, “deport all the brown people” and “Ignore all the laws” aren’t the only options like you’re implying here.

              This is a very, very old topic. What have we been doing, before it was politicized into a fiery hot-button issue? What, historically, have we been doing that is effective?

              • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                3
                ·
                2 hours ago

                I never implied those are the only options. I only specifically said I have no issue with deporting illegal immigrants, which is what’s currently happening. Why should we permit illegal immigrants to stay in the country and/or attempt to gain legal residence?

                It sound like a lot of people are upset that if we get rid of our indentured servants and slaves, then we won’t be able to afford all the useless shit we buy constantly.

                • Warl0k3@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 hour ago

                  You very much did, and you very much are continuing to present hyperbolic examples as reasonable interpretations.

                  An illustrative but lazy counterpoint might be: Why aren’t you more comfortable with putting immigrants in concentration camps? Don’t you see how open borders would harm this country?

                  • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    20 minutes ago

                    I’m exaggerating how? I stated that illegal immigrants are currently being deported, and then asked why that would be a bad thing. And apparently the answer is that the question is framed unfairly?

                    If you can’t answer the question I dont know why you keep replying.

                    Let me rephrase: trumps current executive orders have led to double the amount of illegal immigrants being arrested as before. Why is this bad for the country?

                    If you dont want to answer the question, feel free to reply but I likely won’t answer you again.

    • WhatYouNeed@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      27 minutes ago

      In the hope they become legal, productive members of society. Would that not help all parties involved?

      • Woht24@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 minutes ago

        Not when you’ve got over 350 million people and the world’s most expensive health care.