I'm against this. As in, I-wrote-to-my-congressman-within-an-hour-of-reading-about-it against this.
1. I know people from these countries (Iran, old roommates), and the idea that these people are terrorists is laughable. 2. In a lot of cases, (Iran, Cuba), people moved to the US because they don't support the current regime. Hint: these people LIKE America. In the case of one of my old roommates, she published a lot of election stuff on her facebook wall that would not make people back home happy. 3. I suspect the bill will fail because it's stupid. HOWEVER, in broad terms it could be described as a bill to make our nation "safer" by "tightening immigration" in broad strokes to make the Obama administration look bad or "soft on terror", when, really, it is being hard on stupidity.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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(For confused readers, that crescent moon and palm tree have nothing to do with Muslims or Arabs and is actually from South Carolina's flag ironically enough)
Posts: 7593 | Registered: Sep 2006
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Oh, lovely. And it's so easy to get asylum in our country now. [/sarcasm]
I think you've probably called it- this is grandstanding to give the usual suspects something to pin on Obama vis-a-vis being "soft on terror". It's really a pity no one of significance is probably going to call the jingoistic ogre on it.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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Stupid bill, but it wouldn't matter anyways. It would never pass. It will never even make it out of committee. There are hundreds of stupid bills that go through Congress every year that have no chance of passing.
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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If you actually read the bill it's about barring "entry" and has nothing to do with deportation. Specifically, the bill states "The STEP Act of 2010 bars the admission of aliens from countries designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism as well as Yemen to the United States".
Is barring admission to state sponsors of terror a bad idea? Will importing Muslims reduce our problem? How are things going in Europe? If one out of 100 are radical, you are importing a serious problem. America should only grant the privilege of citizenship to people who have something to contribute to our nation. Just as we outsource jobs for cheap labor, we should only allow entry to people who provide a net gain to our nation.
Posts: 1495 | Registered: Mar 2009
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quote:Originally posted by malanthrop: If you actually read the bill it's about barring "entry" and has nothing to do with deportation. Specifically, the bill states "The STEP Act of 2010 bars the admission of aliens from countries designated as State Sponsors of Terrorism as well as Yemen to the United States".
Is barring admission to state sponsors of terror a bad idea? Will importing Muslims reduce our problem? How are things going in Europe? If one out of 100 are radical, you are importing a serious problem. America should only grant the privilege of citizenship to people who have something to contribute to our nation. Just as we outsource jobs for cheap labor, we should only allow entry to people who provide a net gain to our nation.
The 2003 bill (which failed) did include a provision that would deport people in the US on student visas within 60 days.
quote: The 2003 version of the bill is available online. Congressman Barrett's office did not respond to requests for comment. Aside from the inclusion of Yemen, and a new provision to prohibit the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison to the United States, Congressman Barrett has not indicated any further differences between his new bill and the legislation he introduced in 2003.
While graduate students (accounting for all the Iranians I know) are the epitome of cheap, outsourced labor, I don't think anyone could argue that their presence does not supply a net gain to society, especially considering that graduate admissions is a highly competitive process.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by malanthrop: Just as we outsource jobs for cheap labor, we should only allow entry to people who provide a net gain to our nation.
So what time does your plane leave, and where will you be living now?
It's grandstanding, and a bunch of crap. It's probably aimed right at the GB detainees, to prevent us from closing GB.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Mal, you complained that President Obama did not do enough to help native Iranians who are fighting against their current government. Many of those fighting for regime change barely escape Iran with their lives. As a reward for their fight we offer them save sanctuary in the US. You would stop that? You would force us to send Iranian dissidents back to Iran? You would force us to send anti-Communistic Cubans who are running from Castro back to that dangerous place?
You really want to make this a war against one of the largest religions in the world, don't you.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Feb 2003
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