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U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

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231–240 of 952 posts

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#231
post #19

the current admin are working hard to destroy the U.S as if they're foreign agents. not only are they making it hard & unbearable for families of US citizens & PR holders to be together. while at the same time - discouraging talent to come to the US at a crucial time when talent is at a premium due to A.I development. last the backwards energy policy of banning renewable energy.

I used to think things like this as an American. But let's simplify. What if they're just fucking idiots and they realized they could rally a bunch of other fucking idiots to the polls?

So if you were essentially having a spasm about how no one understands how perfect the world was when you had all the advantages, I mean, we don't need a fancy theory at that point. It's literally old people spewing up acid about why their kids don't come to Thanksgiving, only we managed to create such a presence in the world media, it's a damned disaster.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#232
post #66
post #15

So for those that don't know, it's quite common for a visa renewal to be required to leave the country. Depending on the visa, you might have to do this every year. So just imagine, having a normal job in the US and you're asked to leave to renew your visa and this stuff happens. That's no more appointment, not even a new date and you're now very likely unable to work and possibly can't even enter the country to get…

Inhumane maybe, but our government should owe its first allegiance to our citizens wellbeing, not imported workers.

And its going so great for our citizens wellbeing. Oodles of programs for the needy smashed to bits. Corruption and self dealing out the wazoo. Protestors shot to death by ICE agents. A legendarily stupid war fucking up international shipping. Illegal tariffs changing daily.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#233
post #191

"We're not anti-immigration, we're only anti-illegal immigration!" * indefinitely pauses legal immigration *

Slanted take here, but this is exactly what they are doing with the federal government.

They like to complain that "big government inefficient and bad" while actively making it inefficient and bad. They are fulfilling their own prophecies.

Similar to immigration I'm sure. If all immigration is illegal then it's all bad!

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#234
post #81
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 90% of new jobs since 2020 went to people not born in America. That's a passive-aggressive invasion. Do you have a source for this claim?

I looked it up there are a few articles. https://cis.org/Camarota/New-January-Data-Still-Shows-Most-J... https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/feb/7/immigrants-t... https://guestworkervisas.com/bls-a7-analysis.html

CIS is an anti immigration think tank and Washington times is pretty blatantly conservative outlet. I’d be wary of those sources.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#235
post #19

the current admin are working hard to destroy the U.S as if they're foreign agents. not only are they making it hard & unbearable for families of US citizens & PR holders to be together. while at the same time - discouraging talent to come to the US at a crucial time when talent is at a premium due to A.I development. last the backwards energy policy of banning renewable energy.

I used to think things like this as an American. But let's simplify. What if they're just fucking idiots and they realized they could rally a bunch of other fucking idiots to the polls? So if you were essentially having a spasm about how no one understands how perfect the world was when you had all the advantages, I mean, we don't need a fancy theory at that point. It's literally old people spewing up acid about why…

Like if your racist grampa got put in charge of US Treasuries, tell me how things would be worse.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#236
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Worked fine" is a pretty vague description for the year we had a Great Depression, world war, Jim Crow, Japanese internment to name a few.

The U.S. was at the apex of its power during those years. Those years are also why we remember earlier immigration waves as “working.” The foreign born population dropped from 15% to under 5% during that period. The Italian and Irish enclaves disappeared and so did the separate ethnic identity of those groups (to a large degree).

I believe that human flourishing is a better goal than state power relative to its rivals.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was never about talent. It's about companies hiring foreigners on h1b visas at below market wages where their life in the USA is contingent on their job performance forcing them to work harder and longer than their peers to remain in the country. It's a situation that only benefits companies, while harming US citizens who have to compete with the lower wages of foreigners.

I was a hiring manager. H1B candidates got exactly the same wage as native born. There were no differences.

The idea is that the "same wage" you are talking about is too low to hire enough employees in the time needed that the company needed so they had to look abroad for people willing to work for that amount.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the U.S. has been doing even better since 1965. So really the question goes back to you. Either way, your whataboutism isn’t even relevant since those were congressional changes. This is the executive trying to undermine the law.

>And the U.S. has been doing even better since 1965. Better for whom? People are struggling to afford groceries largely because the dollar is worth 1/165th of its 1913 value and the minimum wage hasn't been raised in 17 years. I found a job that pays in BTC and I'm super hopeful about that one because my effective salary won't go down by 3-8% every year but instead will appreciate relative to what things are priced i…

> Better for whom?

Minorities and women, for a start.

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#239
post #44
post #19

the current admin are working hard to destroy the U.S as if they're foreign agents. not only are they making it hard & unbearable for families of US citizens & PR holders to be together. while at the same time - discouraging talent to come to the US at a crucial time when talent is at a premium due to A.I development. last the backwards energy policy of banning renewable energy.

> the current admin are working hard to destroy the U.S as if they're foreign agents The U.S. had a draconian restrictive immigration policy from 1921-1965. That worked fine. How can you say with a straight face that someone must be a “foreign agent” to think doing the same thing again will have the same result? Surely the burden is on you to prove the opposite, right?

[deleted]

Re: U.S. State Department pauses immigrant visa applications

#240
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking forward? He never stopped. It's been 10+ years of narcissistic scapegoating, even for times when he was President, even while Republicans controlled congress, and even over trade-deals, policies, and laws that he took-credit for and bragged about . (e.g. USMCA in 2020.) > Without words said, a wave of understanding rippled through the crowd. Oceania was at war with Eastasia! The next moment there was a tremen…

[flagged]

Donald Trump: Billionaire in one of the top government roles of one the most powerful countries in the world; puts enormous banners of his own face over buildings; runs a personal distribution network to announce what he hates every day to his followers; regularly "jokes" about being a dictator; triggers perpetual wars with other countries; etc.

Emmanuel Goldstein: An exiled academic in hiding with a death-sentence over his head for criticizing the despotic government.

You: "People like myself who actually read 1984 know that Trump is basically Goldstein! Not any other character. The parallels are impossible to ignore."

If you really read the book, then that's tragic, because all you learned was how to embody doublethink.

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