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Comment by JuniperMesos | Hacker News Reader

> A stance that Sweden should reduce the amount of immigration they accept would be utterly unremarkable and never result in outrage like this.

I don't believe this claim, because immigration is a live political issue in my country (the United States) just as it is in Sweden; and people absolutely claim that reducing the amount of immigration the US accepts is immoral and genocidal. Seriously, claims of this nature are a huge amount of contemporary American politics and this is obvious to anyone who has seen the name "Donald Trump" in a news publication talking about the US in the past decade. Also I've read Bryan Caplan's argument that not having open borders is morally equivalent to Jim Crow, and read plenty of other people who think similarly to him.

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No, plenty of people in the US want to limit illegal immigration and expand legal avenues.

It’s the Democrats and Republican politicians and party activists who can’t compromise. The Democrats don’t address illegal immigration, even the easy wins like when immigrants were placed in hotels while homeless Americans were in the street and crummy shelters (Maine). Then Trump finally deports criminals, but also technically-illegal people who’ve lived decades and started families here (and haven’t commit any crimes beyond speeding tickets), and restricts and harasses legal immigrants.

There’s something wrong with politics where parties can’t even accept the most obvious exceptions to their “controversial” issues, maybe because of the stupid “slippery slope”. I expect people to fight over 1 million refugees who aren’t misbehaving but overloading systems. I don’t expect people to fight over an immigrant who assaulted someone, or a legal immigrant who is giving more than they take.

Immigration in the US is a completely different problem with its own crazy complex history of cause and effect. Using one as a lens to study the other seems foolish at best.

That is sort of the point, this has become a wedge issue to separate people. You are either pro-immigration (world wide) or not.

It's the same "You're either with us or not" argument that forces a side.

So it is related.

> people absolutely claim that reducing the amount of immigration the US accepts is immoral and genocidal

I'm in the US too. Can you provide some sources?

A simple google search finds quite a bit

https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueUnpopularOpinion/comments/1llz6...

One Reddit thread that wasn't even on my first page isn't saying much. Top comments are mostly that mass deportations and forced removal are what's problematic, not limiting entry or reducing immigration in the first place.

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