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Comment by erkt | Hacker News Reader

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

Surely you would admit that this Administration’s approach to immigration has been both chaotic and cruel. The workers who were given status in the United States expected a predictable process, not one that changes weekly based on the unserious personal whims of a bored, ill-informed and vindictive man. In any case, the prioritization of citizens’ wellbeing writ large is demonstrably _not_ a feature of this Administration’s agenda.

The entire point of a temporary visa is that the host country can refuse to renew and force you to leave the country at their whim. When you apply for such a visa you accept those terms.

The entire point of a temporary visa is for the country to benefit from your labor. How does canceling it on a “whim” benefit anybody?

The whim might be re-evaluating that benefit and the worker coming up short.

Immigrant visas are not temporary visas.

The government should not be doing inhumane things to people. This should not be a controversial statement.

The first responsibility is to protect the rights of all people in the country. Citizenship is not required for protected rights

If citizenship is not required for protected rights, what is? If myself and 10,000 of my friends migrate to Greenland illegally, does the Greenland government have a duty to protect our rights?

Yes. Your rights do not include entering Greenland illegally. They do include things like being given food and water in prison until you are deported. Protected rights are inalienable, you don’t need to do something to qualify.

How, in any way does this help the wellbeing of a citizen? Why bring up that very strange point, which is completely unconnected to the massive harm here.

If anything, these policies harm the citizens of the US in a myriad of ways. There's zero benefit to be had from any of this. Except for the joy tha tthe cruel feel in causing others misery, but that's not citizens, that's just a few sick people.

>There's zero benefit to be had from any of this.

From the article:

"Updated guidance and training were being put in place to ensure that visa applicants don’t become a public charge under U.S. law or depend on government benefits intended for Americans in need, a spokesman for the department said Wednesday."

The implication that visa applicants are receiving government benefits intended for Americans is completely unsubstantiated.

Very true - for most of these with the exception of refugee visas (which we have stopped processing except for Afrikaaners), there is a requirement for financial sponsorship: someone the IRS can bill/garnish in a meaningful manner if you receive any government benefit within ten years of your arrival in the US.

Which makes zero sense, because this has always been the case. When I moved here twenty years ago on a K-1 visa, my partner had to sign an affidavit of support saying that regardless of any contributions I made (paying taxes, social security, etc.), that any "public charge" would be directly billable to her through the IRS. -And- she had to demonstrate ability to be able to meet that obligation. That financial sponsorship applies for the first ten years of the immigrant's residency.

Whatever updated guidance and training is needed here is one of two things, 1) something that could be handled in a matter of days or weeks, or 2) "We have no idea how long this could take so we're suspending it indefinitely" (which is what they're doing), and the "updated guidance and training" is a smokescreen for Steven Miller's agenda of becoming a closed nation.

The mere suggestion that this admin is doing this or anything else for the wellbeing of its citizens is a complete departure from reality.

It's very clear what the motivations are, and just because they don't seem harmful in isolation doesn't mean it's going to have no consequences for everyone else.

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.

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