A personal immigrant story

I don't see where you fit into this.

https://www.uscis.gov/news/fact-sheets/public-charge-fact-sheet

In determining inadmissibility, USCIS defines “public charge”as an individual who is likely to become “primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, as demonstrated by either the receipt of public cash assistance for income maintenance, or institutionalization for long-term care at government expense.”

This sounds more like a round about way to take a personal situation that seems only vaguely related to this public charge rule change to do your part to #resist. That's fine, but if your honest you'll admit you are not the target of this rule.

 

No he knows better.

 

This.

Or he's just been suckered by the left's fearmongering nonsense.

 

Ss and Medicare are not welfare or assistance as far as I know.

You should have applied for citizenship many years ago.

 

It's pretty paranoid of you to be worried in the position you're in, but I'm glad that you are.

No non-citizen should feel safe in this country, or any country in the world for that matter. When you're a guest in any country, you should always feel a little nervous, and be on your best behaviour.

It drives me crazy when people go to other countries and act like they own the joint.

 

Seriously.

After four years, it should be a matter of sh!t, or get off the pot.

 

Nah, if he isn't 100% in (to being an American) he should continue to be a foreigner. We don't need "citizens" who are ambivalent about the country depending on what benefits they think they can collect.

 

I do understand

You want to stay in America as long as it suits you

BUt be able to bail out any time you please

 

Did you not read my opening post, I have never collected any benefits.

I realize that people who have never left their home country apart from a vacation or business trip cannot understand this. Once you emigrate from your home country (doesn't matter where to), you become sort of homeless. I am now a foreigner in Germany, since I haven't lived there for so long, and have been shaped by US culture for 16 years, but I will always be a foreigner in the US as well. People still realize immediately when I talk to them that I am "not from here", due to my accent. You don't know how often I have received the question "so, you are not from here...."? Most people don't mean it in a bad way, they are genuinely interested in my background. Yet, for me it shows that I will NEVER be able to pick up the subtle language and social mannerisms that show that someone actually grew up here. I have come to terms with this, but when I hear stories in the news that foreigners were told to "go back where you came from" (note I was never told this personally), this emotionally hurts me as well.

You see, it is not that easy to just say "I 100% want to be an American". Why? Because I never will be 100% like someone who has been born here. Part of it may be because me ending up here was based on a long sequence of unplanned small events, not by an always-present desire to one day become an American. There were lots of sacrifices on the way, the biggest one probably being unable to care for my late parents in ill health, when I could only visit them twice a year. I understand that many immigrants make much bigger sacrifices, often leaving their country knowing that they will never see loved ones again. In fact, many ancestors of current Americans had to make this sacrifice. Yet, modern day immigrants are portrayed as moochers who are only after benefits. No, they want opportunity. They want work. Maybe more so than many Americans, who would not dream to make the sacrifices these immigrants make.

 

What's your opinion of immigrants who come to the US, and, decades later, still don't speak enough English to carry on a basic conversation with an average American?

What's your opinion of immigrants who come to the US, and, decades later, are still collecting entitlements that make them a net drain upon American society?

 

1) I think it is the obligation of immigrants to learn the language of the host country as quickly as possible. That's what I did, by immersing myself with Americans instead of only mixing with Germans.

2) There will be those that are a net drain on society, Americans as well as immigrants. That can't be eliminated. I, for one, do not want to judge them, because there are often reasons why someone can't work. However, the notion that immigrants come here to mooch off the social safety net is highly overblown. Are there some? Sure. The vast majority just want to work and better themselves.

 

Hell, I feel homeless in my nation full of hypocrites and extremist.

 

What's your opinion of immigrants who make little or no attempt to integrate into society? Is it wrong that they feel uncomfortable, unwelcome or "homeless" in American society? Do they have just as much of a right and a justification to be granted American citizenship as yourself?

Why not? Isn't that what the immigration self-dependency requirements are all about, eliminating the dead weight and the societal parasites?

That sort of non-judgmental attitude has been disastrous for your original homeland of Germany, they learned the lesson the very hard way, and they've recently accepted the necessity of "judging them".

What's your opinion of that?

 

Good.

Don't let the door hit you on yer arse.

 

I won't because I took down the door..I plan on straightening out the shithole..

 

There you go. Be the change you want.

That's the American spirit.

 

Someone I work with from Trinidad came as a teenager. She applied for citizenship in her 30s but said it wasn’t hard at all once she actually started the process. Wasn’t in a rush.

 

look if you feel torn between two countries, what do you want our country to do about it? How do you write that law. If you come here and stay for 15 years and don't know if you really want to be an American, don't worry we will hold a place for you and treat you like you do want to become one?

And saying the posters here don't have empathy because we don't understand the feelings of immigrants. 1/4 of this country citizens are within one generation away from the old country and many of us have grandparents who were immigrants. Just because you brought a skill with you does not make you any better than my grandparents who immigrated from Portugal. They went back every few years to see relatives and friends that they left when they came here. But they came here to become Americans, We want people that want to be Americans, not ones that wish to remain German, or Mexican or Syrian or what ever.

 

I did read your opening post, in thread you created that was inspired by the public charge rule change. So yes, this is about benefits. You said as much.

As for the rest, I'm not one of the many here who have either criticized your failure to follow up on citizenship or have encouraged you to do so. If you don't think of yourself as American, then no, you shouldn't pursue citizenship. However don't be surprised if actual Americans who are citizens support this change to the public charge rules. Some of us don't want to put the rest of the world on our social services system and can see no advantage to having people come to this country and simply become a burden to the taxpayers.

 

Given your statement, perhaps you could consider the feelings of the native born Americans who find that immigrants are changing their hometowns. They become homeless in their own hometowns as the language and culture changes to a completely alien one.

I stand with them. Diversity is the death of community.