Ugh that’s brutal. Suddenly Nicaragua isn’t looking so bad.

> Not only does the city — and state — not have enough childcare in general, but existing state and federally funded social programs present their own challenges for people who are undocumented or awaiting a change in their immigration status, Schwartzwald said. And just getting into an immigration courthouse requires people to stand outside for hours, only to join a backlog of more than 120,000 pending cases in New York City.

It almost sounds as if the city’s social services and legal systems aren’t infinite, and can’t scale quickly enough to support unlimited illegal migration. How could that be though?

Asylum seekers applying for legal status must do so within the US. They are following the law.

This needs repeating every time this topic comes up, I feel like we need a bot.

I can't help but think that this might not be as big of an issue if universal pre-3k were a thing. Think of it as expanding funds for public education which is a requirement anyways. Not sure why it was decided that school needed to start at 5 yo anyways.

As someone who works in social services, a lot of people are asking for expanded 3-K and after school. Shelter rules prohibit other clients looking after children other than their own for a whole host of legal reasons and some programs and vouchers are contingent upon the recipient having employment.

Childcare is both hard work and requires skilled labor. There’s no reason why we should undervalue it and place an undue burden on other citizens for it when we all benefit from it. I may not have children but expanded childcare means my workload is lessen due to my coworkers not having to call out if they can’t find childcare. Additionally, a better and early start to education allows more people to be happy and a generally higher increase in quality of life.

maybe if the US didn't fund Contra to destabilize Nicaragua for 20 years so many people wouldn't be fleeing in the first place lol. There should be a limit to immigration simply since resources are finite, but also you reap what you sow sometimes

What also bears repeating is that asylum grant rates are very low, because the laws governing asylum are rather strict.

> An asylum claimant must demonstrate persecution based on one of the five protected grounds (race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion).

Poverty is not one of the grounds (nor is it the same as government persecution), so most of these people don't qualify. But they don't leave. In absentia removal orders continue to pile up, but they're unenforced because failed asylum seekers are not a current "enforcement priority" for ICE. And so, yes, this is actually illegal migration.