That guy had been overstaying a tourist visa for something like 17 years, and only started the green card process in April 2025. I don't think people who have overstayed tourist visas for 17 years should be eligible for any kind of permanent residency in the US, and would support laws making it impossible for someone in his position to get a green card or a work permit.

The fact that he is a white Irishman is legally irrelevant and enforcing immigration law in a race-neutral way is pretty un-Gestapo-like behavior.

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deepsun an hour ago | parent [-]

Only because we made the "overstaying" an illegal offense. But there's no reason to -- if the guy was paying taxes the whole time, and never committed a serious crime, then we should be happy to welcome such guys, ramping up our GDP.

Don't forget that the paperwork costs a lot, if one has children, can get close to $10k.

Look at Spain -- instead of deporting "illegals", they just made them "legals" (those without a criminal record). Easy, problem solved.

	▲	direwolf20 33 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		America's a society built around finding people to punish and watching them get punished. I don't understand it, myself. It's like Roman gladiator fighting. But Americans seem to need to feel like they're hurting people who "deserve" it and they can't do that by convincing themselves nobody deserves to be hurt.