[zzrrt]

> Do you think keeping out criminals is why we have an immigration system?

A person should be forgiven for thinking so, with government figures constantly invoking Laken Riley et al, and generally saying we’re being invaded by violent criminals and they’re going after “the worst of the worst.”

Since the administration is catching up on 20-year-old violations, I look forward to — only for the sake of those skilled workers waiting in line, of course — to Elon Musk being denaturalized, deported, and exit-taxed for his admitted “gray area” period of his immigration journey.

[rayiner]

Rhetoric aside, every developed country has an immigration system, and the function is the same everywhere. The principal function is to manage the cultural and economic impact of immigration by controlling total immigrant numbers and filtering for more desirable immigrants. Filtering out criminals is an extreme case of it, but that’s not the be-all-end-all of the immigration system.