Thread: Brother lost

My brother and I were on the discussion of "Illegal Immigrants" and I am truly sick... I love him to death but when he told me that he doesnt give a toot if they are Illegal as long as their working and doing jobs that we "AMERICANS" wont do then he is all for them, he feels their trying to make a living and support their familys, then I said well why dont they do it the "legal way like everyone else" he replied saying it takes to damn long.

Now as he was about to walk out he said also the pathetic part was "We Americans complain about our flag being burned or being banned, and he said and I quote " It's just a piece of fabric" I cannot explain in detail how I went at him... verbally of course but then he left mentally scared. At this point I feel very sick and I dont think I'm gonna be talking to him for sometime now.

ps. He is 20 btw

Sorry to hear about your unpleasant exchange with your brother. But you say he's 20. Perhaps youth is the "problem."

Being anti-establishment is still "cool" in some circles, ya know. :P

There's really only one way to change his mind, and that is to educate it for him. Bookmark all your reference pages or print them out so they'll be handy. If you do it right he'll start asking you questions.

You can start with something like, "Which jobs exactly are the ones Americans won't do?" IF he has an answer, show him the employment statistics. Illegal immigrants hold only 5% of the overall jobs in this country.

If he says, "Well, THEY pay taxes!" show him the CIS charts that prove they are a net drain on the economy.

Opening a closed mind is ALWAYS a challenge, but the rewards are GREAT!

We were all young and inexperienced and 20 once.

W

Sorry about what happened with your brother. I wish that I could give some good advice, maybe somebody else can. I guess it is a matter of attempting to have your brother understand that you probably do have empathy for the plight of many illegal aliens, but you have to consider the reality of the long-term consequences too. That's how I usually try to handle situations like that. There is a tendency for those around 20 not to put that much weight on the future and concentrate mostly on the present. Not a liberal at 20 = no heart, not a conservative at 40 = no brain type of thing. For what it's worth, chances are your brother will likely consider how important your relationship is to him and there will a chance to talk before you expect it. Just my thoughts.

Originally Posted by MopheadBlue

Sorry to hear about your unpleasant exchange with your brother. But you say he's 20. Perhaps youth is the "problem."

Being anti-establishment is still "cool" in some circles, ya know. :P

I agree, when he gets a little older, and he and his friends begin losing job oppotunities to THEM,, begans to have a family of his own, sees his hard earned tax dollars being spent on ILLEGALS and sees the face, and condition of this Nation change for the worst he will change his tune.

Maybe he should see the staggering cost of harboring those illegals at the tax payers expense he would change his mind much sooner. The numbers are quite sobering

I also experienced the same type of thing with my older brother, first it was Bush. He said in 2k that bush was "The Man" I simply told him he should have paid more attention in school, the supreme court DOES NOT ELECT THE PRESIDENT(btw, we are both in our 50's) well, we didn't talk for awhile(typical for us when we argue). In 04' I told him don't do it and I reminded him of Iraq, bla,bla...then when it came to illegal immigration he screwed up, big time. He informed me that illegals are needed where he works I said b.s. and I gave him the stats. He still was vehement about the issue. Then guess what? He was passed over for a raise because as he said it "my boss told me I was already making more than 90% of the people where he works" then he made the mistake of telling his boss "the only reason I make more is because you hire illegal workers" ...his boss wrote him up and said "if you like your job, you won't say anything like that again.
Wanna guess who's side he's on now??
Your brother is like all brothers, you guys argue and fight...but in time you will both calm down and be pals again

I understand. I've lost some friends on this issue. Luckily though
my family and I see eye to eye. I think the biggest benefit to my
parents is they raised me to LOVE this country so much that
it deeply bothers me to see people waving the Mexican flag
and pledging their allegiance to Mexico. If you love Mexico sooo
much why don't you go back to Mexico?!?!?

Is it that hard to become a US citizen? I mean that's the main thing he throws in my face every damn time! he keeps saying their uneducated and they have no clue how to become citizens, then he says their starving and have NO TIME to wait for "permission" to come across... I sadly have nothing to stand on in that department because I have no clue myself.

We were all young and inexperienced and 20 once.

for sure! and until I had to start paying their way, I was idealistic enough to feel sorry for them all. Same with my kids. Now my kids are in their 30's and have seen the light a well.

Is it that hard to become a US citizen?

Actually, with a corrupt and misused system, it sometimes is VERY difficult to become a citizen. That is why the naturalized citizens in this country have a right to be even more furious than those of us who were born here to see illegals handed the world on a silver platter at our expense.