There’s a big political scandal in France over Immigration. The French president stands accused of ‘Trumpism’. Let’s compare events in France with events in the US. 
For background on this post, please see Trumpism in France, Le Pen Claims ‘Ideological Victory’, What’s Going On?
French president Emmanuel Macron passes hardline immigration bill supported by Marine le Pen. Macron’s Health Minister resigned causing a political crisis.
Le Pen claimed it was an “ideological victory” because for the first time an immigration law would recognize the principle of “national preference” – long a cherished goal of her National Rally party.
Manon Aubry of France Unbowed called the law the “most xenophobic in French history” and the Greens’ Yannick Jadot said it marked the arrival of “Trumpism” in France.
What’s in the French ‘Trumpism’ Bill?
- Delays foreigners access to state subsidies like housing aid or family allowances for several months or even years
- Toughens family reunification rules for immigrants
- Forces children born to foreigners in France to request French citizenship upon reaching adulthood, rather than having it granted automatically
- One-year, temporary residency permits under some conditions for skilled workers in fields experiencing labor shortages
Immigration Mess in the US
President Biden faces the same dilemma as Macron, except here, the fate of an immigration bill is also tied to funding for Ukraine and Israel.
Ukraine, Israel, and immigration are logically unrelated. However, Republicans want immigration restrictions in return for more aid to Ukraine.
Democrats in general are OK with more immigration even as blue state governors are pleading for help.
US Mud Slinging Delayed
The US mud slinging will come next year as the Senate Left Town for the Holidays Without Border Deal.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday said it was “critical” that Congress pass the bill because the White House only has one more security assistance package they can deploy to Ukraine as it fends off a Russian invasion before the end of the year, when funds will run out. [Excuse me for pointing out Ukraine is not a national security issue.]
But when they return in early January, lawmakers face a rush of funding deadlines that could make it even harder to push through the complex deal that would provide $110 billion to arm Ukraine and Israel, beef up border security, and provide humanitarian aid in Gaza and elsewhere as a government shutdown looms.
“It’s a mess,” said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, referencing the Jan. 19 deadline to fund several critical functions of the federal government. “A lot of deadlines we face in the first few weeks of next year — and we don’t have a great record when it comes to that.”
“I’ve been doing political work for over 20 years, and this is the hardest issue ever,” Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), one of the three main Senate negotiators, said in an interview with The Washington Post last week. “It’s hard because it’s very emotional for people on both sides of the aisle, like viscerally emotional, but it’s also the most complex area of law in our federal system.”
The GOP-controlled House and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have also been noncommittal about whether they would pass the package even if the Senate reaches a deal, with many conservative members demanding more sweeping immigration changes and opposing Ukraine aid altogether.
Senators have kept details of their talks under wraps, even among their colleagues, but senators and aides briefed on the negotiations said they are discussing a mechanism to summarily expel migrants when border crossings are particularly high and a policy change allowing for speedy deportations of some migrants who lose their immigration cases, among other issues. [Really?! How will speedy deportations work when an immigration case can take months if not much longer, decided by whom? Then factor in finding a person hiding in a sanctuary city. ]
Former president Donald Trump has made the large numbers of migrants showing up at the U.S. border with Mexico a key campaign issue, recently saying the migrants are “poisoning” the blood of the country, which civil rights groups have compared to the writings of Adolf Hitler.
Everyone Will Be Unhappy
Some liberals have bashed Democrats and the White House for considering policies they say are more in line with Trump’s.
“What Donald Trump did and said was despicable,” Schumer said when asked about the comments on Tuesday. “But we do have a problem at the border … and Democrats know we have to help solve that problem, but in keeping with our principles.”
Republican voters, meanwhile, oppose further aid to Ukraine, according to polls, and many Republican lawmakers, especially in the House, have said they don’t want to send further aid to that nation.
“That’s what this sort of deal is all about,” Durbin said. “You got to have unhappy people on both sides of the table.”
Surprise Champion for Money to Ukraine
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is the person to watch. Previously he vowed no aid to Ukraine.
But on December 2, the Journal noted Mike Johnson Becomes Surprise Champion of More Ukraine Aid
—Less than one month before Mike Johnson’s sudden ascent to the speakership, the Louisiana Republican, then a little-known member, joined with most GOP lawmakers to vote against $300 million in U.S. security assistance for Ukraine.
Now, as speaker, Johnson has surprised many on Capitol Hill by publicly and repeatedly calling Ukraine aid a critical priority for the House.
“We can’t allow Vladimir Putin to march through Europe and we understand the necessity of assisting there,” Johnson said this week at a media event in Florida. He expressed “a sense of urgency” and said he was confident that he would get Ukraine aid passed, while stressing that Democrats would need to agree to border policy changes demanded by Republicans.
The effort to secure funding for Kyiv is part of a complicated set of negotiations that will again test Johnson’s leadership, a few weeks after he pushed through a short-term spending bill, with Democratic help, that puts off a government shutdown until early next year.
A surprise champion for more money, gee who coudda thunk?
I commented on that “surprise” in advance.
Please recall my November 11 article No Surprise, House Speaker Johnson Proposes Same Plan as McCarthy
There are likely big surprises elsewhere, but there is no surprise in this corner regarding Johnson’s plans to keep the government running.
“It’s…100% clean. And I 100% oppose,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R., Texas) on social media.
Many people told me Johnson would be different. Will they pretend Johnson is different or will they act surprised?
Even though the WSJ was surprised, votes for more money are never a surprise in this corner. It’s a matter of principle.
More Money for This and That
The most likely result will be more money for this in return for more money for that.
It’s possible though, this blows up due to Democrats not wanting to fund border controls. Other Democrats will not want to fund Israel.
If Democrats are united, Johnson would need support of all but three Republicans when he was once against aid to Ukraine. Democrats are unlikely to be united but so are Republicans.
Johnson won’t commit because he hopes the problem goes away. It won’t. But there is no deal to commit to anyway.
There are many Republicans who do not want any aid for Ukraine and others who no matter what concessions the Senate grants on the border, will not be enough.
France’s, and by extention Europe’s immigration problem, has been caused by the US of A ! Our WW2 ‘saviour’, apart from messing up south America, messed up the Middle East too and we just let our Lord and criminal mfn Master doing so; Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria , Yemen, Sudan etc ..and last but definitely not least, the megalomaniac US of A thought it necessary to take on Russia of all places, by means of its corrupt to the bone, cannon fodder providing ally , named Whorekraine, with millions of refugees heading for the EU as a consequence ! You do it all on purpose , don t you ? Well, not exactly ‘you’ , but your criminal Deep State mafia gang rather ….
Immigration is changing the character of the country. I just heard that a survey concluded that 25% of those surveyed thought Binladen was a good guy. Of course, education is part of the reason but , still, my generation would have laughed at that proposition. In a few decades the majority will be black and Hispanic. How will that question be answered?
We don’t need immigration “reform”, we just need to enforce existing laws already on the books.
If a person seeks “asylum”, legally they need to claim it in the first country they cross into. You don’t travel through 8 different countries then suddenly decide you want asylum at the U.S. border. Another law being ignored.
Wow! That makes a lot of sense. I wonder why FJB is against this idea?
When will the moderate independents & conservatives wake the hell up about illegal immigration?
Great idea.
Only rich folks that can afford an airplane ticket can claim asylum where they want. Ok, perhaps a boat ticket. Venezuela to Texas is long boat ride.
Seems every country has an immigration problem these days. Until congress passes some reform we will to. Other wise it just rallying the base noise.
I would say cancel at us boarder. you have to apply at an embassy in a country adjacent to your home country. The rest could be done by zoom. Simple but both parties want something to talk about at elections and businesses want workers.
“CBP sources confirm migrant encounters have surpassed 250k for the month of December—On pace to break the previous record set in September of 269,735.”
That’s enough to drive anyone xenophobic, including mayor Adams of NYC and Johnson in Chicago.
“Even though the WSJ was surprised, votes for more money are never a surprise in this corner. It’s a matter of principle.”
Yes, it is a matter of principle to spend more money, while complaining about spending more money. The Gaslighting is effective at increasing the national debt.
“We can’t allow Vladimir Putin to march through Europe and we understand the necessity of assisting there,” Johnson said this week…
Ah, the march through Europe, Gaslighting routine. Putin hasn’t even marched through Ukraine to it’s western border.
Is politics ” Unrestrained Capitalism” in its truest form. Whereby results and outcomes are bought and sold to the highest bidder
Politics is Unrestrained Capitalism in its truest form. Whereby results and outcomes are bought and sold to the highest bidder.
The U.S. Government, currently under the control of Biden Inc. is not at all like France. In fact, one could argue, and be correct in most minds of Americans I would guess, that Biden Inc. Loves Undocumented Illegal Immigrants Much More than American Citizens and Especially Veterans. We know this from what Biden Inc. has Approved and Accomplished to date.
M – Delays foreigners access to state subsidies like housing aid or family allowances for several months or even years
B – Expedites foreigners access to state subsidies like housing aid or family allowances, and removes and kicks US Veterans to the street homeless, to make more room for Foreign Illegals over American Veterans.
M – Toughens family reunification rules for immigrants
B – come one, come all, find your Family if you can, make one up, pass the kids around and create multiple families out of the same family, just get here and vote D damn it.
M – Forces children born to foreigners in France to request French citizenship upon reaching adulthood, rather than having it granted automatically
B – Give children born to foreigners in the US, instant citizenship and benefits
M – One-year, temporary residency permits under some conditions for skilled workers in fields experiencing labor shortages
B – Instant Free residency, schooling, healthcare, vaccines, dental, money, benefits for virtually everything
I would agree, that they are not even close…
President Biden unlike Macron, wants the fate of our immigration bill tied to funding for other Countries Wars. No Border Deal is a disgrace, and because it’s tied to a deal for War to pass is even more of a disgrace. War Mongers, Love War…
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday said: Blah, Blah, Blah WHO CARES?
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said: Blah, Blah, Blah WHO CARES?
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), one of the three main Senate negotiators, said: Blah, Blah, Blah WHO CARES?
Everyone Will Be Unhappy – The Democrat way! They Always want Everything OR Nothing!
– Surprise Champion for Money to Ukraine: There are likely big surprises elsewhere, but there is no surprise in this corner regarding Johnson’s plans to keep the government running.
> I don’t see this happening, but if he does, they should toss him out like they did with McCarthy, and start over and continue to look for a Person with Principles, and who Doesn’t Lie to the American People and His Fellow Republicans…
Now that would be a start in the right direction if necessary, and show that they are Serious about the Leader of The House!!!
Biden Inc. is using an age old tactic and I don’t even think he knows it.
Consider the POLITICS OF POVERTY. Example: Hitler got himself and his party elected by using German poverty as a springboard. When poverty is bad enough the poor (German Christians) will be desperate enough to vote for anyone, with any plan. His plan was to convince the voters that the wealthy (German Jews) took all the wealth and therefore caused all the poverty. It took him years to convince the non-Jews that the Jews were at fault. Have you seen this happening here in the US? It worked for him and he was elected to fix the problem. His fix was to confiscate the wealth of the Jews and use it to re-animate the economy. In the US (and elsewhere) devious politicians take advantage of existing poverty, or create it, or IMPORT it. The more poverty, the more power they need to fix things. The more hopeless things look the more blame they can place on the rich and the more power they get from poor and their supporters to take back the wealth and return it to those who deserve it.
The more poverty we import the more power the liberals will get to take wealth from the rich to achieve economic justice. After they take the lion’s share for themselves.
If we visit the Schengen Zone in Europe, we have a 90-day auto-Visa. Stay one day more, without paid-for Visa Extensions – – and we are FINED and denied auto-Visas in the future by the Immigration Stamps on our passports and in the system.
It is a travesty that LAW ABIDING SYSTEMS pay to stay and non-law abiding immigrants get free food and housing.
It’s self-evident that those of European ethnicity who come from civilisations that follow rules, are the most compliant with rules; and those of non-European ethnicity that come from broken or primitive societies are not required to follow rules.
This is the Zimbabwification of the western world, and will lead to economic collapse and social disintegration, dragging the civilisations built by the ancestors of those of European ethnicity into the Third World, by importing Third World people and “values”. It is self-evident that it is WASP culture and Chinese culture that has built sustained complex civilisations and economies over time, with the WASPs winning.
Of course this will be described as “White Supremacism”, but if you look at 10,000 years of Human history objectively, what do you see? Mass immigration to where from where? …and why? What to do they run from? What do they run to?
If we follow the trajectory of this phenomenon to it’s natural conclusion, we will see the Balkanisation of developed world countries along ethno-cultural lines, and those islands of European-ethnicity will preserve what they can of their civilisation and build fortress states to keep out the baying hordes who try to take from those of European ethnicity, what they can’t or won’t build for themselves.
The genesis of American and Anglospheric (Can, Auz, NZ, etc…) history, is Martin Luther and the schism between Protestantism and Catholicism, that started the initial break-away of England (and the Netherlands) from centralised control and corruption, and a fatalistic mindset to a Protestant one of “the Lord helps those who help themselves”, and is the source of Mercanitlism -> Capitalism -> Creditism (Capitalism ended in the 70s and was replaced with debt-based Creditism); whereas Catholicism tends towards Collectivist and Hierarchical ideas, which are stagnant and infantilisation of the peasantry.
The current “Culture Wars” seems to be about a rebellion against the Protestant Work Ethic towards a Collectivist idea of neo-Feudalism, with a protected class, and their favoured client groups, and looks inherently corrupt by conceptual design.
The problem with all this, is that there will always be those who rebel, and create new islands of WASP-like culture, which by conceptual design will be more dynamic and economically prosperous. The impending turmoil is a necessary phase of creative destruction like Noah’s Flood or an Australian Aborigine’s bush burning, to purge the mess and start again.
Herbert Stein: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”
We are seeing the end of property rights, the rule of law and civilized behavior as the norm. Tribalism is replacing individualism. The future is cloudy at best.
Yup. And there’s only one renewal.
You can stay 180 days maximum.
Or get a student, business, etc. visa.
“However, Republicans want immigration restrictions in return for more aid to Ukraine.”
AND, there we have it: MORE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (MIC) spending in exchange as part of the “Deal.”
WHY in the hell are our Parties so UNIFIED on WAR SPENDING, and making simply NOISE on immigration. BOTH are hot mess and every expensive and the Republicans MAKE OUT VERY WELL as they are of course the OUTWARD NEOCONS and the Democrats are the PLAUSIBLE DENIAL NEOCON PARTY by making shit up as they go…
BOTH PARTIES ARE ABSOLUTELY about the MONEY. There is no hesitation in the way I frame these wars in my mind: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The point of foreign wars and military spending, as the British Empire taught, was economic and trade expansion: without money flowing, nothing much can happen, and for money to flow you need sustained control of trade routes and resources.
“WHY in the hell are our Parties so UNIFIED on WAR SPENDING” Because of a form of bribery called lobbying.
US/Mexico border was never protected on our side since James Polk. On the other side the little “kaisers” levy 7K/10K for every and each crossing. The Islamic Jihad and their criminal gangs will fight the Mexican cartel for god, power and control. The first battle ground might be in “elite” urban cities such as : Berkeley CA, NYC or Chicago. The risk of being shot in the cross fire is high.
I don’t see the jihadis winning against the cartels… truly a deathmatch though.
The border invasion is not the problem. Round up the leaders of the NGO’s organizing it and the people funding them. Put them in Federal prisons with harsh sentences to include the Soros’s, Gate’s and other billionaires. Do that and this will end swiftly. In a matter of days.
Yes, the issue is the lack of arrests of CEOs in charge of these organisations; the lack of impeachments and arrests of government people; the lack of arrests of airline, bus, train, and hotel CEOs, and their incarceration or mediaeval public execution.
NGO’s and the people that fund it. Take away the organizations and the money and what you describe evaporates immediately. We didn’t have the problem on this level or these kind of illegal aliens until the NGO’s got stood up by nefarious billionaires trying to wreck civilizations.
These people are modern day viking raiders without all the gore and destruction and becoming more and more audacious and organized. Break up the NGO’s and take their leaders. It will stop.
Using the term “mess” minimizes the constitutionally criminal negligence at the border. I would not expect Mish to softshoe the intentionally ignored or willfully supported invasion at the southern border by using the term “mess” like a puppy soils the rug. Oops.
Language matters…a lot!
As to his spot-on analysis and prediction of the spending of money (on anything)–the very definition of compromise and doing the hard work of the people, in Congress–he is indeed correct. Simply: we fund what you want, we fund what i want. We call that “compromise”. Guess who gets the shaft? The American taxpaper, continually, and the children and grandchildren of the Baby Boomers that left the printing press and till wide open for decades. Fraud, grift, corruption, negligence, incompetence.
Yes, Sir, well said!
I don’t understand the point of comparing.
Over here, if you willfully refuse to protect the borders, you’re violating your Constitutional Oath, and guilty of Treason.
No politics required.
The comparison is that both Europe and America and their European ethnic populations are facing an existential crisis from deliberal illegal mass immigration. The difference is that Europe is the motherland: there’s nowhere to go, and they must fight to the death if they want to survive.
The border is the greatest National Defense issue.
What Biden border mess? Feature, not bug. When is Durbin coughing up the Epstein client list?