To hope that Donald Trump doesn’t win the election

[RosaMoline]

….it’s getting closer.
I was hoping that Kamala would be a shoo-in for the presidency, but looking at the betting odds, I’m feeling quite pessimistic.
It’s incomprehensible to me that a convicted felon, racist, rapist, liar and misogynist who spurred on an insurrection - after everything that’s happened - is running for office again and may very well win.
It’s comforting to read though that fellow Brits DON’T support him.
Apart from Reform. Obviously.
yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/50752-who-did-britons-want-to-win-the-2024-us-presidential-election

ESTA overstays aren't necessarily forgiven as the spouse of a US citizen but the ramifications are less severe. Much depends on how far past the expiration date she has stayed; if it's under 180 days, she can apply for a green card without leaving the US, as long as she was initially here under a valid visa. If it's been a year, she'll have a three year ban from reentry if she leaves the country before completing the green card process. If it's over a year, there's a potential ten year ban from reentry if she leaves. This is as the spouse of a US citizen, regardless of having American children. Hopefully she's begun the green card process already and won't have to worry about it for much longer.

She began the green card process on day 91 but processing tines are likely to be a year! It's probably sitting in some filing cabinet now.

Ah gotcha, that's so frustrating! I'll cross my fingers for her that it gets completed smoothly and soon!

Well that’s different if she’s applied for the spousal visa. It could get tricky if there was a lapse between the two. I’m going to assume she’s being smart and working with an immigration attorney to make sure she’s not inadvertently breaking any rules.

technically overstays and illegal working are forgiven if you are the spouse of a US citizen

This is a dangerous assumption… it’s unlikely her MIL’s house will be raided by ICE in the middle of the night but if she admits to living here illegally, if asked, it could be a problem.

So does that mean that she is technically an illegal immigrant as she overstayed her esta? When Trump, who she would vote for, carries out the 'mass deportations on day 1' that he promised at his Madison Square Garden rally, could she be included in those numbers?

Don't worry, he won't win

She can't vote and I think she is technically undocumented though she has put in an application which is pending.

I can't stand the creep. As well as he fact that he was celebrating when they failed that assaination. When a man died trying to target him says it all. He's a rascist sexist biggot. Have they forgot the tantrum he had when he lost to biden?

Referring to someone as an illegal immigrant is just slang for undocumented. In my area of the US, it's mostly Trump supporters who use it. It means the same thing from a paperwork standpoint and when Trump talks about deporting illegal immigrants, in his words, he's referring to undocumented people.

Including people who have put an application in but are so far from getting the approval they may as well not have put it in at all.

The wait times are very long

I get how the democrats were painted into the corner they are in now. If they didn’t go with Kamala they would have lost an epic amount of money already raised for the Biden/Harris ticket

Indeed, @saltinesandcoffeecups
I've often thought it a shame that a way couldn't have been found to use the money for a fresh nominee, and maybe if they'd had the sense to jettison Biden long ago there'd have been more time to sort things properly

But they stayed with him nearly up to the wire, so everything had to be done in a rush and here we are

Those are asylum seekers. If they have applied for asylum they aren't illegal.

If they are illegal then they go underground work cash in hand for below minimum wage. They are usually in debt to people traffickers who got them there and victims of modern slavery. How does he plan on tracking all of these people down?

Undocumented immigrant = illegal immigrant = illegal alien

All the same thing someone who either came into the country illegally or came in legally and overstayed their Visa. Only difference is what term is politically correct. I suspect there will be a new term soon enough.

@saltinesandcoffeecups

From the Cato Institute:

"Trump was wildly successful in reducing legal immigration. By November 2020, the Trump administration reduced the number of green cards issued to people abroad by at least 418,453 and the number of non-immigrant visas by at least 11,178,668 during his first term through November 2020."

The big changes the Republicans want to see is for the illegal immigrants crossing. They want to end the catch and release getting lost in the US way of doing things. The legal immigration routes didn’t get any more difficult in Trump’s first term there is no reason to think it would a second term.

"President Trump also entered the White House with the goal of eliminating illegal immigration but Trump oversaw a virtual collapse in interior immigration enforcement and the stabilization of the illegal immigrant population. Thus, Trump succeeded in reduce legal immigration and failed to eliminate illegal immigration.""

@saltinesandcoffeecups

"Undocumented immigrat = illegal immigrant = illegal alien
All the same thing someone who either came into the country illegally or came in legally and overstayed their Visa. Only difference is what term is politically correct. I suspect there will be a new term soon enough."

'Politically correct'? 🙁 Trump and his allies will always use language around immigration that's actively dehumanising and maybe it would be good to acknowledge this. 'illegals' and 'illegal alien' is deliberately dehumanising language.

"But they stayed with him nearly up to the wire, so everything had to be done in a rush and here we are"

You understand that Biden had to agree to step down?

Trump is a nightmare but the Democrats need to bear some of the blame too if he wins this time. They will have lost to him 2 out of 3 elections and he is a terrible candidate so what does it say about them?
Blaming the electorate for being "wrong" is always a mistake.

Again, electoral college.

There are certain states that no Democrat could win. At this point in time, it will come down to a handful of voters in a few states every time. The fact that Trump is running even is testament to that more than it saying anything about either candidate.

Meant to tag @OonaStubbs

Trump is a nightmare but the Democrats Republicans need to bear some blame too.
Fixed that for you @OonaStubbs.😊

They were too afraid to stand against him and his meat grinder campaign in the candidate race. What does that say about them?

There are also certain states that no Republican could win.

Yes, but your point was about the Democrats' candidate in comparison to Trump. I'm saying that at this point in time it has less to do with the specific nominee than the demographics of the vote. There is a very small portion of the electorate up for grabs.

But blaming the weird electoral college system may be correct. Trump lost the popular vote to Clinton in 2016, as Bush did to Gore in 2000, but the electoral college put them in because of where the votes were. I know all electoral systems have their problems, including ours!

Also, in most presidential elections, a large number of people don't vote at all (a 55% turnout is typical).

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/may/09/steve-mccraw/illegal-alien-legal-term-federal-law/

The electoral college is fine. It more or less works and makes sure that NY and CA and FL don’t control the country.

It creates government by minority rule.