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US immigration budget now bigger than most of the world's militaries
(www.newsweek.com)
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this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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Leave the US. If you have expertise you'll be easily welcomed into most countries, if not, there is are a lot of countries you can still move to that are not police states. Either way you'll stop paying/supporting and supporting US fascism with your work. The immigrants your government is so eager to deport have been through worse.
I would have been gone years ago I just don’t really have the means to leave
People with far fewer resources than some of the poorest Americans make treks across continents. I'm sure most Americans could figure it out if they really wanted to.
All right well I’m not going to do this back and forth about it with you. You know nothing about me or my situation.
You are right. My comments shouldn't be taken as precise advise for specific situations, but I stand by the generalities. I'm general though, if a family with less than a grade 5 education can make a cross-continent trek in hopes of a better life, most US citizens are well positioned to immigrate elsewhere.
Sure. We'll just start walking from the American continents to... Well, fuck
Have you considered getting one of those floaty things with pushy arms that go in water?
I was gonna say that you can't just row across the ocean, but apparently you can.
If you gain the sponsoring for an ocean rowboat, you can then secure sponsorship for the 3-4 months-worth of food since restaurants and gardens are hard to come by in the ocean. I understand that fish live in the ocean, but fishing eats into your 17 hours per day during which you'll need to row. Also, trying to handle fish on the open ocean in a small boat is an incredibly risky maneuver. Even worse, once you catch the fish, you gotta set your boat on fire so that you can cook it and not get parasites.
All told, it's significantly cheaper to just fly, but that's unhelpful advice to someone who just told you that they can't afford to uproot their life and fly to another country. You might ask, how can you not afford that, and the problem is that hiking across countries smaller than my state gives you opportunities to work odd jobs in exchange for shelter, food, and money. But since planes and airports generally don't hire random passengers, it puts you back in that "I'm fucked" boat that you suggested.
Also, all this is giving your unserious comment the credence that you weren't talking about taking a gondola ride across the Atlantic.
Thats a brilliant deep dive. Thank you.
I guess that's how most immigrants make it to the US?
No.
Literally most fly in, and then just say they are here to visit, then stay.
Your understanding of modern immigration is similar to what you see on Fox News.
Do you think land crossing don't happen? Do you think ocean crossings don't happen? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Alan_Kurdi
Do you know what "most" means?
Doesn't matter in the context of the comment thread. I'm simply saying people do, and Americans can too, if that's what they need to do to escape participation/subjection of the evil empire.
Sorry, I thought I’d made it clear enough that I was taking the piss.
You know literally nothing about immigration, do you?
Beyond personal experience and the experiences of colleagues, friends and family going to/from a wide variety of countries, and how different countries structure their legal immigration process, not much I guess.
Riiiiiigth...
Yup
The US is an odd duck when it comes to taxes…
You only have to pay them if you move back to the US (and want to work). It's not like other governments disclose your finances to the US.
Absolutely not true. If you want anything to do with US banking, social security, Embassy services, you better pay up. And every bank you open abroad is literally required to disclose to the IRS that you have a bank account with them. Source: I live abroad.
The idea being put forward is leaving the US and never returning.
Until you acquire a new citizenship and renounce your US citizenship, the US government affects everything you do, regardless of where you are. Just leaving with no intention of returning does nothing. Source: me
That anyone would want to be part of a regime that oppressive and call it freedom is insane, to put it lightly.
For more info…the legal requirement is part of FATCA
Specifically if you're a contractor simply working abroad. If you don't actually reside in the US and you earn foreign income /pay taxes for a year, you're not going to owe anything.
That said, if you travel overseas for three months on contract, earn a ton of money, and come home to spend it, you have to report that in the US minus taxes payed abroad.
This is true but you’re only taxed by the US if the country in which you live isn’t taxing you higher already. So if you move to a gulf Arab state with no income tax yes. But most places in Europe? You won’t have to pay US tax since domestic tax will be higher.
As if any cops would even attempt to stop them instead of joining in. Calling the police is just giving them backup.
No, but there will be a war front that you can position yourself on the not-scum side of.
There are too few places to escape to in modern society, given the rise of authoritarian globally. I was planning on Germany until the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Now I find it more prudent to stay in the U.S. and relocate to a low population area. For the handful of dense urban environments in the U.S. there are far more wide open spaces with no people.
Head in the sand is always an option, until it's not.
It’s all relative. It’d be just as easy to argue the head in the sand argument at an American who thinks they’re just gonna pack up to a random city in Europe and avoid the consequences of what’s happening globally. I understand we’re all just trying to feel like we have agency over our own lives and don’t exist at the whim of a handful of billionaires, so to each their own.
Fascism is always a possibility anywhere in the world. The difference is that it's here and now in the US. I sure as shit would be doing everything I could to not be there anymore if I were there. It's fucking scary enough watching it from Canada and I won't have any hesitation to flee if the tanks start rolling in this direction.
I left earlier this year. I'm a tan skinned Latina trans woman immigrant, basically their #1 target. I'm still absolutely terrified for my friends and family.
I truly hate that I'm still chained to the US via my citizenship. A part of me hopes they denaturalize me so I don't have to pay them shit.
Can't you denounce your citizenship? It's also not possible for them to force you to pay taxes on income you don't earn in the US - unless you want to return at some point. I hope you're some place safe that respects your identity now.
I think it's actually pretty expensive to renounce US citizenship
Renouncing US citizenship is no easy task, and I'd rather not do that before I get new citizenship
Totally fair - being stateless is objectively worse that being hated by your state (I don't mean that sarcasticly, it's fucked up on so many levels)
Don't leave. It solves nothing and allows growth of tyranny. Fight back.
Tyranny has taken over - staying is a choice to live in fascism. Fascism does not die from within, it does a slow death from being excommunicated from the world or it dies a quick death as the world responds to it's expansionist tendencies. It does not die because people stop voting for it.
I am not speaking about voting. I am speaking about revolution. Americans wouldn't understand that I suppose. They certainly don't seem to.
Civil war/sabotage from within are option too, but I am not seeing any sense of leadership emerging on either of those fronts (not to say it would/should be obvious).
It keeps you alive. Just ask all those Europeans who fled the bloodbath of the world wars.
It ensures others fight your battles for you when it takes you standing up first to ensure others help.
An easy thing to say if you've never been shot at
I have been shot at thank you very much. For just doing my job trying to help people. A good chunk of Americans certainly have been shot at with feeding the war machine for decades and having one of the highest mass murder and gun ownership rates in the world.
The US is a bit special. It is the only state to require its citizens pay taxes to it on (regular) earnings abroad. Other places only tax earnings made inside their own borders.
So to truly be off the hook for American taxes as a non-elite, you'll have to renounce your citizenship.