Welcome to the Lounge

By posting this to the Lounge instead of the soapbox, I was hoping to start a serious discussion started. Notice that I did not mention their country of origin, religion or native language. There are many places in the world they could be from. The key scramblers on this story are, for me, their age, lack of documentation, lack of education, and culture shock. Almost every civilized country has some sort of a welfare system that could provide for the basic necessities, once they learn how to access it. But welfare does not provide much assist with the other issues.

Also, I did not want to limit the discussion to those landing on American shores. Many other nations, especially in Europe and southeastern Asia, are receiving substantial, if not overwhelming, numbers of refugees from various nations.

We are programmers. We solve problems and provide the tools that allow our politicians (or in some countries, political class) to implement solutions to the pressing problems of the day. To do this, we need to understand and explore the problems and be proactive in our solutions. As an example of our short-sighted thinking in the past: check boxes on a form labeled "Race:" allowing for the choice of black, white, or asian. In our modern globally-interconnected world, we need to think outside of the narrow boxes imposed by history or our local culture.

Jalapeno Bob wrote:

the ethnic communities in New York welcomed the newcomers, found them jobs and social assistance.

Jalapeno Bob wrote:

Americans have lost the sense of ethnic community

W∴ Balboos wrote:

The current calamity, if you wish to so classify it (I do) as that it's made too easy to remain in the 'ghetto' - where you can speak your native tongue, likely watch TV in that language, take your drivers test in that language, and essentially never have a reason to leave and integrate.

wizardzz wrote:

Just to get this straight, you're saying it took generations for your family to acclimate and become upwardly mobile, and now you are upset that immigrants aren't doing it immediately upon arrival?
(and)
I'm not sure why anyone needs to integrate. It's a process that happens with each generation.
Y

Mike Mullikin wrote:

Establish well run and well supplied refugee camps.

This is, and has long been, a failed policy. This has left us with peoples who have lived in refugee camps for generations. All their ties to their homeland have long been lost and destroyed. One only needs to look at the Palistinians, the Ethiopians, the Sudanese, .... You get the picture.

Mike Mullikin wrote:

Solve the conflict that is the source of their problem ASAP.

Or, are you advocating that the United Nations, or some other international body, should send troops to reshape their homeland, by force, to create a place for them to return to?

Jalapeno Bob wrote:

Or, are you advocating that the United Nations, or some other international body, should send troops to reshape their homeland, by force, to create a place for them to return to?

Jalapeno Bob wrote:

So how do we help these new arrivals?

Jalapeno Bob wrote:

a wife in her early teens and two or three very young children

Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

Jalapeno Bob wrote:

a husband in his late teens, a wife in her early teens and two or three very young children

Children as young as 11 are having children. In countries where child marriage is common, having two or more children by the age of 15 is, unfortunately, not uncommon. These days, most urban school districts right here in the United States have a number of teenage students and a few pre-teenage students with children.