[Indian scammers] like this can be counted on to exploit weaknesses in our high-trust society. And so we become low-trust ourselves. When we infest ourselves with manipulating tricksters from the other side of the world, we have to start to become more like them in order to cope. We become less open, less trusting in our own defense. Our elderly are harassed by telephone tricksters. Our business relationships decline into mutually-assured suspicion. We pay more in insurance to cover from their predations. We fear strangers.

In his November 29 article here, Patels From Hell: Importing Fraud From The Indian Subcontinent , Thomas Meehan made a basic point that's worth reiterating:It's not surprising that a VDARE.com writer realizes that aspects of their behavior make many immigrants bad news for our society. So even if the economic effects of mass immigration were benign——other reasons to oppose it are manifest.

But this realization—that cultural and quality-of-life effects are hugely important—is finally starting to attract attention among commentators more prominent than most of us at VDARE.com. For example, in the past year the proprietors of the PowerLine blog have begun to really notice immigration, and just the other day John Hinderaker wrote this:

The United Kingdom is going through a battle over immigration that sheds light on what is happening here in the U.S. Under the European Union’s guarantee of freedom of movement, the U.K. has been unable to restrict the flow of immigrants from other EU member states, many of whom are drawn by Britain’s relatively lavish welfare programs. Currently, around 400,000 EU immigrants are receiving welfare benefits in the U.K. In addition, of course, many Britons resent both the wage competition and the cultural challenges that large-scale immigration brings. ... While the fiscal and economic costs are significant, the ultimate issue is cultural. Most Britons are not happy about the ways in which mass immigration has changed the U.K. Like Americans, they never voted to fundamentally transform their country. Their anger has made this issue more potent than any other, and the British establishment is scrambling to co-opt it. [IN THE U.K., LIKE THE U.S., THE ISSUE IS IMMIGRATION, November 29, 2014]

[V]oters in real America outside-the-Beltway understand that whatever the elite in Washington, New York and Silicon Valley might tell them, their job prospects and wages have stagnated and their quality of life has dropped precipitously as illegal and legal immigrants have flooded America.

And right after the election, George Rasley, writing at Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ against any Republican move toward amnesty ( Why Ari Fleischer Is Dead Wrong About Election 2014 and Election 2016 , November 6, 2014), pointed out that(I'm not previously familiar with Rasley, but the tagline at the end of his article says that "CHQ Editor George Rasley is a veteran of over 300 political campaigns, including 10 Republican campaigns for President, and has served in elected and appointed positions from City Hall to the White House." And Richard Viguerie is a long-time conservative activist and fund-raiser.]

There's more. Here's the teaser paragraph for an article, Silver or Lead: The Reverse Assimilation of the Southwest (July 1, 2014), that's behind the subscribers' wall at Chronicles:

Texas attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbot committed what is commonly called a political gaffe earlier this year when he said that mass immigration from Mexico means the importation of Mexican corruption and the steady erosion of law and social trust that too many Americans take for granted.

Abbot won the Texas gubernatorial election going away. And he's announced his intent to sue our "lawless chief executive" for the burdens that the amnesty-diktat will impose on Texas.

It's refreshing to have that office occupied by someone who looks to be orders of magnitude better than the feckless and ignorant Rick Perry, especially someone who understands that It's The Culture, Stupid!