American people attitude towards Poles in the USA

We have the biggest concentration of Polish people outside of
Warsaw here in Chicago, and I welcome my Polish friends.

The British seem to have a huge problem because all I been reading over the
the last year is how bad it is now since the EU trade agreement.

Enlightenment me:

dont be afraid to answer

Lol Sledz :)

I'm not trying to defend anyone here but I think some of the issue has to do with the sudden influx of large numbers of Polish people into the UK, in a very short period of time.

It became very noticeable by many people. The media got hold of it. It helped their political attacks depending which Political Party they back and the rest is history.

The UK has had quite a large number of Polish immigrants. That is a fact.

Some English views shown on here........well, yeah they're not the majority view. But those views from some have always been there. Just the internet has allowed those views to be broadcast around the World. I sometimes get a bit fed up of reading some threads, it gets a bit monotonous at times having the same old

stupid comments made.

But it has caused some problems in terms of the policing, health service, schooling etc because sufficient additional money was not put in place by the UK Government in order to deal with this influx. Their excuse is that they only estimated a very small number coming over from certain countries.

Some people believe what they see on t.v, and take it fact....rozumiem


Yes we have the same problems here with 12 million illegal mexicans.
they bring drugs,gangs and put a strain on our society.

Most Polish come here to make a better way of life and contribute

Same the whole world over........is human nature . I understand very well sledz :)


Don't disagree with you there. I should know :)

The UK has never experienced such immigration in such a short period of time before. That's why it's been such a hot topic of late. The major new crime is from immigrants of other Eastern European countries but like anywhere, people seem to get lumped together sometimes. I would say, majority of UK people see the Polish as hard working and industrious people. You are only seeing a very small minority on here posting negative views. Small and insignificant I would say.

I can understand that with the new trade EU agreement

So everybody is all legal then?

We have 12 million Mexicans already here getting a free ride

I know this girl that overstayed her visa and went back to Poland because her mother
was sick ,now she cant come back for 10 years


True..LIR its all people from the UK complaing on this forum

I havent seen one American on this forum yet that had anything about bad

about the Polish living here in the States

100% legal from the A8 EU memebers. Bit more difficult with the latest EU members. Poles have a full legal entitlement to work here. The only restriction is that they cannot claim social welfare nbenefits (except child allowances) until they can prove they have bene working here for a year.

L-i-R is correct to point out that it is the size and speed of the influx that has caused such problems as exist.

Better integration will happen and the Poles hard work and ability will start to push them up the jobs ladder away from the cheap labour that most of them are overqualified for by a long way.

The press will always pick on relatively isolated instances of anti social behaviour by immigrants to peddle their political messages and some idiot Brits will continue to believe what they read.

Immigration to the UK is an issue without doubt but it is uncontrolled immigration from non EU countries that is of a longer term concern in my opinion. We are a small island with 60 million people. Our infrastructure and education and health services are creaking badly. But immigration is a sensitive political issue that can lose votes so nobody here is prepared to deal with it decisively.

Were at the brink over her too, my Insurance rates keep going up


and I assume alot of them came and worked cheaply
thats the same problem we have with the Mexicans

The thing is the Polish that come here a dont try to sponge of the goverment
they just want to work and make a good life for themselves.

I dont like after they been here 20 years and still cant cant speak English

Which is true for the vast majority of Polish people here too sledz. Our benefits systems are full of loopholes and some Polish people have used that. But it is a very limited number. I could name some immigrant communities on the other hand who have got it down to a fine art. But if I name them I'd be called a racist bigot. The only way to sort it is to reform the welfare state big time but that could lose votes too. One day I'll sit down an add up the tax and insurance contributions I have made in my life and I'll weep buckets.

Bottom line is that Polish people are to me very welcome

Ya I always like Polish people my ex GF got me man:)

Her mother can speak somewhat English and her father still after 30 years cant
carry a conversation at all?


I think were in the same boat bro, thanks for sharing your opinion

I think most of the Mexicans in the U.S. illegally are here to work hard and earn and honest living. However, they generally aren't well educated, aren't skilled tradesmen ( there are only so many dry-wall crews ), have no grasp of English, and as a result, they are limited to low wage jobs. Unlike 50-75 years ago, the mills are no longer hiring anyone with a strong back. So, they end up as " wards of the state " in a sense, because they have limited options. This is compounded by their sheer numbers. Their mass overwhelms any built in, community type safety nets.

The Poles on the other hand have several things going for them. The Poles that come to the U.S., legal or otherwise, tend to be well educated. A lot of them are skilled tradesmen. The younger ones, say under 25, can speak a little English. Finally, a policy much despised by members of this forum, may actually help the Poles. U.S. immigration policy, combined with distance, keeps the number of Polish immigrants relatively low. If a Pole is going to stay here illegally, usually by overstaying a tourist visa, it isn't on a whim. A Polish person has to have some means to get a visa to come to the U.S., as opposed to the Mexican, who can cross the border in total poverty. There is probably a job lined up. There's a place to stay. There's a community network of people that will help out their countrymen, and that network won't get overwhemed by numbers.

I second this comment. Any Polish people that are unappreciated in the UK are welcome in the United States.

Come to Chicago we love em here:)

I`m met some of the nicest people in my life from Poland

This is not correct. Perhaps you could say in recent times...

"From 1670 to 1710, between 40,000 and 50,000 (French) Huguenots moved to England." At the time the population of England was 5,240,000. See this site for more information.

oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1720&chapter=77639&layout=html

At this time it is thought that 400,000 Polish people have moved to the UK where the current population is about 60,587,000. See this site for confirmation:

statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=6

It is also thought that one in every four English people have French Huguenot ancestry.

These sites have more information on this:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenot

Wow - thats freaking me out. I think we came over with the Normans which is even worse. 950 years of French ancestry, sacre bleu, zut alors. Aidez-moi, je vous prie!

This has been my experience also.


It is interesting, and it's surprising that more people don't know about this.

Yes and no I think. There were no great battles involved and social integration of that kind doesn't make for great historical headlines. On a wider impact o immigration into the UK it was only six years ago the population was around 56-57 million. I think L-i-R's post was very perceptive. Any attempt to compare Polish immigration to the US to that which has happened here would be fraught with difficulty I think. Time is needed for assimilation, on both sides.

True, there are too many differences in terms of geography and the time periods to do an appropriately proportional comparison.

It's true that many Brits are using this site as a place to whinge about Polish people and they're not doing much else while here.

Personally I am sick of people saying they can't get a job because of Polish people. Get real, they can't get a job cos they're sitting on the Internet insulting people rather than looking for one.

There is a big difference there, percentage-wise; especially if that 400 000 figure refers to *recent* Polish immigration. In which case, LIR was correct.

well said.. there are plenty of people who would rather moan than get off their fat dupas and change their situation.

cant we just stop all these anti Polish threads... this is a Polish forum ffs, so if you dont like em then just sod off and go back to surfing for pûrn or whatever else you do to pass the time.

Unfortunately, our govt. has made it more difficult for them to come here. BTW, Oscypek, everytime I see your avatar, it makes my mouth water.....mmmmmmm! ;)

I agree. They want the mountain brought to them!


Well said.

It that case you'd really like to visit this place if you're ever in PA:

pennmac.com/page/34

History:

pennmac.com/page/4

But is their oscypek nearly as good as the oscypek I had in Poland?

Not as far as I've been able to discover. I've 'heard' that some people... have put it in the mail in vacuum sealed plastic from PL and sent it to the U.S. That would still be better than could be purchased in the U.S., but certainly not fresh.

Hand made perogies at Polish markets are about the most authentic foods I can get here.

Let's not get too far off topic...

Oh, I'd like to have a look at the links you have provided before I reply. Will do that tomorrow as am a bit too tired to read it all now. But thank you for the information :)

Looks interesting too.

So true. We usually can't even tell they're Polish just by looking at them. They blend in with other Europeans. And we don't see them committing major crimes in the streets. There's nothing to complain about. They're not bothering anyone.

But UK is so much smaller than the USA. Maybe that has something to do with them being more noticable there than here.

Yes this could have a lot to do with it. Also the fact that we like to think we're multi-cultural in the UK but compared to the USA we aren't really. Such a big influx of people from one nation has seemingly caused a lot of negative feeling - or that is the impression given anyway, particularly on here.

I've said this before somewhere on PF. The Polish have always been prominent in UK society.

This discussion is about American attitudes to Polish people in the USA?
If we widened the debate to include Canada, might someone actually mention the Western side of the Atlantic for a change?

Or perhaps add a little more of a historical context.
How were Polish people seen in America before the end of Communism?
Did things change much?

With two eyes.. hardy har har.. :)


in the 60's the focus was more on civil rights, I dont think anyone really was concerned
with new Immigrants coming. in the 70's dancing was a big deal.. so nationality
was not important. and in the 80's People were all about music and big hair
and peace :)