[pmoriarty]

The story goes that when you throw crabs in to a pot of boiling water, the crabs on the bottom of the pot will drag down the crabs above them.

The cook doesn't even need to put a lid on the pot to keep the crabs from escaping, since as soon as any crab tries to escape, the crabs below it will drag it down with them.

Similarly, in the immigration debate (and in many other situations in life) those who are worse off often resent others who are doing better, and instead of helping to improve everyone's life, or at least focus on improving their own, will try to worsen the lot of those who are doing better.

[jessaustin]

This is an unproductive analogy, because it may be trotted out any time people complain about any unfairness they've suffered. "They're not really complaining about being boiled to death; they're really just jealous of the superior crabs who have been talented and hardworking enough to crawl out of the pot. Jealousy is bad so don't listen to these bad crabs bitching about being boiled."

[Inconel]

I appreciate the explanation, although I'm still not entirely sure I agree with the analogy.

I saw both the financial and personal toll that navigating the immigration system took on my parents, it was a constant source of stress in the family. I'm sympathetic to all immigrants, legal or otherwise, and believe that immigration reform should include amnesty for those in the US illegally, along with a path to citizenship.

With that being said, I would find it problematic to apply a different set of rules and expectations for different kinds of immigrants. As I said, I do support a path to full legalization and citizenship, even though I would personally still find it somewhat unfair. I don't think that this feeling of unfairness is resentment though, and I certainly wouldn't wish for any immigrant's life to be made harder or worse off than my own.