I am curious which part of their comment makes it sound bad. It seems neutral to positive to me.

Interesting, thanks for asking. To me the thread's context was that some European countries are "importing" migrants to bolster their pension schemes and that this is a bad thing (why?) An argument about immigration ensued and those often rub me the wrong way, being an immigrant and stuff. The part of "the public sentiment [for stricter immigration controls] is there, but the laws say the other way" is triggering me, too, because it alludes to some kind of "silent majority" which around these parts (ie. Germany) is usually brought up by loud minorities from the far right. I'm not denying that xenophobia is on the rise (here and everywhere) but it is not the sentiment of "the public". Combined with a description that seemed to lament the apparent lack of stricter controls led me to question why it would be important where you are born if you obey the law. Thinking of that, why would it be important if you don't?

Anyhow, revisiting the thread I can see that the post I answered to could be meant differently. I thank you for that and would like to advance my apologies to the OP in that case.

> The part of "the public sentiment [for stricter immigration controls] is there, but the laws say the other way"

...was a response to this quote from original OP:

> generally Europe is very anti-immigrant

and there is "might be there" not "is there" in my post. I just don't really know the public sentiment in Europe enough to argue with original OP, so referred to the laws instead, to show that Europe is not anti-immigrant.

> Combined with a description that seemed to lament the apparent lack of stricter controls led me to question why it would be important where you are born if you obey the law.

It's not! To the contrary, my description was meant to show how harsh US immigration system is compared to the EU's.

> would like to advance my apologies to the OP in that case.

Please, nevermind. Your question was okayish in the context of the thread, plus I'm not the kind of person that can be offended by an Internet discussion.

Thank you for your reply! It is hard to uphold a conversation on HN over a longer time, so I appreciate your reply very much.