Immigrants summary

Often politicians, both on the right and the left, pontificate about the dangers of migration and advocate for stringent control of the borders. However, any attempt at controlling immigration is morally wrong.

Firstly, it smacks of racism to view immigration as a bane to society. Of course, society is bound to experience changes with an influx of immigrants. Some of these will be objectively bad, such as the collapse of old solidarities between or within groups of people.

Many places do their best to make immigration difficult. The European Union, for example, controls its external borders carefully, and the United States is building a fence across its Mexican border while increasing the pay for border patrols.

Indeed, the cost of preventing free movement is enormous, both in terms of money and lives. The US Congress, for instance, quintupled its spending on border security from 1993 to 2004 (finally reaching $3.8 billion) while tripling the size of the border patrol. Yet, despite this huge layout, the number of illegal immigrants is estimated to have stayed the same.

When people in the West think about migration, they often only consider its effects on their own countries. Often, they miss the great impacts that migration has on migrants’ countries of origin.

When Westerners do take this into consideration, they usually only consider brain drain, the exodus of many highly skilled members of society into another country. However, this is a major oversimplification.

The discourse around immigration often conjures images of shifty immigrants “taking” jobs from locals or lowering wages. But does immigration really cost jobs?

The notion that the economic benefits enjoyed by one country or person rest on another’s loss is incorrect. In fact, immigration leads to economic prosperity from which everyone benefits.

The economies of today’s developed countries are increasingly based on knowledge. Thus, to achieve prosperity, different ideas and experiences have to come together.

Luckily, migration provides ample opportunity for sharing ideas. Indeed, multicultural cities are hubs of creativity, prosperity and development.

When the media or populist politicians launch into tirades against the dangers of immigrants, they don’t take issue with the managers or surgeons – i.e., highly-skilled labor – who arrive on their shores. Rather, they rail against the “masses” of low-skilled workers.

In order to combat the alleged dangers of low-skilled immigration, many countries employ a “points-based” system whereby immigrants may only enter the country if they can demonstrate skills assumed to be beneficial to the society.

What do people want most from immigrants? Many want immigrants to integrate – to abandon the cultural practices of their old lives and adopt those of their new homes. But is this a fair demand? Should immigrants be expected to completely conform to the culture of their destination countries?

Wanting immigrants to integrate in this way suggests that all immigrants are the same, and that they all hold beliefs and share cultural practices that are wrong and need to be replaced.