So…
The forums are getting a little… silent. I thought I’d introduce a controversial debate to the mix!
So do you think immigration is a good thing or a bad thing? Or is it mostly good or mostly bad?
What’s good immigration and what’s bad?
Would you change anything about the way your country deals with immigration? If so, what?
Remember to criticise ideas and not people! It’s fine if you disagree with someone. Just don’t make it personal!
So my opinion on this is polarising enough to get at least all of the people here disagreeing with me, I think. People put too much stock in their made-up imagined ‘culture’ to think about how assimilation actually works. It’s not that a dominant culture absorbs all the others like some people seemingly want it to be, it’s multiple cultures and ways of life intermingling and working together to make a cohesive whole. It’s possible, it should be encouraged and it’s stupid when people say it doesn’t happen or when they very clearly don’t want it to happen because they’re racist.
Sorry, but if you don’t want me to call you racist then stop saying racist things =P
So my thoughts on this whole immigration thing, going off of how much I adore multiculturism is probably the most extreme version of this you could possibly see. I think in an ideal world, borders wouldn’t exist. Personally. Of course, we don’t live in an ideal world, but if we did, there would be no borders. People would be allowed to come and go as they please. Stay if they like. That’s the world I think we should be working towards. Immigration is a good thing, and demonising the ‘other’ is just gonna make an already doomed world even worse
The funniest thing I’ve ever heard from someone who was against immigration was the Hate Thy Neighbour TV show with the guy from the EDL who said that immigrants give nothing back to the country. Then Jamali says “do you give back to this country?” and the guy’s like “no, I’m unemployed at the moment” 
he shut himself up… for a second.
Personally, I think that immigration can be a great thing, but only if both the individual and the government are willing to invest in integration.
I see a lot of arguments about people who come to the country and fail to learn the language. I’d be inclined to agree! Although, it also vastly depends on the resources available to immigrants when it comes to things like learning the language and embracing the culture. I’ve been to countries where there is no community action in place to ensure free, or at least cheap, language learning classes, facilities or resources.
For people who are trying to escape a bad situation and start a life in a new country that they think is better than their own? Well, they might not have the finances available to throw themselves into learning the language as much as they could.
Did you know that employees not having sufficient English Language and maths skills cost the economy around 5% of its earnings? And 5% of trillions of pounds is absolute madness. So hiring a few people in each community to teach at least the basics could save us so much money and also diffuse a lot of tensions by showing that many immigrants are willing to learn the language if they have the resources given to them.
The funny thing for me about when people say “immigrants take our jobs” is that immigration creates more jobs than it takes. I mean, you have more people in the country. That means you need more healthcare professionals, more police officers, more grocery shops, more of loads of things.
Do you mean legal or illegal immigrations? Or regardless?
Legal immigrants, personally. Although I think we’re too harsh on people who just want to come to a different country and make a living
Regardless.
Also immigration shouldn’t be illegal at all just sayin
I think this is where my question about the difference between good immigration and bad immigration comes in.
But why are these people illegal immigrants, though? If it was easy, or even possible, for them to become a legal immigrant, surely they’d rather go down that route than hiding in a lorry?
This episode, in general, was great, having a look at the people who complain about immigrants taking the jobs they’re too lazy to go out and find themselves or feel they’re ‘too good’ to work for the same wages the immigrants do, then blaming them? Like, surely you should be blaming the employers and upper-level bosses who set those wages, and hire those immigrants? But nah, see, they’re white! We can’t point out how corrupt our system is, it might make immigrants not want to come here for us to complain about!
Gonna put America on blast here but maybe sticking them in concentration camps isn’t the best way to go about having an immigration policy
Also yes. This is the vast, vast majority of illegal immigration. But because they’re ‘illegal immigrants’, they deserve to be treated as less than human
This is racism. They see an Indian man running a corner shop and spout this nonsense when that man could very well have been born in the country. That makes them not an immigrant, by the way, for any Americans reading. Just because someone has brown skin, it doesn’t make them an immigrant! Fancy that!
Exactly, the vast majority of immigration is illegal because it’s such a ridiculous and strenuous process to become a ‘legal’ immigrant, it’s ridiculous
There’s nothing wrong with immigration. It’s great to have new people coming to your country as long as it’s legal, lol.
And this, is the problem
“Immigrants take our jobs” is probably the most ignorant thing. I’m sorry if you’re lazy. But they work hard in America and do more of the work than you ever could.
Especially in the so-called “”“land of the free”""
Yeah right, land of the white more like
I don’t necessarily think that the sentiment of taking jobs is always racism. Like, I get it in principle. I get that people think a country should be doing more to ensure its own citizens are in employment before taking on other people from other countries – no matter their creed or colour. In theory it works. In practice, though? Well, if you’re not a good builder or doctor or dentist, where are we going to get good builders and doctors and dentists from? We aren’t going to give people sub-par services just because you think you’re owed a job more than the qualified person from another country
Exactly and it’s very hard and expensive to even be considered a “legal immigrant.”
If freedom is so important, then whose freedom trumps whose? Why are people fleeing their country allowed to be treated worse than animals?
Because some old white guy made an arbitrary law decades ago? I’m gonna be an old white guy someday, does that mean I get to rewrite America’s laws? Why does it have laws if freedom is so important?
What about the immigrant’s freedom to have safety and security?
And even when you’re legal, it doesn’t stop you from socially getting lumped in with the illegal immigrants and treated like a criminal. I mean, look at Trump telling those women to “go back” to their countries! Most of them weren’t even immigrants! 3 of them were born in the US!
Yeah but most of the time it’s racism
You’re only considered not an immigrant if you’re white. Trump is literally German. Heck, some of the white trump supporters aren’t even from America. Or were born there. Or their family members weren’t.
Okay. I got it.
So, as someone whose family immigrated from Ethiopia to Israel (most of my family came through Addis Abeba, expect individiuals of my relatives, like my grandfather who was brought to Israel from Sudan), I think immigrations can definitely save lives.
After all, both Operation Moses and Operation Salomon were planned by the Israeli government and with some help of US.
So, I don’t think immigration is a bad thing.