Why is immigration becoming such a big problem?

Question

Will we ever reach an equilibrium? I can see why western nations are getting fed up of seeing people coming into their countries to reap economic benefits but not doing anything to integrate. I am an immigrant, but not an economic immigrant. I chose to immigrate because I felt at home in this culture, wanted to adopt this culture as my own. And I a happier here too. Keeping aside politically correct notions, I think people should immigrate only if they want to integrate and contribute positively to society.

But at the same time, I am all for multiculturalism if people are willing for it to work. I have seen people who stick among their own are narrow minded, even angry people. Its best to interact with everyone and learn.

I am an educated , skilled anglophile who immigrated into this country only because I happen to be an anglophile. But it kind of hurts when I am looked upon with suspicion even rascim because of my skin colour nevermind that I love Britain as much as a white anglo saxon here.

Answer 1

Because we've been too free and easy in the past. Now they think they can do what they like!

Answer 2

I don't know which country the question asker is from, here in the UK immigration is a problem primarily because since anyone can join the EU these days and get accession rights and secondly because the government is so politically correct it is alienating the people who can trace their ancestors and identity hundreds of years. We are losing our culture to immigrants, we are not allowed to speak out without the threat of action or being attacked by the PC brigade. I will give you an example Christmas displays have been changed to 'winter' displays in case it offends muslims or other religions. Housing assistance and cash payments are made to immigrants who have never made payments into the system; so called positve discrimination is made with jobs which means if you are foreign you may be the worst candidate for the job but you wil get it and lo and behold anyone who objects about your performance. Immigration should be about enriching a country, there is a groundswell of resentment in this country which will be apparent at the next election

Answer 3

Immigration is not the problem, intolerance is. This moral panic happens when we use difference to define us as well as to divide us.

European history reveals much "immigration" by the Romans, Vikings, Barbarians, English, French, Portugese and so on which has resulted in it being impossible for most people to say that their heritage is a "pure" one, for example. The British Royal Family have Russian, German and Black (Princess Charlotte) blood running through their veins along with the blue one. Most African-Caribbean / American people have white DNA due to sex between slaves and their oppressors. There are only an extremely small percentage of peoples in the world who are not intra-bred and they occupy very remote Pacific islands and some deep rain forests in South America. Even this is slowly changing so how can anyone be so short-sighted not to realise that we are all intra-bred.

When people are angry or disillusioned, bullied, frustrated and so on, they find victims. The (gutter) press feed into this to sell stories and fuel hatred with false stories about immigrants etc.

We already know what happened to Native Americans in the USA, What is their position of power now. Slavery funded the industrial revolution but not many children of slaves owning massive industries. The Jews and Hitler had their issues and since Hitler was reduced, the Jews and the Palestinians now have theirs.

Human history is generally about powerful people oppressing the others. This oppression sometimes evolves into bigotry and racism and ends up as intolerance and don't forget the oppression women experience(d) from men leaving us with sexism as well.

If there was an equal distribution of wealth people would not worry about their foreign neighbours because those people would have all they need or as much as the next person and would not use "petty" reasons not to get along with each other or they would not create reasons why immigrants or "illegals" are a problem.

The problem occurs when we think we have only a few resources and not enough to share with others. We then complain about them taking our resources like our jobs, women and housing. It is ironic that those bigots will not seek employment in certain menial jobs but then complain when "outsiders" take these jobs.

Mankind? We probably need to change that name because it is not all about men and there certainly is not enough kindness in the world.

Answer 4

There is no problem with immigration....in hardly any country.
It is only put forward as an argument if people are unhappy, without exactly knowing why - usually some sort of fears (jobs, mixing of different cultures).

The only problem is sometimes a lack of integration, but this is another problem and has nothing to do with immigration itself.

There should always be an even proportion of every nationality - which is hardly ever the case. Otherwise nobody would mind....

Answer 5

It such a big problem when people do it illegally.
Why? Because it strains resources, lower wages, and causes health concerns, not to mention terrorist opportunity.
We spend billions educating, feeding, and providing medical care for illegals. We don't punish most of them for using fraudulent or stolen documents, though forging an immigration document is a federal crime. The DOL(Dept. of Labor) says that in 1980, a meatpacker made $19 an hour, yet now he makes about $9. Did you ever stop to think why? Further, it's not "cheap" labor because though they work for cheap(which is wrong anyway), 1/3 of all illegal immigrant households receive some type of aid. And we have thus far spent $800 million dollars for medicare for the children of illegals, and that's not to mention the money hospitals are forced to eat after we provide medical care when they cross the border, if needed. We also house their prison population after they commit crimes here, in some areas illegals are the majority of inmates. We also foster the children who come unattended, and the state pays for that too. Not only this, but an illegal can SUE YOU if he gets injured trespassing on your land if you live on the border. Just by having property on the border they will bring you into court for failure to protect those who trespass on your land. Further there are health risks to the American population, since illegals do not go through the health screening process it takes to come in legally.
Diseases we had once eradicated are now reappearing along the border. For example- polio, dengue fever, malaria, leprosy,and TB to name a few. Also we have seen a boom in existing diseases and new ones formerly not native to our country. Immigrants’ Health Care Coverage and Access Fact Sheet also states cases where the innocent have been affected by illegals. In Michigan, teachers and schoolchildren alike caught TB from illegal immigrant children. TB is extremely virulent and per cough can infect about 10-30 a at a time. 81% of all TB cases are in the immigrant population, and they didn't start with those who came legally, since we routinely screen for that.
In the state of Virginia, it rose 18% and D.C it rose 188%(inicdence of TB), and the drug resistant strain was traced back to Mexico. You may be interested to know that each case of TB is treated by the Dept. of Health in every state, and due to it's virulent nature, it is free for anyone diagnosed. Drug resistant TB currently costs, per individual, $250,000. The regular strain costs about $10,000. Increasingly, more of our drugs are ineffective against the disease, and drug resistant TB is an endemic to Mexico. The problem is so severe the AAP actually recommends we secure the border immediately.
And these risks aren't even counting the risks that come with allowing MILLIONS of unchecked foreigners into the country from all sorts of countries.
I have had enough with people who say it's all about multiculturism, no one cares about what color or culture any of these people come from. But they do need to be legally here and screened!!!

Answer 6

The real problem is that we are just getting too overcrowded and the immigrants are costing this country billions as they do not have jobs to come to and go straight on to benefits. The cost is probably one of the reasons that Brown is always raising our taxes.
A very complex problem which I fear will not be easily or peacefully resolved. Happy Christmas to you.

Answer 7

Because the place is getting full up, and there are enough people here already that need help, you can only do so much, even with the best intentions in the world you can not help every one, it has stop somewhere

Answer 8

we've had an open door policy for too long , people should be vetted like in australia or canada . I am not racist but the most racist people I know are immigrants . try putting an indian to live next door to a pakistani or chinese .

Answer 9

Every time I read a post like this, it never surprises me that many "Americans" are too ignorant to understand or choose to not learn.

NOT ALL IMMIGRANTS COME BY CHOICE!!!!! All you people keep saying complaining about is the fact that they are SUCKING you dry!!!!

Well what about our government sucking many of these immigrants from their home country dry, has that every occurred to you? Like for instance, many of the wars America has fought over HAVE been MOSTLY instigated by this country, like recent examples of Iraq, Gulf War, Vietnam War, Korean War, and Spanish American War, "Secret War" by the CIA in Laos, etc, etc...... Many of these people who came from situations because of the circumstances of war (like the U.S. totally obliterating their homelands and they are now not safe places to live) do NOT CHOOSE to come to this somewhat ignorant, racist nation!!!!

Get that strait. I know many of them would prefer to leave this country for many reasons if they could, but the fact is they can't. I mean, why do you think Europeans and the rest of the world laugh at Americans?

We overwork ourselves (to make money and what do we show in return? A nation that is shrinking the middle class and expanding the number of poverty continuously since the last ten years) and in return because we overwork, we get too tired quickly and therefore become lazy, eat out, and then become FAT!!! It is a vicious cycle, but....yay for America, right?

Answer 10

Is it? Immigrants have been shown again and again to bring more positive benefits than negative. They are usually young, around working age, very mobile, and more and more often skilled. We have more of a problem with Daily Mail readers natural xenophobia and with the large numbers of english people on benefits - if anybody is good at scrounging it's the british working class. Many countries don't have unemployment benefits - why don't we scrap them here and see how many people suddenly find that they CAN find work after all?

Answer 11

A lot of concern is whipped up by the media. Don't forget that a large number of people leave this country ever year including about 20,000 British people who go ILLEGALLY to Australia. Furthermore they don't say that Spain and Cyprus is flooded with British immigrants. More latterly house prices have bene pushed up in France- as they did in Wales for many years- by British immigrants making it more unaffordable for locals to get on the property ladder.
In fact most immigrants are better educated than the local populace.The only concerns I have are lack of housing which immigration exacerbates- though there are at least 80000 empty council homes some of which have been too delapitated to let out but others are just left empty and the question of why someone flies halfway round the world to escape oppression. Where do they the money to do that in the first place. If I was fleeing oppression i would go to Germany or France not half-way round the world.Perhaps Bair's new initiative will work.Even he admitted that the service industry like Hotels is dependent on immigrants for staff.
When the police and Home Office swooped on a Sth London Hospital and rounded up all the illegal immigrants working there, they had tolet them go within two hours as they would have no-one to clean the hospital.
I doubt if equilibrium will ever be achieved. However if america or Australia accepted more I bet a flood of people would leave here perhaps making more people leave than come in. You probably have hit the nail on the head about non-integration but this has in a way been encouraged by Governments as Blair admitted himself. But remember immigrants need support networks and naturally gravitate toward their fellow nationals. How well does the Great British pub fit in with global local way of life. And British cuisine in Spain of greasy unhealthy breakfasts catering for ex-pats?
From the Daily Mail
Record numbers of people are fleeing Britain for a life in the sun. Booming house prices and a strong pound have given Britons the buying power to snap up homes abroad, a study found today.

HOT SPOT: Australia is the favourite destination of Brits who move abroad
The first comprehensive survey of emigration figures shows that more than 198,000 UK nationals - including 79,000 Londoners - moved overseas last year.


Almost one in 10 Britons - about 5.5m people - now lives abroad and a British national emigrates every three minutes, the research found.

The majority, about 1.3m, chose Australia as their new home. According to think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, the mass emigration has been fuelled by the booming economy - not because people believe the country has 'gone to the dogs'.

The soaring figures mean that Britons are now the third-largest number of expatriates. Only the Chinese and Indians have more nationals living outside their home country.

Soaring house prices and economic stability give Britons exceptional value for money if they move overseas. After Australia, most have moved to Spain (760,000) or the US (680,000) and Canada (600,000).

The emigration figures appear to be being driven by well-off professionals. The survey found that of the 180,000 people who left the country in 2004, some 40 per cent (73,700) were from professional and managerial sectors, 25.3 per cent (46,500) were manual and clerical and 17.5 per cent (32,300) were retired or carers.

Most cited better quality of life, education and climate as their main reasons for leaving. An estimated 1m more people are expected to leave in the next five years and more than 3m pensioners are predicted to emigrate by 2050.

The report also found that Britons living abroad were more spread out than the nationals of any other country, with more than 10,000 Britons living in 41 countries around the world and another 71 countries with more than 1,000 Britons.
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