Anti-immigration: Encyclopedia - Anti-immigration

Anti-immigration

Anti-immigration may be used to describe individuals, groups or movements which oppose significant levels of immigration into their countries. Anti-immigrant may refer to those who are opposed to specific migrant groups, or as a pejorative for those who are anti-immigration. The terms often have negative connotations in a political context, particularly in the West, where politicians generally avoid giving explicit support to anti-immigration platforms or describing their policies as "anti-immigrant". Nevertheless, opinion polls demonstrate that many people across the developed world are uncomfortable with, if not outright opposed to, immigration. Similarly, many other people support immigration.

Anti-immigration - Major anti-immigration arguments

Anti-immigration sentiments are typically justified with one or more of the following arguments:

• immigrants isolate themselves in their own communities and refuse to learn the language/culture
• immigrants gainfully acquire jobs which would have otherwise been available to native citizens
• immigrants damage a sense of community and nationality
• immigrants increase the consumption of scarce resources
• immigrants make heavy use of social welfare systems
• immigrants deplete their countries of origin of badly needed skills (known as the "brain drain" or "poverty trap")

Prominent opinion leaders who oppose immigration blame it for such problems as unemployment, crime, harm to the environment, and detoriating public education.

Anti-immigration - Counter arguments

In response, others points out that:

• the "isolation" argument has racist undertones as it is typically directed at immigrants from developing countries. However, those immigrants usually have fewer skills than immigrants from developing countries.
• expatriates from developed countries are just as likely to be isolationist, and refuse or otherwise fail to learn the language of the societies in which they live. In the U.S., there are only very small numbers of current immigrants from developed countries, but a large number from developed countries.
• the argument that immigrants "steal jobs" always overlooks the fact that the jobs being "taken" are typically menial and/or low paying positions which "natives" generally do not wish to perform, creating a demand for labour which is met by immigrants. However, without a ready supply of low-wage, low-skill labor, those jobs would be done by citizens at a higher rate. Or, inefficient industries would be forced to modernize rather than relying on that low-skilled labor. Some very inefficient industries - such as lettuce production - would be forced to relocate overseas, which may end up being in the best interests of the economy.
• the argument that immigrants are an economic burden is unproven and the reverse appears to be the case: immigration is correlated with an improvement in economic conditions, because immigrants spend money on products and services just like everybody else. Many immigrants also send a large percentage of their pay back to their home countries via Remittances
• with regard to the "heavy use" of benefits and services such as publicly funded healthcare, welfare and other forms of social security, immigrants are often ineligible to receive such assistance, or their eligibility is otherwise restricted in some way (eg. they may only become eligible after a lengthy period of time); furthermore, the effect of such restrictions is to reduce the economic contribution immigrants can make. In most U.S. states, public agencies are forbidden by law from inquiring about someone's immigration status. Illegal immigrants are also users of emergency care.

Commentators also point out that the problems which are purportedly caused by immigrants equally exist amongst native-born populations as well, and that politicians often use immigration as a convenient scapegoat to distract the public from real social, political and economic problems.

Anti-immigration - Continental European anti-immigration movements

Current anti-immigration views in Europe seem particularly directed towards the recent influx of Muslims from Turkey and Northern Africa. Prominent European opponents of this migration include Jörg Haider, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and Pim Fortuyn (murdered). Anti-immigration views are held by virtually all neo-Nazi, and ethnic and racial separatist movements in Europe and the US, although the majority of people with anti-immigration views have no connection to such groups.

Popular attitudes include such examples as the majority of Spaniards who currently see immigration into their country as excessive (see article mentioning El Pais survey). Fascist parties, such as Movimiento Social Español, openly campaign using nationalist or anti-immigrant rhetoric. Everyday racial harassment of Africans is sometimes a problem - a notorious incident being the November 2004 Spain-England football (soccer) friendly. Popular media sometimes portray American Black culture and music negatively for humor, though there exists also an active following of such music in Spain as well.

Portugal was long a dictatorship and had little immigration until a sudden influx in the 1970s, as ex-colonists returned. Today Lisbon has mixed native-born, African, and Middle Eastern neighborhoods. The rural areas have just recently begun to see many new new arrivals. The country has right-wing parties that support curbs in immigration quotas. (Any resident of a Portuguese-speaking country is free to live and work in Portugal, and vice-versa.)

In France, the National Front opposes immigration. Major media, political parties, and a large share of the public see the possibility of anti-immigrant sentiment due to the October/November 2005 rioting.

A major anti-immigrant political organization in Germany is the National Democratic Party.

Anti-immigration - Opposition to immigration in the United Kingdom

Anti-immigrant perspectives in the United Kingdom have to do with the many South Asians, particularly Pakistanis and Indians, who have moved there in recent decades. Current concerns also involve Africans, Eastern Europeans, East Asians, Middle Easterners, and numerous others have become part of the estimated 4.3 million of the UK's population that is foreign-born (see BBC piece, "Analysis: Britain's Modern Face"). Like other countries, public attention is on their perceived refusal to assimilate, sheer numbers, illegal immigration, and Islamist terrorism. Abuse of asylum policies is also a frequent discussion topic.

During the 2005 election, the Conservative Party's slogan was: "It's time to put a limit on immigration", and the party's leader, Michael Howard, said: "it's not racist to talk about immigration". Critics noted that it indeed seemed racist to focus on public concern over certain groups while ignoring the numerous Canadians, New Zealanders, and Australians who arrive and work illegally, and have been involved in other criminal activities. As well, some troubled areas of the UK do not have large or even significant numbers of immigrants, suggesting that other causes than immigration are coming into play.

Anti-immigration - Immigration and economics

Another issue concerns free trade; immigrant rights advocates believe it is hypocritical and inhumane to allow goods and money to freely cross borders yet impose numerous requirements on people to do the same thing. It has been argued that this constitutes a form of class warfare against workers, who are not free to move with changing economic conditions in the same manner that businesses can move their capital. (See also capital flight.)

Anti-immigrant rhetoric in the US frequently mentions that foreigners take "American jobs", yet the US Constitution does not guarantee employment for anyone, and free flow of capital means that business owners have no legal obligation to keep jobs in the country. To this end, many immigration opponents/reductionists offer protectionist solutions to economic problems, and there was considerable criticism of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) among them. Many proponents of these policies do not otherwise tend to support the modern welfare state.

Politicians and commentators have contrasted the developed world's immigration controls with what they see as uncontrolled movement of people throughout the Third World. This is inaccurate; many poor countries indeed have numerous restrictions on immigration, and there has been little apparent economic gain from these policies.

Anti-immigration - Anti-immigration views in the United States

In the United States, anti-immigration views have a long history, including the American Party of the mid-19th Century (formed by members of the Know-Nothing movement) and the Immigration Reduction League of the early 20th Century. An immigration reductionism movement formed in the 1970s and continues. Prominent members of the movement deny being anti-immigration or anti-immigrant, though they acknowledge pressing for 75-95% reductions in immigration levels and support laws that target illegal immigrants. However, as most Americans are themselves descended from immigrants, many feel that it is hypocritical to criticize those who enter the country through legal means, and neither of the two major parties has proposed curtailing the number of visas given out annually.

Illegal immigration, principally from across the U.S.-Mexico border, is the more pressing concern for most immigration reductionists. Authors such as Samuel Huntington (famous for the "clash of civilizations" thesis) have also seen recent Hispanic immigration as creating a national identity crises and presenting insurmountable problems for US social institutions. In the May 2005 Spanish edition of Foreign Affairs magazine, he lists the size, illegality, cultural roots, and poverty of this recent wave of migration as most problematic.

The political effects of anti-immigration/immigration reductionism movements have been embodied in the US welfare reform bill of 1996 and initiatives such as Protect Arizona Now in 2004. The Minuteman Project, launched in 2005 with several hundreed volunteers patrolling the Mexican and Canadian borders to assist authorities in spotting illegal immigrants, have also been influenced by opposition to illegal immigration. Some members also support reductions in legal immigration.

American Patrol, a organization run by Glenn Spencer, posts news and media articles about crimes that illegal aliens and their sympathisers have committed, such as attacking Border Patrol agents, libel and slander(of Glenn Spencer and others who want illegal aliens out of the US, such as labelling Glenn a racist.),other crimes.See American Patrol and the different news articles, news sources used in the news articles featured on this organization's website.

Anti-immigration - Anti-immigrant hate crimes

After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, an increase in Islamophobia was perceived by some, directed towards individuals perceived to be either Arab and/or Muslim. An example of this behavior is the murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh Indian living in Mesa, Arizona who was gunned down by native-born US citizen Frank Roque in September 2001. Roque had also shot at several other Sikhs (who were unharmed), apparently because he incorrectly associated their turbans with Islam. The Maricopa County Superior Court sentenced Roque to death in 2003.

See also

• Immigration to the United States
• Immigration reduction
• Immigration reform
• Producerism

Categories: Articles lacking sources | Human migration

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Anti-immigration", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki