Are people that want zero immigration racist?

[equalstime]

People that moan about migrants coming to this county - taking our jobs - taking our houses - draining the medical system - not settling in the first country they reach for asylum- they're racist right?

There will always be an element of migration and when you take account of UK born people that leave and non Uk people that enter our country, the net figure is no doubt reasonable. They are often willing to work and contribute to our society and economy - so why the hostility?

Why not accept as a country that we have en element of migration and embrace that, if not because your views are racist?

Then you should understand that different societies have very different belief systems and cultural mores and that borders are the way we deal with that in the modern world.

And expats willingly live in countries that execute gay people or small-time drug users and still spout crap like this because it’s very convenient for them. It’s not far off saying you ‘don’t see colour’

@MintyFreshOne As I have now said twice, I very clearly understand that.

Is the Australian immigration model racist?

They’re not racist, they’re realists. This country is
on its knees and can barely support the people we’ve already got (I include both British born and the immigrants already here in that statement) However, we’re bringing more over daily. Why is that and who’s funding it? Oh yes, the tax payer. The very people who are using candles to light their houses as they’re terrified to run on the lights, skipping meals so they can feed their kids and missing mortgage and rent payments. We just can’t afford more people, we only have limited resources, why does the racist card have to be pulled?

I don’t mean to attack you, I’m just so tired of hearing stuff like this from very comfortable expats.

As another poster mentioned, it's all about who is coming.

Skilled worker in shortage occupation with good moral values? Positive contribution to society.

Poor uneducated person with a backwards view on many things? Negative contribution to society.

We've let in a lot of the latter hence as a country we are now relatively poorer than before and less safe.

Relative living standards will continue to decline in this country unless we crack down hard on "bad" immigration.

Of course the other school of thought is that we are all human beings and so all immigration is good because it is improving the lives of a lot of people (who are equal no matter where they were born).

All comes down to your views on countries/borders etc.

The thing is, "unskilled" labour in the UK is needed. As an immigrant, I am "unskilled" (despite having a University degree and being a fully capable human being) and the only reason why I was eligible to come was because my DH is highly paid.

Since coming to the UK, I have worked as a teacher in both nursery and primary, an office, and now as a self-employed dance teacher (though on maternity, for which I receive no government assistance). I am eligible for no benefits whatsoever as a stipulation on my visa.

What is wrong with people like me coming to the UK? I pay taxes. I don't claim benefits. If I want to retrain at a University, I still need to pay exorbitant international fees. I need to pay £1000 per year in NHS surcharges just to live here in top of my visa fees. I contribute far more to society than I take, but based on the opinions of many in this thread, I shouldn't be here.

A competent government would mandate and fund better services along with the new housing being built, rather than focusing on lining their own pockets and privatising public services. "Low skilled" immigration isn't the problem. This greedy, capitalist, self-serving government is the problem.

@MintyFreshOne If it makes you feel better I would never have classed myself as a very comfortable expat, I've very much lived in the thick of things, not in the protected expat pockets. All this did was strengthen my feeling that the way things are set up are not fair and safety should not rely on being born on a particular bit of soil. We can agree to disagree though, I realise my views are a far off ideal to me that would be a struggle to achieve. I just hate the unfairness.

This is just my personal experience but there are some arguments against immigration that could be valid (lack of space, competition for jobs etc) but the people I know who use them, use them to prop up their racism so it becomes hard to separate the two.

Much in the same way I suppose that it's not at all racist to put a Union Jack in your garden or up in your window, yet anyone I know who does it in real life is actually fairly racist so the two become intertwined.

Much of the right wing, anti-immigration culture was stirred up by Farage and the media and (like the 350 million on the side of the bus and better trade deals, cheaper foods and having all the cards) has little basis in fact.

The U.K. has only 14% immigrant population (people born outside U.K.) People arriving by boats are the tiniest number compared to say, Polish workers who arrived legally under EU rules and Indians with visas. Most are entirely legal.

Poland is still the top country of citizenship of foreign citizens (696,000), accounting for 12% of non-UK citizens living in the UK. Who doesn’t want Polish bakers in the markets and Polish plumbers fixing their leaking taps when no U.K. born ones are available to work or are unaffordable?

Most people seeking asylum are granted it. Those few people (usually of working age, sometimes women and children) who cross the channel are firstly fellow humans and our equals. They have crossed the globe on an incredibly difficult journey for better, safer life for themselves and their families. Who would deny them that? (Apart from Tory’s reliant on popularist, far right policies to remain in their seats). Of those seeking asylum about 86% are granted refugee status. Another 6% are given humanitarian protection rights. They aren’t ‘illegals’ they are seeking asylum under international laws and arriving by the only means available to them.

We definitely need some immigration, I work in healthcare and a good chunk of our staff are from abroad. It needs to be certain roles though and there should be caps, time limits on some roles. I like the Australian points system.

@PutYourShoesOnWereLate Excellent comment - I have just come off a 60 hr week in Care. I am currently rostered with a lot of Nigerians. They are all fantastic - dynamic, enthusiastic, respectful to the residents and immensely hard working. Back home, they worked in finance, engineering, teaching … a month’s wage for these professions in Nigeria equates to one day’s earnings in the UK Care sector. I have to be honest, there are some excellent UK Carers but I would rather work alongside a large team of Africans & Eastern Europeans on a 12hr shift than a large team of Brits because there is less bitching, moaning and more initiative. Of course, there are a lot of superb UK workers.

Carers need a fairer wage, as do staff in the NHS - a lot of foreign workers are looking to go to places like Canada as the cost of living is relatively lower and lifestyle/opportunities better.

#ToriesOut :)

People calling for zero immigration are as morons as people to call for open borders.

Have a control immigration system and make sure public services are working for all. We have the right to select who comes in and the duty to provide the best for those immigrants in return for their hard work and their contribution to taxes.

Yes, racists want zero immigration but it does not mean the rest of us are happy to let all the developing countries problems and nutcases here. There is a reason why this was a civilised country. Now it is becoming scary to be here. Very often people from the left put up Sweden as the best example of socialism. See what is happening there politically. It is bound to get worse so may be think harder before making sweeping statements calling everyone racist and talking non sense OP.

This aligns with how I feel. We have to balance compassion with practicality.

God the country is in a mess. Never known anything like it in all my 60 years .

Just wondering why you moved

You dont have to claim asylum in the first safe country you reach. I dont know why people think that.

Imagine the burden on some countries if that were the case, although to be fair turkey does have a massive chunk of the worlds refugees.

There are deals being signed at the moment in India which are going to absolutely open the floodgates. If you think its an issue now, brace yourself.

Nobody ever seems to admit that their own country was shite - that's why they are emigrating. But the country they have moved to needs to be perfect , Fecking annoying really

New Zealand and Australias policies are INCREDIBLY racist, and New Zealand’s is a lot of other ‘ists’ as well. It’s horrendous and it’s shameful.

A lot of people on this thread seem to think the UK just lets everyone in? It’s really, really hard work to settle here, costs thousands and takes years. And that’s if you’ve got resources!

Refugees and undocumented migrants are a different thing entirely and basically a direct result of colonialism, so I’m of the opinion that it’s the UKs responsibility to help, given the hand they had in causing the massive global imbalance in wealth and political instability that forces people to take unbelievable risks to try to come here.

And there was wide spread hospitality when it was Ukrainian refuges. Lots of Daily Mail views on this thread.

@marvellousmaple My DH is British. I studied abroad at The University of Sheffield, met my DH, and moved here whilst he completed his PhD on a Youth Mobility Scheme visa. It expired around when DH was offered a very good job in computer security, so I was able to swap to a Spouse Visa. If DH hadn't been offered that job, we would've had to move to my home country and the UK would've lost a "highly skilled" worker in the process.

Did you miss the Brexit campaign where white immigration was a big issue? For me we are a tiny island which can't feed or energy resource itself that is becoming increasingly overcrowded with failing infrastructure. So I would argue against immigration and steps to reduce the birth rate.

Yeah ok. I guess that makes sense if you think the UK doesn't have enough highly skilled workers ( as you class yourself).

Plus immigration drives down wages an conditions. It's basic supply and demand of labour. Even Theresa yesterday said UK nurses will be replaced by foreign workers if they don't like the conditions and leave the NHS.

As someone who grew up with it it became normal to me there. I still strongly wanted remain but since that is now not an option I now think of the Aus point system as an example of how it could work.