What is it that riles people up about immigration so much?

[Am99]

I’m really curious at why some people get so annoyed over immigrants. Sure, I’m all for LEGAL migration no matter where the immigrant comes from and I agree that migration should be controlled / monitored to ensure criminals aren’t entering without a solid work purpose. My maternal grandparents were from Jamaica and they worked so hard.

I’m always so happy to see any doctor / nurse in the NHS whether they’re Indian, African, Caribbean, English and I couldn’t ever imagine getting so upset and angry about their ethnicity. I also don’t understand why people get so angry about asylum seekers being temporarily housed in hotels whilst they await their decision

Why are people so annoyed about migrants being housed in hotels? How can they actually be affected by it? On the news it looks like they’re being accommodated at Holiday Inns, not exactly anywhere where the typical Brit would take a staycation. It’s pretty mundane and boring. It’s not The Ritz.

I work, pay my taxes but it doesn’t bother me in the slightest if my tax goes towards that because tax is inevitable and something we never see. It’s just so unavoidable so why complain? I guess it’s like my student loan. Equally, how come these people aren’t annoyed that our taxes can fund royal house renovations or their security etc… I don’t see people protesting outside Buckingham palace? Also what about council housing in the UK? I don’t see people protesting about the fact the council literally gives subsidised housing to brits because they can’t afford it? I’m not sure if the tax payers money go towards this (I might need to educate myself on it) but surely that’s a bigger burden on taxpayers money.

I understand the argument that a country might lose its ‘identity’ with mass immigration. I saw a video with someone saying Japan is Japan because it’s more enough wholly Japanese. India is India because it’s wholly Indian. I get it to some extent, maybe we aren’t typically white and British like we were 59 years ago; but it’s still not enough to convince me that immigration is negative because what would actually happen if we did take all of the ‘foreigners’ outside of the NHS, TFL, cleaners etc etc … I wonder if they’d be enough Brits to fill their spaces? This isn’t sarcastic, I’m curious if anyone knows the answer

What makes you say that?

And racism.

Have you ever been in one of these hotels? I’ve visited several because of my job. They’re grim and depressing. The food is awful and often families are all crammed into one room. They can’t cook for themselves. They can’t do their own washing easily and they’re bored out of their minds. Causes lots of tension amongst the residents as well as the staff. The hotels they use tend to be ones that are under booked and were at risk of closure. One of the ones I have worked at the residents were not allowed to use any of the leisure facilities or communal areas except for meal times so they were cooped up in their rooms. Obviously that doesn’t suit the agenda of the media and those who want to distract us from what the other 1% are up to.

From the opinions quoted in this thread he argument seems to boil down to "are you an altruist or a racist?". I'm in neither camp

Do you have a point to make in support of mass immigration and illegal immigration ? As endlessly calling people racist makes it seem like you don’t.

I think it's mostly that they just don't understand all the nuances. Okay, I'm probably biased because my Dad was an immigrant. When I was a kid there was a lot of prejudice about him/us but now I'm grown up that seems to have mostly transferred to other groups of immigrants. I have no issue with national pride, but the best thing that could happen to the world, to really end poverty and ease conflict over resources, is a massive easing of borders to make economic migration simple and accessible. Michael Clemens (and economist) makes the point that if we opened the world’s borders, global GDP could roughly double. Why? Because when people move to places where their skills are valued more, they get more done and earn more. Across Europe, immigrant households typically pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits. None of this means a person’s right to move should hinge on their economic “worth,” and GDP isn’t the be-all and end-all of wellbeing. Open borders wouldn’t tank the global economy. In fact, the math suggests it would hold up just fine and the UK is a brilliant example of that. The fact is: immigration has made the UK economy bigger, and the best evidence says it’s neutral-to-slightly-positive for GDP per person, with a clearly positive effect on the public finances.

Some people also argue that there's a dilution of culture or something. Pretty sure they are mostly racists. So many things we value from Fish & Chips to Worcestershire sauce, lager and tea, come from immigrants.- and that's just the food. And given our massive cultural exports and ex-pat communities it's hypocritical to complain about culture transfer.

Because people like Tommy Robinson spread lies and tell people immigrants are bad. That combined with schools getting fuller, houses getting pricier and the nhs failing. People think immigrants are the problem. However the real criminals are the politicians of this country alongside the wealthiest not paying their taxes. Politicians cut funds left, right and centre knowing our population is increasing. And BTW seeking asylum isn’t illegal.

LOL

More reasoned than many of your posts.

I used to be fairly pro immigration, on balance the pros seemed to outweigh the cons significantly. Then my friends who work in the Home Office told me how £millions is being spent and the absurdity of the system when thousands of asylum seekers either ‘disappear’ once here or fail in their application and get sent back with a fat payout only to join the queue again. It is a jaw dropping abuse of British good faith. It’s as if the entire country is the naive bloke in the corner of the pub desperate to be thought of well and all the loutish blokes con him into buying a huge round of drinks + shots. As a country, the U.K. is being fleeced. There are some genuine cases of course, but many more are coming for the handouts. I am also very concerned about the creep of sharia ‘laws’ & courts. Those cultural beliefs, especially towards females, are just not compatible with U.K. values in the 21st century.

Everyone knows it is categorically not racist to be worried about the levels of immigration the UK has been subject to. But there are some astonishingly obtuse and belligerent simpletons on mumsnet who simply bleat rayyycist like bots eveytime the topic comes up.

And the home office is only one very thin slice of the pie when it comes to all the ways Britain has been fleeced. If we could ever see the full picture in its comprehensive entirety I expect we would be appalled.

If you go into our local A&E at night you see the results of mass immigration, most people there are not long-term residents, quite a few barely speak English. We waited more than eight hours last time whilst drunk people were seen immediately when they passed out.

I think the more important question isn't necessarily why are people being wound up about the levels of migration - it's why are Farage & the far right choosing to wind people up NOW?

The levels aren't meaningfully different since well before Labour came to power. The backlog of waiting asylum claims has been dropping for around 48 months, and as much as I'm delighted in Mr Farage's new found quest against violence against women & girls, unfortunately he never thought to mention it before when every year over 60,000 home grown perpetrators of sexual assault & rape go unprosecuted.

Why now?
There's no major footy tournament on this summer, so there's a surplus of bored, sweaty blokes looking for an outlet for some violence.
Starmer seems to have made a reasonable decision to have a proper break with his family, so there was plenty of opportunity to monopolise headlines.
Monopolising headlines also turns eyes away from Trump's systematic dismantling of US democracy.
Focussing the UK population on a 'them & us' fight where 'them' isn't the 1% who have been consistently getting richer over 10 years while most have suffered below-inflation income growth suits his backers.
Fracturing historic party loyalties because of inaction on immigration is a great 'in' for votes, despite having no meaningful experience in government or policies other than 'reduce health care for all, lower taxes for the already rich, get patted on the back by my billionaire mates, watch the rest burn'.

Because they're full of hate, ignorance and stupidity. Especially stupidity.

It's the elite that are affecting infrastructure, not immigrants. You mugs aren't looking at the bigger picture.

That's because right wingers have voted for right wing policies for the last 50 years.
Nothing to do with immigrants but the transfer of YOUR money and way of life for the benefit of the rich. Any idiot can see this. You haven't got the brains to think for yourselves, so you pick on foreigners and the poor.
And it looks like you're going to vote reform in and finally finish the country off.
You're clueless.

Because they are bigots and racists. Of course they will say they are not. After Brexit there weren’t enough seasonal workers coming to pick fruit and veg. There was a big campaign to get Brits to do it but it didn’t work, food was rotting in the fields and they had to get the foreign workers back in by offering concessions. Hospitality was very short staffed, lots of Europeans left. I’m not saying immigration doesn’t need sensible controls but if Farage’s evil plan was enacted (which it won’t be because it wouldn’t be practical or legal) the NHS would collapse. Of course then he could sell it off to America.

People do not realise how much it costs to be a legal immigrant and win indefinite leave to stay. I’ve worked with colleagues from India and Australia who have had to pay a few thousand for a visa to continue staying here , all while working and paying taxes. It’s not all “free”. There is this idea encouraged by Reform that they’re all scroungers and the ones coming by boat are having a lovely time and being put up in luxury. It isn’t true. And generally they really want to work legally. I’m not saying there aren’t problems, of course there are, but the hatred being whipped up against foreigners is chilling and I don’t find yobs brandishing union flags and blathering about wanting their country back the least bit alluring.

It's the elite that are affecting infrastructure, not immigrants. You mugs aren't looking at the bigger picture

I will respond - You are of coarse right.

My argument is it’s the elite decisions that are affecting the poorest in our country by bringing in more poor people - the poorest are fighting over the scraps and they are fed up of it.

Where I live people need visas - the turn round to deport people is quick as they can’t work and there are no benefits so they have to leave.

I worked in a school we often had children arrive and then leave within 6 weeks as their parents weren’t entitled to work couldn’t get jobs or visas and had to leave.

This would also work for the UK pay your own way or leave.

If we stopped the benefits we’d stop the migration.

Employers have to show that locals (those living here already) don’t have the required skill set for the jobs on offer - so any jobs are filled by locals first, again this is about people already here - it’s very diverse.

And this attitude is exactly what is going to get Farage into Number 10. People with perfectly reasonable, valid concerns are fed up with being dismissed as ‘full of hate, ignorance and stupidity’.

Your attitude shows a complete lack of understanding and empathy for other people’s views, and raises the political temperature- we need to discuss these issues in a rational way without name calling.

But we're not demonstrating any learning from Brexit here, are we? Calling people mugs & stupid for valid concerns about rapid changes in their immediate local area isn't helpful.

It needs more recognition that policies don't affect areas of the country evenly, and the billionaire class are happy to use all of their media ownership to whip that up into votes achieving exactly what suits them.

Better communication from politicians is absolutely critical on this - but I'm not sure the right leaning press would cover it even if better explanations were given.

I don't think I'd ever say it, but the government could do with an Alastair Campbell to sort out the clarity of messaging around this whole subject!

Yeah perfectly reasonable racism. Like, what’s the issue guys? 🤷

They don’t want to hear common sense points it seems though.