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

Easy to blame immigrants rather than look at their own failings is definitely one reason. The level of entitlement from people I meet every single day astounds me, the rudeness and lack of respect for others and the local area is shocking.

Given the fiasco that was Brexit I think it's safe to say that a lot of people don't want any immigration at all, from absolutely anywhere. So we now see a shortage of carers, nurses, doctors, and other really important jobs that have classically been filled by people coming from other countries.

It's all very short sighted but social media has a lot to answer for and people only believe what they read on the likes of Facebook because they are too stupid to look beyond it. Story of the country for about ten years now. Of course the demise of this country is absolutely nothing to do with the British people who live here. It's all them immigrants fault innit.

For what it's worth, I love very close to an immigrant hotel. It's been like that since the start of lockdown. It irks me watching them going out to work every day, but the problem is the employers giving them jobs, not them. They cause far less trouble (i.e. none) whereas those born and bred here cause no end of problems from drug dealing, to stabbings, gun crime, hit and runs, tearing around on bikes and quads, theft and burglary, damaging people's property, the list goes on and on.

Racism and ignorance, encouraged by right-wing media so that we don't look at the real reasons for the economic problems in our country - the 5th richest in the world. This idea of we can't afford it is nonsense - 73% of the worlds refugees and displaced people are in low and middle income countries.
Money for asylum seekers in the UK, hotels etc, comes out of the foreign aid budget (which in itself is only 0.58% of GDP) so having no asylum seekers wouldn't increase money spent domestically.
Half of any refugee population are women and children; but the trip to Europe is so incredibly risky that the men try it rather than risk the lives of their families. And you can see why - the majority of deaths on the trip are of women and children. Can you imagine how risky it would be for an unaccompanied woman to attempt it?
The UK take in only a tiny fraction of the world's refugees - they are less than 1% of our population. If they were processed with any kind of efficiency - France processes applications at 7 times the rate we do - they would make an economic contribution. If the ban on working here was lifted it is estimated that the UK would gain £333 million.

Totally agree op.

It's lack of integration that concerns me. Not so much who they are or where from. Though I admit I'd prefer to see women and children from war torn countries than single men.
I grew up in an area which saw a big influx of immigration in the post war years from Poland, Ukraine and the Carribbean. Later the Ugandans who were expelled. Still friends with many of them now. All embraced the British way of life and blended in.
The thing about immigration now is people living in enclaves of their old country.

This sums it up for me! I'm actually quite worried for the future of this country.

Because people have been manipulated to believe that immigration and immigrants are the cause of their problems, and that their own lives would be much better if only we had fewer of them, or perhaps none of them.

Of course, reducing immigration wouldn't actually solve anything for these people, and in many cases, it might make things worse. However, when you're angry about your life, it can be helpful to have someone to blame, and hating immigrants is a convenient way for people to channel their negative emotions. Also, it gives them the hope of simple solutions to complex problems... it's probably quite comforting to believe that everything would get better if only the government could get a grip on one single issue.

So people don’t want mass immigration because they’re stupid? Is there any country that wants mass immigration? I think it’s a bit rich accusing other people of being stupid and miss-led.

Other really important jobs such as Drs ‘haven’t classically been filled by immigration’ . What a weird thing to say. British people have been quite capable of producing Drs until relatively recently.

It’s all good in theory but when you are negatively impacted it’s hard not to feel like your own government hates you.
I live in a very diverse area (always have) it’s a pretty poor area as well. We have had many waves of immigration and on the whole people get on fine.
Recently it feels like we let people into the country who have no interest or care for the communities they live in. The reality of living near these people is very difficult. My street is currently blighted by fly tipping, anti social behaviour, selfish and irresponsible parking, random men who congregate outside houses all day. Many of my neighbours don’t speak English. You want to build community and trust with people but it’s impossible. Most of the people just seem interested in making money and sending it home. They don’t view this country as their home and don’t care about it. It’s a recipe for disaster.

You realise that the indigenous populations of Jamaica and other Caribbean islands were effectively genocided by Europeans right?

The anti-immigrant rhetoric of the right is the same across Europe. It was clear 9+ years ago that mass immigration from sub-saharan Africa in particular was going to be an issue. Conflict in the Middle East has upped the ante still further. The failure to get on top of it is the most inflammatory of numerous stare failures.

The so-called legacy media fans the flames by seeking out irregular migrants who are brown or black and who have been found guilty of sexual assault or rape. If we were living in a time of plenty, people would be more tolerant. Shabana Mahmood, just a few days in post as Home Secretary, has pointed out that the current situation poses risks for 'people who look like me'. I wish her well, and am keeping my fingers very tightly crossed for Reform to stumble and fall apart before 2029.

The anti-immigrant rhetoric of the right is the same across Europe. It was clear 9+ years ago that mass immigration from sub-saharan Africa in particular was going to be an issue. Conflict in the Middle East has upped the ante still further. The failure to get on top of it is the most inflammatory of numerous stare failures.

The so-called legacy media fans the flames by seeking out irregular migrants who are brown or black and who have been found guilty of sexual assault or rape. If we were living in a time of plenty, people would be more tolerant. Shabana Mahmood, just a few days in post as Home Secretary, has pointed out that the current situation poses risks for 'people who look like me'. I wish her well, and am keeping my fingers very tightly crossed for Reform to stumble and fall apart before 2029.

What does that have to do with anything? Does that mean Europe has to suffer the disaster of mass immigration ?

Yes, we did produce our own doctors and nurses, until government decided that it was far cheaper to stop training them ourselves and to take other countries’ expensively-trained professionals instead. I think that’s on New Labour.

Immigration as we know it today started after WW2 when labour shortages needed to be filled and so a call to Commonwealth countries was issued. (It’s worth noting that this led to social tensions and the Commonwealth Immigrants Acts in the 1960s sought to tackle that.)

I see in many threads on MN the narrative that Britain is ‘built on immigration’ and we are a ‘melting pot’ of different cultures.

That may be true post WW2 but it simply is inaccurate to suggest that it dates back any further. I assume people say that because they have short memories and don’t truly understand our nation’s history.

@ThisCalmLimeZebra @ginasevern mentioned Jamaica’s indigenous population and I wondered if that person thought they make the majority today.

You’ll have to ask @ginasevern why she made the statement, I’m not sure what the relevance is either.

Immigration is the scapegoat, not the issue, just like Jewish people during 20s/30s Germany. These things have a long background. The start was the financial crash of 2008, followed by over a decade of stagnant growth and public underfunding by the tories, followed swiftly by Covid, Brexit, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the cost of living crisis. At times like this certain types of people advance their own agenda by using a scapegoat. Immigration is not the cause and not the solution. Unfortunately we seem destined to repeat the mistakes of the past, though how far it’ll go remains to be seen!

Nobody was asked if they wanted mass immigration, the answer would have been no. The answer is still no now, nothing has changed…it’s only that people’s patience has ran out now we’re seeing the consequences and people aren’t waiting to be asked about it anymore.

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 am all for immigration generally, and I have loads of non-Brits in my social and professional circle. However, if there was a Holiday Inn near where I live full of 20-35 year old men who had the really poor attitudes towards women and girls that are common in their home countries (and of which I experienced while abroad) then I'd have a massive fucking problem with it and would not feel safe letting my daughters out on their own in their local area.

It's very easy for people who live in nice places to think it's all lovely and #BeKind, but they wouldn't be saying the same if it was their own children at risk,rather than the poor people's children.

I'd feel very differently if it was mostly women (the actual oppressed people in the middle east) and children coming on boats. I'd support the equivalent numbers of them coming here.

Because unlike you I am not happy about my exorbitant taxes going towards housing them in hotels or wherever else, on top of the rest of the things my taxes are wasted on. HTH.

It boils down to money; the country is on its knees financially. You only have to look at the state of the NHS, education, policing to see that we, the UK, need to be saving every frickin penny to make huge improvements to our public services.

Legal immigrants who come here to work and to contribute - great, appreciated, thank you.
Genuine asylum seekers who need safety - of course we will help.
People sneaking in in their thousands at a great cost to the country - unfair and unsustainable.

I have answered this on several threads. The short(ish) version
Small town limit infrastructure
Very limited transport links.
No where for the immigrants to get jobs (no where for locals to get jobs)
Local Drs no over run with patients
Local Dentist no over run with patients
Limited shops.
No support from local government
National government says shut up or you are a racist.

So very little to do with immigrants.
Very much to do with governments being able to palm off their issues and spin BS about rural people to make them look bad.

I think it’s the sheer numbers. We can’t deport anyone due to human rights and yet more and more people come in weekly. I think people are wondering where the individuals are going to live, send their kids to school, which hospitals, dentists , doctors surgeries they are going to use. How many family members will come? It’s all of the unknowns when so many people already here feel those services are overstretched. I promise you that if the same number of people were coming from China or New Zealand people would still be asking the same questions.

That's hilarious. A million people came here during the Great Famine. And French Huguenots before that. And Germans, and Russian Jews after that. And my grandparents, before the war, with my mum, who worked in the NHS all her life.
But you know, 'what did the Romans ever do for us' 😂
Or is immigration for you just the brown ones?

Someone else hit the nail on the head "fear and most of it unfounded" Unfortunately this is something that has been brewing since Brexit. People are poorer, more miserable, disgruntled with the overall lack of change, lack of funding everywhere, cost of living and they want someone to blame. Reform party have set a false narrative that the reason for all of these problems is because of immigration and migrants "stealing our jobs". The tone has changed. We used to see causal racism but now it's shifted into something more hostile - the distinction between legal migrants/asylum seekers/illegal migrants has become blurred and really what it comes down to is black vs white migrants/people. Noone had any issues with UK accepting Ukrainian refugees- why? Because they are white. It's a hard reality to accept. The far right protest in London recently was the largest one of its kind and the demographic of protesters was predominantly white males. We are seeing flags painted everywhere which is disguised at patriotism but in reality we all know it's tone is far more threatening. If you believe Farage he has painted the picture that the UK's economic decline is because of the cost to fund asylum seekers. If you look at the facts the cost to the tax payer to fund asylum seekers per person per year is approx £100. The amount of money spent on asylum support is approx 4.5billion and it has increased from the previous year due to hotel costs. Asylum seekers are given a weekly benefit of between £10 & £50 depending on their circumstances. If you look at the cost to the tax payer per year due to benefit fraud its twice as much and when you compare it to tax avoidance, that's 6 times as much. When you look at how many asylum seekers were granted asylum - for the year ending March 2025 it was 45,000 which is 35% decrease from the previous year.
Unfortunately Reform are leading the polls and I think it's a reflection of the discontentment people are feeling across the UK - the desire for change that they hoped Labour would bring hasn't come into fruition. Alot of people are wanting someone to blame and Farage has swooped in and set a false narrative that it's because of Asylum seekers. When it clearly isn't. Unfortunately it feels like the Brexit story all over again - the 350million on the side of the bus- all just made up. I would hope this time that if it came to a referendum people would look at that facts and also at what Reforms other policies are and not just focus on this one topic.

Too many people and then more cars on the road

making housing more expensive and unavailable for people who have been born here

not being an asset and being being dishonest about wealth

government constantly lecturing us on environmental issues and climate change but building on green belt and flood planes which is a result of more people needing to be housed