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

I can't whip up much enthusiasm to chime in on a thread that already has 100 responses, so I'll just say this:

Conservatives generally are very paranoid, very fearful. The worry about being "replaced" by people they consider "lesser." They worry about losing there supremacy. They worry that others are coming after their possessions - most especially coming after their money, in terms of taxation. They worry about change.

Of course, this is especially weird in America, because basically we're ALL descended from immigrants, except the small percentage of Native American Indians.

The thing that bothers me the most is seeing those poor people coming across in those boats. It has to be stopped, people including children are drowning and it’s awful. Those gangs running these boat runs have to be stopped. It’s pathetic that it’s still happening.

It's the cost.

Yes, needs control. 1m a year is too many, this isn't racist or anti, we live on a relatively small island and don't have the space or resources to take unlimited migrants.

@Happyjoe and @sleepwouldbenice , to you especially, doesn't it concern you that the people coming over on boats are mainly young men?

I assume you'll probably answer with the same old line we hear all the time that 'it's because the men are stronger, fitter and they've more chance of survival and intend to bring their families over when they're safe and settled'.

But do you really believe this? Maybe many of the women have young children, and don't feel able to travel good distances with them, but what about the young women with no children, for example, why aren't they amongst the men on the boats do you think?
When I think back to being in my 20's (pre children), I'd have had the physical ability and the determination to travel alongside men to reach safety if it was necessary, so why aren't those young women doing the same?, especially if they're trying to flee to safety like we're being told?
If anyone responds with 'the women stay to look after their mothers and family members whilst the men go to find a place to live for everyone', well that surely wouldn't account for basically every female would it?

Men are leaving women behind who could travel just as easily as them, why?
That concerns me, and in a few more years when there's thousands more young men arriving on our shores by boat illegally, our own men will be outnumbered,

32109 arrived by last Friday (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdx20xenzgqo.amp) and there has been 37 weeks so far which is 867 people per week.

I clearly differentiated between illegal and legal immigration, do you think an extra 71 thousand people every month is sustainable?

I think at this point you can research yourself, it’s not an outlandish or controversial prediction and it is accepted that it will happen. London has gone from 71% white British in 1991 to 45%, it’s just part of a wider trend.

We will get Farage but prob won’t get enough reform MPs to actually defeat the cons and labs so we will get a farage PM but a bunch of whingeing and fighting cons around him disagreeing with every proposal so for the next parliamentary 4years continue in the downward spiral and continue uncontrolled immigrants

The comments actually started of well reasonably. Discussion that should be had without name calling.
I get why the blow up around immigration is happening. What some if these people are worried, unhappy, angry about.
Re the demographic prediction. Aw them as well and these seem to be based on the mographic changes up to date as well. Quite reawonable assumption that if the njmbers continue to go this way, the scale will swing the other way.
The immigration is rising, the people in UK are having life wuality dropped down. Of course they will be unhappy about having to compete with more for less...

That's just it though - it IS controlled.

I think ultimately it’s about perceived unfairness. This type of thing is happening up and down the country it’s not just a one off wedding. You are right though that there are multiple parties involved in what is happening. The government who create these policies and annex public facilities to accommodate these men, greedy hoteliers who can make a guaranteed killing by accepting government contracts, and the migrants who are dumped into communities that are, on the whole, a bit wary of a sudden influx of foreign young men. Sadly for those young men they are the most visible aspect of all of this and when inevitably their behaviour doesn’t conform to the cultural norms of the community people get upset.

Why ask the question (as OP did) and then dismiss the multiple reasons that people give as to why they are not happy with the situation as it stands. Ordinary people’s lives are clearly being negatively affected by these policies on multiple levels and if the government fails to start putting the interests of British people before the interests of foreign men I expect the sense of resentment will get a lot worse.

You answered your own questions, not sure what the point of your post it tbf.

Unfortunately the fact remains, these people have to go somewhere and if a hotel owner makes a choice to house immigrants then that's his/her choice. Be angry at him, it is his choice!

People though are shouting outside hotels, spraying flags on church walls etc and they are blaming the wrong people. NOT helped by the likes of the Daily Mail who will pick up on stories like this wedding and spin to suit their agenda. People are lapping it up.

The government has not put the interests of British people first in years! This country is crumbling, we all feel the long NHS wait lists, we all drive over the potholes, we all see schools struggling and know people on long waiting lists for housing. This is not the fault of immigration, this is the fault of our governments 100%. They are the ones who have cut back in funding everything, they are the ones who have not built new homes, they are the ones in charge of granting millions of Visas over a short period of time, its those amounts that really put a strain on things. It is little wonder that, letting in millions of legal immigrants while not setting up the infrastructure for them is going to create anger - but shouting and fighting outside hotels is not relevant and people are blaming the wrong people. This is the issue I have with it all.

Immigration needs to cut down severely, people who overstay visas need to go home etc, the rules for asylum need to be tightened (perhaps the boats will become fewer if harder to get in), but I don't want us to be a country that doesn't care, that values life of asylum seekers as less, that people demonise immigrants because really, they are blaming the wrong people for the ills.

But we've just said its is controlled and its not unlimited!
A review of these rules, as long as fact based and considered ( eg what would happen to unis without the students, to the care sector / nhs) is a good thing
Continued hysteria / vile comments over the much lower number ( which again i have said is rising and needs addressing but in a constructive way) isnt

And if we take legal migrants then we ought to invest in the infrastructure to support them

Agreed
And also again saying this number of illegal migration would out number our own men..
Oh come on!!!

I will take the average at the end of the year thanks, considering the quieter months when its autumn/ winter

Although I agree its rising and should be addressed
Its still not thousands...
And then you flip your comments to include legal migration. And I agree again this should be looked at. In a calm, fact filled way.
But the hysteria and the post is about illegal migration

Yeah, that's when I lost interest in the post. Sigh!

Because they have been on a housing list for 10 years and think they will be pushed back when mr boat brings his family across.
It's trying to join a doctor's surgery and being explicitly asked if you are British and rejected by someone saying spaces are for foreign nationals only.

You see, this isn’t a helpful response. I’m glad others have given a more thoughtful reply and I hope that by reading them, your views are more tempered?

I think it makes a big difference to where you live and how much or how little you are personally affected. It’s easy to be dismissive of people’s concerns when you live in a nice area with very few of the problems people have been describing

You can argue all you like that people’s anger is misplaced but the fact remains that people perceive themselves to be negatively affected by hotels popping up in their area (and this is demonstrably the case in many situations).

I think on the whole though sensible people do blame the government but it’s 4 long years until they can show their displeasure at the ballot box so in the meantime the only lawful option open to them is to protest. That then leads to threads like this one asking “why are people so riled up” but It really isn’t hard to find out why people are upset and 99 times out of 100 it isn’t because they are “racist and xenophobic” as one poster so eloquently put it.

You are right about the infrastructure though. For years it’s been clear that they can’t keep cramming people into existing infrastructure. We really need to be building whole new towns and cities with all the associated schools, hospitals and other services. Simply building more and more houses and expecting existing services to accommodate the rising population with the additional need to provide interpreters and additional support without any additional funding won’t work.

It's not the legal immigrants are the problem.
It's the illegal ones coming in by dinghy. Being put up in hotels and given money.
Which are mainly men. Where are the women and children, left in a war zone.

My next door neighbours are legal immigrants. They have paid a lot of money to get citizenship.
In November they will be taking the citizen test. Have waited 5 years.
They are annoyed that people coming on the boats are treated better than them.
He was a Vet in his home country but can't practice. She was a GP.
As soon as they pass the test, they will have a good couple of years to retrain.

I’ve clearly differentiated between different immigration and haven’t ‘flipped’. I’m posting facts, I think people on the side of mass immigration simply do not understand the scale of the issue and are arguing from purely emotion.

You honestly think people are 'on the side of mass immigration'? Wow.

Yes.