Why have we become anti-immigrant when we are all immigrants?

Spacephantom

The plain fact is that most people who take an anti-immigration stance either have completely the wrong idea about illegal immigration (i.e they seem to think that most immigrants into the UK are illegal) or they have swallowed the twisted propaganda of the likes of the BNP who use an anti-immigration stance as simply a way of drawing people in to their true agenda of xenophobia, white-supremacy and racism.

The fact is that relatively few immigrants entering the UK are illegal. The vast majority of immigrants come here legally, and the majority of legal immigrants in the past few years have been from EU countries from which immigration is unregulated.

And yet, most who say they are specifically against illegal immigration, but don't mind legal immigrants, are also the ones who complain about immigrants "taking British jobs" or "being a burden on the benefits system". Illegal immigrants DO NOT have the right to claim benefits in the UK, in fact apart from the most basic of human rights, they have very few rights at all. They also cannot be legally employed since they won't have a national Insurance Number or P45. Therefore, they tend to get absolutely horrible jobs from disreputable employers who pay them next to nothing.

So although illegal immigration should never be condoned (it is a form of trespassing in my view), it is neither the case that illegal immigrants are burdening the benefits system or taking jobs which home grown British workers could do. The only immigrants these arguments could be aimed at are in fact legal immigrants, although in my opinion the benefits they bring to our society outweigh anything they take.

There are those people, of course who don't make any distinction at all, and are against all immigration. This is the stance the BNP take. They not only want to get rid of illegal immigrants, they want to remove all immigrants and their descendants from the UK.

In the mission statement on their web site, they define indigenous Britons as "people whose ancestors were the earliest settlers here after the last great Ice Age and which have been complemented by the historic migrations from mainland Europe. Migrations of the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Norse and closely related kindred peoples". Meaning that they apparently want to rid the UK of everyone who can't trace their ancestry in Britain back beyond the Norman Conquest in 1066.

What they actually mean though of course, is that they want to remove all non-white people from Britain and create an all-white society. This is the racism inherent in the BNP which they continually try to cover up with anti-immigration rhetoric.

So, I think anti-immigrant sentiments in general arise mostly from misunderstanding and misinformation (as in the confusion between legal and illegal immigrants), and to a lesser extent from xenophobia, bigotry and racism (as in the BNP example).

I think the recent rise in anti-immigrant feeling has resulted largely from the perfectly legal, but unregulated influx of immigrants from the EU, which has meant that the number of immigrants entering the UK has risen dramatically, and this has been exploited by groups who wish to demonise immigration and stir up bad feeling against immigrants.

regerugged

I am not an immigrant. I was born in the US.
People in the US are against illegal immigration. Virtually no one is against legal immigration.
There is a big difference between legal and illegal.

KERMIT M

Let's get it straight...ANTI-ILLEGAL immigration. What is so hard for folks to understand? Illegal immigration is the problem. Legal immigrants are more than welcome in this country.

Of course you already knew that. And if you didn't ...well I'm sure you can read up on it.

Jerry C

You misunderstand the position that many of us have taken. We aren't anti immigrant. We are anti illegal alien. We have no problem with people that immigrate to the country legally. In fact we want people to immigrate here. What we don't want are 20 million criminal illegal aliens choking the states to death.

sfavorite711

I am only against illegal immigration, are you saying you are against legal immigration since you use the word "we"?

The protests and pundits I have listen to are against illegal immigration. No one I have heard is calling to deport legal immigrants. Where do you get this opinion?

Would you like it better if we treated illegal immigrations the way Mexico does by making it a felony? Did you realize that Mexico deports more illegal immigrants then the U.S.A. does?

Dirty Martini

This "we are all immigrants" line is so lame it needs a walker.

First of all, it is the year 2007...not 1700 something. ALl countries have immigration laws. Comparing today's global environment to the situation and patterns from 400 years ago is about as relevant as....400 years ago.

Your ancestors also crawled around on all 4 and ate with their hands. Do you eschew forks and knives today because it is part of your heritage?

Illegal aliens are criminals, and they leech off the infrastructure that my taxes pay for . They should be arrested and deported--every single one of them.

And I am NOT in immigrant....I was born in the country in which I reside. But I have nothing against legal immigrants. Here legally? Welcome! Here illegally? Get out.

Joan el guiri

As an immigrant, I can state that we are only against illegal immigrants.
This is a group supported by Gordon Brown and the Institute of Directors because, they have no rights, are not unionised, and you can pay them peanuts.

How else do you explain how, Britain, an island, has so many illegals. It is because the government wants them so as to keep costs down.

mnwomen

I am not an immigrant. My ancestors were but that has no bearing on my status or what is happening today. It is not immigration people are banging on as you put it. It is ILLEGAL immigration.

wild4gypsy

You should read a book called the "dictionary".
An immigrant is one that is born in one country and legally moves in another country. It has nothing to do with history.
Pure blood is a term to define a pure bleed of a animal.

Your knowledge of word History is even incorrect as it has nothing to do with legal citizens. It is just about history and events which things happened.

In your case I doubt you ever read anything thing remotely looks like a history book.

galyamike

This misses the point entirely. Immigration is no bad thing in itself - indeed, Britain would not have been the great country she was without it. However, today we are concerned with quantity and quality. The former is excessive and the latter is questionable.

CLIVE H

That is something which has often puzzled me until that is I started some research of my own. The anti-immigrant ideas and concepts seem to come mainly from people with a strong German or Germanic background - ie those folk who think of themselves as Anglo Saxon and not especially British.

The oldest known people [race] in UK are the people of the Celtic fringe, the Cornish and the Welsh. Recent DNA testing shows these people to have been in Britain for about 10,000 years. These are the same folk who built Stone Henge and all the rest of it. Hard to take in but true.

Britain survives on new-wave immigrants and immigration from afar.

Here's one big scary fact about language. The oldest surviving and still spoken language in Britain is Welsh. Modern Welsh dates from about the 6th century AD. There are words in Welsh which are exactly the same as in Urdu, a language widely spoken in Northern India and Pakistan. Welsh is an Indo-European language.

We're all from somewhere else.

Recently they found a whole bunch of people in Yorkshire [white as the driven snow] who all have African DNA. A lot of puzzlement about that until you know a bit of the history. Back in Roman times the Romans maintained two auxilliary legio in what is now Yorkshire [Britannia Inferior]. These legio were from Ethiopia [Abasynia] - africans. When you had served your 22 years [time] in the Legions you did not go home, you stopped where you were, you got married and were given a small parcel of land, maybe one or two acres, tools blah and get on with it etc.

So, in amongst us all, there are these ancient folk. I mean, back at school in the 1950s I could not get my head around the idea that people built Stone Henge and then just ran away. Makes no sense. Indeed it is simply the case that the people who built the henges are still here, at least their descendants are.

In addition to these early Brits there are folk like myself who think we are Celts. I'm Welsh, so there is a high probability that I am indeed of Celtic descent. I've got blood group 'O' which is indicative of the Celts. When I look in the mirror I see a silver haired Tom Jones look alike [nearly] staring madly back at me. I also see traces of Richard Burton, Griff Reese Jones and lots of other [celts] Welsh too.

Where I live down here in SE England most of the people are of Celtic descent. Not a joke, it's a DNA and blood group fact.

Britain is full of folk from all over the place. New cultures simply merge into the existing culture. Nothing ever gets chucked out, not entirely anyway, we just forget what it was origanally for but keep on doing it.

Take that English dance - Morris Dancing. I have seen the exact same dance performed in Iraq. It probably came to Britain sometime during or soon after the Crusades - it's an Iraqi dance all right - Moorish Dance [dancing] - the Moors sometimes in Flemmish called Black-a-moors [Wm.S.].

Join the story of Breten today.

Ding dong, I'm Sparticus 2.

I am not anti-immigrant, but I am against unchecked, wholesale, ship them in Immigration. We should be tackling our home grown issues before adding too much new blood. Too many (millions) of home grown natives are alienated from mainstream society. They simply will not work for slave wages and massive taxation. Why should they? New Labour have created a time bomb.

Rabid Frog

First off people are not anti-immigrant, we are however frustrated with the illegal immigration problem and want something to be done, we have a legal process, use it.

Please tell me how many generations must pass before we are no longer considered an immigrant?

arcanum70

We aren't anti-immigrant, we are anti-illegal immigrant.

There is a HUGE difference.

Oh, and I'm not an immigrant as I was born here. That makes me native.

LadyMoonlight!!

I am not anti immigration.

I am against "flood the market with unskilled people creating a huge pool of excess labour which makes competition for even the most basic of jobs more problematic, drives wages down and causes employers to see their workers as expendible and cheap".

Plus I was born here as were my parents, grandparents, great grandparents etc ergo I am not an immigrant. My dad fought in WWII and my grandmother lost two brothers in WWI. My family have been paying their taxes for centuries. We've put plenty into this country. I wonder when it will ever give us anything back, because right now more is given to the immigrants than it is to the "natives".

Different thing.

trigga1uk

Dont start this again!!!!
Yea, i imagine everyone is an immigrant but when legions of people from one culture come flooding into one area of britain it tends to ruffle a few feathers.

The world is becoming so small with mass modern media and people have become so concerned with where they can earn the most money!! Why are so many north africans flooding the italian islands!

What about all countries like south africa and 'israel'. That was some great examples of immigration!! And what about fiji, bl**dy nightmare problem with Indians there. When its a few people dont mind - but when its constant and people from cultures that wont adapt to where they are going - people get very annoyed.

Due in May!!

I am completely AGAINST illegal immigrants. My reasons being are they are robbing rightful AMERICANS of a decent education, quality health care, high paying and respectable jobs. Due to people migrating over here ILLEGALLY we as AMERICANS are denied so many privileges that are rightfully ours. Students as well as the staff and faculty of schools are obligated to make sacrifices just to accommodate the needs of illegals. Classes are being slowed down and over crowded due to this. Teachers are forced to cater to the needs of the students who cannot speak ENGLISH. The end result is the decline in the education of the tax payers children. Nevertheless, they are moving here and living for virtually free without paying taxes and are still capable of obtaining health care for themselves and their children, cousins, in-laws and chickens.....IT"S RIDICULOUS!!!! Furthermore, they are getting the jobs that many people spend numerous years trying to get simply because they are "token workers". As an AMERICAN citizen it makes me enraged that enough isn't being done to control this situation. Oh and by the way where in the hell did you migrate from?......I don't think your mothers womb counts. You need to stop being so blind and stand up for your self and your country before this matter worsens.

Micky

Incorrect, I was born here and therefore I am not an immigrant. I am anti illegal alien by the way, I have no problem with legal immigrants.

skullpicker

A very valid argument, is what you have here. We are all immigrants. It all comes down to education. We are not told or informed of the deep multi-cultural history of this country, we even have native american blood in england.

Pochahontas, and some of the 'Native American' showmen of the early 20thC who toured the world teaching the masses about their rituals and practices, lived and settled here in the UK!

The nail has been truly struck on the head with this question. Multiculturalism and its sister, immigration, are all around us, it is the one true and unique aspect(s) of this world we live in!

fedup_dwn_south

I'm not sure where you were born, but I am an AMERICAN, like my father, grandfather, great grandfather..... Stop trying to call me an immigrant. Just because my family got here way before this country had strict emigration laws doesn't make ME illegal. My family learned English, changed their name and became AMERICANS.

In fact, I think I will start listing myself as a NATIVE AMERICAN the next time I am asked my ethnicity. Hows that make you feel?

jack lewis

Most aren't anti immigrants but many are fed up with illegal migrants and it is not racist to question it sadly pc liberals have twisted the issue . The issue has nothing to do with blood but sustainability and security i know my history but we are a nation with laws and traditions who call ourselves British regardless of where are ancestors originally came from.

DAR

No one is against legal immigrants, only those who ignore the limits on how many poor we subsidize in our schools and hospitals, thereby ruining education and health care for our own people.

It isn't about the quality of an 'immigrant' but how many our infrastructure and programs can take without failing our own people. Unfortunately, with rampant illegal immigration, we have passed that number some time back.

F yahoo in Ash

It kills me that people still confuse ILLEGAL ALIEN invaders with legal immigrants
IT IS THE ILLEGAL ALIENS people are against
Why is this so hard for folks to understand.
IT IS THE ILLEGAL ALIENS people are against
IT IS THE ILLEGAL ALIENS people are against
IT IS THE ILLEGAL ALIENS people are against

mikesopinion

You forgot to add ILLEGAL. I'm also against US citizens who murder and rape.

David W

Are you talking about the UK or USA? Please specify. You are on UK and Ireland Answers.

I won't answer for the USA - it's different.

There are some kind of arguements which suggest the English are a mongrol nation - which is only correct to some degree. Latest studies have indicated that all the people occupying the British Isles share a common DNA and have slight Scandinavian/Germanic/French influence due to migrations from the continent.

So, in terms of your question, the people of the British Isles are native, not immigrants.

Immigrants arriving place enormous strain on the NHS and benefits system. Having never paid into National Insurance or taxation, there is less money going around to more people. As they are willing to work for less money, employers are favouring immigrants over natives - meaning less jobs. There is an arguement which suggests that much money is being 'sent home' and not pumped back into the UK economy.

There is also a separatist arguement which determines that the government has embraced multi-culturalism so liberally that immigrants find no need to adopt 'British' culture and tend to live in separate communities. This is a fault of the government - not the immigrants.

Beertha

I agree with the anti illegal activities idea. Besides that I don't want to see my country overpopulated like so many countries in the countries around the world. I would be nice to see governments start promoting smaller families and free migration between countries going both ways. It's not easy for a person from the US to live in other countries with equal rights as immigrants/ migrants have in the US. This isn't brought up enough in the media.

big dave

i was born in england by british parents that makes me british f*ck history we need to no more about whats goin on now the immagrants that come into this country take the pi*s out of us by using our services like nhs and job seekers and have a cushy life so people 50 years from now will go "wot idiots they were letting all them immagrints in "

intrigue

So right. I'm going to give you a star for that.

We are a nation built on immigration. we are all mixed-race. White ethnic British are the most mixed-race nation of the world. Our genetics come from a variety of different places globally. White British can probably go back no further than 3 or 4 generations before they find out there was an immigrant in their family.
That's what makes Britain so interesting and great to live in. It's about time people read up on their country and started to embrace the positive role that immigration has always had on our country.
If it wasn't for immigration we would still be living in our caves, cooking over a wood fire, living as the stone age did.

ashley g

I have adopt ed the philosophy of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel when he stated: "You who are so-called illegal aliens must know that no human being is 'illegal.' That is a contradiction in terms. Human beings can be beautiful or more beautiful, can be right or wrong, but illegal? How can a human being be illegal?"

dels replies

Well what this is about really is not actual race but how long the family has been resident here., of whatever background. Those with a few generations of family in UK now want the doors closed. Those already here for a few years have qualified as it were, but no more are needed now thanks,, The country is getting full up. We all know the mixed history of UK and in the past have been able to absorb and welcome newcomers, but that time is closing, Has to. Why does anyone have the right to move to another country and expect to be welcomed there.. Some do not like Europeans in their countries. .

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