“How Italy’s far-right leader learned to stop worrying and love migration” (Politico, August 2023):
Giorgia Meloni is presiding over a sharp spike in regular and irregular arrivals.
While Meloni has continued to take a hard line on irregular arrivals, there’s little sign it’s being effective. The number of people arriving by boat after crossing the Mediterranean has more than doubled this year, to 106,000 so far this year, compared to 53,000 over the same period last year, according to government data.
“UK migration soars to record high despite Tory Brexit promises” (Politico, November 2023):
Net migration to the U.K. has hit a new record high of 672,000, four years after the Conservatives pledged to cut it to a third of that level.
The latest figures, published by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday morning, show a significant increase on what was already a record-high of 602,000 people back in May.
The latest release — covering the 12 months to June 2023 — piles further pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has promised to drastically decrease the numbers of people moving to the U.K. each year.
I can’t figure out these politicians’ strategy. They promise to reduce immigration, but then continue to offer asylum to any of 8 billion humans who choose to show up. Finally, they express surprise when some of those 8 billion humans actually do show up to claim the offer.
We are informed that Replacement Theory is a lie and also….
Meloni is presiding over a country that is economically stagnant and in demographic decline. Over the last decade, Italy has shrunk by some 1.5 million people (more than the population of Milan). In 39 of its 107 provinces, there are more retirees than workers.
It’s numbers like these that prompted Italy’s Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti to warn earlier this month that no reform of the pension system would “hold up in the medium-to-long term with the birth rate numbers we have today in this country.”
There will be no replacement of Italians in Italy. It is just that the number of Italians will be reduced while the number of non-Italians will increase.
Donald Trump, of course, famously failed to eliminate “irregular crossings” of our southern border. The Trump years did not feature the completely open border that Joe Biden runs, but the number of encounters weren’t reduced compared to the Obama administration’s record:
The European politicians can’t claim a lack of cooperation from parliament, as a U.S. president can say about Congress refusing to do his/her/zir/their bidding.
Going forward, should voters around the world simply ignore any politician who promises to reduce low-skill immigration unless the politician says “We will stop offering asylum”?
“Irregular arrivals”! Too funny.
Going forward, should voters around the world simply ignore any politician who promises to reduce low-skill immigration unless the politician says “We will stop offering asylum”? Yes!
Isn’t the issue that once the politicians take office they are faced with the reality that there are not sufficient young people to pay for the pensions that have been promised and creating some sort of economic growth and that the politicians therefor conclude that an economy in decline and unpaid pensions would likely cause civil unrest and that as between civil unrest and importing immigrants from say Algeria or Libya the better choice is the immigration? I am not saying I agree but isn’t this the basic issue?
Are aware of Japan existence ?
Is not it an unreasonable observation that “Man hat Arbeitskräfte gerufen, und es kommen Menschen”. If labor is called from Somalia, then you get people from Somalia and can enjoy local Somalia, food and other stuff too, therefore.
“Young people” you call for may have other plans than wiping white colonizers asses.
People with IQ’s of 60 who are illiterate an any language are never going to be net taxpayers, and they definitely are not going to fund the retirements of professionals or even union factory workers.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/less-than-2-of-thousands-of-migrants-in-nyc-applied-for-work-permits/ar-AA1jLXPv
It’s bizarre to me that the first person who ever voiced this argument was not laughed out of the room.
NYT has a recent story on immigrants who arrived in the 1980s to NYC. They never learned English or any significant work skills. The legal ones get a bit of Social Security, but overall they are wards of the taxpayers.
“While many seniors struggle with financial hardship and social isolation, older immigrants can be among the worst off, immigration experts said. They tend to have less education than their U.S.-born peers and are less likely to have retirement or investment income, the census analysis found. The median annual income for an older immigrant was $14,592, or roughly half of the $30,019 for a U.S.-born senior.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/13/nyregion/older-immigrants-retirement.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Nk0.-04y.WiH9_u5mk8MI&smid=url-share
IMHO, the basic issue is that rich people benefit immensely from illegal immigration. From lawncare to childcare, why pay a citizen when you can get it done much cheaper by an illegal?
The politicians do what they are told.
Of course, no one is going to campaign on this platform, hence the duplicity.
To clarify, when I hear right-wing people talk about Replacement Theory, it’s not just demographics change.
It’s the _planned replacement for political reasons_. It’s Soros, Saul Alinsky, and future last-minute president Michelle Obama getting together in a pizza basement and deciding that white people need to be replaced in order for the achieve their goal of bringing communism to the US while transing your kids.
The point is that they think it’s a secret plan, and not a side effect.
I think a lot of countries signed some UN treaty on refugees back in 1951. So now everyone is on the hook. But yes, it’s interesting that Japan is not in the news for taking in refugees. Neither is China or many others countries. Only the western countries are really doing it, apart from Turkey or Jordan, or some other places neighboring wartorn countries.
What I don’t get is, if they need working immigrants who speak or can learn the language quickly, why don’t countries like Italy and Spain have a program to take in immigrants from places like Argentina? I’m sure someone from Argentina could integrate quite quickly into Spain or Italy with less cultural friction to society compared to say, an immigrant from Ethiopia.
I’m sure many Argentines would be happy to live in a european country with only 8% inflation versus 180% per year.
“What I don’t get is, if they need working immigrants who speak or can learn the language quickly, why don’t countries like Italy and Spain have a program to take in immigrants from places like Argentina? ”
Because it would be racist, taking back white colonizers and not oppressed people. It would go agaisnt the prevailing DEI/woke religion. That’s also why Japan is not “on the hook”, but the West is. “The hook” is not a reflection of the objective reality, but rather a religious phenomenon reinforced by financial incentives. Or vice versa.The pain is entirely self-imposed.
Based on language criteria above people from India, Pakistan etc should be able to adapt to to the US easily, and a wide range from low-skilled to highly skilled (including medical doctors philg mentions frequently) would be willing to migrate.
@Anonymous India is already population-bombing white countries at astonishing levels, replacing natives in the workforce and outcompeting them for housing, and will continue to do so.