The reasons people emigrate are many, but the type of immigration you usually see being disparaged by all sides of the political spectrum is when its for economic reasons.
Even UKIP and other right wing parties seem keen on getting more doctors and other professionals, but when have you heard a politician say they want to encourage more immigrant strawberry pickers or factory workers?
I personally haven't heard any political party say this, and its easy to see why. More economic migrants moving from a poorer economic area to 'our' country will 'dilute our wealth' and 'take our jobs'. At least, that is the fear, spoken or not.
Leaving aside the almost undoubted fact that neither of the above is true #1, this is what people are worried about
So lets assume that it is true, what does this say about us if we want to restrict these peoples movement into the country?
Its so obvious that I barely need to write it.
"We feel that the people who were lucky enough to have been born on this side of the imaginary invisible line that is our border are more entitled to be wealthy than people who were born on the other side".
In what other context is it OK to say that someone is more or less entitled to a decent life based on an accident of their birth, or something that is entirely out of their control? Apart from in extreme right wing media, have you ever heard anyone say or print:
"We think people who are gay/black/female should be less entitled to wealth than straight/white/male people"?
All of those are also accidents of birth. There really is no difference between the first statement and the second.
#1 http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26605-opening-the-door-to-immigrants-is-good-for-the-economy.html#.VKkqpSusWpU
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