Political Memes

Whew. Please keep in mind when reading the following that I am generally pro-immigration, hate ICE, and think that most of the anti-immigrant sentiment is driven by conservative propaganda and racism. Having said that, there are serious concerns surrounding immigration, especially unchecked immigration, even if they are overshadowed by problems caused by oligarchs and late-stage capitalism. The current immigration system in the US is horribly broken and cruel, but that doesn't mean I want open borders.

Labor markets and the devaluation of blue-collar jobs. People may not realize this, but there was a time in the US (1950s and 60s) when one parent could work a blue-collar job and support a family with several children and afford a home, a car, and a middle-class lifestyle. This was the norm. If you wanted to, you could easily work your way through college with a part time job and graduate with little to no debt. Immigration is not the sole cause of this decline (you can also blame greed, the lack of unions, poor minimum wage, globalism, the rise of Chinese manufacturing and low trade barriers, etc) but it is one cause. Cheap blue-collar labor, in the form of poor immigrants, legal or otherwise, has driven down wages to poverty levels. First-generation immigrants might not mind this because US-level poverty may be preferable to poverty of their home nation, and they may be laying the groundwork for a better life for their children. Additionally, the rich love it because it lowers their labor costs, but this system of cheap labor has really screwed over the rest of the population. In exchange for the possibility of a middle-class lifestyle, the rest of us are forced to go into debt getting a college education, with no guarantee that the investment will even pay off. Even if you do score a decent job after getting a college degree, you likely still won't make enough money to support a family by yourself or buy a house.

The decline of social cohesion. Diversity is not a black-and-white issue. It's a sliding scale. Some people are comfortable with more. Some are comfortable with less. Just because you enjoy being able to eat a different ethnic cuisine every night of the week doesn't mean you want to be surrounded by people who are unable to speak your language. Generally speaking, I like living in big cities with lots of different cultures, but it's not for everyone, and I don't fault anyone for not wanting that lifestyle. Sometimes, you want to feel like you have a home and to be surrounded by people of the same culture. In some cases, unchecked, mass immigration has radically changed areas, to the point that some people no longer feel they belong in the place in which they grew up. In general, the more cultures, religions, and languages you have packed in the same area, the less social cohesion there will be. Studies have shown that it takes several generations for an immigrant population to fully assimilate into the host nation's culture, but if there is a constant, long-term influx of immigration, then it will slow the assimilation process further. While I personally think immigration and the cultural melting pot of the US is a good thing, unchecked immigration could easily change that melting pot into a fruit salad, with people of differing cultures living in "parallel" societies with little motivation to assimilate with each other.

Before anyone gets up in arms about what I wrote above, I will again stress that most of the anti-immigrant narratives coming from conservatives are designed to divide the population to the benefit of rich oligarchs, who represent a far bigger threat to the job market and social cohesion than immigration ever has or ever will.