{"id":23893,"date":"2020-11-23T12:19:17","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T17:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=23893"},"modified":"2020-11-23T12:19:19","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T17:19:19","slug":"gloablist-mass-migration-narrative-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2020\/11\/23\/gloablist-mass-migration-narrative-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"More Globalist, Pro-Mass-Migration Propaganda From Foreign Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a recent opinion<\/a> piece in Foreign Policy<\/em> \u2013 a publication dedicated primarily to global affairs \u2013 Philippe Legrain argues that immigrants are in the forefront of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and that we need more migration to revive Western economies in a post-coronavirus world. Of course, there is nothing particularly novel or original about Mr. Legrain\u2019s special pleadings \u2013 nor is it surprising coming from a globalist outlet like Foreign Policy <\/em>\u2013 but it is nevertheless important to address the argument because the open-borders\/pro-mass-migration crowd continues to push the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we discuss the article, a few words about its author are in order. An economist, Mr. Legrain describes<\/a> himself as a \u201ccosmopolitan Londoner,\u201d opposes Brexit, and is a cheerleader for globalism and mass migration. From 2011 to 2014, he also served as the principal adviser to the president of the European Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title of Mr. Legrain\u2019s op-ed \u2013 \u201cThe Coronavirus Is\nKilling Westerners. Immigrants Are Saving Them\u201d \u2013 encapsulates the heart of his\nsimplistic and misleading thesis. He also bemoans the fact that even though\nimmigrants, and in particular \u201cforeign-born doctors and entrepreneurs are at\nthe forefront of fighting the pandemic and resuscitating economies,\u201d so-called\n\u201cnativist politicians still want to keep them out.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the context of recent news about early results\nshowing that a COVID-19 vaccine developed jointly by Pfizer and BioNTech is\nmore than 90 percent effective, Mr. Legrain argues that \u201cthe world has Turkish\nimmigrants to Germany to thank for it.\u201d He emphasizes that \u201cUgur Sahin, the\nco-founder and chief executive of BioNTech, a German biotech start-up, arrived\nin Germany as a child. He is the son of an auto worker who came to Germany as\npart of its postwar guest worker program. BioNTech\u2019s chief medical officer,\nOzlem Tureci, who is Sahin\u2019s wife, is the daughter of a Turkish doctor who also\nmoved to Germany.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then rattles off a list of companies \u2013 from Moderna\nthrough Zoom to tech start-ups \u2013 whose founders were either immigrants or in\nwhich immigrants play important roles. Last but not least, Mr. Legrain touts\nthe work of foreign-born doctors and nurses fighting the battle against the\ncoronavirus while offering the familiar apologia for mass low-skilled\nmigration, mentioning \u201ckey workers who pick and pack food, stack supermarket\nshelves, provide home deliveries, and toil long hours in Amazon warehouses.\nThey are the people who clean hospitals and public transport systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of the above is necessarily false. But what Mr.\nLegrain omits is just as important as what he advertises. Few would deny that\nthere are many well-educated and hard-working immigrants \u2013 and their children \u2013\nwho are doing great things to help their host societies, or that there are\nplenty of immigrants (and natives!) performing \u201cessential\u201d tasks during the\npandemic. However, that is by no means the full picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mass migration \u2013 both in the U.S. and in Europe \u2013 also brings in its wake problems and pathologies that Mr. Legrain did not mention. For instance, he is silent on immigrants and refugees burdening Western welfare systems<\/a> (and using other services<\/a>), migrant crime<\/a> (including rapes and sexual assaults<\/a>), or terrorism<\/a>. \u00a0Nor does he mention that the vast majority of immigrants \u2013 at least here in the U.S. \u2013 are not selected for skills or accomplishments but rather through chain migration.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, he is attempting to sell mass migration and open borders to his readers by employing a fallacy, i.e. attributing the characteristics of a subset of the immigrant population to the entire immigrant population (FAIR has debunked<\/a> this fallacy before). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is similar to attempting to sell a house with\nmultiple problems solely on the basis of showing a beautiful, modern kitchen. The\ngood news is that, in the case of immigration, we actually can enjoy the\nbenefits of immigration that Mr. Legrain touts while significantly reducing the\ndownsides which he completely omits. We can do that by lowering overall\nimmigration levels, and in particular significantly reducing low-skilled\nmigration, while making immigration much more merit-based.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, Mr. Legrain is skeptical of merit-based\nimmigration. \u201cSahin could hardly have been selected by the skills-based\nimmigration policies that many governments in rich countries increasingly favor,\u201d\nhe writes. \u201cIndeed, if he hadn\u2019t moved to Germany as a child, the world might\nnever have realized what it had missed out on. For all Sahin\u2019s individual\nbrilliance, he is unlikely to have achieved as much had he not moved to\nGermany, benefited from an excellent scientific education, and seized the\ngreater research and business opportunities available there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may sound convincing at a very superficial level, but \u2013 like the rest of his arguments \u2013 begins to fall apart under closer analysis. The main problem is that it is highly speculative and based on wishful thinking: let us bring in as many immigrants as possible, including masses of low-skilled ones, in the hope that some of their children may one day become great scientists or entrepreneurs. Yes, a few may \u2013 and their successes should obviously be celebrated \u2013 but sustained mass low-skilled immigration also has significant economic and social costs, including overcrowded public schools and deteriorating education levels for both native-born and immigrant children. Reihan Salam, a son of Bangladeshi immigrants, even argues that it could ultimately lead to major civil strife<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have Mr. Legrain \u2013 and many others making similar claims \u2013 merely not thought through the implications of their argument? That is possible, but unlikely. It is probable that, like other globalists, he either simply does not care or assumes that the upsides outweigh the downsides. After all, the globalist elites reap many of the financial and political profits of mass migration while ordinary citizens are often left holding the bag. Either way, Mr. Legrain\u2019s op-ed is a primary, classic example of how the open-borders chattering class attempts to manipulate Western publics into applauding policies that in many ways harm them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent opinion piece in Foreign Policy \u2013 a publication dedicated primarily to global affairs \u2013 Philippe Legrain argues that immigrants are in the forefront of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and that we need more migration to revive Western economies in a post-coronavirus world. Of course, there is nothing particularly novel or original about<\/p>\n

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