More than 250 million people live in a country other than the one they were born in... in
other words, they’re immigrants.
And, my friends, this number won’t stop growing.
In the last 50 years it has multiplied by 3 and only since the year 2000, the number
of immigrants has increased by 80 million!
That’s 80 million more people who’ve left their country in search of a better life.
And as you can imagine, most of all the world’s immigrants – more than 65% - have settled
in the richest countries, such as the United States, Germany, Australia and Canada.
And it is precisely this fact, dear viewers of VISUALPOLITIK, that is feeding, throughout
the world...
controversial, furious and bitter debates on immigration.... and also, the discourse
of many populist movements.
In recent years, in Europe, for example, we’ve seen a lot of populist and xenophobic parties
emerging... which have targeted immigration directly.
What if they steal our jobs, put us in danger, destroy our national identity, etc., etc.
But... perhaps, the most outstanding case is that of Donald Trump.
A president who has made it clear, very clear, that he really doesn’t like immigration...
except, apparently, under certain circumstances.
Check it out:
("President Trump balked at an immigration deal that would include protections for people
from Haiti and some nations in Africa, demanding to know
why he should accept immigrants from “s***hole countries” rather than from places like
Norway".
New York Times)
Why on earth would Trump think that Norwegians want to emigrate en masse to the United States,
when they are already richer than Americans?
In fact, more people are moving from the US to Norway than the other way around.
But... let's not stray off topic.
Is immigration really a danger, a burden, a step down?
Is the United States losing economic momentum because of all the immigrants in the country?
Should the US stop the arrival of more foreigners?
Let's see.
If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that we live in an increasingly interconnected
world, that is, a world where it’s becoming easier, faster and cheaper to go from one
place to another.
And where it’s also becoming easier to contact our loved ones no matter where we are.
And... as you can imagine all these things make the decision to pack up and move to another
country much, much easier.
That's why... if there were 90 million immigrants around the world in the 60s, today there are
more than 250 million...
And you know what?
We can expect this number to grow strongly in the upcoming years.
First, because it’s becoming easier to move, and second because of the huge demographic
growth that many poor countries are experiencing.
So, my friends, the question is, are there reasons to worry?
Listen up.
(A LUCKY BREAK?)
Whenever rich countries talk about immigration, it sounds like they’re debating whether
or not to engage in some kind of charity.
And... you know what?
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Immigration favors economic growth, among other things because most immigrants are adults
of working age.
Therefore, it’s calculated, listen up, that since the year 2000, immigrants have been
responsible for 40 to 80 percent of their main recipient countries’ workforce growth.
So let’s be honest without them, these countries would be far less wealthy.
But yes I know.
This is all quite abstract, if you want we can see exactly what has happened in one of
the countries where immigration has caused a lot of controversy recently: the United
Kingdom.
In recent years, while some political groups warned about the enormous threat that immigration
- including, check this out, immigrants coming from other European Union countries - posed
to British jobs, identity, and way of life... the truth is that the economy has placed very,
very different numbers on the table.
Never before in history, have so many people been employed in the United Kingdom as they
have today-- neither in absolute nor relative terms.
And, it doesn’t even matter if we exclude immigrants.
Never before has the British population had so many job opportunities as they do now.
And…. not only that, according to studies from several British universities...
all these immigrants pay more taxes than they get from the State and if that weren’t enough,
the UK is managing to attract more university immigrants than any other European country.
In other words: the effect of this immigration is very, very positive for the British...
and it’s also helping turn the United Kingdom into a technological powerhouse.
Not bad, right?
Well...
You know what?
Despite Trump's fiery speeches...
The truth is that on the other side of the Atlantic, things really aren’t that different.
Listen up.
(THE NORTH AMERICAN DREAM)
With just over 44 million people – more or less the population of Spain – the United
States is in absolute terms, the country with the most immigrants in the world…
However, just a moment... because in relative terms...
things are different.
These 44 million people, represent just under 14% of the entire population.
To give you an idea, in countries like Australia or New Zealand, for example, the percentage
is almost twice as high.
Now, here’s a question and you can’t look it up:
What impact do you think immigrants have in the United States?
Well dear viewers...
listen up:
Despite representing just under 14% of the population, immigrants are responsible for
almost 25% of all businesses that open in the United States; for more than 30% of the
companies in which venture capital funds invest and almost half of all of Silicon Valley’s
high-tech start-ups.
And that's not all… according to a study from the Center for American Entrepreneurship,
43% of the 500 largest companies in the United States were founded either by immigrants or
by children of immigrants.
That’s 216 companies whose revenues surpass $5 trillion each year and employ almost 13
million people around the world.
We’re talking about nearly half of the great US economic powerhouse.
My friends, from Henry Ford to Elon Musk... many of the great figures and iconic characters
of the United States weren’t even born in this country.
But, just a moment...
some of you may be thinking, OK, SIMON, but those are only a few immigrants, the most
educated ones...
What about the rest?
Well... the truth is, the numbers don’t vary much there either: their entrepreneurship
and employment rates are also very high.
And they provide several other benefits, too.
For example, in a country that at the moment, let's not forget, has pretty much full employment,
new immigrants reinforce the US’s competitiveness, encourage the rest of the American population
to do more, and allow for many businesses that would’ve otherwise not existed to be
created.
So in summary: immigrants reduce the population’s average age, they have more children, are
more educated, are more enterprising, file more patents, etc., etc.
And if you think about it for a second, it all makes a lot of sense:
on the one hand, these people arrive to achieve a better future, so they are willing to take
risks and work hard;
on the other hand, they have had different experiences and education, and they can take
advantage of this to progress.
Think, for example, of the Italian pizzas or the Mexican tacos that flood the US today...
and the rest of the world.
Well, despite these arguments… and of the fact that never before have so many Americans
had jobs, politicians like Donald Trump still don’t like immigration.
But you know what?
This isn’t the first time that US political leaders have spoken out against immigration.
(THE PRECEDENTS)
My friends, this is by no means the first time that the United States, the country of
immigrants, has had political campaigns against immigration.
See, in the middle of the 19th century, the political movement "Know Nothing" opposed
immigrants, particularly the Irish.... and soon after, the Chinese had their turn.
Yes, you heard that right...
the Chinese!
During the second half of the nineteenth century, many Chinese came to the United States...
and that triggered a rather hostile popular reaction.
( From Seattle to Los Angeles, from Wyoming to the small towns of California, immigrants
from China were forced out of business, run out of town, beaten, tortured, lynched, and
massacred, usually with little hope of help from the law.”
Immigration, a work of Library Of Congress.)
All this because, at that time, Americans saw the Chinese as competition.
And in 1882 the Federal Congress itself approved the Law of Exclusion of the Chinese, which
not only suspended the arrival of new Chinese immigrants but, also, made the lives of those
who were already in the US quite complicated.
And that wasn’t all.
In 1924, after around 30 million people had crossed the Atlantic Ocean to reach the US,
Washington established a quota policy that greatly reduced the number of immigrants that
could arrive and also... vetoed immigrants from southern Europe – such as Spain and
Italy –, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.
So basically, the few who could enter had to be Anglo-Saxons.
And, more recently, in 1994, the then governor of California, Pete Wilson, blamed Hispanic
immigrants for the state’s poor economic situation… and
Do you know what he did?
Well... he launched a huge political campaign against immigration and pushed the so-called
Proposition 187, a law that prevented access to social, educational and even health services
for all irregular immigrants.
Including children!
It was so aggressive that just a year later the supreme court declared it unconstitutional.
Well, the fact is that despite all these campaigns against immigration...
existing research shows that states and counties that historically had more immigration, now
have a higher income, less poverty, less unemployment and better educational results.
So with all this data in mind, it might be good for both the White House and the Capitol
to focus less on how to deport people and more on how to strengthen access,
and to try to approve, once and for all, a migratory reform that facilitates the orderly
arrival of more people... more workers, more entrepreneurs and more researchers to aid
the great North American economy.
By the way, in a future video, which we’ll try to make available very soon on our PATREON
page and later here on this Channel, we’ll discuss each of the great myths about immigration.
But now, it’s your turn.
Do you think your country should reduce the entry of immigrants?
Leave your answer in the comments as well as in the survey.
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Also, don’t forget to check out our friends at the Reconsider Media Podcast - they provided
the vocals in this episode that were not mine!
And as always, thanks for watching!