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"The total cost of immigration for the period 1995-2019 for the Netherlands was 400 billion euros."

Quote from the conclusion of one of the studies mentioned here: https://miwi-institut.de/archives/2028#:~:text=The%20researc....

I can only speak for my own region in western Europe (Benelux / Germany / France), for us mass immigration especially from non-EU countries has a very high financial and social cost. So high that both in Belgium and the Netherlands there is a large majority to be found in favor of drastically reducing immigration, recent polls show. However in almost all west European countries you've got governments doing the exact opposite of the people's will. In my own country, Belgium, we've got a very generous social security system and as such we attract a lot of immigration that is not interested in working (and/or simply very low skilled, often illiterate).

Among non-EU origins we're at 44.5 % inactivity, not studying nor working, (!!!!!) which is the worst score in all of Europe. Belgium itself is of course partially to blame because our social security system is too flexible, too generous and does not push to work.

Mass immigration from strongly divergent cultures is damaging western society, causing higher poverty, more crime, and rampant feelings of alienation, tearing at the fabric of social values and cohesion. Look at Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden... Go for a stroll in Brussels or Frankfurt, have a look at the numerous ghettos there. Mass immigration is a lose-lose thing, both for the host country and for the newcomers who often sign up for a life in abject poverty.

The single biggest irony in US politics (the surface level politics, I don't mean actual politics) is that the catholic cultures the so-called mexicans are coming from have more in common with the conservatives trying to keep them out than the liberals who want to let them in...

They really don't though. Conservatives have a lot more in common with liberals than either do with central americans.

Maybe if you measure it by what hit radio songs they remember from childhood, but the things most people would consider more fundamental paint a different picture. If you take this source I haven't vetted[0] (I'm getting this from common knowledge, not surveys, to be honest) the evidence seems pretty clear that immigration from south of the border is actually supporting our most longstanding conservative cultural institution, far from "diluting" or "eroding" it.

If any reader is curious, the irony only developed around the time a certain presidential campaign normalized anti-immigrant rhetoric; until then the "old conservatives" were fully aware of the importance of immigration to business owners and the lack of any real cultural incompatibility and never took any steps to reduce it. They sided very much on the elimination of the welfare state which was the solution they saw for the supposed cost issue (highly questionable to begin with, in a country with as little in the way of social programs as the US after the 1980s drew to a close. In a system designed for people that thought social security should depend on the number of hours you have worked, it is hard to imagine what costs they'd be objecting to.)

The way the shift in alignment was carried out always struck me as a sobering example of the shortness of memories, or the impermanence of the public's convictions.

[0] https://www.prb.org/resources/immigration-gives-catholicism-...

I'm sorry but the idea that I have less in common with someone I grew up with for 20 years than I do with someone from Honduras whose language I dont speak and whose culture I know nothing about, just because my preschool friend and I have different political opinions and the honduran attends (a totally different) church a bit more. This is just ridiculous to me. Do you really think this? The only thing that bound you together with other Americans was pop songs? The idea Trump's campaign "normalised anti-immigrant rhetoric" is absurd. The American public (i.e. a majority therof) has not supported an increase in immigration when polled for 60 years (despite it increasing continuously). That is consistent. The public has never asked for this. There wasn't some sudden realignment demonstrating "the impermanence of the public's convictions". There was a mass movement of people who finally reacted to decades and decades of being of being ignored by their government. Continuing to try and blame everything on Trump instead of face the reality of what happened is either totally naive or just bad faith. What was Trump the result of? https://news.gallup.com/poll/1660/immigration.aspx#:~:text=L....

I mean... Most conservatives like the Hispanics... But don't like illegal immigration. Heck ... A lot of Hispanics don't like illegal immigration. Conservatives tend to like order not hate Mexicans. You're making a complete caricature of the gop.

I am not happy about this state of affairs, but the "I like laws" reason is totally absent from any of the rhetoric I am hearing from either the elected officials (who mainly make allusions to "border patrol" without making any coherent statement of their values that some could object to) or the spectrum of media outlets (who appear to be stirring fears of cultural incompatibility and the cartels). That opinion is kind of like the libertarian position from a few years ago, "the government has no business regulating marriage at all," in that it's a clever alternative to what I can only with any objectivity call the winning answer, that is found nowhere in mainstream politics.

Yeah, I am aware how absurd it is that "if we want more immigration we should increase the number of work visas awarded to less skilled laborers plus many other things like that, not turn a blind eye to a second class citizenry" is a fringe way of looking at the problem, but that's the cake that's been served us.

They've been doing a pretty good job of making caricatures of themselves since 2016. My memory stretches back far enough to videos of Trump rallies where people screamed "keep out those dirty beaners!!" etc at mention of "the wall". I remember "taco trucks on every corner". I remember the notion that Mexico is "sending" people.

I remember the Muslim Ban, the hate against Syrian refugees, the popularity of Trump among people who believe in the "great replacement" theory. I remember family separation, and supposedly God-fearing "conservatives" proudly saying that the suffering of those children were the parents fault for trying to flee ravaged societies and give their kids a better life.

Wanting to crack down harder on illegal immigration is a valid political position and a reasonable goal. But that wasn't all what that shit was about. I don't know if you've truly fooled yourself, but you're not fooling me. I'm never forgetting, and I'm never forgiving.

Nah, they don't like legal immigration either. It is not like their "I object only illegal" was in any way believable.

Catholic voters are generally evenly split between the parties. Opposition to abortion is probably the primary thing drawing them to the Republicans, they don’t necessarily share that many values with the evangelicals/loonies (not that they don’t have their own set of problems).

> "The total cost of immigration for the period 1995-2019 for the Netherlands was 400 billion euros."

> Quote from the conclusion of one of the studies mentioned here: https://miwi-institut.de/archives/2028#:~:text=The%20researc....

Thanks for providing some actual research ... It's not exactly a politically neutral report (but admittedly I'm not providing anything better):

The authors of the study from the University of Amsterdam rightly refer to the American economist and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, who explained that the choice at stake is between continuing to accept migrants and maintaining the welfare state.

However, the politically correct politicians and the media look the other way. They refuse to draw conclusions from the unequivocal results of objective scientific research on the negative effects of immigration. The native taxpayer who bears the cost of immigration is paying a heavy price – literally and figuratively – a price that is rising every day.

In most northern European countries the only economically productive immigrants are from other european or american populations. It depends where the immigration comes from.

Honestly, America is an outlier in how well we integrate people. From my perspective at least I was shocked at how wide the gulf was between native and immigrant in the Nordic countries. Some other countries in the anglosphere also do pretty well including the UK.

Do you think America actually integrates people well? I don't think I agree, outside of a certain strata of more prestigious institutions and firms. I.e. Google may integrate people pretty well to google. But broadly speaking I think we just have a lot of space and the groups move around each other, while being vastly different. It is something tourists comment on, that they stumble into different neighborhoods and feel they are in a totally different place. There are whole sections of my hometown which basically operate in a different language and where everyone has moved out. It doesn't seem like integration to me. I think people just move around each other in America and can afford to do so more.

I do think it is worse in parts of scandanavia and parts of paris for example. But i think neighborhoods in America are fairly segregated and people would choose that even more if possible.(In that sense maybe the government does do somewhat better job by preventing that, idk).

Yes. I mean my parents were immigrants from another country and both their sons married Americans (not even white Americans, but Americans nevertheless) and move to the real 'innards' of America. Also, I have nothing in common with people from my parent's country. Even the food we like from the 'home country' is completely different. I much prefer American-styled ethnic food from my parent's country than anything you'd get there.

Unlike most European countries or even Canada though, immigrant Americans consider themselves ... Americans. I mean... my parents are honestly pretty hard core trump supporters and contrary to popular belief, they've been very welcomed at all these supposedly 'racist' events.

> It is something tourists comment on, that they stumble into different neighborhoods and feel they are in a totally different place. There are whole sections of my hometown which basically operate in a different language and where everyone has moved out. It doesn't seem like integration to me. I think people just move around each other in America and can afford to do so more.

Sure, in the big cities where there are lots of immigrants it can certainly be like that. In the more provincial parts of the country you can go -- as I did -- to Oktoberfest celebrated in an old German town, except all the people who live there are now hispanic, philipino, or mixed whatever and are all happily doing the Polka and drinking beer while saluting the American flag.

Also, typically in those 'ethnic' neighborhoods you speak of... people are very patriotic. For example, my brother married into a big hispanic family and some of the older generation definitely speaks Spanish mainly and a lot of the town they live in is primarily Spanish, but they're incredibly patriotic and love America.

> It is something tourists comment on, that they stumble into different neighborhoods and feel they are in a totally different place.

I totally get why tourists might find it weird, but as a native born American, I stumble into many ethnic enclaves in the US and feel pretty at home. Most people aren't used to that.

Yes, in Sweden.

Immigrants have a substantially higher unemployment rate https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9819060/

Swedish PM says integration has failed https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-pm-says-integra...

> Do you have evidence? At least I read a study (that I'm not citing, admittedly).

Sure, but it’s cited in a Dutch newspaper article. You can copy and paste in Google Translate: https://archive.ph/HvG8u

Sweden. Compare its situation to Denmark and Norway.

Allowing unrestricted immigration from very culturally different countries with hardly any income/educational requirements seem to have had significant economic, social and political cost.