Negative Effects of Immigration on Wages and Employment

While immigration has many positive effects, there are also negative effects. This is a leftist perspective on the negative sides of immigration.

The political right tends to dominate the debate when it comes to expressing anti-immigration views. This leads to the debate around immigration to be seen as being about whether you are xenophobic or not. I hope to nuance the debate a bit as a leftist, who is critical of the increasing popularity of the view that immigration should happen without restriction.

Before delving into this topic, I must make clear that I am not anti-immigration. Rather, I am opposed to painting an unrealistically positive picture of the effects of immigration. It would have been hypocritical of me to be against immigration as my wife is an immigrant and so is much of her family. I have worked with immigrants most of my professional life and always enjoyed it.

However, I have noticed on Twitter — especially among American liberals (or perhaps they are libertarian) — that there is a growing trend towards a completely uncritical embrace of immigration. Many seem to believe immigration has no downsides and that the more immigrants you have the better it would be for the country.