Immigration: The scapegoat for (almost) every crisis

Increased costs of climate change, rising inequality, a global trade war and the cost of living; They are all the mistakes of immigrants. Social scientist Alan Gamlen He explains why so many people think it’s true.

When economies jump, public services are forced, communities feel fragmented, migration becomes the symbol of everything about globalization.

It offers politicians an instinctive, easy -to -cover story: ‘Your houses are not suitable for them. Your hospital is extremely crowded because of them. Your work is threatened by them. “

Note that it shows the contrary of the evidence – Migration in general Strengthens economiesIncreases the overall output without sweltering Local feesand a net financial positive.

Although the populist narrative is simple, the difficult reality is complex. He faced the “spaghetti graph of the interconnected crises – pandemas, supply shocks, inflation, housing pressures – people are turning to a single, regular explanation: immigration is accused.

Pauline Hanson, the leader of a far -right nation political party in Australia Saturday article ($)To explain the last increase in the polls: “People have lost hope… No matter where – mass migration, climate change, education system, increasing crime, cost of life, occupational safety, to buy a house – the whole country is in a turf hell and therefore they want an angry and change.”

Immigration. Why should Australia prefer qualified immigrants according to family meetings?

Enter ‘

After migration is taken as a source of all diseases, the next step is equally simple: only a strong man can stop it. The democratic process is described as scattered and pluralist, weak and criminal partner. The promise of the authorities is clean and challenging: ‘I can only fix it. Give me power and close the boundaries, protect your business, restore your community. ‘

The story of Donald Trump in 2016 insists that by branding Mexican immigrants as guilty and rapist, and that only one wall and a “hard man” can save America.

The variations of the same narrative fueled Brexit in the UK-take back control ”and continue to revive extreme right movements throughout Europe.

What started as marginal authoritarian nostalgia entered the mainstreaming of simplicity and control in the age of complexity. Now the question is how to avoid the wholesale collapse at this point in past cycles.

Flash Mafia Effect

How they separate today’s anti -immigration movements.

The mainstream policy is overlooked. Inside Indoor netsThey immersive individuals insulated into an alternative reality in which the idea of ​​“immigrants ruined everything”. These groups suddenly feed each other’s anger until they explode in the streets or protests.

What we see is ‘political flash gangs’. They look sudden, but most of them are the result of online incubation that lasts for months or years. Like Vaccine conspiracy theoriesanti -immigrant legends It spread rapidly to the borders pushed by the viral logic of social media. These digital echo substances, fringe landscapes make the main current feel and give a loyal supporter army ready for authoritarian leaders.

And that’s not just the most accurate. Social media reshaped politics everywhere. People once dispersed and silenced gained strength by establishing online connection. The rise of LGBTQ politics shows that people who were once isolated by stigma were not alone, built communities and organized an impossible scale before.

This new power reshaped the left of politics and took place at the center of today’s cultural wars.

Online platforms behave like accelerators. They allow both fringes and minority groups to build solidarity, create closed worlds and overlook. When these movements face – whether they are in campaigns for minority rights or marches against immigrants – they appear sudden. However, these are the product of new forms of digital harmony that destabilizes traditional politics on both sides.

The extreme right threat exposed by anti -immigrant rallies

Migration status

Extreme right politics in Europe and the United States is different from Australia. This is partly your migration shapes Australia’s identity is deeply:

More than half of the population was either born abroad or has a parent.

It is difficult to use people as “stranger ğinde when almost everyone descends from the last immigrants except local groups.

Compulsory voting strengthens this effect. Unlike Europe or the United States, where parties overdo in order to increase the participation of parties, Australian politicians should win the median voter – usually a child of an immigrant or a child.

But there is another reason. Australia is what political scientists say “Migration Status”. While the Garrison states focus on population health, the main purpose of the migration states is to control the population movement.

This migration policy emerges from a large ecosystem between the government, the academy, the press and civil society, keeps migration at tolerable levels and creates controls against extreme political reactions. As a result, major migration policy changes are rare: changes are usually small and are handled by bureaucrats rather than politicians.

For this reason, migration in Australia is not only politics, but a part of the country’s identity and state machines. This stability was protected from the immigration guided turmoil with Brexit in England and the United States. Although Australia has more foreign residents than both, both national identity and long -term state capacity, their debate is more calm.

For historical reasons, Europe and the United States have long been functionally open limits of Laissez-faire systems and rely on weak, reactive migration policies to mimic control.

Meanwhile, Australia created a durable system that deals with controlled migration as a normal part of society. This stability helped to avoid populist uprisings that shake other democracies.

International praise for Australia’s migration system often focuses on controversial “Stop boats” policy. In the United Kingdom, some claim that harsh deterrence has saved Australia’s populist feet seen elsewhere. However, this view was misleaded.

“Stop boats” did not stop fake asylum claims. Most boats come by plane, not. And while their architects focus on boat turns, quietly Dismantling Australia’s visa compliance capabilities. This allowed to increase the copy paste applications overwhelmed by the asylum system.

Unlike boat arrival, few of these applicants have been accepted as real refugees.

Until August 2025, more than 100,000 protection visas were rejected, but not deported,

In the past, any boat arrival is too much. However, this issue attracts a lot of attention, because the stories that come by plane are lack of “invading boats” drama.

Meanwhile, Europeans adopted superstitions that stop the boats are equal to migration control. It may seem like control and thus makes some people feel safe. But he relaxes without delivering. Asylum seekers may seem difficult to torture, but not the same as real migration control.

It is also to ignore the surprising costs to say that “stop boats” is working: 12 billion dollars between 2012 and 2024Ruined lives, weak institutions and a decreasing reputation abroad. Even if he has deterred some of them, this is an ugly bargain: to punish many to scare many.

The wider course is that checking asylum is not the same as controlling the migration. Australia took refuge, but kept the wider migration system relatively constant and maintained public confidence.

Irregular flows remain small because of a strong migration situation, not because of turns.

“Stop the boats” cannot be copied: Australia seems to be “working” due to deeper institutions in which Europe is missing.

An advanced democratic way

What is needed now is not the wrong simplicity of the scapegoat, but an honest reckoning with complexity. The crises faced by all liberal democracies such as inappropriate living costs, excessive inequalities, energy deterioration, pandemiler, political polarization and uncontrolled digital transformation are real.

However, they do not arise from migration.

Regular and regular migration is necessary for the economies, cultures and demographic future of industrialized societies. The real challenge is to better manage the externalities of migration: to provide affordable housing, to invest in infrastructure, to support social adaptation and to protect confidence in public institutions.

Alternative, exclusion, polarization and anger inflammation, allow authoritarians to sell lies that democracy failed, and they can only save us. As history has shown many times before, this is a dangerous way.

Liberal democracies stand at a intersection on migration. A path leads to more powerful democratic institutions that can handle socio-cultural complexity with honesty. The other leads to walls, sins goats and powerful men.

Published under a longer version of this article Creative Commons with 360info™.

Immigration. A political crisis produced on politics