Some people are naturally tribal and don’t like immigration. So they’ll use whatever justifications they can come up with to argue against it. I’ve seen the topic of immigration make capitalists talk like trade unionists when thinking about wages, and people who’ve never shown any interest in climate policy start worrying about carbon emissions. There’s been a lot of controversy around whether immigrants litter too much, but I never see the people making this complaint talk about littering in any other context. It makes me suspect that it might not be their main concern.
It’s kind of pointless to argue about climate policy with people who don’t think that much about the climate, or wages with people who believe that one set of laws of economics applies when you’re dealing with citizens and another when you’re dealing with foreigners. Most anti-immigration arguments can be dismissed as emotional outbursts that mask concerns people don’t want to be completely honest about.
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What is wrong with the argument that people simply prefer to live with others like them? I mean, why don’t standard preference satisfaction arguments win out here?
I grew up in an area where I was one of the only people who was not an immigrant, I have visited many such places, and there are many such places near me. While I've encountered a lot of white people who enjoy having diversity on tap, I've noticed that none of them actually decide to move into places like the one I grew up in.
I can't wait to a be a very small minority in a country that has laws on the books about the burning scourge of whiteness. Sounds great. White people don't view themselves as a cohesive group, but people of most other people groups do.