The immigration debate: What the West forgets about its colonial past

India Today

As anti-immigrant rhetoric rises across Europe and the U.S., this report looks beyond the headlines. What historical forces shaped today’s migration flows?

Transcript

00:00The West is freaking out about immigrants.

00:02They are taking our jobs, changing our culture, draining our economy.

00:06Across Europe and America, the immigration debate is heating up.

00:09But is this just a border issue?

00:12From the 17th to the 20th century, Europe and later the United States

00:17expanded their reach across Africa, Asia and Latin America,

00:20not to uplift these regions, but to profit from them.

00:23Millions were displaced, enslaved or conscripted into wars they didn't start.

00:27Borders were drawn without consent, communities were split, language erased

00:32and local economies were forcibly tied to imperial capitals.

00:35Britain extracted over $45 trillion from India alone during its colonial rule,

00:40as per economist Utsa Patnaik.

00:42Belgium oversaw the death of up to 10 million Congolese in King Leopold's Congo Free State,

00:47a personal colony built on rubber and ivory.

00:50The United States, through a mixture of military interventions and economic policies

00:53in Central America and the Caribbean,

00:55propped up dictatorships and destabilised democracies,

00:59all under the guise of fighting communism or protecting American business interests.

01:03And now, the very people whose countries were impoverished by colonial systems

01:07are being vilified for seeking safety, opportunity or stability in those same Western nations.

01:13Across Europe, anti-migrant rhetoric has entered the mainstream.

01:16Far-right parties have surged in Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands,

01:20exploiting fears about culture and security.

01:22In France, Marine Le Pen's National Rally Party now dominates polls.

01:27Her narrative, the immigration is eroting French identity.

01:30In Germany, the far-right AFD is polling above 20% in some states.

01:34They've called for re-migration policies that would deport even legally settled migrants.

01:39Sweden, once a bastion of liberal asylum policy,

01:42has now adopted some of the strictest immigration laws in Europe post-2015,

01:46after the refugee influx.

01:48But is immigration the real threat?

01:49Let's look at the data.

01:51Immigrants in the US contribute most in taxes than they can take in services.

01:56According to the Cato Institute, they contributed over $330 billion in federal taxes in 2021.

02:02In Europe, migrants are younger and more likely to work than native populations.

02:06A 2023 OECD report shows immigration boosts GDP and helps with critical labour shortages,

02:12especially in ageing countries like Germany and Italy.

02:15In Britain, the NHS would collapse without its immigrant doctors and nurses,

02:19many from former colonies like India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

02:23The cultural argument?

02:25It's pure not fact.

02:26Culture is not a zero-sum game.

02:29And yet, the idea that immigration dilutes national identity is being pushed to rationalise xenophobia.

02:34The West often asks, why can't they fix their own countries?

02:38But forgets to ask, who broke them?

02:40Today's migration is not an accident.

02:42It's the aftershock of centuries of plunder, war and interference.

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