Britain’s Immigration Debacle

News of Britain’s disastrous 30-year experiment with mass migration appears to have left the rainy little island for the sunny uplands of America, where it was picked up by JD Vance. Speaking at a recent Washington, D.C. summit hosted by Andreessen Horowitz, the vice president argued that Britain’s economy is stagnating due to high levels of immigration, and accused Western nations of growing “lazy” by relying on imported “cheap labor” as a replacement for productivity.

Since 1997, Britain has conducted a radical demographic experiment. In the 25 years preceding Tony Blair’s election, 68,000 people entered the country. A quarter of a century later, the total has risen to an amazing six million. By 2032, migration is predicted to increase the population of Britain by almost five million, with more than 20% of residents being foreign-born. 

By far the most serious issue Britain faces is illegal immigration. During the last six years of Conservative governance, over 150,000 undocumented migrants crossed the English Channel. According to recent reports, 36,816 migrants arrived in Britain via this route in 2024, with 23,000 entering since Labour won the election last July. So far this year, around 5,500 have arrived on Britain’s southern coast.

Migration cuts across class lines. For the wealthy it has meant cheap labor—in stores, warehouses, fast food deliveries, hospital wards, and their own homes. For the poor it represents more competition for resources like housing, jobs, and schools, as well as an unparalleled demographic shift in their towns.

Many people who arrive on work visas wind up in low-wage positions in the country’s decaying national health service. Between 2021 and 2023, the number of health and care worker visas issued by the Home Office grew by 359%, from 32,000 to 146,000. Until last March, these care workers were permitted to bring dependents; in fact, more dependents have arrived than workers. The British government issued over 200,000 health and care dependent visas in the year ending September 2024. Although some have found work, more than half of the women born in Pakistan and Afghanistan do not have a job. 

It is not only Britain’s economy that is stagnant. There has been a rapid shift in demographics due to the mass influx of hundreds of thousands of foreign individuals. Immigration at its current rate is exceedingly difficult to assimilate, because it is concentrated in major towns and cities. For example, in 2001 the London borough of Barking and Dagenham was 81% white; 20 years later, that figure had dropped to just 31%. 

There is also the question of culture. Consider cousin marriage, a tribal custom common in Pakistan, the nation of origin for many migrants to the West. Not only does this raise the likelihood of genetic birth abnormalities, but it also contributes to social isolation.

Failing to integrate has led to a sectarian religious feud between Sunni and Shia Muslims over the screening of an Islamic film, interethnic rioting between Hindu nationalists and Islamists, and radical Islamic preachers calling for jihad on London’s streets. Meanwhile, our ruling class’s cowardice in the name of political correctness has resulted in a long-standing failure to investigate men of Pakistani heritage who abused thousands of young white working-class girls in dozens of towns and cities nationwide. 

Then there’s Islamic system of honor-based violence. According to data, there were 2,594 cases (including female genital mutilation, rape, forced marriage, and assault) in 2022, up 60% from 2020, and 193% since 2016. When you consider that acid attacks on women—which were formerly limited to the Middle East and Southeast Asia—have risen 75% in Britain in a single year, you might think it was a homegrown crime.

The importation of thousands of people with little to no prospect of integration has sparked public outrage, with taxpayers forced to spend billions of pounds to house migrants in hotels while they await asylum decisions. Instead of being deported, asylum seekers are free to roam the streets. When Kurdish immigrant Brwa Shorsh shoved a man in front of a passing train, he had 12 convictions for 21 offenses, yet continued to sleep homeless on the streets of London. 

According to The Telegraph, foreign nationals are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for sexual crimes than British citizens. For all offenses, 48 nationalities have a higher per capita arrest rate than British suspects. We import, rather than deport, criminals. 

In the U.K., Vance’s remarks are in line with the majority opinion—voters have complained about the number of people entering the country for years; 90% of constituencies want immigration reduced.

Vance is right to take a shot at the liberal establishment. Western elites, in their collective arrogance, bought into the idea that diversity is a strength. The electorate had no say on the issue. Britain’s ruling class arrogated to themselves the power to change the law arbitrarily—elaborate hate speech statues exist to stop the electorate from questioning this fashionable shibboleth. In addition to suppressing wages, decades of uncontrolled immigration also result in crime, terrorism, grooming gangs, religious courts, forced marriage, and honor killings. 

In Britain, this has fallen on successive deaf ears for a generation. It took a self-made vice president, the boy from Ohio with humble roots, to point this out. As a native Brit, I loved every minute of it. 

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