Posted: May 07, 2013 6:11 am
I'm With Stupid wrote:It's a false argument a lot of the time. You'll typically find that the people arguing against immigration are the same ones that are in favour of little-to-no welfare state anyway. In their ideal society there would be nothing for the immigrants to "fraudulently" claim anyway.
The exception to this is more right wing members of the working classes (the sort of people who might be tempted by the BNP) who actually support many aspects of the welfare state and public services, but fall for the "coming over here, taking our jobs" rhetoric.
My perception is that people on the right (as it were) are against immigration fundamentally for nationalist-racist reasons, while people on the left (as it were) are against immigration for nationalist-protectionist reasons. Both left and right tend to take a kitchen sink approach to arguing against immigration though, with essentially any and all arguments being on the table.
That is, the right will appeal to the problems immigration supposedly poses to the welfare state regardless of whether or not the right actually supports the welfare state.