The Immigration Debate
Reporters: Max, Rahil and Mitul
IMMIGRATION: a word that has been key in
British politics over the last few years. As the
Geography department preps up for a hot debate
on Tuesday, we explore what immigration means
to MTS.
The Office for National Statistics confirms
that ‘583,000 people immigrated to the UK in the
year ending June 2014, a statistically significant
increase from 502,000 in the previous 12 months.
There were statistically significant increases in
immigration of EU (up 45,000) and non-EU (up
30,000) citizens.’ Should this be limited? Is this
acceptable? It seems that people have different
views on immigration according to their own
experience, particularly if they are from a
background in which their family immigrated.
People seem to focus on that they see as ‘the bad
side’ of immigration when they are not from a
family of immigrants.
The Geography Society is holding a debate on Immigration this
week.
We interviewed a small selection of the
student body on their views. Joe (Upper Sixth)
told us that he thinks the topic of immigration is
very controversial. He explained that the
argument against immigration blames immigrants
for ‘taking jobs’ whilst arguments for immigration
suggest that ‘many immigrants contribute to
society and pay taxes’. Mustafa (Fourths) whose
parents were born in Somaliland thinks that
immigration is good because it allows people
from developing countries to get well paid jobs.
Sean (Thirds) told us that his grandparents
emigrated from Ireland to England. He explained
that his life could be completely different if his
parents hadn’t been able to emigrate.
Overall, MTS’s views on immigration seem
positive, though there is a national trend at the
moment for people, including politicians, to think
it is ‘cool’ to irrationally say that immigration is
bad.
A Personal Perspective From Mitul
Definition: Immigration (noun) - when a person
moves from one country to another permanently
e.g. “a border to control illegal immigration.”
Immigration is a controversial
topic. Throughout politics, many are for and
many against immigration. People may oppose
immigration as they complain that immigrants
take ‘their’ jobs. Also another major antiimmigration argument is that immigrants replace
the local culture with their own and many do not
learn the local language. However, many people
support immigration as they pay taxes and
contribute to the economy.
Personally, I am a 2nd generation
immigrant as both my parents are of Indian
descent and moved to England when they were
children from African countries. I have lived in
England all my life and have never lived in India.
My grandfather on my mother’s side moved here
and became a solicitor. He speaks Gujrati, Hindi
and English. He speaks to me in Gujrati and
English to help keep our culture alive. When my
father moved here, he had a very strong Indian
accent, however now he does not as most of his
education was in England.