Singapore, 47 Other Nations Reject More Immigration for Environmental, Economic Reasons

The most common charge against Americans who want immigration restricted is that they are racist and xenophobic. But recent polling showed that virtually every nation is opposed to liberalizing immigration, many of them on the grounds that more people create environmentally unsound practices. According to the Pew Research Global Attitudes Project, of 48 countries survey, 100 percent agreed with the statement that: “We should further restrict and control immigration.” Of the 48 countries, 30 of them registered 70 percent or higher favorability for controlled immigration. In most countries, concerns about immigration have increased over past years. Polling data here:

In Singapore, which already ranks third in population density behind Macao and Monaco, the government is attempting to implement a guest worker program that would invite about 1 million more people into the tiny 254-square mile nation. If enacted, the guest worker legislation would swell Singapore’s 5.3 million population to 6.9 million by 2030. Half of the 1.6 million increase would be foreign-born workers.

On May 1, the same day that thousands of U.S. pro-immigration activists marched in support of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, Singaporeans took to the street to protest their government's plan that would allow companies to staff their business with all foreign-born workers. See video here.

In a striking similarity to U.S. sentiment, Singaporean workers feel more immigration puts them at risk. A spokesman for the unemployed, Gilbert Goh, said that more imported workers are the main cause that well-educated Singaporeans in their 40s and 50s can’t find good jobs. Goh has established a website for Singapore’s “unemployed and under-employed,” a phrase frequently heard throughout the U.S. to describe 22 million Americans. See the website here.

And a prominent lawyer at the rally said that, just as it does in the United States, population growth “increases poverty and causes unequal distribution of wealth.” [May Day Protest at Speakers’ Corner Draws Thousands, Yahoo News, May 1, 2013]  

Goh may have summarized the global attitude toward immigration when he told a reporter, “I am not against foreigners but we are against the policy of allowing a company to hire 100 percent foreigners.”

The American majority share Goh's opinion. Few are “against foreigners,” but most oppose an immigration policy that hurts Americans while allowing corporate interests to benefit from the cheap labor overseas workers provide.