Race, Racism, and Immigration: A Critical Appraisal of Immigration Policies in the West

Abstract

Human migration has never been as important a research topic as social scientists in today’s rapidly globalizing society considered it to be. Ever since the dawn of civilization, humans moved from one place to the other in search for food and security. In fact, driven by food shortage, as well as issues about national security and freedom, many people today from less developed countries are immigrating illegally to rich and developed counties. As a result, these rich and developed countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, tighten their immigration policies and border controls. As we can see, this recent political issue has triggered a lively debate among scholars and common citizens alike. For sure, central to this debate is the question of whether or not it is racist to limit immigration. In this paper, we will critically appraise the issues of racism and immigration in the West, particularly in Germany, United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. We will specifically address the question: Is it racist to limit immigration? Although local people in some countries in the West display racist attitude as can be seen in their reluctance to admit refugees and immigrants, this paper takes the position that in most cases the act of managing immigration through tighter policies is done primarily for socio-economic reasons. Hence, this paper argues that the attempt of any government to limit the admission of immigrants into its territory is not inherently racist.