Europeans view immigration with increasing suspicion. Seven out of 10 Europeans believe that their country takes in too many migrants, according to a survey carried out by BVA Xsight for ARTE Europe Weekly, a project led by the French-German TV channel ARTE GEIE and which EL PAÍS has participated in, as part of the countdown to the European elections in June.

The survey shows that 85% of respondents feel the European Union needs to take more action to combat irregular migration. And only 39% believe that Europe needs immigration today.

The countries where most people consider immigration a problem are Bulgaria (74% of respondents), the Czech Republic (73%), Hungary and Cyprus (68% in both cases). Paradoxically, in Italy, the European country where the largest number of immigrants entered irregularly last year (157,652), only 44% of respondents viewed it as a problem and only 14% saw it as the main problem. In Greece and Spain, the second and third countries with the most irregular arrivals in 2023, respectively, only 11% of respondents considered it the issue of most concern to them, below the European average of 17%. However, Greece is the country where the most people (90%) believe their country takes in too many migrants.

  • evranch@lemmy.ca
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    8 months ago

    They want society to oppose immigration and work visas so that these people will have to work as illegals, for lower pay and worse working conditions.

    Despite all the right wing wall talk, the wealthy actually benefit from a somewhat porous border for this reason.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      This is a needlessly complex plan. So how exactly do “they” manage to move money from their tiny companies to Fox News?

      Why can’t it just be racism btw?

      • 3volver@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        It is fueled by racism, that’s what I wrote in my original comment, the agricultural overlords want us to be xenophobic. The wealthy don’t want us to recognize the benefits of making temporary work visas easier to obtain because it would cost them more money.

            • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Yes I am well aware that there are people who benefit from illegal immigration. Now how do you establish a casual link between that and mass propaganda efforts?

              • cybersin@lemm.ee
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                8 months ago

                Neither the owner, Aaron Rubashkin, nor his sons Sholom and Heshy, who were in charge of the management of Agriprocessors, were convicted of immigration or labor law violations, although both Aaron and son Sholom were initially charged with 9,311 counts of child labor law violation, for which they could have faced over 700 years in prison if found guilty. All charges against Aaron were dropped right before the trial was scheduled to begin, and after a five-week trial Sholom was acquitted on all charges of violating child labor laws.

                https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postville_raid

                Undocumented workers have no rights. If they don’t accept the bad pay and conditions offered, they get reported. The state takes the current group of “troublemakers” away and you hire fresh immigrants.

                All charges being dropped against the owners of the plant just before the trial is either corruption or a plea deal. The owners very likely snitched on themselves in exchange for amnesty.

                Continued in reply…

                • cybersin@lemm.ee
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                  8 months ago

                  Financial irregularities brought to light by the raid and subsequent investigations led to a conviction of the plant’s chief executive Sholom on bank fraud and related charges.

                  He was sentenced to 27 years in prison, but this led to an outcry by a bipartisan group of more than 100 former high-ranking and distinguished Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, prosecutors, judges, and legal scholars who expressed concern with the evidentiary proceedings in his case as well as with the severity of his sentence.

                  On December 20, 2017, then-President Donald Trump commuted his sentence to time served, and his trial on immigration charges was canceled.

                  Same article.

                  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postville_raid