Two things can be true at once: opening the doors to immigrants can be a boon to society, and opening doors to immigrants can be a disaster for society.
It's not a matter of whether you invite people in; it's all about who you invite in and who you choose to keep out.
The only reason that the obvious is left unspoken is that saying what most of us know is considered taboo, because desirable immigrants concentrate in some countries and racial groups while undesirable ones concentrate in others, and are mostly non-white.
Germany's PISA score rises 41 points if you exclude immigrant kids. Switzerland: +30. The UAE's score drops 45 points without immigrants.
— William Meijer (@williameijer) September 20, 2026
Singapore, Macao, the UAE, and Qatar recruit immigrants smarter than their native populations; Europe, the opposite pic.twitter.com/Xm7sL71YgY
I don't want to get into arguments about WHY the correlation between successful integration and net positive outcomes is so high among different groups of people. In terms of policy, the reasons are, frankly, irrelevant. To paraphrase Hillary Clinton, "What difference, at this point, does it make?" Many true things go unexplained.
We often have fruitless discussions about immigration as if it were one thing. Asking whether immigration is good for society is like asking whether mushrooms are safe to eat: it depends on which kind. You can't give a blanket answer because there is none that fits.
Currently, mass immigration in Western countries is similar to buying a basket of mushrooms from somebody who can't tell the difference between poisonous ones and good ones, and with a tendency to pick a majority of poisonous ones.
It is actually worse. If you look at students who are ethnically German, using “both parents born in Germany” as a proxy, the gap rises even further to around 93 points in science. pic.twitter.com/YXdhJOcARM
— zeldos555 (@zeldos55560080) September 20, 2026
Most countries bury statistics that reveal the fact that, as a class, migrants from some countries, regions, or religions present nothing but problems for society. They do poorly in school, consume more welfare than native-born or immigrants from Western countries, and commit far more crimes. And since the migrants come in through mass migration and are not selected based on their likelihood of contributing something valuable, as a class, they are nothing but trouble.
In Germany, immigrants are four times more likely to commit violent crimes than native Germans, and the welfare tab for immigrants is — believe it or not—actually higher in aggregate for immigrants than for the entire native population. And while I don't have the numbers, many immigrants or their children get German citizenship, which likely increases the numbers significantly.
Studies in Nordic countries, where they keep statistics on crime and net contributions to the economy, show that immigrants from Western societies (including other European countries) contribute more than native-born people, likely because they were recruited for jobs they specialized in. A banker, programmer, or engineer who was recruited to fill a vital position will obviously show well on the balance sheet, and few people will migrate from France to the Netherlands without having a secure job waiting. You don't do that on a whim.
Some people will look at these numbers and either scream RACISM or use them as irrefutable evidence that people with different skin tones are too stupid to contribute. Neither response helps when setting public policy. It really doesn't matter WHY admitting people from the Middle East or Africa is a losing proposition; it only matters whether it is or not. Refusing to recognize an obvious, irrefutable fact merely because it makes you queasy is a recipe for suicide.
It's eating those poisonous mushrooms because you don't want to offend the vendor.
Similar patterns of net negative/net positive groupings of migrants from different countries and cultures are just as true here as in Europe. In the Twin Cities, Somalis have brought nothing but trouble, and it really doesn't matter why when it comes to policy. People can argue all they want about the reasons, and I know what I think, and others insist that I am wrong.
Fine. I am happy to have a debate about likely explanations for why Somalis consume more welfare, commit more crimes, and steal every government dollar they can get their hands on, but I won't engage in a debate about WHETHER the facts in front of us are true or not.
They are. And hiding that fact for ideological reasons is frankly unforgivable, given the damage done to society.
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