Expert says the best way to reduce immigration is to destroy the economy

“When economic growth is high and unemployment is falling, many immigrants arrive. When the economy is in recession and unemployment is rising, fewer immigrants come and many return. So in some ways, the best way to reduce unemployment is immigration is destroying the economy”, he said in a written interview with Lusa news agency.

Considered one of the greatest experts on migration, Hein de Haas was recently in Portugal participating in a conference organized by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation on the topic.

Regarding the situation in Portugal, a country that has welcomed more and more immigrants from various origins, Hein de Haas said: “Immigrants fill vacancies, for which we do not find enough Portuguese workers who are willing and able to do these jobs. low status and unattractive”.

“This fact has to do with the increase in the level of education of the Portuguese, as well as the decline in birth rates and aging. This means that young people aspire to qualified jobs and that the shortage of labor, especially in less qualified jobs, it increased”, he continued.

Asked about Portugal’s relationship with immigrants, as it is a country with strong emigration, the expert acknowledged that greater understanding would be expected, but that this is common in “many countries with a long history of emigration” that “forget quickly your own past”, adding that this “was what happened in Italy, Greece or Ireland”.

“This is also because politicians often create fears about immigration or engage in immigration scapegoating to gain support and divert attention from the fact that their own economic and social policies, not immigrants, are the main causes of problems, such as growing job insecurity, the lack of affordable housing or the increase in the cost of living”, he said.

Regarding crime, he recalled that it is very low in Portugal, “particularly with regard to violent crime”, and that it is decreasing, instead of increasing”.

“International studies carried out in the United States and the United Kingdom suggest the opposite, that immigrants tend to be less criminals, since they are hardworking, have an entrepreneurial mentality and social control is often high. Of course, there are always exceptions, but these are not representative”.

Therefore, he considers that the attribution of society’s evil to immigrants is of interest, above all, to “certain politicians who use the fear of immigrants to obtain support”.

Regarding Europe’s responses to this phenomenon of migration, Hein de Haas chose as the main problem “the large gap between the large and growing demand for less qualified migrant workers, due to the growing shortage of labor, and the lack of channels of legal migration to meet this demand”.

“The result is that people cross borders illegally to find work, or arrive legally, but end up overstaying their visas. Both phenomena occur in Portugal,” he said.

He concluded: “The only way to resolve this situation is to reduce the demand for labor and drastically increase government control over employers and the entire labor market, or to create more legal channels for foreign workers, so that governments have better control over who comes”.

“There is no easy way around this situation, because you cannot have an open and prosperous economy and have much less immigration. In that sense, governments cannot have their cake and eat it too.”