# Human beings are not "imported"
#politics

Most public racism today takes the form of anti-immigrant sentiment. Its exponents assure us that there is no racial animus in singling out immigrants and declaring them culturally inferior. Relatively rare instances of violent crime get cherry-picked, despite a wealth of evidence that most crimes are committed by people who were born there.

A common talking point is the rhetorical question: "why are we importing people who [won't assimilate/are from backwards cultures/follow a dangerous religion/don't share our values/insert racist bullshit here]?" Well, fucko, we aren't. That would be human trafficking. People move around of their own free will, because that is a perfectly ordinary thing humans do.

This framing obscures the reality that borders artificially insert violence into a routine aspect of human existence. It suggests that *forbearing* to brutalize people is an active behavior. Immigrants are people, not cargo being shipped around. The state is not entitled to a final say in where people's lives take them.

The irony — and final justice — is that hostility to immigrants leads to cultural and economic impoverishment. It's how an entire society cuts off its nose to spite its face.