Immigrants are almost monolithically poor, but they have the mindset of a rich person. That's why they're immigrants. They want better, and will do what it takes to get better.
What's written above can be found within the Albanians in Greece. They used to be so poor. Which is a statement of the obvious. That’s why they came to Greece: to fix their impoverished situations. The route out of poverty begins with poverty.
As readers can imagine about the Albanians who reached Greece in big numbers in the '90s and '00s, they mostly did menial work. What choice did they have?
What’s important is that the children of the Albanian immigrants increasingly aren't doing menial work. They’re coders, contractors, they own businesses, and in general they’re on the way up. Which also makes sense. Immigration is the pursuit of upward mobility. It's once again a rich person mindset.
All of which speaks to the excitement of what’s ahead for those who arrived in Greece after the Albanians. Nowadays it’s the Syrians and Afghans in search of a better life. According to people on the ground in Greece, they’re doing what the Albanians used to do.
What’s taking place in Greece is a reminder to Americans of the meaning of immigration. Its meaning rejects the arguments used by Americans to keep immigrants out.
Some cling to the old Milton Friedman line about open borders not being compatible with a welfare state. Except that if we ignore that it’s illegal for immigrants to access welfare as is, the bigger truth is that no one would go to the frequently brutal lengths that it takes to migrate to attain the meager trappings of welfare. Immigration is an economic decision. It’s about work.
Furthermore, the pursuit of welfare isn’t part of the culture of poor countries as is. Think about it. Unemployment and welfare are rich country notions. In the poor countries from which would-be immigrants exit, everyone works. They have no choice. Their migration is an attempt to enhance the value of their work.
To which some will say that if immigrants aren’t coming for the welfare, they’re coming for our jobs. Particularly the jobs of low-income Americans. No, they’re not. See Greece again. Just because immigrants are poor doesn't mean they're culturally poor. There's a difference. No one would go to the brutal lengths required to migrate in pursuit of the menial. The rich-person mindset that informs migration is to do whatever it takes to get by (frequently menial work) so that their children eventually don’t have to labor as they did or do upon arrival. Again, the children of Albanian migrants have moved beyond the work their parents had to do upon arrival. And this is Greece.
Skeptics then frequently pivot to “we can’t assimilate them.” Ok, but who is we? Furthermore, the assimilation part is superfluous. People who love themselves enough to risk it all in search of something better are by their very actions going to assimilate. Or their children will assimilate precisely due to their desire to work and live better than their parents.
Which is presumably why Adam Smith was so adamant that the prosperity of a locale could be explained by the rise in the number of people arriving at the locale. The movement itself was and is economic, and it’s rooted in finding work that will set the stage for a move out of poverty. Not only are immigrants not coming for the handouts, they’re not even coming for the jobs of the poor precisely because their poverty is solely an effect of where they were, not who they are. To move out is to move up. It's what rich people do.
