junglemedicine

I don't understand what you mean by "anti-immigration." Are you against any immigration to the US? That sounds absurd when thought about properly. Like, the success of any economy hinges to some degree on the ability to attract the best and most productive immigrants, and especially in our liquid globalized economy. To be sure, I think there's a lot of problems with our current immigration system, but there's a big difference between saying you're anti-immigration and simply voicing concerns about different immigration models. For instance, I'm not anti-immigration (again, that position is absurd) but I definitely have concerns about the porousness of our borders. Two different things. It's like distinguishing between immigration and invasions. Invasions and forced visits are obviously bad. Immigrants aren't. 

In terms of immigration, it's important to understand that almost all immigrants are high-skilled and almost all cherish the opportunity to integrate. Immigrants want to integrate more than they want a high-paying job. And in fact, that's why they come to the US over other countries, and it's why immigrants move to Texas or California or Florida while staying out of Arkansas or Mississippi. Immigrants look for environments that are receptive, where the locals make an effort to integrate. So the idea that immigration (and again, we're not talking about invasion or forced visits here) hurts social stability is just wrong when you look at the reality of how immigrants choose where to immigrate. If the locality sucks, immigrants won't stay. And that's something that a lot of these insular people who demur at crossing literal bridges (safe, sound, and in the same country) don't understand. Luckily, insular people are a very small minority in this country (most Americans aren't anti-immigrant, and most Americans are incredibly receptive to immigrants when compared with other countries). 

As for labor shortages and low-skilled labor, that has nothing to do with it. The vast majority of immigration is high-skilled (or should be - the point is to attract the best immigrants). There's a lot of illegal immigration in this country, but that's a separate issue. I'd suggest that part of the reason there's so much illegal immigration is because our whole system is sort of medieval (we've got that insane lottery system, for example, which just gives more chance for criminals to come in) but my overall point is that a blanket anti-immigration position doesn't reflect the reality of this country or its interests.