"When politicians say [migrants are overwhelming local infrastructure], it is typically because they have refused to invest in that infrastructure for their own citizens long before the arrival of any migrants.
[Isn't it easier to blame those] whom much of electorate are already primed to despise?"
I'm wondering how much education is being undermined in Europe to ensure a public ripe for right wing populism? Because it's clear it worked in the US. At least here in Finland, migrants and refugees are pushed to the low income areas, where "stealing our jobs" is an easy sell.
This is so true. Our nation has done a total disservice to our homeless and disenfranchised citizens. We have not kept up or assisted them in the ways that would really help. When we add immigrants to the areas we are setting more up for failure.
When politicians say that, they usually do so to hide their racisit agenda. Local infrastructure is not overwhelmed by a few additional migrants, quite the contrary: especially social security systems massively benefit from migration. It's not about resources, it's about hating PoC for being PoC.