posted 23rd June 2025
Immigration is one of the most contentious and emotional topics in politics today. But it is not a new issue. People have always moved between countries, and they always will. (We are all migrants if you go back far enough.) We need to find the most effective and fairest ways of managing this inevitable process by debating the different options.
Unfortunately, much of the debate in the media focuses on myths about migration - that is, widely believed ideas which are either greatly oversimplified or just false. To have better debates, we need to dispel these myths, and to replace them with a proper understanding of the complex issues around this subject.
There can be no better guide in this task than Hein de Haas’s book How Migration Really Works: 22 Things You Need to Know About the Most Divisive Issue in Politics De Haas has spent his whole life studying migration, and knows the facts, the figures and the issues inside out.
In his introduction, de Haas challenges the notion that it is possible to be either ‘for’ or ‘against’ immigration. He then takes twenty-two common myths about migration - ‘Migration is at an all-time high’, ‘Immigrants steal jobs and drive down wages’, ‘Emigration is a desperate flight from misery’, ‘Public opinion has turned against immigration’ etc. - and rebuts them one by one, with detailed, compelling evidence and lucid argument.
Read this book and you will have a much deeper, clearer and more honest understanding of this vital issue. You will also be much better prepared for any debate on immigrati
