Restrictive immigration policies are key to stop populism, otherwise democracy will collapse

Liberals who seriously want to defend liberal democracy should stop condemning those who disagree with them on immigration. Uncritical support for wide-open borders is a major reason for the collapse of social democracy in Europe, as traditional center-left voters have flocked to populist, anti-immigration parties, which are often the only ones offering reasonable limits on immigration. This has been the case in Germany, where the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany is the biggest opposition party in parliament, and Italy, where voters flocked to parties promising to deport illegal immigrants. Voters don’t necessarily support these parties’ worrisome views on Russia, judicial independence, press freedom or NATO, but they tend to give much higher priority to concrete, migration-related issues (including crime and national identity). Addressing such concerns doesn’t mean that those of us who favor immigration must automatically approve sealing off all borders. It does mean that we need to make some serious concessions. For if every move to restrict immigration or strengthen borders or discourage further migratory waves is portrayed as a concession to fascism, then the only people who benefit will be fascists. Liberal democracy has enough enemies at the moment. Liberal democrats should stop making new ones.