The thing that strikes us most about current debates on immigration is the distinction between ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’ immigrants. The ‘genuine’ asylum seekers are considered worthy of sanctuary. Others – ‘illegals’ motivated by economic self interest – are worthy only of contempt, de-humanising punishment and swift removal. But what about the economics that gets the despised ‘economic migrants’ on the move?

According to the United Nations, ten per cent of the world’s population (including the UK) controls 85 per cent of the world’s wealth, while the top one per cent controls 40 per cent of wealth. Wealthy nations continue the legacy of colonialism by rigging the global economy in their favour, and forcing poorer nations to restructure their economies to suit multinational corporate demands.

Interestingly, those who worry that open borders would cause chaos appear to forget the chaos that these wealth inequalities create for the majority of the world’s population. Nearly everyone agrees that the UK should shelter victims of political violence. Yet poverty in a world of plenty is itself a form of violence that is politically perpetuated through border controls. While rich nations take money, commodities and natural resources from other parts of the world, people are prevented from following – unless they are wealthy investors, tourists or, occasionally, skilled labourers within a particular sector.

Studies show that globally, most people migrate because they hope to become better off. People coming to the UK to achieve this are widely despised. (Presumably, if they were offered £250,000 per year for unskilled labour abroad, most of the anti-immigration crowd would stay home on principle?)

Yet why is it so unacceptable for the ‘illegals’ to move here out of self-interest, when the UK pursues so many commercial interests overseas? The paradox is conveniently ignored; it’s taken for granted that the interests of the UK (or rather UK business) should come ahead of humanity as a whole. Even the more progressive voices often fall into this trap when talking about how much ‘we’ can benefit from ‘them’ (doing the crap jobs).

It’s true that public services should be better, that house prices are excessively high and wages excessively low. However, pinning the blame on migrants completely confuses the issue. The economic system escapes criticism, and the growing gap between rich and poor in the UK is ignored.

This is the great accomplishment of the mainstream press. Instead of uniting, sections of society with common problems are encouraged to fight amongst themselves.