Immigration; Discovering the new world or just survival

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Immigration is big enough news on the media and is constantly an important matter of discourse in many spheres and most notably by politicians. From Donald Trump's Mexican wall to stop thieving and murderous immigrants to the anti-foreigner rhetoric of the Alternative for Germany, Brexit proponents, the French Rassemblement National, and not forgetting the ruling parties in Italy. Everyone seems to be afraid of the impending danger that would most definitely be brought upon their societies by letting immigrants into their shores. It is less prevailing in the developing world although there have been xenophobic attacks on Nigerian immigrants in South Africa.

Is the panic genuine?

The book Good Economics for Hard Times by Abhijit V, Baberjee & Esther Duflo points out that the fraction of immigrants in the world population as of 2017 is roughly 3 percent, the same number it was in 1960 or in 1990. Having said this, I believe the fear of letting foreigners has its negatives due to a very few bad eggs that have come into countries and put a label of disrepute on immigrants but the majority of legal migrants are people with a service to offer to the society, trying to get an education or those meeting up with their families.
Source There is also the fear that immigrants are poor and desperate people who would do any odd job to make ends meet thereby driving down the wages and making it worse off for those already trying to make ends meet with the wage they are getting. According to Good Economics for Hard Times by Abhijit V, Baberjee & Esther Duflo, this logic is simple, seductive and wrong. The wage difference between countries or locations have relatively little to do with people migrating or not, Secondly, there is no credible evidence that that inflow of low skilled migrants hurt the local population. On the contrary, both local migrants are locals are better off as a result of the influx of immigrants as it has been to bolster the economy.

Most Importantly, the countries where citizens are most desperate to leave are countries like Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Guatemala, Yemen and recently Nigeria. And this is not mainly because their home nations are the poorest but because habitation in these places is threatened by drug wars, horrible military juntas, civil unrest and sometimes abysmal government policies. It is best expressed by the poem Leaving Home by British Somalian poet Warsan Shire
Source LEAVING HOME no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark when you see the whole city running as well your neighbours running faster than you breath bloody in their throat the boy you went to school with who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is holding a gun bigger than his body you only leave home when home won't let you stay

In conclusion, immigration is mostly a physical survival tact as opposed to economic as portrayed by people who do not realize the dangers of living in a very unsafe world.