'we want smart people' I agree with this sentiment, but feel in both the US and here in Australia it is used to deflect examination of the specifics of how immigration is being used. I think in our eagerness to oppose xenophobic ideologies, we are currently failing to articulate the problems with immigration programs.

I fear in Australia we are creeping towards a regressed, more limited form of democracy. Foreign workers who come here not as free agents, but within the constraints of a specific work contract are an ever increasing fraction of the population - a fraction that skews heavily towards non-professional working class - and have no access to political representation.

This leaves them vulnerable to exploitation, and that exploitation is used as an economic lever against the entire population.

I believe bringing people to work in our economies without a clear fast path to full citizenship is eroding citizenship for all.