Asklemmy

states don't have rights, people do. people have the right to do whatever they want as long as they aren't impeding anyone else's such freedoms or harming them. imo migrants that work within the existing system, take up jobs, and make an honest living aren't individually doing that, so they have a right to migrate. but in some cases, large influxes of population can collectively create economic hardship for everyone in an area, and so only in cases where that is actually happening, the pre-immigration residents have a right to regulate the population influx, probably through their elected form of state. this sort of immigration that strains resources, and also often brings people incapable of doing work in their new environment, happens often in developing nations from rural areas to urban ones, and almost always those migrants are accomodated and welcomed, mostly because the state doesn't have the resources to stop them, and individuals are generally kind to those around them. i really really doubt, however, that this has ever happened in the US, Canada or (modern) Europe. imo (which could be wrong) people there are just worried about being forced to live alongside those that look and talk and act differently, and they don't have a right to oppose that because anyone who does that is not impeding anyone else's freedom or harming them