The vast majority of people migrating are not doing so for spectacular wages relative to the local market they are coming into. Average wages for immigrants is

The vast majority of people migrating are not doing so for spectacular wages relative to the local market they are coming into. Average wages for immigrants is lower than the non-immigrant average in almost all societies. Because we are in high-tech, we think about 'Google' bringing in great talent, which is good ... But for most, it's not remotely that. In Canada, in the Oil Sands, they push for migration and the term they use is 'high labour input cost'. Literally high wages. So yes, in the long term migration can be good depending on a nations actual need and ability to make use of people, but it's about wages and Supply and Demand there. It's a similar story everywhere. I don't think anyone, even hardcore nationalists are pushing to get rid of bringing in talented people, the numbers are small. And the issue with H1B for example is not so much the nature of it, but that it was kind of being abused by Infosys etc. in the eyes of some. "Given that wages in India and other places are clearly artificially depressed, or people wouldn't want to come to the US" No, this is not any kind of 'artificial depression'. India has a fundamentally different economy than the US. Those differences are not artificial.