The Lies We’re Told: How Capitalism Blames Immigrants to Protect the Powerful
How capitalist systems use fear and division to scapegoat immigrants and protect the powerful.
We live in a world built on stories—some beautiful, others dangerous. One of the most insidious stories told in capitalist societies is this: Immigrants are the problem.
They’re “taking our jobs.” They’re “abusing the system.” They’re “flooding the borders.” In the U.S., ICE raids tear families apart while politicians like Donald Trump stoke hatred with a smile. In the UK, we’re told to fear those arriving by dinghy, to believe the NHS is crumbling because too many outsiders are using it, not because it’s been gutted from the inside out.
But here’s the truth: these are lies. Carefully crafted lies designed to keep us angry at one another instead of at the people really responsible.
The Jobs No One Wants, or Can’t Get
Immigrants aren’t “stealing” jobs. Many are overqualified for the roles they’re offered. Doctors driving taxis. Engineers cleaning hotel rooms. Academics sorting parcels in warehouses. Why? Because their qualifications aren’t recognized, or because legal status locks them out of better opportunities. And often, they’re the only ones willing to do the jobs no one else wants—backbreaking, underpaid, and without protection.
Think of the UK’s agricultural sector, where farms rely on immigrant labor because few locals are willing to endure 12-hour days picking fruit for below minimum wage. Think of carers in understaffed homes, delivery drivers, hospital porters. These aren’t glamorous jobs, but they are essential. And often filled by immigrants.
If the system is being “abused,” it’s not by the people cleaning your grandparents’ bedpans or delivering your online orders at 10 p.m. It’s by those who built a system that requires exploitation to function.
Divide and Distract
Capitalism depends on a distracted, divided public. If we’re busy fighting over scraps, we’re not looking at the billionaires hoarding the loaf. If we’re blaming immigrants for low wages and housing shortages, we’re not demanding that corporations pay taxes or that governments actually build homes.
The truth is: if immigrants were abusing the system (and statistically, they aren’t), it wouldn’t be their fault—it would be the fault of those in power, the ones who designed the system. The rules are made by the rich. And when those rules lead to injustice, they point the finger down, never up.
It’s classic misdirection. Keep the working class turning on itself. Keep the heat off the people at the top.
Scapegoats Keep the System Safe
This isn’t just about xenophobia. It’s about control. When the people in power feel their grip slipping, they tighten it with fear. They stoke nationalism, push “law and order” crackdowns, criminalize migration. They build walls—literal and metaphorical.
Because a scared population is easier to govern. An angry population, if aimed in the wrong direction, is no threat at all.
But what if we aimed that anger where it belongs?
No One is Illegal on Stolen Land
In the U.S., Indigenous land is patrolled by ICE agents rounding up people who are simply trying to survive. In the UK, a country that built its wealth off colonization and empire, we gatekeep borders we once ignored in order to steal and extract. The irony is suffocating.
Borders are man-made. Suffering should not be.
We Deserve Better
What if, instead of repeating the lies we’ve been fed, we stopped and asked: Who benefits when we believe this?
Who gains when working-class people hate other working-class people?
Who profits when the poor are blamed for poverty?
The answer is never the immigrant next door. It’s the CEO with a private jet. The landlord with 200 homes. The politician with offshore accounts.
It’s time we stop falling for the distraction. We deserve a world where our neighbors aren’t demonized for seeking safety, where work is dignified and fairly paid, and where compassion isn’t a radical act.
Until then, speak the truth loudly:
The problem isn’t immigrants.
The problem is capitalism.
About the Creator
No One’s Daughter
Writer. Survivor. Chronic illness overachiever. I write soft things with sharp edges—trauma, tech, recovery, and resilience with a side of dark humour.
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