The negative economic and environmental impact of immigration can’t help but engender resentment by those people who are affected. The fact that most immigration policy is implemented without direct consent of the electorate, or in opposition to the desires of the electorate sharpens that resentment.
Add on top of that the cultural differences, the different values many immigrants bring with them from their native cultures, and the ability to create a cohesive community becomes more difficult than it was before there was immigration. The reservoir of trust in the community decreases as the members of that community have less in common. Just as a family has more trust and more charity for its own kin, so a community will have more trust the more closely it shares common culture and common values.
The state already has vexing problems to deal with: Low work-place participation, deadly use of opiates, under-financed and overburdened social welfare programs. It would be unwise to continue to welcome more people who will exacerbate the those problems by depressing wages, making demands on public charity and public finances.
