More welcoming migration policies require borders that are secure

LAST YEAR rich countries accepted over 6m permanent immigrants, the highest figure on record. They also registered over 2m applications for asylum. Such numbers are neither unmanageable nor unreasonable, adding up to 0.6% of the receiving countries’ population. The rich world needs immigrants to fill gaps in its ageing labour markets: nearly three-quarters of permanent migrants work. And migrants benefit hugely from moving—otherwise they would not leave. But there is a whiff of panic on both sides of the Atlantic, as voters fret about the crossing their borders without permission, and politicians vow to get tough.In the United States President Joe Biden is adding to Donald Trump’s , and governors are vying to bus irregular migrants to other states. In Europe asylum-seeker numbers are the highest they have been since the crisis of 2015-16, and Italy has just announced a deal with Albania to process asylum claims offshore in a vague arrangement that Albania’s prime minister himself said would not work. Under pressure from a resurgent far right, the German government has said it plans to explore something similar, and pledged to slash benefits for asylum-seekers.