Quote Originally Posted by mojo
No, but they have the right to seek asylum in any country.As far as I understand, anyway.
Sure, but I'm not sure what value this adds to the conversation really. It's a moot point, unless you're arguing that turning up in a country undocumented amounts to "seeking". If so, I'd have to disagree. You have the right to seek asylum anywhere, from your current location. You don't have the right to move to any location on the planet and seek to remain there.

People think where they currently live is better than it probably really is.
I think this is a Western view. I don't think there are many people in Somalia or Sudan who think it's better than it is. I think the majority of people in Africa would move to a country that offers better economic opportunities, if they were given the choice. Large swathes of Asia and South America too, and even pockets of Europe. Of course, I think nearly everyone would prefer that they had acceptable economic opportunities at home.

Not everyone has the practical means to move to a far away land.
Not everyone has the motivation, but when you see people coming here from across the world with nothing but the clothes they wear, then it's hard to argue that people don't have the "practical means". The vast majority do have the means, it's just not easy.

I'm open to learning. Has anything like that ever happened in history?
I mean there's likely to be examples of small scale migration into relatively small regions that might add value to the discussion, but for the most part we're talking about a very small period of time for us to study. The population is so much larger than in the past, it's much easier to travel long distances than it's ever been, and native populations are generally less xenophobic than in the past.

It's anyone's guess what happens if we open all borders tomorrow. I think it would be very bad.