To IE - genuine asylum seekers should be helped, via the UN, to their NEAREST (particularly in terms of CULTURE) safe country. And the way the world is now, with almost global capitalism, one can say either capitalist or economic immigration/emigration.
To Don - via TV, I've seen terrible ethnic conflict in the USA; and, on my travels, I've also had some friendship from most of those ethnic groups you mention. I'll say it until I'm hoarse - there IS a difference between questioning immigration and being racist.
And, to Pip, I think within a nation there should be assimilation or "blending" as you put it - without losing respect for indigenous cultures.
And the last couple of posts bring us back to capitalism and my last Weekly Walkabout - "Global Regulationism" instead of capitalism.