Does Labour want poor unskilled immigrants who go on welfare?

Many on the right sometimes think that Labour wants to get a majority of the population dependent on the state, so that they will have a majority who will always vote for greater state spending and dependency.

This story gives fuel to that suspicion:

Immigration categories are to be changed in an effort to “reduce the number of unskilled migrants who find it difficult to get jobs and are more likely to get benefit payments”.

Who could be against that?

Applications from parents seeking residency to be with children already in New Zealand will be placed in the slow processing lane if their children-sponsors are not “high-income” people.

Parents will no longer be able to bring in dependent children and applicants who are poor in English will be required to pre-pay for language lessons.

The changes are outlined in a Cabinet paper obtained by the Labour Party, which says the plan creates a divide between the rich and famous and ordinary migrants wanting to move to New Zealand.

Labour is.

Let’s be very clear about this. Migrating to NZ is a privilege. We absolutely should be favouring migrants who have wealth, skills, education etc. We allow a quota of refugees in, where income or wealth is not a factor. But to suggest wealth should not be a factor for migration is economically stupid.