Lightroom stuck on import screen

First observation, that folders panel, all the missing folders, the ? mark. You need to fix that. A messy catalog can lead to problems.

see:

https://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

Second observation, and this from a retired Info Tech specialist, currently an old fart. A.K.A sour grapes. Why in Desktop. You may have experienced the office type of co worker from the Info Tech department. Just drives us wild seeing people stuffing files on desktop. Why not a definitive folder, say Pictures? This is a file management logic issue. And a issue when it comes to back up those images.

Welcome to the Lightroom Classic community. I'll help you figure this out.

Have you tried restarting the mac without any external drive connected? If you are using Copy, Move, or Copy as DNG, what is the destination of the import? How many images are you trying to import at once?

Try the import operation with the following suggestions:

• Copy images on the internal drive manually using the File browser & use Add while importing images.
• Disconnect any mobile devices & additional peripherals.

To iron out any underlying permission issues, try these steps & let me know if the issue persists.

• Ensure Lightroom Classic has the required permissions: https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/quick-tips-how-to-give-full-disk-access...

• Try this step on the external drive.

  • Search for Disk Utility from Finder's spotlight search or magnifying glass.
  • Run 'First Aid' diagnostic on the external drive. Check this to learn more: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210898
  • Restart the computer

Thanks!
Sameer K