The Most Significant Global Debate Is Over Immigration
Looking at immigration policy across countries and over time
With images of children in cages, separated from their parents, and would-be migrants floating on overloaded boats in the Mediterranean becoming fixtures in the news media, politicians are struggling to find solutions to the ongoing issues related to migrant flows. Immigration has become a flashpoint not only in the U.S., but it has also had an impact on the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, led to instability in Angela Merkel’s government in Germany, and has influenced the rise of populist parties across Europe.
It is difficult to think of a time, since I began studying the politics of immigration in the 1990s, that the issue has had more of an impact on politics than it does today.
I’ve taught a course on immigration politics for 15 years. One of the main points I’ve tried to get across to students is the importance of understanding history, and the complexity of the issues that has made policymaking so intractable.
The history of policymaking in the U.S. is one of episodic variance between lawmakers being expansive and being restrictive. What is more, the substance of positions has not held across the years in a consistent way by either party.
For example, although the Democratic party is currently seen as the proponent of policies that would potentially lead to legalization for immigrants (often referred to as amnesty) it was often Republican presidents who were champions of more expansive policies.
Immigration policy in the U.S. grew out of the development of a new nation built around a mythology of being a “country of immigrants.” The reality is more complicated, as we know that European settlers came to a land that was already inhabited by indigenous peoples. And Africans were part of the slave trade and a system of chattel slavery that left their progeny in chains until the end of the Civil War.
The immigration policies that eventually developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s were focused on keeping out undesirable groups. Immigrants from China were one of the first groups to be excluded from entering the country in the late 1800s and didn’t begin to come into the country in large numbers until after the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act.
The early 1900s saw the rise of a racially-based approach to immigration as restrictions shifted from Chinese migrants in California to migrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. The fact that many of these migrants were often poorly educated and from Catholic backgrounds did not play in their favor, particularly at a time when people from these regions were also seen as racially undesirable.
This antipathy led to the passage of the Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924, the latter being the Reed-Johnson Act, which infamously brought about national origins quotas. The 1924 Act limited immigration, for the most part, to northern and western Europe.
It is important to see this legislation in the broader context of an isolationist United States, wary and weary of war after World War I. The issue of European refugees in the wake of the increase in flows from southern and eastern Europe in the late 1890s and early 1900s raised concerns about an influx that would be difficult to assimilate. The acts passed in the 1920s would limit immigration to the U.S. until the mid-1960s and have a devastating impact on Jewish refugees prior to the U.S.’s entry into World War II.
Immigration policy changes in the 1960s allowed migrants from more countries to enter the U.S., and immigration control remains a highly salient issue, taking center stage during the 2016 presidential election. Undocumented immigration has been a critical issue, as it has been easy for migrant laborers to find work, but difficult for them to get visas. As the government has cracked down on undocumented immigrants, Spanish-speaking workers, particularly from Mexico, have borne the brunt of the raids and deportations.
The policy dynamics around immigration restrictions are similar in other advanced countries — and increasingly so. Though differences must not be overlooked, comparing immigration policies across countries and over time can furnish us with a better sense of the most significant points of consideration.
I was in Berlin recently and was taking a taxi cab to the airport. My driver admitted that he could not speak German very well, so we spoke in English. He told met he was born in Germany, to a father who had been a guestworker, and had never bothered to learn German very well. Germany had been his home for over 50 years, and yet he didn’t feel German.
After World War II, Germany needed immigrant laborers to help rebuild a country devastated by war. They began by recruiting workers from other European countries like Italy, but soon had to reach out to other countries, in particular Turkey, to find enough workers to fill low-wage, low-skill jobs. Those workers were considered guestworkers (gastarbeiter) and weren’t expected to stay in the country. They were encouraged to maintain ties with Turkey and weren’t given opportunities to learn the language or culture. By the early 1970s, Germany cut off the recruitment of workers, but many decided to stay and gained the right to bring their families.
German politicians were not willing to admit that they had become a country of immigration until the late 1990s. For a variety of reasons, both political and cultural, they were reluctant to change citizenship laws to make it easier for residents to naturalize, and an acknowledgement of immigration was difficult politically. Germany has struggled with acknowledging and integrating immigrants, particularly those from Turkey and others with Muslim backgrounds. As I have studied the development of policies over the years, I have often been told by policymakers that it is a “new” issue for them, even though they have been dealing with it for at least 40 years.
Germany hasn’t had the devastating attacks committed by Islamic terrorists that the U.K., France, and Belgium have had, but they have taken in the largest numbers of refugees in Europe going back to the conflicts in the Balkans. This has led to large settlements of Muslim immigrants, and as the issue of immigration has become more salient across Europe, Germany has seen the rise of an anti-immigrant populist party, the Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland), that has taken advantage of the issue.
Feeling the pressure put on them by the AfD, the conservative party in Bavaria forced a crisis in Angela Merkel’s government by insisting on harsher measures on the border, including placing refugees and asylum seekers into detention centers when they cross the border. The most recent deal calls for returning asylum seekers to the first safe country where they landed, and stronger border checks, thus saving Merkel’s coalition, but putting in jeopardy E.U. free movement protections.
France is celebrating a remarkable World Cup triumph with a team that is dominated by French citizens of immigrant backgrounds, many of them Muslims. For many years, France has had an ongoing debate about citizenship, Islam, and immigration policy. France has banned the wearing of the burka in public places and has passed many restrictive immigration and integration policies over the years, including civic integration policies (initially introduced in the Netherlands) requiring language and civic education classes for those applying for citizenship, for new arrivals, and for those applying for visas from other countries.
France’s National Rally party (formerly known as National Front) has called for putting a complete stop to immigration and has used strong anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric in their campaigns. Although they have not come close to becoming part of Government, they’ve recently begun to win seats in the French legislature and have also been winning seats in regional and local elections.
There is an overall trend toward more restrictions on immigration in recent years, but it is significant that the trend has focused specifically on racial and ethnic minorities. This is an issue that will continue to have high salience in the political arena, particularly as populist politicians focus on the issue and gain influence in both the U.S. and Europe. Whether this more restrictive trend continues will depend on the electoral influence of both those wanting to restrict immigration and those inclined to support more expansive policies, including for recent immigrants.
