Global Immigration Backlash

This summer, there was more than one boat tragedy. There was the tragic sinking of a fishing boat carrying up to 750 migrants near Greece.  The boat was carrying Pakistani, Syrian, Egyptian, and Palestinian refugees and migrants. Barely 100 had been rescued alive. The news was shrouded in mystery due to the uncertain involvement of the Greek coast guard and then further eclipsed by media coverage of a submarine carrying wealthy sea adventurers to see the shipwrecked Titanic.

It remains uncertain exactly how and why the migrant ship capsized and whether the Greek coast guard acted neglectfully. But their troubles are part of a larger tide of anti-immigrant sentiment sweeping the globe. Migrant vessels are sometimes left to chance survival rather than assisted in accordinance with international obligations, according to UN Special Envoy for thte Central Mediterranean Vincent Cochetel. Others are provided food, water, life jackets and fuel precisely so they will stay afloat long enough to drift away from the nearest coast and left to the care of countries further downstream, often Italy.  These "pushbacks" mean to avoid the legal obligation to rescue and process aslyum requests by forcing refugees out of their territory. The migrants, and the accompanying legal obligations, are foisted onto someone else. According to the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), pushbacks are a violation of international law and European regulations. (Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis denies that his country engages in pushbacks.)

Outside of pushbacks at sea, many countries have declined to absorb migrants since the 2015 refugee crisis -- both in Europe (where 1 million have entered) and in the US.  Unrest in Syria is one reason for the great migration but, all told, the scale of global migration is at the highest levels that it's been in more than one hundred years. The New York Times has a country-by-country analysis showing that the foreign-born share of the population has progressively risen in several wealthy western countries: 30% in Australia and 13-15% in the US, Spain, UK, Netherlands, and France.

While some of these countries have a tradition of receiving and even welcoming immigrants, the general population in these countries criticize the migrant flows. They say the volume of migration places strain on the welfare state. Even less popular is irregular migration deemed to disrespect local laws, disrupt the workforce, and interfere with customary ways of life. Government responses have roiled and divided the countries, as illustrated dramatically with the recent collapse of the Netherlands government amid discord and the hateful rhetoric of right-wing politicians in France (Marine Le Pen), Spain, and the US (Donald Trump).

Politicians on the left have waffled in their response to migration, struggling to project the appearance of openness while also promising the keep migration levels manageable to appease workers in their parties or appeal to skeptical voters from other parties. This is one way of understanding the shifting posture of Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams in response to the diversion of migrants to NYC and the vacillation of President Biden toward asylees: whether motivated by pragmatics, politics, or hate, they are playing into a greater global backlash.

MHC