Estate agents say location, location, location. Soon we will find that politicians say immigration, immigration, immigration. If you take the popular pulse, nine times out of ten, whether you are in California or Calais, Dubai or Dublin, the issue of immigration will come up.
Of course there are wide variations in its manifestation. In France where the National Front polled 18 percent at the last presidential elections, it is a major issue. In the US, a country which once set the standard for welcoming immigration, the backlash is now dominating the headlines. Other countries which once championed immigration, like Canada and Australia, have also seen immigration enter the political fray.
Concern about immigration is rarely benign, it usually burns with a common fire: Fear of foreigners. And some foreigners more than others.
Consider the countries in the European Union where the anti-immigration lobby has made the most noise and you will find that they have one thing in common. It is neither the size of their immigrant population, nor its high levels of unemployment, it is not even a downturn in economic growth. No, what they have in common is that they are countries with sizable immigration from Muslim countries.
Austria undertook a major reform of immigration law in 2002 aimed at curbing the number of immigrants. Where do Austria’s immigrants come from? Bosnia, Croatia and Turkey. Similarly in Denmark, a country which has rarely been off the radar these last six months, there is a sizable Turkish migrant population. The Netherlands, which has seen a major political debate and a rethink of their whole approach to immigration, has — you guessed it — a large Turkish migrant population, as well as a big Moroccan contingent — the two groups making up 30 percent of all foreigners in the Netherlands. Moroccans are also very visible in Spain, another country that has seen immigration become a hot political issue in the last five years. As for France, the country with the largest Muslim population in Europe, the issue is on the tip of every tongue.
I don’t believe that anti-Muslim feeling is at the root of all anti-immigrant rhetoric — the issue is evidently much more complex than that — but what is clear is that since Al-Qaeda started to wage its war, one of the consequences has been a heightened fear of foreigners in general and Muslim foreigners in particular.
There are many myths surrounding immigration. Three are particularly prominent in the resurgence of anti-immigrant feeling.
The first is the exploitation myth. Last week I took a taxi to the airport. As we drove along we passed a hospital. My taxi driver pointed to the hospital and bemoaned the state of national healthcare. “It’s the foreigners — she exclaimed — there’s too many of them, they exploit the system and now hard-working people like me, who pay our taxes and abide by our laws, we can’t get decent healthcare”. It’s a common myth, which unfortunately I have heard in a number of permutations in several regions of the globe. The essence of this myth is that foreigners come to a country to exploit its resources, particularly its schools, hospitals and housing.
The idea that immigrants exploit the country they migrate to is risible. I am sorry but it is. If anyone is exploited, it is more likely to be the immigrants themselves. After all they are the ones who do not have access to the same level of rights and status awarded to native citizens.
Much has been made about the share of the welfare budget taken up by migrants. In the US for instance, migrants take up a larger proportion of welfare than their percentage of the population. But that is because they tend to be poor. If migrants make up a large proportion of the low-paid — as they do in most countries with large immigration — then it follows that they will take up a relatively large proportion of the welfare budget. But this is more than made up for by their contribution to the economy. Even in pure fiscal terms, immigrants provide a net gain to their host economy as they pay significantly more in taxes than they take in benefits. As for those who begrudge foreigners for being a burden on the health system, they should be ashamed of themselves for begrudging that the sick have access to healthcare.
Which brings me to the second myth: The idea that the doors are open and anyone can come in, settle in a country and obtain all the benefits of living in say Britain with little difficulty. Anyone with any experience of emigrating to Britain will testify that it is no walkover. Whether it is the poor soul who pays someone an exorbitant sum and puts himself into debt for years in order to be smuggled into the country or the relatively luckier soul who enters the country legally, the system is geared toward keeping people out, not letting people in.
The third myth is that migrants take away jobs from native citizens and depress wages. There is no evidence to support this. All the studies that have been done have found that increased immigration makes no significant difference either to unemployment rates or to wage levels. And it makes perfect sense because economies need people to grow. If you increase the population — either through birth rates or through immigration — the net result should be job creation and economic growth.
Immigration is a good thing because immigrants do the jobs that we need and few want to do. They also do the jobs that require skills that we don’t have but desperately need. They contribute to the economy and enrich us culturally. In places like Europe where the population is aging, immigration can also help plug some of the gaps in pensions for future generations. Immigrants provide many benefits to the countries where they settle, but most of all I believe that it is morally fair and right that countries should welcome people who want to become citizens.
Becoming a citizen is a two-way street. It requires immigrants to integrate into the country into which they settle. Integration is not a dirty word, it does not mean giving up your values or beliefs, it simply means being an active member of the community in which you live, contributing to it, respecting its laws and customs and allowing yourself to grow and prosper through interaction with people who may be different to you.
Integration requires inclusion. Successful immigration needs to be managed to ensure that immigrants find their rightful place in society. Moreover countries must implement policies which give long-term foreign-born residents rights which are comparable to those of native citizens. This concept of civic citizenship has been put forward as a benchmark for immigrant inclusion.
Civic citizenship includes the right of residence, protection against expulsion, access to employment, access to family reunification, access to social security and social assistance, the right to participate in political life and the right of movement for work and study purposes.
EU countries differ on civic citizenship. Countries like Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands and Portugal fall toward the top of the scale whilst countries like Denmark and Greece are toward the bottom. As for the Arab world, it has a long way to go before it can be described as giving foreign residents rights commensurate with those of native citizens. There are some encouraging signs. In Saudi Arabia for instance, recent reforms have made it easier for long-term residents to obtain citizenship. It is also now possible for foreigners to own companies and property in the Kingdom.
I believe unreservedly that immigration is a good thing. It is in my blood, I come from a family of immigrants. Four generations ago my great-great-grandfather came to Madinah during Haj and decided to stay. Madinah is a town with a history of welcoming foreigners. I love the names of Madani families, they are resonant of the most distant corners of the Muslim world. They remind us of how vast the Muslim world is and how cultural diversity enriches us.
It is often said that the test of civil society is how it treats its women. Perhaps it is time we said the test of civil society is how it treats its foreign-born residents.
