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EU Anti-Immigrant Policies Intensify 12/15 06:17
LONDON (AP) -- In the past year, tens of thousands hostile to immigrants
marched through London, chanting "send them home!" A British lawmaker
complained of seeing too many non-white faces on TV. And senior politicians
advocated the deportation of longtime U.K. residents born abroad.
The overt demonization of immigrants and those with immigrant roots is
intensifying in the U.K. -- and across Europe -- as migration shoots up the
political agenda and right-wing parties gain popularity.
In several European countries, political parties that favor mass
deportations and depict immigration as a threat to national identity come at or
near the top of opinion polls: Reform U.K., the AfD, or Alternative for Germany
and France's National Rally.
President Donald Trump, who recently called Somali immigrants in the U.S.
"garbage" and whose national security strategy depicts European countries as
threatened by immigration, appears to be endorsing and emboldening Europe's
coarse, anti-immigrant sentiments.
Amid the rising tensions, Europe's mainstream parties are taking a harder
line on migration and at times using divisive language about race.
"What were once dismissed as being at the far extreme end of far-right
politics has now become a central part of the political debate," said Kieran
Connell, a lecturer in British history at Queen's University Belfast.
Europe experiencing a growing sense of division
Immigration has risen dramatically over the past decade in some European
countries, driven in part by millions of asylum-seekers who have come to Europe
fleeing conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine.
Asylum-seekers account for a small percentage of total immigration, however,
and experts say antipathy toward diversity and migration stems from a mix of
factors. Economic stagnation in the years since the 2008 global financial
crisis, the rise of charismatic nationalist politicians and the polarizing
influence of social media all play a role, experts say.
In Britain, there is "a frightening increase in the sense of national
division and decline" and that tends to push people toward political extremes,
said Bobby Duffy, director of the Policy Unit at King's College London. It took
root after the financial crisis, was reinforced by Britain's debate about
Brexit and deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic, Duffy said.
Social media has exacerbated the mood, notably on X, whose algorithm
promotes divisive content and whose owner, Elon Musk, approvingly retweets
far-right posts.
Across Europe, ethnonationalism has been promoted by right-wing parties such
as Germany's AfD, France's National Rally and the Fidesz party of Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orbn.
Now it appears to have the stamp of approval from the Trump administration,
whose new national security strategy depicts Europe as a collection of
countries facing "economic decline" and "civilizational erasure" because of
immigration and loss of national identities.
The hostile language alarmed many European politicians, but also echoed what
they hear from their countries' far-right parties.
National Rally leader Jordan Bardella told the BBC he largely agreed with
the Trump administration's concern that mass immigration was "shaking the
balance of European countries."
Racist rhetoric and hate crimes on the rise
Policies once considered extreme are now firmly on the political agenda.
Reform UK, the hard-right party that consistently leads opinion polls, says if
it wins power it will strip immigrants of permanent-resident status even if
they have lived in the U.K. for decades. The center-right opposition
Conservatives say they will deport British citizens with dual nationality who
commit crimes.
A Reform UK lawmaker complained in October that advertisements were "full of
Black people, full of Asian people." Conservative justice spokesman Robert
Jenrick remarked with concern that he "didn't see another white face" in an
area of Birmingham, Britain's second-largest city. Neither politician had to
resign.
Many proponents of reduced immigration say they are concerned about
integration and community cohesion, not race. But that's not how it feels to
those on the receiving end of racial abuse.
"There is no doubt it has worsened," said Dawn Butler, a Black British
lawmaker who says the vitriol she receives on social media "is increasing
drastically, and has escalated into death threats."
U.K. government statistics show police in England and Wales recorded more
than 115,000 hate crimes in the year to March 2025, a 2% increase over the
previous 12 months.
In July 2024, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim violence erupted on Britain's
streets after three girls were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance
class. Authorities said online misinformation wrongly identifying the U.K.-born
teenage attacker as a Muslim migrant played a part.
In Ireland and in the Netherlands, protesters often demonstrate outside
municipal meetings in communities where a new asylum center is proposed. Some
protests have turned violent, with opponents of asylum-seekers throwing
fireworks at riot police.
Across Europe, the main focus of protests has been hotels and other housing
for asylum-seekers, which some say become magnets for crime and bad behavior.
But the agenda of protest organizers is often much wider.
In September, more than 100,000 people chanting "We want our country back"
marched through London in a protest organized by a far-right activist and
convicted fraudster Tommy Robinson. Among the speakers was French far-right
politician Eric Zemmour, who told the crowd that France and the U.K. both faced
"the great replacement of our European people by peoples coming from the south
and of Muslim culture."
Outflanking the right
Mainstream European politicians condemn the "great replacement" conspiracy
theory. Britain's center-left Labour Party government has denounced racism and
says migration is an important part of Britain's national story.
At the same time, it is taking a tougher line on immigration, announcing
policies to make it harder for migrants to settle permanently. The government
says it is inspired by Denmark, which has seen asylum applications plummet
since it started giving refugees only short-term residence.
Denmark and Britain are among a group of European countries pushing to
weaken legal protections for migrants and make deportations easier.
Human rights advocates argue that attempts to appease the right just lead to
ever-more-extreme policies.
"For every inch yielded, there's going to be another inch demanded," Council
of Europe human rights commissioner Michael O'Flaherty told The Guardian.
"Where does it stop? For example, the focus right now is on migrants, in large
part. But who is it going to be about next time around?"
Calls for calmer rhetoric
Politicians of the political center also have been criticized for adopting
the language of the far right. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in May
that Britain risked becoming an "island of strangers," a phrase that echoed a
notorious 1968 anti-immigration speech by the politician Enoch Powell. Starmer
later said he had been unaware of the echo and regretted using the phrase.
Germany's center-right Chancellor Friedrich Merz has hardened his language
on migrants as the Alternative for Germany has grown more powerful. Merz caused
an uproar in October by saying Germany had a problem with its "Stadtbild," a
word that translates as "city image" or cityscape. Critics felt Merz was
implying that people who don't look German don't truly belong.
Merz later stressed that "we need immigration," without which certain
sectors of the economy, including health care, would cease to function.
Duffy said politicians should be responsible and consider how their rhetoric
shapes public attitudes -- though he added that's "quite a forlorn hope."
"The perception that this divisiveness works has taken hold," he said.
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