Reality-check on immigration/refugee issues in the EU from Judith Kohlenberger

Judith Kohlenberger is an immigration expert at the Institute for Social Policy at the Wirtschaftsuniversität of Vienna. I’m providing a translation here of something she recently posted on X/[Twitter] which addresses some common themes used by EU xenophobes: (1)

How much the reality of migration is now practically irrelevant to (almost) all sides is shown, among other things, by the fact that I have *not ever* advocated open borders in a *single interview* and yet I am held out and defamed as an "open-borders activist"

In my new book, I even present arguments against open borders. LOL.

The assessment that Europe's people have enough of "uncontrolled mass migration" and want to teach the politicians responsible for it a lesson may describe the motives of some voters, but it does not stand up to empirical examination.

That encourages a longing for order and security, for demarcation of what is ours and defensiveness against the Others. The “strong men” (and women) of the rightwing parties answer this longing in the form of fortress fantasies, thereby enflaming the feeling of the outside threat.

P.S. Whoever claims that “uncontrolled mass migration” is taking place in Austria thereby also negates the daily work of the armed forces and border police in registering and identifying the arrivals and denies the functioning of the rule of law.

Oh, yeah, that “rule of law” thing. That’s kind of important in the “democracy vs. autocracy” struggle in which the West is supposedly representing the democracy side.

The X/Twitter display of her thread seems to be a bit quirky. But as it appear on my feed, In response to a question about the thoroughly misguided response for center-left and (especially) center-right parties to try to take votes from the far right by pandering to xenophobic attitudes and claims, she writes:

For years, centrist parties, including those that are in government in their countries, have been pursuing a restrictive course on [im]migration and asylum. For a long time now, there has been a discussion across the political spectrum about isolation, deterrence, and outsourcing [to other countries] as a patent remedy.

Just a few years ago, no centrist party would have seriously considered the outsourcing of refugees to Rwanda [as Britain is now trying to do]. Such plans seemed too bizarre at the time.

"Uncontrolled immigration" to Europe does not take place, on the contrary:

For years, there have been complete controls at numerous Schengen [treaty country] borders, including between Austria and Germany. In 2018, there were six times as many border walls worldwide as during the Cold War. Securitization and fortification of the EU's external and internal borders have increased sharply. [The Schengen treaty is one that defines outer borders for immigration to Europe; the first country of entry is responsible for verifying the entrant’s immigration status. In theory, countries like Germany and Austria that are completely surrounded by other Schengen countries shouldn’t have to check most entrants, though as she notes, some countries like Germany and Austria have done it on a temporary basis.]

Border “pushbacks” that violate international law have become an accepted form of border security. Kidnapping, slavery and sexual exploitation are part of everyday life on the periphery of Europe, as are hunts [for humans] with paramilitary troops and attack dogs.

People on the run [refugees], NGOs and sea rescuers are systematically criminalized. All this has accustomed the European population to human rights violations that remain without consequences, to the brutalization and dehumanization of those who are "foreign".

The more militantly borders are defended in order to protect the supposed order within them from the "foreign", the more it is threatened: chaos, violence and open breaches of the law, the feeling of powerlessness and resignation radiate into the interior.

FRANCE 24 English recently produced this four-minute report on the EU’s recently-adopted restrictions of receiving refugees: (2)

It's not a great report. It airs the common anti-immigrant slogans: coming from supposedly ordinary voters, of course, sort of a German version of the New York Times visits to small-town diners to talk to elderly white Republicans.

Unfortunately, it does not explain why those complaints are mostly bogus. To get that, you have to go to people like Judith Kohlenberger.

Notes:

(1) 06/10/2024. https://x.com/J_Kohlenberger/status/1800077629607031135 (Accessed: 2024-12-06).

(2) Germany introduces new measures to make country less attractive to migrants. FRANCE 24 English 06/14/2024. <https://youtu.be/LAHAy3Bg6Pw?si=OjO1-lgP2rcTvs19> (Accessed: 2024-17-06).