Strangers at the Gates: The Immigration Backlash

▪ 2003

by Bob Birrell

      By 2002 immigration had emerged as a key issue in many developed nations of the world. The determination of governments to control the flow of immigrants to their nations' shores was the focus of intense debate and, increasingly, the subject of controversy. In an incident that captured worldwide attention in August 2001, Australian authorities intercepted the Norwegian freighter Tampa and refused to allow the 433 asylum seekers who had been picked up by the vessel to set foot on Australian soil. These asylum seekers—mostly Afghans and Iraqis—were subsequently transported to Nauru while their claims for refugee status were processed. Meanwhile, the Australian government hastened to pass legislation toughening the country's asylum laws, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) eventually ruled that most of the asylum seekers did not qualify for refugee protection visas.

      Despite international protests over the treatment of the Tampa “boat people,” the hard-line stance taken by the government of Australian Prime Minister John Howard was consistent with a recent trend toward the tightening of immigration policies around the globe. This trend was particularly evident in Europe during 2002. Under new rules announced in Britain, for example, immigrants could be deported even before their appeals regarding refugee status had been heard. Legislation was introduced in the Italian Parliament that would facilitate expulsions from the country and impose stiff fines and prison sentences on those involved in human trafficking. It was Denmark, however, that enacted the strictest asylum laws on the continent; a new immigration package that went into effect in July denied immigrants a residence permit until they had lived in the country for at least seven years and curbed the rights of immigrants to bring their families into the country.

      While foreign workers often play vital roles in helping developed nations maintain their economies, illegal immigration and the difficulty in reconciling cultural differences between various ethnic groups can pose major problems. By 2002, 300,000 to 500,000 illegal immigrants were believed to be arriving in Europe each year. Tightening border controls was a response that appealed to many voters, as evidenced by the recent rise in popularity of anti-immigrant political groups. In Austria the far-right Freedom Party—led by Jörg Haider, who virulently denounced immigration—joined the country's ruling coalition in 2000. In Portugal a right-wing coalition that included the anti-immigrant Popular Party came into power in 2002, while in France, Norway, Switzerland, and The Netherlands, anti-immigrant parties began to exert considerable influence on mainstream politics.

      In Australia evidence that many citizens were prepared to vote on the basis of immigration issues was made clear when Pauline Hanson's One Nation party won 8% of first preference votes in the House of Representatives in the 1998 federal election, primarily owing to the party's strident anti-immigration and antimulticultural platform. Hanson had rapidly raised her party's profile by warning that the country was in danger of being overrun by Asian immigrants—who, she claimed, took jobs from Australian citizens and made no effort to assimilate into Australian society—and by calling for a short-term halt to Asian immigration.

      This atmosphere shaped the response of Howard's government to the Tampa's arrival in Australian waters. At the time, the country's detention camps were bulging. The government could not even return the minority of claimants who had been denied refugee status to their countries of origin because most states would not accept them. There had been dramatic protests within these camps, including hunger strikes and riots; in one incident 58 detainees at a remote camp north of Adelaide sewed up their lips to protest delays in processing their visa applications. These protests polarized public opinion. For liberals detention was a deep stain on Australia's reputation. Although the country had no tradition of welcoming “tired and huddled masses,” it had witnessed the relatively trouble-free settlement of a large influx of people from Southern and Eastern Europe in the 1950s and '60s and from Asia and the Middle East during the 1980s and much of the '90s. In 1999–2000, however, the arrival of unauthorized boat people—most of them Muslims from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran—increased fourfold from the year before, to 4,175. This led to widespread frustration over the government's apparent inability to stop an unwelcome influx.

      The government was in a difficult situation because, once they were in Australia, most unauthorized claimants were being determined to be refugees according to the requirements of the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. As outlined by the convention, a person is considered a refugee who, “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.” In many cases it was not possible to put asylum claims to any empirical test, because there was a lack of access to relevant information in states where the alleged persecution occurred. Nevertheless, the various review tribunals, as well as the Australian federal and high court judges hearing the appeals of those rejected, tended to give claimants the benefit of the doubt. The government feared that Australia was turning itself into a beacon, virtually inviting human traffickers to look to it as a destination for their clients.

      The Tampa incident brought these matters to a head. A federal election campaign was in progress at the time, with neither major party assured of victory. The coalition government's decisive actions, which, besides transporting the asylum seekers to Nauru, also included denying the Australian courts any jurisdiction over their cases, effectively prevented any further unauthorized boat people from making asylum claims in the country. These actions were condemned by many observers as violations of the spirit of the 1951 convention, to which Australia is a signatory. The political consequence in Australia, however, was a surge in Howard's popularity, which carried through to an electoral victory in November 2001.

      The problem remains of what to do with those asylum seekers who fail in their refugee claims. Many who have been denied Australian visas have resisted repatriation and languish in processing camps at considerable expense to taxpayers. Still, most voters continue to support the government's tough control measures. Meanwhile, other countries appeared to be moving toward the adoption of common policies for the treatment of asylum seekers. In June 2002 leaders of the 15 European Union nations grappled with immigration issues at a summit held in Seville, Spain. The leaders agreed to work on visa regulations that would apply in every EU country, to speed up the repatriations of those immigrants who do not qualify, and to ensure closer cooperation on border controls.

Bob Birrell is Director of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.

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