i M e R • M i M RAYMOND Taras The eND to iMMigratiON bY A ThOusAND cuTs? ON europe’s buReAucratic gatekeepeRs Willy Brandt Series of Working Papers in International Migration and Ethnic Relations 1/12 MALMÖ 2012 MALMÖ UNIVERSITY MALMÖ INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES OF MIGRATION, DIVERSITY AND WELFARE (MIM) Willy brandt series of Working papers in international Migration and ethnic Relations 1/12 published 2012 editor Erica Righard
[email protected] editor-in-chief Björn Fryklund published by Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare (MIM) Malmö University 205 06 Malmö Sweden printed by Holmbergs AB, 2012 ISSN 1650-5743 / Online publication www.bit.mah.se/MUEP Raymond Taras The eND to iMMigratiON bY A ThOusAND cuTs? ON europe’s buReAucratic gatekeepeRs Raymond Taras, Willy Brandt Professor at Malmö University, and Professor of Political Science at Tulane University Keywords: xenophobia, Islamophobia, immigration, bureaucracy, European Union, integration. The arguments Immigration will not endanger European society because it is dying the death of a thousand cuts. Bureaucrats administering immigration policy in ministries across Europe, in tandem with tactical allies, are devising disingenuous ways to end large-scale in-migration. A thousand rules and regulations have been adopted to ensure that Europe will no longer represent a pull factor drawing third-country nationals. Relative European decline and systemic economic crisis will solidify the sealing of Europe’s borders. This was my contribution to the debate organised by The Economist in August 2011 on the motion: ‘This house believes that immigration is endangering European society’. The British weekly was itself a supporter of immigration and relatively open borders, but its editors expressed surprise at the split that surfaced in public opinion.