U.S. Versus Them The effects of the September 11 attacks on migration policy in the United States and how this has influenced visa issuances to migrants from Muslim-majority countries in particular Anke van Gils Bachelor Thesis Geography, Planning and Environment (GPE) Nijmegen School of I Management Radboud University Nijmegen July 2020 U.S. Versus Them The effects of the September 11 attacks on migration policy in the United States and how this has influenced visa issuances to migrants from Muslim-majority countries in particular Author Anke van Gils Student Number S1003915 Supervisor Prof. Dr. Henk van Houtum Bachelor Thesis Geography, Planning and Environment (GPE) Nijmegen School of Management Radboud University Nijmegen July 2020 II Summary This Bachelor’s thesis focusses on the impacts of the September 11 attacks on visa issuances to migrants from Muslim-majority countries, in comparison to those to migrants from other countries. Since post-9/11 political and media discourse have influenced the general view of Muslims toward a more negative image, one might expect that this has also had a restrictive influence on visa issuances to migrants from Muslim-majority countries. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to find out whether migration policies have indeed become more restrictive for Muslim migrants in particular, and whether we see this impact in a larger decrease in issuances to migrants from this category, as compared to other migrants. To answer this, various methods have been used. First, a general literature framework was established through examining existing literature on how foreign policies are being developed, how these have affected global mobility over the years, and on how framing and securitization processes can affect these policy developments. Then, an analysis was conducted on the migration policy of the US in the years before 9/11 until the time this thesis was written. Added to this are important background events that have influenced these policy changes. Lastly, data on both immigrant and non-immigrant visa issuances, or permanent and temporary permits, per country was retrieved from the website of the US Bureau of Consular Affairs. These were divided into the two categories by using data from the CIA World Factbook on religion. By a ‘Muslim-majority country’ a country is meant where at least 50% of the population is Muslim. Then, changes in the issuances in the period of 1991, ten years prior to 9/11, to present have been compared to provide an image on the impacts of post- 9/11 policy changes for different categories of migrants. In doing so, both absolute and relative changes were taken into regard. In general, most entry migration policy has become more restrictive for all migrants. After 9/11, we saw a strong securitization of migration. Entry by foreign nationals has been more and more perceived as a threat to US national security. An example is provided by the establishment of the Homeland Security Act in 2002, which moved matters of migration to the watchful eye of the Department of Homeland Security. This securitization has led to several far-reaching measures that were adopted in acts like the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Act of 2002, and the REAL ID Act of 2005. Border security became far more enhanced and strict, which was especially visible on the US-Mexico border. New conditions for entry were established that were more restrictive than the previous ones. Also, more data was collected on migrants that entered the country, including biometric data. For non-immigrants, visa overstays were more strictly monitored and sanctioned. When we look at Muslim migrants in particular, we see that these were mostly the victim of more extreme security measures right after the September 11 attacks. These measures included an increase in arrests for minor visa violations for which they could be held longer, the provision of little information on the reason for their arrest, and in some cases even abuse while in jail. Also, in the ‘axis of evil’ speech by President Bush, he pointed toward the countries of North Korea, Iran and Iraq as countries with governments that supported terrorism (Bush, 2001-2008). This also affected issuances to migrants from the Muslim-majority countries of Iran and Iraq. In 2002 the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) was launched that started the more extensive registration of non-immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria that wanted to enter the US for a temporary stay. Migrants from these countries now had to leave more biometric data, such as fingerprints and photographs, and undergo an interview upon arrival in the US. Next to this, NSEERS also obliged migrants from 25 countries to report to an immigration office of the Department of III Homeland Security for further background checks. Of these 25 countries, 24 were Muslim-majority ones. Years later, we see how Muslims are also the subject of the travel ban issued by President Trump in 2017. In general, both the Presidents Bush and Trump tended to apply a strong securitization of Islam. Obama on the contrary, attempted to get rid of this image. However, he only seems to have succeeded in changing political discourse, which in its turn was reversed again when Trump came into office. If we look at the number of visa issuances over the years we see a general decline in the period after 9/11, which took place at the end of fiscal year 2001. The effects are most visible in the issuances of the fiscal years 2002 and 2003. The findings have been split up into the two categories of immigrant and non-immigrant issuances. For immigrant visas, we see a general decrease of 10.2% in issuances over the period of fiscal year 2001 until fiscal year 2003. Muslim-majority immigrants experienced the largest decline of 27.4%, and the other migrants saw a decrease of only 7%. In the non-immigrant category the changes after 9/11 were even larger. The overall amount of issuances decreased by 35.7%, with the Muslim-majority category again receiving the most grave impact with a decline in issuances of no less than 46.8%. For the other migrants the decrease was also severe with 34.4% less issuances in fiscal year 2003 in comparison to the number in fiscal year 2001. We can conclude that migrants from Muslim-majority countries indeed seem to be the most gravely impacted category after the 9/11 attacks in terms of visa issuances. In both immigrant and non- immigrant issuances this group experienced the largest decline. It is likely that this was caused by more restrictive migration policies due to a more negative public and political perception of Muslim migrants. However, some shortcomings of this research are worth mentioning. Firstly, the impacts of 9/11 on both unauthorized migrants and refugees were not examined, since these were not included in one of the categories by the Bureau of Consular Affairs (1991-2019). Also, the correlation between policy developments and the decrease in visa issuances does not rule out other possible influences on visa issuances. This research focusses on policy in the country of destination, which leaves out factors in the country of origin. Because no data has been found on visa applications and refusals, it is not possible to rule out the option that migrants simply applied for visas less after 9/11 due to various factors, such as a more negative image of the US, fear of getting on an airplane, or due to increased travel costs and efforts due to more security checks. Lastly, differences between individual Muslim- majority countries, or between visa types within the two broad categories were not examined. IV Table of Contents Summary...............................................................................................................................................III List of Images..........................................................................................................................................1 List of Tables...........................................................................................................................................1 1. Introduction....................................................................................................................................2 1.1 Social and scientific relevance......................................................................................................2 1.2 Research aims and question.........................................................................................................4 2. Theory............................................................................................................................................6 2.1 Literature review..........................................................................................................................6 2.1.1. Visa functions and the evolution of global mobility........................................................6 2.1.2. What shapes foreign policy.............................................................................................7 2.1.3. The ‘terrorist’ frame.......................................................................................................8 2.1.4. The purposes of terrorist attacks....................................................................................9 2.2 Conceptual model......................................................................................................................10 3. Methodology................................................................................................................................12