Immigration in Denmark 2017

In the preceding post I sketched the process of acquiring citizenship in Denmark, alluding to the controversy about recent restrictions on immigration. This time I want to make a broader survey of the issue of immigration itself, even though it is likely to seem grossly inaccurate, inadequate and biased to all sides. Cynics might accuse me of sending up a trial balloon for target practice just to see whether anyone is even reading this blog.

Integration Minister Inger Støjberg’s cake scandal was not her most recent or serious one. She has been charged with violating the procedure for the treatment of child brides –refugee couples that include an underage partner – and lying about it. The sequence of events still seems confusing. Støjberg apparently decided, despite warnings from Integration Ministry officials, that these couples should be placed in separate living quarters without the prior hearing they had a right to. Afterward she gave suspect and shifting explanations to a Parliament committee. The parliamentary opposition, which sees this as an arrogant disregard of human rights and part of a recurring pattern of discrimination, doesn’t want to let it go with a slap on the wrist this time.

No room at the inn

Støjberg had been unrolling the 50 restrictions since the June 2015 election brought the right wing back to power on a rise of anti-immigrant and anti-refugee sentiment after the Valentine’s Day terrorist attack. The xenophobic Danish People’s Party became the second-largest in Parliament, and Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen made reducing the number of refugees that Denmark accepts a key objective. The first measures included reducing the amount of assistance refugees receive by around half and publishing an announcement in Middle Eastern newspapers informing prospective refugees and their smugglers of the reduction.

State of emergency

Then came the huge stream of refugees and migrants in Europe. As they reached Denmark and many kept walking toward Sweden, the mood shifted and became more conflicted. Some Danes, embarrassed that the country was being compared to Hungary for its lack of hospitality, drove refugees to Sweden or to a rail station, technically becoming human smugglers themselves and risking criminal charges.

With the shocking sight of the drowned Alan Kurdi in a red t-shirt on the Turkish shore, the prime minister relented by agreeing to take about 2,000 additional refugees, an insignificant fraction but enough to draw criticism from his supporters. The refugees were distributed throughout the country to share the expenses and to promote integration, but the counties couldn’t find housing for all of them and had to use idle kindergartens and rent bedrooms in private homes.

 

With the reports of sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year's Eve 2015/16 and fake Syrian passports, the mood swung back toward caution. In early 2016, Denmark's infamous “jewelry law,” which empowered the police to confiscate refugees’ cash and valuables above a certain amount, tarnished the country's reputation further, although it was hardly ever implemented. Pegida, the anti-Islamist group that originated in Germany, held marches regularly to protest immigration, and the radical-left Autonomous Movement held larger, more aggressive counter-demonstrations, occasionally rioting and damaging property, usually in poorer districts of Copenhagen.

The new normal

After the crisis subsided, the influx turned out to be smaller than had been feared, and in the past year, the campaign has been achieving its objectives. The number of people applying for asylum in Denmark has declined sharply, and the number of applicants who leave voluntarily has increased, as has the number who are denied asylum and go underground. A report from the Council of Europe criticized Denmark for erecting barriers to family reunification such as requiring fees and longer processing time. The number of people living in poverty has risen sharply, to some degree because of lower social benefits for unemployed foreigners.

The public has become polarized. There is a widespread perception of a rise in racism and intolerance. After a report showing that “ethnic Danes” were in a minority in a few municipalities, an extremist political party began handing out fake tickets home to immigrants. A recent survey of Danish Muslims showed that a third felt they were looked down upon, a third thought their background made it difficult to find work, and 80 percent believed that the views on Islam and Muslims had worsened in recent years.

Greenland’s inordinate thirst

The left-wing opposition has become increasingly vocal in accusing the administration of fostering an atmosphere of intolerance. In a recent column entitled “Give Me Back the Denmark That Had a Heart,” David Trads, a prominent political commentator, highlights as symptomatic the remark of a soccer coach whose team had just clinched a position in the top division: “My players will surely be as drunk as Greenlanders tonight” (which says as much about the country’s attitude toward alcohol as its views of Greenlanders).

The coach was reported to the police for racism, he apologized immediately, and his apologists came forward complaining of political correctness and Denmark’s runaway “victim culture.” Noting that the main targets of discrimination in Denmark are the abstemious Muslims, Trads asked a founder of Black Lives Matter what Europe should do to prevent racism in Europe from becoming as “violent” as in America. Fight for humanism, diversity and peace, she said.

On the other side, critics of immigration point out that the number of immigrants and their descendants in Denmark is still rising, particularly in Copenhagen, where they represent 24 percent of the population and present difficulties for the schools. Controversies have arisen about pork in lunch programs and segregated swimming instruction. They note that a relatively large number of radicalized Islamic State volunteers has come from Denmark and that certain imams are still promoting “hate,” while Denmark is and must remain a Christian nation. They also point to a huge increase in the past year in the number of refugees who are ready to work – from 3 percent to 51 percent – and advocate using the savings from the decline in refugees on development programs close to conflict zones.

Can’t get there from here

There is of course seldom agreement on this issue. Policies swing back and forth like a pendulum depending on the parties in power. Sweden was far too idealistic in welcoming migrants and refugees, they could not be processed or integrated in an orderly manner, crime has risen sharply, and the reaction has set in. Denmark’s integration problems are not as bad as those in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands or France, probably because there has been a slight right-wing majority in Parliament for most of this century. Defenders of the restrictions maintain that the conditions of refugees and immigrants in Denmark are still generally better than elsewhere, while others are dismayed by the rise of xenophobic populism in the West generally and want to resuscitate Denmark’s humanitarian tradition.

In envisioning genuine integration, it is hard to get past the problems inherent in a fundamentalist adherence to Islam, which as in the US the politically correct are loath to question. As long as a significant segment of the Muslim population assents even tacitly to sharia law and practices such as forced marriages, honor killings and female genital mutilation, there will be insuperable barriers to understanding and cooperation. One of the more favorable developments in Denmark was the creation last year of a Facebook page for ex-Muslims. The founders and proponents, who put themselves at considerable risk of reprisals for their apostasy, have opened a small but important channel for moderate Muslims to establish a presence and promote values that could enable real integration.