How to think differently about migration

This week we celebrated World Refugee Day , and for those of us who work in the UK migration sector, that means a joyous but exhausting 2+ weeks of celebrating the arrival, integration and contribution of refugees in the UK. Usually to enthusiastic audiences, but sometimes to indifferent, or skeptical, ones.

We've also had sight of the Labour Party Manifesto (Scottish version here ), which is significant for politics in the UK because it is widely accepted that the Labour Party will win the majority of seats in the upcoming UK General Election on 4th July 2024.

Therefore, the manifesto is a reliable indication of what we can expect to see around migration policy from the next government.

Where we are today: Hopes and fears

For me, the Labour manifesto articulates a vision for migration that gives cause for hope, but also uncritically embraces language and champions policies that are rooted more in fear, than logic.

For example, we can expect a new Labour government to bin the Conservative government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and to swiftly pass legislation to unwind the Illegal Migration Act 2023 , the draconian law that underpinned that project.

This is hope, not least for the 43k asylum applicants who were part of the nearly 100k backlogged asylum cases at the end of 2023, who would have been at risk of being forcibly removed to Rwanda or to another country, without any UK agency even agreeing to hear the reasons why they deserve asylum in the UK.

Some of the savings will be spent on clearing the backlog, and given a lot of those people are actually refugees just waiting to be recognised as refugees - this is a good thing for everyone.

However, the Labour Party also proposes to spend some of the savings on a Border Security Command to tackle organised gangs who run the small boats that carry people seeking asylum across the English Channel.

This is fear based policymaking, and little else.

Despite what the Conservative government and mainstream UK media has been telling us for some time, objectively, small boat crossings are not a major issue for the UK government.

The only explanation that migration experts have is that this part of the manifesto is more about politics than good governance.

And it is disappointing that the incoming Labour government has chosen to adopt a position on future migration policy that remains unnecessary, unlawful, and most importantly... unkind.

??Curious for an alternative view on what the Labour government ought to focus on? I can't say it better than migration expert Zoe Gardner already said it here in 2023: "Three steps to solving the small boat crisis that might actually work "

Changing perspective: Migration as history, hope and belonging

There is an alternative, and I can describe it - although I can't make other people believe in it; that will be up to each of us, including you.

History

Sometimes we need to start with the long view: migration is nothing more than the unhindered movement of animals, including people, from one place to another.

Until the early part of the 20th century, most countries did not make any serious effort to pass or enforce immigration laws - people were largely left to enter and leave countries, as they wished.

Our common history of migration in the preceding three centuries included significant migration of Europeans to colonise and settle other parts of the globe, and forced migration of Africans by Europeans, across some of these colonies and settlements. Those early immigration laws, further, were then largely about preventing the migration of people from other parts of the globe into Europe, or European-held colonies and settlements.

This is what academics, activists and campaigners mean when they say that migration laws are racist , and rooted in colonialism . It doesn't mean that we don't need any laws at all, but it does mean that we need to keep thinking critically about where these laws came from and why they are structured how they are.

Hope

There are some great example of migration policy grounded in hope, not fear. This includes the European Union's free movement laws .

EU free movement has allowed the millions of citizens of the EU member states practically feel and act as though they belong to something greater. Millions of young people, in particular, have seen greater economic opportunity, and enjoyed greater physical freedom, than previous generations, making connections to others and creating businesses, art and music, families and friendships that would not have existed, but for this (relatively technical) set of immigration laws.

Laws are transformative for our societies; those impacts can be profoundly positive, especially when they are grounded in hope and allowed to flourish at scale.

Belonging

A different way to talk to people about migration is to ask people who belongs in our communities.

Some people believe that to belong in a place, you must be from that place. Sometimes there is a race for authenticity; the longer one's ancestors have been of that place, the greater claim you have of belonging.

Others believe that if you have chosen to make a place your home, you belong there.

Still others say that you must make a positive contribution to a place (pay taxes, join the military, do something heroic) in order to belong. And that you renounce a right to belong if certain negative things befall you (suffering injury, getting fired from your job, breaking up with your partner).

The problem with most of the above, is that our belonging is mostly conditioned on factors we personally have no control over.

We cannot control where we are born, or who are ancestors were.

We cannot control our race or the religious and cultural traditions we are born into.

We cannot control major factors that affect our safety or wellbeing. For example, whether we live in a peaceful country, or a war-torn one. Whether we are born poor in a wealthy country, or wealthy in a poor one.

For the most part, the global system of immigration laws grants advantages to the few, excludes and restricts freedom for the many, divides families and prevents creativity and progress... largely on the basis of parts of our identity that we personally have no control over.

Thinking differently about migration

Last night, at a brilliant Refugee Festival Scotland event at Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, Scotland I was asked: how would I create a fair, just system of immigration law?

I think the answer is the same as it is, for all laws.

A just law is one that would treat you fairly, no matter who you are, and where you come from

This is not my idea, and it is not new. This way of thinking about fair and just laws is most closely associated with the American philosopher, John Rawls.

Here is a hilariously simple (and brief) video illustrating this principle, which also features a more positive spin on small boats:

John Rawls says that laws should be made from behind a veil of ignorance, meaning you should write laws imagining that you have no idea what position you would hold in society - whether, for example, you will be a victim of violence or a perpetrator, whether you will be wealthy or poor, whether you will be educated or illiterate, whether you will be a coloniser, or colonised.

This is the same thought exercise that you've previewed in the post-it note at the start of this article: who would you be under apartheid?

(A smaller scale version of this principle in practice, levering basic self interest: if we have to divide a coveted good (chocolate, for example) between our three children, one child makes the division and the other two children choose their portion first.)

Change is coming, but through hope, or fear?

Time to wrap this up, thanks for sticking it out if you are still reading!

This week, I also had the great privilege to listen to Nicholas Lowles the inspirational CEO of HOPE not hate .

When asked about how he and his team face up to the challenges ahead, he reflected: "Most people, given the choice, choose hope."

So, in closing, this Refugee Week 2024, asking all of you out there to keep thinking critically about how we got to here, and celebrating those of you who - every day - choose hope, and choose love ??