remigration
{{Short description|Forced or promoted return of non-European immigrants}}
{{Distinguish|Return migration}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
File:Calais - Manifestation contre les clandestins, l'immigration-invasion et l'islamisation de l'Europe, 8 novembre 2015 (20).JPG, France, in 2015]]
Remigration is a far-right European concept of ethnic cleansing{{Multiref|{{Harvnb|Maldonado|2020|p=105}}|{{Harvnb|Ebner|2021|p=289}}|{{Harvnb|Wilhelmsen|2021|p=297}}|{{Harvnb|Burden|2023|pp=12, 169}}|{{Harvnb|Miller-Idriss|2022|p=47}}|{{Harvnb|Bergmann|2024}}: "These proposals span a spectrum from non-violent ethnic cleansing, framed as 'remigration,' to the grave extremity of genocide."}} via the mass deportation or promoted voluntary return of non-white immigrants and their descendants, usually including those born in Europe, to their place of racial ancestry, often with no regard for their citizenship or legal status.{{cite book|first1=John|last1=Feffer|title=Right Across the World: The Global Networking of the Far-Right and the Left Response|url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/51072|publisher=Pluto Press|date=2020 |via=library.oapen.org|pages=48–49|hdl=20.500.12657/51072 |isbn=9781786808554 }}{{cite book|first1=A. James|last1=McAdams|first2=Alejandro|last2=Castrillon|title=Contemporary Far-Right Thinkers and the Future of Liberal Democracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPc8EAAAQBAJ|publisher=Routledge|date=26 September 2021|isbn=978-1-000-43190-2|via=Google Books|pages=12, 74}} It is popular especially within the Identitarian movement.{{Cite journal|last=Richards|first=Imogen|date=2019|title=A Philosophical and Historical Analysis of "Generation Identity": Fascism, Online Media, and the European New Right|journal=Terrorism and Political Violence|volume=12|issue=1|pages=28–47|doi=10.1080/09546553.2019.1662403|s2cid=210643607|issn=0954-6553|quote=Demonstrating GI’s exclusionary politics, its members advocate for what they term a policy of forced “remigration,” in which migrants (from primarily Middle Eastern, North African, and Muslim-majority nations), would be forced to return to their countries of origin}}{{Citation|last=Nissen|first=Anita|title=The Trans-European Mobilization of "Generation Identity"|date=2020|work=Nostalgia and Hope: Intersections between Politics of Culture, Welfare, and Migration in Europe|pages=85–100|editor-last=Norocel|editor-first=Ov Cristian|series=IMISCOE Research Series|publisher=Springer International Publishing|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-41694-2_6|isbn=978-3-030-41694-2|quote=The call for so-called “remigration” of third-country immigrants is a term GI France has adopted from BI, referring to the (forced) returning of third-country immigrants to their home countries.|editor2-last=Hellström|editor2-first=Anders|editor3-last=Jørgensen|editor3-first=Martin Bak|doi-access=free}} Some proponents of remigration suggest excluding some persons with non-European background from such a mass deportation, based on a varyingly-defined degree of assimilation into European culture.{{Cite web|date=2016-12-07|title="Réémigration", négationnisme, "race congoïde"... Les mauvaises ondes d'Henry de Lesquen, le patron de Radio Courtoisie|url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/elections/reemigration-antisemitisme-race-congoide-les-mauvaises-ondes-d-henry-de-lesquen-le-patron-de-radio-courtoisie_1955769.html|access-date=2019-06-22|website=France Info|language=fr}}{{cite news|url=https://taz.de/Debatte-Begriffe-der-neuen-Rechten/!5603803/|title=Debatte Begriffe der neuen Rechten - Neue Wörter, alter Hass|date=July 1, 2019|newspaper=Die Tageszeitung|language=de|trans-title=Debate terms of the new right - New words, old hate|quote=[...] jedoch auch offizielle AfD-Accounts, welche fordern, dass syrische Flüchtlinge abgeschoben werden sollen, oder befinden, dass für „Türken“, die sich „nicht integrieren wollen“, eine Remigration das beste wäre. [...] liegt eine der größten Gefahren für offene und demokratische Gesellschaften in der Naivität gegenüber den politischen Bemühungen, extremistische Rhetorik zu normalisieren}}
Advocates of remigration promote the concept in pursuit of ethno-cultural homogeneity. According to Deutsche Welle, ethnopluralism, the Nouvelle Droite concept that different ethnicities require their own segregated living spaces, creates a need for remigration of people with "foreign roots".{{cite news|title=How dangerous is the Identitarian Movement? |url=https://www.dw.com/en/how-dangerous-is-the-identitarian-movement/a-49580233-0 |work=Deutsche Welle |date=13 July 2019}} The Mexican scholar José Ángel Maldonado has compared the idea to a "soft type of ethnic cleansing under the guise of deportation and segregation".{{Sfn|Maldonado|2020|p=105}}
Presented by its proponents as a remedy to mass immigration and the perceived Islamisation of Europe, remigration has increasingly become an integral policy position of the Identitarian movement and other far-right political movements and parties.{{cite news|url=https://www.liberation.fr/debats/2019/04/12/la-remigration-un-concept-qui-essaime-au-dela-des-identitaires_1720908|title=La "remigration", un concept qui essaime au-delà des identitaires |language=fr|trans-title= Remigration, a concept that goes beyond identity|newspaper=Libération|date=April 12, 2019|quote=A key concept of French identity thought, remigration is a new euphemism for an old phenomenon, namely the forced displacement of entire populations. This notion is an integral part of the ideological project of the identity movement and figures prominently in its literature}}{{cite journal|first1=Claudia|last1=Leeb|title=The Right Extremist Identitarian Movement in Europe: A Critical Theory Analysis|url=https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/4823333|journal=Azimuth: Philosophical Coordinates in Modern and Contemporary Age: 16, 2, 2020|date= n.d. |issue=2|pages=71–88|doi=10.1400/281871}} Research from the British Institute for Strategic Dialogue, conducted in April 2019, showed a distinct rise in conversations about remigration on the social media website Twitter between 2012 and 2019.{{cite news|date=May 16, 2019|title=Taboos fall away as far-right EU candidates breach red line|work=Associated Press|url=https://www.apnews.com/f55b5bed3da04586b2136e6aa1c13351|quote=“remigration,” the chilling notion of returning immigrants to their native lands in what amounts to a soft-style ethnic cleansing.}} Twitter, now owned by the American businessman Elon Musk, and Telegram have been at the forefront of spreading the term into the mainstream.{{Cite news |last1=Tirone |first1=Jonathan |last2=Nicoletti |first2=Leonardo |date=September 28, 2024 |title='Remigration': How a White Nationalist Threat Spread From Austria to the US |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-elections-social-media-influence-remigration/ |access-date=October 6, 2024 |work=Bloomberg News}}
Wider usage
{{Wiktionary}}
The term remigration stems from Classical Latin remigrāre, "to return home", and was first used in English in the writings of Andrew Willet, an early-17th-century theologian within the Church of England.{{Cite web|title=remigration {{!}} Definition of remigration in English by Lexico Dictionaries|url=https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/remigration|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190622091516/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/remigration|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 22, 2019|access-date=2019-06-22|website=Lexico Dictionaries {{!}} English}} It had originally meant simply "returning",{{cite book|last=Coles|first=E.|title=An English Dictionary: explaining the difficult terms that are used in divinity, husbandry, physick ... Containing many thousands of hard words ... Together with the etymological derivation of them from their proper fountains, etc|publisher=Samuel Crouch|year=1676|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n_5mAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP256|access-date=2025-01-18|page=256}} later got applied to the voluntary return of an immigrant to their place of origin and is still used as such in social science,{{Cite web|title=Definition of remigation|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/remigration|website=Merriam Webster|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last=Romer|first=Eugene|date=1923|title=The Population of Poland according to the Census of 1921|journal=Geographical Review|volume=13|issue=3|pages=398–412|doi=10.2307/208278|issn=0016-7428|jstor=208278|bibcode=1923GeoRv..13..398R |quote=This circumstance, together with the remigration of German colonists and the influx of Poles from other sections of the country...}}{{Cite journal|last1=Herzog|first1=Henry W.|last2=Schlottmann|first2=Alan M.|date=1983|title=Migrant Information, Job Search and the Remigration Decision|journal=Southern Economic Journal|volume=50|issue=1|pages=43–56|doi=10.2307/1058039|issn=0038-4038|jstor=1058039|pmid=12312534}}{{Cite journal|last=Beenstock|first=Michael|date=1996|title=Failure to Absorb: Remigration by Immigrants into Israel|journal=International Migration Review|language=en-US|volume=30|issue=4|pages=950–978|doi=10.1177/019791839603000404|pmid=12347792 |s2cid=24157343|issn=0197-9183}} like the return of European Jews after World War II.
Origins and development
= Background =
Early evocations of the modern far-right concept of remigration can be found in French 1960s movements such as Europe-Action,{{Cite web|url=https://tempspresents.com/2013/05/23/dominique-venner-renouvellement-racisme-stephane-francois-nicolas-lebourg/|title=Dominique Venner et le renouvellement du racisme|last=François|first=Stéphane|date=2013-05-23|website=Fragments sur les Temps Présents|language=fr-FR|access-date=2019-08-16|quote=De ce fait, la revue Europe Action était l’une des premières à critiquer l’immigration (l’« invasion ») algérienne [...] et à inciter au rapatriement massif des étrangers, par hantise du métissage.}} considered the "embryonic form" of the Nouvelle Droite.{{Cite journal|last=McCulloch|first=Tom|date=2006-08-01|title=The Nouvelle Droite in the 1980s and 1990s: Ideology and Entryism, the Relationship with the Front National|journal=French Politics|language=en|volume=4|issue=2|pages=160|doi=10.1057/palgrave.fp.8200099|s2cid=144813395|issn=1476-3427}}{{Cite journal|last=Taguieff|first=Pierre-André|date=1993|title=Origines et métamorphoses de la Nouvelle Droite|journal=Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire|issue=40|pages=4–6|doi=10.2307/3770354|issn=0294-1759|jstor=3770354}} Jean-Pierre Stirbois, then General Secretary of the National Front (FN), coined the expression "we will send them back" ('on les renverra') in an interview.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/2015/03/17/03004-20150317ARTFIG00129-quel-rapport-entretient-l-extreme-droite-avec-la-culture.php|title=Musée de l'immigration: "L'extrême-droite a franchi un palier"|date=2015-03-17|website=FIGARO|access-date=2019-08-16}} He was the architect of the first electoral breakthrough of the FN in 1983, earning nearly 17% of the vote in the city of Dreux with the promise of "inverting the migratory flows".{{Cite news|last1=Lebourg|first1=Nicolas|author-link=Nicolas Lebourg|last2=Beauregard|first2=Joseph|date=2011-07-15|title=Les numéros deux du FN (2/4): Jean-Pierre Stirbois, l'apparatchik|journal=Monde Online|language=fr|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2011/07/15/le-monde-magazine-jean-pierre-stirbois-l-apparatchik_1549049_823448.html|access-date=2019-08-17|issn=1950-6244}} The idea is also expressed in the German slogan "Deutschland den Deutschen, Ausländer raus" ('Germany to Germans, foreigners out'),Aftenberger, I. (2017). Die ‘Identitäre’ Beseitigung der andere. In J. Goetz, J. M. Sedlacek, & A. Winkler (Eds.), Untergangster des Abendlandes (pp. 203–227). Hamburg: Marta Press. and in the motto of L'Œuvre Française "La France aux Français" ('France to the French').{{Cite web|date=2012-02-29|title=Marine Le Pen porte plainte contre Montebourg et Pulvar|url=https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/politique/marine-le-pen-porte-plainte-contre-montebourg-et-pulvar_1088247.html|access-date=2019-08-12|website=LExpress.fr|language=fr}}
= Identitarian movement =
{{Main|Identitarian movement}}
Remigration is a core tenet of the Identitarian movement. It is presented as a solution to the "Great Replacement", a conspiracy theory which states that white people are being replaced through migration, violence, and high birth rates by people from Africa, Muslims in particular.{{Sfn|Camus|2017}}{{Cite book |last1=Orofino |first1=Elisa |title=Routledge Handbook of Non-Violent Extremism: Groups, Perspectives and New Debates |last2=Allchorn |first2=William |date=2023 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-82383-7 |pages=252}}
In the 2010s, the Identitarian movements were trying to avoid the use of historically tainted vocabulary while expressing their ideas,{{sfn|Goetz|2024|p=5095}} trying to create a “new language”,{{sfn|Goetz|2024|p=5096}} for example, by replacing "race" with "culture".{{sfn|Goetz|2024|p=5095}} In the process, a successful strategy of reusing old term with a new meaning had been discovered. In particular, while their meaning of "remigration" was a neologism intended to replace the tainted "deportation", the word itself had a reputable history. This was especially in the German-speaking countries, where remigration denoted the post-Second World war return of German refugees who fled from Nazism, thus creating positive associations.{{sfn|Goetz|2024|p=5096}} Similarly, the "infiltration" got a new name, Great Replacement,{{sfn|Goetz|2024|p=5099}} a myth which states that the white Christian European population is being progressively replaced with non-European populations, specifically from North Africa and the Middle East, through mass migration, demographic growth, and a European drop in the birth rate.{{sfn|Goetz|2024|p=5094}}
French movement Generation Identity adopted remigration as part of its platform in 2015, but the new term remained obscure until January 2024, with mass interest generated by widely publicized 2023 Potsdam far-right meeting.{{sfn|Kononova|2024|p=25}} Situation in Germany was similar: prior to 2023 Identitäre Bewegung Deutschland and AfD occasionally used the term since 2018 (AfD included it into its program in 2021), but the concept got into focus only in 2023.{{sfn|Kononova|2024|pp=24-25}}
As of 2024, the discourse on remigration remained on the back burner within the AfD, with no radical proposals, allowing the party to appeal to a broad electorate. At the same time, the concept was becoming increasingly normalized, with a wider audience now familiar with what was once an obscure Identitarian term.{{sfn|Kononova|2024|p=45}}
Proponents of remigration often use the historical example of the expulsion of Pieds-Noirs from Algeria in 1962 as a successful past instance of organized forced remigration,{{sfn|Camus|2017}}{{Cite web|last=Simard|first=Marc|date=2017|title="Remigration": un concept infondé et insensé|url=https://www.lesoleil.com/opinions/point-de-vue/remigration-un-concept-infonde-et-insense-2e8011ce8844acc9c3382331125b82b7|access-date=2020-04-12|website=Le Soleil|language=fr|quote=Ce concept serait notamment historiquement justifié, selon ses propagandistes, par le retour en Europe, au tournant des années 60, de plus ou moins un million de pieds-noirs...}} even though the exodus is described by some historians as an ethnic cleansing stimulated by violence and threats from the National Liberation Front (FLN) and part of the native Muslim population, as evidenced by the slogan "the suitcase or the coffin" promoted by the FLN, the kidnappings of Pieds-Noirs, or the Oran massacre of 1962.{{Cite book|last=Jordi|first=Jean-Jacques|title=Un silence d'État: les disparus civils européens de la guerre d'Algérie|date=2011|publisher=SOTECA|isbn=978-2-916385-56-3|location=Paris|oclc=760990079}}{{Cite book|last=Lugan|first=Bernard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15AODQEACAAJ|title=Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord: (Égypte, Libye, Tunisie, Algérie, Maroc): des origines à nos jours|date=2016|publisher=Éditions du Rocher|isbn=978-2-268-08167-0|language=fr|author-link=Bernard Lugan}}
Modern use
= Europe =
Since the 2010s, the idea of remigration has been used by thinkers and political leaders of the Identitarian movement, such as Guillaume Faye,{{Cite web|date=2014-11-16|title=Au Bloc Identitaire, l'apologie de la "remigration"|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/le-scan/coulisses/2014/11/16/25006-20141116ARTFIG00081-au-bloc-identitaire-l-apologie-de-la-remigration.php|access-date=2019-08-06|website=Le Figaro}} Renaud Camus,{{Cite web|date=2017-08-19|title=D'où vient l'expression "remigration"?|trans-title=Where does the term "remigration" come from?|url=https://www.lesoleil.com/actualite/dou-vient-lexpression-remigration-093e01598c270a4ca9a94070d4bb5980|access-date=2019-06-22|website=Le Soleil|language=fr|quote=The word " remigration " means the return, forced or otherwise, of non-European foreigners, or even non-European citizens of origin, to the country where they have their roots.}}{{Cite news |last=McAuley |first=James |date=17 July 2019 |title=How Gay Icon Renaud Camus Became the Ideologue of White Supremacy |language=en-US |work=The Nation |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/renaud-camus-great-replacement-brenton-tarrant/ |url-status=dead |access-date=2019-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101005240/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/renaud-camus-great-replacement-brenton-tarrant/ |archive-date=November 1, 2020 |issn=0027-8378}} Henry de Lesquen, or Martin Sellner,{{Cite web|title=DÖW - Erkennen - Rechtsextremismus - Rechtsextreme Organisationen - Identitäre Bewegung Österreich (IBÖ)|url=http://www.doew.at/erkennen/rechtsextremismus/rechtsextreme-organisationen/identitaere-bewegung-oesterreich-iboe|access-date=2019-06-22|website=DÖW}} as a euphemism for the mass deportation of non-European immigrants and native residents with a migrant background, back to their country of origin, the criteria of exclusion being a vaguely defined degree of assimilation into European culture.{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/who-are-europe-far-right-identitarians-austria-generation-identity-martin-sellner/|title=Who are Europe's far-right identitarians?|last=Ebner|first=Julia|date=2019-04-04|website=Politico|access-date=2019-06-22}}
== Belgium ==
The Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang has called for "remigration" since 2011.{{cite news|date=20 June 2011|title=Vlaams Belang moedigt remigratie aan met pamfletactie|work=De Morgen|url=https://www.demorgen.be/nieuws/vlaams-belang-moedigt-remigratie-aan-met-pamfletactie~b6fc805c/}} In 2021 they called for the formation of an "Agency for Remigration".{{cite web|title="Geen Europees Asielagentschap, maar Agentschap voor remigratie nodig"|url=https://www.vlaamsbelang.org/nieuws/geen-europees-asielagentschap-maar-agentschap-voor-remigratie-nodig|date=7 October 2021|work=Vlaams Belang}}
In March 2025, Vlaams Belang leader Tom Van Grieken suggested the implementation of a "remigration policy" that would include illegal immigrants, asylum seekers and foreign national criminals.{{cite news|date=28 March 2025|work=V-Nieuws|url=https://www.v-nieuws.be/van-grieken-tijd-voor-een-remigratiebeleid/|title=Van Grieken: “Tijd voor een remigratiebeleid”}} In April 2025, Mercina Claesen, a Vlaams Belang MP and leader of the party's youth wing, Vlaams Belang Jongeren, has called for the remigration not only of illegal immigrants, but also legal immigrants who have committed crimes.{{cite news|date=4 April 2025|work=Nieuw Rechts|title='Generatie Remigratie' staat op: steeds meer jongeren klaar met massa-immigratie|url=https://nieuwrechts.nl/103581-generatie-remigratie-staat-op-steeds-meer-jongeren-klaar-met-massa-immigratie}}
== Austria ==
In March 2019, a week after the Christchurch mosque shootings and release of the shooter's manifesto (called The Great Replacement), Identitäre Bewegung Österreich, the Austrian branch of Generation Identity (GI), held a rally in Vienna, protesting the supposed Great Replacement of Austrians and openly calling for remigration of residents with a migrant background. By April 2019, a branch of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), who at the time were in coalition government as a junior partner with the Austrian People's Party, announced a "national call for remigration".
The FPÖ heavily emphasised remigration, particularly to Islamic countries, during its 2024 Austrian legislative election campaign.{{cite news|work=MSN|title=Leidende FPÖ zet bij Oostenrijkse verkiezingen in op remigratie|date=21 August 2024|url=https://www.msn.com/nl-be/nieuws/politiek/leidende-fp%C3%B6-zet-bij-oostenrijkse-verkiezingen-in-op-remigratie/ar-AA1pbj84?ocid=BingNewsVerp}}
== Finland ==
Remigration (Finnish: Paluumuutto) has been featured prominently by Finnish anti-immigration and populist right. Far-right Finns Party declared in their party organ that "We have to shift from integration to remigration".{{cite web|url=https://www.suomenuutiset.fi/humanitaaristen-maahanmuuttajien-kotouttamisesta-on-siirryttava-kotiuttamiseen-perussuomalaiset-haluaa-alkaa-vauhdittaa-vapaaehtoista-muuttoa-maasta-pois/|work=Suomen Uutiset|title=Humanitaaristen maahanmuuttajien kotouttamisesta on siirryttävä kotiuttamiseen – perussuomalaiset haluaa alkaa vauhdittaa vapaaehtoista muuttoa maasta pois|date=31 May 2025}} The party leader and current Deputy Prime Minister Riikka Purra declared that "Remigration and strict immigration control are the main tools to prevent problems caused by immigration."{{cite web|url=https://www.suomenuutiset.fi/perussuomalaiset-haluaa-lopettaa-kokonaan-sellaisen-maahanmuuton-haitallista-kay-kalliiksi-suomi-talla-hetkella-houkuttele-huippuosaajia-halpatyovoimaa-turvapaikkaturisteja/|work=Suomen Uutiset|title=Perussuomalaiset haluaa lopettaa kokonaan sellaisen maahanmuuton, joka on haitallista ja käy kalliiksi – Suomi ei tällä hetkellä houkuttele huippuosaajia vaan halpatyövoimaa ja turvapaikkaturisteja|date=31 May 2025}} The "Remigration Summit" in Milan was attended by a delegation from the neo-fascist Blue-and-Black Movement.{{cite web|url=https://www.kansalainen.fi/sinimusta-liike-remigration-summit-seminaarissa/|work=Kansalainen|title=Sinimusta Liike Remigration Summit -seminaarissa
|date=31 May 2025}}
== France ==
In October 2017, Generation Identity announced policy plans to its members, for France to force former colonies to take back migrants by using its status as a nuclear power and making development subsidies and aid conditional on the repatriation of immigrants.{{cite news|title=Generation Hate: French far right's violence and racism exposed |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/generation-hate-french-violence-racism-exposed-181208155503837.html |work=Al Jazeera |date=9 December 2018}}
In March 2018, an Al Jazeera investigative team released footage and audio revealing Marine Le Pen's close confidant and former accountant, Nicolas Crochet, saying that the National Rally party would introduce a remigration programme to force immigrants back to their country of origin, in the event that they came to power in France.{{cite news|title=France's National Rally links to violent far-right group revealed |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/france-national-rally-links-violent-group-revealed-181216092409471.html |work=Al Jazeera |date=16 December 2018}}
In February 2019, speaking with L'Opinion, Debout la France candidate Emmanuelle Gave (daughter of French entrepreneur {{ill|Charles Gave|fr}}), advocated for remigration as a policy for voters in the European Parliament elections in May.{{cite news|url=https://www.liberation.fr/france/2019/02/12/europeennes-une-candidate-debout-la-france-prone-la-remigration_1708999|title=Européennes Une candidate Debout la France prône la "remigration" |language=fr|trans-title=European Candidate Debout la France advocates "remigration"|newspaper=Libération|date=February 12, 2019}} In what Libération described as a "dangerous penetration of the ideas of the ultra-radical extreme right in the French political space", Gave announced that she was in favor of the party putting remigration "on the table".
According to an IFOP poll conducted in March 2022 prior to the French presidential elections, 63% of French people claim "not to be shocked" by the use of the word "remigration" and 66% support the idea of remigrating illegal immigrants, foreign criminals and "Fiche S" foreigners.{{Cite web |date=2022-03-25 |title=Présidentielle 2022: critiqué par Le Pen sur la «remigration», Zemmour l'accuse d'être «du côté de la gauche» |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/elections/presidentielles/presidentielle-2022-critique-par-le-pen-sur-la-remigration-zemmour-l-accuse-d-etre-du-cote-de-la-gauche-20220325 |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=Le Figaro |language=fr}}{{cite web | url=https://www.ifop.com/publication/les-francais-et-le-concept-de-remigration/ | title=Validation request }}[https://www.ifop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/119017-SR-Rapport.pdf Les Français et le concept de «remigration»] Ifop-Fiducial pour Sud Radio March 2022 (in French) Retrieved 29 March 2023
According to an OpinionWay poll from March 2022, 55% of French people also support the establishment of a Ministry of Remigration, an idea proposed by Eric Zemmour during the French presidential elections campaign.{{Cite web |last=Atlantico |date=2022-03-30 |title=55% des Français sont favorables à un ministère de la Remigration ! |url=https://atlantico.fr/article/decryptage/55percent-des-francais-sont-favorables-a-un-ministere-de-la-remigration-immigration-campagne-electorale-eric-zemmour-reconquete-democratie-france-election-presidentielle-migrants-refugies-benoit-rayski |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=Atlantico |language=fr}}
As of 2024, Marine Le Pen's party, National Rally, is opposed to remigration and cited Alternative for Germany's support for it as a reason to cut ties.{{cite news|work=Euractiv|title=Le Pen questions EU-level alliance with AfD, spelling trouble for ID unity|url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/elections/news/le-pen-questions-eu-level-alliance-with-afd-spelling-trouble-for-id-unity/|date=26 January 2024}} Nevertheless, remigration continues to be supported by the National Rally's rival, Zemmour's Reconquête,{{cite news|work=European Conservative|title=Clash Between Right Wing Allies|url=https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/clash-between-right-wing-allies/|date=30 January 2024}} and Marion Marechal's Identity–Liberties, a split from Reconquête.{{cite news|work=Unherd|title=Marion Maréchal’s new party shakes up the French Right|date=10 October 2024|url=https://unherd.com/newsroom/marion-marechals-new-party-could-shake-up-the-french-right/}}
== Germany ==
File:AfD-Wahlplakat "Remigration sofort starten!" in Mödlareuth 20240518 HOF3756 RAW-Export.png
In March 2018, Identitarian protesters were arrested for trespassing on the roof of Frankfurt Central Station, and hanging a banner that reads "Endstation Multikulti. Notbremse ziehen. Remigration" (Terminal station Multikulti. Pull emergency brake. Remigration), while chanting phrases like "home, freedom, tradition" from a megaphone.{{cite news|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/mitglieder-der-identitaeren-bewegung-verurteilt-16254208.html|title=Identitäre Bewegung: Propaganda auf dem Bahnhofsdach |language=de|trans-title=Identitarian movement: propaganda on the station roof|newspaper=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung|date=June 26, 2019}}
In March 2019, the German Identitarian movement began a "remigration campaign" which included governmental petitions, a "flashmob" outside a mosque and a demonstration in front of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community in Berlin, where the protesters demanded the repatriation of Islamic refugees back to the Middle East. It was reported that the group were distributing posters aimed at Syrian refugees that read "The war is over. Syria needs you" and referenced a "remigration policy".{{cite news|url=https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article217030495/Der-Krieg-ist-vorbei-Rechtsextreme-fordern-Syrer-mit-Plakaten-in-Berlin-zur-Heimkehr-auf.html|title=Illegale Plakate: Identitäre fordern Syrer zur Heimkehr auf |language=de|trans-title=Illegal posters: Identitarians urge Syrians to return home|newspaper=Berliner Morgenpost|date=April 26, 2019}}
In May 2019, Katrin Ebner-Steiner, leader of AfD in Bavaria, indicated that the deportation of non-whites from Germany was a preferable policy to racial integration, after she called for "Remigration instead of integration" at a conference for the Southern wing of the party.{{cite web|url=https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/mit-rechten-federn-geschmueckt-afd-streitet-um-kurs,RPii0kn|title="Flügel"-Treffen: AfD kämpft mit sich selbst |work=BR24 |language=de|trans-title="Wings" meeting: AfD fights with itself|publisher=Bayerischer Rundfunk|date=May 7, 2019}}
Ahead of the 2019 European Parliament election, Germany's opposition party, the far-right Alternative for Germany, made remigration part of their policy platform, openly calling for "remigration, instead of mass immigration", and stating that "Germany and Europe must put in place remigration programs on the largest possible scale". AfD MP Markus Frohnmaier has repeatedly worn a slogan reading "Remigration Ministry" into the Bundestag.{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/de/article/rechtsextreme-identitaere-afd-versuchen-gerade-verzweifelt-das-christchurch-massaker-umzudeuten/|title=Rechtsextreme versuchen gerade verzweifelt, das Christchurch-Massaker umzudeuten |language=de|trans-title=Right-wing extremists are trying desperately to reinterpret the Christchurch massacre|publisher=Vice|date=March 19, 2019}}
In January 2024, Correctiv reported that members of the AfD had secretly met with figures from the German and Austrian far-right in a meeting in Potsdam in November 2023, in which they allegedly discussed a "remigration" plan for deporting immigrants, which could include naturalised German citizens. The figures present included the Identitarian activist Martin Sellner.{{Cite web |date=2024-01-15 |title=Secret plan against Germany |url=https://correctiv.org/en/top-stories/2024/01/15/secret-plan-against-germany/ |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=Correctiv |language=en-US |archive-date=21 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240121003327/https://correctiv.org/en/top-stories/2024/01/15/secret-plan-against-germany/ |url-status=live |last1=Zick |first1=Valentin }}{{Cite web |date=January 10, 2024 |title=Germany: AfD disputes 'remigration' investigative report |url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-afd-disputes-remigration-investigative-report/a-67941758 |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=Deutsche Welle |language=en |archive-date=21 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240121015602/https://www.dw.com/en/germany-afd-disputes-remigration-investigative-report/a-67941758 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=2024-01-18 |title=German far-right party assailed over report of extremist meeting |url=https://apnews.com/article/germany-far-right-deportations-parliament-7a29129a6f50853791004d21ffea2a92 |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=Associated Press |language=en |archive-date=18 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118164912/https://apnews.com/article/germany-far-right-deportations-parliament-7a29129a6f50853791004d21ffea2a92 |url-status=live }}
== Italy ==
Lega Giovani, the youth wing of the right-wing populist Italian party Lega, advocated for remigration following violent incidents in January 2025 involving migrants in Como and Lombardy, and received support from the Lombardy regional leader of the party.{{cite news|work=La Stampa|title="Remigrazione anche per gli stranieri senza reati". Il comunicato choc della Lega Giovani Como che si ispira a Afd|date=11 January 2025|url=https://www.lastampa.it/politica/2025/01/11/news/remigrazione_lega_giovani_como-14932092/}}
In May 2025, Lega MEP Roberto Vannacci addressed a 'Remigration Summit' in Milan, expressing supporting for remigration and stating that "remigration is not a slogan but a concrete proposal."{{cite news|work=Ansa|title=Vannacci a Remigration Summit, vi do il mio pieno sostegno|date=17 May 2025|url=https://www.ansa.it/lombardia/notizie/2025/05/17/vannacci-a-remigration-summit-vi-do-il-mio-pieno-sostegno_f6ca5350-dcfe-4315-a615-b4b85fb9836d.html}}
== Netherlands ==
In 2021, the Party for Freedom (PVV) called for the formation of a Ministry for Remigration in its manifesto,{{cite news|work=Morocco World News|title=Wilders' Party Wants Dutch Ministry of 'Remigration, De-Islamification'|date=22 January 2021|url=https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2021/01/332929/wilders-party-wants-dutch-ministry-of-remigration-de-islamification}} but removed this policy from its programme for the 2023 Dutch general election.{{cite news|work=DutchNews|title=Party watch: Geert Wilders says no to immigration and the EU|date=2 November 2023|url=https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/11/party-watch-geert-wilders-says-no-to-immigration-and-the-eu/}}
The Forum for Democracy advocates for "mass remigration" in order to maintain a "white Europe", and has criticised the PVV for focusing more on reducing immigration than promoting remigration.{{cite web|work=De Kantekenning|title=Baudet wil massale remigratie om blank Europa te handhaven|date=22 January 2024|url=https://dekanttekening.nl/nieuws/baudet-wil-massale-remigratie-om-blank-europa-te-handhaven/}}
== Norway ==
The influential Norwegian counter-jihad blogger Fjordman himself stated in his writings in June 2011 that "Islam, and all those who practice it, must be totally and physically removed from the entire Western world".{{cite web |last1=Meland |first1=Astrid |last2=Melgård |first2=Marie |date=6 August 2011 |title=Fjordman foreslo nazi-løsning |url=http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/08/06/nyheter/utoya/internett/fjordman/17574687/ |access-date=8 August 2011 |work=Dagbladet |language=no}}
== Portugal ==
Rita Matias, a Chega member of the Portuguese Parliament and the leader of the Chega Youth, has stated that "remigration is the solution".{{cite news|work=Diario de Noticias|title=Grupos extremistas influenciam Chega a falar sobre remigração|date=12 February 2025|url=https://www.dn.pt/política/grupos-extremistas-influenciam-chega-a-falar-sobre-remigração}}
== Slovenia ==
Slovenian Democratic Party MEP Branko Grims stated "we need remigration" in his first 2024 speech to the European Parliament, suggesting "sending all those who abuse the acquis communautaire and asylum law back to where they came from".{{cite news|work=Demokracija|title=(VIDEO) Branko Grims v svojem prvem nagovoru pred Evropskim parlamentom jasen: »Potrebujemo remigracijo«|date=17 September 2024|url=https://demokracija.si/fokus/video-branko-grims-v-svojem-prvem-nagovoru-pred-evropskim-parlamentom-jasen-potrebujemo-remigracijo/}}
== Spain ==
Vox Secretary General Ignacio Garriga has called for "mass remigrations" of illegal immigrants from Catalonia in 2024, following an increase in sexual assaults in the region.{{cite web|date=29 February 2024|url=https://www.voxespana.es/vox-en-el-parlamento-de-cataluna/ignacio-garriga-remigracion-masiva-salou-inseguridad-20240229?provincia=tarragona|title=Ignacio Garriga: "Sexual assaults have increased by 30% in the last year in Catalonia"| work=VOX | last1=Altadill | first1=Carla }}
== Sweden ==
The Sweden Democrats support remigration policies and have advocated for raising the allowance given to migrants to encourage voluntary repatriation.{{cite news|work=Euractiv|title=Swedish coalition divided over remigration allowance|date=10 September 2024|url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/swedish-coalition-divided-over-remigration-allowance/}}{{cite news|work=Brussels Signal|title=Sweden proposes grants up to €30,000 for migrants to leave|date=13 September 2024|url=https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/09/sweden-proposes-grants-up-to-e30000-for-migrants-to-leave/}} The Alternative for Sweden also advocates remigration.{{cite web | url=https://alternativforsverige.se/politik/atervandring/ | title=Återvandringspolitik }}
Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell, a member of the Moderate Party, has stated that "remigration" is an important issue for Sweden, and that wider use of voluntary repatriation in line with the policy followed by Denmark would be one of the options considered by his government.{{cite news|work=European Conservative|title=New Swedish Migration Minister: 'Remigration' Is an Important Issue for Sweden|date=11 September 2024|url=https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/new-swedish-migration-minister-remigration-is-an-important-issue-for-sweden/}}
== United Kingdom ==
Generation Identity UK and Ireland activists have engaged in the promotion of remigration. In April 2018, Hope not Hate detailed how, while the group was relatively unknown by the mainstream media; its "core beliefs" of ethnopluralism, and remigration of non-whites from Europe, was more extreme than any policies of the English Defence League.{{cite web|url=https://www.hopenothate.org.uk/2018/04/13/a-new-threat/ |title=In the last 10 months, a new far-right threat has emerged in the UK and Ireland. |publisher=Hope Not Hate|date=13 April 2018}} In May 2018, The Times was reporting how the extremist organization was promoting the singling out of Black British people for priority remigration from the UK.{{cite news |last=Gilligan |first=Andrew |date=19 May 2018 |title=The 'hipster fascists' who anti-racism campaigners say are breathing new life into the far right |newspaper=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/the-hipster-fascists-breathing-new-life-into-the-british-far-right-6hvtmq63k}}{{Cite web |last=Malik |first=Nesrine |date=2018-05-23 |title=Fashion doesn't normalise fascism – but newspaper coverage does |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2018/05/fashion-doesn-t-normalise-fascism-newspaper-coverage-does |access-date= |website=New Statesman |language=en-US}}
As of 2024, the Homeland Party supports remigration as a policy.{{Cite web |title=Immigration & Remigration |url=https://homelandparty.org/our-thinking/migration/ |access-date=28 November 2024 |website=Homeland Party}}
According to Nick Lowles, one of the authors of a report by Hope not Hate, in a related concept, members of the counter-jihad movement "believe there will be a confrontation between Islam and the West and there can be no accommodation so the only solution can be to expel followers of Islam from Britain and Europe".{{cite news |date=12 June 2015 |title=Far-right networks exploiting terror attacks and migrant crisis to spread Islamophobia, warns report |url=https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/far-right-networks-exploiting-paris-attacks-migrant-crisis-spread-islamophobia-warns-report-1531905 |work=International Business Times}}
= North America =
== United States ==
The Northwest Territorial Imperative, a white separatist idea put forward in the 1970s–1980s by American white supremacists, involves the expulsion, euphemized as the "repatriation", of all non-Whites from territories in the Northwestern United States in order to create a "White homeland".{{sfn|Buck|2009|pp=114–115}}
Usage of the term in the United States has spiked in the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election. In September, the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump, called for "remigration" of illegal immigrants to their home countries and suspending refugee resettlement, also pledging to "do large deportations in Springfield, Ohio", referring to the town's community of legal Haitian immigrants.{{cite news|work=News18|title=Donald Trump Vows To 'Immediately End Migrant Invasion Of America' On Taking Office, Remigrate Illegal Aliens|date=16 September 2024|url=https://www.news18.com/world/donald-trump-vows-to-immediately-end-migrant-invasion-of-america-on-taking-office-remigrate-illegal-aliens-9051978.html}}{{Cite news|last=Mathias|first=Christopher|date=September 20, 2024|title=Trump's Alarming Use Of A Word With A Deep Fascist History|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-remigration-fascist-martin-sellner-europe_n_66ed912be4b07a173e51416d|access-date=September 20, 2024|website=HuffPost|language=en|archive-date=September 20, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240920223809/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-remigration-fascist-martin-sellner-europe_n_66ed912be4b07a173e51416d|url-status=live}} The usage mainstreamed the term in the country. In May 2025, the Department of State released a "reorganization chart" that included the creation of an "Office of Remigration".{{Cite web |last=Handbasket |first=Marisa from The |title=State Department set to launch ‘Office of Remigration’ |url=https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/state-department-office-of-remigration |access-date=2025-05-29 |website=The Handbasket |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Gilbert |first1=David |title=The Trump Administration Wants to Create an ‘Office of Remigration’ to Kick Immigrants Out of the Country |url=https://www.wired.com/story/trump-office-remigration-state-department-europe-far-right/ |access-date=30 May 2025 |work=Wired |date=29 May 2025}}
== Canada ==
In August 2017, protestors flew banners throughout Quebec City, calling for the remigration of non-whites from the Quebec capital. That same month, it was reported how Identity Evropa, who later rebranded themselves as the American Identity Movement, supported the remigration of immigrants from the United States.{{cite news |date=14 August 2017 |title=A guide to the far-right groups that protested in Charlottesville |url=https://www.jta.org/2017/08/14/united-states/a-guide-to-the-far-right-groups-that-protested-in-charlottesville |work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}
= Other =
In August 2018, the Australian far-right extremist Blair Cottrell advocated remigration,{{cite web |date=June 28, 2019 |title=Attentat de Christchurch: l'enquête élargie à Brittany Pettibone, égérie identitaire |trans-title=Attack in Christchurch: the investigation extended to Brittany Pettibone, identity spokesperson |url=http://www.francesoir.fr/politique-monde/attentat-de-christchurch-lenquete-elargie-legerie-identitaire-brittany-pettibone |publisher=France-Soir |language=fr}} calling for the deportation of "enemies of [his] country" and the execution of immigrants who refused to leave.{{cite news |date=9 December 2018 |title='He drove a wedge through our community': Bendigo MPs slam Blair Cottrell as Jacinta Allan turns off Sky on Metro Trains |url=https://www.dailyliberal.com.au/story/5577620/blair-cottrell-brought-damage-to-bendigo-mp-says/ |work=Daily Liberal}}{{cite news |date=6 August 2018 |title=Sky News just put the Adam Giles Show in 'recess' over Blair Cottrell interview |url=https://www.businessinsider.com.au/sky-news-just-put-the-adam-giles-show-in-recess-over-blair-cottrell-interview-2018-8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701094347/https://www.businessinsider.com.au/sky-news-just-put-the-adam-giles-show-in-recess-over-blair-cottrell-interview-2018-8 |archive-date=1 July 2019 |access-date=1 July 2019 |work=Business Insider}}
Criticism
Michael Weiss and Julia Ebner, of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, have identified the "identitarian concept of 'remigration'" as having accelerated since 2014, and associated it with increasing calls from the far-right for mass deportation of non-white Europeans, in what they described as "ethnic cleansing".{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/14/strange-tale-an-unlikely-racist-slogan-that-went-viral-lethal-effect/|title=The strange tale of an unlikely racist slogan that went viral -- to lethal effect |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=14 May 2019}} Ebner also stated that avoiding the word "deportation" is useful to sidestep associations of deportations during the Holocaust.
{{ill|Francis Combes|fr}} has described remigration as a form of demagoguery that would lead to ethnic cleansing. Arguing that France has had a mixed genetic heritage since Gallic times, he has questioned the practicality of expelling French people of immigrant origin and the number of generations that would require investigation in pursuit of "purity".{{cite news|url=https://www.humanite.fr/remigration-jeter-673316|title=Remigration: à jeter |language=fr|trans-title=Remigration: for disposal |newspaper=L'Humanité|date=June 6, 2019}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
Bibliography
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{{Refend}}
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Category:Anti-immigration politics
Category:Anti-immigration politics in Europe
Category:Identitarian movement