Migration and Immigrants as the “Usual Suspects” of European Insecurity

Recent terrorist attacks in many cities of Europe such as London, Madrid, Paris, Nice and Brussels lead to strengthening of the anti-immigrant attitudes in European public opinion and political life. Under these circumstances, migration and migrants with their security implications are highly politicized and even securitized issues for the European Union and the countries of Europe through political discourses, bureaucratic practices and media visuals. So, migration-related issues are increasingly integrated into discourses and policies arranging domains of insecurity. Migration was largely considered as a contribution to the economic reconstruction of Europe until the 1990s. However, in the last couple of decades, it has been perceived as a security threat. This perception is constructed by combining migration with socio-economic problems, crime, cultural problems and finally terrorism. Therefore, migration, immigrants and asylum-seekers are now the objects of securitization process in Europe. They are portrayed as a threat to the cultural identity, welfare state and internal security of the West and the EU. On the other hand, in order to avoid the contradiction in terms of main values of the EU, the struggle against the migration issue is required to re-emphasize the liberal practices by preserving identical differences in a cosmopolitan policy. Because, emphasizing restrictions and control implies a negative portrayal of groups of immigrants. Such a policy risks sustaining public expressions of racism and xenophobia in the present political context. This paper argues that measures taken by the individual countries of Europe and the EU for the migration and immigrants should not be in contradiction with main values such as multiculturalism, human rights, democracy and inclusive social structure on which the EU is based on.