‘Most of This Is Symbolic’: The New Wave of Anti-migrant Vigilantes in Europe

THE GUARDIAN: ‘Citizen patrols’ and self-styled protective forces are fuelling social fears and the far right, say experts

Sporting black shirts emblazoned with an iron cross, a dozen or so men marched through the centre of Reykjavík, courting attention on a buzzy Friday night. In Poland and the Netherlands, vigilantes thronged along the German border, ready to turn back any asylum seekers they came across. In Belfast, they roamed after sunset, demanding to see the identity documents of migrants and people of colour.

Each of the groups, who are part of a renewed wave of anti-migrant vigilantes that have sprung up in recent months across Europe, have sought to cast themselves as a sort of protective force. But those who have studied vigilantes warn that their actions often exacerbate security concerns, sow fear and fuel the far right.

“Most of this is symbolic. They don’t stop migration. They don’t create more safety in the streets,” said Tore Bjørgo, a professor at the University of Oslo and former director of the university’s Centre for Research on Extremism. “It’s a show for media and often for political purposes because, quite often, the extreme-right and far-right organisations use this as a way to get publicity and recruit new members.” » | Ashifa Kassam, European community affairs correspondent | Saturday, August 30, 2025

Trump’s Migration Crackdown Spreads Fear among the Country’s Migrant Communities | DW News

Jul 10, 2025 | In the United States, the city of Los Angeles says it is joining a lawsuit against the Trump administration's immigration raids. The suit claims that federal agents are using unlawful police tactics –including racial profiling – to meet arrest quotas. The crackdown on undocumented migration was one of President Trump's key campaign pledges. The roundups in Los Angeles and other cities are spreading fear and panic among immigrant communities throughout the US.

DW Washington correspondent Benjamin Álvarez Gruber talks about the effects that Donald Trump's anti-immigration campaign has on migrant workers.


Trump’s America? What a sh••show! – © Mark Alexander

The World’s Best and Brightest Are Moving, but Not to America

Jul 9, 2025 | Trump’s immigration policy has closed America’s doors and could change the way Americans think about citizenship and belonging. The Opinion columnists Carlos Lozada and Lydia Polgreen talk about the reporting that took her to countries all over the world to better understand what America’s future might look like.

Migration aus Afrika: Sahara als neue Grenze Europas | Doku NZZ Format Langfassung

Jul 4, 2025 | Christian und David klammern sich an die Ladefläche eines Pick-ups, der mit hoher Geschwindigkeit durch die Sahara rast. Die beiden jungen Männer aus Nigeria sind Teil der Migration aus Afrika Richtung Europa. Ihr Ziel: ein besseres Leben – doch die Reise durch die Wüste ist hochgefährlich.

Die Europäische Union will die Migranten auf dieser Fluchtroute stoppen. Sie investiert Milliarden Euro in Anti-Migrationsprojekte, die Flüchtlinge schon mitten in der Wüste aufhalten sollen – weit vor Europas Außengrenze. Diese Region in der Sahara ist aber so abgelegen, dass nicht einmal die Staaten, zu denen sie gehört, darüber Kontrolle haben. So profitieren von der EU-Politik auch Warlords, Menschenhändler und Banditen.

«NZZ Format» begleitet Migrantinnen und Migranten auf dem gefährlichsten Teil ihrer Reise: der Durchquerung der Sahara – ein Brennpunkt der Migration aus Afrika.

US Lawmakers Push for Tougher Policies after Migration Surge along the US-Mexico Border | DW News

Jan 9, 2024 | Record breaking numbers of migrants have been detained trying to cross the US-Mexico border illegally since President Biden took office. Many Republicans, and even some within Biden's own Democratic party, have been pushing for tougher policies.

Le gouvernement britannique vers un durcissement drastique de sa politique migratoire

LE MONDE : Le Royaume-Uni souhaite diminuer les arrivées annuelles d’au moins 300 000 personnes. Une décision qui pourrait accentuer la pénurie de personnel dans les secteurs de la santé et de l’aide sociale, notamment.

Le premier ministre britannique, Rishi Sunak, lors d’une session plénière de la COP28, le vendredi 1er décembre 2023, à Dubaï, aux Émirats arabes unis. PETER DEJONG / AP
Le gouvernement britannique durcit significativement sa politique migratoire au risque de pénaliser l’économie du pays, déjà handicapée par la pénurie de main-d’œuvre. Le ministre de l’intérieur, James Cleverly, a annoncé lundi 4 décembre un relèvement du plancher de ressources annuelles nécessaires pour venir s’établir au Royaume-Uni : il va passer de 26 200 livres sterling (environ 30 552 euros) à plus de 38 700 livres. » | Par Cécile Ducourtieux (Londres, correspondante) | lundi 4 décembre 2023

Pour continuer la lecture, vous devez être abonné. Si vous souhaitez vous abonner, cliquez ici.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Europe’s Self-inflicted Migration Crisis and “Toxic” Wokery | Off Script

Aug 13, 2021 | Fear reigns among researchers, politicians and journalists when talking about the rise in sexual violence resulting from the migration crisis in Europe. Women's rights activist and author Ayaan Hirsi Ali joins Steven Edginton to discuss the failure to integrate migrants into European society and the rise in sexual violence against women in this week's Off Script podcast.

I agree with so much of what this courageous lady says, particularly what she says on Islam; but her position on Brexit is diametrically opposed to my own. She seems to be disregarding why this country went into Europe in the first place, and she is also disregarding the prosperity that belonging to the EU – the largest single market in the world – brought this country over the years and that it would have gone on bringing us. She also ignores one of the main reasons that the EU came into existence in the first instance: for reasons of peace in Europe. So I just wanted to make my position clear on this matter. – © Mark Alexander

Dutch PM Rutte Resigns after Coalition Splits over Migration | DW News

Jul 8, 2023 | Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has announced his resignation, after his governing coalition fell apart. The four parties failed to agree on measures to address immigration. Crisis talks between partners fell apart late Friday evening. Rutte is the Netherlands' longest-serving leader. His government will stay on in caretaker mode, until new elections later this year.

Can a New Bridge Unite Sweden's Divided Society? | Focus on Europe

May 28, 2023 | A new bridge in Stockholm is set to connect a wealthy area with an underprivileged district. But some people are objecting to it, triggering a divisive debate in Swedish society.

NZZ Format : Migration – die Welt auf Wanderschaft (2017)

Masseneinwanderung, Flüchtlingstsunami, Asylchaos. Migration scheint eines der brennendsten Themen des 21. Jahrhunderts zu sein, obwohl der Mensch auf Wanderschaft geht, seit er denken kann. Verbunden mit Migration sind viele Ängste. Vor Überfremdung, Benachteiligung, vor sozialem Abstieg. Doch wie berechtigt sind diese Ängste? Internationale Umfragen belegen: Menschen schätzen den Ausländeranteil in ihrer Gesellschaft fast immer doppelt so hoch ein, wie er tatsächlich ist. Und Migrationsökonomen verweisen auf den wirtschaftlichen Nutzen, den Zuwanderung mit sich bringt. Warum Migration trotzdem brandgefährlich sein kann, und wie man sie zum Wohle der europäischen Gesellschaften besser managen könnte: Ein NZZ Format über Migration als Geschichte von Verlust und Bereicherung.

(Un)Welcome: Sweden's Rise of the Right

In this installment of CBSN Originals’ ongoing examination at how migration is reshaping the world, Adam Yamaguchi travels to Sweden to examine how a record influx of migrants has coincided with the recently welcoming and politically progressive nation's swift shift to the right.

Worlds Apart: Migration Frustration? Khalid Koser, Executive Director of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund

Dr Khalid Koser

European Migration - Good, Bad or Simply a Tool in Warfare?

5 Reasons Germany’s Influence Is Fading

German Chancellor Angela Merkel currently lacks powerful
partners to strike workable compromises on migration

POLITICO: Voters abandon the center, alliances turn regional — and Merkel stands alone.

Germany’s sway over Europe is fading, for all its economic might and the honors heaped on Angela Merkel, and the evidence of its declining influence can be seen in the changing fortunes of the European People’s Party (EPP).

Usually, Christian Democrat leaders grouped in the EPP gather in Brussels a few hours before EU summits to make decisions they will foist on other European governments. At the last summit, however, they didn’t pre-cook the summit’s conclusions because the center right — and Germany itself — is losing influence.

Here are five reasons why: » | Florian Eder | Friday, January 15, 2016

Daniel Greenfield Moment: Migration Is the Greatest Threat to National Security

Daniel Greenfield Moment: Migration is the Greatest Threat to National Security » | Jamie Glazov | Tuesday, December 8, 2015

EU Should 'Undermine National Homogeneity' Says UN Migration Chief

BBC: The EU should "do its best to undermine" the "homogeneity" of its member states, the UN's special representative for migration has said.

Peter Sutherland told peers the future prosperity of many EU states depended on them becoming multicultural.

He also suggested the UK government's immigration policy had no basis in international law.

He was being quizzed by the Lords EU home affairs sub-committee which is investigating global migration.

Mr Sutherland, who is non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International and a former chairman of oil giant BP, heads the Global Forum on Migration and Development, which brings together representatives of 160 nations to share policy ideas.

He told the House of Lords committee migration was a "crucial dynamic for economic growth" in some EU nations "however difficult it may be to explain this to the citizens of those states".

'More open'

An ageing or declining native population in countries like Germany or southern EU states was the "key argument and, I hesitate to the use word because people have attacked it, for the development of multicultural states", he added.

"It's impossible to consider that the degree of homogeneity which is implied by the other argument can survive because states have to become more open states, in terms of the people who inhabit them. Just as the United Kingdom has demonstrated."

The UN special representative on migration was also quizzed about what the EU should do about evidence from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that employment rates among migrants were higher in the US and Australia than EU countries.

He told the committee: "The United States, or Australia and New Zealand, are migrant societies and therefore they accommodate more readily those from other backgrounds than we do ourselves, who still nurse a sense of our homogeneity and difference from others.

"And that's precisely what the European Union, in my view, should be doing its best to undermine." » | Brian Wheeler, Political reporter, BBC News | Thursday, June 21, 2012

HT: Roger Savage »

Europe's New Refugees

Europe's job hungry migrants are flocking overseas, with many landing in nations once colonised by their home countries.