(Bloomberg) -- The words “Go back to where you came from” steered the political debate in the U.S. for much of the past week. But a subtler version of that same message is now causing anger and indignation in Denmark.
Under a decades-old policy of voluntary repatriation, tens of thousands of immigrants and refugees living in the Nordic nation are being offered $21,000 to return to their country of origin.
Read more: ‘Send Her Back' Is Trump's New ‘Lock Her Up'
The policy received a new lease on life under the previous government of Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who instructed local authorities to send such offers in writing to eligible candidates. But it has now come under attack from critics, who argue that it smacks of racism because of the people it targets.
Among those asked whether they'd be interested in returning to their “country of origin” is a 44-year-old sociologist who was born in Copenhagen and is a Danish citizen. Emir Degirmenci, who's of Turkish descent with a Danish wife and four children, was taken aback by the letter he received.
“When the law also hits those who are born in Denmark, then the ‘offer' hits a large number of people with Danish citizenship. And that creates indignation. It contributes to stigmatization. It's demotivating,” Degirmenci, who also holds a Turkish passport, wrote in an opinion piece to the newspaper Berlingske.
Paradigm Shift
Garbi Schmidt, a professor specializing in immigration, integration and Islam at the University of Roskilde, says that “telling people to go back home” isn't new and is another way of saying “‘we are the people and you do not belong here.'”
Denmark has tightened its immigration policy in recent years, with Rasmussen embracing a “paradigm shift” that focuses on the repatriation, rather than the integration, of refugees. The policy was pushed by the anti-immigration Danish People's Party, on which Rasmussen had relied for power in parliament.
The Social Democrats of the new prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, won the June 5 elections after also adopting a tough stance on immigration. The party has since softened its tone somewhat, to accommodate the left-wing group it relies on in parliament to stay in power.
Rasmus Stoklund, the Social Democrats' spokesman on foreigners and integration, says the party doesn't see a problem with the policy, since the repatriation offers are strictly voluntary.
“The problem is that very few were aware of such an offer,” he told Berlingske. “But if you are poorly integrated in Denmark and do not have a desire to live here, repatriation can be a good option.”
Tone Deaf
Schmidt says that “the idea that you should be strict” on immigration “has become part of the Danish political rhetoric” over the past decades. As a result, “this idea of sending people back to where they came from” is one that Danes have perhaps grown “tone deaf” to, she said.
She says the question of whether Denmark has become more racist remains a complex one and should be viewed in the context of the changing political debate in a globalized world.
“This is part of a much larger picture,” she said. “It has become acceptable to talk in certain ways.”
--With assistance from Christian Wienberg.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Rigillo in Copenhagen at nrigillo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net
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