Risking it all for an illusion

Human rights groups claim that 3,285 bodies of Africans were found on the shores of the Strait of Gibraltar alone between 1997 and 2001.

The figure could be higher as many bodies are never found. Yet, despite that, many sub-Saharan Africans try to enter Europe every day from somewhere along the Mediterranean coast. They pay heavily, both in terms of money and life, to cross the sea into Spain or Italy using all types of makeshift vessels.

But why would one risk life to live in a place one is neither appreciated nor wanted? At a time when xenophobia is on the rise in Europe and Asia — attacks against black immigrants are increasing, especially in Italy, Germany and Israel — why would one still leave home and head for the unknown?

Hundreds of Sudanese and Eritrean immigrants are still trying to cross the Egyptian desert into the Sinai region, their sights set on Israel. As a result, the Jewish state has become a bit uncomfortable with the regime in Cairo, which has eventually caved in to pressure and adopted a simple strategy against African emigrants trying to use its territory to cross into Israel: shoot them down!

Still, hundreds try every day to sneak into Israel, prompting Tel Aviv to tighten its immigration policies.

The current influx of refugees from Sub-Saharan Africa is being seen as a security threat and opposed using language bordering on racism. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the influx could imperil Israel’s ability to remain both a Jewish and democratic state. The situation of refugees in Israel is made worse by the fact that most “infiltrators”, as they are called here, are Christians and Muslims joining a region deeply divided between two peoples; the Arabs and Jews.

Further, the Cabinet in Tel Aviv has approved increasing — from $1,500 (about Sh130,000) to $3,500 (Sh300,000) — the amount of money Israel is willing to pay illegal migrants who leave voluntarily. But it is not clear where the migrants should go. Last year, the Israeli government was reported to be negotiating with the Ugandan government to accept the refugees.

The Jewish state is particularly attractive to Africans because it is the only European-style democracy that Africans can access by foot, writes William Booth in the Washington Post. But the sentiments against the illegal immigrants are getting a bit curious, with phrases like massive invasion and the plague finding ready usage among the native population.

While there has been rising anti-refugee feelings in Europe, scholars are, meanwhile, deconstructing the common explanations behind the surging number of illegal emigrants into developing countries.

In The Inconvenient Realities of African Migration to Europe, Hein de Hass of Oxford University says that immigration rules in the EU fail because there is a symbiotic relationship between developed countries and African emigrants, and that European leaders know this.

As a result, “despite the lip service being paid to combating illegal migration, for political and diplomatic reasons, neither European nor African states have much genuine interest in stopping it”, argues De Hass.

Many European countries have put in place policies to discourage illegal immigration. One such is to foster economic development in poor countries, but De Hass says such policies are doomed to fail because the argument that Africans emigrate to Europe to escape poverty is spurious.

“Most of the emigrants are not poor people. They are people who can afford to pay air fare or middle-men to show them the way through the deserts and across the sea. It must cost a fortune.”

In addition, both sending and receiving countries benefit from emigrants, and De Hass says that emigration to developed countries is motivated by the structural demand for cheap immigrant labour in the informal sectors. Better economic prospects in Africa would, therefore, only motivate more people to try to emigrate as many refugees are relatively well educated.

This argument is vindicated by Kamau’s case. The family of the young man used about Sh700,000 to enable him go to Europe as an illegal immigrant. That is a lot of money even in Europe. The question, then, is why not use the money to start a small business in Kenya.

Another policy adopted by European countries is mass regularisation. Spain and Italy have recently given legal papers to thousands of illegal immigrants, arguing that this would stem further illegal entries into their countries. But this strategy has only motivated more people to enter Europe illegally and wait for regularisation rather that use the legal means to immigrate.

The Euro crisis, which has seen one European country after another plunge into financial mayhem, has exacerbated the situation of the sub-Saharan irregular refugees. Right wing groups have upped their calls for tougher regulations and, increasingly, irregular migration from sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb to Europe is being defined as a security problem associated with international crime and terror.

The institutional and practical difficulties of expulsion just make it difficult to stem the rising number of refugees entering Europe. Many, like Kamau did, just destroy their passports. Without evidence of where they have come from, the court just releases them with a detention order after the legal detention period. Once in the streets, they go underground or move to another country.

If the police get a sleeve of evidence as to the origin of an illegal emigrant, they may consult several embassies to try to find out the country of origin. If this is established beyond reasonable doubt, the person is deported.

Minors and pregnant women get temporary resident permits on humanitarian grounds. Due to this, many women immediately get pregnant once they reach Europe or US, the babies acting as insurance of a stay in ‘The Promised Land’.