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Immigration and Terrorism: A Constructed Connection

The Spanish Case

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Abstract

In the aftermath of 9/11 several European countries intensified their counter-terrorism policy. This article refers to the Spanish response to the terrorist attacks in the USA and Madrid, with special attention paid to the consequences that (illegal) immigrants faced in relation to their rights. This collective is often depicted in public opinion as “folk devils” in the terminology of the Moral-Panics Theory. Using the latter as a model, this paper establishes that the connection between counter-terrorism policy and more restrictive legislation for foreigners is a construction, which is either insufficient or not satisfactorily explained by the social actors who propose it. The result is a policy that limits the immigrants’ liberty without necessarily making the rest safer.

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Notes

  1. Spector and Kitsuse (1977)

  2. “Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ha decidido declarar un alto el fuego permanente a partir del 24 de marzo de 2006. El objetivo de esta decisión es impulsar un proceso democrático en Euskal Herria para construir un nuevo marco en el que sean reconocidos los derechos que como Pueblo nos corresponden y asegurando de cara al futuro la posibilidad de desarrollo de todas las opciones políticas.” Mensaje de Euskadita Askatasuna al Pueblo Vesco “El País.es” http://www.elpais.es/articulo/espana/Texto/integro/comunicado/ETA/elpporesp/20060322elpepunac_4/Tes/

  3. Medina Ariza (2006: 186–187)

  4. Moral De La Rosa (2005: 51–53)

  5. 12th Barómetro del Real Instituto Elcano (June 2006)

  6. See Reinares ARI N° 78/2006 from July 10th 2006

  7. Maghreb is Arab for “West”. It refers to the Western Arab countries in North Africa: Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Also Libya and Mauritania are sometimes meant.

  8. The Spanish term is Reconquista.

  9. Results of a poll about the reaction of some Muslim countries in the so called “Cartoon’s debate” — the polemical depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish journal — showed that 90% of the Spanish consider Muslims authoritarian, 79%, intolerant, and 68%, violent. 11th Barómetro del Instituto Real Elcano (March 2006).

  10. 12th Barómetro del Real Instituto Elcano (June 2006)

  11. For better understanding: Portugal is 1.3 times poorer than Spain. Numbers provided by the World Bank (PPA index — “paridad del poder de compra”)

  12. “El vecino rico de África”, by Joaquín Prieto. El País, April 25th 2006, pp. 14–15

  13. The term “finlandization” appeared during the Cold War when Finland pursued a neutral position between the two blocks and maintained friendly ties towards the Soviet neighbour. More recently the word describes a situation where political self-determination is reduced due to external forces (foreign countries, entities or organizations). http://enciclopedia.us.es/index.php/Finlandizaci%F3n

  14. Own translation of Naïr (2006)

  15. “Migration” or “illegal immigration”? We decide to use both expressions indistinctive, because migrants from non-EU countries have little chance to enter Spain legally, irespective of the fact of being later on maybe “legalised” in line with a given regularisation programme, which Spain regularly launches.

  16. See on this issue Christie (2004)

  17. See Staab (1991) and Keplinger et al. (1986) with many footnotes.

  18. “Members of racial minorities, however, are not more at risk of violence than the majority group when accounting for relevant variables (such as age, gender, area of residence etc.).” Albrecht (2003: 5)

  19. Definition of Goode & Ben-Yehuda (1994)

  20. See Cohen (1972: 11–12)

  21. Melossi (2003: 371) quoting Marx (1960: 734)

  22. Melossi (2003: 374)

  23. Reinares, ARI N° 34/2006, March 14th 2006

  24. Melossi (2003: 372)

  25. Although according to Act 4/2000 even irregular immigrants are obliged to inscribe themselves in the County Population Register in order to benefit from certain social services, such as health care, education, housing and legal asistance. Act 8/2000 and 14/2003 reduced the advantages of being listed. The latter even allows data flow to agencies in charge of persecution of illegal migration, which clearly discourages irregular immigrants to enrol. This relativises the significance of data originated from County Population Register now. For more information see Solanes Corella (2004).

  26. For other opinion see Sandell (2006): “The rise between 2004 and 2005 shows that African immigration is gaining in importance, though. A raise of almost 22% between 2004 and 2005 shows that only African, Asian and non-EU countries immigration is growing faster than the total immigration in Spain. Moreover, disregarding the Northern-African part of the African immigration, it is evident that the subsaharianos are one of the fastest growing communities in Spain. It should be added that the non-EU countries immigration is originated in Romania and Bulgaria. Both countries enjoy a special visa regime within the EU, which simplifies, compared to other non-EU countries, their legal entrance in Spain. If these two countries had not a more flexible visa regime, the whole non-EU countries immigration would have been logically more reduced.” (Own translation). On the regularisation process 2005, see Kostova Karaboytcheva (2006)

  27. Consistent with the results of research on racism and xenophobia (Wimmer, 1997), it seems that the intensity of xenophobic conflict depends more on the perception of the threat posed by immigrants rather than by a reality of economic competition. Such perception is amplified by the accompanying presence of a social and/or economic crisis, to the point of assuming the characteristics of a moral panic. Melossi (2003: 375)

  28. Garland, (2001: p. ix)

  29. In Spain see Cancio Meliá (2003), Silva Sánchez (1999), the creator of the term. In Germany, Frankfurter School’s authors in Institut für Kriminalwissenschaften Frankfurt a. M. (ed.)(1995)

  30. Cancio Meliá (2003)

  31. The Council of Europe Convention of 27 January 1977 on the Suppression of Terrorism constitutes a milestone at this respect. Since then, terrorist offences will not be regarded as political offences or as offences connected with political offences or as offences inspired by political motives.

  32. Although Garland’s analysis is focused on the Anglo-Saxon cases (USA and UK), he humbly dares to state that these tendencies could be extrapolated to other countries, as long as they enter into era of “late modernity”. See Medina Ariza (2004: 1300); Beckett (2001); Garland (2001:viii): “My argument will be that ‘late modernity’ — the distinctive pattern of social, economic and cultural relations that emerged in America Britain and elsewhere in the developed world in the last third of the twentieth century — brings with it a cluster of risks, insecurities, and control problems that have played a crucial role in shaping our changing response to crime”.

  33. Girling, Loader, and Sparks (2000)

  34. Discussions of crime, policing, and punishment (and the ways in which social factors such as race, class and gender shaped these). See Sasson (1995)

  35. Beckett (2001: 903)

  36. Varona Martínez (2000): “‘Spain is different’: Beyond an Invisible Criminal Policy?”, in Green, Penny and Rutherford, Andrew (eds.): Criminal Policy in Transition, Oxford, Hart Publishing

  37. Note the parallels between some measures of the Social Danger Act (Ley de Peligrosidad Social) and the suggestions of Kelling and Coles (1997) in Fixing Broken Windows.

  38. Since May 2005 the interviewed have the possibility to choose between ETA-terrorism and Islamic terrorism.

  39. Medina Ariza (2004: 1309)

  40. Modifying LO 4/2000 of January, 11th 2000

  41. Former Secreatry of State González, and Premier Aznar addressing the people about the state of the Nation on July 16th 2002

  42. See Albrecht (1997; 2002: 21)

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  1. Max-Planck Institute for foreign and international criminal law, Günterstalstr. 73, 79100, Freiburg, Germany

    María Soledad Saux

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Saux, M.S. Immigration and Terrorism: A Constructed Connection. Eur J Crim Policy Res 13, 57–72 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-006-9031-2

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