Immigration Laws: October, 2000 - Number #11

Switzerland. On September 24, 2000, Swiss voters defeated a referendum to cap the foreign population at 18 percent of residents by a 64-36 vote. The 1.4 million foreigners are currently 19.3 percent of Switzerland's 7.1 million residents, so approval would have meant the exit of 100,000 foreigners.

This was the sixth vote in three decades on imposing fixed quotas on immigrants; all have been rejected. The Swiss government opposed the cap, arguing that it would impede economic integration with Europe, hurt tourism and slow growth in the high-tech sector. There are 3.9 million workers in Switzerland. The government emphasized that 34 percent of the workers in the tourism sector are foreign.

About 80 percent of the foreigners living in Switzerland have been there more than 20 years. Foreigners who marry Swiss or are the children of Swiss can obtain passports after five years' residence. For other foreigners, Switzerland has one of the most complicated naturalization procedures in the world. Applicants must have had residence for 12 years and be approved on the federal, cantonal and local level, with cantons and cities free to set their own rules. A 1973 Italian film "Bread and Chocolate," depicted the efforts of the Swiss to come to terms with immigration.

Italy. In September, 2000, Cardinal Giacomo Biffi advised Italy to admit only Catholic immigrants to preserve its national identity. According to Biffi, the Catholic Church is facing "one of the most serious and biggest assaults on Christianity that history remembers" because of immigration. Biffi went on: "Italy is not a deserted land with no history or traditions . . . that can be populated at random," the Italian government can rightfully prefer Catholic immigrants since "not all of the cultures of those newly arrived are in favor of living together."

Biffi said: "The criteria for admitting immigrants can never be just economic. It is necessary to concern oneself seriously with saving the identity of the nation." No immigrant has a "right of invasion." Biffi warned the government that: "If you really have the good of Italy at heart, and want to spare a lot of suffering, then you can't allow all the immigrants in… I don't know how you're going to cope with Friday as a holiday, polygamy, discrimination against women, and the fundamentalism of Muslims, for whom politics and religion are the same thing."

Italy's Social Affairs Minister Livia Turco has proposed decriminalizing prostitution that occurs in private homes in order to reduce the power of criminal gangs over immigrant women-- about 70 percent of Italy's 25,000 prostitutes are foreign, most of them from Nigeria, Russia, Albania or other Eastern European nations. A 1958 law closed brothels, which were previously run by the state. If the proposal is approved by the Council of Ministers in October, it would then be voted on by Parliament.

A 1997 immigration law guarantees women protection, and in some cases legal work permits and legitimate jobs, if they are trying to flee from forced prostitution.

France. French police apprehended and returned to Belgium a group of 45 Eastern Europeans who were on their way to the UK to apply for asylum. The Schengen agreement requires that illegal travelers be returned to the state that first admitted them to the Schengen zone. Belgian treatment of asylum seekers was criticized in July 2000 when the Brussels authorities released Chinese "illegals," 58 of whom were found dead at Dover.

The arrest figures for illegal immigration into France have grown from 1,450 in 1996 to 8,500 in 1999 and an expected 13,000 in 2000.

Jeff Israely, "Old trade, new tack: Italy considers legalizing prostitution in order to control it," San Francisco Chronicle, September 25, 2000.
Susan Bell, "Belgium objects as French police dump immigrants across border," Scotsman, September 26, 2000.
William Hall, "Swiss reject quotas on immigrants," Financial Times, September 25, 2000.
"Swiss Voters Defeat Initiative to Curb Foreign Population," Reuters, September 25, 2000.
Tom Zeller, "Rethinking Their Tired and Poor: A Swiss Proposal," New York Times, September 24, 2000.
John-Thor Dahlburg, "Swiss Debate a Limit on non-Swiss," Los Angeles Times, September 9, 2000.
Bruce Johnston, "Bishop's call for migrant curb backed by Vatican," Guardian, September 16, 2000.
John-Thor Dahlburg, "Swiss Debate a Limit on Non-Swiss," Los Angeles Times, September 9, 2000.
"Swiss government says cap on foreigners would harm business," Bloomberg, August 18, 2000 (http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/vi/vi243t.html)