The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 70/No. 13           April 3, 2006  
 
 
Denmark enforces anti-immigrant laws
 
BY MICHAEL ITALIE  
The Danish government, which tried to portray itself as a defender of free speech during the recent cartoon controversy, has passed a series of anti-immigrant measures. In 2002 a coalition government headed by the Liberal Party took office with the support of the rightist Danish People’s Party. The provisions in the laws passed that year by the government of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen include: Danish citizens could not bring a foreign-born spouse into the country unless both are at least 24 years old, have not collected welfare for the last 12 months, and must post a bond of $9,300. Once having passed all these requirements, the spouse seeking permanent resident status must wait seven years to receive it.

Fewer than half the number of people requesting such permits were granted in Denmark the year following passage of the new laws. In addition, refugees seeking residency had to wait seven years, rather than the previous three, to be eligible for full social welfare benefits.

The head of the Danish Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration in 2003, Bertel Haarder, made the racist character of the new laws clear when he said: “It is people from the poor countries, those from third world countries, from non-western countries who are the problem. They have a low productivity, low degree of education, bad language skills, and they arrive in a country with the world’s highest minimum wage, which they have difficulties deserving.”
 
 
Related articles:
Fired for joining Chicago protest, 33 immigrant workers win back their jobs
National chauvinism marks union-led actions across Europe
Answer: unionize all workers, native- and foreign-born
 Marchers nationwide say no to bill in Congress that criminalizes undocumented workers  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home