00:00Welcome to a new episode of the podcast Integration or Reimmigration.
00:05My name is Fabio Losquerbo. I am an Italian immigration lawyer.
00:10And in this episode, I would like to explain an issue that is becoming increasingly relevant in the European debate
00:17on migration.
00:18The difference between remigration and reimmigration.
00:22Over the past years, immigration has become one of the central political questions across Europe and the United Kingdom.
00:30has also been at the centre of this debate, especially after Brexit.
00:34In many political discussions, a term has started to appear more frequently, remigration.
00:40Remigration is generally described as the idea that large numbers of immigrants,
00:44or sometimes even people with immigrant backgrounds, should return to their countries of origin.
00:50Behind this concept, there is often a demographic or cultural interpretation of migration.
00:56According to this view, immigration has significantly transformed European societies,
01:02and the proposed solution is to reverse or reduce those changes by encouraging large-scale returns.
01:09However, there is another way to think about immigration policy.
01:13This is what I call re-immigration.
01:15Re-immigration does not emerge from identity politics or demographic theories.
01:20Instead, it is a legal framework for governing immigration, built around one central principle, integration.
01:29The idea is straightforward.
01:31If a migrant integrates into the host society by working, respecting the law, learning the language,
01:38and participating in the social life of the community,
01:41then that person should be able to remain in the country.
01:44If integration does not occur, then returning to the country of origin may become a legitimate outcome.
01:51In this approach, integration becomes the key criterion for residents.
01:57This perspective is particularly relevant within the European legal context.
02:01European states do not have unlimited freedom in immigration policy.
02:06They operate within constitutional systems, international obligations,
02:10and human rights conventions that impose clear legal limits.
02:14In my book, Complementary Protection, I explain how European legal systems include safeguards
02:20such as the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning a person to a country
02:25where their fundamental rights could be at risk.
02:29Additionally, Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to private and family life,
02:36which often plays an important role in immigration decisions across European courts.
02:41These legal constraints show that immigration policy cannot simply rely on mass removals
02:47or purely political solutions.
02:50It must function within the framework of the rule of law.
02:53This is precisely where the concept of re-immigration becomes relevant.
02:57It attempts to reconcile three essential elements that are often treated as incompatible.
03:03Human rights, social integration, and national interest.
03:07For countries like the United Kingdom, which are trying to redefine their migration policies
03:13in the post-Brexit era, the challenge is not simply to choose between open borders
03:19and strict removal policies.
03:21The real challenge is to build a system where the right to remain in the country
03:26is connected to a genuine process of integration.
03:29That is the core idea behind the paradigm integration or re-immigration.
03:36Thank you for listening to this episode.
03:38I am Fabio Losquerbo, and I will see you in the next episode of the podcast.
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