Switzerland’s need of regulating immigration.

By Glenn Marcus Ines (11-STEM-NEWTON)

Imagine living in a country that is mostly known for low crime rates and bearing a
score of 1.357 on the recent Global Peace Index. Now imagine living in the same
country under the recent years in which two things are increasing. Crime rates and
Immigration. Throughout Switzerland's history the gap between these two are gradually
being narrowed, ultimately causing a discomfort among the Swiss native citizens. Given
the uphill rates of the nation's two conditions, there has been an attempt to pass an
initiative or referendum to control mass immigration to the country. One of them, the
2014 referendum against mass immigration was met with a failure due to the European
Union's counteractive negotiations with Switzerland. Despite this, there is still a need for
Switzerland to gain the upper hand regarding this issue because inevitably on the long
run, the nation's immigration policies and system has its vulnerabilities which can
potentially endanger the lives of its native citizens.

To begin the foreword, immigration in the country of Switzerland has been shown
through statistics to have increased from the year 2000, that had a total of 1.5 million
immigrants which rose up to 2.4 million in 2015. It’s not that it's a bad thing for the
nation's constituents, in fact its economy is favorable towards it as an article states that
immigrant workers make up a large part of nation's labor force. So, whenever migration
declines, Swiss GDP also declines. However, it is it is important to note that refugees or
asylum seekers are technically part of immigration rates. This makes it clear that aside
from seeking various lines of work, the nation's foreigners have also sought asylum or
refuge due to different conflicts. Some of the immigrants have come from farther nations
apart from European countries, such as African and Middle eastern countries. This
brings me to my first evidence. According to Federal Statistical Office of Switzerland, in
the year 2020 about two thirds of Swiss inmates were foreigners. A total of 470 Algerian
Inmates were recorded, alongside them were Romania, France, and other European
countries. But by the end of 2020, it was recorded that out of 25.1 percent of the total
immigrant population, 404 were imprisoned due to them having inflicted serious bodily
injuries. This number composes 55 percent of the inmates who were convicted with the
same type of case. As a conclusion, it is clear that in a decade, imprisoned immigrants
have been increasing even though technically during the pandemic, another article has
said that due to COVID restrictions, the overall conviction rates has even dropped.

Now, another thing that is shown to be increasing because of the soaring

immigration in Switzerland, is the country's population. Just at the very end of 2021, a
total of 8.7 million permanent residents was recorded. Following the events of the
introduction of the EU free movement, the Swiss population is shown to be growing
twice as fast as the United Kingdom Population, bringing me to my second argument.
From the past decade there has been many assertions on how growing population can
inhibit economic growth, and harm the environment. As economic historian sir Tobias
Straumann has said in an interview, "Switzerland certainly benefits from immigration,
but it is also associated with disadvantages and costs. Even if the country currently has
Switzerland’s need of regulating immigration.
By Glenn Marcus Ines (11-STEM-NEWTON)

a full employment and a stable economy, every year the percentage for economic
prosperity is increasing slowly which is by no means any good for the economy. The
premise could mean that in the future, the economic trends of Switzerland could slowly
start to decline. And based on another news article, new housing estates have sprung
up on top of greenfield sites. What makes it even worse, is the decreasing interest rates
had led to a proliferation of construction projects which had also caused the country to
miss the climate change reduction target by negative 20 percent. This only goes to
show that reaching 9 million inhabitants with the support of the EU free movement for
immigrants is detrimental for Switzerland's economy and physical environment over the
long term.

Ultimately, being in the position of those who seek careers and various lines of
work whether what kind of skillset is needed, the Swiss people cannot just ignore the
possible mismanagement of these incoming jobseekers. The same argument goes for
the importation of asylum seekers, which in other countries in Europe is becoming a
serious problem in recent years. And to be able to solve all of this can be done through
critical analysis of the factors which made the crime statistics of Switzerland become
almost half foreign national. Some of these factors are lack of Education and income as
argued by a researcher Dirk Baier. What the Swiss People can do is to release smarter
Referendums for many people to vote. That and having the right politicians who are
compassionate enough but still defensive and competent whenever immigration strikes,
are among the wisest way to combat this matter.

Reference list:
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Free to Download. Vision of Humanity. https://www.visionofhumanity.org/resources/
SDA, & Foa, F. (2016, November 27). Martullo-Blocher droht mit Referendum gegen
MEI-Umsetzung. Tages-Anzeiger. https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/martullo-blocher-droht-
mit-referendum-gegen-mei-umsetzung-134040540491
Switzerland Immigration Statistics 1960-2023. (n.d.). MacroTrends.
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/CHE/switzerland/immigration-statistics
Science. (n.d.). AAAS. https://www.science.org/content/article/swiss-vote-curb-
immigration-could-hamper-research
Albert, D. (2022, January 5). Two-thirds of Swiss inmates were foreigners in 2020.
Remix News. https://rmx.news/switzerland/two-thirds-of-swiss-inmates-were-foreigners-
in-2020/
Switzerland’s need of regulating immigration.
By Glenn Marcus Ines (11-STEM-NEWTON)

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