What does society say about

migration and what does the

research conclude?

Aidan de Jonge and James Avery

H4D + H4C
Date: ...-...-2024
H. van der Beek
Inhoudsopgave
Introduction............................................................................................................ 2
How did the migration issues come into play in the Netherlands........................3
What are common misconceptions about immigration?........................................5
Is migration really at an all-time high?................................................................6
Is it true that our borders are beyond control?....................................................7
Does the world truly face a crisis of refugees.....................................................8
Our societies are more diverse than ever...........................................................9
There is no point having migrant workers.........................................................10
The truth according to research...........................................................................11
How is migration being viewed at Groen van Prinsterer by students and staff
alike?.................................................................................................................... 12
How can more information be taught throughout the school, students, and staff
alike?................................................................................................................. 13
Conclusion............................................................................................................ 14
Logbook............................................................................................................ 15
Sources............................................................................................................. 17
Introduction

“Meer of minder Marokkanen” this is what Geert Wilders said during a PVV
rally, and he got sued over it. Now we are here to find out if whether
migration really is an issue or if it is make-believe. Now you can see where
I'm going with this and so this research project is about migration.
Specifically, migration in the Netherlands.
While you listen to this podcast you will learn about the impact of
migration on the Dutch economy, house market and job market. We will
also research the prejudice against the average migrant person and if
there really is any truth into that. We will also try to fight misinformation
about migration by discussing very important points which we will be
discussing in our podcast. We will also try to find the reason for
immigrants to flee their motherland.
Migration was one of the leading subjects in this year's election, but why?
extreme right groups are popping up all over the country and most of
them say shut the borders, but would this solve the problem and is there
even a problem?
We ask these questions to inform people before they make any statements
that may not be factually correct. We try to stay objective and ensure that
there isn’t any subjectivity. We will do this by looking at both sides, left and
right. We will switch sides ourselves as well just to show how easy it is to
create someone's opinion. This how we get to the big question. What does
society say about migration and what does the research conclude?
We will be looking locally or more specifically; we will be looking at school.
We will be looking into how the staff and students view migration,
migrants and misconceptions/stereotypes.
How did the migration issues come into play in the Netherlands

Each immigrant, each individual, each person has a reason to move to a

different country, reasons such as danger of war, religion: getting chased
for someone you believe in, running from the poverty of your country and
many more reasons for moving way. However, in the past few years,
migration has turned into such a huge issue. Is this issue caused naturally
or perhaps politicians have made it an international problem. There are
plenty of causes leading to this incident which can be divided into different
geographical dimensions.
First things first we start with some history. There has been a number of
controversies about immigration issues spread around Europe and it would
seem these foreigners are arriving with mass numbers to us. However,
was this always the case. During the years 1600 till mid 20 th century many
Europeans immigrated to other countries, around 60 to 65 million people
left Europe, Main destinations were often tropical and exotic lands, such as
America during the British colonialism. In more recent years, during 1880
and 1930 there was a mass migration towards Argentina which would go
on to be called the era of mass migration for Argentinian history. The
cause of the 'era of mass migration was due to the Immigration and
Colonisation Act. This surge of migration from Europe soon changed after
the second world war and the fall of the Berlin wall. Migration patterns
fluctuated, meaning patterns reversed.
After the second world war Rotterdam was left in ashes and ruin due to the
bombing of the Germans. The Dutch government wanted to rebuild
Rotterdam as quickly and efficiently as possible. It started with the
recruiting of international guest workers. First came the Italians in 1948,
shortly afterwards came the Spanish, Turkish and Moroccan people.
The most common Immigrants that live in the Netherlands nowadays are
migrant workers, the backbone of our society some would say. The migrant
workers are the people who come to our country to make living. They are
also the ones who have low skilled jobs that no one wants to do, they also
don't require a high-level education. Out of the 403 thousand people who
moved to the Netherlands, 75 thousand were migrant workers from the
most recent research done in 2022. 108 thousands of the 403, were under
temporary protection which leads me to my next dimension, the political
dimension.
During that year there was the war between Ukraine and Russia which led
to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from their countries to new
ones. The Ukrainians got special treatment in the form of the government
producing special villages just for them. This upset a big part of the
population in the Netherlands because there is a huge home shortage.
Whether this is true, we will discuss this in a later paragraph. There has
been a lot of pressure on the migration community, they get a lot of blame
from society, which mainly comes from the populists. Which brings me to
my next point, Populism.
A big reason there is pressure on the migration community is thanks to
populism. Populism is a nationalistic ideology which fights for their country.
Recently in politics here there has been a lot of concentration in migration
which is also the main subject of this government. Mainly the refugees
who seek shelter from safe countries. The populists have turned this into
their spokes point and have campaigned on this matter and have
succeeded on getting the majority of the votes by saying what the people
want.
There is a law that opens up different shelters that are spread around the
border to take up refugees without commotion, However the refugees will
have a tougher time to seek asylum due to the coming adjustment to that
law that causes the different shelters to close down, save one, a shelter in
Ter Apel. As a result, this causes a lot of issues because there is a
concentrated wave of refugees coming to ask to enter the country,
overloading the people managing the refugees.

This only leads to more misconceptions as the people believe that

migration becomes a greater problem, we are unable to solve, which is
why it is important for there to be nuances. These nuances will bring a
refreshing perspective from the standard routine, which Hein de Haas, an
expert in migration, preaches about this current subject.
What are common misconceptions about immigration?

Misconception: 'a view or opinion that is incorrect because based on faulty

thinking or understanding.' Is what you get when you type in the definition
of misconception. In terms of migration misconception there are plenty to
find on any medium. What is important to note is that it is a view or an
opinion, ergo it is not a fact. Misconceptions often form due to the
influence of social media. We are easily influenced by our surroundings
and the feed you get on social media platforms across the internet.
Such misconception can form with a certainly large variety of sources from
anywhere. You may hear it during a speech from your favourite politician,
or perhaps from a news outlet, or even a tweet from Geert Wilders. In
most cases your opinions are formed by your family and friends as you
grow up. Often men grow up with the ideals of their parents.
The next few headlines we will be highlighting different migration issues
with misconceptions. What important to note is that in order to stay
objective is to look at a story from both angles and their nuances.
In this chapter of the project our aim is to clear up misconceptions about
immigration in order for you to get a clearer image about immigration
Is migration really at an all-time high?

It is rather easy to imagine that one would believe that immigration

seems to be forever increasing, especially with this heated being
spoken about across the globe. We are thought that we have never
had so much migration until recently. We hear that because of war,
poverty in a country or perhaps one faces execution is the cause to
wat leads to a massive exodus from third world countries to the west
of Europe as sociologist, Hein de Haas, calls it and we are unable to
take in the mass amount of people entering
This is the image we receive when we watch any form of media such
as watching the television, reading the newspaper or just browsing
the internet. I would seem that governments are being overwhelmed
by the countless waves of immigrants, with refugees being
desperate to escape their country by crossing into dangerous
territories. Because of globalisation it has been a lot easier to travel
and communicate over large distances.
International inequalities are still a big issue in western countries,
countries that are in poverty still deal with many threatening issues,
for example instability, corruption and conflict, and then there is also
the fast and increasing population growth. It would seem they have
no option but to flee.
Big prestigious organisations such as the International Organisation
for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) gives us the thought that we live in a time of
unpredictable mass migration has gained its notoriety due to the
claims from these big organisations.
IOM said in 2021 'the current mobility of people is higher than ever
before in modern history and continues to increase sharply'. Then
you have the UNCHR saying that the times we live in are that of
'global displacement' with many causes for people to leave and later
research from UNCHR says that there was a record-high number of
100 million people displaced people.
All these statements and claims have made it avery dominant idea
that we live in a time of a mass immigration trek. Politicians, climate
activists and refugee organisations have all been lulled into the idea
that our world is burning with the migration crisis, and because of all
those causes migration is uncontrollably increasing.
Is it true that our borders are beyond control?

A common misunderstanding is that we are unable to support our

border control with the fast, growing illegal migration. In truth levels
of illegal migrants have remained rather steady, however media
image and politics suggest that the number of illegal immigrants are
still increasing. Politicians, experts and media have regularly been
ringing the alarm bell trying to prevent our migration system
collapse due to the increase in pressure. Former prime-minister Mark
Rutte even commented that: 'As we all know from the roman empire,
big empires go down if their borders are not well-protected.'.
Politicians often suggest that the idea immigration as an attack on
our borders by outsiders. Even in the USA politicians and experts use
the term 'invasion', while media image add wood to the fire about a
massive Third World migration being seen as an assault to the
dignity and safety of America. It started in 1990 with the growing
immigration from Mexico to the US which was seen as a threat to
their society and culture. Which led to an increase in xenophobia. A
similar situation is the 'millions of Africans' waiting to enter Europe
The fear that migration is spinning out of control has caused
politicians to step up and enforce border control. Then there are
others who argue that border control won't solve the big problem
and instead suggested to solve the problem at the root such as the
poverty and conflict in foreign countries, in the end they all share the
same perception: illegal migration is getting harder to control. The
continuous attention from the media has fuelled ideas that migration
is primarily illegal migration. Now this is not true, most immigration
is not illegal. Refugees alone are a very small portion of the world's
total number of immigrants
Does the world truly face a crisis of refugees?

Politicians, experts and media often say there is an unprecedented

global ‘refugee crisis’. This idea is connected to the widespread
perception that due to the growing conflict and oppression in Latin
America, the Middle East and Africa are prompting more and more
people run away from their home country and find a better place to
live
Within Europe, the debate about refugees hit a boiling point, when 1
million Syrian refugees fled towards Europe. Ever since, a chain of
new border crisis has appeared in other parts of the world. For
instance, the mass immigration from Mexico due to poverty and a
more recent one, the invasion of Ukraine which prompted millions to
flee to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova and from these
countries they further migrated to West-Europe.
As the cycle of violence seems never ending, the refugees attempt
to cross the border seems increasingly more dangerous. The thought
that we are indeed facing a refugee crisis is supported by claims
from international organization. In 2022, the chief of UNCHR, Filippo
Grandi, claimed that ‘every year of the last decade, the numbers
have climbed’, and he also warned: ‘Either the international
community comes together to take action to address this human
tragedy, resolve conflicts and find lasting solutions or this terrible
trend will continue.’
In brief as the world seems on fire the global refugee crisis seems to
be getting out of control up until the point of no return. Politicians,
experts and media have been adding wood to a fire to the common
perception that numbers of refugees have soared rapidly in the
recent past. It will only continue to go up, and as a toxic result a
cocktail of warfare, conflict, poverty, inequality, and climate change.
This refugee narrative is based on the belief that asylum seekers are
not ‘real’ refugees but are in fact migrants with an economic value
posturing as refugees. Politicians have on numerous occasions
stated that these ‘bogus’ asylum seekers abuse the asylum channel
to avoid deportation and gain legal status. As an effect it messes
around with the numbers and made it seem that the western refugee
system is being put under pressure. Politicians have increasingly
claimed that, given the huge surge in refugees, we have no choice
but to curtail the right to asylum and reinforce border controls, and
that these policies are a ‘necessary evil’ to prevent our borders
being overrun.
Our societies are more diverse than ever.

Growing immigration has led to historically unprecedented levels of

racial, cultural and religious diversity in Western society. This is most
likely one of the most common beliefs about immigration, which
does make a lot of sense seeing as a lot of West European countries
have increasingly been more non-European, non-white and non-
Christian. For five centuries Europeans used to move and settle down
in other exotic places, those migration patterns have reversed in the
years after the second world war.
In western Europe, concerns have focused on the lack of integration
of certain migrant groups, mostly those from Muslim-majority
countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey and Morocco. After
the terror attacks of 9/11 countries have been thinking differently.
They have started to be stricter about borders in order to protect
their countries and because of this there has been more pressure on
the borders. Politician have come under mounting pressure to
acknowledge the difficulty that the current levels of diversity bring,
and politicians also have to prevent social tension and the erosion of
trust and social cohesion by taking the people's concern about
immigration seriously.
Many observers reject such ideas as racist and xenophobic, taking
the opposite position and rejoicing the increased ethic, racial and
religious diversity as a vibrant force of culture. Then there are the
people that take more conservative positions. This leads to
polarisation in a lot of countries such as the Netherlands, Germany,
Italy and the USA.
There is no point having migrant workers

‘What we want to do is bear down on migration, particularly of

unskilled workers who have no job to come to.’ These were the
words of Boris Johnson, former prime minister of the UK during an
interview in 2019. He promised voters to clamp down on lower-
skilled immigration from the EU.
His remarks resonated with the general public in Western countries
that lower-skilled migrants are no longer needed. In our post-
industrial economies, the number of factory and farm jobs has been
shrinking because of mechanization and automation as well as
outsourcing, the relocating of labour-intensive industries. There was
an industrial decline and went along with an increasing growth in
service sector jobs in research, engineering, medicine and
management, all of which needed advanced levels of education and
training
The consensus overall now is that the governments should attract
higher-skilled workers. All of this has reinforced the belief that in our
post-industrial economies there seems to be a decreasing room for
lower skilled workers perceived as having poor economic prospects
Instead of recruiting migrant workers, it seems to make even more
sense to reserve those jobs for local workers. This is partially true,
there is a decrease in lower skilled jobs, but they have not faded
away just yet. Combine this with the fact that most of the British do
not want to do these lower skilled jobs and then you come to the
conclusion that you will still need migrant workers.
The summary of the truth according to research.
Migration is a problem, a growing problem. There are multiple types of migrants.
Refugees are coming to the country from the middle east, Ukraine and north Africa.
The biggest group is migrant workers who are here to do low skilled jobs. The third
group is international students, they also are here to learn and get degree. Migration
is at an all-time high. This is probably because migration used to be a lot harder and
in the recent years it got a lot easier to travel across borders. Now you could use this
as an example to say that our borders are beyond control, now this is not the case.
We do have a lot of increase in immigration but the numbers for illegal immigration
have remained steady.
Now a lot of experts and politicians say that the world is facing a refugee crisis. The
situation is not that far yet, but the problems only pile up, the problems are not being
solved at the root, and we are only delaying the crisis that is upon us. Our societies
are more diverse than ever and that brings its problems with it, such as a debate over
lack of integration, and conflicts between religious groups.
Borris Johnson said once that he wanted to decrease the number of migrant workers
in the UK and that he wanted to replace the lower skilled jobs with higher skilled
ones. Now this is very hard, because a lot of British people do not want to do the low
skilled jobs that remain so it would be very hard to dismiss the migrant workers
How is migration being viewed at Groen van Prinsterer
by students and staff alike?

The main vocal point of this research project is to see how the students and
teachers of 't Groen view migration and what they already know about it. In order
to find this out we had made a questionnaire and sent it throughout the school.
The most important questions we will list down below are:
- Vind jij jezelf politiek rechts (conservatief) of links (progressief)?
- Vindt je dat de migratie in Nederland toe een probleem is?
- Welke soort migranten denk jij dat er het minst van zijn?
- Vindt jij dat het migratie beleid moet worden veranderd?
The main idea is to see what both parties think about migration, and we will be
comparing the two results from each question with each other.

Vind jij jezelf politiek rechts (conservatief) of links (progressief)?

With this question we aim to see where both parties stand politically to see
whether they have effect on the other questions that are answered.
At first glance it may seem most students say other or middle, however
the majority do not know what it is or how they stand. In any case it is
rather diverse.
The teachers on the other hand seem to be more middle and left centred

Vind jij jezelf politiek rechts (conservatief) of links (progressief)? leerlingen

Vind jij jezelf politiek rechts (conservatief) of links (progressief)? docenten

Blue = left
Orange = middle
Green = right
Red = other

Vindt je dat de migratie in Nederland toe een probleem is?

With this question both parties seem to both have the same view, that
migration is an issue even though that isn't necessarily true. This means
that there is misunderstanding in those that are higher educated.
students

Teachers
Vindt jij dat het migratie beleid moet worden veranderd?
The students and teachers seem to both be in accordance with each other.
They both want the migration policy to be adjusted. Which is the root to
the majority of the problem.
Students

Teachers

In quick summary it seems, despite the teachers and students being a different
age and education, they still share the most opinions.
How can more information be taught throughout the school,
students, and staff alike?

It seems that the teachers seem very interested and want migration to be a
subject at school however migration is a tricky subject to give in all the subjects.
It would fit in geography, economics, social studies and a few others, but how
would it be a subject in physics, biology, chemistry or the languages.
A solution for that is to do it in the flexstart, however that is a solution for
students, not teachers.
An idea for teachers is for geography teachers, since their subject connects well
with migration, to give a presentation at the aula, with all the teachers in one
place
Conclusion

In conclusion, it seems that students especially should be informed about

migration seeing as the subject, migration, is constantly growing and
evolving and growing more important as migrants seem to be forming a
bigger part in our society. it's also important for students to know the
immigration history of the Netherlands seeing as we had guestworkers
during the years 1950 and 1970.
Logbook
date time task James Aidan

14- 45 First PWS session James Aidan

05- min
2024

16- 1.5 PWS meeting James Aidan

05- hour
2024

21- 1.5 PWS meeting James Aidan

05- hour
2024

03- 30 PWS supervisor James Aidan

06- min discussion
2024

07- 1.5 PWS meeting James Aidan

06- hour
2024

10- 1.5 PWS meeting James Aidan

06- hour
2024

11- 1.5 Podcast Hein de James

06- hour Haas
2024

11- 30 PWS supervisor James Aidan

06- min discussion
2024

17- 1.5 PWS meeting James Aidan

06- hour
2024
24- 1.5 PWS meeting James Aidan
06- hour
2024

04- 3 PWS day James Aidan

07- hours
2024
09- 3 PWS day James Aidan
07- hours
2024
19- 2 SWT – working on James
09- hours sub questions
2024
24- 1 SWT gathering James
09- hour information from
2024 H.d.H.
26- 2 SWT gathering James
09- hours information from
2024 H.d.H.
30- 1 SWT gathering James
09- hour information from
2024 H.d.H.
1-10- 1 SWT gathering James
2024 hour information from
H.d.H.
3-10- 2 SWT working on James
2024 hours questions
10- 4.50 Working on James
10- hours concept version
2024
7-11- 3 Figuring out James
2024 podcast
7-11- 30 PWS meeting James Aidan
2024 min
7-11- 3 Listening to James
2024 podcasts about
immigration
8-11- 3 Editing + research Aidan
2024 hours
9-11- 2 Research+ editing Aidan
2024 hours
11- 1.5 Research Aidan
11- hours
2024
13- 2 Editing Aidan
11- hours
2024
14- 4 Researching + Aidan
11- hours editing
2024
15- 1.5 Working on script Aidan
11- hours
2024
16- 1 Working on script Aidan
11- hour
2024
17- 2 Working script Aidan
11- hours
2024

19-11-2024 3 hours Research+ Aidan

working on script
20-11-2024 4 hours Research+editing Aidan
21-11-2024 2 hours Working on Aidan
script+ editing
24-09-2024 2 hours Research Aidan
22-09-2024 2 hours Research Aidan
02-10-2024 4 hours Research Aidan
07-10-2024 3 hours Research Aidan

10-10-2024 3 hours Research+editing Aidan

12-10-2024 2 hours Research + Aidan
editing
13-10-2024 3 hours Research + Aidan
editing
18-10-2024 3 hours Research+ editing Aidan
23-10-2024 3 hours Research + Aidan
editing
25-10-2024 2 hours Research + Aidan
editing
28-10-2014 8 hours Research + Aidan
editing

30-10-2024 4 hours Research Aidan

01-10-2024 4 hours Research Aidan
Sources
Het huidige document heeft geen bronnen.
Hoeveel immigranten komen naar Nederland? | CBS - first question
Toename aantal immigranten in 2022 vooral door oorlog Oekraïne | CBS
How Geert Wilders turned all corners of Dutch society into far right voters –
POLITICO
[Link]
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promoting-our-european-way-life/statistics-migration-europe_en
[Link]
chapter-3/europe#:~:text=The%20latest%20available%20international
%20migrant,migrants%20resided%20in%20the%20region.
[Link]
%20current%20global%20estimate%20is,over%20the%20past%20five
%20decades
[Link]
million-migrants-due-covid-19-says-un#:~:text=Growth%20of%20international
%20migration%20slowed,19%2C%20says%20UN%20%7C%20United%20Nations
[Link]
[Link]
%20contribute%20to%20growth,acquired%20during%20their%20migration
%20experience.
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