Xenophobic Immigrant Rings
A view on migrants discriminating people from the country they live in
What is Going On Here?
Migration is a natural or personal process where one or more people move from their place of origin to settle in another. These kinds of stories are often inspiring, and we have many examples illustrated in books like or in recent films like "The Brutalist," the fictional story of an architect who flees post-war Europe for the United States. But not all stories are fiction or end up in the United States. There are hundreds of thousands of stories like these of people fleeing countries immersed in oppressive, repressive, or downright miserable conditions.
Far from focusing on these examples of bravery and courage, let's talk about the other extreme: when so many people migrate to a country that they forget about the process of adaptation and take shelter with others who already did. Why learn the customs of a new country if I can just stick with others from my homeland and continue those customs?
Unlike those who came before, who struggled with culture shock, language barriers, and discrimination, among other things, these newer migrants are often invited by previous migrants or “influencers” who managed to cross over the "easy way," like through the Mexico-United States border, or from Bolivia to Chile through the desert.
And just as it was easy for them to enter, it's also easy for them to get by, because they usually have a host, a "hook-up" who helps them not so much to adapt to the new culture, but to latch onto their home culture. However, this overprotection has become dangerous, as it has encouraged the movement of people who don't need to leave their country, but rather promote "elective migration" and turn what used to be support networks into simple social networks.
To this, we add the effect of social media, where we can find all kinds of groups from one country in another, like "Spaniards in England," "Venezuelans in Argentina," etc. It's a more informal social network that has the ability to help in cases of need, and to accommodate others who might not actually need it, giving tips on the requirements to stay in a country, but also on the tricks or legal loopholes that exist for this purpose.
These groups are often moderated by the migrants themselves and are not intervened in, except by Facebook for the violation of some internal rule, but they are not supervised if they promote violate the laws of the country in question.
How Did We Get Here?
Here's an example: Chile, a nation of 20 million inhabitants with an excellent global economic standing, has received more than 500,000 Venezuelan immigrants in 5 years. Venezuela is another South American country that shares the same language, mostly the same Judeo-Christian values, and whose dictatorship has forced its people to seek better opportunities elsewhere.
Migration was steady for years until a TikTok user shared a video showing how to enter illegally from the Bolivian border through the desert, sometimes with traffickers ("coyotes"), similar to what happens at the U.S.-Mexico border (proportionally speaking). The video also shared initial steps for receiving refuge within the country and beginning the process of obtaining Chilean identification that would allow them to stay and work by exploiting legal loopholes.
The main legal trap is that if a person works, even without proper documentation, they acquire residency rights, because the law doesn’t discriminate the status of a worker, even without formal residency permission.
This triggered an avalanche of migrants, both from Venezuela and other countries, overwhelming the country's capacity to receive and control them. This was preceded by those who had migrated earlier and, after finding economic stability, began helping others—family members, friends, neighbors—to enter the country.
The Stats Don't Lie
Chile's Venezuelan immigrant population grew from approximately 25,000 in 2017 to over 500,000 by 2023.
Venezuela's political crisis has driven over 7.7 million people to flee the country since 2014.
Approximately 83% of Venezuelan migrants in Chile concentrate in the Metropolitan Region around Santiago.
Studies show that around 30% of recent Venezuelan migrants entered Chile through irregular border crossings.
The unemployment rate among Venezuelan immigrants is estimated at 14%, compared to 8% for Chilean nationals.
The result of this was that Venezuelans could work, but afterward socialize with Venezuelan friends, eat at Venezuelan restaurants, meet other Venezuelans who have been in the country for some time, and even go to events like comedians or musicians from their country. This has led to the formation of foreign social groups.
We shouldn't confuse a support network with a social network. A support network is what you have on Facebook when you post a question about migration that anyone can answer. I'm talking about social environments that share their culture, so the culture shock of being in another country doesn't diminish—it just gets hidden.
Why Does This Matter?
What seems like a celebration of their culture ends up being a gesture of contempt toward the other. Because they socialize among themselves, they end up believing they can validate their own culture by association, and sometimes even try to impose their way of living when the numbers allow it. I have witnessed these groups mockingly criticizing the citizens of the host country with a poor attitude. With time, people within these closed groups stopped seeing it as an escape route for the cultural difference, as friction accumulated because of the lack of integration. This slowly transformed into xenophobia.
Now I've moved to Portugal, where the same thing has occurred, as in Barcelona and many other cities. People coming from India and other countries have massively moved to big European cities, creating small communities, literally taking over the streets, making themselves very noticeable. But I'm not quite aware of the cultural differences that you can notice, aside from the color of their skin. Oh no, wait, apparently there are:
A girl a couple of weeks ago recorded a video titled 'How it is to walk in Barcelona'. You can see people who don't look like an average Spaniard, and who are clearly not speaking Spanish very well, shouting things at her. Now, two things I will address: first, I don't mind people looking; it's harmless and it happens. Second, let's admit it, she's not even dressed that provocatively to provoke that sort of reaction. Not that it should, but sometimes women can make us drop our jaws, but honestly I don't think this is the case.
So this is happening in the middle of the day. Some even take pictures of her while she is walking. Another follows her on an electric scooter. Later on in the video, at night, at least 3 people offered them weed. You can see there are many people outside of convenience stores with Arabic names, these are the groups I was mentioning early. A needless support group in public. They are just there, together, that's about it, one might argue this is in part because of ‘tribalism’ behavior.
Also, if you think about it, without the introduction or the title or without knowing any Spanish, you can't tell whether she is a tourist walking in a foreign country or she is just walking through a Spanish neighborhood. Honestly, the first one seems more likely. And this fact is, at the very least, annoying.
Now, each one of us can have their own opinion... But if you ask Spanish people what they think about this montage, trust me, it will be no different from a typical "hater troll" on Twitter. This reaction is seen everywhere, which is why the far right is coming back strongly. It's not so much about the love for the country or even hating the foreign and unknown. It's a matter of safety; these groups look like a threat to the average citizen.
So, What Can We Do About It?
First, let's not be alarmed; these groups are still minorities within countries in general, and I’m not supporting migrants who commit crimes, they should be in jail not matter where is the person from, but we have to discriminate if an action is a criminal offense or not, also if you think about it, of all the people you can be bias and distinguish as migrants, only a handful were actually being assholes, most of them were just standing or walking by. Second, it's crucial to remember that social media can often present a distorted or incomplete picture. While these platforms can be valuable tools for connection and support, they can also amplify extreme viewpoints or spread misinformation. Who knows how many hours or streets that girl had to walk to get that footage. It's important to be critical of what you see online and to seek out diverse and reliable sources of information. Don't believe everything you read or see on social media, not even me. And third, people will move in and move out of your country whether you like it or not, because it's not up to you or people like you to discriminate about who can enter and who cannot. And even if you choose to kick them all out, even if it were possible (which, trust me, it's not), then your country, whatever it is, its economy will collapse. Besides, drawing the line of who is a foreigner is already difficult; chances are you or your close ones are descendants of immigrants as well.
With this said, the only way that we can deal with this in a civilized manner is by actually being civilized. Welcome them, help them, and integrate them, so foreigners can be part of other groups, I speak with confidence because I’m an immigrant myself and while trying to speak the language just because I sound a little off, people discover that you are not from the country, but they don’t know how long I’ve been there or the efforts I’m making to try and have this conversation. By showing kindness, good results will eventually come for you and for others.