Attitudes toward Asylum Seekers in Small Local Communities
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12296 |
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| Author | Aslan Zorlu |
Attitudes toward Asylum Seekers in Small
Local Communities
Aslan Zorlu*
ABSTRACT
The admission and geographic distribution of asylum seekers has a central place in public dis-
course in Western countries, amid mounting asylum applications and dire humanitarian crises.
Receiving countries usually distribute the newly arriving asylum seekers across the entire
country, in particular for small remote communities. Incidental opposition actions by local resi-
dents against the siting of Asylum Seeker Centres (ASC) has created the perception of strong
and widespread resistance in the public sphere. This article aims to assess this alleged backlash
by examining attitudes toward asylum seekers in small local communities. Using data from
three representative surveys conducted among residents in the vicinity of four ASCs in the
Netherlands, the regression analysis shows a strikingly high willingness to host an ASC, in
opposition to popularly assumed public opinion.
INTRODUCTION
Many developed Western countries are facing rising numbers of asylum applicants. The influx
brings additional local and national challenges for coping with this humanitarian crisis. At times
the discussion can become highly politicized and contentious (Finney and Robinson, 2008; Hub-
bard, 2005a; O’Rourke and Sinnott, 2006). The Netherlands, one of the more popular receiving
destinations, seeks to better accommodate newcomers by allocating asylum seekers to small asylum
seekers centres (ASCs) scattered across the country. This dispersal policy, aimed at spreading the
burden, regularly faces resistance in local communities. This resistance, however, usually disap-
pears once an ASC is established, with social unrest persisting over a longer time period only in a
few cases (Lubbers et al., 2006).
Many local residents face a social dilemma: on the one hand, they want to “create space”for
newcomers in need guided by humanitarian compassion and also reap economic benefits from the
ASC, in particular for firms providing goods and services and for local residents who find addi-
tional employment. On the other hand, asylum seekers are placed in their “backyard”(ASC are
usually sited at the edge of rural settlements) which may cause a direct burden, especially consider-
ing the large size of the asylum seeker population relative to the village. A typical ASC hosts peo-
ple from up to forty different nationalities, with high turnover. Most asylum migrants stay in an
ASC while their asylum applications are processed. Thus, the inhabitants of these small communi-
ties are exposed to a continuously changing and relatively large population of asylum seekers. Most
* University of Amsterdam.
doi: 10.1111/imig.12296
©2016 The Author. International Migration
published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf
of International Organization for Migration.
International Migration Vol. 55 (6) 2017
ISSN 0020-7985
This is an open access article under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
License, which permits use and distribution in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-
commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
local residents do not have any prior experience with people from the sending countries and tend
to consider them as a single group.
Local inhabitants in these villages are not used to living with a relatively large group of immi-
grants. Also, asylum migrants have a drastically different socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds
as well as socio-economic positions and daily life habits. They are fully dependent on public means
for covering living costs, and enjoy only limited privacy in an ASC. They often are not very active,
i.e. “killing time”while they wait for the decision. They are not allowed to work while in asylum
procedure. Considering the potentially tense context, one might anticipate regular conflicts between
the receiving communities and newcomers; however, systematic analyses of these potential conflicts
are scarce. The literature that explores attitudes toward asylum migrants in small local communities
includes studies on objections to ASCs (Hubbard, 2005a, 2005b; Lubbers et al., 2006) and the role
of local media (Finney and Robinson, 2008).
This article assesses how local communities respond to the presence of a relatively large number
of asylum migrants. Since the demographic and country of origin composition of the asylum seeker
population changes continuously, attitudes toward asylum seekers reflect a view of a larger collec-
tive, rather than of a specific groups. In an attempt to understand the sources of these attitudes, this
study also examines the differences at local and national levels. A first of its kind, this study
employs locally conducted surveys to investigate the sources of attitudes toward asylum seekers in
a small local context. The article uses a representative sample of more than 1,600 residents aged 16
to 80, who live within 10 km of an ASC.
ADMISSION OF ASYLUM SEEKERS
The policy of dispersing asylum seekers in rural areas aims to facilitate the reception of asylum
seekers upon arrival. The location of ASCs is often determined through negotiations between
municipalities and the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA). For a
municipality, hosting an ASC brings powerful incentives. ASCs are often both big employers
and customers of locally produced goods and services. In the Netherlands, plans to open an
ASC can trigger strong resistance in some locations, as residents express concerns about the
potentially detrimental effects of newcomers on their local community. Local and national media
have broadcast opposition actions by local groups, such as heated discussions during public
information evenings, throwing eggs at local politicians or even setting fire to the ASC site.
These reports are influential in shaping public opinion, but how small local communities really
feel and react to the arrival of an ASC has not been scientifically documented or assessed. Lub-
bers et al. (2006) studied the drivers behind objections to ASCs, using hypothetical questions.
They report that there is a stronger objection to large centres compared to small centres. In gen-
eral, responders with lower education levels show stronger opposition regardless of centre size,
while people with higher incomes are more likely to object to large centres. This study also
finds effects of neighbourhood conditions. Neighbourhoods with higher real estate values and
municipalities with a higher share of low income residents appear to object more strongly to
small centres.
Strikingly, local resident resistance usually fades away over time once an ASC is established. To
explore this apparent paradox, this paper zooms into the attitudes of small local communities
toward ASCs and asylum seekers after the centre is established and explores how the attitudes of
local communities are shaped. What are the sources of negative and positive attitudes? Local resi-
dents bear direct social burdens by sharing the available resources (services and space) and face
potential nuisances due to a relatively large asylum seeker population. The forced idleness of asy-
lum seekers, who are mostly young men, further exasperates the situation. Contrary to the costs,
Attitudes toward Asylum Seekers in Small Local Communities 15
©2016 The Author. International Migration published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of
International Organization for Migration.
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