The Model Immigrant: A Paradigm Shift on Immigration

Fidelma Kirstein Brazilian Immigration Card // Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

'Without immigrants there would be no NHS.' This was perhaps the most popular rebuttal to the far-right rhetoric dispelled during the July riots. This is indeed true: immigrants comprise 19% of all NHS staff, nearly 27% when nurses are excluded from the data. 'Sending immigrants back' would undoubtedly leave the NHS in shambles. 

However, embedded within this well-intentioned rebuttal is a rather interesting underlying implication; immigrants cannot be conceptualised separably from their social value. 

In other words, as an immigrant, it is not enough to simply exist and expect to be tolerated. To deserve your statesmanship, you ought to be making some meaningful contribution. As an immigrant, you earn your belonging, through social capital, through your job, your economic contributions, or your status. This narrative, prominent in mainstream liberal media, is undeniably sinister. 

The popular film 'The Swimmers' depicts this well. The film follows Yusra Mardini, a Syrian refugee who pulls off an astonishing rescue, swimming herself and other refugees to safety after their boat capsizes. Mardini is graciously granted a chance at ‘the good life; thanks to her athletic prowess - prowess that allows her to become an Olympian. Her fortunate escape from the raw feelings all too familiar to immigrants - anguish, liminality, an acute lack of any sense of belonging - hinges entirely on her social capital. Mardini’s success and contentment is contingent solely on her exceptional swimming abilities. 

So whilst social capital provides a sense of agency for immigrants, a way to reclaim their sense of self and 'climb' the socioeconomic ladder, the insinuation that immigrants must have 'valuable' assets to be deemed deserving of a chance at ‘the good life’ is grossly unfair. Why should an immigrant doctor's citizenship be perceived as more 'valid' than that of an immigrant taxi driver? 

The idea that only immigrants with exceptional social capital should be accepted into a polity has engendered a twisted concept: the 'model' immigrant. The 'model' immigrant is a working professional in a high paying position. They work harder - they have that 'immigrant drive' - meaning late nights in the office, long after their white colleagues have gone home, are a given. The 'model' immigrant is lauded by the natives - they are seen but never heard, and possess exceptional abilities, of which they do not flaunt. 

Hashi Mohamed, a poor, black immigrant turned successful barrister, embodies the shortcomings of the long-touted 'model immigrant'. Whilst Mohamed concedes that he worked hard to achieve his success, he is cognisant that his social mobility a) would be extremely difficult to recreate in the current political epoch of stagnated social mobility, and b) is 'an anomaly'. What he means by this is that the privilege of social mobility and belonging is only afforded to a select few immigrants, to the most exceptional and intelligent few.

The possibility of belonging, of climbing the social ladder, should not be a privilege accessible only to those who earn it. Immigrants should be conferred equal opportunities regardless of their social status, of their exceptional abilities, or of their social capital. The privilege of social mobility should not preclude large swatches of the immigrant population, nor should society only deem them 'worthy' of integration if they meet a certain IQ threshold, or display exceptional athletic abilities. Immigrants should be permitted to exist without the constant fear that their acceptability stems from their social capital. Perpetual excellence should not be a prerequisite for equal treatment and respect.