Remigration: an empty slogan or mass deportation in disguise?
Annalisa Camilli és Gian-Paolo Accardo írása /VOXEUROP/
“Remigration”: an empty slogan or mass deportations in disguise?
Used by groups on the far-right to indicate “reverse migration”, the
term remigration has gained popularity in recent years, and disguises
the desire to deport “unassimilable” foreigners to combat a mythical
“great replacement.”
Published on 19 September 2025
By Annalisa Camilli , Gian-Paolo Accardo
Translated by Ciarán Lawless
Statement to be verified: It is possible to expel from all foreign
nationals from a country’s territory, including asylum seekers and
those who are not assimilable.
Context: Coined in France at the end of the last century and regaining
popularity in recent years among members of the radical right, the
concept of “remigration” has entered the vocabulary of several
European nationalist-populist and identitarian leaders. The term
refers to the voluntary or forced return of foreigners, people of foreign
origin, or asylum seekers who are unable to integrate and thus tend to
pollute the host population.
On 6 September in Grosseto, Italy, at its national festival, the far-
right movement CasaPound announced that it would launch an Italian
platform for “remigration”, in opposition to “mass immigration” and
in defence of “national identity.”
For years, the term remigration has been at the centre of the slogans
used by the European and international far right, but recently it has
also entered the vocabulary of Italian political leaders. Literally , the
term means “reverse migration”, but in reality it means “forced return
to the country of origin.”
The Italian journalist Valerio Renzi, expert in the far-right and author
of the book Le radici profonde: La destra italiana e la questione
culturale (“Deep Roots: The Italian Right and the Cultural Question,”
Fandango, 2025), explains that the word first circulated among the
French far right in the 1990s, but has recently found a footing in other
countries.
In Austria , the term has been revived by the leader of the Identitarian
Movement, Martin Sellner. In Germany , the online newspaper
Correctiv revealed a meeting that took place in November
2023 gathering a group of right-wing extremists, ethno-nationalist
ideologues, high-ranking representatives of Alternative für
Deutschland (AfD, far right), members of the Christian Democratic
Union (CDU, conservative), entrepreneurs and lawyers, who discussed
the “general concept of remigration.” The revelations sparked a wave
of outrage and a large civil protest movement.
In Italy , the term been gaining currency since January 2025, following
reports of sexual harassment by young men of foreign origin,
derogatorily referred to in dialect as maranza, filed by several female
tourists on New Year's Eve in Piazza Duomo, Milan.
More : Greece’s smuggling crackdown: are refugees carrying the can?
“From that moment on, all the right-wing media outlets in Italy –
newspapers and TV stations – have been talking about it. Within a few
weeks, the word spread, even though it is yet to appear in the
platforms of institutional right-wing parties,” says Renzi. That said,
the term has, for example , been used by Andrea Delmastro, Fratelli
d'Italia’s undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice.
On 26 July, a network of far-right parties marched in Vienna using this
exact term, in a demonstration organised by Danish militants who in
mid-July climbed onto the roof of a mosque in Copenhagen with a
banner calling for the expulsion of foreigners and an end to the
Islamisation of Denmark .
The network that participated in the Vienna event is the same that
met in Italy on 17 May at Remigration Summit 25. “The global forum
was held in Gallarate, near Milan,” explains Renzi. “The organisers thought that it would be fertile ground for this kind of propaganda. No
prominent figures from the Italian scene actually participated in the
forum, but in the meantime, CasaPound has begun its own parallel
campaign centred on this term, which will lead to the launch of the
Italian platform at the national festival in September.”
Presenting the Gallarate summit, Martin Sellner, one of the event's
organizers, said on his social media accounts: “In recent days, the left-
wing media has helped us publicize this summit, and tomorrow
millions of Italians will hear about remigration.”
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Speakers at the event in May included Lena Kotre of the AfD, John
McLoughlin of the Irish National Party, Belgian political scientist
Dries Van Langenhove, and other figures linked to identitarian and
neo-fascist pressure groups. In Italy, it is mainly members of the Lega
party who use the word remigration.
For example, at the Gallarate summit General Roberto Vannacci, MEP
and deputy secretary of Lega, said in a video message: “I am sorry I
cannot be with you in person for this important event, but I want to
make my voice heard and give my full support. The issue you are
addressing today is one that demands courage, but it is necessary, and
above all, it is an issue that has been absent from the debate for too
long: remigration.”
According to Vannacci, remigration is not a slogan, but has concrete
meaning: “returning to their countries of origin those who do not
respect our laws, who reject our values and despise our culture.”
A misleading concept
The term is used by far-right groups in support of a conspiracy theory,
that of ethnic replacement or “great replacement”, and to mask
deportation with a euphemism, i.e., a practice that is illegal in Europe,
involving the arbitrary, forced transfer of foreign nationals to other
countries. In Italy in 2025, the term was introduced as a new term in
the authoritative Treccani dictionary.
“Its success is due to the European identitarian network in Central
Europe. But it only exploded when Donald Trump used it in his
election campaign against Kamala Harris,” explains Renzi. In Europe,
this network’s main ideologue is the Austrian Sellner, whose
book Remigration will be published in Italy in September by a Tuscan
publishing house close to Fratelli d'Italia , Prime minister Giorgia
Meloni 's political party.
More : Migration and sexist or sexual violence: is there a correlation?
Then there was the role of the AfD, which has run election campaigns
based on this word since 2023. That year in Germany , the word was
voted Unwort des Jahres , “non-word of the year,” meaning the most
misleading and dehumanising term according to the group of linguists
gathered in the Unwort-Aktion initiative. “But right now, the AfD itself
is considering abandoning that slogan, because it appears to be too
divisive and frightening. There is a debate within the party about this,”
explains Renzi.
In Greece , where the far right has no problem talking about the
“deportation” of migrants, the concept of remigration does not seem to
have taken root and is mainly mentioned in media reports on the
activities of the European radical right. In France “remigration” has
been primarily promoted by the identitarian movement, starting with
Bloc/Génération identitaire.
The term is used by far-right groups in support of
the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, and to
mask deportation, a practice that is illegal in
Europe
The latter introduced the term into public discourse in 2014, with the
idea of sending some immigrants and their descendants back to their
countries of origin. In 2022, the far-right presidential candidate Eric
Zemmour made it a policy proposal, even announcing a ministry of
remigration during his election campaign. French media and
researchers link remigration to the great replacement conspiracy
theory, emphasising its propagandistic use in far-right circles.
In contrast, France's leading and potentially governing party, Marine
Le Pen and Jordan Bardella's Rassemblement National (RN, far right),
avoids the term remigration as part of its legitimisation
strategy ("dédiabolisation", or “de-demonization,” as it is called in
France), while also supporting tough measures on immigration
(restrictions on birthright citizenship, referendums, preference for
French citizens in access to public services, expulsions of foreign
criminals). On several occasions, the RN has preferred to talk about
“immigration de peuplement” – immigration for population growth –
without adopting remigration as a slogan.
More : Lea Ypi on the left’s ‘dangerous illusion that getting tough on
migration can win back support’
On the other hand, the term is widely used by the national-feminist
collective Nemesis, whose campaigns focus on what they identify as
the essential issue in the fight for the defense of women's rights, and
against sexist and sexual violence: “viol de prédation” (predatory
rape), or violence against women in public spaces. According to their
data – which has been widely debunked and contextualised – this violence is mainly perpetrated by men of foreign origin, who should
thus be deported. “Remigration brings peace” is a phrase that regularly
appears in their posts on Instagram or X, and other communications.
What are right-wing parties proposing with the term remigration? The
expulsion of all irregular immigrants, but also of all those who are
“unassimilable,” a very vaguely defined category that can be
interpreted in a more or less restrictive manner. “Obviously, this
would mean mass deportations of people who have been living in our
countries for a long time,” explains Renzi. Furthermore, these groups'
idea is to move foreigners en masse not only to their countries of
origin, but to third countries with which they have no connection.
In practice, this would be impractical and contrary to the fundamental
laws of European countries – for the time being – but the intention is
to move the needle in terms of what can be discussed and
implemented in immigration policy. “In fact,” explains Renzi, “it is a
further legitimisation of a racist approach to migration policy.”
