Excluding entire ethno-religious immigrant groups at the borders of European countries: Integration policies versus welfare policies

Levels of exclusion of ethno-religious immigrants among the majority population vary strongly across European countries. This study addresses the question whether these variations are related to differences in immigrant integration policies and welfare policies across Europe. We argue that both policies need to be considered simultaneously, given the development of integration policies within historical frameworks of pre-existing welfare regimes, and expect that policies may set intergroup norms discouraging exclusion of ethno-religious immigrants. Additionally, we hypothesize that exclusionism-reducing impact of governmental policies might be weaker for people in economic precarious positions as compared to their more privileged counterparts, because people in such precarious positions face more intergroup competition. Using data from the European Social Survey, enriched with information on immigrant integration policies and welfare policies related to the labour market, our findings show that exposure to more welcoming integration policies is substantially and significantly negatively associated with exclusion of ethno-religious immigrants. However, this is not the case for welfare policies: although we also find a negative association with exclusion of ethno-religious immigrants, it is non-significant. Moreover, we find that the negative association between exposure to more welcoming integration policies and exclusion of immigrants is equally strong for people in precarious situations versus those in non-precarious situations.