Around 9,500 people were deported from Switzerland by air last year - 1,500 more than in 2010 (Keystone

Swiss immigration policy and the deportation of undesirables are hot topics in a country where one in five people is a foreigner. While some have committed crimes, the reasons why others are being expelled are not always as clear-cut.

In 2010, four years after changing the legislation on asylum and foreign residents, the Swiss electorate accepted a controversial deportation initiative. The rightwing proposal aimed to automatically deport foreign nationals convicted of particular crimes. These include sex crimes, robbery, drug dealing and social welfare abuse.

Capturing the intent of the initiative in a piece of legislation is turning out to be more of a problem. And not just because the text may conflict with constitutional provisions and international agreements to which Switzerland subscribes.

There is uneasiness about the fact that the list of crimes mentioned in the initiative is quite a mixed bag. Potentially, it might include less serious offences like breaking and entering.

While on the one hand crime statistics seem to support the views of hardliners (see graphic), on the other, voices are being raised against xenophobic hysteria that would want to criminalise – and therefore deport – people who are not criminals at all. But who are the foreign nationals who actually get expelled from Switzerland?

“There are two distinct groups: asylum seekers, and those whose cases are governed by the federal legislation on foreign nationals,” explained Hendrick Krauskopf, an expert on deportation procedures at the Federal Migration Office.

The Migration Office only deals with asylum seekers. It leaves it to the cantons to handle deportation of foreigners who have failed to comply with regulations on entry and residence in Switzerland.

Voluntary departures

In 2011 deportees leaving Switzerland by air numbered 9,461 (8,059 in 2010). More than two-thirds of these departures (6,669) slotted into the asylum category. “These were asylum seekers who got an adverse decision or who failed to qualify for further consideration of their application,” said Krauskopf.

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http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Swiss_wrestle_with_expelling_undesirables.html?cid=32659476