Politicisation of Immigration in Portugal between 1995 and 2014: A Case of Extreme Depoliticisation

Portugal as a Southern European country is often regarded as part of an exceptional context within the continent that is classified as an “el dorado” for illegal immigration. Thereby, Portugal has been recurrently characterized by the intense tolerance towards irregular inflows coupled with weak border controls. Within this context, this investigation will explore the politicization of immigration in Portugal by exploring the political claims found in the national media. This paper will empirically explore the salience of the political claims, the political actors who made the claims, the levels of polarization within the identified claims, and the frames employed within these claims. To conduct the proposed analysis, articles from two Portuguese newspapers (one tabloid and one quality newspaper) were selected on a random sample of days between 1995 and 2014. The research will highlight the feeble salience attached to immigration control and the integration of immigrants in the Portuguese political debate. Furthermore, the absence of political polarization over these issues and the hegemony of universal principles are also highlighted by this investigation. These trends confirm the perception of Portugal as an exceptional case within the wider European context due to the extreme tolerance towards immigration and the de-politicization of this topic in comparison with other European counterparts.