The spectre of ‘remigration’ is haunting Europe. Slovenia in 1992 gives us a blueprint for this state terror
In February that year, the Slovenian government officially deleted 25,000 citizens, turning them overnight into illegal immigrants
TL;DR
- In 1992, Slovenia deleted 1.3% of its citizenry, transforming permanent residents born in other parts of former Yugoslavia into illegal immigrants overnight.
- These individuals lost citizenship, residency rights, healthcare, and pensions without prior notification or appeal, in a move to ethnically cleanse Slovenia.
- Many 'erased' individuals lived in hiding, worked illegally, and faced severe hardship, with some losing their homes and possessions.
- A 1998 ruling declared the erasure unconstitutional, but the struggle for rights restoration and compensation has been a long and arduous process.
- The Slovenian event is presented as a blueprint for a bureaucratic form of state terror, with parallels drawn to the UK's Windrush generation and US immigration policies.