Migrant—The Hot Commodity of the Election Market
But if Pezeshkian or Qalibaf wins, it seems likely they will tear down the poetic and delicate constructions of “Kabul, Tehran, and Samarqand” and replace them with tall walls
By Ali Kiyan
These days, with the presidential campaign season in Iran and the United States in full swing, migrants have become the most readily available tool to keep the campaign fires burning. As the saying goes, “a bird that can be slaughtered at both weddings and funerals.”
Among the six candidates in Iran’s presidential election, at least two (Qalibaf and Pezeshkian) have made their primary campaign promise to the people the closing of the eastern borders (the border with Afghanistan) and the expulsion of migrants and refugees from Iran
On another continent, U.S. President Joe Biden, a long-time adversary of Iran, is also aiming to stoke his campaign fire with the fuel of migrants, but in a different way! Unlike the Iranian presidential candidates, whose election gift is expulsion and wall-building, Biden plans to grant American citizenship to half a million immigrants and refugees through an executive order.
Although Biden’s promise seems at least outwardly more humane, it is still not a favor to migrants and refugees. The refugees remain the hot commodity of the election market, so legally eligible refugees would gain U.S. citizenship without this order anyway, but this decree speeds up the process, yielding more votes in favor of the issuer.
For now, I am not concerned with the U.S. election, which is further away and has less immediate impact on other nations, including ours
However, in Iran, where our society has the most migrants, it is uncertain what the consequences will be for Afghanistan, especially for its immigrants, if any of the four other candidates wins the election. But if Pezeshkian or Qalibaf wins, it seems likely they will tear down the poetic and delicate constructions of “Kabul, Tehran, and Samarqand” and replace them with tall walls. We shall see what happens.
