"Next, we will create a modern immigration law"
About this Quote
A bland promise with a sharpened edge: “Next, we will create a modern immigration law” isn’t trying to inspire so much as to reframe the political battlefield. Schroder’s intent is managerial and sequential. “Next” signals a governing agenda with items in a queue, not a moral crusade. It implies competence, momentum, and the authority of an executive who expects the state to be able to act.
“Modern” does the real work. It’s a legitimizing adjective that smuggles in judgment: whatever exists now is outdated, clumsy, or hypocritical. In Germany, that subtext lands on a long-standing tension between economic reality and national self-description. For decades the country insisted it was not an “immigration country” even as it relied on migrant labor and built a society where millions lived with precarious status. Calling for a “modern” law positions Schroder as the one willing to align policy with facts on the ground - and it nudges critics into the role of defenders of the obsolete.
The phrase also preemptively depoliticizes a volatile issue by treating it as administrative design: a law to be created, tuned, updated. That’s strategic in a climate where immigration debates easily slide into identity panic. By emphasizing “law,” Schroder centers order, rules, and state control - a quiet reassurance to anxious voters that openness will be regulated, not chaotic. The line’s power is its restraint: it offers change while sounding like maintenance, making a potentially explosive shift feel like overdue governance.
“Modern” does the real work. It’s a legitimizing adjective that smuggles in judgment: whatever exists now is outdated, clumsy, or hypocritical. In Germany, that subtext lands on a long-standing tension between economic reality and national self-description. For decades the country insisted it was not an “immigration country” even as it relied on migrant labor and built a society where millions lived with precarious status. Calling for a “modern” law positions Schroder as the one willing to align policy with facts on the ground - and it nudges critics into the role of defenders of the obsolete.
The phrase also preemptively depoliticizes a volatile issue by treating it as administrative design: a law to be created, tuned, updated. That’s strategic in a climate where immigration debates easily slide into identity panic. By emphasizing “law,” Schroder centers order, rules, and state control - a quiet reassurance to anxious voters that openness will be regulated, not chaotic. The line’s power is its restraint: it offers change while sounding like maintenance, making a potentially explosive shift feel like overdue governance.
Quote Details
| Topic | Human Rights |
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