Last week, Republican Ohio gubernatorial hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy challenged other Republicans over their idea that ancestry or heritage is what makes someone truly American.“The idea that a ‘heritage American’ is more American than another American is un-American at its core,” Ramaswamy, who was born to Indian immigrant parents, said during Turning Point USA’s annual conference.Remigration — once a fringe far-right notion advocating the deportation of ethnic minorities — is now gaining traction in United States Republican circles as President Donald Trump’s second term enters the final weeks of its first year.Earlier this year, reports said that the US State Department was considering creating a department of remigration. A few months later, the Department of Homeland Security posted in favour of remigration online.But it is not just American far-right figures evoking the idea of remigration; European far-right leaders are also joining in.Here is a closer look at what remigration means and what its origins are.What is remigration?Broadly, remigration refers to when an immigrant voluntarily returns to their country of origin.However, in the context of far-right movements, remigration is a method of ethnic cleansing.For white ethnonationalists, remigration is a process through which all non-white people are forcibly removed from traditionally white countries.What are the origins of remigration?Ideas of remigrat …
