Large scale remigration is possible
A curated history of population transfers from 1900 to the present
In Western countries there is a broad sentiment that one cannot really just expel a bunch of foreigners. Sometimes, this is just a legal claim that this would not currently be possible under existing national laws. This is not much of an objection because of course such laws change all the time. Sometimes the claim is that it is not possible under currently signed treaties or other international law. Well, one can just violate treaties, which countries do all the time and usually nothing happens. For instance, lots of countries are parties to and have ratified the 1961 UN treaty Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. This treaty stipulates various drugs that must be banned. It contains among others this clause:
"cultivation, production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, possession, offering, offering for sale, distribution, purchase, sale, delivery on any terms whatsoever, brokerage, dispatch, dispatch in transit, transport, importation and exportation of drugs contrary to the provisions of this Convention,"
So clearly, one cannot just refrain from legalizing such drugs, right? Well, the Netherlands is a party to this treaty and has ratified it as well. However, this is what cannabis enforcement looks like in this otherwise rule-abiding country:
Naturally, the governing body of this treaty has criticized Netherlands for blatantly violating the letter and spirit of the law. The consequences of this has been... nothing. One can easily find writings of UN representatives complaining that this or that country do not follow this or that treaty.
OK, so maybe violating random treaties do not always result in something bad, and in any case, there's no world police to enforce this. But a simpler idea is just to quit whatever treaty that is legally inconsistent with whatever law one wants to implement, so it is clearly not impossible in any sense.
What about practically impossible? Sure, the Netherlands is about 75% Dutch at this point (maybe less), so is it really feasible to expel 4.5 million people? Some say this is not possible, but that ignores historical precedents. Since many of these are never mentioned, I thought it would be useful to have a curated history of such examples. I've included only examples from relatively recent history, 1900-present.
Jews out of Muslim lands 1900-present
The Jewish exodus from the Muslim world occurred during the 20th century, when approximately 900,000 Jews migrated, fled, or were expelled from Muslim-majority countries throughout Africa and Asia, primarily as a consequence of the establishment of the State of Israel. Large-scale migrations were also organized, sponsored, and facilitated by Zionist organizations such as Mossad LeAliyah Bet, the Jewish Agency, and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. The mass movement mainly transpired from 1948 to the early 1970s, with one final exodus of Iranian Jews occurring shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979–1980. An estimated 650,000 (72%) of these Jews resettled in Israel.[1]
A number of small-scale Jewish migrations began across the Middle East in the early 20th century, with the only substantial aliyot (Jewish immigrations to the Land of Israel) coming from Yemen and Syria.[2] Few Jews from Muslim countries immigrated during the British Mandate for Palestine.[3] Prior to Israel's independence in 1948, approximately 800,000 Jews were living on lands that now make up the Arab world. Of these, just under two-thirds lived in the French- and Italian-controlled regions of North Africa, 15–20% lived in the Kingdom of Iraq, approximately 10% lived in the Kingdom of Egypt, and approximately 7% lived in the Aden Protectorate and the Kingdom of Yemen. A further 200,000 Jews lived in the Imperial State of Iran and the Republic of Turkey. The first large-scale exoduses took place in the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from Iraq, Yemen, and Libya. In these cases, over 90% of the Jewish population left, leaving their assets and properties behind.[4] Between 1948 and 1951, 250,000 Jews immigrated to Israel from Arab countries.[5] In response, the Israeli government implemented policies to accommodate 600,000 immigrants over four years, doubling the country's Jewish population.[6] Reactions in the Knesset were mixed; in addition to some Israeli officials, there were those within the Jewish Agency who opposed promoting a large-scale emigration movement among Jews whose lives were not in immediate danger.[6]
Turkey-Greece 1923
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey[a] stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at Lausanne, Switzerland, on 30 January 1923, by the governments of Greece and Turkey. It involved at least 1.6 million people (1,221,489 Greek Orthodox from Asia Minor, Eastern Thrace, the Pontic Alps and the Caucasus, and 355,000–400,000 Muslims from Greece),[2] most of whom were forcibly made refugees and de jure denaturalized from their homelands.
Mexicans out of USA 1929-1939
The Mexican Repatriation was the repatriation, deportation, and expulsion of Mexicans and Mexican Americans from the United States during the Great Depression between 1929 and 1939.[1][2][3] Estimates of how many were repatriated, deported, or expelled range from 300,000 to 2 million (of which 40–60% were citizens of the United States, overwhelmingly children).
Poles out of Nazi Germany 1939-1944
The Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany during World War II was a massive operation consisting of the forced resettlement of over 1.7 million Poles from the territories of German-occupied Poland, with the aim of their Germanization (see Lebensraum) between 1939 and 1944.
The German Government had plans for the extensive colonisation of territories of occupied Poland, which were annexed directly into Nazi Germany in 1939. Eventually these plans grew bigger to include parts of the General Government. The region was to become a "purely German area" within 15–20 years, as explained by Adolf Hitler in March 1941. By that time the General Government was to be cleared of 15 million Polish nationals, and resettled by 4–5 million ethnic Germans.[1]
Soviet Union 1930-53
From 1930 to 1952, the government of the Soviet Union, on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and under the direction of the NKVD official Lavrentiy Beria, forcibly transferred populations of various groups. These actions may be classified into the following broad categories: deportations of "anti-Soviet" categories of population (often classified as "enemies of the people"), deportations of entire nationalities, labor force transfer, and organized migrations in opposite directions to fill ethnically cleansed territories. Dekulakization marked the first time that an entire class was deported, whereas the deportation of Soviet Koreans in 1937 marked the precedent of a specific ethnic deportation of an entire nationality.[9]
In most cases, their destinations were underpopulated remote areas (see Forced settlements in the Soviet Union). This includes deportations to the Soviet Union of non-Soviet citizens from countries outside the USSR. It has been estimated that, in their entirety, internal forced migrations affected at least 6 million people.[6][10][11][12] Of this total, 1.8 million kulaks were deported in 1930–31, 1.0 million peasants and ethnic minorities in 1932–39, whereas about 3.5 million ethnic minorities were further resettled during 1940–52.[12]
Stalin was a big fan of moving people around for political reasons. For instance, thousands of Lithuanians ended up in far east Russia:
Germans out of Italy (or become Italians) 1939
In June 1939, the Nazi regime in Germany and the fascist regime in Italy signed the Option Agreement.[3]
On 21 October 1939, Adolf Hitler and Mussolini reached agreement on the assimilation of the ethnic German minorities in the province. The members of these two language communities had to choose by 31 December 1939 between remaining in Italy and losing all minority rights, or emigrating to Nazi Germany, the so-called "Option für Deutschland" (option for Germany).
Around 70% of the population opted for emigration; they were called Optanten and banded together in the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Optanten für Deutschland (Association of Optants for Germany). Those who chose to stay, called Dableiber, mainly banded together around local Catholic priests. The Völkischer Kampfring, a local Nazi organization, condemned the Dableiber as "traitors", comparing them to "Jews" or "Gypsies", and was responsible for aggressive propaganda, violence and terror acts against them.[4] The Option destroyed many families and the development of the economy of the province was set back for many years.[citation needed]
Germans in East Europe 1944-1950
Between 1944 and 1948, millions of people, including ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) and German citizens (Reichsdeutsche), were permanently or temporarily moved from Central and Eastern Europe. By 1950, about 12 million[4] Germans had fled or been expelled from east-central Europe into Allied-occupied Germany and Austria. The West German government put the total at 14.6 million,[5] including a million ethnic Germans who had settled in territories conquered by Nazi Germany during World War II, ethnic German migrants to Germany after 1950, and the children born to expelled parents. The largest numbers came from former eastern territories of Germany ceded to the Polish People's Republic and Soviet Union (about seven million),[6][7] and from Czechoslovakia (about three million).
The explicit goal of expulsion of Germans following world war 2 was:
The creation of ethnically homogeneous nation states in Central and Eastern Europe[53] was presented as the key reason for the official decisions of the Potsdam and previous Allied conferences as well as the resulting expulsions.[54] The principle of every nation inhabiting its own nation state gave rise to a series of expulsions and resettlements of Germans, Poles, Ukrainians and others who after the war found themselves outside their supposed home states.[65][55] The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey lent legitimacy to the concept. Churchill cited the operation as a success in a speech discussing the German expulsions.[66][67]
This makes a lot of sense because after all, Hitler had invaded Czechslovakia because they had a lot of German people residing (Sudetenland).
Poles into new Poland 1944-1946
Related to above, since the map of Poland was redrawn by the victors of world war 2, a lot of them had to move out of Lithuania, Ukraine and others. Wikipedia:
The ethnic displacement of Poles (and also of ethnic Germans) was agreed between the Allied leaders Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, Franklin D. Roosevelt of the U.S., and Joseph Stalin of the USSR, during the conferences at Tehran and Yalta. The Polish transfers were among the largest of several post-war expulsions in Central and Eastern Europe, which displaced a total of about 20 million people.
According to official data, during the state-controlled expulsion between 1945 and 1946, roughly 1,167,000 Poles left the westernmost republics of the Soviet Union, less than 50% of those who registered for population transfer. Another major ethnic Polish transfer took place after Stalin's death, in 1955–1959.[3]
Italians 1943-1960
Wikipedia:
The Istrian–Dalmatian exodus (Italian: esodo giuliano dalmata; Slovene: istrsko-dalmatinski eksodus; Croatian: istarsko-dalmatinski egzodus) was the post-World War II exodus and departure of local ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians) as well as ethnic Slovenes and Croats from Yugoslavia. The emigrants, who had lived in the now Yugoslav territories of the Julian March (Karst Region and Istria), Kvarner and Dalmatia, largely went to Italy, but some joined the Italian diaspora in the Americas, Australia and South Africa.[1][2] These regions were ethnically mixed, with long-established historic Croatian, Italian, and Slovene communities. After World War I, the Kingdom of Italy annexed Istria, Kvarner, the Julian March and parts of Dalmatia including the city of Zadar. At the end of World War II, under the Allies' Treaty of Peace with Italy, the former Italian territories in Istria, Kvarner, the Julian March and Dalmatia were assigned to now Communist-helmed Federal Yugoslavia, except for the Province of Trieste. The former territories absorbed into Yugoslavia are part of present-day Croatia and Slovenia.
According to various sources, the exodus is estimated to have amounted to between 230,000 and 350,000 Italians (the others being ethnic Slovenes and Croats who chose to maintain Italian citizenship)[3] leaving the areas in the aftermath of the conflict.[4][5] The exodus started in 1943 and ended completely only in 1960. According to the census organized in Croatia in 2001 and that organized in Slovenia in 2002, the Italians who remained in the former Yugoslavia amounted to 21,894 people (2,258 in Slovenia and 19,636 in Croatia).[6][7]
Albanians out of Greece 1944-1945
The Cham issue is a controversy which has been raised by Albania since the 1990s over the repatriation of the Cham Albanians, who were expelled from the Greek region of Epirus between 1944 and 1945, at the end of World War II, citing the collaboration of the majority of them with the occupying forces of the Axis powers.[1][2] While Albania believes that the issue should be re-opened, Greece considers the matter closed. However, it was agreed that a bilateral commission should be created, but only in regard to the issue of property, as a technical problem. The commission was established in 1999, but has not yet functioned.[3]
Czechoslovakia-Hungary transfers 1945
The Czechoslovak–Hungarian population exchange was the exchange of inhabitants between Czechoslovakia and Hungary after World War II.[1] Between 45,000[2][3] and 120,000[4][5] Hungarians were forcibly transferred from Czechoslovakia to Hungary, and their properties confiscated, while around 72,000 Slovaks voluntarily transferred from Hungary to Czechoslovakia.
Japanese out of China 1945
The Japanese repatriation from Huludao (Japanese: 葫蘆島在留日本人大送還, Hepburn: Koro-tō Zairyū Nihonjin Dai-sōkan, Chinese: 葫芦岛日侨大遣返) refers to sending the Japanese people who were left in Northeast China after the end of World War II in 1945 back to Japan. Over one million Japanese were taken back to Japan from 1946 to 1948 by the American forces' ships under the auspices of the Republic of China government.
Germans out of the Netherlands 1945
Wikipedia:
Operation Black Tulip was a plan proposed in 1945, just after the end of World War II, by the Dutch minister of Justice Hans Kolfschoten to forcibly deport all Germans from the Netherlands. The operation lasted from 1946 to 1948 and in total 3,691 Germans (15% of the German residents in the Netherlands) were deported.
Palestinians 1946-present
Palestinians have been in a state of quasi-constant warfare with Israel since the inception of Israel. Hundreds of 1000s of them have been expelled so far, and probably more to come. First following the loss in the 1948 war (700k), 1949-1956 another 35k as a follow-up, then another 300k in 1967 following another defeat in war, and so on to the present, where following the big Hamas attack on October 7th 2023 (another military defeat), Israel is pondering to move out the Gaza strip residents. Historically, it looks like this:
Ukrainians out of Poland 1947
Related to the drawing of the Polish-Ukrainian borders, Poles were moved to Poland, and Ukrainians to Ukraine. Wikipedia:
Operation Vistula (Polish: Akcja Wisła; Ukrainian: Опера́ція «Ві́сла») was the codename for the 1947 forced resettlement of close to 150,000 Ukrainians (including Rusyns, Boykos, and Lemkos) from the southeastern provinces of postwar Poland to the Recovered Territories in the west of the country. The action was carried out by the Soviet-installed Polish communist authorities to remove material support to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.[1][2] The Ukrainian Insurgent Army continued its guerrilla activities until 1947 in Subcarpathian and Lublin Voivodeships with no hope for any peaceful resolution; Operation Vistula brought an end to the hostilities.[3]
India-Pakistan transfers 1947-1951
The majority of Hindu and Sikh Punjabi refugees from West Punjab were settled in Delhi and East Punjab (including Haryana and Himachal Pradesh). Delhi received the largest number of refugees for a single city, with the population of Delhi showing an increase from under 1 million (917,939) in the Census of India, 1941, to a little less than 2 million (1,744,072) in the 1951 Census, despite a large number of Muslims leaving Delhi in 1947 to go to Pakistan whether voluntarily or by coercion.[177] The incoming refugees were housed in various historical and military locations such as the Purana Qila, Red Fort, and military barracks in Kingsway Camp (around the present Delhi University). The latter became the site of one of the largest refugee camps in northern India, with more than 35,000 refugees at any given time besides Kurukshetra camp near Panipat. The campsites were later converted into permanent housing through extensive building projects undertaken by the Government of India from 1948 onwards. Many housing colonies in Delhi came up around this period, like Lajpat Nagar, Rajinder Nagar, Nizamuddin East, Punjabi Bagh, Rehgar Pura, Jangpura, and Kingsway Camp. Several schemes such as the provision of education, employment opportunities, and easy loans to start businesses were provided for the refugees at the all-India level.[178] Many Punjabi Hindu refugees were also settled in Cities of Western and Central Uttar Pradesh. A Colony consisting largely of Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus was also founded in Central Mumbai's Sion Koliwada region, and named Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar.[179]
Hindus fleeing from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were settled across Eastern, Central and Northeastern India, many ending up in neighbouring Indian states such as West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura. Substantial number of refugees were also settled in Madhya Pradesh (incl. Chhattisgarh) Bihar (incl. Jharkhand), Odisha and Andaman islands (where Bengalis today form the largest linguistic group)[180][181]
...
The 1951 Census of Pakistan recorded that the most significant number of Muslim refugees came from the East Punjab and nearby Rajputana states (Alwar and Bharatpur). They numbered 5,783,100 and constituted 80.1% of Pakistan's total refugee population.[185] This was the effect of the retributive ethnic cleansing on both sides of the Punjab where the Muslim population of East Punjab was forcibly expelled like the Hindu/Sikh population in West Punjab.
Migration from other regions of India were as follows: Bihar, West Bengal, and Orissa, 700,300 or 9.8%; UP and Delhi 464,200 or 6.4%; Gujarat and Bombay, 160,400 or 2.2%; Bhopal and Hyderabad 95,200 or 1.2%; and Madras and Mysore 18,000 or 0.2%.[185]
So far as their settlement in Pakistan is concerned, 97.4% of the refugees from East Punjab and its contiguous areas went to West Punjab; 95.9% from Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa to the erstwhile East Pakistan; 95.5% from UP and Delhi to West Pakistan, mainly in Karachi Division of Sindh; 97.2% from Bhopal and Hyderabad to West Pakistan, mainly Karachi; and 98.9% from Bombay and Gujarat to West Pakistan, largely to Karachi; and 98.9% from Madras and Mysore went to West Pakistan, mainly Karachi.[185]
West Punjab received the largest number of refugees (73.1%), mainly from East Punjab and its contiguous areas. Sindh received the second largest number of refugees, 16.1% of the total migrants, while the Karachi division of Sindh received 8.5% of the total migrant population. East Bengal received the third-largest number of refugees, 699,100, who constituted 9.7% of the total Muslim refugee population in Pakistan. 66.7% of the refugees in East Bengal originated from West Bengal, 14.5% from Bihar and 11.8% from Assam.[186]
Turks out of Bulgaria 1950-1951
During the Cold War in 1950–1951, hundreds of thousands of Turks left the territory of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. The expulsion was planned by the Bulgarian government before it began, and the reason was to secure its national borders and expel the Turkish population. Immigration of Pomaks was not allowed, as Bulgaria saw them as Muslim Bulgarians. The expulsion affected the economy of both countries, and according to some sources, it was caused because Turkey supported the US during the Korean War. An unknown number of Muslim Roma also wanted to leave Bulgaria, but Turkey did not allow them to cross the border. Although the Bulgarian government's first plan was to expel at least 250,000 Turks, they failed, and only 154,393 Turks left the country, which equaled 3% of the country's entire population. The reason for the end of the exodus was that Turkey closed its borders, as Bulgaria was giving visas not only to Turks, but also to people of Roma origin, and – according to Turkey – secret agents as well.[1] American historian Mary C. Neuburger described the exodus as "hurried, unorganized, and destructive both for the Turkish community and the Bulgarian economy."[2]
Mexicans out of USA 1954
In June, command teams of 12 Border Patrol agents, buses, planes, and temporary processing stations began locating, processing, and deporting Mexicans who had illegally entered the United States. A total of 750 immigration and border patrol officers and investigators; 300 jeeps, cars and buses; and seven airplanes were allocated for the operation.[34] Teams were focused on quick processing, as planes were able to coordinate with ground efforts and quickly deport people into Mexico.[35] Those deported were handed off to Mexican officials, who in turn moved them into central Mexico where there were many labor opportunities.[36] While the operation included the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago, its main targets were border areas in Texas and California.[35]
Overall, there were 1,074,277 "returns", defined as "confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable alien out of the United States not based on an order of removal" in the first year of Operation Wetback.[37] This included many workers without papers who fled to Mexico fearing arrest; over half a million from Texas alone.[38] The total number of sweeps fell to just 242,608 in 1955, and continuously declined each year until 1962, when there was a slight rise in apprehended workers.[39] Despite the decline in sweeps, the total number of Border Patrol agents more than doubled to 1,692 by 1962, and an additional plane was added to the force.[39]
Indians out of Burma 1962
After he seized power through a military coup in 1962, General Ne Win ordered a large-scale expulsion of Indians. Although many Indians had been living in Burma for generations and had integrated into Burmese society, they became a target for discrimination and oppression by the junta. This, along with a wholesale nationalisation of private ventures in 1964, led to the emigration of over 300,000 ethnic Indians from Burma.[24] Indian-owned businesses as well as Burmese businesses were nationalised due to the so-called "Burmese way to Socialism". Many Indians returned and were given 175 kyat for their trip to India. This caused a significant deterioration in Indian-Burmese relations and the Indian government arranged ferries and aircraft to lift Burmese of Indian ethnicity out of Burma.[28]
Cyprus 1963-1975
Turkey invaded Cyprus and eventually the war was a stalemate, so Greeks were moved south to the remaining Greek Cyprus and Turks north to the Turkish area. Wikipedia:
The Turkish Army and the Greek side conducted policies ethnic cleansing in the territories that came under their respective control.[4][5] Turkey was found guilty by the European Commission of Human Rights for displacement of persons, deprivation of liberty, ill treatment, deprivation of life and deprivation of possessions.[6] The Turkish policy of violently forcing a third of the island's Greek population from their homes in the occupied North, preventing their return and settling Turks from the mainland there is considered an example of ethnic cleansing.[7][8][9][10][11]
Ghana 1969-1970
I wrote a popular thread on this 2 days ago. The story:
The Aliens Compliance Order, announced on November 18, 1969, by the government of Ghana under Prime Minister Kofi Busia, marked a significant and controversial moment in the history of immigration and national identity in West Africa. This policy led to the mass expulsion of approximately 200,000 immigrants, predominantly Nigerians, from Ghana. The order was rooted in a complex interplay of economic, social, and political factors brewing for decades.
Historical Context
Throughout the early to mid-20th century, Ghana (then known as the Gold Coast) attracted many immigrants from neighbouring countries, particularly Nigeria.By 1931, Nigerians constituted the largest group of immigrants in Ghana, driven by economic opportunities in trade and agriculture.
This influx continued until the 1960s when the population of Nigerian immigrants propagated to about 191,000 by 1963 However, as Ghana faced economic challenges in the late 1960s, public sentiment began to shift against these immigrants.
Vietnamese out of Cambodia 1970
Communist Pol Pot seized power and wanted the Vietnamese out or killed. Wikipedia:
After the removal of Sihanouk from power in March 1970, the leader of the new Khmer Republic, Lon Nol, despite being anti-communist and ostensibly in the "pro-American" camp, backed the FULRO against all Vietnamese, both anti-communist South Vietnam and the communist Viet Cong. Following the 1970 coup, thousands of Vietnamese were massacred by forces of Lon Nol. Many of the dead were dumped in the Mekong River. 310,000 ethnic Vietnamese fled Cambodia as a result.[32] The Khmer Rouge would later murder the remaining Vietnamese in the country during their rule.[33]
Asians out of Uganda 1972
In early August 1972, the President of Uganda Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of his country's Indian minority, giving them 90 days to leave the country.[1][2] At the time, South Asians in East Africa were simply known as "Asians".[3] They had come to dominate trade under British colonial policies.[3]
The original August 4 order applied only to British subjects of South Asian origin, but was expanded on August 9 to citizens of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.[4] It was later expanded to include 20,000 Ugandan citizens of South Asian ethnicities (later rescinded).[4][3] At the time of the expulsion, there were about 80,000 individuals of Indian descent in Uganda, of whom 23,000 had their applications for citizenship both processed and accepted.[5][6][7] The expulsion took place against the backdrop of anti-Indian sentiment and black supremacy in Uganda, with Amin accusing a minority of the Indians of disloyalty, non-integration, and commercial malpractice, claims that Indian leaders disputed.[5] Amin defended the expulsion by arguing that he was "giving Uganda back to ethnic Ugandans".[6]
Nigeria 1983
The deportation of West African migrants from Nigeria occurred following a January 1983 executive order from President Shehu Shagari, which forced illegal immigrants to leave the country or face arrest. As a result of Shagari's order, over two million migrants were deported, including one million Ghanaian nationals.[1]
Many of the migrants had been attracted to Nigeria because of the 1970s oil boom, but by 1983 the economy had weakened.[2] Shagari's order was in alleged response to the religious disturbances that had engulfed parts of the country in 1980 (known as the Kano Riots) and 1981.[3] Prior to 1983, the expulsions of immigrants had occurred several times in West Africa for various reasons.[4][5] These include Ghana's deportation of Nigerians in 1954 and 1969 and Togo's deportation of nationals from Côte d'Ivoire, Dahomey, and Nigeria in 1958.[4][5]
Armenia and Aserbajdsjan 1988-1994
Following ethnic conflict, a population transfer was done. Wikipedia:
As a result of the conflict, approximately 724,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories, while 300,000–500,000 Armenians living in Azerbaijan or Armenian border areas were displaced.[34] After the end of the war and over a period of many years, regular peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan were mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group but failed to result in a peace treaty. This left the Nagorno-Karabakh area in a state of legal limbo, with the Republic of Artsakh remaining de facto independent but internationally unrecognized. Ongoing tensions persisted, with occasional outbreaks of armed clashes. Armenian forces occupied approximately 9% of Azerbaijan's territory outside the enclave until the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020.[f]
Palestinians from Kuwait, 1990-1991, and present
The Palestinian exodus from Kuwait took place during and after the Gulf War. There were approximately 357,000 Palestinians living in Kuwait before the country was invaded by neighbouring Iraq on 2 August 1990.[1] On August 10, 20 Arab League countries at an emergency summit in Cairo drafted a final statement that condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and supported the United Nations resolutions. Twelve Arab states supported the use of force while the remaining eight, including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), rejected a military solution to the Iraqi invasion.[2] According to The Washington Post, classified U.S. reports indicated that then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat pressed then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to make his withdrawal from Kuwait conditional on the withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights, and on August 12, Saddam announced his offer to conditionally withdraw.[3] The Kuwaiti government policy which led to this exodus was a response to the position taken by the PLO, resulting in an event virtually indistinguishable from the Nakba.
Yugoslavia 1991-2001
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, other socialist regimes also fell. One of these was the brutal regime in Yugoslavia. During breakup, ethnic tensions flared up now that communism wasn't a strong peacekeeping force. The history is complicated but basically involved mass expulsions, flight, and genocide that changed the map from this to this:
Conclusions
My summary above of cases is incomplete, but represents the cases I could find in about 1-2 hours of searching and writing.
There are numerous examples of forced population transfers, whether of recent migrants or ones who had been there for 100s of year. These transfers were not trivial, but often involved 100k+ people.
Usually, these transfers happened because of ethnic tensions, and the obvious and best way to reduce ethnic tensions is to not have multiple ethnics living next to each other in the same political unit.
Many of the cases are quite grim and occurred during or at the end of a war. Many involved ongoing genocides, and most were carried out by various brutal regimes outside of the West.
History very clearly shows that expulsions are practically possible, even for states that are relatively weak in capacity. One can also read about the much more numerous pre-1900 history to find hundreds of more examples of population transfers.
There is no sense in which it is impossible for Western countries to carry out mass deportations.
One can argue about the ethnics and practical politics of doing such population transfers, but that is not my interest in this piece. Here's a 2016 survey from Israel:
It's worth noting that internal population transfers within the Soviet Union ended with Stalin's death, even though his successors often had been involved in implementing them under Stalin. But even Stalin's henchmen didn't feel like starting new ones, and sometimes undid old transfers, like letting the Chechens return from Siberia.
You draw a distinction between the practical politics and feasibility, but I don't think this is valid. If something is politically impossible, it doesn't matter if it's physically possible. When people say that mass deportations are impossible, I think they're generally saying that they're politically impossible, not that ethnic cleansing is physically impossible. And I think this list of examples is indeed good evidence against the feasibility of remigration.
As you noted, these were virtually all conducted by dictatorships during or immediately after a war. Those aren't particularly relevant to democracies in peacetime. The most relevant cases here are the US' repatriation of Mexican immigrants in the 1930s and 1950s. In both cases, repatriation was likely of a minority of Mexican-Americans (counting native born US citizens), and the majority of those repatriated were not US citizens. The deportations were more controversial in the 50s than the 30s, and they would be incomparably more controversial today than in the 50s.
The Israel example is particularly instructive: if Israel, after 50+ years of terrorism and war, hasn't ethnically cleansed its substantial remaining Arab citizen minority or its subjects in the occupied territories, how likely do you think Sweden or Canada are to become far more extreme in peacetime?
There seems to (thankfully) be no precedent for an industrial democracy conducting mass ethnic cleansing of its own citizens in peacetime. Within Western countries, only a minority, even of the white population, supports a complete immigration moratorium, and presumably only a minority within that would support ethnic cleansing.
So I think it remains entirely valid to say that mass remigration is impossible, in the same sense in which the US nuking Canada or throwing Irish-Americans into death camps is impossible. It would not be physically impossible for the US military to carry out those orders, but no politician or general will ever be appointed who would give them.