EU Immigration Crisis Megathread

[Zanza]

Just out of curiosity when do immigration controls become xenophobic? Is there a line you shouldn't cross?

Immigration controls are not xenophobic per se. Not taking in refugees - which is not the same as immigrants - is xenophobic as you ignore the plight of humans in need to help because they are foreigners.

[Valmy]

Deciding you will only take 200,000 refugees instead of 400,000 does not strike me as xenophobic. I mean it is not like your country is the only place in the world they can get asylum in. But clearly at some point, like taking zero, it would be. Just wondering what line that would be.

[Zanza]

Also, it's the closest liberal non-shithole available.

Still, there's plenty movements going on that don't even reach Europe. E.g. there's substantial amounts of Syrian refugees in countries bordering Syria.

Syrians in other Arab countries or Turkey are typically stateless, rightless and powerless whereas they are recognized as refugees in Europe and can eventually get out of refugee camps and get on with their lives. If you look at the sorry state of Palestinian refugees that have in some cases stayed in camps as second-class citizens for generations already, it's not hard to see why Syrians don't want to go to other Arab countries.

[Valmy]

Yeah I get the strategic reason for leaving Palestinians like that but why Syrians?

[The Brain]

Deciding you will only take 200,000 refugees instead of 400,000 does not strike me as xenophobic. I mean it is not like your country is the only place in the world they can get asylum in. But clearly at some point, like taking zero, it would be. Just wondering what line that would be.

If you set a limit it's racism.

[Tamas]

Yeah I get the strategic reason for leaving Palestinians like that but why Syrians?

Because the general stance of the population and the country's economic capabilities are even worse than in Europe?

I am glad to hear Germany is leading the way on this.

I think it is absolutely crucial to be pragmatic about this, on an EU level, and that means both sheltering these people, and doing it with the load balanced across the EU, because when it will go bigger (and bound to once the Saudis and Iranians go head to head, for example), the current border states (Greece, Italy, and yes, Hungary, as the eastern gateway to the "proper west") will NOT be able to cope with it. Not economically (although thats fairly easy to help), but especially culturally.

[Tamas]

Because Hungary is "the EU state most affected by illegal immigration" (I shit you not they had the nerves to say that) the government just announced they will be building a 4 meters tall fence on the Serbian border.

[Syt]

 

[Duque de Bragança]

Because Hungary is "the EU state most affected by illegal immigration" (I shit you not they had the nerves to say that) the government just announced they will be building a 4 meters tall fence on the Serbian border.

Serbs are going to invade Hungary with their Gypsies or what?


What's the Hungarian Calais ? Hungarian Vintimille/Ventimiglia ? Hungarian Mediterranean and so on...

[Tamas]

Well it is true that Syrians and Kosovoians (?) are coming from that direction.

So after 700 square kilometers of fence, they will have to take a minor detour to the Croatian or the Romanian borders. Or cut through the unguarded fence somewhere. Money well spent.

[Tamas]

I wonder how much time until a serious incident:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5FIsmquQqA

Angry frustrated truck drivers vs. desperate knives-armed immigrants.

[Duque de Bragança]

Serious incidents already happened. Even between "refugees". The latest serious incident recorded was in the Med though.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32337725

Italian police say they have arrested 15 Muslim migrants after they allegedly threw 12 Christians overboard following a row on a boat heading to Italy.
The Christian migrants, said to be from Ghana and Nigeria, are all feared dead.
In a separate incident, more than 40 people drowned after another migrant boat sank between Libya and Italy.
Almost 10,000 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean have been rescued in recent days. Italy has called for more help from the EU to handle the crisis.
More than 500 people from Africa and the Middle East have died making the perilous crossing since the start of the year. Earlier this week, 400 people were believed to have drowned when their boat capsized.
'In tears'
null
Many migrants picked up by the Italian navy in recent days have been brought ashore to Sicily
The 15 Muslim migrants involved in the row with Christians were arrested in the Sicilian city of Palermo and charged with "multiple aggravated murder motivated by religious hate".
The suspects, who are from the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali and Guinea, were among 105 migrants travelling in an inflatable boat that left Libya on Tuesday.
Eyewitnesses told police how the altercation resulted in Christians being thrown overboard, and that some of the survivors had formed human chains to avoid a similar fate.

Lovely people to receive...

[Martinus]

Just out of curiosity when do immigration controls become xenophobic? Is there a line you shouldn't cross?

Was it addressed to anyone specifically?

[Martinus]

Speaking of which, I was recently travelling to Warsaw from Athens through the Frankfurt airport and was surprised when we were asked to show our IDs to the police/airport guard when leaving the plane. It wasn't formal - I just flashed my ID to a guard and was not even stopped but it was a bit strange. Is Germany ignoring Schengen?

No idea. I can't remember ever being checked when I arrived from another Schengen country. Was your trip during the G7 summit? They had lots of silly extra security measures in place for that.

Was that on 4 June?

[Valmy]

Was it addressed to anyone specifically?

Um if it was wouldn't I have addressed somebody directly?

I guess I missed the joke here.