EU Immigration Crisis Megathread

[garbon]

Following the events in Cologne, Slovakia has said that it will not accept any Muslim refugees as they can't be integrated into European society.

It's amazing how they are so sure of the religion of the attackers, and that the attacks prove something essential about the people of that religion  - given that, as I understand, not a one of 'em has been arrested yet, let alone convicted. 

Apparently this also happened in Helsinki with the police noting that they were tipped off about asylum seekers planning to sexually harass women. In the two filed complaints, the suspects were asylum seekers and have been arrested.

[Liep]

Are these people on some sort of forum?

[garbon]

http://news.yahoo.com/unprecedented-sex-harassment-helsinki-police-194548532.html

Unprecedented sex harassment in Helsinki at New Year: police

Finnish police reported Thursday an unusually high level of sexual harassment in Helsinki on New Year's Eve and said they had been tipped off about plans by groups of asylum seekers to sexually harass women.

Helsinki deputy police chief Ilkka Koskimaki told AFP: "There hasn't been this kind of harassment on previous New Year's Eves or other occasions for that matter... This is a completely new phenomenon in Helsinki."

Security guards hired to patrol the city on New Year's Eve told police there had been "widespread sexual harassment" at a central square where around 20,000 people had gathered for celebrations.

Three sexual assaults allegedly took place at Helsinki's central railway station on New Year's Eve, where around 1,000 mostly Iraqi asylum seekers had converged.

"Police have... received information about three cases of sexual assault, of which two have been filed as complaints," Helsinki police said in a statement.

"The suspects were asylum seekers. The three were caught and taken into custody on the spot," Koskimaki told AFP.

Police said they had increased their preparedness "to an exceptional level" in Helsinki for New Year's Eve after being tipped off about possible problems.

"Ahead of New Year's Eve, the police caught wind of information that asylum seekers in the capital region possibly had similar plans to what the men gathered in Cologne's railway station have been reported to have had," police said in a statement.

Dozens of apparently coordinated sexual assaults against women took place on New Year's Eve in the western German city of Cologne.

Cologne police said they had received 120 criminal complaints by Thursday and quoted witnesses as saying that groups of 20-30 young men "who appeared to be of Arab origin" had surrounded victims, assaulted them and in several cases robbed them.

Koskimaki said police did not see a link between the Cologne and Helsinki incidents.

Shortly before New Year's Eve, Finnish police also arrested six Iraqis at an asylum residency centre in Kirkkonummi, around 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of Helsinki, suspected of "publicly inciting criminal behaviour". They were released on January 2.

According to Koskimaki, the arrests were linked to the information police received in the run-up to New Year's Eve.

In November, Finnish authorities said around 10 asylum seekers were suspected of rapes, among the more than 1,000 rapes reported to police in 2015.

[mongers]

Are these people on some sort of forum?

I tried seeking asylum from Languish, but no other forum would have me. 

[lustindarkness]

Are these people on some sort of forum?

I tried seeking asylum from Languish, but no other forum would have me. 

And we still want to deport you.

[Martinus]

That said, even 1000 would be just 1/10 percent of the migrants that came to Germany this year

Sorry but this kind of apologetic narrative is getting really ridiculous. There are what, 1000 times, 10,000 times, 100,000 times more native Germans in Germany than there are immigrants? But this kind of mass rape events do not happen involving native Germans, do they? If I had a friend, who stole from me only 1 out of 10 times I invite him into my home, I would not invite him - no matter the remaining 9 times out of 10. It seems bonkers to me that there is this implied conclusion that as long as it is a minority of immigrants who engage in unacceptable (yet clearly culturally influenced) behaviour, there is no problem to talk of.

That wasn't my intention. Guilt is individual, not collective in Germany. We must identify and punish (by deportation) those that commit crimes. But we should not hold a heterogeneous group of a million individuals responsible for the actions of some. That's not going to solve the problem and is not compatible with our values. Rule of law must be protected at all costs and that includes assignment of individual guilt. Which makes the failure of the police operations even worse as it will be hard to assign individual guilt in a court in this case.

Rule of law and presumption of innocence are all concepts of internal legal systems - they do not extend to immigration policy. There is no inherent right of a foreigner to settle in your country.

[Iormlund]

Our perception differs then as I think most come for our superior culture (and economy and peace of course). A minority does not accept it though and we need compel them one way or another.

They don't care about culture, or they would be willing to settle in any other place in Europe. They go to Germany because they want money/jobs.

[garbon]

Because European cultures are all the same?

[Martinus]

Our perception differs then as I think most come for our superior culture (and economy and peace of course). A minority does not accept it though and we need compel them one way or another.

They don't care about culture, or they would be willing to settle in any other place in Europe. They go to Germany because they want money/jobs.

They want to be free.

[Iormlund]

Because European cultures are all the same?

When compared to the Middle East? Yes. Obviously there are minor differences. For example Germans would say Spaniards are noisy and we'd say they are boring. Both are true.

But we're talking about basic human rights here. Equality or freedom of the press are hardly a German exclusive.

[Zanza]

Rule of law and presumption of innocence are all concepts of internal legal systems - they do not extend to immigration policy. There is no inherent right of a foreigner to settle in your country.

Your point being what? German criminal law applies to all humans in Germany's jurisdiction, no matter what their residential status is and what Germany's current immigration policy is. It's completely irrelevant whether you are a German, a legal migrant, a visitor or an asylum seeker.

[garbon]

Because European cultures are all the same?

When compared to the Middle East? Yes. Obviously there are minor differences. For example Germans would say Spaniards are noisy and we'd say they are boring. Both are true.

But we're talking about basic human rights here. Equality or freedom of the press are hardly a German exclusive.

That's fine enough but again that doesn't mean that they would want to go anywhere. Now clearly I wasn't escaping persecution but when I wanted to move to Europe, Spain wasn't on my list of places I wanted to move to.

At any rate, I'm also not sure that wanting to go where jobs is a sign of something nefarious.

[derspiess]

Rule of law and presumption of innocence are all concepts of internal legal systems - they do not extend to immigration policy. There is no inherent right of a foreigner to settle in your country.

Oooh, you crossed a line there mister! 

[Iormlund]

Because European cultures are all the same?

When compared to the Middle East? Yes. Obviously there are minor differences. For example Germans would say Spaniards are noisy and we'd say they are boring. Both are true.

But we're talking about basic human rights here. Equality or freedom of the press are hardly a German exclusive.

That's fine enough but again that doesn't mean that they would want to go anywhere. Now clearly I wasn't escaping persecution but when I wanted to move to Europe, Spain wasn't on my list of places I wanted to move to.

At any rate, I'm also not sure that wanting to go where jobs is a sign of something nefarious.

I didn't say it was nefarious. I moved to Germany for the very same reasons not long ago.

In any case you are making my point. They are not going there to enjoy Western human rights. They are going to Germany in particular for very good reasons: they'll be able to make a better living there.

[Zanza]

Rule of law and presumption of innocence are all concepts of internal legal systems - they do not extend to immigration policy. There is no inherent right of a foreigner to settle in your country.

Two more thoughts about this:
1) Rule of law extends to everything the German state does, including immigration policy.
2) Our constitution does not give foreigners (except EU citizens) an inherent right to settle in Germany. It does give an inherent right to asylum though if you fulfill certain conditions and the process to check the conditions obviously follows rule of law as well.