Immigration - It Just Won't Go Away

We think we are the only country with illegal immigration problems. Of

course, anyone stopping to think for a moment knows this not to be true, but

the influx of “illegals,” especially little kids being sent desperately and

perilously into the country does create media firestorms. And yet, out

situation is going on is at least one hundred - yes 100 - countries around

the world.

Okay, let us discount war regions that produce influxes of illegal

immigrants relabeled refugees. So that takes out all the dozens of countries

surrounding Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Libya, Bosnia, Ukraine, Georgia, Congo,

Nigeria, Burma… heck the list is too long and deep. These refugees may not

actually be trying to immigrate as much as simply survive ‘til they can go

back home (what’s left of it), but when you see how many have stayed in

Lebanon, some for over thirty years (a generation) you begin to see that

“refugees” come in many different guises.

However, let us compare America’s problem with illegal immigration with

another similarly westernized nation, hmm… let us pick Germany. Yes,

Germany.

Most of the refugees trying to get into Germany come from Syria, Eritrea,

Somalia, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Oh, and Libya. Some made it to Italy or

Croatia or Spain or Greece by boat, much like the Cuban refugees here. Some

paid their version of ‘coyotes’ to smuggle them, often in the back of

heavily laden trucks or hollowed out tankers, people packed inside.

Sometimes the tragedy of an overturned boat killing hundreds makes the news,

but mostly, there is a steady stream of “illegals” desperate to reach

Germany - a country that has adopted a tolerant judicial system to

investigate claims of the need for political asylum.

A little town called Rosenheim, population sixty thousand, has a pretty

steady influx of around 30 a day or 10,000 a year in that one tiny town

alone. These are the ones that lived or managed to get that far into central

Europe - 280 miles from the nearest coastline and some 1,500 miles from

Syria, 2,100 from Eritrea or Somalia, 3,000 from Afghanistan and 3,800 from

Nigeria. Oh, and let’s not forget Libya 1,500 miles away, most of it open

ocean.

In fact, like America with the traditional smuggling routes from Central

America into the US, Germany and the EU have identified regular smuggling

routes. There’s one called The Balkan Route which runs all the way to

Afghanistan and another called the Brenner Route which runs through Austria

and Italy into the sea and hence Africa. Then there’s the Gibraltar Route,

the Malta Route, and the Istanbul Express.

So serious are things getting in Europe that estimates are that 165,000

people have landed in 2014 just crossing the Mediterranean Sea. And the

estimate for the last two years is that 23,000 have lost their lives trying.

Citizens traveling in Italy complain that train stations are full of poor

“non-Italian illegals” desperate to take trains, any trains, going north to

get into the heart of Europe. To complicate matters, once inside Europe

(much like the US), identification is mostly not needed and these immigrants

and refugees flee to relatives or safe houses. One German politician likened

the situation to the Underground Railway during our Civil War with

well-meaning people helping to save lives even as they break the law and

shelter these illegals.

And the cost? About $15 million a month to deal with arrivals and untold

tens of millions every month to police the waters and trafficking routes.

But, more importantly, there’s a long cost: The loss of desperate lives who

failed to be rescued, were rejected from a place of safety, this will have

consequences far into the future for all of Europe. Just as it will here.