Americans don’t have to surrender their country to the millions wading across the Rio Grande and crashing fences to get in.
In Europe, ordinary people are fighting to save their continent and their standard of living from the effects of mass migration. Americans need to watch these Europeans and be encouraged. Resisting the cost of housing, feeding, and educating migrants doesn’t make you a racist or bigot.
There is a global movement of people who want the richer life they’ve heard about in the United States and Europe. They’re forcing their way in, immigration laws be damned.
Most of these migrants are not destitute. According to the Center for Global Development, they have above-average incomes in their home countries and are moving to gain more.
Migration is the hot-button issue in the European Parliament election on June 6 through June 9.
The European Union—a 27-country compact headquartered in Brussels—insists that every member country is obliged to take in migrants or pay other member countries to do it for them.
Not so fast, say populist politicians in the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk refuses, saying that Poland “will not have to accept any migrants ... and the European Union will not impose any migrant quotas on [Poland].”
On May 15, after months of politicking, the Netherlands assembled a coalition government that promises to oppose migration and install “the strictest-ever asylum regime.” That sets up a clash with Brussels. The Dutch government will seek to opt out of the EU’s migration quotas.
Dutch activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek bashed the “corrupt elite” in Brussels that “invites the invasion in and makes the native population pay for it.” Just like the Biden administration makes New Yorkers and Chicagoans pay.
Hungary is also expected to opt out, although Brussels has indicated that it will resist.
“Hungary will never give in to the mass migration frenzy,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vowed.
Fifteen EU member countries—more than half the union—petitioned Brussels last week to keep asylum seekers out of Europe until their claims are heard and verified. The petitioners, led by Denmark, propose detaining migrants offshore in non-EU countries. Currently, fewer than half of asylum seekers win their case, but losers stay in Europe anyway, evading the law. They can’t demonstrate a legitimate fear of persecution based on their race, religion, or political beliefs. Some call them fakugees.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni cut a deal to house asylum seekers in Albania at Italy’s expense while claims are heard. The 15 petitioning countries suggest that Ms. Meloni’s policy—call it “Remain in Albania”—should be a model across the EU. It sounds a lot like Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy.
Increasingly, Europeans are asking why they should hand over their continent to whoever manages to get in.
Similarly, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is vowing to “stop the boats” carrying asylum seekers across the English Channel. He insisted that the British public has the right to determine “who crosses our borders.” Parliament passed a harsh deterrent, allowing the government to detain and deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, where their claims will be processed. Even those who win asylum will have to remain in Rwanda—not exactly paradise—eliminating any incentive to sneak across the channel.
Humanitarian groups are protesting, but on May 20, Austria endorsed the harsh UK approach.
On this side of the pond, 77 percent of Americans regard illegal immigration as either a “crisis” (45 percent) or a “major problem” (32 percent), according to the Pew Research Center.
More than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of President Biden’s handling of immigration, according to an Associated Press poll. Black leaders are angry that resources are being diverted from their community to migrants.
The Biden administration has dishonestly portrayed the southern border crisis as unavoidable. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week that it’s important to “contextualize it,” as “the world is seeing the greatest level of displacement since at least World War II.”
Forget the sob stories. Most migrants come for economic gain, jumping in front of legal immigrants and defying a nation’s right to control who enters.
The left insists migration is a humanitarian crisis. Wrong. It’s a lawless invasion. Europeans are fighting back. Americans should, too.
