Illegal Immigration : A Problem with No Clear Solutions

Eurotunnel resumed "normal service" on Sunday. British police said they had lifted traffic management measures around the Channel Tunnel, put in place after migrants in France disrupted travel on Saturday - one of the busiest days of the year. British vacationers on trains passing through the Channel Tunnel were delayed because migrants - trying to stow away on trucks - approached the tracks. Such disruption has become common since 5,000 migrants, mostly from Africa and the Middle East, set up camp around the northern French port of Calais, which they use as a staging point to try to board train and ferry services to Britain. Crossings were back to normal on Sunday because of reduced migrant activity. Eurotunnel officials warned that further disruption is possible because of the large number of migrants gathered in Calais, who time their attempts to get into Britain with the flow of trucks and freight. Eurotunnel is calling for more support from the authorities particularly in France, to stop the flow of migrants and remove those already in the area. ~~~~~ The illegal immigrant problem is growing in the UK, where net immigration is at 318,000 so for 2015, while the British government set a goal of 100,000. Prime Minister Cameron has called for EU-level action, partly because more EU citizens are legally moving Britain than ever before. Net immigraiton has now jumped 52% in a year, from 209,000 to 318,000. In addition, Cameron will soon announce plans to 'root out' illegal immigrants, calling for new legislation, under which illegal workers' pay would be seized and foreign criminals would be tagged and tracked by GPS. ~~~~~ Italy is also struggling with illegal immigrants. For example, when their inflatable boat began to disintegrate and sank near the Libyan coast, survivors who reached Italy told the UNHCR refugee agency on Thursday that 40 had drowned. All the dead came from sub-Saharan countries such as Senegal, Mali and Benin. The 283 survivors were delivered to Sicily after being rescued by a German navy vessel. Two other boats brought a further 669 immigrants to Sicily and southern Italy on Thursday. Italy has become one of the main entry points in Europe for immigrants - most from Africa and the Middle East - who reach the country via the Mediterranean on delapidated boats. The UN estimates that 1,900 would-be migrants have died or drowned thus far this year. ~~~~~ Italy is struggling to absorb the daily influx of immigrants. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is under pressure to stem the flow and his government are fighting to calm tensions. Migrant arrivals have already exceeded 85,000 this year, following a total of 170,000 in 2014. While many of the newcomers move swiftly to wealthier northern Europe, about 85,000 are housed in Italian shelters - up from 60,000 last year. To relieve pressure on Italy's southern regions, where boat immigrants are initially brought after being rescued, the government is trying to disperse them more evenly in central and northern Italy. But, migrants arriving at a new shelter outside Rome needed riot police to protect them from far-right activists and furious residents. In the north, locals vandalized a home to keep asylum seekers from moving in. Every day, Italian news reports rescues, shipwrecks, drownings or crimes by immigrants. Some far-right northern governors are urging mayors to resist the government's efforts to open new migrant shelters in their cities, warning of an "Africanisation" of the territory. Renzi has appealed to the values of his centre-left and Catholic base, which has generally supported sea-rescue efforts on moral grounds. Instead of rightist opponents, Renzi says, "our real adversary is fear." ~~~~~ Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday there was a clear link between illegal migrants heading to Europe and a rising threat of terrorism, justifying his conservative government's tough anti-immigration stance. Hungary is part of Europe's visa-free Schengen zone, making it a magnet for migrants coming through the Balkans. It has received 80,000 migrants so far this year, nearly double the number in all of 2014. Most are from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, Hungary plans to complete a four-meter-high (12 feet) fence along its southern border with Serbia by November to stem the flow of migrants. But, Serbia and the UNHCR have objected. There is a clear link between illegal migrants coming to Europe and the spread of terrorism," Orban said in a speech : "It is obvious that we simply cannot filter out hostile terrorists from this enormous crowd.....we would like to preserve Europe for Europeans....But there is something that we would not only like but we want : to preserve Hungary for Hungarians." Hungary's parliament has passed legislation defying UN criticism, to shorten the time for screening asylum claims and to reject applications from migrants who have passed through third countries it considers safe without seeking asylum there. Orban, whose Fidesz party is losing ground to Hungary's far-right eurosceptic anti-immigrant Jobbik party, said the "human rights fundamentalism" of the West provide more encouragement to migrants. European Union policies are not robust enough to defend its own citizens from the threats posed by rising immigration, Orban said. ~~~~~ Meanwhile, European leaders have scrapped plans for a system of quotas to spread the burden of the soaring numbers of migrants reaching Europe from Libya, the Balkans and the Middle East. In reality telling Brussels to mind its own business on the politically dangerous issue of immigration, a late June EU summit ignored calls for an equitable system across the 28 countries. Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, said : “We have no consensus among member states on mandatory quotas for migrants....It will take much time to build a new European consensus on migration.” Instead, the EU leaders focused on how to keep people out and deport those who get in. “The idea that Brussels imposes quotas is not going to fly,” a senior EU official said. In a token gesture to Italy, which is bitter about being left alone to cope with the immigration crisis, EU countries tried to agree on how to share 40,000 asylum seekers - 24,000 from Italy and 16,000 from Greece. The scheme, however, will be voluntary and officials predicted infighting among interior ministers negotiating the details. The 40,000 scheme will have little impact, since 600,000 people sought asylum in the EU last year. And, the number of first-time asylum seekers in the EU in the first quarter of 2015 almost doubled compared with the first three months of 2014, according to Eurostat, the EU statistics agency. EU development funds, trade agreements and diplomatic pressure are to be used as leverage on the migrants’ countries of origin to encourage them to sign readmission agreements with the EU. “Structured border zones” or “hotspots” are also to be established in southern Italy to quarantine those arriving, fingerprint and register them and expedite the deportation of those deemed to be illegal or economic migrants who have no right of asylum. European police and border agencies are to be granted new powers for implementing immigration policies. ~~~~~ Twice as many refugees are expected in Germany this year compared to the 200,000 who sought entry last year. More than 85,000 arrived in the first quarter alone, most from Kosovo, Albania Serbia, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Over the weekend, volunteers from organizations including the Red Cross began setting up tents for refugees who could not be housed in designated shelters because there was no more space. There have also been clashes between far-right protesters against refugee shelters and counter demonstrators in east German cities, resulting in several people being wounded. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the dilemma of illegal immigrants and refugees flooding into Europe is provoking national political shifts to the right and giving a "legitimate" platform to ultra-nationalist parties. It is also highlighting the EU's fragility when trying to form a consensus about politically explosive issues like immigration. In the United States, Donald Trump has made it the "hot button" in the 2016 presidential race. Whether or not Trump remains a candidate, the illegal immigrant issue will influence the November 2016 presidential election. At stake in both Europe and the US are fears over loss of jobs to illegal low-wage workers, insupportable burdens on housing, schools and health services, and the worry that a rapid influx of immigrants with very different cultural, language and religious backgrounds will threaten their way of life -- and the fear that terrorists will enter by hiding among refugees. Appeals to human values won't work. Can the West "wall out" illegals? Probably not. But nobody seems to have a better solution.