As a migrant myself, the son of a migrant
father, grandson of four migrant grandparents, and with some of our family as
former refugees, this topic is of great important to me personally. Here are
some thing to consider:
1. Orderly & sustainable: There are those
in the West who want unlimited immigration, replete with immigration services
and welfare benefits. This is simply unsustainable: No country can take in
everyone who wants refuge, not even the United States, which is the Number One
favoured haven of migrants worldwide. Healthy realism, not ‘feel good’
rhetoric, is sorely needed;
2. Economic opportunists Though no
statistics are currently available, many of the would-be migrants are young
men, equipped with the best cell phones and money in the bank. They are not
refugees; they are migrants looking for a better opportunity. Nevertheless,
they are joining the flow of refugees while the door to Europe is open. This is
not necessarily bad in itself, however, when there are limited ‘seats at the
dinner table,’ economic opportunists are taking the places of those who are
truly needy;
3. Minorities: In the Middle East,
minorities like Christians and Yazidis are the neediest of all; yes, there are
Muslim suffering in the Muslim world war. Yet you can be sure if a Syrian or
Iraqi Christian or Yazidi shows up on a Greek island, they are genuine refugees
in need of asylum; they have a valid reason for protection and should be made a
top priority. They will also be the quickest to assess;
4. National sovereignty: Every nation has
the right to screen migrants and turf out terrorists or even opportunists, if
they don’t meet the criteria as set out by the individual nation; while
national sovereignty still means anything, we need to respect this;
5. Take another look at multiculturalism: This
dominant philosophy says that all cultures are equally valid, benign, and
beneficial; no one culture is better than another. If this is the case, why do
many migrants leave their own culture to embrace the western version?
Multiculturalism discourages assimilation of migrants into the mainstream and
views the prevailing Judeo-Christian culture with contempt. On the other hand,
America was renowned for its ‘melting pot’ concept, where migrants from China,
Poland, Argentina, or wherever, blended int and became ‘Americans.’ Don’t mix
up multiculturalism with immigration - the point being that genuine refugees
and approved migrants should want to blend into their new country, not build an
impregnable enclave of the one they left?
6. West is Best? Whenever possible, it is
best to keep refugees in their own culture zone; the differences of an alien
culture can be overwhelming. Many refugees would prefer to return home if it
were stable. The ever-increasing coarseness of western culture could be grievously
offensive to migrants from strongly family-orientated and religious
backgrounds, and nothing short of a revival can stop this.
Handled properly, migrants can help fuel
economic growth and lift up sagging population figures. Handled poorly, it can
lead to social disunity and dysfunction.
It’s important to ‘get it right,’ especially
now.
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