What Europe’s migration crisis means for America
In 2015, approximately 1.5 million asylum seekers — mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq — arrived in Europe to escape conflicts, political instability and poverty.
While most European countries were reluctant to take in large numbers of the arrivals, then German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the doors to her country and over one million migrants entered.
Other Europeans, and many Germans, saw Merkel’s gesture as not just putting down a welcome mat but rolling out a red carpet. As a result, migrants kept coming in large numbers and Europeans have grown increasingly alarmed at what such large population shifts will do to their countries.
Now, 10 years after Merkel’s fateful decision, two Hungarian institutions organized a summit in which I participated, along with migration experts, scholars, and political leaders from across the world, to examine the global ramifications of Europe’s ongoing migration crisis. Although participants represented mostly conservative organizations and parties, concerns over migration have spread deeply into Europe’s general population, and the issues raised were some of the same we are struggling with in America. While the formal summit title was “Changing the Discourse, Stopping the Flow, and Saving Europe,” it may as well have been “Enough is Enough!” given the acute frustration voiced by participants. Some of the main points:
Europe’s migration policies have failed as it is practically impossible to physically remove migrants whose asylum applications are rejected – and only 15% of asylum seekers are found to be bona fide refugees. When nations do try to find ways to remove ineligible migrants – such as moving them to third countries – European Union bodies, like the EU Court of Justice, find such plans illegal. Speakers noted that while support for national sovereignty is growing among Europe’s people, EU institutions remain globalist and promigrant.
Current asylum laws are severely outdated. They worked while migrants arrived as individuals and families, assimilated into their new country’s culture and learned its language. This changed when migrants started arriving in large groups of mostly young men, who settled in colonies and insisted on injecting their own culture into the host nation instead of vice versa. Examples cited included Northern Europeans having to abandon their traditional Christmas Markets for fear of terrorist attacks, German cities suspending Oktoberfest for the same reason, and a significant increase in sexual aggression against women in some countries. While Europeans don’t object to Islam as a religion, they are alarmed by fundamentalists among migrants who abhor women’s equality and seek to erase Christianity and Judaism; one reported result of this influence has been a significant increase in antisemitism throughout Europe.
As for solutions, summit participants were united on several major points:
Global migration policy needs major changes to prioritize genuine refugees fleeing personal danger, not economic migrants seeking a better life. And even bona fide refugees need to accept the host country they are offered instead of being able to select whichever destination they desire.
Regarding migrants, Europe needs to return to the principle of national sovereignty with each country deciding its own policies instead of being forced by the EU to adopt policies their people oppose.
Most importantly, it would benefit migrants and host countries both if solutions were applied at the source, or close to it, instead of at destination countries. This, of course, would require considerable effort and coordination involving sending and receiving nations.
At the summit’s conclusion we had the opportunity to visit Hungary’s border with Serbia. I had toured our own Southern border with Mexico while with the U.S. State Department, so I was eager to compare the two systems.
Our guide was one of the sector commanders who explained the double fencing and surveyance systems and the methods the Serb-organized crime syndicates use to try and bring large groups of migrants through or over the fences. The most dramatic aspect of the visit was touring the sector command center and watching video recorded from fence cameras showing groups at night breaching the fencing.
When Hungarian border guards respond – and the usual response time is two to five minutes – the migrants and traffickers pelt the Hungarian vehicles with large rocks and hit them with sticks and then either retreat to Serbia or make a run into Hungary. The border commander explained that EU laws strictly limit firearms use, and the traffickers know what lines they cannot cross in attacking the border guards. It was also obvious that the Serb authorities are either complicit in the activity on their side of the border, or incapable of stemming the flow.
The most amazing aspect of the border visit was that when Hungary built the border fence in 2015, the EU was outraged – even though that fence protected the EU’s own border, not just Hungary’s. Not only did the EU not share any of the costs associated with its construction, but it fined Hungary for building it. Now, of course, more and more European countries are emulating Hungary’s policies and applauding Hungary’s tough “keep out” stance.
Since I came to the U.S. as a refugee myself, issues related to international migration are deeply personal and emotional. As a U.S. Ambassador I visited every refugee camp in countries where I was posted to encourage refugees to not give up hope.
But today’s global migration crisis is totally different and involves mostly economic factors which were not present when international migration conventions were drawn up after World War II. For me, this summit reinforced how urgently we need to develop new migration policies and agreements to deal with the realities of today’s world, not the ones which existed in decades past.
Ambassador Tibor Nagy most recently served as acting Under Secretary of State for Management in the second President Donald Trump administration. He also served as Assistant Secretary of State for Africa in the first Trump administration after serving as Texas Tech’s Vice Provost for International Affairs following a 30-year career as a U.S. Diplomat.
Follow him on X @TiborPNagyJr.