{"id":24972,"date":"2021-09-17T13:29:34","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T17:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=24972"},"modified":"2021-09-17T13:29:35","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T17:29:35","slug":"europe-lesson-migrant-crisis-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2021\/09\/17\/europe-lesson-migrant-crisis-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Biden Administration Can Learn From Our Central European NATO Allies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mass illegal migration is not only an American problem, but also a European one. Although the Biden administration\u2019s self-inflicted crisis<\/a> on our southern border has reached epic proportions<\/a>, our North Atlantic Treaty Organization {NATO} allies in Central and Eastern Europe \u2013 Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia \u2013 have also been experiencing a migrant crisis<\/a> on their frontiers, albeit admittedly on a much smaller scale. Even so, their tough and common-sense approach has kept the crisis contained, demonstrating that illegal migration is not some sort of unstoppable force of nature that countries can do nothing about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared to 2020, attempted illegal border crossings \u2013 mainly by migrants from the\u00a0 Near East, including Iraqis, Syrians, and Afghans \u2013 into these countries have skyrocketed<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three Central European governments have been blaming the post-Soviet dictator of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko<\/a>, who, ironically, began his career in the Soviet border guards during the late 1970s as a political officer in charge of indoctrinating the troops into communism. The pro-Russian Lukashenko \u2013 who has been ruling Belarus with a heavy hand since 1994 \u2013 has been angry with the European Union for sanctioning<\/a> his regime for human rights abuses, and with the Poles and Balts for supporting the pro-democracy opposition in Belarus. In retaliation, the Belarusian dictator decided to unleash a border crisis to destabilize his western neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poland\u2019s Polsat News describes<\/a> how the Belarusian regime is encouraging and facilitating mass illegal migration: \u201cIraqis purchase a trip to Belarus in a travel agency \u2026 Information about the trips and Lukashenko\u2019s words are broadcasted on Iraqi state television. The travelers then receive a Belarusian tourist visa at the airport. Some decide to tour the country, while others immediately head for the border. The groups are escorted there by Belarusian government functionaries, and often taken on buses belonging to the Ministry of National Defense to the border crossings.\u201d There is little doubt that Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia are not the migrants\u2019 final destinations, but merely transit points on the way to wealthy Western countries like Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The countries hit by Lukashenka\u2019s \u201chybrid war\u201d<\/a> have taken the threat seriously, declaring states of emergency in border zones and initiating barbed wire barrier and border fence construction. Predictably, the pro-mass-migration crowd \u2013 lawyers, \u201chuman rights\u201d activists, and liberal and leftist politicians \u2013 have been attacking these measures and calling<\/a> upon their governments to essentially let them all in and sort it out later, which is a particularly reckless approach given how many migrants have no documentation on them. One liberal parliamentarian attempted to sprint<\/a> past Polish border guards with supplies for the migrants, while police arrested activists trying to damage<\/a> Polish border barriers in the name of \u201ccivil disobedience\u201d (no doubt similar stunts remind many Americans of the \u201cabolish ICE\u201d\/anti-enforcement movement back home). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In spite of this, the Central European governments have not relented and are not allowing migrants to enter, arguing correctly that they are now the responsibility of Belarus, which invited them in in the first place. These actions have been depicted in an unflattering, critical light by some in the West, including media<\/a> outlets, Human Rights Watch<\/a>, and certain politicians (one Irish Member of the European Parliament complained<\/a> that, by building a border fence, Poland is committing an act \u201cno better than what Trump was trying to do along the US-Mexico border\u201d). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU, however, is critical of the Lukashenko regime\u2019s cynically engineered migrant crisis \u2013 stating<\/a> that it does not oppose border fence construction, as long as EU funds are not used.\u00a0 German Chancellor Angela Merkel went even further, condemning<\/a> Belarusian actions as \u201ccompletely unacceptable.\u201d Merkel has seemingly learned her lesson from the 2015 migrant crisis, when her na\u00efve \u201cwe can do this\u201d<\/a> attitude further encouraged hundreds of thousands of migrants to pour into Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lessons of 2015 are no doubt an important part of the reason why the Poles, Lithuanians, and Latvians are drawing a hard line. As Poland\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister said<\/a>, \u201c[i]f we accept this group, the next moment we will have not 10 or 20…but 1,000, 2,000 and 10,000\u201d migrants trying to enter. On this side of the Atlantic, Joe Biden\u2019s border policies have shown how true these words are, because once potential border crossers learn that some are being allowed in, more and more migrants will attempt to take their chances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are other reasons why the Central Europeans are protecting their borders so resolutely. After all, it was only three decades ago that Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia reclaimed their independence from the Soviet empire after half a century of the Kremlin\u2019s communist yoke. And before that, the region had a long history of foreign invasions and occupations as well, which has taught Central Europeans not to take national sovereignty and borders for granted, but to cherish them as something precious and essential. Moreover, unlike other Western nations, the Central Europeans cannot be morally blackmailed into opening their borders by invoking the legacy of Western colonialism in the Near East \u2013 mainly because the roles were often reversed in Central and Eastern Europe, which had to resist Ottoman aggression for centuries, and which was often the victim of recurring Muslim slave raids<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, if the\nBiden-Harris administration does not wish to learn from the Trump\nadministration, it would do well to at least consult America\u2019s Central European\nNATO allies for tips on how to approach illegal migration. Although the\nAmerican left typically strives to emulate Europe, in this case, the White\nHouse has been consistently doing the opposite of what Central Europe is doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mass illegal migration is not only an American problem, but also a European one. Although the Biden administration\u2019s self-inflicted crisis on our southern border has reached epic proportions, our North Atlantic Treaty Organization {NATO} allies in Central and Eastern Europe \u2013 Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia \u2013 have also been experiencing a migrant crisis on their<\/p>\n

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