One Fine Day in the Netherlands

http://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2012/Dec/27308/amsterdam_asylum_seekers__not_my_problem.aspx

Asylum seekers from Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea. "Undocumented" no less, according to the above article, which is sympathetic to the asylum-seekers. What are they seeking asylum from? Mostly from poverty. There are millions like them all over the world. In their own dysfunctional countries, there is no opportunity for people who are born poor to rise as is possible in the West. Yes, some of them are also fleeing the usual civil wars and sectarian strife.



At the MPAC conference which I attended in Pasadena on December 15, I happened to meet a very nice Ethiopian family of five. There were three teenagers, the oldest of which was about to enter USC. The father and his wife had also been refugees from Ethiopia. First, they had been in a refugee camp in Sudan, from which they eventually came to the US several years ago. The father was an electrical engineer.

My point is that the above example is the kind of immigration we welcome. Traditionally, the US has been quite successful in bringing in people with education, skills, and a clean background-people who have assimilated and helped the country advance. The Europeans, on the other hand, have never seemed to get it right. Either they were getting people from their former colonies or inviting in manual laborers to do the work educated Europeans would not do. In the meantime, they never gave a thought to assimilation, just letting them reside together in suburbs outside the large cities and fester. In addition, they had-and still have- the gypsy camps, which is another issue in itself.

When I was a soldier in Germany back in the 1960s, I was able to witness the early stages of this migration as the Turks were replacing the Italians as the favored workers. To be sure, the Turks were subject to discrimination, but they persevered, and many families began to prosper and assimilate as their children attempted to move up the ladder. The Turks in Germany are still there, some assimilated, some not. Unfortunately, like their nation itself, some are being caught up in the Islamic wave. Crime is still a problem.

As for the situation in Holland, compassion is a good thing, and the so-called First World is heavily involved in helping true refugees around the world. My own country, the USA, leads the way in that regard.

At some point, however, each country has the sovereign right and responsibility to control who enters the country. The first requirement should be that the person has the means and the skills to make a positive contribution to the society and not be a burden upon that society. In the case of Europe, that ship has long since sailed.

When you have "undocumented" people living on the streets, you have a problem-no matter what the mayor of Amsterdam says.