Immigration has emerged as a major subject of debate throughout the Western world in recent years.
Across Europe, mass migration from the Middle East and Northern Africa has become a contentious issue, with critics claiming waves of immigrants are failing to assimilate and putting strain on social welfare programs. The controversy has led politicians to seek a solution, with human rights groups scrutinizing the treatment of migrants by government officials in Libya and Tunisia who have been paid millions of dollars to halt the flow of asylum seekers.
In the United States, irregular immigration from Latin America across the country’s southern border has become a topic of concern, playing heavily into the rhetoric of former President Donald Trump and other conservative populists. Trump famously promised to construct a border wall between the US and Mexico during his 2016 campaign, an effort that has been continued in part by his successor as observers claim Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has now also pivoted on the issue.
Politicians across the political spectrum have joined Harris in increasingly expressing skepticism towards immigration, but the shift in rhetoric has not prevented right-wing parties such as Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland and France’s National Rally from achieving major electoral victories in recent months.
The ascendance of such forces has left Western ruling establishments in disarray as they struggle to adapt to the new political reality. But author and independent journalist Dan Lazare claims Western politicians have no one but themselves to blame for the influx of migrants, pointing the finger at decades of militarism and failed drug and economic policies. The investigative reporter made the claim Monday on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program, pointing to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
“She's a social democrat – therefore left-wing by American standards – but she is fiercely anti-Russian,” Lazare noted. “She has backed the US military effort every step of the way. And she is now calling for Ukraine to be supplied with medium-range missiles with which to strike deep into Russia.”
“She's also taking a strong stance against immigration,” the journalist noted. “Mainly from the Middle East, of course, but what's amazing is that the worse the war gets in Ukraine – and these medium-range missiles will make it a good deal worse – the more refugees it will send fleeing to countries like Denmark.”
An inundation of migrants from the Eastern European country has intensified debates already taking place throughout the continent over immigration, with some observers resenting limited stocks of housing and social benefits going to Ukrainian refugees. Ireland was recently forced to slash weekly benefits for Ukrainian migrants by 80% as critics claim the influx of refugees has worsened the country’s housing crisis
Meanwhile, a controversy has arisen in Germany over unemployed Ukrainian migrants, with some politicians saying social benefits should be reduced or jobless refugees should be sent back to Ukraine.
“She is shooting herself in the foot,” Lazare said of Frederiksen’s support for the Ukraine proxy war. “She is supporting a war which generates refugees who, when they finally make their way to Denmark, are angering growing numbers of citizens who are afraid of what the influx means and fueling the rise of the ultra-right. This is amazingly foolish on her part, but yet she is doing it. She's like an automaton who's marching off the edge of a cliff.”
Lazare also highlighted US policies driving immigration across the world, pointing to the impact of failed drug and economic policy in Latin America and the consequences of continuous war in the Middle East. A study by Brown University has estimated that at least 4.5 million people have died in post-9/11 warzones amid the US-backed War on Terror, while millions more have been displaced.
In Latin America, neoliberal economic policy advocated by the United States has impoverished many countries, with a surge of immigration from Mexico taking place after the United States passed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the 1990s. The act’s Central American equivalent CAFTA has more recently driven migration from countries south of Mexico, especially Guatemala and El Salvador.
The reign of Juan Orlando Hernández after a US-backed coup – who many have referred to as a dictator – also worsened the security situation in Honduras, with hundreds of thousands fleeing the country and heading north.
But Lazare pointed to failed drug policy as a primary cause of migration from Latin America.
“Migration over the southern border [is] caused by years of dreadful US economic policies, which essentially have impoverished broad swaths of Latin America. But even more importantly is the drug war,” said Lazare. “I mean, the drug war is capsizing entire nations – Haiti, Ecuador, portions of Central America. I mean, Mexico has reeled under the impact for decades. And so this generates refugees.”
“So, instead of stopping and saying, you know, what are we doing here? What are the costs and benefits? Are these policies wise? Is there some alternative? Instead, they step up the drug war and then step up the agitation against immigrants, promise to tighten the border, and then wonder why the radical right is expanding as a consequence.”