While news clips of pregnant women and children fleeing war tear at everyone’s heart, have you considered how thousands and thousands of undocumented foreigners suddenly pressing through the frontiers change the lives of average citizens in the border countries? The media focuses on the asylum seekers, but they’re not the only innocent victims. How does the refugee crisis affect Europe?
For the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to the unfolding migration crisis from our headquarters in Europe. I’ve augmented my routine American news podcasts with daily reports from radio stations in Germany, France, England, Ireland, and Switzerland. Each day interviews with local leaders and volunteers trying to cope grab listeners’ attention, alongside the unbelievable daily migration statistics.
The incredible testimonies answer a question about the general population that no one is asking: How does the refugee crisis affect Europe? Lives are being dramatically affected on both sides of the borders.
Germany
In Munich, one official expressed frustration with the constant stream of immigrants sent to his city of just over a million citizens. Places to house refugees had filled much earlier. Each day, 4000 immigrants arrive, waiting to be assigned housing. The government is forcing owners of any empty building to be available for the refugees.
Unoccupied warehouses, empty grocery stores, and unused tennis halls are all accommodating the refugees. One sports arena had been so allocated but mysteriously burned down before the hundreds of beds could be installed.
A smaller city of 90,000 received the immigrants with open arms, warm food, clothing, toys for the kids, and blankets…at least, that’s what happened until the receiving centers began to overflow. With not a single spot in the city left to rent for the families, hundreds of migrants are being sent to mass accommodations in sports arenas and abandoned school buildings. Food and drinking water are provided by the citizenry, who assist the asylum seekers with transportation and other needs.
Volunteers are wearing down with the long hours of service. Refugees expected better lodgings, so complaints trigger flares of temper against other immigrants and those trying to help them all. Each day another four hundred immigrants arrive in their city.
The hoards of disillusioned people, not only in this one medium-size city but all over the country, impatiently wait for the promises of the German authorities to materialize: a rent-free house, free German lessons for the family, $800/month/person, health care, education for their children, and assistance in securing employment.
It should be noted that Germany currently has five million German citizens looking for jobs. Where will the hundreds of thousands who arrived in the last few months find work when they only speak Arabic?
In response to how long officials estimated the stadium-style accommodations for the hundreds of migrants in each of their several sports arenas may last, the official said “at least one year,” adding that it took that long to build even one basic apartment building. And, the refugees keep coming.
Authorities in another city decided it would be more cost-effective to purchase apartment buildings than to build more. Of course, the only buildings left have German citizens already living in them.
Though she’s lived in the same apartment with her pets for sixteen years, one German nurse recently received notice that she must vacate the apartment by May 2016. The government plans to house refugees in her apartment building. With 10,000 migrants entering Germany every day, one wonders where in all of Germany she and the others in her situation might be able to find an apartment to rent.
This past weekend, a German hamlet of one hundred citizens (Christians) received word that one thousand Muslim refugees had just been assigned to the empty apartments and housing in this tiny village. There’s no doubt that life is about to change for the mini-town.
Other European countries
So many immigrants have arrived in Denmark that their citizens with a second home have been ordered to sell it to the government for refugee housing. As in the States, it’s common for retired people to have a summer cottage or home in warmer climates for the winter months. Not anymore.
A radio broadcast in Switzerland two weeks ago suggested that the Syrian migration crisis may come to the point where the government would expect people to offer the refugees a place in their own home. If an elderly widow lives alone in a large house, she would be expected to allow a refugee family to move in. The hospitality would not be optional.
Who pays for it all?
While the lives and rights of average citizens are being tossed under the bus by their own governments, their taxes will need to be increased and pension allowances cut to pay for hosting the current wave of illegal immigrants who cross their borders.
Germany already received nearly five million Muslim asylum seekers in the past few years. By the end of 2015 another 1.5 million refugees will be added. This group arrived undocumented and more than half will have crossed the borders in the last few months of this year. According to the German authorities, the cost to the taxpayer is $10,000 per refugee per year
Conclusion
While such discussions of how to obliterate the rights of private citizens in free western countries are hard to digest, there’s even more to the story. Stop back next Thursday for a look at who the refugees are, their reason for joining the dangerous migration, and the shocking discoveries of items found in packages earmarked for “Refugee Relief.” You might be surprised.
In the meantime, you could check out news sources such as the BBC or the English version of German news through Deutsche Welle to get a more insider’s look at the situation.
Please note: Thursday, October 29, the conclusion to this post: How Does the Refugee Crisis Affect Europe?
