Refugee situation / EU response - rolling news

Making preparations to move far, far away from Cologne before carnival.

I guess that makes me a refugee :O

Switzerland to follow Denmark in stripping refugees of their valuables when they enter the country:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/15/switzerland-joins-denmark-in-seizing-assets-from-refugees-to-cover-costs

what the fuck

take an administration fee, sure, take a tax upheld by statute but taking WHATEVER 'over 1000 francs' is just fucking thuggery!!

there's speculation in Danish media that the proposition is a hoax that'll never pass parliament but will work as effective anti-asylum PR - hasn't been passed yet, legalities of it all very unclear

The Swiss aren't proposing -- they are doing it already. It's not entirely clear when the practice started. Another pretty bad translation alert: the word translated as "undignified" was very likely "unwürdig", which in this context means more "inhumane" than "unseemly".

still misleading that article talks abt "a practice that has drawn sharp rebukes for Denmark" when it's not practised

but ofc absolutely idiotic idea

Presumably this is meant primarily as a deterrent? Rapidly cut down on the number of refugees entering your country by sending the message that it would be financially punitive to do so, thus diverting them elsewhere. I wouldn't have thought that the flow of refugees into Switzerland would have been particularly high in the first place. I'm guessing they won't be the last country to try this.

and all this is going on while Germany is still v dovish on immigration. one can only imagine which ugly measures will be proposed by the other Member States when the last dove in the room turns into a hawk.

Switzerland's on a through-route from the southern EU to the promised land, and some refugees have gotten stuck. There have been some bad stories about poor treatment.

it appears that Bern started doing this before the refugee crisis; last year 112 people had to pay.
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/schweiz-nimmt-fluechtlingen-geld-ab-a-1072143.html

It's not clear at all when the practice started -- no indication in that article.

it's fucking medieval

The Danish parliament has backed a controversial proposal to confiscate asylum seekers' valuables to pay for their upkeep.
Police will be able to seize valuables worth more than 10,000 kroner (1,340 euros; £1,000) from refugees to cover housing and food costs.
MPs also approved plans to delay family reunions for asylum seekers.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35406436

Yup. Really proud of that one...

Also, the government has begun criticizing the opposition for making the law look bad outside of Denmark. Because clearly it would not if it was reported objectively.

iirc Denmark isn't the only country doing this right? i think i've seen similar laws being floated in other european countries.

yeah acc to the guardian germany + sweden also have such policies. presumably it's more about disincentivizing refugees than it is about a budget deficit.

Switzerland, not Sweden. And it's a bit different in the Netherlands, because there refugees are quickly allowed to work.

But yeah, it's about being shitty to refugees, nothing more than that. The epitome of that idea was putting ads in lebanese newspaper explaining how shitty Denmark was towards refugees - and getting in trouble for lying about it and making it worse than it is, apparently the foreign ministry isn't allowed to lie. The major stupidity is that they apparently haven't thought about the fact that more foreigners than refugees might notice the signals being sent, and come to the same conclusion. The policy is in short to tell refugees that Denmark is an awful place for a foreigner to be, while telling EU and the rest of the west that that isn't true and the Denmark is an awesome place for foreigners to be. It's idiotic.

some UK news
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/24/asylum-seekers-made-to-wear-coloured-wristbands-cardiff
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/20/asylum-seekers-north-east-claim-identifiable-red-doors-houses

This was in the guardian today:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZrpMWaWEAAyFgv.jpg

The red doors thing might be less sinister than it looks but it was interesting to see how hard the Times went in - iirc the headline on the front page was "apartheid on the streets of Britain".

before i googled the quote i thought you meant the NYT + i was shocked

The Times is a conservative, centre-right Murdoch paper so not in their normal style either.

iirc the headline on the front page was "apartheid on the streets of Britain".

hearing that to the tune of the smiths' panic tbh

foreign minister Christiane Taubira resigned from Hollande's cabinet today because of her opposition to Hollande & Valis' plan to strip dual French citizens of their French citizenship if convicted of terrorism charges. very much unsure what I think about that plan.

Seems to me like more of a symbolic measure than a practical one. How many French terrorists have dual citizenship?

probably quite a few?

the Harper government in Canada passed a law last year that has the same affect. Dual citizenship Canadians can be stripped of their Canadian citizenship if convicted of terrorism offences. Total BS obv, citizenship shouldn't have tiers.

Sweden: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-sweden-idUSKCN0V60HB

Sweden is likely to deport up to half last year's record 163,000 asylum seekers either voluntarily or forcibly, presenting a major challenge to authorities, Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said on Thursday.

Between 60,000 and 80,000 people will likely have to leave, Ygeman said, which would represent about 45 percent of the total number of applicants.

jfc

bring me 55% of your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free

where are they gonna deport them to, Finland?

wherever

who cares?

out of sight, out of mind!

i'm sure they'll be fine

they're only desperate human beings driven from their ancestral homes, it's not like it's somehow our problem, what have they got to do with us

they don't even know the words we know, they can't speak properly, what a bummer for us!

The current line appears to be 'it'll only encourage more of them to come'.

yes that's why i never give money to panhandlers, they need to learn

just a reminder that iirc the US took in a whopping 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2015

obama has pledged that amount over the coming year iirc

factcheck.org says a total of 2,290 Syrian refugees have arrived in the United States since fiscal year 2011

whatta country

POTUS has a lot of say in how refugees come in. I read that the limit is determined by his consultation w/ congress but I'm guessing he makes the final decision?

well they have to have somewhere to go and state governors have a lot of say in that iirc

iirc Sweden grants refuge to the highest proportion of applicants anywhere in the European Union and the implication that two thirds will stay is vastly more positive than it would be anywhere else.

yeah iirc upwards of 75% of asylum applications in France fail

Yes, and France is not the worst offender. Sweden has always deported close to 0% of Syrians, etc and close to 100% of Albanians and Kosovar, etc. A change in policy is important to pick up but without knowing where unsuccessful applications are from, it can't be read into the bare numbers.

right the success rate in France is quite different for people from the Balkans than for people from today's war zones