The only way to stop them is to close the door. Otherwise, they will eventually swamp and kill their hosts:
The European Union decided Friday to share 40,000 of the refugees landing in Italy and Greece but foot-dragging and verbal sniping over the move exposed deep divisions about how to deal with Europe’s massive migrant influx.
While the size of the challenge is daunting, the EU’s response has been underwhelming. More than 114,000 migrants fleeing wars or poverty have been plucked from the Mediterranean so far this year as they try to cross in unseaworthy smugglers’ boats. Some 2,600 have died or are missing along the route, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Greece and Italy have been swamped by the arrivals, while Hungary and Bulgaria are also under pressure from thousands of migrants traveling over land. Things are likely to get worse amid the summer high season for migrant crossings.
Radical action is being taken around Europe in response. Hungary has pledged to build a fence to keep out the torrent of migrants crossing its border with Serbia. France and Italy have been at loggerheads over the movement of migrants along their common border. Police have dismantled migrant camps in northern France, from where people are hoping to cross into Britain.
The Hungarians have the right idea. Meanwhile, in The Atlantic, David Frum urges the Europeans to do what the Australians have done:
After the Labor government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a newly permissive policy toward asylum-seekers in 2008, their numbers, unsurprisingly, soared. As holding facilities filled, Labor leaders moved to reintroduce stricter controls, but public opinion had already turned against them: the party lost the 2013 federal election to Tony Abbott, a conservative who had, among other campaign promises, vowed to crack down on asylum-seekers arriving by boat. Under Abbott’s policy, no unapproved boats would be allowed to land. Period. Boats apprehended at sea would be turned back to their point of origin or towed to uncongenial places like Papua New Guinea for processing of passengers. The government used social media to communicate the new policy throughout Southeast Asia. A YouTube video released in many of the region’s languages warned: “If you travel by boat without a visa, you will not make Australia home.” Since then, illegal boat migration has virtually disappeared.
Migration follows opportunity. Remove opportunity, and migration will cease. Migrants who attempt to force their way into Europe are, quite understandably, seeking a better life. But the peoples of the countries they wish to enter similarly have a right to do what is best for themselves.
The collapsing Third World is something that sooner or later is going to have to be dealt with.
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