What an immense boon to our troubled republic that we have clear-sighted, selfless public servants of the quality of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Make Mine A Double), who keeps us all on the straight and narrow with her eternal vigilance in the cause of truth, justice, and the socialist internationalist way. AOC, like all Leftists, sees racism everywhere, in every conceivable situation and has just found some more: she claims that the welcome that is being accorded to Ukrainian refugees is more wholehearted and comprehensive than what was accorded to earlier waves of refugees. And why? Because they’re white, of course, and the earlier refugees were brown. Of course! How could we not have noticed?
AOC told Rachel Maddow on MSNBC Tuesday night that “I think the world is watching and many immigrants and refugees are watching, and how the world treats Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees should be how we are treating all refugees in the United States.” The difference was obvious, at least to her: “The way the world treated Syrian refugees versus the way the world is greeting Ukrainian refugees is a very stark contrast. I think the way we are looking at immediate granting of TPS (temporary protected status) which is what we need to be doing, as well as many others, is something that we need to keep in mind.”
Oddly enough for such a pioneering and original thinker, AOC was actually echoing claims that the New York Times made at the end of February: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed tens of thousands of people out of their homes and fleeing across borders to escape violence. But unlike the refugees who have flooded Europe in crises over the past decade, they are being welcomed. Countries that have for years resisted taking in refugees from wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are now opening their doors to Ukrainians as Russian forces carry out a nationwide military assault.”
Are Europe and the U.S. really being more welcoming of Ukrainian refugees than they were of “brown” refugees? Not surprisingly, AOC and the Times are ignoring some important distinctions. The Ukrainians, most importantly, are fleeing an actual war. The Syrians, Iraqis, and Afghans that the Times mentions were fleeing war also, but Europe and the United States have also been inundated with economic migrants from relatively peaceful regions, who tell authorities they’re fleeing war in order to present a more convincing case to be allowed to stay.
Many of those migrants, moreover, came just to live on the generosity of European welfare states. In 2017, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said that many migrants wanted to settle in Germany because its “procedures and reception conditions are generous” and “the benefits for refugees are quite high.” Fully 40% of welfare recipients in Germany are migrants. In Sweden, almost 700,000 migrants are getting money from the state.
Related: AOC’s Grasp on American Governance Is a ‘Farce’
No one, however, is talking about Ukrainians moving into Europe just to go on welfare. What’s more, they generally share a religion and culture with many Europeans, which cannot be said of Syrians, Iraqis, or Afghans. Why does this matter? Consider the Afghan refugees in the U.S. who have recently been arrested for sexual assault and spousal abuse, with one of them ingenuously explaining that such behavior is allowed in his culture. There is certain to be more such trouble from those with a vastly different cultural and religious outlook; Ukrainian culture, however, doesn’t sanction behavior that is considered criminal in the U.S. and Europe.
Then there is the threat of jihad violence from Muslim migrants who bring from their home countries the idea that they have a religious obligation to wage war against unbelievers. There is abundant evidence of this. All of the jihadis who murdered 130 people in Paris in Nov. 2015 had just entered Europe as refugees. On May 10, 2016, Patrick Calvar, the head of France’s DGSI internal intelligence agency, said that the Islamic State was using migrant routes through the Balkans to get jihadis into Europe.
There was a run of jihad attacks by migrants in the U.S. back in 2016. Somali Muslim migrant Mohammad Barry in Feb. 2016 stabbed multiple patrons at a restaurant owned by an Israeli Arab Christian; Ahmad Khan Rahami, an Afghan Muslim migrant, in Sept. 2016 set off bombs in New York City and New Jersey; Arcan Cetin, a Turkish Muslim migrant, in Sept. 2016 murdered five people in a mall in Burlington, Wash.; Dahir Adan, another Somali Muslim migrant, in Oct. 2016 stabbed mall shoppers in St. Cloud, Minn. while screaming “Allahu akbar”; and Abdul Razak Artan, yet another Somali Muslim migrant, in Nov. 2016 injured nine people with car and knife attacks at Ohio State University.
All this shows that AOC is wrong. If any nation is welcoming Ukrainians more wholeheartedly than it welcomed Syrians and Afghans, that’s not racism; it’s a sober assessment of the facts at hand. But as a deeply committed Leftist, AOC need not concern herself with such unpleasant things as facts.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member