European Immigrant Crisis: The Difference Between The Immigration Issue In Europe And The United States

As noted by Foreign Policy, the European immigrant crisis has become a major issue, particularly in the Mediterranean, France, and Germany. This has caused many to question whether the price of increasing European unity has been the loss of the EU’s ability to manage their own borders. The situation in Europe and the United States has some similarities and differences, as can be seen in the Brexit vote in the U.K. and Trump’s election in the U.S.

The Beginning of the Problem

During a five month period at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, more than 20,000 people – primarily Tunisians – migrated to Lampedusa. The event on the small Italian island was the beginning of a larger crisis in the EU system. The Italian government initially moved many of these immigrants to encampments on the mainland. Once at these locations, many were provided with papers and sent to France.

Once the French government realized what was going on, they began sending the immigrants back. In the end, the French of the Italians had to arrive at an agreement in which they would attempt to minimize the number of immigrants crossing the Mediterranean.

Spain had experienced problems going back as far as 1993, with refugees crossing between Morocco and Spain. As a consequence, the Spanish government decided to build a series of fences to keep them out. As reported by BBC News, Greece, in 2012, constructed a long fence along a section of its border with Turkey that had seen large numbers of people crossing illegally.

An important point to note is that the places where people are most likely to be rejected for entry into Europe are not necessarily the places where most people try to get into Europe. The majority of immigrants try to come into Europe through airports, but most of those who were refused entry try to do so through land or sea crossings.

Political questions revolving around immigration have largely focused on illegal migration into Europe. Unlike the United States, the question of illegal immigration is much more complicated because of the diverse nature of the continent and the greater number of nationalities.

The structure of the European Union also plays a part, in that many illegal immigrants are individuals who have either overstayed a visa or have chosen to illegally remain in a country they have entered under the European Freedom of Movement statutes – which require no visa.

Estimates by government officials of the illegal immigrant population in Europe will vary depending on the politician asked and the political climate at the time. For some, there is political advantage in exaggerating the number, while others will want to minimize it. Yet despite the increase in border crossings, the surprising fact is that the actual number of undocumented or illegal immigrants in Europe has been declining over the last 10 years.

There are exceptions to this, such as in the U.K., where asylum-seekers have resulted in a significant increase. Pew Research reports that the illegal immigrant population in the United States peaked in the year 2007 and has slowly dropped since. This may well be due to the economic problems in the United States that reduce the number of job opportunities.

While for the United States, the border is obviously a significant issue, the greatest concern for European governments is not illegal border crossings, since most people cross into Europe legally. They are much more concerned about keeping track of these immigrants after they actually get to Europe.

Border protection and cooperation between nations in Europe is important, but the authorities have discovered that the most effective way to address the issue is for law enforcement to track and capture illegal immigrants once they are already in the EU. This is made much simpler in Europe because of the use of national identity cards, which don’t exist – yet – in the United States.

As a consequence of this, many European nations are able to expel illegal immigrants at a far higher rate than is possible in the United States. For example, in the first three years of the Obama administration, the U.S. removed more than 400,000 illegal immigrants each year. During the same years, the British government was able to expel 25,000 illegals.

In part, the above numbers may represent the fact that in Europe the overall numbers of illegals are much smaller and the problem much less significant than in the U.S. Another possible explanation for the difference is that such large numbers of Hispanics live in the United States legally, making it much easier for illegal immigrants from places like Mexico to blend into the United States.

[Featured Image by Carl Court/Getty Images]