UN Easter Message: Migration Is ‘Inevitable – Desirable – Necessary’

immigration
TAHA JAWASHI/AFP/Getty Images
Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.

The United Nations migration agency (IOM) has posted an upbeat Easter message celebrating international migration as not only inevitable, but also necessary and “desirable.”

The UN message—which seems to echo the position of George Soros and his Open Society Foundations—follows hard on the heels of a Europe-wide survey on immigration, which found that a striking 78 percent of European citizens want tighter control of Europe’s external borders.

The sweeping survey covering all 28 European Union (EU) states revealed an overwhelming concern over the dangers of unchecked immigration.

Europeans expressed anxiety over the prospect of Africans migrants arriving en masse into Europe over the next decade, with 68 percent of those polled saying they either “strongly fear” or “moderately fear” such a scenario.

A recent study by the Pew Research Center found, in fact, that more than a million sub-Saharan Africans had already moved to Europe since the year 2010.

The perception of the causes of migration has also changed, as a majority of Europeans are now convinced that most migrants are attracted to Europe by “pull factors” such as the EU’s economy and social benefits, rather than propelled by “push factors” such as wars, poverty or climate change.

Enormous numbers of sub-Saharan Africans have said they would migrate immediately to Europe if they had the chance and are only held back by the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to doing so.

More than 50 percent of Kenyans, for example, would “immediately move to another country if they could,” according to a recent survey conducted by Pew.

Europeans have also expressed concern over the rapid population growth of Muslims in Europe and 70 percent of those interviewed said they believe that a growing Muslim presence is a problem. A mere 8 percent believe that the increased Muslim presence is no threat at all.

Moreover, the majority of Europeans believe that the influx of immigrants into their respective countries will increase both the crime rate and the threat of terrorism. A majority of citizens (57 percent) said that the arrival of large numbers of immigrants will change the culture of their countries.

The UN’s celebration of immigration as an unqualified good highlights the significant disconnect between Eurocrats and the general population.

While the UN and other supranational groups seek to facilitate migration, rank and file Europeans are desperately looking for ways to slow it down.

It remains to be seen whether national political leaders will respond to the will of the people or choose to follow the directives coming from Brussels and Geneva.

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