Germans have now started mass deportations of refugees from the Balkans many of whom have been in the country for years. The refugees are rounded up during the night and dragged to the train stations.
Deportations are not only cruel but massively disruptive for the communities where the undocumented immigrants reside. The longer people stay in a country, the more enmeshed their interests become with those of citizens. They have a lease, a bank account, there is a group of people who count on their professional services, on the daily cup of coffee they buy from them, their companionship, their capacity to return the money they borrowed, etc.
When N was about to be deported, I was far from being the only person who was going to mind. He’s probably the biggest hermit in the world, and still the idea that he’d just disappear overnight was unwelcome to many people who’d come to depend on him being here. When people move of their own will, they round things out, make arrangements to make things less painful for those who are staying. But with deportation, even if you are given the proverbial 2 weeks (which the refugees from the Balkans are not), that’s not enough to soften the blow.
The point I’m making is that the popular fantasy of deporting 11 million people from the US will be a disaster for all of us, not just them. People get enmeshed as they live next to each other. And tearing them apart hurts all of them, not just the ones dragged away.
Clarissa's Blog 
A very good link on what deportation is like in Germany.
http://www.germanimmigration.eu/2015/12/the-long-expensive-bitter-road-to-deportation.html
Note that the family described had no legal basis for residence in Germany and still fought the system for five years (at the cost of the German taxpayer) and still refused to leave of their own accord. I’m sure the process was traumatic for all involved (esp the kids) but should their parent’s fecklessness give them a quick road to German residence? Should the family have been allowed to stay forever? On whose dime?
In a more cynical take: the Balkans are sooooo 1990’s who cares about them anymore? The new refugees to trap in welfare and feel sorry for until they get bored with them are from the middle east, anyone who’s anyone takes in middle eastern crowds of angry young men and keeps them trapped in welfare limbo for years.
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I do not understand the logic of forcibly throwing out one group of refugees to make room for a new one. It reeks of the favorite consumerist activity of dumping the old, boring stuff to make room for new purchases.
And an addicted consumer can’t stop, as we know. When the shine wears off the new gadget, it will be tossed away to make room for a new one. And I can easily imagine the nightmarish scenario where 5 years from now the war in Syria ends and attempts are made to get the Syrian refugees booted back home because the space is needed for a new cause du jour.
A situation of such extreme insanity is being manufactured right in front of us and nobody is doing anything.
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“I do not understand the logic of forcibly throwing out one group of refugees to make room for a new one. It reeks of the favorite consumerist activity of dumping the old, boring stuff to make room for new purchases.”
Yes, that’s exactly the second point I was making.
“A situation of such extreme insanity is being manufactured right in front of us and nobody is doing anything.”
Trust me, even beginning to address this will be far more traumatic than anything short of war that you can imagine (and is probably inevitable now probably sooner rather than later).
A dreary almost start to the new year…..
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Yes, I shouldn’t have posted this today. But it’s bothering me and I needed to get it off my chest before the celebration.
I will compensate everybody with photos of beautiful food, though!
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\ Trust me, even beginning to address this will be far more traumatic than anything short of war that you can imagine (and is probably inevitable now probably sooner rather than later).
What is probably inevitable now? A war? Or beginning to address?
How will the latter be done in your eyes?
\ I will compensate everybody with photos of beautiful food, though!
I am very interested in your refugees / Europe posts, so it was a plus.
Will there be photos of your yolka (fir tree) and your house in snow too? 🙂
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Well, so much for German hospitality. I hadn’t heard about this. Is this a new decision, to deport refugees from the Balkans? Obviously, it’s totally inconsistent with accepting new refugees from Syria, or anyplace. What are German leaders thinking?
Of course, this is comparable to proposals by U.S. politicians to deport Hispanic immigrants but accept Syrian immigrants. What are Americans thinking?
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Perhaps they understand that 11 million of the the Hispanics are in this country illegally, but that the Syrian immigrants are following the rules?
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That would be an intensely infantile approach. Let’s give Americans the benefit of the doubt.
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I’m starting to doubt that much thinking is involved. The decisions concerning immigration seem to address the public ‘ s emotional state at any given moment. And since the mood changes easily, the policy follows.
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Clarissa, I think you’ve hit it on the head. It’s an emotional response, not a thinking response. It’s not something that can be easily explained by logic.
Responding to Dreidel: “Syrian refugees are following the rules.” I’m not sure there are any “rules” applying to mass migrations. Nation-states pretend to have rules applicable to small numbers of “refugees,” but that word is usually narrowly defined.
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There’s ZERO chance that anywhere near 11 million immigrants of any stripe will ever be deported from the country. That nonsense was put out by the bombastic clown Trump to get attention, and it worked.
I simply responded to Editor (Retired)’s rhetorical question about what he believes (presumably stupid) Americans are thinking, with a strictly legalistic answer (which also has ZERO chance of being taken into account).
Ask me a realistic question (“What’s actually going to happen with the 11 million Hispanic illegal immigrants already here and the unknown number of Syrians at our gates?”), and I’ll give you an honest answer:
MOST of them (Hispanics and Syrians) will stay / be brought in, and the U.S. will deal with it with little fuss or threat to our economy or safety, no matter who the next President is. (It won’t be Trump, and the other “deport” Republican candidates are bluffing.)
The number of immigrants who ultimately come to America is almost always determined by economics (what the immigrants expect to find here, and how many immigrants American businesses are prepared to utilize), and in the end the government gets the idea and adjusts its so-called rules accordingly.
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“There’s ZERO chance that anywhere near 11 million immigrants of any stripe will ever be deported from the country.”
Oh, absolutely. This is not happening. But the immigration laws that try to deport people like me and my husband (I was also threatened with deportation back to Canada, even though I’m allowed to be in the US as long as I want as a tourist with my Canadian passport) with our PhDs from leading US universities, perfect English, great financial status, high tax-paying history and potential, and very law-abiding lives are insane.
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Besides, these rules change very often. It’s not like they come from some unquestionably wise higher authority.
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