European Illegal Immigration Crisis - Research Paper Example

European illegal immigration crisis Department European illegal immigration crisis Is Europe’s Illegal Immigrant Problem Unsolvable in the Short-Run? PROS: Yes, Europe’s Illegal Immigrant Problem is solvable in the short run because… 1. the United Nation Organization recognizes the need to stop armed conflict in Syria which is the direct cause of illegal immigration. 2. the European countries were able to gain the required experience and are implementing programs that would avoid previous mistakes. 3. the citizens of the hosting countries are turning more violent and the immigrants no longer want to relocate to those countries as much. 4. Russia is being successful in fighting ISIS and soon the control over the territory will be restored which will allow the refugees to come back. 5. the majority of people who wanted to relocate to Europe have already done so and in the future the flow of immigrants, including illegal will decrease. CONS: No, Europe’s Illegal Immigrant Problem is unsolvable in the short run because… 1. the political situation in Syria is extremely complex, even if one of the sides of the conflict is neutralized, the legitimacy of current president’s government is debatable. 2. the more illegal immigrants get into the European countries, they more they spread the word about secret routes that stimulates illegal immigration. 3. the government of many countries, like Germany, is determined to accept all the immigrants, regardless of the position of the citizens on this issue. 4. involvement of Russia in the conflict made it even more heated and despite its good intentions, this country postponed the peaceful resolution by participating in it. 5. people from other countries may want to become refugees, inspired by the success of the early waves of the refugees. Analysis of pros and cons The migrant crisis that European countries are currently experiencing is an important issue that should be carefully examined. There are two opposing positions concerning whether it can be resolved in the short run. First of all, it is suggested that European illegal immigrant problem together with the armed conflict in Syria has become the focus on the United Nations Organization which means that the forces of the global community will be directed to solve it1. Another point that should be mentioned is that the European countries are now able to reflect on the experience that they had and make sure that the new programs that they design will be better and will not be vulnerable to the same mistakes as they former counterparts were2. Moreover, the quick resolution of European illegal immigrant crisis in the foreseeable future is also conditioned by the fact that many citizens of the host countries are turning violent to the immigrants3. As a result, the destination countries do not seem to be as attractive because the potential immigrants know that they will face a bad treatment there. At the present moment the Russian Federation is involved in fighting ISIS and it is rather successful in doing so4. This means that over a certain period of time the territory will be reclaimed by the government and the refugees will be able to come back to their countries. As a result, the flow of people who illegally immigrates to Europe will cease to exist. Finally, there is one more reason why the crisis in question is likely to be resolved within the short period of time: it is highly unlikely that the entire population of Syria and other countries would relocate to Europe; so, there is a critical number of people who will become immigrant and it is quite possible that this number has been reached5. In other words, the current situation is illegal immigration at its peak. However, it must be noted that there is a completely different point of view when it comes to determining whether the current European illegal immigrant crisis is likely to end any time soon. According to it, even though ISIS can be defeated, the legitimacy of Al Assad’s presidency is quite debatable and the key geopolitical players can hardly agree on it6. What is more important is that the more illegal immigrants enter Europe, the more people outside of this region learn about secret routes that can be used to enter the European countries7. In other words, the longer the illegal immigration exists, the more developed it becomes and more and more people might choose to enter the country illegally which causes a significant security dilemma. What is more important is that some countries do not treat the contemporary situation as a crisis. For example, Germany sees the increasing number of people who are willing to seek refuge in it, but instead of regulating this influx, the government says that there will be no cap on the total number of immigrants8. Furthermore, the involvement of the Russian Federation might have had positive consequences at first, but in the long run it will contribute to the political instability in Syria9. In other words, since there is one more significant political power to be taken into account, the peaceful resolution of the armed conflict and, consequentially, illegal immigrant crisis is not likely to be achieved any time soon. Finally, speaking of the immigrants who enter the European countries illegally, one should keep in mind that while the majority of them come of Syria, there are other countries involved as well10. In other words, the successful waves of refugees might inspire others to join this trend which will eventually contribute to the immigration crisis. Conclusion Having examined the two opposing sides, one can easily come to the following conclusion: European illegal immigrant crisis is not likely to be resolved in the short run and there are several reasons to that. First of all, as it has already been mentioned, the situation in Syria is rather complex and the relationship between this armed conflict and an increase in illegal immigration is even more difficult11. All this leads to that understanding that there is a considerable number of factors that should be taken into account and even if one of them is eliminated, for example, the armed conflict, there is no certainty that it will affect all the others. For example, at the present moment, the increase in the number of refugees can be explained by the ongoing civil war, but it is quite possible that the refugees will find other reasons to flee from their country even if it is peaceful again. In other words, it is quite possible that the real driving forces of illegal immigration are still unknown. The next point that should be mentioned focuses on the fact that the situation in Europe shows that its borders are not as security as they were thought to be12. In other words, one of the most devastating facts about the current crisis is that refugees were able to find routes that would take them to their destination countries, avoiding governmental restrictions. What is even force is that these routes could have been used by the terrorists. All this leads to the security dilemma and urges the government to reinforce its borders. However, as more people travel those secret routes, the more effective they become and more people may prefer them to the legal alternatives. As a result, it is quite possible that after the legal immigrants are taken care of by the European countries, the latter will have to face the issue of illegal immigrants since this manner of crossing the border will be more and more attractive to the refugees. One should also keep in mind that the crisis in question divided the European countries in terms of how the migrants should be treated. This part of the world used to follow the path of unification and consolidation, but these effects were not able to pass the test of the contemporary crisis. Thus, German remained faithful to its policy of multiculturalism while other countries closed its borders and wanted to restore complete control over their territory. Some argue that this decision by Germany was conditioned by its guilt complex and it accepts the refugees not because it truly believes that it would be the best solution to the situation, but because it is afraid of accusations that would compare it to Nazi German should it refuse to do so13. In other words, this country is the hostage of its past and the latter has a direct impact on the present. What is more important is that Germany is one of the most influential countries in the European Union. That is why it is quite possible that it will keep on accepting the immigrant, contributing to continuation of the crisis. It would not be a mistake that Russia has always been a country which affected the global political world. Until now the Syrian armed conflict and the consequent illegal immigration crisis did not involve the Russian Federation. However, after it was engaged in helping Syria to restore its sovereignty over its territory, the situation in that part of the world experienced a dramatic change. Some say that it is for the better, but the reality may be quite the opposite14. Indeed, the Russians were quite successful in bombing certain targets, but this only contributed to the lack of coordination between the armies and resulted in the fact that the situation became even more unstable. When the United States and the European countries were involved in the crisis in Syria the resolution could have been achieved easily since these two parties agree on major geopolitical questions. However, since Russia was involved it is likely to object to the view of the above mentioned powers which will place obstacles on the path of resolution. Finally, it may be essential to keep in mind European migrant crisis a global issue that is being discussed all over the world. So, when people from other countries learn that illegal immigration is on the rise, they might start relocating to Europe using illegal routes15. In other words, after the first waves of immigrants who were most comprised of the Syrian refuges, Europe might experience a different wave that consist of people from other countries who simply want to repeat the success of the early immigrants. All this leads to the understanding that as long as illegal immigration is portrayed as a phenomenon that cannot be tamed properly, the people will feel hope that they might enter European countries illegally which will contribute immigration, both legal and illegal. Therefore, keeping in mind all the reasons which were mentioned above, one might conclude that European illegal immigration crisis will not be resolved any time soon. Endnotes Read More