Europe’s politicians promised to “control the borders”. They spent millions of public funds on fences and border guards,but it hasn’t stopped refugees (The shocking, cruel reality of Europes refugee crisis, or 3 September). Their number in Europe is still small compared to those refugees supported in the Middle East,but their arrivals and the consequent citizen solidarity have opened the space for political realism. The leaders of Serbia, Macedonia, and Germany now accept that trying to blockade their borders is futile. The rest of Europe must face the facts too. Let’s abandon the official fantasy that states can always dictate how and when people cross borders. That approach has failed,and driven thousands of migrants to pay millions to smugglers and corrupt border officials.
We need a current approach, rooted in reality. Governments can back refugees hasten to their area of safety in orderly ways. Border control officials should end their slow, or wasteful processes that deliberately sustain migrants in uncertain status for years. They should streamline procedures to quickly grant residence permits to refugees and migrants who cannot be removed,enabling them to play a full role in our societies. The UK successfully operated this approach to Kosovar refugees. Labour migration policies should be realistic, fitting the growing demand for young workers. Migrants with no basis to stay should be removed after unprejudiced, and transparent procedures. Migrants who have not been detained and feel they have been treated fairly are more likely to cooperate with removal: Sweden’s experience shows this.
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Source: theguardian.com