US and Europe no longer have a moral duty towards illegal immigrants

Michael Chugani says the influx of mostly economic migrants is straining social fabric and fanning hardline populism in the once-welcoming liberal West. Donald Trump has got it right with his zero-tolerance approach

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The Statue of Liberty has long stood tall in New York Harbour as an icon of freedom for immigrants. But the promise to welcome the tired, the poor and the huddled masses now belongs to a bygone era. Photo: AP

Published: 2:01am, 12 Jul 2018Updated: 2:01am, 12 Jul 2018

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Anyone who’s been to the Statue of Liberty would have seen these famous words. The statue has long stood tall in New York Harbour as an icon of freedom for immigrants. But, as welcoming as the words are, they now belong to a bygone era.

Can we, with all honesty, apply those words to the migrants sneaking illegally into the United States from the Mexican border? I think not. Likewise, it’s a stretch to apply the words to those flooding into Europe. From TV images at least, these migrants don’t look anything like tired and huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Many pouring into the US and Europe look healthy, able-bodied and young.

Some may well be genuine refugees fleeing persecution but most are economic migrants, plain and simple. Why else would they choose only wealthy Western nations? Why don’t those sailing to Australia head instead to Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, or China?

Why don’t those crossing from Mexico to the US head south instead to Brazil, Argentina or Chile? And why don’t those sailing to western Europe go instead to the Ukraine, Russia or Poland?

Watch: The US cracks down on undocumented immigrants

The short answer is they don’t want to live in those places and they know they will be shown the door anyway. It may be politically insensitive to say this but the migrant crisis has become a white man’s burden.

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