Immigration: A world wide problem

the terrible sinking of a boat off the coast of Libya has a lot of people upset.

Probably most of those trying to get to Europe are not Arab or from Tribal Libya, but Africans trying to find work. In the past, many worked in North Africa as farm laborers but now they are not welcome.

Years ago, a similar high death toll in economic refugees from Haiti was in the news, and the US responded by sending them all back to discourage more from trying to immigrate. It is no longer in the news, so either it worked or it is being ignored.

This story explains the backstory:

trying to have a better life. The article is about those from Nepal who emigrate to the Gulf (or India or the Philippines!) to get work. And the author notes the problems but doesn't see the irony of this photo's caption:

Fresh food, a close-knit community and an unpolluted environment are the staples in rural Nepal from where a majority of the migrant workers in the Gulf hail.

yes, but as my  husband told me: You can't eat scenery.

this story is about Nepal, where a lot of people in America think it is Shangri La. No, it's not. It's poor, with nice scenery.

A similar reason is found here, where ten percent of people go overseas to make a living.

the problem: Even if you start a business, it won't make a profit. So you leave.

Another problem: Many times drug smugglers and extremist terror groups make money from smuggling people.

StratPage has this note in the Mexican influx into the USA.

and I suspect a lot of those fleeing the middle east or North Africa also are the same ones who smuggle arms etc. and have friends in terrorist or drug smuggling groups.

So welcome the poor with open arms? Yes, but that only encourages more. Maybe Clinton was right: Send them back.
Or at least try to separate those with terrorist ties from those who merely want a better life.

The problem is that it is one thing to send people back to a poor country, it is another to send them back to a country that will kill them.

This has been done in the past (if you aren't aware of the repatriations to communist countries after WWII, you should be). But it may not work in today's world where everyone has cellphones.


and if I am sympathetic to those seeking a better life, maybe it's because I have some ancestors who fled the Famine on "coffin ships"...