They are trying it all over Europe—paying the migrants to go home!
It is something we have advocated here as well. Believe me, it is cheaper than incarceration and deportation and way cheaper than migrants of all stripes living (for years!) off the generosity of the US taxpayer for food, shelter, education and medical care.
Here is the story from NPR (hat tip: Joanne):
158,000. That’s roughly how many refugees are stuck in limbo in Europe right now.
Many of them got to Europe in late 2015, when the refugee crisis reached its peak, and have been waiting since then to see if they’ll be formally accepted into the European Union.
To cut down on the wait time and economic impact of this massive influx, some countries and nonprofits in Europe have embraced a new idea — pay refugees to go back to the countries they left in the first place.
Mahmoud Abdelwahab is one of the people who has been waiting. He’s 25, and originally from Mosul, Iraq. In early 2016, he quit his job as a cook and came to Europe, ending up in Vienna.
[….]
….the Austrian courts have been overwhelmed by applications. When the migrant crisis reached its peak back in 2015, the number of people wanting to stay in Austria tripled.
Instead of waiting longer, Mahmoud late last year made a tough decision. He decided to leave Austria and go back to Iraq.
“He saw other Iraqi people receiving the negative decision that they have to go back,” Epaid says. “And that’s why he decided for himself to back, before he got a negative.”
That decision — to voluntarily leave the country — is exactly what the Austrian government wants refugees to do.
Last spring, Austria announced that it would give 1,000 euros (roughly $1,219 USD) to the first 1,000 refugees who signed up to leave on their own.
The program was successful, and the government extended the offer to more refugees. It’s an incentive that’s gaining traction across Europe.
[….]
He’s taking the buyout, he says, to go home and use the money to buy a car and become a cab driver.
“Two years … [I] was here for nothing,” Mahmoud says as Epaid translates. “It didn’t make any sense to come here.”
More here.
And, LOL!, if I could run the immigration program (in any country) I would hire Mahmoud for a huge sum of money and have him filmed saying that in public service announcements to be shown all over the Middle East and Africa!
And, for my readers who just want to see them arrested and taken in chains to an airport, I don’t want to hear from you so don’t bother commenting. (Of course there would have to be all sorts rules put in place, like they can’t come back next week. I know that!)
Heck, if we could pay the supposedly educated DACA kids (the Dreamers!) to go back to their countries of origin they might actually (if they have been educated by the US) help their people and their homelands improve themselves, and the world would be a better place.
Come on President Trump, give it a try. Offer to pay them to return to where they came from, with maybe a little starter money, and see how many will sign up. Call the program Dreams from my Father’s Homeland!
There would be a little humorous side benefit for us as we watched the Dems scream bloody murder about wasting taxpayer dollars….
(I’m shutting up! I’m getting carried away!).
Click here to see all my posts on the ‘Invasion of Europe.’
