An article at The Economist explains why Danes have turned against immigration. The bottom line: They are a drain on society.
The migrants are creating a “parallel society”. Too many of its residents are hard-up, or jobless, or poorly educated, or have criminal records, and are of “non-Western” origin.
The government is trying to break up the “ghettos.” They passed a bill to end the formation of ghettos. They were the first European country to deter migrants from arriving in the first place. They are sending Syrians back to Syria.
The Economist reports:
Denmark’s defence of its welfare state is ruthless and, say, critics, racist. In October the finance ministry, in its annual report on the issue, estimated that in 2018 immigrants from non-Western countries and their descendants drained from public finances a net 31bn kroner ($4.9bn), some 1.4% of GDP. Immigrants from Western countries, by contrast, contributed a net 7bn kroner (see chart). Data on immigration’s fiscal effects were what “changed the Social Democrats’ point of view”, says Torben Tranaes of the Danish Centre for Social Science Research.
Muslims are at the core of the issue. This year was the first time the ministry reported separately on the contributions by people from 24 Muslim countries. They account for 50% of the non-Westerners, but 77% of the drain. Alongside that worry are fears that Muslims bring notions about democracy and the role of women that Danes find threatening. Muslims are welcome, says Mr. Tesfaye, but, “We can’t meet in the middle. It’s not half sharia and half the Danish constitution.”
Muslims call it racist but they are negatively impacting the nation, its finances, identity, and its values. Check out the chart.
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