Europe's refugee crisis explains why border walls don't stop migration
- Written by Eleanor Paynter, PhD Candidate, Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University
President Trump has long called migration a security crisis[1], but in recent weeks he has also referred to the situation along the southern border as a humanitarian crisis[2].
As he ended the government shutdown in a televised speech on Jan. 25, Trump reiterated his claim[3] that a border wall between the United States and Mexico would save the lives of Central American migrants, many of whom are women and children.
“Walls work,” he said[4]. “They save good people from attempting a very dangerous journey from other countries.”
As my doctoral research[5] into Europe’s 2015-2016 refugee crisis[6] shows, however, stricter border control doesn’t stop migration. Often, it makes it more dangerous.
Open arms or closed borders?
An estimated 1.3 million migrants[7] entered the European Union in 2015 — more than double the year before. They were seeking asylum protection from war, conflict and extreme poverty.
To put that figure in context, just half-a-million migrants[8] — including asylum-seekers, who typically give themselves up to border agents — were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018.
Most of Europe’s migrants came from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq. Generally, these asylum-seekers entered the European Union via Turkey, crossing Macedonia, Serbia and other Balkan countries[9] by foot.
Well over 100,000 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries[10] reached southern Europe by sea in 2015, crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.
Overwhelmed with these increased arrivals, national governments in Europe took dramatically different approaches to managing their borders.
Germany threw its doors open[11]. Almost 900,000 migrants[12] arrived there in 2015 after the country suspended an EU rule[13] requiring that migrants apply for asylum in the first EU country they set foot in.
Migrants arriving at southern nations like Greece and Italy generally hoped[14] to continue north[15] to Germany.
Greece, however, was unable to process the more than 850,000 migrants[16] who arrived to its shores in 2015. It built holding camps on its Aegean islands, where people stayed in overcrowded, often inhospitable conditions[17] for up to two years[18] as their asylum claims[19] were processed.
References
- ^ security crisis (www.politico.com)
- ^ humanitarian crisis (time.com)
- ^ claim (www.cnn.com)
- ^ said (www.cnn.com)
- ^ doctoral research (scholar.google.com)
- ^ refugee crisis (journals.sagepub.com)
- ^ 1.3 million migrants (www.pewglobal.org)
- ^ half-a-million migrants (www.pewresearch.org)
- ^ Balkan countries (reliefweb.int)
- ^ sub-Saharan African countries (www.pewglobal.org)
- ^ threw its doors open (www.bbc.com)
- ^ 900,000 migrants (www.reuters.com)
- ^ suspended an EU rule (www.dw.com)
- ^ hoped (www.migrationpolicycentre.eu)
- ^ continue north (www.migrationpolicy.org)
- ^ more than 850,000 migrants (data2.unhcr.org)
- ^ overcrowded, often inhospitable conditions (www.refworld.org)
- ^ two years (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ asylum claims (www.asylumineurope.org)
- ^ Reuters Graphics (pictures.reuters.com)
- ^ 15 barriers (www.tni.org)
- ^ patrolled (ec.europa.eu)
- ^ high-tech fence (www.dw.com)
- ^ still cross the Balkans (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ more dangerous (www.msf.org)
- ^ avoid border guards and pass barriers (www.dw.com)
- ^ hide migrants in trucks (www.infomigrants.net)
- ^ under cover of darkness (www.law.ox.ac.uk)
- ^ refugee crisis (www.tandfonline.com)
- ^ housing crisis (brill.com)
- ^ homeless encampments or squats (www.msf.fr)
- ^ The Calais Jungle (www.tandfonline.com)
- ^ the streets of French cities (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ Reuters/Giorgos Moutafis (pictures.reuters.com)
- ^ struck (www.repubblica.it)
- ^ US$325 million (euobserver.com)
- ^ questioned (www.dw.com)
- ^ citing (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ migrant enslavement and torture (www.cnn.com)
- ^ violate international law (www.reuters.com)
- ^ cannot be kept safe there (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ stranded (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ blamed one other (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ research (theconversation.com)
- ^ disproving this claim (blamingtherescuers.org)
- ^ 629 migrants (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ closed their ports (www.france24.com)
- ^ fewer Syrians are fleeing (www.migrationpolicy.org)
- ^ nearly 700,000 people (www.globaldtm.info)
- ^ sea arrivals increase tenfold since 2015 (data2.unhcr.org)
- ^ Reuters/Loren Elliott (pictures.reuters.com)
- ^ paying Mexico (muse.jhu.edu)
- ^ the journey riskier (reliefweb.int)
- ^ on boats (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ more than $10,000 (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ abandoned more than 1,400 migrants (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ large groups (theconversation.com)
- ^ traveling in caravans (theconversation.com)
- ^ will continue to flee (doi.org)
Authors: Eleanor Paynter, PhD Candidate, Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University