Does the European Union Need Stricter Immigration Laws in Light of the Recent Terror Attacks?

Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, hundreds of thousands of migrants have flocked to the European continent in hopes of finding sanctuary. Many of these immigrants eventually ended up choosing Germany as their destination, largely due to the generous public welfare services available in the country. For the many immigrants who settled in, they have had few issues in regards to integration and, for the most part, have followed the law respectfully.

However, it was only a matter of time before an incident would occur that would bring into question the fairly liberal immigration policies put into place by the European Union. You see, before the recent wave of attacks that have taken place across Germany and the rest of Europe, people largely sympathized with the refugees. The logic was that “they (the immigrants) deserved somewhere to stay so why not give them a place at least until the war concludes?”

In an ideal world, it is hard to argue against this and I would argue that most people would agree to extend a helping hand to the Syrian refugees who have suffered as a direct result of the war. Part of human nature is being compassionate and I fully believe that in the worst of times that’s when some of the best characteristics of humans come to fruition. When reality hits, though, the issue at hand is more complex than just allowing immigrants to obtain asylum.

Many of the immigrants from Syria were coming from a very active war zone that is hardly contained even to this day. Groups like the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, which actively operate in the region, have established a large presence in Syria, in addition to having recruited and trained tens of thousands of members ready to do their bidding. Consequently, when many of the immigrants started arriving in Europe, along came with them members of these radical groups that seek to sow terror across the world.

Essentially, when you have an open-border policy, coupled with an inability to conduct thorough background checks on the immigrants attempting to enter your country, you will inevitably encounter great security risks. It would be naive to claim that the member states of the European Union weren’t aware of this issue. Perhaps they knew about it and decided that the benefits outweighed the risks at the time. After all, the humanitarian choice would have been to grant refuge to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants seeking help. By refusing them, the potential political and humanitarian fallout could have been disastrous so it was only logical for the EU to deal with the problem immediately and sort it out later. Unfortunately “later” has lead to the deaths of many innocent people.

In the past week or two, there have been multiple attacks just in Germany, claiming the lives of many individuals. Just look at this list of attacks that have occurred in Europe during the year 2016.

Why is it that all of a sudden people are concerned with the current policies and think they should be reviewed only after a slew of terror attacks have taken place? Why are people so reactive instead of proactive? Maybe I am being a bit harsh, actually. Nobody really thinks about possible terror attacks occurring, rather, people usually are more concerned with how they are going to pay their bills or what they are going to eat for dinner at night.

This still is no excuse for gross negligence, though. It was only a matter of time before the very group that wants to harm us – ISIS – managed to slip through the borders of Europe and carry out attacks to harm as many people as possible. While it is clear that huge mistakes were made on behalf of the European Union in handling the refugee crisis, moping about it will not bring about constructive change.

What needs to be done now is to look at all remaining options to ameliorate the immigration issue at hand. Quite a few options remain, but few are ideal. As I am not expert policy analyst on immigration I will refuse to engross myself in the debate, but it doesn’t take an expert to know that the current policies are an abysmal failure.

My fear is that the longer we beat around the bush and refuse to admit the core of the issue, more frequent attacks will occur in Europe and abroad. While I truly believe in assisting people when they require help, I also believe in the idea that we also deserve a safe place to live. Nobody should be fearful of attacks occurring just outside of their home.

Featured Image via Wikimedia