I wish the German government the best of luck with granting asylum to so many, many refugees.
I sure hope the German government has considered these vital issues, as well as many others, in great depth:
VETTING: How do you vet people from countries (yes, plural) where there's no good way to establish bona fides? Many of these people likely aren't refugees from the Syrian Civil War. From what I've read, a significant proportion of these people are from various African and Asian countries and are only looking for the goodies the German economy and government will provide them. In addition, with such an influx, some of these people are almost bound to be immigrant terrorists. With Germany's strict privacy laws, is there any way to hunt the terrorists down before they commit heinous crimes in the name of Allah or whatever?
ASSIMILATION: In common with just about every country which has allowed such an influx, Germany's record with regard to cultural assimilation has not been very good over the decades. How about all those ethnic ghettos, where the kids and even grandkids of immigrants don't even speak the host country's language? I know we have them in the U.S., and from what I've read, European countries are even worse at assimilation than the U.S. Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, came up with an excellent saying which is worth careful consideration: "Immigration without assimilation is invasion." Maybe I'm just an old, fuddy-duddy conservative, but to my way of thinking, the supreme and overriding duty of any government is to protect its citizens from invasion.
Please note that I'm not criticizing Angela Merkel's government or the German people in any way for making such a magnanimously humanitarian gesture. I just hope these issues, and a lot of others, have been carefully taken into account.
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