Roughly 2,016,241 migrants entered Germany in 2015, many with the conviction that they had a model of society and governance that was superior to the German one, and that they would eventually replace the one with the other. But any concern about that, or about shocking levels of crime among migrants, indicating that many have no respect whatsoever for German law, is “racist” and “Islamophobic,” and thus to be dismissed out of hand.
“Merkel reveals she has no regrets over 2015 migrant influx, claims she would let 1 million into Germany again,” RT, August 28, 2020:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has doubled down on her controversial open borders immigration policy, saying she would make “essentially the same decisions” if presented with similar circumstances to the 2015 migrant crisis.
Merkel was asked about the policy during her annual summer press conference in Berlin on Friday. “When people are standing at the German-Austrian border or the Hungarian-Austrian border, they have to be treated like human beings,” the German leader told journalists.
The politician added that European nations will face similar tough decisions for many years to come. “The subject of migration … is not finished. It will be a constant theme for the 21st century,” she said.
There were roughly one million first-time asylum applications in Germany between 2015 and 2016 – one of the critical moments of Merkel’s 15-year tenure as chancellor of the European nation.
Despite an initial wave of popular support among the German people, the reality of Merkel’s immigration policy decision quickly gave way to skepticism and, later, controversy and a backlash, after a slew of high-profile incidents involving migrants, including numerous sexual assaults during the 2015-16 New Year’s Eve celebrations….
Merkel also made a deal with Turkey, promising visa-free travel in Europe for Turkish citizens in exchange for Turkey stemming the tide of migration through its borders. This afforded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan new leverage in negotiations with Brussels in the years to come, including in 2020, when he threatened to open the refugee floodgates if NATO did not back Turkish operations in Syria.
In 2019, some 1,345,943 foreigners migrated to Germany, compared with roughly 2,016,241 in 2015….