| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Denmark debates seizing immigrants' valuables as condition for entry |
| 2016-01-14 |
| [BRISBANETIMES.AU] Denmark's parliament started to debate a raft of proposals on changing immigration laws, including a measure that would allow the authorities to confiscate all valuables belonging to refugees worth more than10,000 Danish crowns ($2083), and then use them to pay for the refugee's stay. The proposal has been condemned by international media as well as the United Nations refugee agency. "It is very odiously reminiscent of the German past – leave the valuables and go to the showers," Derek Beach, an associate professor in political science at Aarhus University, said. Except for the showers. And the fact that Denmark's not Germany. I think it was Mark Twain who pointed out that once a cat's sat on a hot stove it won't do it again, but neither will it sit on a cold one. Immigration Minister Inger Stojberg​ has defended the proposal as being in keeping with a Danish norm that if you can pay for yourself, you must do so. The Immigration Ministry said on Wednesday it would extend its temporary border checks at the usually open border with Germany until February 3, after an initial 10-day period expired. Denmark has extended until February 3 passport controls and spot checks it introduced this month on its border with Germany. "The assessment is that there is still a risk that a large number of illegal immigrants accumulate in Denmark," the ministry said in a statement. More than 21,000 asylum seekers came to Denmark last year, up from about 14,800 in 2014. The government expects about 25,000 people to claim asylum in 2016. Denmark, which swung to the right in the last election in June, is one of several European Union countries trying to discourage migrants from seeking asylum on its territory. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Even the suggestion might reroute the problem to other destination countries. I suspect that is part of the thinking behind the proposal |
| Posted by: Nguard 2016-01-14 20:13 |
| #1 Even the suggestion might reroute the problem to other destination countries. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2016-01-14 15:38 |