In an article written in Monday’s Guardian UK, Bolivian president Evo Morales advocated that the European Union (EU) refrain from enacting harsh anti-immigration laws. In the piece, Morales gives several of the usual immigrants’ rights arguments including that immigrants do the jobs Europeans don’t and that billions of Euros in remittances are sent to Latin America. However, he also invokes a historical lesson to back his perspective:
European citizens arrived in Latin and North America en masse, without visas or conditions imposed on them by the authorities. They were simply welcomed, and continue to be in Latin America. They came to exploit the natural wealth and to transfer it to Europe, with a high cost for the native population. Yet the people, property and rights of the migrants were always respected.
Contrast the European "return directive", to be voted on in the European parliament this week. It imposes harsh terms for detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants, regardless of the time they have spent in European countries, their work situation, their family ties or their achievements in integrating themselves into local society.
- So what do you think about Morales’ argument?
- Does his perspective make sense or is he clutching at straws?
- Is the EU acting hypocritically or justly towards immigrants?
- Should the EU follow Italy’s lead in cracking down on immigrants or are those measures too harsh?
- Is immigration policy in Europe better or worse than the U.S.?
If you want to participate in this debate please leave a comment to this post and/or vote in our poll.
Let your voice be heard!
Sources- Guardian UK, Bloomberg, boston.com
Image- BBC News (Thousands of illegal immigrants line up in an attempt to take advantage of an amnesty in Spain in 2005).
1 comment:
Evo might have thought twice about publishing his piece the Guardian - preaching to the choir, no? Would have made more of a splash in the Economist, I think.
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