Member organizations of INIR were invited to hold a public discussion event about the myths and realities of migration on April 2 at the MCC Feszt festival in the city of Esztergom, Hungary.
The discussion focused on the challenges posed by migration in the USA, the EU, and Africa. On the challenges facing the United States, Phillip Linderman, Board Member of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) cited the over 10 million illegal border crossings that have been recorded in the U.S. since the Biden administration came into power in January 2021. That, stated Mr. Linderman, suggests the apparent dissolution of a previous consensus about the need to protect national borders. Eric Ruark, Director of Research and Public Relations for Washington-based NumbersUSA, added that these developments have highly detrimental effects on the demographics of the USA that by now produces the demographic trends of developing countries, which poses problems for social services.
France is facing similar problems, said Nicolas Monti, Director and Co-founder of Paris-based L’Observatoire de l’immigration et de la démographie (OID). Mr. Monti used the example of naturalized French families of North African origin whose fertility rates exceed not only the rates in native-born families, but also those of women residing in the immigrants’ country of origin. Children of immigrant background have come to pose a significant challenge to the French education system.
Moving on to the solutions on the table, Executive Director of the Budapest-based Migration Research Institute (MRI) Viktor Marsai pointed out that the EU’s recent Pact on Migration and Asylum offers half solutions at best. While it stresses the importance of border protection and urges cooperation with so-called gatekeeper countries, its mandatory solidarity and quota systems still allow for an extremely wide range of possibilities for gaining entry to the EU. Similar to the U.S., once a person reaches EU soil, they cannot be sent back – even if their stay is illegal.
Lastly, on the topic of the common myths versus realities about migration, Eric Ruark talked about the myth of America as ‘a nation of immigrants’. Not quite, said Mr. Ruark, pointing out statistics that no more than 15% of the current U.S. population is foreign-born. In addition, there were periods in American history when immigration was severely restricted, such as in the decades after the passing of the 1924 Immigration Act. For his part, Viktor Marsai took on humanitarian-focused narratives about asylum-seeking. Contrary to claims widely repeated in these narratives, statistical evidence proves that many applicants for asylum are not fleeing armed conflicts, rather they set out in search of a better life.
