Austria: Mahmoud took the money and went home!
Posted
by Ann Corcoran on January 14, 2018
They are trying it all
over Europe—paying the migrants to go home! It is something
we have advocated here as well. Believe me, it is cheaper than
incarceration and deportation and way cheaper than migrants of all stripes
living (for years!) off the generosity of the US taxpayer for food, shelter,
education and medical care.
158,000. That’s roughly how many
refugees are stuck in limbo in Europe right now.
Many of them got to Europe in late
2015, when the refugee crisis reached its peak, and have been waiting since
then to see if they’ll be formally accepted into the European Union.
To cut down on the wait time and
economic impact of this massive influx, some countries and nonprofits in Europe
have embraced a new idea — pay refugees to go back to the countries they left in the first
place.
Mahmoud Abdelwahab is one of the people who has been waiting. He’s 25,
and originally from Mosul, Iraq. In early 2016, he quit his job as a cook and
came to Europe, ending up in Vienna. The
Austrian courts have been overwhelmed by applications. When the migrant crisis
reached its peak back in 2015, the number of people wanting to stay in Austria
tripled.
Instead of waiting longer, Mahmoud
late last year made a tough decision. He decided to leave Austria and go back
to Iraq. “He saw other Iraqi people receiving the negative decision that they
have to go back,” Epaid says. “And that’s why he decided for himself to back,
before he got a negative.”
That decision, to voluntarily leave
the country, is exactly what the Austrian government wants refugees to do.
Last spring, Austria announced that
it would give 1,000 euros (roughly $1,219 USD) to the first 1,000 refugees who
signed up to leave on their own.
The program was successful, and the government extended the offer to
more refugees. It’s an incentive that’s gaining traction across Europe.
“Two years … [I] was here
for nothing,” Mahmoud says as Epaid translates. “It didn’t make any sense to
come here.”
And, LOL!, if I could run the
immigration program (in any country) I would hire Mahmoud for a huge sum of money
and have him filmed saying that in public service announcements to be shown all
over the Middle East and Africa!
And, for my readers who just want to
see them arrested and taken in chains to an airport, I don’t want to
hear from you so don’t bother commenting. (Of course there would have to be all
sorts rules put in place, like they can’t come back next week. I know
that!)
Heck, if we could pay the supposedly
educated DACA kids (the Dreamers!) to go back to their countries of origin they
might actually (if they have been educated by the US) help their people and
their homelands improve themselves, and the world would be a better place.
Come on President Trump, give it a
try. Offer to pay them to return to where they came from, with maybe a
little starter money, and see how many will sign up. Call the program
Dreams from my Father’s Homeland!
There would be a little humorous
side benefit for us as we watched the Dems scream bloody murder about wasting
taxpayer dollars….(I’m shutting up! I’m getting carried away!). Click here to see all my posts on the ‘Invasion of Europe.’
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