To be clear, I support border controls between US states when the number of illegal guns crossing the border puts the lives of citizens at risk.
However, the current Schengen border controls do not make anyone in the Schengen area safer.
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The number of migrants entering the European Union has indeed increased since 2021.
It is also true that Syria was the largest source of refugees entering the European Union.
The solution to refugees seeking asylum in the European Union, the United States, and other countries is not to ban asylum-seeking. International law regarding asylum status exists because Jews fleeing the Holocaust were denied entry to the United States because there was no legal framework. Refugee status is an essential part of international human rights law.
The solution to reducing the number of refugees is to help solve the crises that cause refugees to seek asylum in the first place.
The top two sources of refugees to the European Union in 2023 were from Syria and Afghanistan. The way to prevent Syrian refugees is to help Syria develop strong democratic institutions that protect the rights of all people. Then there won’t be refugees from Syria. It’s the same problem in Afghanistan. The reason for so many refugees from Afghanistan is that the Taliban is a despotic regime.
Congratulations, you just reduced the number of asylum seekers in Europe by 20%, and no human rights violations required!
The way to deal with refugees without internal border controls or country shopping is to follow existing laws. Under European Union law, asylum seekers must seek status in the first European Union member state they enter.
This means that if a refugee enters the European Union in Bulgaria at the Turkish border and then travel to Germany in order to seek refugee status, they technically aren’t supposed to do that and Germany can deny them refugee status on those grounds, requiring them to go back to Bulgaria and seek asylum status there.
The European Union is also going to adopt a unified asylum procedure starting in 2026, so international law will be respected without putting a heavy burden on one member state or another. I believe this is the right approach.
Ultimately, blocking asylum seekers from moving across internal borders will be negated as a valid reason for temporary border controls in the European Union.
On top of this, refugee status is not a valid way to seek permanent immigration to another country. Refugee status comes with a near automatic approval process for valid applicants while the crisis and reason for refugee status are valid. Once the reason for asylum has ended, countries have the right to request the refugee return home. It is not like immigration, however, where approval is not a guarantee or a right, but likewise, the revocation of citizenship is much more difficult. I think this is a valid approach.
The second most common reason for internal borders is fear of terrorism. The rule for this should be they can only be implemented after a terrorist attack from someone who entered the European Union through another member state and then crossed an internal border to commit a terrorist attack. I think this is a reasonable restriction. There has only been one terrorist attack in the European Union this year, and it was done by a 25-year-old Afghan refugee who had been in the country since 2013—literally a one-in-a-million chance.
In summary, I think internal borders are being misused by European governments, particularly the Scholz administration right now, for political gain, specifically to appease impossible-to-satisfy far-right political elements.
If we wanted to end refugees moving to Europe, it would be better to arm Ukraine, establish a free democracy in Syria, and topple the Taliban.
That is the only realistic way to reduce the number of refugees moving to Europe.
https://www.dw.com/en/is-the-rise-in-internal-border-controls-ending-the-eu-dream/a-71054656
Asylum annual statistics