Last night I enjoyed a fascinating discussion and phone in with Janet Parshall on her ‘In the Market Show. You can here it by clicking Here
It was fascinating discussing immigration (based on this blog – The Strange Death of Europe – Part 2 – Immigration). And also hearing Donald Trump’s comments on Charlottesville at the beginning. I loved discussing this without mentioning Donald Trump and his infamous wall. I hope we were able to help people see that the whole subject is more complex. I was glad to encourage US Christians to welcome refugees and seek to help all – but especially those Christians who are facing increased persecution because of our bombing in the Middle East.
Previous show –
Janet Parshall Show – Charlie Gard and the DUP and Pride Marches
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
One point about helping refugees—we don’t have to help them in this country, particularly when it is more cost-effective to help them closer to their home.
In 2015, it cost UNHCR US$1,057(1) annually to care for each Syrian refugee in the Middle East. But it cost the U.S. US$12,874(1) annually for each refugee resettled in the U.S; Canada spent US$20,021(2) per refugee to resettle them in Canada; Norway US$24,691 (1,3) per refugee to resettle them in Norway; and Britain US$26,093(4) annually for every refugee resettled in Britain. IOW, for the money USG spent per refugee, they could have cared for 12 times as many by caring for them in the ME; Canada could have cared for 19 times as many, Norway 23 times and Britain 25 times. Between just those four countries, we were caring for 79 times fewer refugees by insisting on settling them in our own countries.
By looking after refugees in the ME, not only would we able to care for far more, we would not have to waste effort and money in differentiating between genuine refugees and economic migrants (or terrorists(5)): the latter will not find the prospect of a cot bed in a Middle Eastern tent as enticing as the Shangri-La of the West’s welfare states. They will also likely be rather happier(6) closer to home, in a climate they are familiar with, amongst culturally similar, locally recruited staff.
References:
(1) Camarota, Steven A. and Karen Zeigler. “The High Cost of Resettling Middle Eastern Refugees.” Center for Immigration Studies. Nov. 2015. Available at: http://cis.org/High-Cost-of-Resettling-Middle-Eastern-Refugees Note 28 for UNHCR figures; 2017 figure is US$897.
(2) “5 things to know about Canada’s Syrian refugee program.” 29 Feb. 2015. Available at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/syrian-refugees-by-the-numbers-1.3469080
(3) “FrP: Norway Will Not Take 10,000 Syrian Refugees.” The Nordic Page. 3 May 2015. Available at: https://www.tnp.no/norway/politics/4934-frp-norway-will-not-take-10000-syrian-refugees
(4) Dedman, Simon. “Syria refugees to cost ‘up to £23k each’ in first year in UK.” BBC. 19 Oct. 2015. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34567209
(5) Yuhas, Alan. “Nato commander: Isis ‘spreading like cancer’ among refugees.” The Guardian. 1 Mar. 2016. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/01/refugees-isis-nato-commander-terrorists
(6) Sugden, Maureen. “Syrian refugees settled on the remote Scottish island of Bute complain they are now depressed because it’s ‘full of old people and where people come to die’.” Scottish Daily Mail. 25 Jul. 2016. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3706625/Syrian-refugees-settled-remote-Scottish-island-complain-depressed-area-old-people-people-come-die.html