Consequences of humanitarian obligations

It was reported in The Times (February 25) that the European Parliament has voted to adopt a new law that imposes very tough penalties on employers who employ immigrants illegally. The motive behind this law, it is explained, is that thousands of illegal immigrants are attracted by undeclared jobs, a key motivator, a "pull factor" which is said to be to the financial detriment of the state.

So now the European Parliament is publicly and formally admitting that thousands of illegal immigrants that make it to Europe are "economic migrants".

That being the case, what about all this talk of human rights? Why should anyone go out of one's way to help them? Does it make sense that the very Union which passes a "a very tough law" against their employment is so solicitous about their well-being, making it so difficult to send them away? This does not make sense unless it is envisaged that they become perpetual wards of the state. But this again militates against the principle reason of the law: the negative effect that it has on the economy of the country. I already hear some objecting that among them there may be those who genuinely are seeking asylum. Granted that this may be true, but does it necessarily follow that this gives one the right to open an Atlas and choose a country where he wants to settle, and, in the case of quite a few, on their own terms?

There has been, and unfortunately still are, several conflicts around the world that give rise to hundreds of thousands of refugees seeking asylum. The great majority of them just cross the border of one of their neighbouring countries whose people for the most part are of the same ethnicity and with which they have cultural ties. There, UNHCR and other charitable organisations organise refugee camps for their help and even they, as we have seen in Sudan and before in Chad, do so if there is no risk to themselves!

So it seems to me that all this talk about human rights and humanitarian obligations towards illegal immigrants is a case of muddled thinking whose consequences in the not-too-distant future are going to be quite serious.