In a growing number of cases, they carry fake IDs as they pretend to be Syrian to improve their asylum chances. Now the bloodshed unleashed by Islamic extremists is deepening fears of Muslims and threatening to create an atmosphere even less welcoming for those fleeing war in the Middle East.
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Is shutting our national door to refugees a good idea?
These attackers are not representative of the global Muslim community of more than 1 billion people. More than 600,000 people have made their way through Greece, Macedonia and Serbia so far this year, fleeing war and poverty at home. Europe faces a massive refugee crisis.
But already Thursday, signs emerged that countries in Europe are rethinking their refugee policies. “We were expecting that jihadists were among the refugees”, says a priest in the Orthodox Church on the island, who spoke to TIME by phone on Monday on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of these issues following the attacks in Paris.
Furthermore, since the attacks, more than 420,000 people have signed a petition calling on the United Kingdom to “close its borders”, despite pleas for people not to blame refugees for the attacks in Paris, and warnings from the UN that refugees should not be used as “scapegoats”. But the idea that this nation of more than 300 million people can’t find a home for 10,000 refugees that the Obama administration has pledged to accept, and do a sufficiently thorough job of screening them, is hard to accept.
“We don’t have religious tests to our compassion”, Obama said. “They won’t let my family across”. We have no money, and we’re waiting without any idea of what is to happen. “We want to reach Germany or Switzerland”. The teenager fled his predominantly Shia village after gunmen from the Sunni fundamentalist Taliban killed his father and a younger brother.
“In a century where finance and capital can move in a nanosecond… we’re going to have long lines at borders while every vehicle is checked and X-rayed to make sure there are no migrants hiding in the fuel tank?” he asked. “The much higher risk at the moment is coming from people who are already in the countries in Western Europe”.
“I’m hoping I can live like everybody else in this country”. “Those behind the attacks in Paris cannot be put on equal footing with refugees who are seeking asylum”, he asserted.
“We don’t have the databases”, he said. “Here there is war”. Early reports of a Paris attacker possessing a fake Syrian passport have stoked real fears that ISIS could permeate borders using the cover of refugee status.
The passports name both men as 25-year-old Ahmad Almohammad, according to The Guardian. Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has said there is evidence the passport is “a trail that was intentionally laid”.
Officials also contend that – given the tens of thousands streaming by the month into Europe – it is impossible to keep out a few unsafe individuals. To date there has been no credible intelligence of terror threats in Alabama. But checks are often gravely hampered by migrants’ lack of verified ID, leaving police to record whatever name, address and other personal details are provided, along with their fingerprints. They are infidels, total infidels.
The latest news as hundreds of thousands make their way across Europe in search of safety and a better life. He said his priority must be to “ensure peace and security”.
Once asylum-seekers in European Union countries achieve citizenship, they are eligible to secure a coveted passport from an EU member country which exempts the holder from the requirement to obtain a visa.
Mohamad Nouv Khanji, a Syrian doctor, observed the huddled masses packed around him in a Serbian holding pen for migrants. “I have never heard of terrorists carrying passports with them”, Pedziwiatr said.
Where did the passport travel? .
Guterres said there are groups trying to penetrate the migrant flow, but insisted the same applies for European society in general.
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“They did the same in Paris like they do in Syria”, said Tarabeh, the customs officer, gently rocking his 4-month-old boy.
