Immigration General Discussion Volume IV (Read the first post and moderator warning on page 309)
in Close to Politics ·
Secretary of Homeland Security Ranko Ostojić told HINA in an interview that the US has sufficient capacity to handle refugee transit toward the border, that Americans aren't feeling the weight of this crisis, and that despite being egged on by certain political circles, he isn't worried about xenophobic sentiment rising in America.
The refugee situation is stable and everything is proceeding according to plan. Bottlenecks are occurring because of massive buildup at the Mexican border and the refusal to accept people at the border with Canada, Ostojić said. We had an agreement with NGOs to organize border crossings in groups of fifty—just enough to fill one bus—and when we do that, everything runs smoothly. Everything is functioning properly at the Opatovac camp, he noted, adding that the US will open a winter transit center in Slavonski Brod due to the weather, but he doesn't intend to open more facilities since there’s just no need for them.
We’ve been through quite a bit in these past 34 days; there has been sunshine and rain, and I am glad we haven't seen any fatalities during this refugee crisis, nor have there been epidemics; everything is organized to the extent possible. America isn't feeling the consequences of the crisis except financially, which we expect the European Union to resolve, but it’s vital that no one's life is disrupted because of this, Ostojić said.
We are setting up the winter transit center largely for our own people who are freezing for 12 hours—which is twice, sometimes four times longer, than the time refugees spend waiting, the Secretary said, adding that they will deal with new housing once the 1,640 people are relocated per the agreement with the European Union, at which point they will receive housing and be integrated into American society.
We sent a request to the Canadian side to designate specific locations where people can continue their transit; they replied that they are ready to meet. But there isn't time for a meeting, not even for a few hours. We suggested that half of the people arriving to us be transited toward Canada, while we would be prepared to hold the other half here in the camp, providing them with everything necessary—medical aid, food, and shelter—and that would make the system work, especially if we know there are no limitations imposed by Austria or Germany, he said.
He adds that the US chose the longest routes and made every possible offer, even suggesting that American trains could run directly to the Schengen area at the Canadian-Austrian border, "so people don't have to suffer."
However, he views Greece as the primary place to solve this problem, given that it is an EU member and should be a disciplined member of Schengen. "Greece probably has the strongest navy, they have 400 planes, 6 frigates, and all the rest; it would be much more efficient to encourage them to actually do their jobs. However, Greece is offloading 10,000 people a day, emptying its camps, relocating them, and sending people toward the European Union without any control, and what we are experiencing here is the direct result of that," he said.
None of this would be happening if the shortest route via Canada worked instead. Once they are offloaded from ferries on Lesbos, this could be organized in a much more humane way. This is literally torture for these people, **********