Of all the bad decisions made about immigration, it’s arguable that one of the worst in modern times occurred when in 2015 Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to fling open her nation’s doors to Syrians displaced by revolution at home. In response, many non-suffering persons from Africa to Asia used the invitation to join the march on Europe, Camp of the Saints style.
Curiously forgotten is how Merkel declared in 2010 that multicultural society had “utterly failed” in Germany. Yet a few years later she reversed her view entirely and went extreme open borders. How quickly political leaders change their tune completely when it suits them.
Germany has become a prime example of how unwise, excessive immigration can profoundly damage a society through increased violent crime, disorder and political conflict. Modern life is complex enough without adding more variety.
Below, Below, Kandel townspeople demanded that “Merkel must go” as they protested the brutal murder of a 15-year-old girl by an Afghan asylum seeker who claimed to be a minor but was believed to be an adult.
Tucker Carlson discussed diverse immigration in Germany with Richard Grenell, the US ambassador there. A sensible fellow, Grenell is surprisingly plain-spoken for a diplomat, although he relies on the numbers argument against failed immigration and doesn’t mention the unfriendly culture of the new residents, many of whom answer to allah.
TUCKER CARLSON: America isn’t the only country facing economic pressure and social volatility from unrestrained immigration. Just three years ago Europe faced its own wave of migrants from Africa and the Middle East. the German Chancellor Angela Merkel responds to this by accepting nearly a million migrants in a single year. Adjusted for population that would be like this country taking in four million in twelve months.
Three years after that, how has that decision affected Germany and Merkel’s political career? Rick Grenell is the current ambassador to Germany and is joining us. Thank you for coming on.
AMBASSADOR RICHARD GRENELL: Of course. Thank you for having me.
CARLSON: You are seeing the figures on the left, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry most prominently, but others rethinking the political fallout of Merkel’s decision to do that in Germany. From where you sit, what was the effect of letting in those migrants?
GRENELL: First of all, let’s talk about the political effect. There was no plan in place, so the policy really fell apart. Chancellor Merkel and many in Germany had big hearts. They wanted to do something, but there wasn’t a plan, and so, even Chancellor Merkel all these years later has agreed that there was no plan, and therefore the entire policy fell apart. It wasn’t implemented with hardcore security measures and follow-up, so from the political standpoint, next week, Chancellor Merkel is giving up her chairmanship of the party. There are three other people running and the top issue is migration and her handling of migration. Politically I’d say it toppled her and has forced her now to give up the chairmanship of a party she once ran with a very strong arm.
CARLSON: What’s so interesting watching Germany from here is how the German press and its cultural leaders responded. This was three years ago, and it was immediately obvious ordinary Germans didn’t like it, and it caused the crime rate to go up and it was causing economic pressure on ordinary Germans. But people weren’t allow to say that for a number of years in public, or am I misreading it?
GRENELL No, you are exactly right, and I’d go so far as to say we still have that problem in Germany. there is still an overreaction if you complain about wanting secure borders or just an orderly process.
This is not about whether you have a heart; this is whether or not you have a plan, and we in the United States know a million people a year get US citizenship. We are very generous; this is not about not wanting immigrants. And the whole idea that the left or some on the right even, or the media are mixing up legal immigration with illegal immigration is really an outrage, and those of us in the public policy positions have to be able to push back and say look, we’re not talking about legal immigration. The United States is very generous. Germany has been very generous. This is about whether or not you have a plan because not everyone is going to be able to come.
That’s what you have to be able to say. we must prioritize. What is that number? One million people in the United States? is it four million people in Germany over a number of years? What is that number, because whatever that number is, it’s still going to be too low. You are still going to turn people away. So let’s have an orderly process and figure out how to do legal immigration and do it the right way.
CARLSON: I think that is what we need in the United States — an honest adult conversation about what we can afford, what is good for your country and what the next hundred years looks like demographically. We can’t have that conversation here. Can Germans have it?
GRENELL: Look, I think the United States is having a better conversation than Germans to be honest. This has largely been controlled by elites in Berlin, but normal, everyday people are beginning to say wait a minute, this policy is not working. This is not about being generous; we are very generous. They have a lot of open borders throughout Europe, but I would also argue that the mistakes of Germany, Tucker, rippled throughout all of Europe because we have seen in Austria with Sebastian Kurz who came in with a platform to say we need security and a set of rules. This is not about not being generous; this is not about not being open to immigrants, but this is about just having rules. Once he established that he wanted rules, Sebastian Kurz won in a very big way and is now becoming very popular throughout Germany.
So while some in the media in Germany will try to push this into saying you are a radical far right person, the reality is that normal everyday Germans and Europeans are clamoring for leaders who wants to have safe and secure borders and an orderly process.
CARLSON: If they want to create radicals, they should keep lying to the population because that’s what they are going to get.
