Germany and Immigration

       Today I read an article about Germany (and much of Europe) and their increasingly anti-immigration disposition. Their Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that Germany's "attempts to create a multicultural society have utterly failed" (2010). She went on to say that "new arrivals need to do more to integrate into German society" (2010). When I read this article I kept thinking about how familiar the arguments sounded; the arguments made by some Germans regarding immigrant groups (especially Turkish people and Muslims) to their country seem to parallel arguments that are made by some Americans regarding Latino immigration.
     Americans frequently argue that Hispanic immigrants continue to fail at truly integrating into American society. People arguing this point often refer to language differences and argue further that Hispanics are either not learning English fast enough, or simply do not want to learn it at all. This argument clearly influences Angela Merkel when she speaks about immigrants in Germany. Through her speech she declared that "immigrants need to learn to speak German in order to do better in school and integrate" (2010).
     Another argument that has sprouted in Germany regarding immigration is discussed in the book, Germany Does Away with Itself  by Thilo Sarrazin. This book "argues that Muslim immigrants are sponging off welfare and undermining Germany's culture, economy and way of life" (2010). This argument has been used frequently through history regarding immigrants in America. For example, in an article entitled, "Immigrants Find no Need to Learn English", Sam Francis argues not only that the current wave of Hispanic immigrants are not integrating into American culture as earlier immigrant waves have, but they are also bringing in "quaint Third World customs [such as] child marriage, female genital mutilation, and alien religions that are little more than voodoo and black magic" (2008).
     Further into the article a vice president with the Social Democrats, Manuela Schwesig "called Merkel's speech a shameless embrace of a Seehofer-style black-and-white debate about immigration, instead of really addressing the problems" (2010). Schwesig's statement made me think of a recent discussion that we had in class where we concluded that it is often policy that causes said 'problems', not the immigrants themselves as being argued by many Americans and Merkel.
     It is worth pointing out the irony of Germany's immigration debate, while they are presenting anti-immigration views, they "desperately need more skilled workers" (2010). Through American history, times of economic boom have demanded more workers which have led to increased demand of immigrant labor, but this does not seem to be the case in Germany. "Germany still has some of the toughest immigration and citizenship laws in the European Union. Those regulations are hurting its fast-moving high-tech businesses" (2010).
     In the end, it is evident that Germany and America often speak of their immigrants in a similar manner which indicates the need for policy change along with overall attitude change. Immigrants may feel German or American, but be viewed by many native-born Germans or Americans as immigrants invading their society. This view ultimately drives myths concerning immigrants, these myths that assume a great deal and more often than not, shed negative light on immigrants.

Here is the link to the article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130649146&f=1001&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter