Victimizing Victims of Economic Need

You've got to wonder sometimes just how low human scum can dip into the misery of other people to achieve their goal of personal enrichment, without feeling any kind of compassion for those in need whom they further dupe into hopelessness.

Human beings have always migrated from their places of origin to other geographic areas near and far, in the search for economic advantage. Often enough it's to escape an environment which offers them no hope for their future and that of their children, to escape endemic and often life-threatening poverty.

Yet because these people represent, by and large, the poverty-stricken, underprivileged of the world, they are not seen as desirable immigrants to the countries they aspire to remove to. They are largely uneducated, unskilled workers, with little in the short-term to offer the countries of their emigration-choice. They are often encumbered with too many children, with elderly dependents who will be perceived to be a burden to the receiving country.

Then there are also the refugees from war situations, of whom by convention wealthy countries are obligated to accept significant numbers, albeit through a system of independent choice for each country. There are legal means of migration, making application from without, to a country for acceptance as landed immigrants in the hopes of some day becoming a full-fledged citizen of the country with all the attendant rights of citizenship.

And there are burgeoning numbers of illegal immigrants flooding to the shores and boundaries of countries who may or may not wish to accommodate their hopes of acceptance. Desperate people who use any means possible to clandestinely enter a country of choice, in the hope that they may be able to somehow merge with the indigent population, unnoticed. An underground network of illegal employment ensues with the illegals facing dire exploitation.

Amnesties are sometimes occasioned within a country realizing the vulnerability of illegal immigrants in their midst, out of purely humanitarian impulses. To protect them from being employed as virtual slaves with little recompense and the threat of revealing their status always hanging over their heads. These illegals are not entitled to any of the normal social programmes available to the rest of the population, the result being their lives are misery incarnate, unable to advance their fortunes.

So here we have a situation where unscrupulous and uncharitable people are spreading rumours of Canada having an open welcome policy for economic migrants, and offering, for a considerable sum of money, to bring hopeful immigrants to the country, surreptitiously. Too late the migrants realize there is no such welcome for them. Too late the country realizes it has been saddled with a confused medley of duped would-be immigrants and must support their needs while at the same time taking steps to deport them.

Refugee organizations and public service charities are strained to the utmost to cope with the influx of hopeful people, fleeing economic depression and political repression. This week the Canadian Council for Refugees whose mandate is the protection of refugees, issued a warning of the situation whereby thousands of refugee claimants are flooding into the country in the mistaken belief they will find welcome, having paid "immigration consultants" hundreds of dollars in fees representing the only funds they have to support themselves.

Thousands of economic migrants from Mexico, illegally in the United States and facing a government crackdown and the prospect of deportation back to poverty in Mexico have paid unscrupulous "consultants" to convey them to Canada. Thousands of refugees from Haiti also having secured a presence illegally in the United States have heeded the myth of asylum in Canada and together these groups have launched within Canada a situation of pandemonium where aid agencies are attempting to find adequate housing and support for them.

Most of these people will not be accommodated as refugee migrants. Roughly ten percent of the Mexicans may find their applications accepted, and a larger proportion of Haitians; who, because of the unsettled violence in their country fit into the refugee category. And while Canadian troops remain stationed in Haiti, attempting to assist the country in attaining a stable political and social atmosphere, it's unlikely the Haitians will be returned any time soon.

More reminders of what an unstable and unfortunate life too many people face in this unequal and turbulent world we all share.