A 32-year-old Syrian man, who arrived in Austria in 2013 and was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018, was deported on Thursday to his country of origin. Refugee aid organizations fear that this deportation – the first to Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad – could prompt other European Union countries to follow suit.
It might be “fine” in the sense that there’s not a high chance they’ll suffer death or grievous bodily harm, but it’s still pretty cruel to uproot people from the lives they’ve led for years or decades (the so-called migrant crisis happened in 2015) and put them in a place with fewer opportunities and a much lower standard of living. I mean Syria is still a war-torn country riddled with ethnic and sectarian divisions, economic problems, massive brain drain and international sanctions. Even with the best leadership it’ll be years before they can rebuild. And all this for what? Pretty much everything the right uses to justify deporting immigrants is pure fiction or a deliberate policy choice.
Well that’s the deal, that’s asylum. There are options to stay here in Denmark, but it’s difficult, of course.
There are plenty of cases where the Danish authorities make dumb or cruel decisions, like claiming Somalia is safe but refusing to send inspectors to check due to safety concerns, but I don’t think this is necessarily one of them.