Denmark Tries Paying "Anti-Social" Foreigners to Go Home

Maybe the Danes shouldn't have succumbed to their fit of socialized generousity and, instead, refused to offer foreigners instant welfare checks, free housing and transportation, unemployment benefits, social security, and more. Although Denmark's immigrants account for a little over 7% of the population, when the entitlement checks backed by Danish taxpayers get handed out, immigrants account for 40% of the takers.

Denmark quickly revised its immigration policies, which are now the toughest in Europe, but the question remains: What to do with those bossy immigrants who don't want to become Danish citizens, don't want to assimilate, but do want to turn Denmark into wherever they used to live (but with substantial entitlements paid for by someone else)?

Where did Denmark's immigrants used to live, chiefly?

Yugoslavia, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Somalia, and Turkey.

It's so much fun having 7% of your population trying to turn you into Iraq or Somalia that Denmark is now offering substantial cash incentives to foreigners to "return to their homelands if they 'can't or won't' assimilate into society."

From the UK Daily Mail:

The offer now on the table is close to £12,000 for every person who takes up the offer to leave.

[snip]

The financial carrot is ten times more than that previously offered under a scheme which as been law since 1997.

'We thought it was important to substantially increase this aid so that immigrants who want to return home because they are not able to adapt to Danish society have a strong financial basis to start a new life,' said foreign affairs spokesman Soeren Espersen of the far-right Danish People's Party.

The offer is aimed at immigrants and refugees who 'cannot or do not want to integrate into Danish society,' said the head of the DPP's parliamentary group, Kristian Tuelesen Dahl.

[snip]

In addition, 20 million kroner will be set aside for city councils in charge of integrating immigrants to 'motivate' foreigners to return to their homelands.

Opposition parties are shocked by the news, and fear it sends the message 'that foreigners are not welcome in Denmark'.

And this, from the Copenhagen Post:

The Danish People’s Party (DF) has strengthened its immigration stance by securing an agreement to pay ‘anti-social’ foreigners 100,000 kroner to leave Denmark.

[snip]

The new deal would see 100,000 kroner given as a bonus if a foreigner returns home and gives up their residency rights in Denmark.

Neither the government nor DF has yet elaborated on what constitutes an ‘anti-social’ foreigner, but have said that it would be aimed at those who ‘can’t or won’t integrate’.

According to DF party leader Pia Kjærsgaard, the move will save the state a significant sum in local costs which are administered by local and regional councils.

‘Society will save a lot on an immense number of charges and problems. We already know that there are problems with nursing homes and have been problems with hospitals and health charges,’ Kjærsgaard said.

The Danes are trying another tack as well:

Ten million kroner of the budget will be set aside to improve passport control at Danish borders with the purchase of scanners that can check Interpol databases for stolen travel documents.

An all-too-familiar case of closing the barn door after the horse is gone.
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