Why America must take the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe seriously

There were many debates raging during this dysfunctional electoral season and most had nothing to do with policy proscription, but rather personal invective.  But there were a few glimmers of actual political discourse on issues that were vital to the health of the country.

One of them is the role that the United States should play when it comes to taking in Syrian refugees fleeing from the raging conflict in the region.

{mosads}While there is genuine disagreement on the role the US should play, it seems strange that we are debating in the theoretical the consequences that bringing in a large amount of refugees would have on the United States. Because this exact social humanitarian experiment is currently being played out in Europe and the results are unambiguous.

I went to Stockholm to document exactly what those results are.

What I found rocked me, literally.

Sweden has taken in more refugees from Islamic countries over the past several years, per capita, then any other western country.  These actions also happen to be a great source of pride among Swedes for doing something that one could only characterize as a selfless act of humanity.  In this case that famous idiom of no good deed goes unpunished is depressingly accurate in describing exactly what Sweden has received for their benevolence.

They have been paid back with a massive increase in violence in general and what can only be described as an epidemic of rape over the past several years. Sweden now has the highest per capita rape rate of any country in Europe (and twice the rate of rape than the U.S) despite having a very similar definition of what constitutes rape.  Sadly, this massive increase in sexual deviancy mirrors the increase in refugees coming to Sweden and all the statistical and anecdotal evidence points to this influx as the culprit.

While there has been debate regarding the existence of what have been dubbed “no-go areas,” I personally discovered the corporeality of these enclaves when I stepped into the Stockholm neighborhood of Husby. Literally moments after I stepped into the town, a gang of five clearly Islamic men approached my crew, and they attacked me without provocation. They repeatedly punched, kicked and choked me, as a number of bystanders watched. Eventually they dragged me into a building, which at the time I assumed was to finish me off.  Once inside the apartment building vestibule, they resumed their vicious attack. But seconds later someone opened an apartment door directly above us, and it luckily spooked them enough to run away.

The situation has become so dire that there are strict policies regarding police and emergency services going into the dozens of “no-go” zones located across Sweden, because they have come under heavy attack from its Islamic inhabitants.  Police stations have been relocated from many of these areas and the Swedish ambulance union took the extraordinary step of suing the Swedish government to provide military escorts when forced to enter many of these areas.

To be clear, this story is in no way an indictment of immigration.  On the contrary, one of the lifebloods of any healthy society is immigration, of which I am a product.  But this story is a cautionary tale that accepting large amounts of people, while foregoing your accepted immigration policies that have served you well for decades, is going to end poorly.  Particularly when accepting those from societies that do not share your nation’s values.  This is not a theoretical, political or moral exercise; the results of a poorly conceived immigration policy is currently creating mayhem across Europe. It has led to pop-up mass rape nights, like we saw in Germany on New Year’s Eve, where thousands of women were sexually assaulted in one apocalyptical evening. It has also led to one of the largest geopolitical earthquakes in our time with Great Britain leaving the European Union. 

This is happening now and we would be smart to take heed.

Ami Horowitz is a documentary filmmaker, who produced and directed the feature film U.N. Me.

The views expressed by authors are their own and not the views of The Hill.