Welcome to Season 10 of Full Measure. I’m Sharyl Attkisson. We begin today with illegal immigration and the border crisis — top issues in yet another presidential election. And you may not have heard much about it, but there’s a parallel calamity drama driving politics in Europe where they’re also been struggling with a tide of illegal immigration. As they try to dial it back, it’s already changed the face of Europe.
The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.
We’re at Britain’s largest mosque where Muslims come to pray and Imam Sabah Ahmedi takes a public role tamping down tension amid Europe’s immigration crisis.
Sabah Ahmedi: I do think the fear of immigration is not immigration itself. I think it is fear of Islam and the misunderstanding of Islam.
Sharyl: What would you say is an example of a major misunderstanding people have and what is your counterpoint?
Ahmedi: Sure. I think people misunderstand Islam when it comes to terrorism. When people say you have a Muslim terrorist, it is actually an oxymoron. A Muslim is someone who strives for peace. As a Muslim, I can’t advocate to kill innocent people. My faith does not allow that. No sane person would encourage the killing of innocent people.
Across Europe, illegal immigration is straining emotions at the seams, pitting religions and cultures against one another.
The friction was evident during our recent visit to England. Three children were murdered in a mass stabbing of 13 people. When the attacker was rumored to be a foreigner, anti-immigrant rioting broke out, as well as Muslim gangs attacking white people. Police say the stabbing suspect was actually born in Britain— the son of Rwandan immigrants.
Today, vocal majorities in Europe overwhelmingly support greater restrictions on foreigners coming in.
European resident: We need to be able to control it and avoid illegal immigration in Europe because it brings with it a lot of dangers and risks for the population.
Public sentiment has taken a sharp turn since the welcome mat laid out in 2015.
That year alone, Europe welcomed more than 1.8 million illegal or “irregular” immigrants, mostly from the Muslim nations of Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Sharyl (on-camera): In many respects, Europe’s backlash against its surge in illegal immigration crisis— was centered here in Greece—where we first began reporting on the story in 2019.
(Clip from September 2019 story)
NATS: This is Hellenic Coast Guard, this is Hellenic Coast Guard. For your safety, stop your engine!
The Greek Coast Guard showed us how they’d been forced to abandon border patrol duties to become a nightly welcome wagon for masses of illegal immigrants trafficked through Turkey on overloaded rafts.
Europe tried to tap the brakes after a series of terrorist attacks by Islamic extremist immigrants in 2016. But foreigners continued to come. In 2022 alone, nearly 7 million people immigrated to Europe.
The influx has brought economic costs, immigrant crime, and religious conflicts, including attacks on Christian churches by Islamic extremists and anti-Muslim burnings of the Koran.
In 2019, we covered the turmoil in Malmo, Sweden where violence against Jews escalated as the Muslim population swelled.
We also saw the conflict in neighboring Denmark give rise to anti-Muslim politician Rasmus Paludan.
Rasmus Paludan video: In Denmark, is fighting for the survival of Ethnic Danes here in Denmark.
Rasmus Paludan (November 2019): The goal is for all the Muslims to leave Denmark.
Sharyl (on-camera): In Europe, there has been a steep decline in the number of Christians. Islam is the number two religion in the United Kingdom—Muslims number about 4 million with the greatest concentration here in London where they make up 15% of the population.
For most, Western Europe is the destination of choice. But Eastern Europe has begun to feel the pressure in the last few years.
In 2021, analysts say, Russia began trafficking multitudes of people from the Mideast and North Africa through Russian ally Belarus into Poland, enticing them with the promise of free benefits in Europe.
In a rare sit-down interview, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda told us the Russians intend for it to create instability and chaos.
President Andrzej Duda: If someone comes over to Poland in the false perception that one will stay here and get everything free, and ‘we’ll have better life without working,’ well, we do not agree to such arrivals. No. If you want to live among us? Work. You want to live among us? Get yourself moving and do some work, earn some money. This is as simple as that.
Sharyl: Are great numbers of people coming to Europe expecting a free ride?
Duda: Yes. I think that in very many cases we have such a situation. That’s why there is such a reaction in the west of Europe.
Poland responded to the onslaught from Belarus by building a 15-foot tall border fence.
Sharyl: Donald Trump obviously wanted to build fencing and wall, you built a fence or some sort of barrier. There are parallels here that I just think are interesting that we don’t hear much about in the United States.
Duda: The reason I’m describing the situation in Europe is because I want to show to you that you are not the only ones who are affected. Our continent, our societies, are also confronting such a problem.
In May, a mob of illegal immigrants threw knives and spears through Poland’s border fence, murdering a 21-year-old Polish soldier and injuring several others.
Poland’s Parliament quickly passed a law allowing border guards use live ammunition.
As in the U.S., illegal immigration is driving politics with all sides promising to act.
Former President Donald Trump (August 17): We’re going to do the largest deportation in the history of our country. We have no choice.
Vice President Kamala Harris (August 10): We know our immigration system is broken and we know what it takes to fix it.
Neil Coyle is a Member of Parliament with Britain’s left-leaning Labour Party, which recently won a political majority and will have to try to find ways to stop illegal immigration that eluded the Conservative Party.
Neil Coyle: Where the public have a problem, is illegal and unlawful entry into the UK. That’s where the public have a bigger problem. There are different ways of fixing that, including, for example, coming back to Afghanistan, the biggest group of people crossing the English channel in the boats unlawfully. They shouldn’t be doing it. Nobody thinks they should be doing it. The way to fix that, in part, is to respect the fact that some of them fought for us and allow them to either join family here or come through our asylum process and arrive by flights and safely rather than turning up in a boat.
As both the U.S. and Europe continue to struggle with their illegal immigration crises, analyst David Cowling says it’s a mistake to write off all opponents to illegal immigration as anti-Muslim or Islamophobic.
David Cowling: Yes, there’s a lot of discontent. I mean, billions of pounds are being spent in Britain to house asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. And so that’s causing resentment. I’m not quite sure how it ends really. So there doesn’t seem to be a clear path as to how it ends.
Sharyl: Has the face of Europe changed a lot in the past 20 years?
Ahmedi: I think most Brits will champion the fact that we are a multicultural society. And I think it is really important that we have a reminder that just because someone looks different or they have a different perception on life doesn’t make them the “other”. Cause when we categorize someone as the “other” it can then lead them to be discriminated and targeted for no reason.
Sharyl (on-camera): The law enforcement agency of the European Union says it’s targeting the complex, ruthless, smuggling networks that move illegal immigrants into Europe, generating billions for the criminal groups involved.
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I live in a suburb of Cincinnati, which is about 10 miles from Springfield. I’ve heard (and have seen videos) of residents at the Springfield Council Meetings vociferously and emotionally complaining about the crime; the killing and eating of pets and even ducks that had been swimming on the lake; and the violence and chaos brought by these “legal” immigrants (legal because Biden Adm. established a TPS-temporary protective status-for these butchers).
Now I agree that not all the Haitians are thugs and butchers-but how can you separate the good from the bad. The reason we have immigration laws is to protect Americans from those who aren’t citizens not to protect the “legal” immigrants from Americans.
Nearly five years ago we were gaslighted by the medical “experts” (ie. the FDA, NIH, many doctors and so-called “health care experts. Meanwhile, The local government of Springfield says there have been no CONFIRMED cases of killing and eating of pets by Haitians; the same with ducks.
However, after all the gaslighting that took place during COVID; how our institutions (like the DOJ is being used as a political battering ram against its political opponents; after all the censoring of social media like Twitter (before Elon Musk took over) and Facebook-Twitter and all of the main-stream media refused to acknowledge that Hunter’s laptop was his and the FBI KNEW this for over a year, it is easy to understand why I’m skeptical of the local Springfield government’s statement.
It’s seems less like an outright “No! The eating and killing of pets did not happen”, and more like a carefully worded lawyerly denunciation that is meant to mislead.
The city of Springfield, founded in 1801, had 60, 000 residents five years ago. Now it has at least 20,000 more. And nearly all of them are Haitian immigration. The local government-while denying the eating of resident’s cats and dogs-and even ducks- didn’t deny that the Haitians are indeed causing crime and chaos.
If something isn’t done about this, the next invasion of immigrants (sponsored and approved by the Federal Government-but notice none of the immigrants are invited to Washington, DC ) will be coming to a city or town near you!