The 9/11 attack on the twin towers took the world by surprise. All United States law enforcement agencies were caught flat-footed. Not even the highly capable FBI or the CIA was able to prevent the attack from happening. Prior to the 9/11 attack, the United States had an open immigration policy. The 9/11 attack was carried out by immigrants who had stayed in the United States for a while and had been granted student visas. Moreover, in recent years, Europe has been affected by terrorist attacks sanctioned by the outlawed ISIS. Most of the attackers are ISIS members who gain access to Europe as refugees. It is therefore clear that multiculturalism presents a myriad of problems for the western world. In particular, immigration is responsible for terrorism in western countries.
For years, western countries have been letting in immigrants and granting them permanent citizenship after a certain period. More so instability in the Middle East has led to the migration of millions of people to Europe and the United States. Hence, European countries use humanitarian grounds as the basis for accommodating people from Syria and other Arab countries (Aggestam & Hill, 2008). Moreover, the Divine Command Theory obliges the western states to act morally by listening to the plight of the downtrodden immigrants. The theory maintains that the right action is the action that is acceptable in God’s eyes. Essentially, the morally correct decision is to welcome immigrants and take care of them. However, what happens to this moral obligation when these immigrants start committing suicide in the streets and bombing people in railway stations? This is a question that moralists have failed to answer.
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In the wake of increased terrorist attacks in Europe by ISIS sympathizers, Trump ordered a total shutdown on Muslims entering the United States from five major Middle Eastern countries. The decision was met by strong criticism from members of congress as well as human rights groups. Furthermore, Europe was forced to tighten its background checks after it emerged that most terrorist attacks are perpetrated by immigrants. For these reasons, organized terrorism has led to a rethink of the multicultural wisdom of accommodating cultural differences in the public. The multicultural ethic seems to be losing its strength as the threat of terrorism becomes real.
A study conducted by McAlexander established that grievances towards immigrants fuel terrorist attacks from the right-wing (McAlexander, 2019). McAlexander performed his research in Germany, Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom and found that when the number of immigrants increases in a particular country, the number of terrorist attacks increase as well. Based on McAlexander’s findings, one may conclude that immigrants bear the most significant responsibility for the domestic terrorism attacks. However, this is not the case. The researcher found that the relationship between terrorism and immigration is only present when looking at terrorism from an individual attack perspective. Otherwise, there is no connection between immigration and other forms of terrorism, especially the ones perpetrated by separatist groups.
There is a general feeling that immigration increases competition for employment opportunities. Therefore, right-wing terrorists may commit violent acts to protest against increased immigration. However, there is no evidence to support this claim. McAlexander notes that refugees who have no impact on the economy are also part of terrorist groups that have been terrorizing European residents. Hence, the argument that terrorist attacks increase due to concerns that the immigrants will put a strain on the job market does not hold water. As such, far-right groups commit terrorist attacks to protest the high influx of immigrants from various countries.
Undoubtedly, most of the terrorist attacks in Europe are against immigrants. Right-wing terrorism is a problem both in Europe and in the United States (McAlexander, 2019). Moreover, most terrorist attacks meted against immigrants go unreported. The relationship between terrorism and immigration becomes stronger, especially when the immigrants are from a Muslim country. Right-wing terrorism seems to be directed towards immigrants from Islamic countries as opposed to those who come from other European countries.
Between 2008 and 2015, Germany experienced 86 terrorist attacks (McAlexander, 2019). Sixty of those attacks were perpetrated by right-wing groups. The attacks were concentrated in areas with a high population of immigrants. More so, many of the attacks were directed towards asylum seekers, immigrants and politicians who support immigrant rights. Additionally, most recent episodes in France and the United States have been perpetrated by homegrown terrorists who have been radicalized on the home soil (McAlexander, 2019). Hence, while some extremist individuals may want to go to the United States for the sole purpose of committing terrorist attacks, most attacks are the work of local extremist groups.
In general, there is a link between immigration and terrorism. However, most of the terrorist attacks that result from immigration are not perpetrated by the immigrants. As demonstrated in Germany’s case, right-wing extremist groups have been responsible for more terrorist attacks than the immigrants. As such, the influx of immigrants in Europe serves as a trigger factor. While countries are morally obliged to accommodate immigrants from warring nations, they must also protect their citizens. It is for this reason that most states have closed their borders to the immigrants. The immigrants themselves might not be terrorists, but they contribute to right-wing terrorism that is directed to them as well as anyone who supports their presence in the foreign countries.
References
Aggestam, L., & Hill, C. (2008). The Challenge of Multiculturalism in European Foreign Policy. International Affairs, 84 (1), 97-114.
McAlexander, R. J. (2019, July 19). Terrorism does increase with immigration — but only homegrown, right-wing terrorism . Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/19/immigration-does-lead-more-terrorism-by-far-right-killers-who-oppose-immigration/
