Many migrants are young men, economic refugees, who do not correspond to the refugees from the war in Ukraine, women, old people and children.

This argument is used in the debates Does being on the left necessarily mean being in favor of mass immigration? and Should we accept immigration?.

This argument is an objection to The West practices a double standard depending on the origin of migrants.

Keywords: none

Summary

During the great wave of migrants to Europe in 2015, the migrants were overwhelmingly young, single men. There was a very small percentage of women and children, and very few elderly people. This profile corresponds to economic migration and is very different from that of war refugees such as those from the war in Ukraine.

Quotes

“In a press release published on Thursday, Nicolas Bay, General Secretary of the Front National, is delighted that "the latest report by the NGO Médecins du Monde discredits the myth that the majority of migrants are refugees. Among the nearly 10,000 people questioned, a majority of foreigners who entered France (53.1%) said they had emigrated for economic reasons, while only 13.7% of migrants claimed to have fled war". At the end of the press release, these results lead the company to call for drastic restrictions on the right to asylum.”

Author not entered, “Désintox Nicolas Bay wants to torpedo the myth of war refugees... and sinks himself”, Release, 17/11/2016.

References

Justifications

Objections

It's not true, most migrants are fleeing war

Parent debates