Germany and Immigrants | Teen Ink

Germany and Immigrants

February 6, 2019
By cfernandez BRONZE, Santa Catarina, Other
cfernandez BRONZE, Santa Catarina, Other
1 article 1 photo 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Politeness is deception in pretty packaging"
-Divergent, Veronica Roth


Criminal Minds. Not to be trusted. Stealing all possible jobs. Now think, crime rate drop. Friendly neighbors. More job options. Compare, stereotypical thoughts vs. reality. The stereotypes mentioned are what is at first thought when people mention Germany’s immigration. Germany’s situation with migrants has been debated ever since their decision to open borders and grant asylum to refugees and migrants in 2015. Although some debate the benefits, negativity about migrants has consumed the thoughts of most. It is important to comprehend Germany, the citizen's position, and the conditions of the country with their new citizens before further discussion. As a result, immigrants have greatly increased the population, become a part of the fast-growing economy, and decreased the crime rates for Germany.


To illustrate this image, migrants have increased the German population. According to The Local, “That meant that last year smashed the record for asylum requests - 745,545 applications were lodged during the course of the year.” This shows that Germany didn’t just have some increase in population, but a massive one. They broke asylum records. To continue, recently Germans had discovered that their lack of amount of people could become a great problem. There was a lot of retired people, working adults, but a small population of children, Germany’s future. This is due to parents, not the country because in Germany people have an average of one to two children. As stated by an interview to Annie, a Northern German elder, “A limited amount of people has been a problem in Germany for a long time, and when the government recognized this problem they found themselves paying for the needs of any child born in Germany to encourage parents to want to have more, which to most families, wasn’t very effective.” Here, she explains how hard the government tried to solve the issue with time but it seemed like barely any progress was made. So when refugees and migrants were in search of a new home, it didn’t take much ponder before Germany decided that it would be helpful to open their doors to these people. This way Germans would not only be an act that could benefit those in need of food, shelter, and a country, but it would also solve some of their own problems with the population.


Furthermore, the German population isn’t the only fast-growing factor in Germany today, the economy has also been growing at a reasonable speed. After their decision to grant asylum, the German government and people realized that more people meant more jobs. This increase in German jobs was large considering their past population count, and as it turns out immigrants were part of more solutions than what Germany thought. With an increase in jobs, there was also an increase in the things sold, bought, imported and exported. Slowly these small changes began to change the economy of the country. As stated in The Irish Times, “Their economy grew 2.3 percent in 2017…” This shows how Germany has benefited from these new workers because, by the end of their first year with new citizens, the German economy was raised by a small 0.8% more than the usual rate of growth, but the following year it was raised 2.3% more. Although this sounds like a small number to consider, the fact that economy did grow must not be ignored. As a result, Germany used to boost their economy by 0.2% every year, so this change has provided them 2.1% of an increase, in comparison to the past.

 

With this in mind, with so much action the German crime rate has decreased. German were at first enraged with the decision to let people enter their country, but now they are afraid. After a couple of months after the refugees arrived in Germany, crimes began a problem. German was often worried about theft and murder, but after being reminded of the actions Germany did for them, immigrants stopped crimes. According to Oliver Pieper, “The latest crime statistics show Germany is one of the safest countries in the world but people say they feel less safe than ever.” After that time, the crime rate in Germany dropped from 6.37 million crimes to 5.76, which is more than half a million, but the fear in Germany became big, as described earlier, ‘less safe than ever’. Even though refugees committed almost no crime and neither did any German citizen people began to be afraid. Moreover, an article by Esther King states, “Overall, the number of politically motivated crimes fell by 4.9 percent in 2017, after increases in the last four years.” This is just more than proves that migrants and increase in crime rate have almost nothing in common. When the immigrants arrived, the crime decreased showing how it is just another of the many benefits provided for the country. It is also mentioned that people watch and read about crime and suspicion grows inside of them, as a human natural instinct and unassuming demeanor passes from centuries ago speaks in them. People are naturally afraid or suspicious of anyone that isn’t like them, and it is notable that refugees are different than Germans. But that doesn’t mean that they have done anything to provoke that fear, because as already mentioned Germany’s crime rate was decreased greatly when they became part of the country.

On the whole, immigrants in Germany are still working towards having full acceptance, and Germany is still working on full success to their solutions. With this in mind, it is obvious that immigrants aren’t Germany’s real problem. Germany has a possible Xenophobia of the newcomers, which is the inspiration to stereotypes. The fear that has grown in them has blinded them from the immigrant's accomplishments. To conclude, these new citizens have helped with the solution of their issues by giving them more people, more jobs building up their high economy, and by lowering the crime rates of Germany like never before. So, criminal minds, not to be trusted, and stealing jobs, are not real when you begin to understand the benefits this county has found with a simple decision of acceptance towards others.



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This article has 2 comments.


on Feb. 28 2019 at 10:56 am
analuciatrevino, Monterrey, Other
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
Loved your article, good job

on Feb. 28 2019 at 10:48 am
sofiamenesesr BRONZE, Monterrey, Other
1 article 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Robert Frost

I really liked your article! Great work!