Wrong Analysis

Submitted by ghlobe (Canada), Apr 22, 2008 at 22:26

I am not sure if Dr. Pipes analysis is entirely correct. According to his statistics, out of 132000 people who emigrated from the Netherlands, 2/3 (about 88000) were immigrants and only 1/3 (44000) were native dutch. Therefore, it is the immigrants who are making a second move out of Netherlands, not native Dutch fleeing their country from the immigrants. A reasonable guess would be that a good chunk of the new emigrants who leave Netherlands are likely muslims too.

In my opinion this has a much simpler explanation. Many poor immigrant families and refugees find it easier at first to emigrate to Europe because of its proximity and more relaxed rules for refugees. Once they settle and start to prosper, they get dissatisfied with restrictions of the socialist environment in Europe and look for better opportunities in North America and elsewhere.

This happens on a daily basis in Canada, in particular. For a newly arrived immigrant, Canada is like paradise comparing to the old home country, with all its resources and services. But if the new immigrant manages to prosper and gets ahead in his career, he will soon get frustrated with Canada's killing taxes and limited opportunities, and starts to look for chances to move south as soon as he gets his Canadian passport.

For many people, immigration to Canada or Europe is just a first step toward their final objective: moving to the land of opportunities that is called the United States of America. I am not really surprised to learn that many immigrants to Netherlands move again after a few years.

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