SURVEY: Do you believe European countries are justified in seizing asylum-seekers assets?

[Scott]

Some European countries either are planning on seizing the assets of asylum seekers. Do you believe that this move is justified?

Please feel free to leave a comment.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/886105-denmark-to-seize-refugees-goods-to-pay-for-their-stay/?hl=seize

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/886910-switzerland-seizes-assets-from-migrants-to-cover-costs/?hl=swiss

[Colabamumbai]

I am sure that many do not have much in the way of assets, maybe the clothes on their backs, a bombed out home and tales of misery and death.

[Rimbuman]

Yes and the bad guys including their families out.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Rimbuman

[i claudius]

Shouldnt let them in in the first place .

[bridge2bridge]

If they cause ANY sort of trouble then YES they should be seized.

[joebrown]

I'm not voting because the survey doesn't define what 'assets' are, nor their estimated value. If refugees' assets are to be siezed, then they should only be those that exceed the level at which a citizen of the receiving country would be excluded from receiving free social/health care. I believe that in the UK this is called 'means testing. In other words a refugee shouldn't be entitled to more 'handouts' that the citizens of the country he/she settles in. All refugees should be 'assessed' for benefits in a similar way to the existing population, like it or not.

[manarak]

I voted yes but want to nuance my vote.

I would say "No" for asylum seekers who just require asylum and nothing else, i.e. they have the means of paying for themselves.

For asylum seekers who need aid, then yes.

To those who say asylum seekers should be allowed to keep their assets, please consider that a country's own nationals have to use up their wealth before they can be granted welfare. Allowing asylum seekers to keep their assets would give them an advantage over nationals, which is not acceptable.

[weegee]

Do unto others....like they will do to you.

[Sutty]

Yes

[superdome]

Yes seize their assets...they all plead poverty..but most have the latest mobiles..are they payg..if so how & when do they top up..?...contract..how they paying for it..?...and as for paying people smugglers up to £7/8000 per person...thats £20-000+ for a family of 4..and they plead poverty ...dont make me laugh.

What makes me laugh they think they have a divine right to march through europe and go to whatever country that takes their fancy..."its nice here..lets stay"...can you imagine what would happen If they came to Thailand...<deleted>

Where ever they go they cause trouble...UK/Germany/France..etc...they think they are above the law.

Where ever they settle they DONT integrate with locals...EVER...large areas of the UK [my home] there are now NO GO areas for police etc,

I am not a racist by any means...live & let live i say ....let them have a better life...YES...IN THERE OWN COUNTRY .

So yes seize their assets...NOT mine or my fellow countrymen...welfare benefits....NHS...housing etc...that I + many others have paid in for years to help the needy.....not the economic parasites.

I could go on & on...thanks for reading...but think about it

[thaibeachlovers]

I voted yes but want to nuance my vote.

I would say "No" for asylum seekers who just require asylum and nothing else, i.e. they have the means of paying for themselves.

For asylum seekers who need aid, then yes.

To those who say asylum seekers should be allowed to keep their assets, please consider that a country's own nationals have to use up their wealth before they can be granted welfare. Allowing asylum seekers to keep their assets would give them an advantage over nationals, which is not acceptable.

I do not believe that a genuine refugee would have any assets with them, so how could they be seized?

Illegal economic immigrants should be deported straight away.

We are always hearing that asylum seekers have everything stolen on the journey, so how could they have any assets- are the governments planning to extract gold teeth?

Whatever, asylum seekers should not be given welfare. Put in a camp and given food medical treatment, but no money. Citizens are living on the streets and begging- take care of your own first.

[hawker9000]

Can't make an informed choice 'cause I have no idea what we're really talking about. I would've thought they couldn't have much, but since the issue is getting this much attention I must be wrong. What sort of assets are these asylum-seekers showing up with in fact?

Whether to grant asylum or not in the first place is one question. The seizure of rightfully owned property another. Constituencies in the west wanted their liberal welfare states. Ok, now they've got them. Done & done. You can't blame the soft economies, disappearing self-reliance, dwindling productivity, and disempowered middle class that has caused on arriving asylum-seekers. Granting them entry in the name of humanity but then making them pay to protect the economic status quo like this seems cowardly, hypocritical and two-faced.

Edited January 17, 2016 by hawker9000

[Thailand101]

Why is it that western, non Moslem countries seem to be taking in huge numbers of largely, Moslem men of fighting age, and very few women, children or Christians. Surely they are the ones that are the real refugees in need of help. Just as there are Moslem Islamic countries within walking distance of Syria, (Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Yeman and even Iran, that have refused point blank to accept any people.....

Facilitating millions of men of fighting age leave their country, and agueably their woman and children behind, is nothing more than facilitating in the murder of those woman and children. Why not send 50,000 well armed and trained troops to completely overwhelm the barbaric savages of ISIS, and train and assist these men of fighting age, is the only answer to ever regaining control of the country.

A large number of these, so called Asylum seeking refugees, are in fact ISIS, as they stated in Apr 2015, that they would send their murderous troops into western countries amongst the refugees to carry out jihad in all western countries, by the end of 2015. And a large majority of the rest are economic invaders... The war is now in our countries......

[Scott]

I think this is a political ploy, since the vast majority of the people arriving would have few assets. Refugees would have had to cash in most assets to survive and pay for the trip. What assets they may have had probably didn't accompany them because of the extreme likelihood of being robbed.

Means testing is the general method of deciding whether assets need to be disposed of. In these cases, the assets should not be seized, but the person should be required to sell that at fair market value to pay for any upkeep beyond what is allowed for refugees in general. Those not considered refugees should be required to pay for their upkeep in as much as possible and when they leave or are deported, they should not be allowed any type of re-entry visa until the bill is paid.

The important thing is that they follow the rules imposed on the citizens of the country.

[Thailand101]

Yes seize their assets...they all plead poverty..but most have the latest mobiles..are they payg..if so how & when do they top up..?...contract..how they paying for it..?...and as for paying people smugglers up to £7/8000 per person...thats £20-000+ for a family of 4..and they plead poverty ...dont make me laugh.

What makes me laugh they think they have a divine right to march through europe and go to whatever country that takes their fancy..."its nice here..lets stay"...can you imagine what would happen If they came to Thailand...<deleted>

Where ever they go they cause trouble...UK/Germany/France..etc...they think they are above the law.

Where ever they settle they DONT integrate with locals...EVER...large areas of the UK [my home] there are now NO GO areas for police etc,

I am not a racist by any means...live & let live i say ....let them have a better life...YES...IN THERE OWN COUNTRY .

So yes seize their assets...NOT mine or my fellow countrymen...welfare benefits....NHS...housing etc...that I + many others have paid in for years to help the needy.....not the economic parasites.

I could go on & on...thanks for reading...but think about it

Terrific, well said.... Cheers.

[dotpoom]

From the first few replies I read I can see that some people have little knowledge of a lot of the refugee's backgrounds. There are many professionals amount them like...doctors, lawyers, teachers, dentists etc., with considerable assets behind them. I do not think those assets should be confiscated but I do think all migrants should be "meanstested" before being helped...just like a national of that country is.

Edited January 17, 2016 by dotpoom

[Norvid 1950]

The problem is that those or most people migrating to EU are from Africa and other countries which have nothing in common with real refugees from Syria. Until all are properly checked, which is almost impossible due to no passports, all should be stopped. This is only deter-ant against free ride, or free money every month, in EU.

The questions should be:

1. Does EU should accept and support financially all refugees without considering religious beliefs, customs and their real origin? If yes, why?
2. Does Arabic Muslim countries should support financially Islamic refugees with disregards of Muslim Shiites and Sunnis? If yes, why?
3. Is EU responsible for the Muslim refugees? If yes, why?

Edited January 17, 2016 by seedy
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[Sutty]

Yes

But further to my post it's sort of irrelevant what we think Merkel will decide and the rest of her puppets just follow on blindly. So another total silly poll from TV must be a no news day

[Daniel Boon]

worked for Switzerland ... 'richest' country on Earth

[abrahamzvi]

If they cause ANY sort of trouble then YES they should be seized.

I agree and would add: if they cause troubles (violate the laws of the land= they should be deported. Asylum seekers should be given shelter, treated in the same was as locals (as far as social security is concerned ) (assets cant exceed essentials, in most European countries), but they MUST respect the laws of the land. Otherwise they have to leave, be deported!!!

[champken]

Yes seize their assets...they all plead poverty..but most have the latest mobiles..are they payg..if so how & when do they top up..?...contract..how they paying for it..?...and as for paying people smugglers up to £7/8000 per person...thats £20-000+ for a family of 4..and they plead poverty ...dont make me laugh.

What makes me laugh they think they have a divine right to march through europe and go to whatever country that takes their fancy..."its nice here..lets stay"...can you imagine what would happen If they came to Thailand...<deleted>

Where ever they go they cause trouble...UK/Germany/France..etc...they think they are above the law.

Where ever they settle they DONT integrate with locals...EVER...large areas of the UK [my home] there are now NO GO areas for police etc,

I am not a racist by any means...live & let live i say ....let them have a better life...YES...IN THERE OWN COUNTRY .

So yes seize their assets...NOT mine or my fellow countrymen...welfare benefits....NHS...housing etc...that I + many others have paid in for years to help the needy.....not the economic parasites.

I could go on & on...thanks for reading...but think about it

Damn right.

[seedy]

one Racist post Removed

[HenryB]

I am sorry to say I was right soon these poor fools who were so stupid to go to Europe will be in work camps if lucky or worst

Europe has not not changed

Edited January 17, 2016 by HenryB

[HenryB]

From the first few replies I read I can see that some people have little knowledge of a lot of the refugee's backgrounds. There are many professionals amount them like...doctors, lawyers, teachers, dentists etc., with considerable assets behind them. I do not think those assets should be confiscated but I do think all migrants should be "meanstested" before being helped...just like a national of that country is.

You forget Europe has done this before to Professionals even Bankers they shall do it again

I do not want it to happen to these dumb refugee's but they should go back before this happens again to them

Edited January 17, 2016 by HenryB

[Rob13]

A guy gets his home bombed and drags his family across the the ocean in a rubber raft and walks halfway across Europe to find somewhere safer and now you want to 'seize' his worldly belongings. Help him or don't help him but taking what's left he's got in this world is just wrong.

[Sutty]

I am sorry to say I was right soon these poor fools who were so stupid to go to Europe will be in work camps.

Europe has not not changed

But who will be in work camps and will it be called Europe! ! And belive me there not poor fools it's Europe which is the fools listening to Merkel.

[stander]

^

The madness of Merkel shows the disconnect between normal people and their politicians.

Edited January 17, 2016 by stander

[stander]

I am sorry to say I was right soon these poor fools who were so stupid to go to Europe will be in work camps.

Europe has not not changed

But who will be in work camps and will it be called Europe! ! And belive me there not poor fools it's Europe which is the fools listening to Merkel.

The madness of Merkel shows the disconnect between normal people and their politicians.

[mopar71]

A guy gets his home bombed and drags his family across the the ocean in a rubber raft and walks halfway across Europe to find somewhere safer and now you want to 'seize' his worldly belongings. Help him or don't help him but taking what's left he's got in this world is just wrong.

I agree. help him by all means. But what about the one million others?

[hstamm]

Nothing new! Switzerland has taken the assets from Jews running away from Hitler Germany and seeking sanctuary in Switzerland.

Even today, Bank Accounts from (deceased) Jews are frozen and held by Swiss Banks.