It’s time to scrap the asylum system

Whatever you think of the blizzard of executive orders howling from the White House, at least the new President doesn’t succumb to the seductive gravitational pull of the status quo. This is therefore a fitting juncture at which to not simply think outside the box, but in some cases to chuck the box. For example, Donald Trump wants to chuck the US Department of Education. Yet can’t he set his sights higher? Like, set an example for the rest of the West: chuck the asylum system.

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Having long ago predicted that the subject would dominate this century, I’ve written about immigration for 35 years. Although repeatedly approaching the radioactive issue with a certain frankness has incurred considerable reputational damage, I’ve no regrets. It’s been exasperating to watch as, in defiance of the wishes of western electorates, the cultural make-up of our countries is radically transformed. Meanwhile, our governments act helplessly hogtied. Runaway mass migration won’t be staunched by tweaky policy tightening. Because the problem is the box.

I’ve suggested scrapping the entire postwar asylum apparatus before, if only in passing, and Patrick O’Flynn concluded an article for the Spectator website last week with the same recommendation. So let’s take up this proposal in earnest. Unlike (largely theoretical) gatecrashers in China or India, absolutelyanyone can enter the US or Europe and claim to be persecuted, and then the government is immediately obliged not only to take this often-spurious assertion seriously, but to grant the foreigner access to expensive judicial, welfare and healthcare systems – to which this stranger has never contributed and may never contribute.