The Danish Immigration Lesson

... Between 2019 and 2023, Denmark ushered in what is known domestically as the paradigm shift (paradigmeskiftet). The policy framework prioritized return of asylees and temporary rather than permanent protection when asylum was granted. In 2021, Denmark became the first European Union country to revoke Syrian refugees’ residency by claiming parts of Syria were safe to return to...

For years, Denmark was considered the EU’s black sheep of migration policy. In the aftermath of the 2015–2016 Syrian migration crisis (driven in large part by the Obama administration’s misdeeds in that country), Denmark adopted increasingly restrictive rules to deter arrivals...

 One of the most controversial was asset confiscation (the “Jewelry Law”), under which Danish authorities can seize valuables, cash, and jewelry from refugees entering the country...

This was followed by caps on non-Western immigration. The government required social welfare benefits recipients to work at least 37 hours weekly. Though enforced only spottily, legislation prohibiting niqabs and burqas passed. Residential areas with high proportions of non-Western residents were designated “parallel societies,” and subject to everything from economic redevelopment plans to actual bulldozing. Then there was the so-called “Ghetto Law,” which allows authorities forcibly to remove foreigners from neighborhoods if the ratio of non-Western foreigners in those areas exceeds 30 percent...

Even the Washington Post editorialized positively about the Danish paradigm shift as a model for Democrats... But sadly, they are not ready to follow the advice...