BENCHMARKING IN THE MIGRANT BUSINESS

Recently, Gerard Collomb, the French Interior minister stated that migrants were “benchmarking” European countries to assess which one offered the best social advantages.  He was probably focusing on economic migrants rather than political or war asylum seekers.  It is actually opportune that migrants do benchmarking since they have to recoup their journey investment! Obviously, the minister’s comments made many people on the left of the political spectrum wince; however, his observation only reflects the reality of the situation.  He was repeating what many migration experts had said all along.

Economic migrants, particularly Sub-Saharan Africans spend large amount of money to be able to land on the European shore to seek asylum.  Most of them have travelled on borrowed money.  The media wrongly focuses on the people-trafficking phase in the failed state Libya.  However, the fees paid to the smugglers are only the tip of the iceberg! This racket is still a fraction of the total travel budget of the migrants.  Every step of the Sahara crossing has its price tag.  Migration to Europe, although hazardous, is a well-oiled business and a time-honored tradition in many countries.  In specific regions, migration is encouraged and financed by the community, and the successful migrants are expected to pay back their sponsors to sustain their local rent-based economy.  

In 2002 in Libya, I met three migrants on their journey to France.  Muammar Gaddafi had just half-opened his country to foreigners[1] and tourists.  Our organized tour had no contact with local people. People were wary and kept their distance.  We were accompanied by two tour guides, one professional and an extra provided by the police department, supposedly to keep us safe! The migrants came from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger and were working undocumented in our hotel in the remote city of Sebha in the Fezzan desert (780 kms south of Tripoli).  We had to outwit our “guardian angel” to chat with these young men.  They all spoke good French and were happy to share their experiences with us.

The Malian, let’s call him Mamoudou[2], came from the Kayes region which has sent hundreds of thousands of migrants to France, Mali’s former colonial power.  The Malian diaspora is prominent and the number of Malians living in France is estimated at more than 120,000.  Mamoudou was the more experienced of the three and had a failed attempt under his belt.  He had managed to reach the port of Sirte, paid a smuggler (no money back!) but was caught by Gaddafi’s police and turned back.  He had spent the $ 4000 loan from the village’s elders.  Mamoudou was very proud of his knowledge of French and led us to believe that there was some selection process: the elders are not betting their money on the wrong horse!  He was now working to make money for his next attempt.  He claimed to need $2000 for the boat trip to Italy. 

After crossing the Sahara, the other two fellows were stranded penniless in Sebha and had to make money to continue your journey.  When in Tripoli, every morning we noticed Sub-Saharan African men waiting at street corners to compete for casual labor.  There were so many of them that our guide felt compelled to tell us that they were “boat people” who had to make money for the “passeurs”, the French word for smugglers.

The three men had contacts in France and felt confident that their respective diaspora would provide assistance.  Entering France illegally did not seem to bother them, neither did it occur to them that they might not be welcome by the French authorities.  France granted independence to its African colonies at the beginning of the 1960s, but for many of their citizens, France increasingly looks like an insurance against hardship.  

I obviously don’t know Mamoudou’s whereabout.  Hopefully, this determined fellow reached Paris’s banlieue where his relatives lived.   Has he managed to get asylum? Is he a legal or illegal resident? He is probably in France making do with little money and remitting the major part of his income to the Kayes to repay the journey loan.  Many migrants live in de facto community ghettoes where they have little social mobility options.  The burden of the compulsory remittance keeps them in poverty; it is a modern version of debt bondage.  Undocumented migrants can’t find work and fall victims of the servitude of the black economy.  It is nearly impossible for European countries to expel failed asylum-seekers, as the countries of origin of these predominantly economic migrants refuse to take them back.  It is a shortsighted view because in some countries migration is equivalent to brain drain, as the most determined and ambitious leave.

The sight of thousands of undocumented migrants aimlessly loitering the streets of European cities have bolstered populist parties and destabilized mainstream ones.  In a period of budget cuts, people increasingly regard migrants as a social and financial burden to society.  Illegal migration is a deeply emotional issue and it has become the main concern of European citizens.  The rejection of uncontrolled immigration and the restoration of borders are mainstream opinions in many European countries.  The apparent loss of control has fueled frustration and vexation.  Islamic terrorism has further increased exasperation.  Those who say otherwise are in denial.  The pro-immigration (on humanitarian ground) left is totally irresponsible, if not hypocritical.  Along with the unions, it pretends to welcome migrants, but by refusing to liberalize the labor market and loosen social benefits, low skill migrants are unable to find jobs. 

Seven years after the revolution which toppled and killed Gaddafi (2011), the chaos continues in Libya.  The current migration crisis which may rupture the European Union results in part from the lawlessness in Libya.  This anarchy has encouraged migration and boosted human trafficking.  In 2018, competition among passeurs has deflated the price but increased the risks.  Mamoudou would have paid less than $ 1000 for a slot on an inflatable dinghy, but at a risk of never reaching France.  The current situation is a loss-loss.  The African countries are drained of their most entrepreneurial citizens and the European countries cannot or are unwilling to put to good work these plucky foreigners.

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[1] The Libyan oil industry allowed foreigners, who lived in gated communities, close to the sites.

[2] A very common name in Sub-Sahara Africa.  The undocumented Mali-born migrant “Spiderman” who scaled a building to rescue a toddler dangling from a balcony railing was named Mamoudou Gassama.  He was also from the Kayes region.