Around a third of Ukrainian refugees arriving in France are actually economic migrants from other areas of the world, mostly North Africa and the Middle East, according to an investigation by newspaper Le Figaro.
Over 5,000 refugees have already arrived in France from Ukraine, with some being transported by bus from Berlin and others arriving by rail and air.
“However, many of those arriving through official channels and being identified by the authorities are non-Ukrainian, with Le Figaro reporting that as many as 30 percent are migrants of other nationalities,” reports ReMix News.
“The newspaper reveals that 7.5 percent are of Algerian nationality, while 3.5 percent of arrivals are from the Ivory Coast and Morocco respectively.”
Indians and Kyrgyzstan nationals also represent a chunk of the fake refugees, in addition to migrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Pakistan, Nigeria, and China, who are all falsely claiming to be Ukrainian.
The incentive for economic migrants to obtain asylum in France by pretending to be Ukrainian is clear given that they are given immediate blanket refugee status, guaranteed accommodation, as well as educational, financial and medical support.
Despite his usually staunch opposition to immigration, presidential candidate Éric Zemmour said Ukrainians with family ties in France should be allowed in.
“There are people who are like us and people who [are] unlike us,” the populist told BFM TV. “Everybody now understands that Arab or Muslim immigrants are too unlike us and that it is harder and harder to integrate them.”
The research again highlights the opportunism and cynicism of economic migrants who will piggy back off the suffering of genuine refugees to reach the west.
The numbers are sure to cause concerns amongst people considering opening up their homes to Ukrainian refugees in western countries such as the United Kingdom.
According to an Observer poll, 9 per cent of Brits would “definitely” invite a refugee to stay in their home, while 20 per cent say they might.
How many of those people are just performatively virtue signaling and don’t actually plan on taking in any refugees at all is probably quite a high number.
During the 2015-16 refugee crisis, innumerable celebrities in the UK vowed to take in refugees, yet virtually none of them actually followed through.