Haiku 100809

unmade bed
soiled clothes on the floor
low tide

***************

Recently, we read the following:

NPR: “France Razes Immigrant Camp Known As 'The Jungle' “ by The Associated Press

“French police cleared out, then bulldozed, a squalid forest camp near the northern city of Calais on Tuesday, detaining hundreds of illegal immigrants who had hoped to slip across the English Channel into Britain.

“French Immigration Minister Eric Besson called the site — known as the ‘Jungle’ — a ‘base camp for human traffickers’ who promise the migrants passage for enormous fees or dump them there after bringing them across Europe.

“The people who camped here — mainly immigrants from Afghanistan — have strained relations between Britain and France and become a symbol of Europe's struggle with illegal immigration…

" ‘This operation is not targeting the migrants themselves, it is targeting the logistics of the human traffickers ... who exploit them,’ he said…

“For France, the Jungle was inhumane and a sign of what is wrong with European immigration policy. The EU's 27 nations each maintain their own immigration policy, complicated by some open borders, creating a confusing mix of laws, accords and bilateral agreements…”

***************

And we thought:

…Illegal immigration is one of Europe’s dirty laundry. This politico-economic problem -- with human rights implications besides -- has to be addressed by the European Union as a whole. Dumping the problem onto a neighbor's backyard is shortsighted and untenable. Like the financial crisis that hit the world over the last year, resolving illegal immigration requires a multi-stakeholder, collaborative effort…