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Denmark’s Immigration Backlash: Lessons for America
What happens when a country with a long history of tolerance toward immigration and refugees has had enough? What happens when false asylum claims come to predominate, when immigrants resist assimilation? What happens when left-leaning politicians go too far in protecting the rights of immigrants and not far enough in assuring the rights of citizens?
You get Denmark. These are the real lessons for America in what happened to immigration and asylum policy there, showing immigration is a governance problem, not a moral abstraction.
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 EU country to revoke Syrian refugees’ residency by claiming parts of Syria were safe to return to. The Danish reframed the debate and caused a rethinking of mass immigration into western Europe.
For years, Denmark was considered the European Union’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. The key event was in 2019, when Denmark approved its paradigm shift law that made temporary protection for refugees the new norm. Permanent residence was eventually still available, but subject to, among other criteria, full-time, stable employment. By limiting the duration of asylum (in the U.S. and most of Europe, a grant of asylum is indefinite) Danish authorities made it easier to check whether the grounds of protection were still applicable and, if not, whether deportation was feasible. Residence permits of hundreds of Syrian refugees were revoked. In 2021, Denmark signed a memo of understanding with Rwanda, under which the Danes would transfer asylum seekers to a reception centre in the African nation to wait for their applications, a kind of outsourcing strategy. Denmark later backed away from the plan under intense outside criticism.
These changes were justified by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who said mass immigration exerts undue pressure on the welfare state, particularly harming low-income and low-skilled Danes. “For me, it is becoming increasingly clear that the price of unregulated globalization, mass immigration… is paid for by the lower classes,” she stated. “You cannot allow everyone who wants to join your society to come,” she added in a more recent interview. Other Danish officials say their approach is necessary to protect the welfare system and ensure that benefits are only being offered to residents who fully contribute to tax revenue and other social structures.
Changes to the asylum process were not the only measures a Denmark that had had enough put into place. One of the most controversial was Asset Confiscation (“Jewelry Law”) under which Danish authorities can seize valuables, cash, and jewelry from refugees entering the country. Used only in a few dozen cases to date, it allows police to confiscate cash and valuables worth more than about $1500 from arriving migrants and asylum seekers. 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 to forcibly remove foreigners from neighborhoods if the ratio of non-Western foreigners in those areas exceeds 30 percent. Obviously some of these things would never pass in the U.S., culturally and Constitutionally.
When migrants posing as students began streaming in around these tightened asylum rules, as of May 2025, international students enrolled in non‑accredited programs were barred from working, post-graduation job seeking, or family reunification. Generous cash subsidies (around $6000) are available to anyone agreeing to self-deport. Refugees without residence permits who refuse to voluntarily return to their country of origin are required to stay in departure centers without cash benefits or the right to work. By 2019 some 114 restrictions were enacted within immigration policy to deter would-be migrants.
Surprisingly, under these new rules the quantity of immigration increased but at the same time so did the quality, a critical lesson. In recent years refugees still comprised the largest share (35 percent as of 2022) of Denmark’s non-Western population. This is due to the Danish government recruiting targeted migrants, especially in the health and elder-care sectors, in response to declining birth rates. In 2022 the government introduced a fast-track procedure for certified companies to perform more flexible international recruitment, representing about a third of total worker intake. This is a far cry from the mid-2000’s when ten of thousands of Syrians were accepted without regard to job skills, as is the American system. “We’ll take all the refugees we can get,” a Canadian diplomat told me once, “as long as we can choose which ones.”
Denmark does not want to leave people outside to die. “We did not question that people fleeing need help, shelter, and to be protected. They are not fleeing for fun,” one center-left politician said, noting such an acknowledgement was vital to get fellow party members on board. “Migration numbers were simply so big that they could not be dealt with in a way that is sustainable for the welfare state of Denmark. We understood even then that the migration model was broken and we needed to come up with an alternative.” It was in fact the center-left party, not the right wing conservatives, that brought many of these changes into place while in power. By adopting tough policies, the center-left Danish Social Democrats took on the far-right Danish People’s Party, whose narrative they undercut. The strategy allowed them to reclaim working-class voters concerned about welfare pressures, job security, and cultural cohesion. The left-center party positioned itself as the choice for “ordinary people who play by the rules,” a far cry from supporting open borders and standing up for the rights of criminal aliens. Political support for the Social Democrats soared, while far-right parties dropped to low single digits. Immigration ceased to be a dominant public concern. Such buy-in was critical to addressing a massive problem for the benefit of the country over that of the party.
Could the lessons of Denmark be more obvious? Even the Washington Post editorialized positively about the Danish paradigm shift as a model for Democrats. But sadly, Democrats in the United States are not ready to follow the advice. This reluctance is all about Trump, the idea that whatever Trump supports, regardless of its merits, is wrong, and thus their failure to take seriously moderation. How many more elections will pass with one party actively promoting illegal immigration? How far toward the draconian moves of the Danes will America have to go before the Dems recognize what America needs done?
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
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Rich Bauer said...
1So something is not rotten in the state of Denmark? It is rated the highest in the world for happiness and quality of life. Denmark has a high level of equality and a strong sense of common responsibility for social welfare. Even though there are eleven major political parties in Denmark, none of them seriously supports dismantling the Danish welfare state.
Something is very rotten in the shit-hole states of MAGA LAND. As for the Debbie downers in MAGA LAND who fear illegal immigrants coming to Amerika, how come these illegals don’t want to live in their shit-hole states? New York, California libtards are not demanding their illegals go home. The Repug ICE Nazis were the ones who got the go home reception. Even in Florida these illegals don’t live in MAGA Northern Florida. So why is MAGA Land so fearful of The Great Replacement Theory? Why would immigrants want to assimilate with them? They didn’t leave their shit-hole countries to live in another shit-hole state.
12/30/25 9:55 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
2Peter’s concerns about illegal immigrants are not the voters. It’s the economy, stupid. According to a survey conducted by Harris in December, almost half of Americans — 45% — say their financial security is getting worse, while just 20% say that it’s getting better. Trump Tax Tariffs not helping. And although the U.S. is not undergoing a recession, 57% of Americans polled believe that it is. These findings underscore growing concerns many Americans have about the economy as grocery and electricity costs have gone up during the first year of Trump’s second term.
Immigration concerns are now a distant third. The Trump ICE Nazis tactics are not helping. The poll showed 84% of Democrats, 61% of independents, and 54% of Republicans agreed that “even if someone does have a record, they deserve due process and the chance to have their case heard by a judge before being deported.”
Could the lessons of Denmark not be more obvious?
12/31/25 9:00 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
3Peter stays awake at night worried that AMERIKA can’t be like Denmark. For one, it doesn’t have a lunatic at the top of the circus:
Demented: to the Scumbag Governor, and the disgusting ‘Republican’ (RINO!) DA, who did this to the white witch Peters (nothing happens to the Dems and their phony Mail In Ballot System that makes it impossible for a Republican to win an otherwise very winnable State!), I wish them only the worst. May they rot in Hell. FREE TINA PETTERS!
12/31/25 9:50 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
4Imbecilic types love to induce the glow of self administered benevolence. Their applied misguided magnanimity gives them a category 5 dopamine high.
12/31/25 9:58 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
5TrumpEpstein wishes Amerika was more like Denmark, as the age of sex consent is 15. If the Dems were smart(haha), they would push the TrumpEpstein sex scandal as THE issue in November 2026 and 2028.
Faux News giving Marge Greene views is big news:
Greene opined, according to the outlet, “we’re going to see more war. Because what do you do when you really lose power, when you become a lame duck? How do you cling to power? You go to war.”
12/31/25 10:24 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
6Why don’t they say there is something rotten in the state of Russia? No country on earth has been plagued by more self-inflicted disasters. RazPutin is just the latest. That freak gots some big balls, bigger than Elongo. Gets upset cause some drone blowed up his shitty house, while Russian drone strikes have repeatedly hit Ukrainian hospitals, with significant attacks in late 2024 and 2025 targeting medical facilities in cities like Sumy, Kherson, and Kharkiv, causing civilian casualties, extensive damage, and forcing evacuations, even hitting maternity wards and injuring patients and staff, highlighting a pattern of attacks on healthcare infrastructure. These strikes often coincide with other Ukrainian drone attacks, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of deliberately targeting healthcare to terrorize civilians and cripple services, despite Russia’s denials. Raz is such a bitch. One would expect Donnie Dementia to grab his balls.
12/31/25 10:24 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
7It is a mystery why imbecilic megalomaniacal leaders prevail while we, the sheeple, stand by, wring our hands and complain silently. Is such a social dynamic hard wired into the human DNA? Perhaps. Barbara Tuchman’s The March of Folly continues uninterrupted.
01/1/26 10:48 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
8Peter’s Peace Prezidunce making him look like a fool
President Donald Trump vowed Friday to intervene if Iran shoots or violently kills peaceful demonstrators, as economic protests spread and evolved into deadly unrest.
If Iran “kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump said in an overnight post on Truth Social.
Senior Iranian officials fired back, warning that U.S. intervention would spark regional chaos and be met with a firm response.
It comes after protests in the Islamic Republic took a sharply violent turn in recent days, with at least seven deaths reported by a human rights organization and at least three reported by a semiofficial news agency.
01/2/26 8:02 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
9Iran says it is willing to come to the defense of Democrats if Donnie Dementia threatens a repeat of Jan 6.
01/2/26 10:03 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
10Donnie Dementia, who ordered the military to shoot US protestors in the leg, has ordered Kristi Dog-killer to send 50,000 ICE officers to protect Iranian protestors. Locked and loaded, you go guys.
01/2/26 10:55 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
11OMG, how many dirty sex photos/videos taken by Epstein of Donnie do Mossad have in their possession? Only explanation for Donnie’s deranged Iran tweets.
01/2/26 1:18 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
12By their silence in response to DD’s empty threats to attack Iran, The Repugs are apparently all in favor of war. Guess Murder Inc’s slaughter of drug traffickers off South America apparently is not enough for these sick fucks. There comes a point these cowards do not deserve the benefit of a doubt. Their cowardice to call out their lunatic leader proves they are a threat to our national security.
Wag the Dog, DD, but Your sex photos in The Epstein Files won’t go away.
01/2/26 3:33 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
13Donnie Dementia plays Peter and AmCon for the idiots they are.
The End.
01/3/26 7:18 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
14America’s tombstone:
Domino Theory and other fairy tales of freedumb
Weapons of Mass Destruction-Yellowcake. (OIL…Bush fuckup 9-11)
Narcoterrorist (OIL…EPSTEIN)
01/3/26 8:02 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
15Venezuela today, Greenland tomorrow
Asked what the future held for the Venezuelan people on Saturday morning, Trump said the U.S. would decide. “We’re making that decision now. We can’t take a chance on letting somebody else run it,” Trump said on Fox News. “So we’re making that decision. We’ll be involved in it very much.”
America sleeps on.
01/3/26 10:43 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
16Bauer: PVB is going to have difficulty in laying off Trump who finally succumbed to the air born virus of regime change lust that is always present in the Oval Office regardless of the periodic attempt of installing a filter system that blocks all megalomaniacal hubris.
01/3/26 10:52 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
17Donnie Dementia says he will run Venezuela… and take its oil …and force its women into sex slavery. Epstein that motherfucker.
01/3/26 1:19 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
18JP,
Donnie Dementia has proved over and over that his lizard brain has deteriorated to the point one cannot say what he won’t do. He fears the 2026 election will lead to his impeachment..again. This time the spineless Repugs will not prevent it. So his plan is create conditions to justify the Insurrection Act. So let all the National Guard Nazis understand, DD will shortly have his final D Day, but you will sit in a federal jail for the rest of your long lives.
01/3/26 11:13 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
19Human nature never changes. When you can no longer profit politically, it is easy to speak the truth:
Laser Lady: Fentanyl is responsible for over 70% of U.S. drug overdose deaths and fentanyl comes from Mexican cartels made with chemical precursors from China and trafficked across the U.S. Mexico border.
Mexican cartels are primarily and overwhelmingly responsible for killing Americans with deadly drugs.
If U.S. military action and regime change in Venezuela was really about saving American lives from deadly drugs then why hasn’t the Trump admin taken action against Mexican cartels?
And if prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into America? Ironically cocaine is the same drug that Venezuela primarily traffics into the U.S.
The next obvious observation is that by removing Maduro this is a clear move for control over Venezuelan oil supplies that will ensure stability for the next obvious regime change war in Iran.
And of course why is it ok for America to militarily invade, bomb, and arrest a foreign leader but Russia is evil for invading Ukraine and China is bad for aggression against Taiwan? Is it only ok if we do it? (I’m not endorsing Russia or China)
Regime change, funding foreign wars, and American’s tax dollars being consistently funneled to foreign causes, foreigners both home and abroad, and foreign governments while Americans are consistently facing increasing cost of living, housing, healthcare, and learn about scams and fraud of their tax dollars is what has most Americans enraged. Especially the younger generations. Boomers and half of Gen X will cheer on neocon wars and talking points, but the other half of Gen X and majority on down see through it and hate it.
Americans disgust with our own government’s never ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it and both parties, Republicans and Democrats, always keep the Washington military machine funded and going.
01/4/26 8:29 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
20Rubio crossing the Rubio-con job
STEPHANOPOULOS: Trump says the U.S. is going to “run Venezuela.” Under what legal authority?
RUBIO: We want a better future for the Venezuelan people.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I’ll ask again — what is the legal authority?
RUBIO: We have court orders.
01/4/26 3:30 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
21BREAKING NEWS: the Trump Supreme Court just ruled a president can be tried in court for “Official Acts.”
01/4/26 6:54 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
22What happens when a country with a long history of tolerance toward AMERICAN FASCISM has had enough? What happens when THE AMERICAN FASCIST threats to predominate, when those countries resist assimilation? What happens when the chaos Prezidunce goes too far in threatening the rights of its citizens?
You get Denmark.
If these countries -Mexico, Colombia, Greenland, Denmark- on the Stevie Goebbels hit list don’t sign military treaties with China today, don’t complain tomorrow.
01/5/26 9:47 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
23Little Marco Rubio says it was OK for Fascist Amerika to take out Maduro because it had a court order. So Little Marco would have no objection if Denmark declared Little Marco a threat to Denmark, got theirselves a nice little court order, made it all legal and stuff and took him out. Little Marco better gets hisself some more Diplomatic Security guys.
01/5/26 12:33 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
24For a guy who lives and dies by ratings, Donnie Dementia’s Venezuela kidnapping got crushed. While just 33% approve of the operation, a whopping 72% fear the United States is getting too deep into South America’s messy affairs.
Even MAGA feels like fools.
01/5/26 5:08 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
25Little Marco wants to invade Cuba. Little Marco is gonna run for Prezidunce. History isn’t on his side.
01/5/26 11:05 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
26Donnie Dementia DoJ not charging Maduro for fentanyl trafficking, but he is charged with possession of machine guns. Good thing the US military didn’t use machine guns or they would look pretty hypocritical.
01/6/26 9:25 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
27Rubio’s ego would bristle at his protection detail being augmented. He’d prefer to carry a James Bond Walther saying he is quite capable of keeping safe from harm all by himself even though such an approach is disallowed.
01/6/26 10:01 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
28Headlines: Tim Walz’s fall from grace…….(the current Somali immigrants fraud scandal).
Walz paired up with the imbecilic Harris. One can’t “fall” from such a position. Maybe Walz can become the curator for George Floyd’s hastily constructed sidewalk ziggurat. Problem is Walz won’t be able to cash the phony $20 bills the board pays him as his salary. Harris/Walz in the Oval Office? Man, America dodged a scud.
01/6/26 10:56 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
29What will Donnie Dementia do next?
Good luck DOJ getting a conviction trying the Maduro trial in Mamdani Land. NYC jurors have zero trust in the Bondi DoJ. Already the blonde bimbo has dropped charges that Maduro is head of some international narcoterrorist organization. Fentanyl trafficking charges not mentioned. As for the absurd machine gun charge, as head of the Venezuelan military Maduro is not allowed to possess a machine gun? DD is gonna fire the blonde bimbo when Maduro is acquitted or results in a mistrial. Guess the DoJ could charge Maduro with dancing badly like the Fat Gatsby. The trial will last until November 2026, just in time for the 25 DD impeachment hearings.
Better get working on your Greenland attack plan, bozo.
01/6/26 3:58 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
30The Bay of Pigs the Sequel
Little Marco initially condemned Donnie Dementia’s fascist pig plan to overthrow the government on Jan 6. Now he is has convinced DD to overthrow the Cuban government in a Bay of Pigs sequel by first cutting off the Venezuelan oil.
But LITTLE MARCO has to move fast as Nov 2026 will gut the fascist Pigs. DD will resign rather than face ten more impeachment charges. VD will gut his chances by pardoning the Fat Gatsby. Fitting that LITTLE MARCO’s Bay of Pigs will result in his exile. DeathSantis will be thrilled.
01/7/26 8:27 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
31We Really Meant Not So Well
Conservative influencers are now openly worried the raid in Venezuela augurs a more militaristic phase of the Peace Prezidunce Donnie Dementia era. DD, after murdering 75 Caracas citizens in the Maduro kidnapping operation, has raised the prospect of military action against Colombia, Greenland, Mexico, and Iran, and he said that Cuba was “ready to fall.” Early in his second term, DD threatened to annex Canada and “take back” the Panama Canal, and in 2025 he bombed Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.
You can’t fool these influencers. They are wise to you now, DD.
01/8/26 10:45 AM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
3230% of Amerikans today Are Psychopaths
30% of Amerikans support the Trump war crime of bombing Venezuela. 30% of Amerikans still support the LBJ war crime of bombing North Vietnam. We don’t know the identities of these 30%, but it would not be a surprise they have never served in the military but claim they did.
01/8/26 11:13 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
33Denmark- a nation that doesn’t really know what an also-ran it is- should put Greenland up for bids. Oops! What if Trump gets into a bidding war with Vlad, a more determined bidder, who wants to rectify the doofus move by his beloved empire for selling Alaska to America for a pittance. Vlad getting Greenland might even put him in a mood to agree to a temporary cease fire with that other megalomaniac- Vlod.
01/8/26 2:42 PM | Comment Link