Europe’s inevitable crackdown on illegal migrants is fully under way

opinion

Migrants try to board a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines, northern France on Aug. 12.

Many Europeans remember 2015 and the immediate years that followed for one thing: the millions of Syrian and Afghan refugees who flooded the continent looking for a safe alternative to their war-torn and dangerous countries.

At the time, countries such as Germany, under then-chancellor Angela Merkel, promoted the concept of “Willkommenskultur” – a culture of welcoming and kindness. Others followed suit. But in recent years, the open arms that once greeted these asylum seekers have folded shut.

One of the first to take a hard-line position on immigration was Denmark. And it was the social democrat Mette Frederiksen, made Prime Minister