Looking at immigration in Europe, focus on Belgium

One of Donald Trump's main platforms is his conservative stance against immigration, primarily focusing on those emigrating from Mexico and Muslim countries. His views have incited heightened feelings of reducing Muslim immigration with many right-wing parties. I have found the topic of Muslim immigration rather interesting while perusing the streets of Paris, and also during my trip to Brussels this past weekend. 

While exploring Brussels, I was not fully prepared to witness the number of homeless refugees lining the streets, begging for money. On multiple occasions, we would walk back to our hotel at night and would pass by mothers with multiple kids, trying to comfort them to sleep against the brisk wind chill, while she continued to ask for passers' spare change. This was a very sobering experience for me, one that I did not expect to get from visiting Brussels. 

After talking with several waiters, tour guides, and others native to Brussels, I came to realize that the citizens of Belgium are very kind, welcoming people. I did some research on immigration in Belgium and found that in the 1960's Belgium welcomed immigrants with open arms, offering them work. Although many still hold this viewpoint, other Belgians are turning more conservative to immigration because they find that many immigrants come for life and never learn French or Dutch, the two most spoken languages in Belgium. This sentiment is also a popular point for those against immigration in America.

Immigration is a very popular topic in almost all western countries and I plan to dig deeper into the subject as I travel to other European cities. 

Here is a National Geographic article showing "haunting" images of child Syrian refugees throughout Europe, I believe it is a very interesting article that everyone should look at, no matter their viewpoints on Syrian immigration.