The dream migrant vs reality on German public TV

As of now, the global pandemic pushes the migrant debate out of the picture, but the pandemic will not last forever.

Also, in ZDF’s crime portfolio of “Unresolved Files” a different image of migrants emerges. This once-a-month show is not a fairy tale; the police ask German civilians for help in detecting specific crimes. Here migrants usually do not act as cops, but more often side with the criminals. Plenty of armed robberies and fraud occurs, typically to the detriment of the German middle class – and most often targeting the elderly who can least defend themselves. In asking for help from the population, the police are forced to profile: characterizations of suspects repeatedly include the phrase “speaking German with an accent” or “has middle eastern features”.

The crime statistics are depressing. While the proportion of foreigners in Germany is around 12%, that same proportion among criminals is around a third, and about 40% of them violent. Almost half of those imprisoned in Bavarian jails are non-German, and this does not include immigrants who have acquired citizenship. Integration issues also emerge in the world of work, the basis of Germany’s economy and society. The unemployment rate of people with migrant backgrounds is about 2.5 times the national average.

Many Germans however are curious about more than just political correctness. Millions bought up Berlin-based Minister of Finance, Thilo Sarrazin’s criticism of immigration, Germany Abolishes Itself (Deutschland schafft sich ab). This included, among other things, respect for German laws and way of life as a requirement for immigrants. By the end of his cavalry, Sarrazin was expelled from the Social Democratic Party last year. The German elite, including the ZDF, are embarrassing themselves in their efforts to make sure that anti-immigration is on the other side of the “health cordon” in public discourse – the resort of the far-right. But the AfD last year got more than 5 million German votes in the Bundestag elections. Yet there still are not as many Heil Hitler! tattooed neonazis and there are far more Ömers sitting on the more uncomfortable side of the fence.

As of now, the global pandemic pushes the migrant debate out of the picture, but the pandemic will not last forever.