One of the points often lost in the ‘refugee’ crisis is the reality that a startling amount of the people marching into Europe simply aren’t refugees.

This story about thousands of Iraqi refugees voluntarily leaving Finland (and withdrawing their refugee applications) hammers the point home:

A majority of the home-bound migrants have told immigration services they want to return to their families, but some expressed disappointment with life in Finland.

“Some say the conditions in Finland and the lengthy asylum process did not meet their expectations, or what they had been told by the people they paid for their travel,”

Echoing that comment, travel agent Hassan said: “Some say they don’t like the food here, it’s too cold or they don’t feel welcome in Finland. There are many reasons.”

Nearly 80 percent of the migrants returning home are Iraqis. Just 22 of the 877 Syrians – whose country is racked by civil war – and 35 of the 5,214 Afghans who sought asylum in Finland last year have asked to return to their home country.

Rather than having a mature discussion about how many genuine refugees a country can afford to house and which ones would best suit the country concerned, the issue has degenerated into a nonsensical debate about whether the door should be unconditionally open to everyone who happens to come knocking – which, of course, is madness as Germany is finding out.

For every economic migrant gaming the system, there’s a genuine refugee who has to continue languishing in a squalid camp.

(Thanks to reader DF).