According to this story from the Huffington Post, some of the Syrian refugees admitted to Sweden are already having second thoughts and planning to move back to the Middle East. Despite the fact that there are already many thousands of Muslims living in that country, the newcomers are realizing that assimilating into the liberal Swedish lifestyle may not be easy for them.
Meanwhile here in Canada, local news is reporting that there are problems in settling the Syrian refugees now being airlifted to Canada, even though the number arriving so far is well short of the 25,000 that the Trudeau government had originally hoped to welcome by the end of 2015. Just about everything is said to be lacking -- Arabic speakers, directions to halal food outlets, diapers for the children, and so on.
None of this is to suggest that either Canada or Sweden is wrong to welcome the refugees. However, the sheer press of newcomers can easily overcome the ability of each country to settle the refugees properly. There are plenty of voters in both countries just waiting for something to go badly wrong so that they can leap up and start screaming that the whole refugee effort is a horrible, dangerous mistake. Better for governments to slow the pace a little, and do things right, rather than give fodder to the xenophobes who are just waiting for an opportunity to pounce on any misstep.
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