In glaring contrast to the proposed United States amnesty bill, European Union officials are seeking to introduce tough new measures to fight illegal immigration.

On May 16, the European Commission announced a proposal targeting employers of illegal workers that would involve criminal penalties ranging from fines to jail terms. EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini is calling for a fivefold increase in the percentage of companies inspected annually for employing illegal immigrants. Those found to have not done adequate background checks on their employees could be forced to pay, among other fines, the cost of sending an illegal immigrant home and could lose public subsidies for up to five years.

With an estimated 4 to 8 million illegal immigrants in the 27-nation bloc and a further half million entering each year, European nations could be compelled to work together under the aegis of the EU—or hand more authority to the EU bureaucracy—to stem the tide.

One of the factors making illegal immigration such an urgent matter in Europe is the fact that a massive segment of this unknown number is Muslim. Not only are illegal immigrants hurting Europeans economically, in part by depressing wages, but Muslim immigrants especially also present severe cultural issues due to their lack of assimilation. Terrorism, segregation and ghettos are among the problems arising from the huge influx of immigrants in recent years.

Europe is starting to awake to the impact its increasing Muslim population is having on the Continent. Initiatives such as seeking to tighten up on the employment of illegal immigrants are an indication of a hardening stance against these Muslim immigrants. Europeans are growing fed up with the economic and cultural woes they see such immigrants as causing, not to mention the degradation of their own “European” values that is occurring.

Another implication of the EU becoming active in enforcing immigration law is the resultant further loss of control of laws at the national level. Currently, only 19 of the EU members have criminal penalties for black-market labor. While European states may welcome measures to limit illegal immigration in Europe, some, including Britain, are expected to resist a law that cedes sovereignty in the sensitive area of immigration.

While the proposal will have to be approved by a qualified majority of EU states in order to become law, it illustrates a contrasting attitude toward illegal immigration as compared to that of America. While America wants its illegal immigrants to stay; Europe is taking measures to boot its illegals out.

This contrast will also play out in the future when Islam’s thrust becomes greater. Read “The Ostrich, the Warriors and the Whirlwind” to see where Europe’s hardening attitude to Muslim immigration will lead.