Saudi Arabia has recently expelled almost 40,000 Pakistanis, to add to the 243,000 already expelled between 2012 and 2015. In answer to advertisements, they had come to the country to do the menial laboring jobs that Saudis feel put the doer to shame. Many of them are accused of visa violations. There are other reasons. The drastic downturn of the economy means that laborers go unpaid, and the authorities deal with complaints by getting rid of complainers. A handful of Pakistanis have been sentenced to prison for terrorism. The chairman of a committee that handles security is on record saying that those entering the country should first have their religious and political affiliations checked. This from the Saudis, who are front-line practitioners and financiers of terror.
Furthermore, a friend who has lived in Saudi Arabia tells me that migrants, and especially Syrians, are considered trouble-makers not to be admitted into the country under any circumstance. Mrs. Merkel may think that welcoming more and more migrants will be no obstacle to her reelection as chancellor of Germany, but from the Saudi point of view, Europe is importing civil war. Crowds are protesting against Mr. Trump’s alleged racism and Islamophobia, but have nothing to say and no placards to wave about the very real Saudi humbug.