<p>Trump has repeatedly criticized German chancellor Angela Merkel&rsquo;s immigration policies, calling her decision to take in so many refugees during the Syrian migrant crisis a &ldquo;very catastrophic mistake.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>That mistake may have cost her the next election. ;</p>
<p>Merkel herself has admitted that she could have handled things differently. &ldquo;If I could, I would turn back the time by many, many years, to prepare better,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;There are political issues that one can see coming but don&rsquo;t really register with people at that certain moment &ndash; and in Germany we ignored both the problems for too long,&rdquo; she added</p>
<p><strong>Merkel&#8217;s generous immigration policies are undeniably related to:</strong></p>
<p>&bull; An increase in crime/terrorism in Germany</p>
<p>&bull; Increasing anti-immigration and anti-Muslim sentiment in Germany</p>
<p>&bull; Britain&rsquo;s decision to leave the EU (Brexit)</p>
<p>&bull; Rise ;of right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. ;</p>
<p>It&rsquo;s been more than a year since Merkel scrapped the Dublin agreement and promised that Germany would welcome an unlimited number of Syrian refugees &ndash; no matter which countries they passed through to get there. ;</p>
<p>Stats from September 2016 revealed that roughly 99% of the 1.8 million migrants Germany took in are still unemployed. This is an enormous drain on the German economy. ;</p>
<p>Merkel has criticized local businesses for not hiring enough refugees, but business owners argue that most refugees lack basic German-language skills. A large percentage are not qualified beyond secondary school level. Some can&rsquo;t read or write, and many cannot ;prove their identities.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Given that around 80% of asylum seekers are not highly qualified and may not yet have a high level of German proficiency, we have primarily offered jobs that do not require technical skills or a considerable amount of interaction in Germany,&rdquo; said a spokesman for the German business community.  ;</p>
<p>Merkel and others hoped that migrant workers could help mitigate the growing skills shortage among Germany&rsquo;s working-age population, but it&rsquo;s not that simple. ;</p>
<p>Deutsche Telekom, which has plans to hire 75 refugees next year, says it takes at least 18 months for a refugee to earn the skills necessary to even apply for a job.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The employment of refugees is no solution for the skills shortage,&rdquo; laments Heinrich Hiesinger of ThyssenKrupp.</p>