@webbo3
Call me pernickety but a "welcome", to a visitor who has just arrived on your doorstep is subtly different from an overt invitation to visit.
I alluded to gatecrashers at a party and it is equivalent to the host giving them a welcome because it would be an embarrassment to *be seen to* turn away any potential addition to the party but exaggeratedly so, to be seen to turn away a group of "other" ethnicity. The fact that they are strangers to you, of unknown wealth level (trustability) will be lost on the kind of onlookers who would leap to the conclusion that their lovely host was some blatant racist.
The first article link refers, obliquely, to "events of 70 years ago", so Merkel was caught in this same trap, afaic.
I've copied a quote from link 1
//Of all the irresponsible decisions taken in recent years by European politicians, few will cause as much human misery as Angela Merkel’s plan to welcome Syrian refugees to Germany.//
but only to point out that it mentions "welcome". I was hoping for a speech quote where a clear invite goes out.
She didn't actually need to go that far though: as the article says, the Syrians have mobiles and access to western news stories (instant page translation etc) these days so they can see other migrants make it safely. They'd come without an invite. They'd probably still come if Europeans drifted to the right and hate speech was rampant. It's still safer than death from above.