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Assam is in the news for the wrong reason yet again a horrific video showing an official photographer laden with cameras stomping on a man shot by the police moments earlier. Like the previous incident from the state that made headlines the border clash between Assam and Mizoram police in July that left six Assam policemen dead this incident, too, was only the latest eruption of a conflict that has been simmering, with occasional outbursts, for many decades.

At the core of this barbarism is the same issue that drove the entire National Register of Citizens process in the state, and the building of detention camps: alleged illegal immigration from Bangladesh. Assam is the only Indian state to have executed an NRC, excluding 19 lakh people after spending four years and Rs 1,600 crore. This pleased no one, and the NRC was rejected by its most ardent champions, the BJP and the All Assam Students Union (AASU).

They felt that 19 lakh, including a large number of Bengali Hindus, Gorkhas and tribals, was far short of the figures for illegal immigrants in Assam that have been tossed around for years. AASU had spoken of 50 lakh as far back as 1980, according toNo Lands People:The Untold Story of Assams NRC Crisisby Abhishek Saha. At a special session of the Assam Assembly on 13 January 2020, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assams health and finance minister, claimed that Home Minister Amit Shah had, during a meeting with AASU prior to passage of the CAA in Parliament, told the students body there were 70 lakh foreigners in Assam, Saha wrote.

Also read: The Police Did Not Bungle in Assam, They Committeda Horrific Crime

No one expects Mexicans or Chinese foreigners to be pouring into Assam. The term is code for Bangladeshi, and the words are often used interchangeably. The term illegal migrant in Assam immediately evokes a stereotype: the dark-skinned, Bengali Muslim peasant in alungiand vest. From there to the assumption that theyre all illegal immigrants, regardless of actual citizenship status, is but a short hop.

The assumption arose from prejudice and rested on guesswork. No one had ever tried counting undocumented migrants in Assam before the NRC. Under BJP governments at the state and Centre, and the supervision of Ranjan Gogoi as Chief Justice of India, it was the first serious attempt to determine, even if by a highly flawed process, what the actual figures might be. Despite all efforts, the number it finally excluded still fell far short of the fanciful figures that had passed into legend in Assam. Confronted with the possibility that their cherished belief that every Bengali of East Bengal ancestry in Assam was an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant might be incorrect, many chose to fault the NRC, rather than reject the cherished belief.

The father of Moinul Haque, the farmer shot dead and stomped on, said that their family has been settled in Assam for three generations. This is typically the case, because the truth about Bengali migration is that most of it happened, initially with the active encouragement of the colonial administration, in the early 1900s.

Ever since the annexation of Assam in 1826, following victory in the First Anglo-Burmese War, the British administration had faced labour shortages. Labour was initially imported for tea plantations but in time, the unexploited economic potential from cultivation of rice and jute in the vast Brahmaputra floodplains, which the rulers saw as wastelands, was also realised. The need for labour found mention in administrative reports. Sir George Campbell (then Lieutenant Governor) thoroughly recognises that the great want of Assam is population, noted the Report on the Administration of Bengal for 1872-73, when the province of Assam was being formed.

The migration of peasant farmers, mainly from Mymensingh, increased when Bengal was partitioned for the first time in 1905. In the ensuing redrawing of maps, East Bengal and Assam became a single province with its summer capital in Shillong and winter capital in Dhaka. Those who migrated then from East Bengal to Assam were moving within the same country, and the same province.

Also read: Assam Firing: What Happened During the Governments Eviction Drive in Darrang?

Unchecked migration of land-hungry farmers into the thinly-populated province became a problem of plenty in less than 15 years. By then, the partition of Bengal had been undone, and Assam was once again a separate province. In the 1921 Census, there was a hint of administrative misgivings. The 1931 Census which followed raised, for the first time, the spectre of Assam being overrun by East Bengalis. Census commissioner C.S. Mullan wrote in his report, Wherever the carcass, there will the vultures be gathered together where there is waste land, thither flock the Mymensinghias.

The days of vacant floodplains are long gone, and the Mymensinghias stopped flocking long ago, but from that dehumanising, racist document to more recent reports such as one authored by former chief election commissioner H.S. Brahma on protecting the land rights of indigenous people of Assam, to the NRC and the eviction drive in which Haque was shot dead the other day, there is a continuity.

Samrat Choudhury is a journalist and author, most recently, of The Braided River: A Journey Along the Brahmaputra. He is president of the Foundation for Media Professionals.

Read more from the original source:
Borders Shift and People Move. So Who Are 'Illegal Immigrants', Really? - The Wire

Austin, TX, October 1, 2021 The Val Verde County Commissioners Court voted unanimously on Tuesday to collaborate with other border jurisdictions on a possible lawsuit against President Biden and the United States Congress for allowing an invasion of the southern border of the United States.

In a call with The Texan on Thursday, County Attorney David Martinez explained that the commissioners court did not initiate a lawsuit with its vote, but is instead attempting to gauge interest in pursuing legal action.

I know that the direction that [Owens] was given by the court was to send a letter to every county government, in every city within those counties, up and along the border all the way from El Paso to Brownsville, Martinez said.

The county attorney explained that, so far, Medina and Kinney Counties have expressed interest in being kept in the loop if Val Verde County decides to actually start pursuing that type of litigation.

Martinez explained that the court passed two separate motions to build a coalition that could result in lawsuits against Congress and the president. He characterized them as an invitation for a discussion.

Republican Precinct 3 Commissioner Robert Beau Nettleton, who made the motions in question, explained that while a lawsuit might not be the solution, it draws attention to this problem.

Weve talked about immigration reform for as long as I can remember. Both parties have had control of Washington at one point or another over the last 20 years, and we have failed to do anything about it other than create the mess that we have today, Nettleton told commissioners.

It is inexcusable. And it is time we get together with other counties and cities along the border and stand up and do something.

Nettleton said the feds took the same oath of office that he did to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States. The commissioner noted that he also swore to uphold the Texas Constitution and state law.

Val Verde County was ground zero for the disastrous arrival of tens of thousands Haitian nationals who camped near and under the Del Rio International Bridge in filthy conditions.

In the aftermath of the ordeal, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas reported that about 2,000 Haitians had been deported back to their home country. However, the secretary also said nearly 30,000 illegal aliens had entered Del Rio since September 9.

Meanwhile, some Texans are growing tired of waiting on the courts to adjudicate a solution. Even after several successful court battles, the Lone Star State continues to experience an escalating border crisis that shows no signs of turning a corner.

In August, the United States Supreme Court effectively ordered the Biden administration to reinstate the remain in Mexico policy that the presidents predecessor implemented.

Since then, there has been a historic run on the border by Haitian nationals and the federal Department of Homeland Security is gearing up for what could be an astronomical number of up to 400,000 illegal crossings in the month of October.

The Texan has reached out to Val Verde County Judge Lewis Owens for comment.

See original here:
Border Counties Mulling Lawsuit Against Biden, Congress Over Illegal Immigration Disaster - The Texan

The former mayor of a small town in southern Italy was convicted Thursday of aiding illegal immigration and sentenced to 13 years and two months in prison, the Associated Press reported.

Domenico "Mimmo" Lucano was also found guilty of fraud, embezzlement, criminal association and abuse of office by the court in Calabria.

Lucano, who has denied committing any crimes, previously served as the mayor for Riace, also known as "the town of welcome." Prosecutors accused Lucano of helping to arrange marriages between Italian men in his town and foreign women, who would receive residency permits for Italy when married.

He also misused government money meant to assist migrants, including five million euros that ended up in private pockets rather than serving its intended purpose, prosecutors alleged. Lucano's face was one of disbelief as he heard his verdict and he was seen putting a hand on his forehead, the AP reported.

"I will be stained for life for wrongs I didn't commit,'' he said, as reported by the Italian news agency ANSA.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

Lucano's lawyers said they will appeal both the conviction and the sentence, which was some five years longer than what prosecutors had requested.

One of his lawyers, Giuliano Pisapia, a former left-wing mayor of Milan, had discounted that the trial was politically motivated. Still, he said, "without a doubt, there was certainly hostility against Lucano."

Lucano remains out of prison pending the outcome of final appeals.

Humanitarian groups that rescue migrants from traffickers' unseaworthy boats in the Mediterranean expressed outrage at the court's verdict and sentence.

"The former mayor of Riace gave life and future to his city through welcome and solidarity,'' tweeted Sea Watch Italy. "We are at the side of Mimmo Lucano and whoever practices solidarity every day."

Many migrants in Riace, a town of some 1,700 people, obtained municipal jobs, such as as street cleaners, while Lucano was mayor.

Another humanitarian group, Mediterranea Saving Humans, decried the verdict as "shameful." In a statement it described the trial's outcome as "the gravest repressive attack on the culture and the practice of solidarity in our country."

The charity added: "Who is poor or a migrant is forced to suffer every violence, and whoever helps them is considered a criminal."

Riace is famous for the discovery in 1972 of two ancient Greek statues at the bottom of the sea off the nearby coast. The statues are known as the Riace Bronzes.

More here:
Mayor Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison, Convicted of Aiding Illegal Immigration - Newsweek

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was confronted by immigration activists who followed the senator from the classroom where she teaches at Arizona State University to the bathroom while demanding the Arizona Democrat take action on a "pathway to citizenship."

"We knocked on doors for you to get you elected. Just how we got you elected, we can get you out of office if you don't support what you promised us," one of the activists said to Sinema in the video that was recorded with a phone.

MANCHIN CONFRONTED BY KAYAKERS IN HIS DC HOUSEBOAT

The activists first confronted Sinema at her ASU classroom, then followed her down the hall as the senator went into the bathroom and shut the door of a stall. Nevertheless, the activists continued to voice their demands from inside the bathroom, including a demand that she support President Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda and legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for illegal migrants.

"We need the Build Back Better plan right now," one activist said.

"I was brought here to the United States when I was 3 years old and in 2010 my grandparents both got deported because of S.B. 1070," another activist said. "And I'm here because I definitely believe that we need a pathway to citizenship."

Sinema did not engage in a discussion with the activists in the video footage, instead ignoring the group as she exited the stall and washed her hands.

Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz weighed in on the video, sharing it to social media with the caption "#DeportBlanca."

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The video comes on the same day another group of activists confronted Sen. Joe Manchin at his houseboat in Washington, D.C., demanding the West Virginia Democrat drop his opposition to his party's $3.5 trillion spending bill.

Both Sinema and Manchin have expressed opposition to the legislation, dealing a blow to Democrats who cannot afford a single defection in the evenly split Senate.

Read more from the original source:
Sinema confronted by immigration activists in a bathroom - Fox News

Illegal immigration into Spain has increased by 51% compared to the same period last year.

The number of illegal immigrants who tried to enter Spain by land and sea until September 30 has increased by 51%, according to data published from the Ministry of The Interior.

Between January 1 and September 30, 2021, a total of 28,729 were counted, over half more than in the same period from the previous year, when 19,024 illegal entries were recorded.

Of these, 47% made it to the Canary Islands, where a total of 13,118 migrants arrived in the islands (116% more than in 2020), while the remaining 13,320 made it to the coasts of mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands (18.8% more than a year before).

The number of arrivals by sea to Ceuta has also grown, by a staggering 142%. Between January 1 and September 30 of last year, 286 people arrived in the autonomous city, compared to the 694 that have been counted so far in 2021. On the other hand, arrivals in Melilla fell by 73%: 15 people who arrived in the first nine months of 2020, that has dropped to just 4 this year.

Melilla and Ceuta and recently Almeria in Spain are often seen as a gateway to Europeas migrants struggle to cross over from Africa many of them fleeing conflict and extreme poverty in sub-Saharan countries, and others increasingly arriving from Syria or Palestine.

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Illegal immigrants into Spain increase by 51% compared to last year - Euro Weekly News