Mediaboss Marketing

Jos Mara Manso is the chief inspector of the National Police's immigration division in the Balearics. In recent years, the number of people arriving illegally in small boats has risen sharply, and he says that "unfortunately, it's a great 'business' and it's very profitable".

Last year, the police arrested some fifty skippers of boats. They were from 'mafias' dedicated to the human trafficking of migrants, and he explains that in Algeria - which is where the boats come from - these criminal groups select people who know how to navigate the boats. "The skippers are sailors and knowledgeable people."

The journey is some 270 nautical miles and can normally be done in around 24 hours. The price varies. "It depends on the number of people travelling, the type of boat and the origin. The average cost of the trip is usually 1,000 euros if they are Algerian and 1,500 if they are sub-Saharan."

The profile of migrant "has changed a lot". "It used to be that they were only young Algerians but now we find absolutely everyone. Men, women, the elderly, children and babies. Anyone who can pay the mafias can get a ticket and come."

It's said that the Balearics are a transit destination. Chief Inspector Manso agrees that this was normally always the case. Migrants were either expelled or left for other European countries. "But now, as the number of new arrivals increases and they cannot be expelled, there are many who decide to stay here. It's no secret that Spain and Algeria broke off relations some time ago. From that moment the procedure for expelling people was closed; Algeria won't accept people being repatriated."

He addresses a couple of myths, one that migrants are brought by a mother ship and then put onto boats near the coast. "That's completely false. They arrive by boat on the direct Algeria-Mallorca route. They've been coming for centuries."

Another is that migrants are fleeing war and hunger. "In Algeria there is no war and therefore they are not fleeing from any armed conflict. There is hunger like anywhere else, but there is also aid and there are social services. The reasons are very different, such as those for people who arrive relatively well dressed and with the latest generation phones."

Originally posted here:
Illegal migration to Mallorca is "unfortunately a profitable business" - Majorca Daily Bulletin

The names of immigration service field officials interviewed by The Korea Herald are aliases to protect their identities. -- Ed.

Kim Jong-sup, who works at a local branch office of the Korea Immigration Service, never thought he would be risking his life in the course of his job.

Yesterday, I went to detain illegal aliens working at a water parsley farm. I (fell and) rolled over and suffered bruises all over my body, Kim said, showing his broken glasses.

It was not the first time that Kim had met resistance during crackdowns, and a lack of numbers leaves officers like him relatively exposed. Workers have occasionally resisted using improvised weapons such as bats and saws.

Kim, who is in his 30s, carries no weapons himself, only handcuffs. Immigration officials are allowed to carry and use weapons provided by the KIS, such as pistols and stun guns, but Kim said that most officers chose not to, based on advice from the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.

Rather than weapons, most officers indicated that safety could be improved with more manpower -- particularly physically strong workers with self-defense training.

Reports of people working illegally in Korea keep coming into his office, but Kim feels uneasy whenever he goes out to verify them -- a field job very different from his previous role as an airport security official.

My life has been in danger many times, but I have not been seriously injured or killed, the official said.

His colleague, Lee Sung-tae, said that some immigration officers have died during crackdowns.

There have been public officials who have died in the past while conducting crackdowns, so I am worried about my safety whenever I go out for one, Lee said.

I also had a physical fight with an illegal migrant who resisted our crackdown at an onion farm the day before yesterday, and all of my clothes were ripped. My bare skin was exposed, he said.

Once, an illegal migrant swung a sickle and a furniture-cutting machine at me while running away. Illegal migrants sometimes jump into the roadside or from high floors. Pursuing them in itself is dangerous.

The KIS, under the Ministry of Justice, oversees immigration affairs, including border security, visa management, naturalization, and enforcing immigration regulations. It operates 12 local branch offices as well as central offices in the major cities of Seoul, Busan, Incheon and Jeju.

Many foreign workers who are in Korea illegally enter the country through a temporary work permit system, but stay after their visas have expired, according to Kim and Lee. Most of them find another place to work before running away from the businesses that initially hired them as temporary workers. They usually choose to work illegally because they can make more money at these jobs than at those they are legally permitted to work in. There are also many others who enter the country on tourist visas or via fishing boats without work permits.

If they are caught and deported from Korea to their home countries, they are banned from re-entry. However, its difficult to earn an equivalent amount of money that they would earn here -- usually 3 million to 4 million won per month ($2,300-$3,000) -- once they return to their home countries, the KIS officials said, so they resist as much as possible.

In addition, most of the jobs they do are ones that Koreans are reluctant to do, as many of the worksites have lax safety standards.

In August 2014, an official at the Incheon Immigration Office was part of a crackdown at a factory where 30 workers from Vietnam were illegally employed. When the official stepped on a faulty floor panel on an upper floor, he fell and died.

Lack of resources for crackdowns, safety

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, each immigration office used to catch 3,000 to 4,000 people a year who were in Korea illegally. However, the number significantly decreased during the pandemic as the border was closed, according to Kim and Lee.

According to the Justice Ministry, about 410,000 foreign nationals are in Korea illegally. With air carriers resuming international flights, the ministry plans to increase enforcement to pre-COVID-19 levels. There are also plans to establish a new agency for overseeing immigration this year, the targets for which include a push to reduce the number of migrants who are here illegally to 200,000 by 2027.

But Kim and Lee say they dont have enough human resources to deal with the increased numbers. Their team of five is assigned to deal with thousands of people in the region who are in Korea illegally.

Foreign nationals awaiting deportation are currently forcibly detained in what are called protection rooms located within immigration offices, before their flights are ready and other paperwork is complete.

It is also necessary to expand immigration offices and the protection rooms inside them to ensure the safety of illegal immigrants who have been caught, Lee said.

The fact that there are many foreign nationals who are illegally working in Korea is not actually a big problem, according to Yoon In-jin, a sociology professor at Korea University and the president of the Korean International Migration Studies Association. However, the government shouldnt give an impression that there is no state control, he said, adding that there should be better management of these workers for their own safety.

They are exposed to dangers as well. Even if they are hurt at work or elsewhere, it is not easy for them to receive proper treatment or compensation, Yoon said.

Meanwhile, migrants rights groups in Korea say the immigration services tracking down and deporting of undocumented workers constitute serious human rights abuse.

Members from migrants rights groups such as the Nancen Refugee Rights Center, Migrant Human Rights Solidarity Corporation and Migrants Center Friend have urged the government to stop the crackdowns, arguing that the government should give undocumented workers a chance to become legal residents in Korea.

By Lee Jaeeun (jenn@heraldcorp.com)

Here is the original post:
[New Neighbors] As crackdowns resume, immigration officers fear for safety - The Korea Herald

Flouting a recent court ruling, Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas, are releasing busloads of Chinese nationals into the U.S. amid a massive surge of migrants from the communistcountry.

Officials say the southern border has seen a more than 900 percent increase in Chinese nationals since last year. There were 1,368 encounters of Chinese migrants in February versus just 55 during February2022.

In fiscal year 2021, there were 450 encounters of Chinese nationals at the border; in fiscal year 2022, there were 1,176. Since October just five months into this fiscal year the number has ballooned to4,366.

As the Brownsville busing program shows, encounters do not necessarily result in deportation. Quite the opposite,actually.

Chinese migrants, some of whom entered the Americas through Ecuador, reportedly are paying cartels $35,000 and up to cross into the U.S. One New York-bound migrant said he left China because of his countrys strict COVID-19policies.

Gordon Chang, author of several books critical of the Beijing government, suspects more sinister motives in this high-end migration. We have to assume that the Chinese regime is taking advantage of the situation by smuggling in their agents, hesays.

Before being loaded onto buses in Brownsville, the Chinese nationals were handed Notices to Appear (NTAs) in immigration court at some future date. With dockets bulging, such cases can take four to seven years to resolve, assuming the noticed aliens care to showup.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources said the migrants were released because there are so many crossing and no space to housethem.

But the busing of these Chinese nationals appears to directly violate a recent federal court ruling, and U.S. immigration law, requiring detention of illegal aliens. Justice Department lawyers did not contest District Judge T. Kent Wetherells ruling, but the Brownsville incident shows how wholesale releases go on asusual.

An hour northwest of Brownsville, in McAllen, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz contradicted Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by admitting the obvious last week. He testified at a congressional committee field hearing that the U.S. does not haveoperational controlof its southernborder.

Ortiz also openly disagreed with the Biden administration halting border wall construction, and asserted that more security infrastructure is needed to help Border Patrol agents do theirjob.

That job does not involve summarily shipping illegal Chinese aliens into the interior of this country with flimsy slips of paper that may never see the light ofday.

See more here:
Border Patrol Buses In Americas Latest Load of Chinese Imports - Federation for American Immigration Reform

The security of our homeland is under constant threat by the crisis at the southern border, heightened by our broken immigration system, and exacerbated by the flow of illicit narcotics into our communities.

First and foremost, we must regain operational control of our border. Since January 2021, more than 4.6 million individuals have been apprehended attempting to illegally enter the United States through the southern border. America is a nation of immigrants, but we are a beacon of hope throughout the world because we respect and enforce the rule of law.

I regularly visit the southern border to see the situation on the ground firsthand, meet with border patrol officials and community leaders in the impacted regions, and understand what resources are needed to combat this crisis.

In 1996 I authored the legislation which later became the E-Verify program, the only tool available for employers to voluntarily check the legal status of newly hired employees. Over the years, I have worked steadily to expand E-Verify and make It mandatory for all employers in the U.S. On January 12, 2023, I reintroduced the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 319) which would do just that and help cut off the job magnet that draws people here illegally.

I also believe that to truly secure our homeland, we must stop the flow of illicit narcotics into our communities. Fentanyl, in particular, is especially deadly and is being trafficked across our southern border every day. Riverside County loses more than one person a day, on average, from a fentanyl-related poisoning. This is why I helped launch and am a co-chair of the Bipartisan Fentanyl Prevention Caucus which works to educate the community on the dangers of fentanyl, understand the pipelines that bring it into the United States, and stop its proliferation into our neighborhoods.

My record on border security, ensuring a legal workforce, and rejecting amnesty is second to none in Congress and I will continue to fight for the integrity of our borders and the security of our homeland as your Representative in Congress. Below are some of the initiatives I support in the 118th Congress to secure our borders and stop illegal immigration:

See original here:
Homeland Security and Illegal Immigration | Congressman Ken ... - Ken Calvert

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers his State of the State address

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has positioned himself as the architect of a new conservative vision for the nation during his annual State of the State address. (March 7)

AP

A spike in illegal immigration and victory in a key lawsuithas given Gov. Ron DeSantis ammunition in support of his hardline stance on immigration policies.

Only the southwest border states of Texas, Arizona, California and New Mexico have seen more undocumented immigrants than Florida so far this fiscal year, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Florida ranks just ahead of New York and well ahead of most other states nationwide, with a total of 57,816 contacts with those who have entered the country illegally between October and February. That is more than the number of contacts made in the state during the entire 2022 and 2021 fiscal years combined.

Of those, a total of 5,005 individuals have been apprehended.

Changing times: Trailblazing migrant lawyer got his chance from Florida lawmakers. Now, GOP wants that door closed.

DeSantis and Scott: Two Florida GOP governors with separate paths on immigration and elections

Immigration from four countries has fueled the growing trend, with authorities making contact with 19,442 Venezuelan nationals, 12,840 Cuban nationals, 6,344 Haitian nationals, and 4,201 Ukrainian nationals in Florida between October and February.

However, Cuban nationals account for the bulk of undocumented immigrants who were detained, accounting for 4,398 of the total 5,005 apprehensions this year. Only 349 Haitians were apprehended, and zero Ukrainians and Venezuelans.

On March 8, a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump issued a 109-page final order ruling in Floridas favor in a lawsuit against the United States, placing the blame on federal Parole and Alternative to Detention policies for enticing foreign nationals into crossing into the United States illegally under the belief they would eventually be released into the country.

Florida argued that over 100,000 of those immigrants have been released into the state, causing a rise in the cost of public services, citing increases in the amount of undocumented children who attend public schools and costs of other services such as incarceration, unemployment benefits, and emergency Medicaid.

For the most part, the Court finds in favor of Florida because, as detailed below, the evidence establishes that Defendants have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country by prioritizing 'alternatives to detention' over actual detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the country on 'parole' without even initiating removal proceedings, Judge Thomas Kent Wetherell of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Florida wrote in the final order.

DeSantis touted Floridas legal victory against the Biden Administration during a recent stop in Iowa, where he also trumpeted state-level efforts to bolster enforcement.

When I became governor, we finally banned sanctuary cities in the state of Florida, we recently sued Biden over his catch and release policy and guess what, this week a federal judge in the Florida Panhandle ruled that his catch and release policy is illegal and unconstitutional. So they are going to have to change something, DeSantis said.

On March 9 the Biden administration issued a statement outlining new efforts to bolster border security while also enhancing legal pathways.

"Over the past two years, the Biden-Harris Administration has secured more resources for border security than any of the presidents who preceded him, deployed the most agents ever more than 23,000 to address the situation at the border, prevented record levels of illicit fentanyl from entering our country, and brought together world leaders on a framework to deal with changing migration patterns," his administration said in the media release.

"The Administration has also put in place new measures to enhance security at the border and reduce the number of individuals crossing unlawfully between ports of entry while expanding and expediting legal pathways for orderly migration. The president also outlined new consequences for those who fail to use these new legal pathways."

Read the original here:
Illegal immigration in Florida: A by-the-numbers look at a surge - Tallahassee Democrat