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In a typical year, more than 270 millionimmigrantsliving and working abroad send cash transfers, known as remittances, to their home countries. In 2019, two-thirds of all international migrants lived in just 20 countries, with the United States holding the most at 51 million (about 19% of the worlds total). (United Nations).

As of 2020,despite the lockdownsthathave devastated economiesand led unemployment rates to skyrocket, remittances have generally held up. In some cases, theyve been higher than usual, based on thelatest available data.Remittances to Mexicoand Pakistan experiencedrecord increases, while those to Vietnamand thePhilippineshave held steady.

Remittances are an important aspect of the economy. In 2019, immigrants sent home a recordUS$554 billion. According tothe Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 70%-90% of immigrants send money to themselves to save or invest, while the others send money to pay bills. This shows remittances are an essential tool not only short term but for immigrants looking forward to the future.

Senator Doug Mastriano, a Member of thePennsylvania Senatefrom the33rddistrict, along with other Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers, has put forward a bill that would impose a tax on international remittances made by illegal immigrants and divert the revenue to the commonwealths property tax and rent relief fund. The bill aims to collect a fee for each transaction sent to a recipient outside the United States equal to 2% of the amount of the transaction, but not exceeding $5,000.

According to Mastriano, the proposed bills goal is to deter illegal immigration while collecting revenue for tax breaks for legal citizens in thecommonwealth. The tax on remittances would go to the Property Tax & Rent Rebate Program conceived by the state legislature in 1971, which according to figures cited in a statement by state lawmakers, has allowed older and disabled adults to receive more than $7.3 billion in property tax and rent relief.

With the state-wide economic devastation of COVID-19, coupled with rising inflation, the Property Tax Rent Rebate Programs stagnant income limits have undoubtedly prevented an increasing number of Pennsylvanians from accessing this necessary aid. If this unique bill becomes law, it will be interesting to see its efficacy in providing Pennsylvanians with more support in these critical times.

2022 Norris McLaughlin P.A., All Rights ReservedNational Law Review, Volume XII, Number 201

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Proposed Bill Would Impose Tax On International Remittances - The National Law Review

Two reports published on Wednesday and Thursday criticised the Home Office over its response tothe surging number of illegal immigrants arriving in the UK in small boats.

One said the border forces approach to preventing the journeys was ineffective and possibly counter-productive, while the other said the initial processing of those who arrived has been ineffective and inefficient.

The reports recommended the Home Office improve its initial processing performance, organise more appropriate vessels for search and rescue, turn boats around when possible, quickly remove illegal immigrants to a third country for processing, and negotiate a deal with France to return illegal immigrants who sailed from the country.

According toHome Office figures, the number of people smuggled into the UK from France across the English Channel in small boats hassoared in recent years, with 28,526 people detected in 2021, compared to 8,466 in 2020, 1,843 in 2019, and 299 in 2018.

In 2021, nearly 84 percent of all small boat arrivals were male, and almost three-quarters were aged between 18 and 39.

David Neal, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said in a report (pdf) that the Home Office dealt with the immigrants poorlydue to a refusal to transition from an emergency response to establishing better systems and procedures.

Neals report onthe initial processing of small boat arrivals in Dover was submitted to the Home Office on Feb. 24, but it was not published until Thursday, two days after Neal publicly said he became increasingly frustrated over the delay of its publication.

The report said the Home Office failed to proactively identify and safeguard those who are vulnerable and the data collection was inexcusably awful.

Equipment to carry out security checks is often first-generation and unreliable. Biometrics, such as taking fingerprints and photographs, are not always recorded, Neal said.

According to Neal, the Home Office told inspectors that 227 migrants had absconded from secure hotels between September 2021 and January 2022, some were notbiometrically enrolled.

In the five-week period between Dec. 1, 2021, and Jan. 7, 2022, 57 people absconded, 38 of whom had not beenbiometrically enrolled.

Put simply, if we dont have a record of people coming into the country, then we do not know who is threatened or who is threatening, Neal said.

The report also said part of the reason the identification process was undermined is that staff assumed the small boat arrivals are likely to claim asylum and therefore would not want to hide from the Home Office.

The report said an officer described how she reported a concern about an agitated young girl she had noticed who was accompanied by a man and the 6-year-old turned out to be unaccompanied.

But the inspectors were told staff members do not have the capacity to proactively identify children, single women, and people with other vulnerabilities, such as trafficking victims, but were mainly reliant on migrants coming forward to say they have issues.

However, the absence of translators meant communication was limited, including for the purpose of collecting basic information such as names and ages.

According to Home Office data cited in the report, between Sept. 1 and Dec. 27, 2021, around 90 percent of small boat arrivals were male. More thanone in five (22.5 percent) were 18 and under, and most are older teens over 15 years old.

Neal said the workforce had responded with enormous fortitude and exceptional personal commitment, which is humbling, but there was a lack of effective and visible leadership.

He said the key stumbling blockto addressing the challenges was that the Home Office continued to consider channel crossing an emergency instead of a new norm, meaning the department was in a constantly reactive state.

Neal set out four recommendations regarding security, vulnerability, information, and resourcing.

In the Home Offices responsepublished along with the report, the department said it had transformed the process since the inspection was carried out, which was in December 2021 and January 2022, and that much of this report is now of a historic character and the criticisms identified reflect processes and procedures not now followed under the new operation.

In a separate review (pdf) of the UKs Border Force, former Australian foreign ministerAlexander Downer said the Border Force Maritime command has been ill-equipped to deal with a challenge that is all consuming.

The size and capability of the Border Force Maritime command predates the escalation in small boat crossings and the task in the Channel now consumes nearly all available resources to the command, with other operational activity being undertaken on an exceptional basis only, the review said.

A further frustration is that to sustain the Border Force operation in the English Channel, officers from elsewhere are being drafted into the maritime command which detracts from other important activities that should be undertaken at ports across the country. The current resource requirements in the Channel are not sustainable.

Assmall boats carrying migrants are flimsy and overloaded, they are allconsidered vessels in distress.

As a result, Border Force has beeneffectively rescuing people and then escorting them into port and enabling them to enter the UK, Downer said. It is unsurprising that there is some public disquiet about this issue.

The operational command in the Channel has been taken over by the Royal Navy after the Home Office asked for help, but vessels from both departments are not designed to conduct search and rescue.

In his recommendations, Downer said the Home Office should contract for vesselsbetter suited to the task and place them under the command and control of either the Coast Guard or Royal Navy. He also said he was pleased that such plans were already being developed.

To deter immigrants from making the dangerous and unnecessary journey from France, Downer said the UK government should keep all legal and operationally feasible options, including turning boats around when it is safe and legal to do so using contracted vessels and specialist crews.

The Home Office previously said it was considering pushing boats back to the French side of the channel, but abandoned the planahead of a judicial review of the policy.

Downer had a similar experience in Australia. He recommended the UK quickly move illegal arrivals to a third country for processing, which he said would reduce the risk of the removal process being frustrated, and avoiding a running commentary on the number of people removed.

The eligibility for removal should embrace all cohorts of people who enter the UK illegally, he added.

Downer also recommended the UK reach an agreement with France in order to return small boat arrivals.

Since the UKs exit from the European Union, the Dublin Regulation, which enables E.U. countries to return asylum seekers to the first E.U. country they arrived in, no longer applies to the UK. As a result, few illegal immigrants were successfully returned. An effort to sign a new bilateral deal with France has so far been unsuccessful.

The Home Office has been planning to ship illegal immigrants to Rwanda after signing a deal with the east African country in April, but the first chartered flight was cancelled after the immigrants lawyers sought intervention from UK courts andthe European Court of Human Rights.

Before signing the Rwanda deal, the UK government spoke about plans for third-country processing of asylum seekers. However, the deal announced in April was for the Rwandan government to process the relocated immigrants, providing asylum or other opportunities to stay in the country.

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Lily Zhou is a freelance writer mostly covering UK news for The Epoch Times.

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UK Home Office Criticised Over 'Ineffective' Response to Channel-Crossing Immigrants - The Epoch Times

While illegal immigration from Bangladesh continues to remain a political issue in India, Bangladesh has told Delhi that its economy is growing steadily and there is no need for its citizens to go to India to earn a living. It has instead asked India to bring casualty of its citizens on the border to zero and curb smuggling of arms and ammunition from India to Bangladesh.

The issues were discussed during the three-day DG level talks between Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) that ended on Thursday in Dhaka. Interestingly, the issue of cattle smuggling was not even discussed during the meet which, sources said, was a result of considerable control over the menace due to joint efforts of the forces of the two countries.

The 52nd Director General level coordination conference focused on curbing trans-border crimes and taking all necessary measures to ensure peace and tranquility along the border, while building upon the mutual trust and harmony among both Border guarding forces and countries. both sides appreciated each others concerns and committed to settling different border issues amicably through continued, constructive and positive engagements at all levels, the BSF said in a statement.

The BSF delegation was led by DG Pankaj Singh while the BGB delegation was led by Major General Shakil Ahmed.

BSF sources said that during the discussions Singh expressed his concern regarding illegal immigration, human trafficking and numerous border violations by Bangladeshi nationals. He informed the gathering that BSF had raised 15 anti-human trafficking units recently to combat illegal immigration.

In response, DG BGB Ahmed stated that Bangladesh was enjoying a steady economic growth and thus illegal migration to India was only a remote possibility. He, in fact, expressed concern over increasing arrest of Bangladeshi nationals by BSF and asked it to bring down killings of Bangladeshi nationals on the border to zero since both countries were friends.

DG BSF, in response, told Ahmed that India does not discriminate between criminals on the basis of nationality.

In 2020-2021, Bangladesh had a per capita income of $ 1,962, which was higher than Indias at $1,935. BSF sources said in the past one and a half years, the force has handed over more than 400 Bangladeshi nationals to authorities of that country.

Sources said DG BGB also spoke about the pressurre of more than one million forcibly displaced Rohingyas and its socio economic consequences on his country even as he pointed to some recent illegal entry of some Rohingyas from India. Sources said both sides agreed to stop this and to crack down on middlemen facilitating this.

DG BGB also raised the issue of smuggling of fire arms, ammunition, explosives from India to Bangladesh, which DG BSF denied saying there were no credible reports of organised smugling of arms.

On cross-border smuggling that leads to attacks on BSF men and some Bangladeshis dying in retaliatory fire, both sides agreed to undertake joint efforts to bring down such incidents by coordinated patrols especially post midnight to early morning.

DG level talks between India and Bangladesh are held twice every year once in India and once in Bangladesh.

Both sides agreed to undertake joint efforts to curb trans-border crime by adopting extra precautionary measures such as increasing Coordinated Patrols, enhancing vigilance and sincere commitments. Both sides also agreed to undertake joint efforts to bring down the number of incidents of assault/border crime by intensifying public awareness program, undertaking appropriate socio-economic developmental programs in vulnerable areas, educating border population about the sanctity of IB and preventing criminals/inhabitants from crossing the IB, the BSF statement said.

With regard to trans-border insurgents groups camps, both sides agreed to show zero tolerance towards any such groups/activities and take concurrent action in respective border based on real time information.

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BSF-BGB talks | Economy growing, no need to go to India: Bangla border force chief - The Indian Express

A record number 235,478 illegal immigrants crossed the southern border in April of this year. The month of May broke that record with 239,416 encounters. June will likely set another record.

Since President Biden assumed office, illegal immigration has reached staggering highs. In FY 2021, law enforcement encountered 1.7 million migrants. In the first 8 months of FY 2022, over 1.5 million migrants were apprehended.

This record flow of illegal immigrants comes as no surprise. Within weeks of taking office, the Biden administration replaced every effective immigration measure with failed Obama-era policies.

President Biden is responsible for the crisis at the southern border.

As the top Republican of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I released the report: Bidens Border Crisis: Examining Policies that Encourage Illegal Migration. In it, I outline how the Biden administration has fueled the immigration crisis and the steps it needs to take to secure the border.

Our border security is broken. We cannot continue the status quo.

To read the one-page summary, click here.

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Report: President Biden is responsible for the crisis at the southern border - Jim Risch

Border Patrol agents didnt whip or strike Haitian migrants last year, a lengthy internal affairs investigation concluded Friday, but some agents did use excessive force by positioning their horses in the Rio Grande to try to keep the migrants from reaching the U.S.

Investigators largely faulted agency leaders, saying they lacked clear goals for dealing with the unprecedented incursion of 15,000 migrants who established a squatters camp on the American side of the river, then began to come and go freely from Mexico, challenging the integrity of the border.

Though all agents have been cleared of criminal charges, four have been recommended to face disciplinary action over their use of force and, in one case, for insulting language used against migrants. Those cases are still pending, officials said, and the agent remains on desk duty nearly 10 months after the incident, which drew international attention.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus said they showed discrimination and intolerance.

Its clear from the investigation that decisions made by some of the agencys leadership and the lack of appropriate policies and training all contributed to the incident. But there is no justification for the lack of actions of some of personnel, including unprofessional and deeply offensive conduct, Mr. Magnus said.

Images of the Sept. 19 incident showed horse-mounted agents riding through the water trying to corral migrants, with the horses reins swinging freely. That led some observers to say the migrants were being whipped.

SEE ALSO: DHS seeks Supreme Courts blessing for policy limiting immigration enforcement

President Biden had said the migrants were strapped and Vice President Kamala Harris compared the treatment to the worst abuses of slavery. Mr. Biden had vowed the agents will pay.

The investigation by CBPs Office of Professional Responsibility reviewed extensive footage, including from a drone that they had flying overhead, spoke with witnesses and gathered accounts from the migrants themselves. They concluded nobody was actually struck with the reins, nor was anyone intentionally struck by the mounted agents.

There is no evidence that BPAs involved in this incident struck, intentionally or otherwise, any migrant with their reins, the investigation concluded.

Still, CBP said some of the agents should pay for the way they used their horses bodies to try to seal off the U.S. banks of the river. In one example investigators cited, an agent chased after a migrant and came perilously close to a young child in the water.

That agent also used insulting language against migrants, chastising men for appearing to shield themselves behind women, investigators said. The agent displayed an unprofessional manner, the probe concluded.

Even as they faulted the agents, investigators made clear they were put in an impossible situation by the unprecedented takeover of U.S. land by 15,000 illegal immigrants.

They streamed across the Rio Grande in September, overwhelming the Border Patrols ability to process them. The migrants set up a squatters camp in Del Rio, Texas, and demanded to be processed and released, as theyd seen the Biden administration do to hundreds of thousands of other migrants in the preceding months.

Border Patrol agents kept the migrants corralled but didnt have supplies, so they issued raffle-style tickets to the migrants to mark their place in the processing line, then stood by as people began to cross the Rio Grande freely to get food and drinks from the Mexican side.

Fridays investigation found Border Patrol leaders lacked a strategy for dealing with those already here, and for addressing those still streaming over.

The horse patrol agents were given only the slimmest of briefings before being sent out into the field.

And complicating matters was the presence of Texas law enforcement, which had its own goals of protecting Texans property and at some points blocking the river to try to prevent more people from coming.

Agents had been told not to interfere with those coming but were also told to assist the Texas Department of Public Safety in its missions. So when Texas authorities asked the Border Patrol for help to block migrants entry on Sept. 19, agents from the horse patrol were deployed.

They asked for guidance from their supervisor, who called up the chain of command but got no answer, and gave the go-ahead to help Texas authorities, investigators concluded.

First, the agents and state police troopers dispersed a crown already on the U.S. side, pushing them back toward the boundaries of the camp. Then the agents and troopers turned their attention to people coming across the river, some of whom were holding up their raffle-style tickets to show they had already been on the U.S. side and were merely returning with food.

As a result of a lack of command, control, and communications, [Horse Patrol Unit] personnel carried out an operation at the request of TXDPS which directly contravened USBP operational objectives and resulted in the unnecessary use of force against migrants who were attempting to reenter the United States with food, the investigation concluded. They did so with authorization from their supervisor who was unable to obtain additional guidance from higher in the USBP chain of command at the time of the request.

Investigators said even as illegal immigrants, those in the water were technically applicants for admission to the U.S. and using horses to try to block them amounted to unprofessional conduct and a wrongful use or threat of use of force.

Ultimately, it appears all the migrants who wanted to come made it across and the agents didnt actually block anyone, the probe concluded.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus said the report showed agents threatened the lives of migrants, including children.

Caucus Chair Raul Ruiz, California Democrat, said there needs to be implementation of disciplinary measures.

But one former agent told The Washington Times the use of force case will be tough to stick.

He said horse patrols are frequently used as a deterrent factor, and its difficult to see how the agents presence was intended as anything else.

The four agents likely have several avenues of appeal ahead of them, and CBP officials declined to say any more about their situation other than that they remain on administrative duties.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appeared to give the agents involved a pass, saying they were trying to control their horses. But after a talking-to by the vice president, he changed his tone and said the images he saw were disturbing. He told Congress the investigation would be done in days.

Instead, the probe dragged for months, leaving critics within CBP and on Capitol Hill to suspect the agency was trying to orchestrate an adverse finding to fulfill Mr. Bidens pledge that would will pay.

Rep. John Katko, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said the findings against the individual agents were a desperate attempt to justify Mr. Bidens demand that the agents pay for the incident.

Border Patrol agents are leaving in record numbers and experiencing devastating impacts on their mental health as a result of the Biden Border Crisis. This is not what they signed up for, the New York Republican said.

CBP officials said Friday they followed a normal process and insisted there was no interference from higher-ups.

Both the Homeland Security inspector general and the federal prosecutor in western Texas declined to pursue the case, which returned it to the Office of Public Responsibility. Officials said Friday they had been waiting on the federal prosecutor to make a decision, which happened in March, and they submitted their report to higher-ups in April.

Moving forward, Chief Magnus said he will maintain the horse-mounted units, but he said the agency will ponder restrictions on where and when they can be deployed.

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Border Patrol agents cleared of whipping illegal immigrants - Washington Times