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Our goal is to cross what is probably the most wicked jungle in the world. This could be said by the thousands of migrants who pass through the Darien Gap daily, which separates Colombia from Panama. But, instead, the phrase is an offer from a German luxury adventure tourism company.

Two weeks through this dense jungle with tremendously diverse and severe challenges entail the adventure of a lifetime, offers Wandermut, a German company that offers experiences in Darien for 3,643 euros (almost 4,000 dollars).

Their adventure takes place in that large jungle, without crossing borders and on the Pacific side, some 90 kilometers from where migrants mainly Venezuelans and Haitians pass daily, risking their lives to reach the United States, which has sparked controversy recently. Many thousands of Cubans have also shared that horrible experience.

Just this Friday, the Panama Tourism Authority also came out in defense of the company and the tourism it offers in Darien, rich in diversity and open for more than a decade to excursions, natural expeditions and other types of tourism.

For them, the migration crisis, as a relatively new phenomenon, has nothing to do with the tourism activities that have been taking place for decades in Darien and the rest of our territory.

Although the number of migrants has skyrocketed in the last two years, with more than 184,000 people who have already crossed from Colombia to Panama through Darien this year (five times as many as in the same period of 2022), the humanitarian crisis in this natural border is not new and people from all over the world including Africa and Asia swhave been trying to cross the mountains and rivers of the Darien for more than a decade, not exactly to enjoy an adventure.

This organization carries out almost all medical consultations at the migrant-receiving stations in Meteti, on the Panamanian side, at the jungle exit.

It is an authentic humanitarian crisisWe are talking about more than 500 people a day who are exposed to this situation: children, adolescents, pregnant women, people with disabilities who are exposed to this route, denounces the head of the MSF mission.

We avoid the direct border area to Colombia and eastern Darien. Anything else would be reckless, warns the German tour company. Migrants, however, cannot avoid this pathway and are in fact exposed to paying money for a route that is in the hands of armed and criminal groups.

Those brave enough to pay the 3,643 euros are offered security, state of the art equipment to avoid getting lost and, in extreme emergencies, a signal is sent via satellite phone.

Ninety kilometers away, migrants crossing cannot pay for security, cannot pay for the easiest routes, so they expose themselves to most difficult routes, recalls Eguiluz. In the Darien zone through which the migrants pass, it is unknown how many have fallen by the wayside.

In our medical and mental health consultations, we see the suffering that exposure to this jungle has caused them. Therefore, any trivialization of this humanitarian crisis does not exactly help to show the tragedy of these people, Eguiluz regrets.

This article was originally publishedin Spanish in Confidencialandtranslated by Havana Times.

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Darien Gap Tourism, the trivialization of the migrant crisis - Confidencial

How to deal with inward migration is an issue which the EU must face up to, despite the political difficulties of doing so. EU leaders got bogged down in the issue at their summit this week when Poland and Hungary blocked the adoption of conclusions endorsing the recent agreement by justice and home affairs ministers on a joint EU approach to dealing with migrants crossing the Mediterranean, who mostly end up in Greece and Italy.

That deal because only majority support was required in this case rather than unanimity remains in place. It is unlikely to be adequate, but at least represents an acknowledgement that the problem exists and must be addressed at an EU-wide level. But the last-minute protests by Hungary and Poland leading members of the EUs awkward squad underlined how tricky dealing with the issue of migration can be for individual member states and for the EU as a whole.

But deal with it they must. Last week, as EU leaders wrangled over the text of the summit conclusions, more people were dying as they tried to cross the Mediterranean in fleets of small and frequently unseaworthy boats.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a UN body, calculates that almost 2,000 people have drowned trying to reach the shores of southern Europe this year, including perhaps 600 who drowned when a fishing boat, the Adriana, sank three weeks ago off the coast of Greece.

The real figure, the IOM says, is likely to be much higher, as some boats sink without trace, their wretched cargoes unmarked beneath the waves. It is a scandal of the age, and it is not going to stop. More people are attempting the crossing, often in flimsier craft. The factors driving them to do so are not going away if anything, the humanitarian and political pressures are worsening. We cannot continue to turn a blind eye.

Of course, migration is a difficult issue for EU governments, caught between inadequate facilities, the need to accommodate refugees from the war in Ukraine, and native populations often hostile to the arrival of foreigners.

But that is not a reason to duck it. Refugees fleeing war, famine, oppression or just seeking a better life will continue to take risks to reach Europe. A managed process where people are offered meaningful pathways to legal migration is needed, as are renewed efforts to disrupt the networks of people smugglers. Seeking to improve conditions in the states from which refugees are fleeing would also help. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said at the summit that the only way to ensure freedom of movement within Europe was to have secure borders. That is only half the picture; Europes borders can be secure only if they allow for the legal migration of some people into the EU. This is a problem that will not go away. It is long past time the EU faced up to it.

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The Irish Times view on the EU's response to the migrant crisis: a ... - The Irish Times

29 June 2023, 18:15 | Updated: 29 June 2023, 18:19

Andrew Marr takes a forensic look at the ethics and politics behind the "stop the boats" policy Rishi Sunak is championing.

"Stop the Boats. The big story tonight is about democracy, law, morality and raw politics as well," he said on LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr.

"Let's start with democracy. According to the polls the Rwandan policy is relatively popular: 46% of people in the last poll I saw supported it, against 27% who opposed it.

"By the way, nearly half, 48% also said it wouldn't work, proving we are, how can I put this, a complicated lot. Last night the policy has been stopped in its tracks by amendments in the House of Lords, the unelected chamber of course, and today by the High Court who decided that the policy is unlawful since refugees sent to Rwanda wouldnt be safe because they could be sent back to where theyd fled from.

"It was only a two to one decision and the prime minister Rishi Sunak said straight away he'd try to appeal.

Watch Tonight with Andrew Marr exclusively on Global Player every Monday to Thursday from 6pm to 7pm

But the judges after four days of intense argument insisted they hadn't been being political but purely looking at the law.

"And whatever the state of opinion polls, we do live in a complex democracy of countervailing forces, in which the courts have always played a role in restraining politicians.

"Then there's the House of Lords where, late last night, peers inflicted a series of defeats on the bill which would put the Rwanda policy into effect.

"Particularly damaging was an amendment from the Labour peer and civil rights lawyer Shami Chakrabarti insisting the government abide by international obligations including the 1951 Geneva refugee convention - which might seem innocuous, but which ministers insist this was a wrecking amendment.

"Rishi Sunak made "stop the boats" central to his five-point plan for the country. But, so far, not very much - not a new deal with the French, nor a promise to speed up asylum claims - has dramatically cut the numbers of people crossing the Channel.

You can also listen to the podcast Tonight with Andrew Marr only on Global Player.

"So the threat of being sent to Rwanda seems central to his hopes of redeeming that pledge of stopping the boats. It wasn't in the last Tory election manifesto, mind you which in 2019 promised to bring in refugees, and I quote, make the immigration system more fair and compassionate.

"But for some on the right, the combination of unelected peers and judges preventing this policy from going ahead isnt an embarrassment; its a golden opportunity.

"Rather than admit failure on the boats policy ahead of an election the government can now simply blame lefty liberal lawyers, the metropolitan elite, the blob, for frustrating the will of the people.

"But let's turn finally to the morality of this, because at its heart todays isn't really a story about legal judgements or polling or votes in the Lords, still less election tactics. It's about actual human beings, not numbers, people as real as you and me, who have made their way here and want to stay.

"Should we let in everyone? No. Should we build a system that is able, quickly and fairly, to assess which asylum seekers are genuinely in danger, while we continue to work with our neighbours to stop people coming across the Channel? For sure.

"That's a hard, slow slog. That won't shift votes. But I want to end on a note of guarded optimism. In a complicated, stroppy democracy like ours, when something big, unusual, and controversial is proposed by any government, it's right that its questioned and challenged - that it isn't just idly waved through. And behind the headlines, that is exactly what's happening right now."

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Stop the boats? How Andrew Marr would tackle the migrant crisis - LBC

This is part four in a series about the toll that the Biden Administrations intentional promotion of illegal immigration is taking on the states and the public.[ReadPart 1 (national overview);Part 2 (Texas);andPart 3 (Florida).]

As the border crisis persists, and illegal aliens disperse into every congressional district in the country, each state is affected by the financial strain of mass illegal immigration.

The state of New York, which welcomes illegal aliens with sanctuary policies, is now witnessing the toll mass illegal immigration takes on its hospitals, education systems, and, most importantly, its residents.

A recent analysis reveals that the Empire State bears an astounding annual cost of $9.9 billion in government services that benefit more than 1 million illegal aliens and their approximately 372,000 U.S.-born children.

Within that figure, a significant portion is allocated to educational services. Specifically, New York dedicates $4.65 billion to educate illegal aliens, with $226 million directed toward their discounted in-state college tuition. Additionally, $1.75 billion is allocated to law enforcement, legal, and correctional services. Health care expenses and public assistance amount to an additional $3.5 billion.

That translates to an average cost of $6,846 per illegal alien, imposing an additional burden of $1,321 on each New York household.

Since last spring, New York City has faced a tsunami of illegal migrant arrivals, straining the citys taxpayers. The citys budget director, Jacques Jiha, estimates that residents will need to contribute an additional $4.2 billion by next year to address the challenges posed by this migrant crisis.

With an estimated 1,000 illegal aliens arriving weekly in the Big Apple, the city currently spends $8 million daily to house them. Mayor Eric Adams argues that it is unfair and demands other counties assistance, but many counties, having witnessed the turmoil caused by sanctuary policies, are refusing to comply.

In response, Adams has filed lawsuits against more than 30 counties for issuing emergency executive orders that prevent hotels from housing illegal aliens.

What is truly unfair are the sanctuary policies of New York City.

Those policies attract illegal aliens to the state and strain its resources. Adams has contributed to the crisis by making it easier for illegal aliens to reside longer within the city.

A nationwide study concluded that an increase in population leads to an increase in crime rates. New York City witnessed a 22.4% surge in crime between 2021 and 2022, underscoring the human consequences that sanctuary policies, coupled with a soft-on-crime approach, often overlook.

Tragic incidents have occurred within makeshift migrant facilities, such as the case of a four-month-old girl from Ecuador found unresponsive and later pronounced dead. The same hotel has witnessed 10 drunken illegal aliens arrested for assault and disorderly conduct. Reports indicate that illegal aliens camp outside of hotels instead of seeking refuge in migrant shelters, resulting in an environment hotel employees state is rife with violence, sexual misconduct, and drug use.

To alleviate pressure on the shelter system, the city has partnered with houses of worship, paying $125 per migrant, per night, to 50 participating churches. This partnership is expected to expand, with each church housing up to 1,000 male migrants, costing $54,000 daily.

Additionally, hotels are paid an average of $256 per night to house illegal aliens. That arrangement often leads to a surge in hotel prices for the government and regular hotel customers alike, consequently benefiting the hospitality sector while compromising public safety.

With hotels being used to accommodate illegal aliens, the thriving tourism industry of New York is now facing significant risk. New York City attracts an impressive influx of about 70 million tourists annually, generating an astounding economic impact of more than $80 billion. Concerns surrounding tourism has been expressed by Adams, who recognizes the challenges faced by tourists in locating available hotel accommodations.

New Yorks sanctuary policies have become extraordinarily costly, and Adams has been forced to cut city services to afford them. That includes reductions in subsidized day care, library hours, meals for senior citizens, reentry programs for released inmates, and even the right to shelter for the homeless.

In the process, it sets a dangerous precedent: New York prioritizes harboring illegal aliens over implementing policies that protect its legal residents.

Despite the cost, the city remains steadfast in its commitment to continue with those initiatives. Adams is floating a plan to send 100 illegal aliens to community colleges, with taxpayers covering the $1.2 million cost.

In 2022, the state of New York granted full Medicaid coverage to illegal aliens over the age of 65, costing more than $20,000 per enrollee annually. New York's statewide Medicaid coverage is extensive, encompassing expensive treatments, such as chemotherapy and dialysis, all paid for by taxpayers.

Adams called on the Biden administration for comprehensive immigration reform and nationwide decompression strategies; that is, the forced relocation of illegal aliens across the nation.

The most effective "decompression strategy" would be the elimination of sanctuary and open-border policies, along with the elimination of financial incentives that attract illegal aliens to the Empire State specifically, and to the United States generally.

Americans have expressed their dissatisfaction with unrestricted illegal immigration. Its crucial that the American people, together with Congress, ensure that the Biden administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Vice President Kamala Harris, who was designated as the border czar, are held responsible for their open-border policies.

The time has long past to implement stricter border control measures, prioritize detention over the release of illegal aliens, establish comprehensive screening protocols, and expedite the deportation process for aliens with false asylum claims.

States such as New York are experiencing firsthand the repercussions of open borders and sanctuary city policies. New York must eliminate taxpayer-funded privileges such as subsidized in-state college tuition, public assistance programs, and free housing for illegal aliens.

This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal

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Toll of Border Crisis on States, Part 4: New York City - Heritage.org

New York Citys new $107 billion budget will include $4 billion in funding for affordable housing in the next fiscal year a cash infusion Mayor Adams promised two years ago and which Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has pressed for in recent months.

The mayor and Council Speaker announced the new spending plan with a handshake agreement Thursday at City Hall a deal the Council is expected to formally approve Friday. The new budget tops last years spending plan which eventually grew to $104 billion by approximately $3 billion.

The agreement we reached today comes in the midst of a budget cycle dominated by great challenges and unexpected crises, but Im proud to say that we have successfully navigated through these many crosscurrents to arrive at a strong and fiscally responsible budget, Mayor Adams said. Early in this administration I made it clear that government must be more efficient and use our limited resources wisely. Our mission is not simply to save money, it is to set priorities.

Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams shake hands as they announce an agreement for a budget for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) at City Hall on Thursday, June 29, 2023. (ED REED/Mayoral Photography Office)

Council Speaker Adams, who isnt related to the mayor, has made securing more funding for housing a priority for months to address both the affordable housing crisis the city is facing and the huge influx of migrants whove streamed into the five boroughs since last year, causing its homeless shelters to surpass capacity.

On Thursday, she took a victory lap for locking down that additional funding, saying it would help address record-high levels of evictions and homelessness.

This year, the city will reach the target of a $4 billion capital commitment for housing that this moment demands, she said.

Of that $4 billion annual allotment, $2.5 billion will go to the citys Department of Housing Preservation and Development and $1.5 billion will go to the New York City Housing Authority in the 2024 fiscal year. The $4 billion in spending next year relies, in part, on reallocating money initially budgeted further down the road. Over the next ten years, the city has budgeted $23.9 billion for affordable housing.

The general funding level at HPD will extend into the following years, with the agency set to get approximately $2 billion for affordable housing in both 2025 and 2026.

The budget deal will also include a restoration of $32.9 million in NYCHA funding that would have been removed under the mayors latest executive budget.

That money will be put toward the housing authoritys vacant-unit readiness program, which is aimed at bringing empty apartments into use more quickly.

Mayor Adams and City Council members have been engaged in a contentious back-and-forth over the budget in recent weeks, with the mayor contending that deep cuts are necessary to maintain the citys long-term fiscal health and Council members arguing that many of those cuts would be to the citys overall detriment.

For Speaker Adams, money for affordable housing has been a particularly pressing concern. Shes made the case repeatedly that more cash for permanent affordable housing is needed to help alleviate the pressure migrants have placed on the shelter system.

MANHATTAN, NY - MAY 17, 2023 - Migrants arriving from Mission and McAllen, TX, are greeted by volunteers at the Port Authority Bus Terminal early Wednesday. Five buses each carrying around 45 people has arrived at the bus terminal today. The steady flow of Migrants hasnt stopped and some are arriving at the three airports in the area. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News) (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

During his 2021 campaign for mayor, Mayor Adams vowed to put $4 billion a year towards affordable housing. But in the last budget, both he and the Council fell short of that goal, allocating about $2.5 billion for affordable housing in the last fiscal year.

Under his most recent executive budget plan, Mayor Adams had proposed cuts across almost all city agencies to help defray the costs of the migrant crisis, which his budget team estimates will cost more than $4 billion to address by next year.

Those austerity measures which included cuts to public libraries, CUNY and the citys Department of Social Services, among other agencies sparked a loud and sustained backlash from City Council members and advocates, who contended that including them in the final, adopted budget would ultimately harm the citys long-term health.

The mayors proposed $36.2 million cut to libraries has been particularly contentious, but that reduction will be reversed as part of the final agreement announced Thursday. According to sources involved in the negotiations, the mayors team only relented on the library cuts after Council negotiators threatened to walk away and force talks to extend beyond Saturdays budget deadline.

The front of the Main Branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Ave. in Manhattan is pictured on Thursday, September 22, 2022. (Ted Shaffrey/AP)

Both the mayor and speaker alluded to the tensions that pervaded the budget negotiations during their press conference in the City Hall Rotunda on Thursday afternoon. In a reference to the New York Yankees stellar pitching performance the night before, Mayor Adams said the process was not a perfect game.

The Council speaker made clear repeatedly it is not an ideal budget from her members point of view, either. At one point during Thursdays announcement, she went so far as to say that the city couldnt afford the type of counterproductive budgeting approach employed by the mayors administration during this years talks.

We could talk for hours about the things that were not accomplished in this budget, she said, standing next to the mayor. The budget is passing right now, but this is a bittersweet moment for this Council.

After that comment, the mayor stepped in to say the cuts are painful for him, too, but blamed the need for them on the citys costly migrant crisis.

It hurts us to know that we lost $1.4 billion that we could have put into some of these problems that we are talking about, he said, referencing the the migrant-related cost incurred by the city over the past year.

Mayor Eric Adams listens as New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams speaks at City Hall on Thursday. (ED REED/Mayoral Photography Office)

According to Adams budget director, Jacques Jiha, the outyear deficits for the city continue to balloon amid the migrant crisis. The projected deficit for fiscal year 2027 is now at $7.9 billion $900 million more than what was estimated just a few months ago, according to Jiha.

Andrew Rein, president of the fiscally hawkish Citizens Budget Commission, said Thursdays budget agreement could be dangerous, given the dark fiscal horizon described by Jiha.

It is essentially a one-year budget that again unfortunately delays the wise but hard choices needed to stabilize the citys fiscal future, Rein said.

Advocates have pressed the mayor to invest more money to fund legal services, specifically for so-called right-to-counsel lawyers representing tenants in eviction cases and immigrants attempting to navigate the complicated asylum application process.

Councilman Shaun Abreu (D-Manhattan) said under the new budget an additional $20 million will be baselined toward right-to-counsel lawyers and another $10 million would go to public defenders annually and that the total allotment in the next fiscal year will grow by $46 million.

In addition to reversing the library cuts, the budget agreement peels back the mayors proposed $40 million city funding reduction for cultural institutions like museums, and it will also partially restore a cut the mayor sought to a Department of the Aging program providing meals for older adults.

Mayor Adams had pushed for a $12 million cut in the 2024 fiscal year for the senior meals program. That cut has been reduced to $5 million.

Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan, and members of the New York City Council announce an agreement for a budget for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) at City Hall on Thursday, June 29, 2023. (ED REED/Mayoral Photography Office)

On the education front, the mayors team advocated for a $41 million funding shave for the City University of New York for the next fiscal year. The budget deal undoes $32.4 million of that cut.

Adams proposed $17 million cut to social services forr Rikers Island inmates will not be restored in next years budget, though. The citys Department of Correction, which the mayor ultimately oversees, has said it can provide the same services in-house but Council members and nonprofit providers have strongly pushed back, arguing that inmates would suffer under the cut.

The program being cut helps recently-released inmates with finding jobs and housing, as well as accessing social services. Asked why he thinks that funding should be scrapped, Mayor Adams said its because all of those services we can do internally.

Its the wrong thing to do to have city employees and then have a whole host of consultants, Adams said. Its an insult to city employees.

Jacques Jiha, Director of the New York City Mayor's Office of Management (left) and Mayor Eric Adams are pictured at City Hall on Thursday. (ED REED/Mayoral Photography Office)

Two Council sources noted that the lawmaking body intends to pursue legislation in the coming weeks that would help restore such funding on a more permanent basis.

A cost of living adjustment, or COLA, for nonprofit workers providing social services support to the city is baked into the budget framework as well.

The COLA is a $40 million increase over current levels for the next fiscal year, bringing the total baselined funding to $100 million. That baseline will be brought up to $150 million in the 2025 fiscal year, according to the budget deal.

The COLA is smaller than some stakeholders had hoped for, though.

Democratic Council members and social services nonprofits had advocated for at least a $100 million increase in this fiscal year, arguing that anything less wouldnt be enough to make workers whole at a time of surging costs of living in the city.

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NYC's new $107B budget deal will include $4 billion annually for ... - New York Daily News