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GRODNO, 18 April (BelTA) - The exhibition "The Border Between Life and Death" opened in Grodno on 18 April, BelTA has learned.

"Grodno is really a special place. This is the region where everything happened. People living in Grodno Oblast do not require additional explanations because they were witnesses of those events. Doctors in Grodno hospitals performed operations, treated migrants, delivered babies. The police, the Emergencies Ministry, social workers, and the Red Cross were involved in the humanitarian effort. Grodno Oblast together with the whole country helped refugees. But it was Grodno Oblast that was on the forefront, BelTA Director General Irina Akulovich told the media.

These photos are evidence of everything that really happened, Irina Akulovich said. "You can say a lot of words or you can capture things through the lens of a camera. The photos feature the eyes of children and mothers, pain, human tragedy. The horror of a real war against humanity, against a human being... We cannot allow people to forget about it and move on. This must not be forgotten. We want people to remember. Each of us can contribute and make the world a better place. Remembering such stories, everyone should think about how to change it. This is what the head of state talks about," Irina Akulovich said.

Sections of the exhibition tell about one day in the life of a refugee camp, show the face of European democracy, deceived and disadvantaged people, European values in the eyes of children and the graciousness of the Belarusian military. One of BelTA's photojournalists, who worked on the Belarusian-Polish border back then was Leonid Shcheglov. He called the experience of working on the border then as colossal. Passing by the rows of photos, Leonid Shcheglov recalled which of them he made. Stopping at a photo of a pregnant woman by the bonfire, he said: "I remember this pregnant woman. She immediately caught my eye. She gave birth in a maternity hospital in Grodno. Pictures of children, of course, also evoke great emotions.

"Thousands of people were in dire need. It is difficult to see such massive suffering of people. We had to help them quickly. It is good that we have the photos that captured that story so that we can once again look at and impartially evaluate those events. The head of state visited the refugee camp. He followed the development of events from the first days, gave instructions, and we immediately fulfilled them. No one stood aside saying it's none of my business'," Assistant to the President - Inspector for Grodno Oblast Yuri Karayev added.

"The exhibition evokes a lot of emotions. Those events happened recently. This is the true face of Western democracy," said Aleksandr Rodionov, a visitor to the exhibition.

Zinaida, a resident of Grodno, cannot hold back her emotions either. "You look at the photos and your heart sinks. It is very painful to see these photos now and revisit those events that we followed with bated breath," the woman said.

The photo exhibition has already been on display at the Mikhail Savitsky Art Gallery, Minsk National Airport, railway stations in Minsk and Brest.

Photos by Leonid Shcheglov

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BelTA's photo exhibition about migrant crisis on Belarus-Poland ... - Belarus News (BelTA)

Metro

By Bernadette Hogan and Emily Crane

April 19, 2023 | 5:57pm

With state lawmakers repeatedly blowing their budget deadline, and city taxpayers likely on the hook for more of the ongoing migrant crisis, Big Apple fiscal experts are considering drastic scenarios for cuts to city government, Mayor Eric Adams insisted Wednesday.

Hizzoner argued the states drawn-out financial talks, whose end is now nearly three weeks overdue, will seriously impact his own budget estimates including how the city will meet the needs of newly arrived border-crossers, as well as Hochuls proposed MTA payroll tax and lifting of the charter school cap.

Were looking at the different dollars in the state budget that may be attached to what were doing here, Adams told reporters at City Hall.

Remember, we have to balance our budget for two years. And right now, we dont know exactly whats going to come out of Albany.

The mayor added that his budget director, Jacques Jiha, was currently grappling with how to balance the citys books without the uncertainty.

Normally, the budget is balanced. You know what youre going to produce. So we are still in negotiation to get it clear to our delegation in Albany that we need the help, said Adams, adding that he had already pressed Hochuls office to understand the urgency.

City Hall must adhere to an April 26 deadline to reveal Adams executive budget proposal.

Legislators in Albany, meanwhile, passed yet another extender on Tuesday as negotiations over its spending plan dragged well past an April 1 deadline.

The mayor has already lamented that Hochuls proposals will set the city back a small fortune, specifically citing the governors call for the city to fork out $500 million a year to bail out the floundering Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Adams has also taken issue with how the city could be on the hook for $1 billion in lease payments under Hochuls plan tolift the capon new city charter schools and roughly $3 billion to cover the cost of the migrant crisis.

The Adams administrationlast week ordered city agencies to slash a total of $1 billion annually from their budgets for the next four years blaming the move, in part, on the migrant surge.

Left-leaning City Council members quickly claimed the cuts werent necessary because of an alleged $1.3 billion extra in cash floating around this year to offset costs.

But Adams insisted Wednesday the city needed to plan for the worst, both because there is no guarantee of final state funding and due to the lack of adequate financial assistance from the Biden administration on the migrant front.

Hochuls budget proposal has called for the state, city and feds to split NYCs migrant crisis costs equally but Adams said it was likely the Big Apple will be on the hook for a larger share.

Were not getting the third out of Washington! Lets be clear on that. That third becomes two-thirds for New York City, Adams said.

Jiha, the budget director, said the city needs to come up with a minimum of $3 billion to cover its share of the cost of the ballooning migrant crisis, which is now pegged at $4.3 billion.

This is a huge burden. And were not raising taxes. So the only way we could manage is to find efficiencies in other places in city government, he said.

Adams insisted Wednesday he didnt want any potential budget cuts to greatly impact New Yorkers.

We dont want to be in a position to have to lay off New Yorkers because that only aggravates the problem, the mayor said.

And we also know that New Yorkers are going through very difficult times, so we dont want to raise taxes.

The Hochul administration didnt immediately respond to The Posts request for comment.

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Documenteds reporters have been unrelenting in their coverage of New York Citys migration crisis following the rapid increase in the arrival of migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to New York in the summer of 2022.

Now, their efforts have been crowned in an annual awards contest by the Deadline Club the NYC chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Our coverage is among the finalists selected from 550 entries to the Deadline Clubs 2023 Awards Contest. There are 36 categories in the contest. Coverage about the Citys migration crisis from Documenteds Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio and Rommel H. Ojeda was named finalist for The Les Payne Award for Coverage on Communities of Color. The news outlets Bloomberg News and NBC News were the two other finalists in the same category as Documented.

Giulia and Rommel have covered the migration crisis impact on mental health, reporting on the story of a mother who died by suicide at a Queens shelter while living with her children.

Last year, Rommel, who oversees Documenteds WhatsApp community platform and covers Spanish-speaking New Yorkers, wrote a community-powered investigation, with the freelance journalist Luca Cholakian Herrera, about how asylum seekers use TikTok to document their journey from South America to the U.S. border. He has also written actionable information on working rights for undocumented workers and asylum seekers, and how to find a detained family member.

Just last Friday, Rommel was telling us in the newsroom that one thing that made him happy was that we had a guide to everything someone on our WhatsApp platform was asking for that morning.

Shortly after that, he connected another migrant to City sources that eventually helped her get her travel documents to return to Peru. Bittersweet, Rommel said. But she was super thankful.

Giulia, our immigration enforcement reporter, who is also a Report for America Corps member, has reported on the scarcity of resources at shelters, the lack of legal representation and the long lines outside of immigration court hearings. She has also shown how migrant children are adjusting to their new lives in the City.

It was evident from the beginning that many migrants did not have any local family members to help them navigate the City. Despite our staffs efforts to provide directions and explanations, some information was still incomprehensible to them. Hence, we developed two additional websites to aid migrants in navigating their new home: http://www.newimmigrants.nyc and http://www.nuevosinmigrantes.nyc.

Winners of the Deadline Clubs 2023 Awards will be announced during the Clubs annual awards dinner on Thursday, May 18 at the Harvard Club.

We provide indispensable news and information for and about New Yorks immigrant community. Your support will enable that work to continue. Donate here.

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Documented's coverage of New York City's migration crisis named ... - Documented NY

Abdel-Razzaq Al-Aradi, a member of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, has called on the Government of National Unity in Tripoli to stop acting as a guard dog for Europe with regard to the handling of migrants in Libya.

In a recent statement, Al-Aradi expressed his concern that any delay in counting and regulating migrants and African workers in Libya may lead to endangering national security and the livelihood, health, and security of Libyan citizens.

According to Al-Aradi, the government should prevent unregistered migrants from using or leasing property until a clear plan is developed on how to deal with their presence in the country. He also stressed that Europe should take responsibility for the issue and not rely on the Libyan government to act as a guard dog.

The government should not take on the role of a guard dog for Europe, Al-Aradi said. If Europe does not assume its responsibilities, then the Libyan government should open the way for them in this case.

The issue of migrants in Libya has been contentious for many years, with many migrants and refugees attempting to make the perilous journey to Europe from Libyas shores. Despite the risks involved, many continue to attempt the journey due to a lack of opportunities and security in their home countries.

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European Leaders Urged to Take Responsibility For Migrant Crisis ... - Libya Update

Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said Wednesday that immigrants are needed in America because they, among other things, "pick the food we eat," "clean our homes," and "rebuild our communities after climate disasters."

Jayapal's comments which some GOP colleagues and others criticized as stereotyping immigrants came during a House Judiciary Committee markup of legislation pertaining to the immigration crisis, known as the Border Security and Enforcement Act of 2023.

"Trump's policies, combined with his anti-immigrant rhetoric, made us less safe, less competitive in attracting the best and the brightest, and undermined our most basic human values of compassion and kindness," Jayapal said as she argued for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants residing in America.

CBP SEIZES $21.1 MILLION WORTH OF FENTANYL PILLS CONCEALED WITHIN TRACTOR-TRAILER CARRYING GREEN BEANS

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said immigrants are needed in America because they, among other things, "pick the food we eat," "clean our homes" and "rebuild our communities after climate disasters." (Stefan Klein/ullstein bild, Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

"So let's all take a minute to recognize the hypocrisy of every anti-immigrant debate," she continued. "This country needs immigrants to survive. Immigrants pick the food we eat, rebuild our communities after climate disasters, help construct our infrastructure, power our small business economy, clean our homes, and look after the most precious in our families our children and our elders."

"They strengthen our economy, our food supply chain, and our ability to compete," Jayapal said of immigrants as she highlighted the "labor shortage" in America.

Jayapal's comments quickly garnered criticism on social media from FreedomWorks, a conservative advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

"Jayapal using the tired old, Who will clean our homes? defense on illegal immigration. Limousine liberalism at its finest," the group wrote in a tweet.

MAYORKAS COMES FACE TO FACE WITH FAMILY OF GRANDMOTHER, 7-YEAR-OLD GIRL KILLED BY HUMAN SMUGGLER NEAR BORDER

"WOW! Just wow! Democrat Jayapal defending mass illegal immigration of Biden admin," another social media user wrote.

Jayapal's remarks also drew the ire of GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who is the first Mexican American woman elected to Congress from Florida.

"Its gross stereotyping and why so many Hispanics leave for the GOP," Luna told Fox News about Jayapal's remarks.

Jayapal's comments come as the federal government continues to grapple with large influxes of migrants entering the U.S. via the border with Mexico.

There were 191,899 encounters along the southern border in March, down 14% from 222,574 in March 2022, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Monday. It marks a 23% increase from the 156,138 encounters seen in February, although increases in encounters are typical as the spring and summer months arrive. Over two-thirds (69%) of all encounters were of single adults.

Border Patrol encounters of migrants along the southwest border entering illegally between ports of entry last month 162,317 in March are down 23% from March 2022 (211,181) and 4% from March 2021 (169,216). An administration official also noted that the increase in Border Patrol encounters between February and March is lower (25%) than the prior two years (33% and 73% for 2022 and 2021).

Border Patrol agents monitor a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall near Otay Mesa between San Diego and Tijuana on Jan. 12, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

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While numbers in 2023 have so far been approximately the same or lower than 2022, it is unclear if that will change once the Title 42 public health order ends on May 11. The order, implemented in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been used by both the Trump and Biden administrations to quickly expel hundreds of thousands of migrants at the border and has become a key tool in the ongoing migrant crisis, which is now into its third year. In March, 87,662 (46%) of encounters ended in a Title 42 expulsion.

Jayapal's office did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

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Jayapal criticized for saying immigrants 'needed' in America to 'pick the food we eat' and 'clean our homes' - Fox News