Archive for the ‘Migrant Crisis’ Category

Kaczynski says new law needed to solve migrant crisis on border – The First News

Poland should have a new legal regulation regarding the situation at its border where there has been a surge in numbers of migrants crossing into the country from Belarus, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, has said.

Poland has for months been struggling to stem a flow of Middle Eastern and African migrants invited to Belarus by the country's strongman president, Alexander Lukashenko, allegedly under the promise they will be able to live in the EU.

On September 2, Poland declared a state of emergency along its border with Belarus in order to deal with the migratory pressure.

In a Saturday interview with private radio station RMF FM, Kaczynski was asked whether Poland had not reacted too late to the migration crisis, having previously known that Lithuania had similar problems.

The ruling party leader said that the matter had been known long before the introduction of the state of emergency in the border zone, and the government had made all the necessary decisions "many months ago."

Asked what will happen when the state of emergency, introduced for a total of 90 days, ceases to apply, Kaczynski said he believes that although it can be resumed this is not a good solution.

"I believe that it is better to create a law that meets the real needs. We need a new legal regulation. We have a certain crisis, which may last a long time, so it needs to be properly regulated," he said.

Kaczynski also said that Poland plans solutions for the radical strengthening of its army.

"We must strengthen the military. Soon, such a project will be presented to the Sejm (lower house - PAP) and later to the Senate. I am talking about a radical strengthening of the whole army. This means a very far-reaching change," he said, adding that it regards both armaments and the size of the army.

Referring to suggestions that the border should be sealed while maintaining humanitarian rules, for example by creating humanitarian corridors for migrants, Kaczynski said: "I think we'll keep humanity best if we make Lukashenko, who has problems with humanity, fail."

"We have to defend ourselves, and we keep humanity. Those who suggest otherwise are either very naive or cynical," he said.

Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have accused the Lukashenko government of bringing migrants and then pushing them across the EU border in an effort to destabilise the bloc in retaliation for sanctions that Brussels has imposed on Minsk.

On Thursday, the Sejm voted through an act enabling the construction of a wall along the Polish-Belarusian border to stop migrants trying to enter.

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Kaczynski says new law needed to solve migrant crisis on border - The First News

EU exposed as multiple border force teams caught violently clamping down on migrants – Daily Express

It comes as human rights groups Amnesty International and Lighthouse Reports released new evidence of systematic unlawful pushbacks and violence against migrants on the bloc's borders as EU politicians scramble to bring the migrant crisis under control.

Footage circulatedby Lighthouse Reports shows horrific beatings by border guards in Croatia, Greece and Lithuania, the blocs frontiers with the rest of the world.

In one video a border guard beats migrants with what appears to be a large baton as they run to avoid being struck.

While another older video shows the moment the Greek coastguard attempt to attack an inflatable migrant boat with a long pole.

Migrants can be heard screaming in desperation for the guards to stop .

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Reporting for RT news, Europe correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij said: The EU is having to hang its head in shame over the way its border forces are treating migrants just trying to cross into the bloc.

This is no longer just about fortress Europe and the extensive fence building and surveillance systems that are being put in place on its eastern borders.

She said how instead more concerning incidents have emerged from across the bloc which throw the EU into another crisis of its reputation.

It comes as three Croatian border officers have been suspended for violence towards migrants after they were filmed violently pushing back migrants at the border.

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Despite the chaos on the borders, Lithuanian interior minister Agn Bilotait was defiant in her countrys response.

She slammed: We have taken decisions in our national law that one can only enter Lithuania through a legal way. That is through a border checkpoint or by filing their request with out embassy.

Dunja Mijato, Council of Europes commissioner for human rights said in a tweet that it was high time the Council of Europe investigate effectively, take action and hold each other to account" over the horrific scenes.

The roots of the migrant crisis in Europe stem from the fallout of various conflicts in the Middle East and north Africa as well as economic migrants searching for better lives in Europe.

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EU exposed as multiple border force teams caught violently clamping down on migrants - Daily Express

Texas Gov. Abbott argues Biden ‘completely abandoned’ everyone who lives on the border – Fox News

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told "Sunday Morning Futures" in an exclusive interview that the Biden administration "completely abandoned" ranchers, residents in his state and "all the people who live on the border," arguing that President Joe Biden is "putting them in danger."

He also pointed out that "these arecounties and these are people whotraditionally have votedDemocrat, that the Biden administrationis ignoring."

The Texas governor also blamed Biden's "catastrophic open border policies" for the migrant crisis.

Abbott told host Maria Bartiromo, who traveled to the southern border last week, that one year ago, during the Trump administration, policies put in place led "to the greatestreduction" in bordercrossings.

"But now, were seeing the highestnumber of cross border crossings and its allbecause of thecatastrophic open borderpolicies by the Bidenadministration," he continued.

Thecrisis at the southern border has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants encountered in recent months and has overwhelmed Border Patrol agents while causing a massive political headache for the Biden administration.

In a tour of the border near Mission, Texas, last week Fox News saw groups of migrants coming across, predominantly families, who were pointed in the direction of nearby processing areas.

Border Patrol agents told Fox News that migrant family units were unlikely to be removed under Title 42 public health protections (only 19% of family units were removed under Title 42 in August) and instead would likely be processed and released into the interior potentially at a nearby bus station either that night or in the morning.

The Biden administration ended the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) which kept migrants in Mexico as they awaited their immigration proceedings. Separately, they also ended asylum cooperative agreements (ACAs) which meant migrants would claim asylum in Northern Triangle countries instead.

LEAKED BORDER PATROL DOCS SHOW MASS RELEASE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS INTO US BY BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

With those changes, the administration has also reinstated the practice known as "catch and release," something the Trump administration had used a patchwork of policies to end. Now, while single adults are mostly still being removed from the U.S., migrant families are mostly allowed to enter the U.S. -- handed only a Notice to Appear at court or a Notice to Report to a nearby Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.

Republicans have blamedthe dramatic changes in policy, including the ending of border wall construction, for the surge in migration. More than 200,000 migrants were encountered in July and August, and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has reportedly warned of a worst-case scenario of 400,000 migrants hitting the border if Title 42 public health expulsions are ended.

The Biden administration, however, has blamed a mixture of Trump administration policies and "root causes" in Central America for the surge.

Abbott warned that cartels have been "getting evenmore aggressive."

He said that the cartels on the Mexicanside of the border "arebeginning to open fireon the National Guardthat Texas has down onthe border to secure theborder."

"This is escalating intoa firing war on eachside of the border whereTexas and our NationalGuard are having todefend themselves anddefend the state ofTexas," Abbott continued.

He went on to explain that "Texas is stepping up to do more thanany state has ever doneto help to secure this region."

Abbott added that "Texas has devoted morethan $3 billion tosecure the border."

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He explained that includes having the National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety on the border and that "Texasitself is building aborder wall to make surethat we will be able tobetter secure ourborder."

Fox News Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

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Texas Gov. Abbott argues Biden 'completely abandoned' everyone who lives on the border - Fox News

Legislators working to address the border crisis – Abilene Reporter-News

Rep. Stan Lambert| Abilene Reporter-News

Earlier in the year, I had the opportunity to visit our border.

There is much to say about what I saw, but a quote from President Ronald Reagan speaks to many of my thoughts and concerns: Our country is great because it is built on principles of self-reliance, opportunity, innovation, and compassion for others.

The issues surrounding our southern border and our current immigration crisis are significant and multi-faceted, encompassing foreign policy, national security, state sovereignty and countless more.

But at a more basic level, what worries me most is the human suffering that is occurring. People are being killed, trafficked, and abused. Folks that live along the border are scared and their property is being damaged. They deserve the same protection and level of safety we have in House District 71 or anywhere else in Texas.

But those fleeing their home countries also deserve to be safe. So as a lawmaker, my dilemma is how do we protect all individuals affected by this crisis and how much burden and resources do Texans share with our federal partners and other countries?

In total, my team and I have made 10trips to the Texas/Mexico Border since 2015 (five to the Rio Grande Valley, three to Big Bend and two to El Paso). What we have seen cannot be unseen and what we have heard cannot be unheard. It is hard to convey the inhumane conditions we have witnessed, the haunting testimony of those who are victims of human trafficking, the pallets upon pallets of counterfeit goods, large quantities of illegal substances and the pleas of law enforcement begging us to secure the border.

To all those affected, and to me, it is about safety. Safety for all Texans and safety for law enforcement. But equally as important, safety for those seeking to enter our country. I wanted you to know what I saw and heard on my most recent trip.

People who live and work near the border say the 2021 surge of immigrants crossing into Texas has significantly increased. Dealing with threats to their personal safety, the draining of local governmental and community resources causes serious financial losses and disruption. Fences sometimes are cut as migrants move across agricultural land. High speed chases destroy property and lives.

Residents report widespread vandalism. Theft rates are rising. Trash and other unattended items left by the immigrants become the responsibility of these landowners. The rights of these citizens and landowners are being trampled.

It is clear to me, through many meetings with the Department of Public Safety, that those charged with securing our border share the concerns of residents in south Texas. There are six Mexican cartels that control areas of access into Texas, and violent gangs transport illicit drugs and traffic people, operate stash houses, conduct enforcement operations, and provide retail drug distribution throughout Texas.

On March 4, Gov.Greg Abbott announced Operation Lone Star (OLS). On May 31, Abbott issued a disaster declaration concerning border security. In response, the Legislature passed House Bill 9(HB9) during the second special session. HB9 gives Abbotts office more than $1 billion, with about $750 million dedicated to construct border barriers. This is in addition to the $250 million that was already budgeted in the regular session.

In the most recent reports on OLS, DPS reports 5,298 criminal arrests and completed 694 vehicle pursuits (up 774% in Del Rio alone). Additionally, from March 4 through Sept. 8, DPS has arrested 199 known gang members.

From October 2020 through September 2021, there have been a record number of migrant apprehensions and referrals in Texas, totaling more than 1.1 million people. The previous record was just more than 726,000 in 1986.

As I work with my colleagues to pursue solutions to this crisis, I hope we can all keep the following in mind, as these issues have been weighing heavy on my heart:

I ask for your prayers for discernment as we workto help alleviate the border crisis and its widespread effects.

Rep. Stan Lambert represents Texas House District 71.

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Legislators working to address the border crisis - Abilene Reporter-News

It was Tory governments that created the low-wage economy not immigration – The Guardian

For the past week, senior Conservatives have been taking to the airwaves to talk about the new economic model they are apparently creating. A high-wage, high-skill, high-productivity economy, their new enthusiasm sparked by the shortage of workers since Brexit.

Though the idea has been discredited, even by rightwing thinktanks, ministers have still been repeating it lets face it, the idea of a brave new order in which everyone can be a high-skill worker, paid high wages, and so highly productive that the government can still cut taxes, is seductive populist politics.

Yet it is a deliberate distraction from the real crisis in the UK, which is a shortage of labour for low-skilled jobs; and if supply chains are not to collapse, it is these low-skill jobs for which we will have to start paying higher wages and improve conditions, with all the inflationary pressures that will bring.

Ministers talk about automation as a way of improving productivity, yet machines to replace these workers cannot be magicked up instantly. Business, which Boris Johnson blames for not investing, has in fact over the last three decades poured millions into automating our supply chainsso much capital has been sunk into the infrastructure of transnational just-in-time systems that they have decimated any local alternatives and will be hard to abandon.

Business has invested in its people technology too, so that workers in distribution centres can wear hi-tech, high-productivity wrist devices linked to control rooms that calculate arm movements a minute and beam orders to them to hurry up if they lag behind company targets. It is not lack of business innovation that has held their wages back.

The big lie in the governments slogan is that, like a conjurer, it can abolish this low-skill work. Further investment in automation may reduce the need for some of it but it is just as likely to simply create low-skilled work in new forms, in different parts of the supply chain, as it has in the past.

For a century at least, and not just since we joined the European Union, the UK has depended on importing foreign labour to do its low-skilled jobs; and for the last 70 years immigration has been managed by successive governments through a series of schemes. According to Prof John Salt of University College Londons Migration Research Unit, there are few if any cases anywhere in the world where jobs that have come to be dominated by low-paid migrant labour have been transformed to better-paid work for the domestic population. The possible exception, for a brief interlude, is agriculture in California in the mid-1960s, when a clampdown on undocumented Mexican labour saw a burst of automation and more local employment, before reverting to migrant workers again.

Poverty wages are not caused by immigration in itself, but by a failure to ensure wages and conditions for the local workforce are not forced down by exploiting migrants. The two ways to prevent a race to the bottom are by organising labour so that unions can bargain for decent pay, and by enforcing labour law. The Conservatives, with their anti-union policies and constant bonfires of regulations, brought this low-wage economy into being, however much Johnson would like to disown responsibility.

Through most of the 1960s and 1970s the share of UK national income paid out as wages was between 58% and 61%, but in the Thatcher years it declined rapidly and hit a low in the late 1990s of 52%. The share paid out in profits to private companies increased correspondingly.

Recent Tory governments have continued to promote a low-wage economy. They worked hard to block EU directives on working time, and on equal rights for agency workers that sought to curb the undercutting of existing terms.

In 2013, prime minister David Cameron abolished the Agricultural Wages Board that protected pay and conditions in low-skill farming jobs. His austerity budgets imposed such deep cuts that it would take inspectors responsible for enforcing the minimum wage hundreds of years to visit Britains businesses. Gang master inspectors were similarly cut back.

In January, Matthew Taylor left his role as director of Labour Enforcement, accusing the government of a deafening silence around protecting workers and tackling the low-wage gig economy. He has still not been replaced.

As Taylor had left, the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, cancelled a consultation on transferring EU labour protections in post-Brexit Britain. A promised employment bill to bring those protections into British law has not yet materialised.

It was not the Conservative government but Uber drivers, with the help of unions, who took the company to court to claim their legal right to the minimum wage and to challenge bogus self employment.

Meanwhile, in all his bluster, Johnson makes no mention of the thing that would really give low-paid people higher wages: redistribution, so that ordinary workers receive a fairer share of the national income.

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It was Tory governments that created the low-wage economy not immigration - The Guardian