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NEAR MALKO TARNOVO, Bulgaria Figures in camouflage and ski masks gather at a fishing lodge. Many are armed with long knives, bayonets and hatchets.

The 35 men and women are on the hunt in Strandzha Massif, a forested mountain range on Bulgaria's border with Turkey. Migrants trying to cross into Europe are their prey.

Patches on their irregular uniforms a coat of arms bearing a snarling wolf's head framed by Cyrillic text proclaim them to be members of the Bulgarian National Movement Shipka, abbreviated in Bulgarian as "BNO Shipka."

Members of the paramilitary organization form into ranks as their leader, Vladimir Rusev, speaks. A former colonel who says he fought in Chechnya as a volunteer alongside Russians, Rusev declares his support for a man they admire: President Donald Trump.

"The CIA is trying to undermine Trump," said Rusev, a compact 58-year-old with a neat mustache and short-cropped hair. "They want to destroy him. We offer our support to him."

Trump's hard-line stance on immigration and vocal criticism of Islam finds an appreciative audience here.

Most BNO Shipka members are friendly, courteous and open. The organization's website projects a different message: slick videos replete with firearms and military training, and declarations that Europe must be defended against Islam.

Rusev claims they have as many as 50,000 members, although NBC News was unable to verify this number.

"I'm not nationalistic or anything like that. I'm just a patriot," said Nikolai Ivanov, a 34-year-old who was one of the group's founding members in 2014.

"Many of these immigrants are not just some guys who are trying to run away from war. They are from age 17 to 35, with good physiques and training," Ivanov added. "It's not a problem that they are Muslims. The problem is it's a different civilization. They don't think like us, they have a totally different view about life, about everything."

While the group has been criticized by human rights advocates, it isn't hard to find people who agree with Ivanov's views in Bulgaria. The head of the country's border police praised a nationalist volunteer group for intercepting migrants in April.

Bulgaria occupies a place at the seams. Looking east, this Eastern Orthodox crossroads shares a traditional alliance with Russia. To the south is Turkey, once home to a Muslim empire that for centuries dominated the region. The European Union, with liberal values and a promise of wealth, lies to the west.

Since the end of the Cold War, Bulgaria has firmly embraced the West joining NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007. But the rapid rise in living standards for its seven million citizens stalled during the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Now, average annual income remains the lowest in the EU, even when measured by purchasing power.

In the Soviet era, heavy industry and chemical production dominated the economy. Now, abandoned factories litter a landscape replete with decaying smokestacks and depopulated villages.

On top of this, Bulgaria has become a major overland route as Europe grapples with a migration crisis due to its borders with Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Romania.

According to Eurostat, 20,165 people applied for asylum in Bulgaria in 2015, the most recent year for which firm numbers were available. This was a fraction of the around 1.2 million who claimed asylum in the EU that year, more than three quarters of whom were from majority Muslim countries.

Although only a handful of Europe-bound migrants have settled in Bulgaria, concern about the newcomers resonates in a country that was dominated for centuries by the Ottoman Turks.

Ivanov believes the refugee crisis was part of a plan in which ISIS militants would slip into the country and attack. Then, neighboring Turkey would deploy troops to Bulgaria under the auspices of the NATO alliance, he said, effectively reclaiming a portion of the lost Ottoman Empire.

Conspiracy theories like this abound among BNO Shipka members, some of whom make a point of speaking Russian. Their affinity for Moscow is perhaps understandable in the context of Bulgaria's unhappy history with its Muslim-majority neighbor. Shipka, after all, refers to a battle in which a Russo-Bulgarian force defeated the Ottoman Turks in 1877.

Bulgaria's weak economy and status outside the borderless Schengen area means most migrants aim for Greece as a gateway to more prosperous countries further west.

Migrants line up to buy food at Bulgaria's Harmanli refugee center, which is located near the border with Turkey, on Nov. 25. Nikolay Doychinov / AFP - Getty Images

So the "refugee situation here is not that serious," said Krassimir Kanev, a founder of the human rights group Bulgarian Helsinki Committee. "Bulgaria is a transit country, the refugees want to move to [other] EU countries."

However, Bulgaria "registered 31,281 new arrivals in 2015, which represents 89.3 percent of all land arrivals in the EU for the same year," according to a report by Radoslav Stamenkov, the head of the Bulgaria office at the International Organization for Migration. The "migration shock" that began in 2013 created social tensions "in a country that had a very limited experience of receiving migrants," Stamenkov wrote.

Kanev sees BNO Shipka and similar groups as xenophobic nationalists at best, or at worst, violent and racist extremists. In October 2015, an Afghan migrant was shot and killed when he tried to cross into Bulgaria. In November, protests by locals over rumors of disease forced the temporary closure of the country's largest refugee camp and led to riots.

"There are ongoing criminal proceedings against a number of these groups," Kanev said. Bulgarian vigilantes have detained migrants and tied them up, sometimes beating and humiliating them before forcing them back across the border, he added.

Asked for its position on vigilante groups, Bulgaria's Interior Ministry did not respond.

Back in the forests of the Strandzha Massif, BNO Shipka is going out on patrol. In bitter cold and with snow on the ground, this isn't the high season for refugees crossing from Turkey. Some still try.

After a series of short speeches by leaders, members gear up and head toward the border. But the presence of a large group of people in ski masks and military regalia dashing from cover to cover in view of the highway attracts the attention of local authorities.

Two border police officers, accompanied by several soldiers armed with assault rifles, drive up in four-by-fours and ask for an explanation. They seem less concerned than confused. Most BNO Shipka members wear Bulgarian military fatigues from their own service so the groups merge, trading jokes and cigarettes. Only the slung rifles indicate who is an active soldier and who is a vigilante.

The authorities seem unsure what to do, particularly with members of the media present.

A map showing the location of Bulgaria's Strandzha Massif. Google Maps

A BNO Shipka squad leader informs journalists that police are letting them continue, but the training mission has been completed and the team will return to the fishing lodge. As the group marches back, police follow them having called in reinforcements.

No one is detained or questioned further, but police return the following day.

Undeterred, BNO Shipka members record a video message to Trump. They put on snow camouflage oversuits and sneak around police stationed at the road leading to the lodge.

Asked if he is afraid Bulgaria is losing its identity, founding member Ivanov nods. "If we don't do something soon," he said. "It's not just Bulgaria, but all of Europe."

BNO Shipka didn't catch any migrants this time. Still, they intend to keep looking.

View post:
Bulgarian Vigilantes Patrol Turkey Border to Keep Migrants Out ... - NBCNews.com

An illegal immigrant Dreamer was released Friday after a fierce outcry from advocacy groups whod said agents were breaking President Trumps promise to focus on serious criminals, not rank-and-file illegal immigrants.

Legal groups had filed a court challenge demanding that Daniela Vargas, 22, be released, and they confirmed Friday afternoon that she had been let out of the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The truth, though, is that Dany should never have been detained in the first place, said Karen Tumlin, legal director for the National Immigration Law Center. President Trumps mass deportation force is ensnaring folks like Dany, causing chaos and breaking apart communities. We will continue to fight for justice for Dany and for others like her.

Dreamers young adult illegal immigrants here under color of President Obamas 2012 deportation amnesty, known in Washington-speak as DACA are generally exempt from Mr. Trumps new get-tough policies on immigration. But several Dreamers have been snared, leading to massive public relations campaigns by activists.

In the case of Ms. Vargas, she was approved through December, but her status lapsed. Her lawyers said she was trying to save up the money to reapply, and has now submitted an application.

She was apprehended when agents came looking for her father and brother.

Another high-profile case out of Washington state is still ongoing. In that case, ICE agents went looking for a repeatedly-deported illegal immigrant, and found him and his son, a DACA recipient. The agents said the young man admitted to having gang ties. His lawyers say those accusations are trumped-up.

A ruling is expected in that case next week.

Original post:
Illegal immigrant 'Dreamer' released by agents after community outcry - Washington Times

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

President Trumps vow to enforce U.S. immigration laws is already proving results: Arrests of people crossing the border dropped 40 percent during his first month in office.

Its almost like illegal immigration isnt an unmanageable problem after all.

Mr. Trump has aggressively pursued his immigration agenda, signing executive orders to start work building the southern border wall, halting funding to jurisdictions that dont comply with federal immigration laws and removing illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes.

Hes directed the Department of Homeland Security to hire 10,000 immigration and customs enforcement officers and agents, and 5,000 border patrol agents.

And all that work in his first 50 days in office is having a deterring effect.

According to a report from The New York Times: In interviews with migrants, their advocates, and workers at shelters and soup kitchens in Mexico, the United States and Central America, few quibbled with the idea that President Trump had altered the climate for immigration.

Indeed, it was clear that the ground had shifted on both sides of the border, and that the well-traveled route north to a better life had suddenly grown quieter, riskier and more desperate, The Times reported.

The Associated Press trying to do its best to explain away Mr. Trumps success said the people crossing the border illegally in the winter is typically less than the summer. And thats true. But it doesnt explain why illegal border crossing dropped so precipitously from January to February.

According to Homeland Security Secretary John Kellys statement, This change in the trend line is especially significant because CBP historically sees a 10-20 percent increase in apprehensions of illegal immigrants from January to February. Instead, this year we saw a drop from 31,578 to 18,762 persons a 40 percent decline.

This, as migrants look to go elsewhere.

Some migrants who might once have headed to the United States for safety and work are instead looking elsewhere, including Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama and even South America, The Times reported.

If the United States isnt a country that will provide the guarantees, they will go somewhere else, Vinicio Sandoval, executive director of the Independent Monitoring Group of El Salvador, a labor and legal rights organization involved in migration issues, explained to The Times.

And thats a win for the U.S.

See more here:
Trump proves immigration enforcement deters illegal immigration - Washington Times

Sometimes, the language of the media takes an almost synchronized turn, as though someone had flipped a switch. For the past month or so, news stories about illegal immigrants have been remarkably consistent in stressing the fear they feel: living in fear, fearful of ICE agents, etc. It is easy to understand why a sympathetic reporter would want to emphasize the fear and the stress felt by these people, who are, for the most part, poor and vulnerable.

But of course people who are breaking the law are afraid of law enforcement. The fear of getting caught is an inescapable part of violating the law. It is the only reason why speed limits are even kinda-sorta obeyed. The liberal attitude here is, in essence, Gosh, should we feel bad for making them afraid!

Well, no.

Here is what I think is going on, something that touches a little on Richs and Rameshs argument about nationalism: Illegal immigration is basically kind of low-level act of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience doesnt always have a theory behind it or a real political agenda often it is just that: disobedience, refusal to comply with a law that is seen as unjust or intrusive. Most of the people smoking and selling marijuana do not have any big political idea about it they simply intend to live their lives and they please, irrespective of what the letter of the law says. The situation with illegal immigrants is unusual in that we have millions of citizens of one country committing a very large-scale act of civil disobedience against the government of another country.

To people who see citizenship and the nation as more than a legal arrangement, that is intolerable. To those who see these as formalities, Mexicans being present illegally in the United States is something like violating the speed limit.

Which is to say, how we feel about illegal immigration is more about how Americans feel about America than about how we feel about Mexico or Honduras or Ireland.

Rich and Ramesh write: Trumps view of immigration is of a piece with this nationalism we have the sovereign right to decide who comes here and who doesnt, and policy should be crafted to serve the interests of U.S. citizens. Aside from a few fringe libertarians and dotty one-worlders on the left, I have not encountered very many people who dispute that the United States, or any country, has a sovereign right to create and enforce immigration law. There are those who see the elevation of the interests of U.S. citizens above the interests of others as a pernicious form of bias, but the more common attitude is that there really is no such thing as the interests of U.S. citizens corporately, or that, to the extent that such interests are real, the legitimate interests of U.S. citizens are not in conflict with the interests of those seeking to immigrate here.

(The Left tends to get Millian in a hurry on these kinds of questions: Tell me how my gay marriage hurts you! Etc.)

And thus the emphasis of the fear and stress experienced by those on the wrong side of immigration law. To inflict suffering needlessly is cruelty, and those who take an overly indulgent view of illegal immigration do so in no small part because they do not see the point in enforcing the law, which seems to them cruel. To the extent that we do not agree about what the United States is, we will disagree about why things like citizenship and immigration law matter.

Naturally, I do not expect to read any sympathetic accounts of how generally law-abiding Americans subject to whimsical and capricious interpretations of the law say, gun-store owners or grocers live in fear of the ATF or the EPA, and the nice lady with the badge and the gun who took what seemed to me an excessive interest in the relatively trivial issue of my rate of highway travel on a recent trip to California seemed distinctly unsympathetic.

But surely I am not alone in thinking, when I hear NPR reporters choking up about illegals living in fear of immigration enforcement: Well, good. That is as it should be.

No one who has traveled much in Mexico or Central America can fail to be sympathetic to the plight of the poor and the powerless there, but one of the things that most plagues such unhappy corners of the world is lawlessness, first and foremost lawlessness on the part of those entrusted with enforcing the law. Lawlessness north of the Rio Grande is no remedy for lawlessness south of it. That lawlessness engenders a great deal of fear and anxiety, too on both sides of the border.

Read the original here:
Illegals 'Living in Fear' - National Review

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Thursday, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos said on CNNs Anderson Cooper 360 that the Trump effect is causing a fear stronger than any wall that is keeping illegal immigrants from coming into the United States.

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Partial transcript as follows:

COOPER: Jorge, the massive drop in border apprehensions last month, the customs border protections says 40 percent, its down 40 percent, people trying to cross illegally. What do you make of that? Is it possible that the tough talk on illegal immigration by President Trump is working, that he deserves credit for that drop?

RAMOS: Let me just say that fear is stronger than any wall. What we are seeing right now is the Trump effect.

These people calling their relatives and their friends, saying, Dont come here, this is not the right moment. So I think it is possible. Really no one wants illegal immigration, not even undocumented immigrants. It is very risky for them. It is better to do it in a legal way.

And the other positive thing is that, I think, many Americans, many people who voted for Donald Trump, they really have to understand that theres no invasion. No one is invading the United States. Mexicans arent invading the United States. The undocumented population has remained stable at about 11 million for the last decade. So those are the positive things.

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Originally posted here:
Univision's Ramos: The 'Trump Effect' Is Scaring Illegal Immigrants Away from Entering the US - Breitbart News