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Europe desperately needs short-term solutions to the migrant crisis, Italy's prime minister warned Thursday, saying a failure to act would further destabilize the region.

Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said long-term efforts by Europe and the West to address root causes eventually could pay off, but without more urgent action, Europe will be engulfed by what he described as "waves of chaos" from across the Mediterranean Sea.

Watch: Global Security Dominates Trump-Gentiloni Meeting in Washington

"Too many Europeans have been living under the illusion that they could separate their destiny from the Mediterranean and from the crises originating from this region," Gentiloni told an audience in Washington ahead of a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. "This was a mistake."

"The task that governments have in Europe is to defeat smugglers and traffickers and manage the migration flow now, in the next months," he said.

Gentiloni said he planned to push Trump to keep the United States focused on the crisis, both during their Thursday meeting at the White House and during the Group of Seven summit of industrialized countries in Italy in May.

Attention to Libya

The Italian leader said his country's top priority continued to be Libya, the source or transit point for 97 percent of the migrants arriving on Italy's shores.

"Stabilizing Libya is fundamental," Gentiloni said. He cautioned that the North African country could turn into a "new theater for competition of external powers, both regional and global, which is a risk."

The prime minister called U.S. leadership in such an effort essential, and also called on other players, like Russia, to help pressure the various bickering factions to support the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord.

He warned that a failure by the parties to come together could create openings for the Islamic State terror group, which has seen its forces in Libya reduced substantially following a sustained U.S.-led air campaign.

Gentiloni also urged the U.S. and other world powers to "please keep Africa on top of our agenda," saying various conflicts and crises in sub-Saharan Africa had helped fuel the migrant crisis.

"We can't consider Africa as the second Chinese continent," the Italian prime mister said, noting Beijing's increasing role in providing aid and spurring development. "We should do perhaps our part more strongly."

Link:
Italian PM: 'Chaos' of Migrant Crisis Threatens to Engulf Europe - Voice of America

A New Mexico school board passed a resolution this week to ensure undocumented immigrant students and children of undocumented immigrants receive benefits such as free and reduced cost meals, transportation, health care from the school nurse, extracurricular activities and educational services.

Its all part of a growing national trend thats schools say protects children in the country illegally.

Las Cruces School Board President Maria Flores said the district wanted to create the policy because of what they call threatening and scary language by the Trump administration for immigrant families in parts of New Mexico.

A lot of our families, friends neighbors have come to us and are worried, Flores said. If the language werent so harsh coming in from Washington D.C. and our Attorney General, we wouldnt need this. But we need to protect their students she added.

Similar policies have been passed by school districts around the country including one in Clark Country, Nevada near Las Vegas, which approved the policy after stories emerged of children taunting other students that theyll face deportation under the Trump administration. The Milwaukee Board of Education also voted to become a sanctuary school district, along with Austin, Houston and dozens of school districts in California.

Milwaukee public schools board unanimously passes safe haven policy

But critics say those policies are more symbolic than anything else.

These are school administrators who are venting they dont like the policies the new administration is implementing, said Ira Mehlman with the Federation for American Immigration Reform. They dont change anything, and theyre solutions in search of a problem.

In Las Cruces, the board said it took action after a February immigration raid in the area. The next day, there was a 60 percent increase in absences across the school district compared to an average day. Parents, teachers and administrators said immigrant families were afraid to bring their kids to school because they thought Immigrationand Customs Enforcement might confront them when they left.

Public education is something that should not be denied to any child or any person based on immigration status. I think our district is being very progressive and I think that theyre taking a stand at a time when we need it the most, said Nayomi Valdez, the parent of a fifth grade student at Central Elementary in Las Cruces.

Flores, the school board president, said the district always had a plan in place for handling immigrant students and schools never asked about a students immigration status. But because of the new national interest, they felt a formal policy was needed that strengthened their stance on how to handle immigration.

Things were always in place, but now with the renewed interest it needed to be strengthened, said Flores.

The resolution is based on the1982 Supreme Court decisionPlyler v. Doe. The class action suit on behalf of illegal immigrants challenged a Texas statue, which withheld state funds from illegal immigrant students education and allowed school districts to deny them enrollment. The Supreme Court agreed that the statute violated the 14th amendments Equal Protection Clause. The court also ruled withholding education would cause harm to the child and society.

The Las Cruces resolution acknowledges ICEs policy is not to conduct enforcement at schools, school related activities and school bus stops.

Mehlman said that makes the school board vote irrelevant, really, since ICE does not enforce immigration law at schools or school events.

He said he is less concerned about school districts educating illegal immigrants and more concerned about the illegal immigrants taking advantage.

The school house door and the emergency room door is not the place we should be enforcing immigration laws, he said. What we need to be doing is preventing the school house or the emergency room from becoming places used by people in the country illegally.

Ray Bogan is a Fox News multimedia reporter based in El Paso, Texas. Follow him on twitter: @RayBogan

See the article here:
Sanctuary school district: Illegal immigrant students welcome in Las Cruces - Fox News

The Department of Justice on Friday reprimanded nine "sanctuary" jurisdictions for failing to adhere to federal requests to detain illegal immigrants.

It sent a letter warning the jurisdictions that they could lose certain federal grants if they fail to prove they are in compliance with federal law that requires them to communicate with federal officials about on immigration matters. The statute, 8 USC 1373, prohibits local and state governments from enacting laws or policies that limit communication with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Customs and Border Protection about "information regarding the immigration or citizenship status."

The Justice Department said it "expects each of these jurisdictions to comply with this grant condition and to submit all documentation to the Office of Justice Programs by June 30, 2017, the deadline imposed by the grant agreement," the letters from Acting Assistant Attorney General Alan Hanson read.

The department sent letters to Sacramento, Chicago, Cook County, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Miami, Milwaukee and New York City.

These cities and others that have been dubbed "sanctuary" cities say they are not in violation of the federal statute because it does not require compliance with ICE requests such as detainers or requests for notification of release dates. The statute only prohibits the enactment of certain policies about sharing immigration status, which they say they do not do.

All cities could lose the Office of Justice Programs Byrne JAG grant if not in compliance. According to the government's website, the grant "provides federal criminal justice funding to state, local and tribal jurisdictions" for things such as personnel, training, equipment and supplies.

The letters make good on a promise by both President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who both have said cracking down on sanctuary policies are vital to fighting crime and bolstering public safety.

Sessions is now on his second tour of the U.S.-Mexico border with Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, visiting El Paso, Texas, on Thursday and San Diego on Friday.

See original here:
Justice Department reprimands 'sanctuary' jurisdictions on illegal immigration - Washington Examiner

posted at 12:41 pm on April 21, 2017 by Jazz Shaw

The Windy City has a whole host of issues to deal with these days, many of them centered around the fact that youre more likely to be murdered there than in Fallujah on any given day. But rather than worrying about pesky little problems like that, the city council has decided to go after the really big ticket items on the agenda. One of these is to begin creating and distributing special municipal ID cards for various underserved groups including illegal immigrants. What could possibly go wrong? (CBS News, local)

A program to create municipal identification cards passed overwhelmingly, but not unanimously, out of the Chicago City Council on Wednesday.

The city program will make it easier for undocumented immigrants, the homeless, ex-inmates and others to get the IDs and some city services

Ald. Anthony Beale was one of four who voted against the measure and the $3 million price tag.

I still believe this is the jurisdiction of the state and federal government, he said.

Rahm Emanuel is pushing this project as yet another fairly transparent effort to fight Trump. When asked why they werent letting the state and federal government handle such matters, he replied, The last people youd want to turn for help right now is the federal government.

Yes, heaven forbid you get them involved. But its worth noting that at least part of this plan isnt all that crazy. There are some services which are provided strictly by the municipal government and truly are best managed at the local level. When it comes to programs to assist the homeless, the mentally ill or chronic drug addicts, the city is best suited to address those needs and some of their citizens may indeed need a special ID in order to be served. New York City has been doing it for years, and while the programs hit a couple of hiccups here and there it largely seems to work. Of course, the wheels come off the wagon as soon as you start including illegal aliens in the program since they arent supposed to be receiving any public services paid for by the taxpayers to begin with.

Theres a second question which Rahm should have asked before starting this project. Do the illegal immigrants actually want ID cards which put them into the public data bank? I was just reading an article at Route Fifty this week which shows that an increasing number of illegals are panicking over the idea of their names and other data being part of the public record ever since Trump took office.

In the face of stepped-up deportation efforts, many unauthorized immigrants worry that state and local programs that are designed to help them could instead be used by federal agents to identify and expel them from the country.

About a dozen states have created special drivers license programs for people who cant prove U.S. citizenship, and more than a dozen cities have started identification programs so that unauthorized immigrants and others can complete tasks such as opening bank accounts, enrolling their children in school and receiving government services.

Under the programs, most of which were created in the last five years, state and local government agencies have reviewed and perhaps retained millions of documents with personal information about the applicants, such as their names, addresses and foreign identification numbers.

The bottom line, as the articles author freely admits, is that there really isnt any evidence that ICE has been obtaining this data from these ID card programs nor that theyve ever even asked for it. But thats not the point. There is a sense of fear in the illegal immigrant community ever since Trump was sworn in that such things might be happening. And thats leading some of them to pull out of such programs. Its the same phenomenon that were seeing with illegal border crossings. Nothing all that much has really changed in terms of enforcement or border security, but the fear that it might be has driven illegal immigration numbers way down this year. Its the Trump Effect in action.

And if youll pardon my saying so, thats a good thing. It doesnt cost any money or additional resources and it produces results.

More:
Super. Chicago approves IDs for illegal immigrants - Hot Air

Raising voices and signs, standing strong against LD-366, one group hopes lawmakers inside the State House get the message. (WGME)

AUGUSTA (WGME) -- An intense clash over illegal immigrants in Maine dominated Thursday in Augusta.

A lawmaker's bill is facing fierce debate as he wants to punish cities and towns that won't work with the feds on immigration enforcement.

Raising voices and signs, standing strong against LD-366, one group hopes lawmakers inside the State House get the message.

High school junior Rebekah Novak was born in Ethiopia and is a U.S. citizen, but she says she's still concerned a bill intended to crack down on an estimated 5,000 illegal immigrants in Maine could hurt her.

Yes we're going to target illegal immigrants, but it's also people who are perceived as foreign, because of my skin color I am automatically a target for that, Novak said.

That bill from Republican Representative Larry Lockman requires Maine cities and towns to work with federal agencies on immigration issues and enforcement, and authorizes local law enforcement agencies to, "transport aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States to federal facilities." If they don't, they risk losing state funding.

A passionate public hearing on the proposal brought both sides to the State House. Those against it say it will make immigrants feel less safe regardless of their legal status, and undermine trust with local police.

The committee took no action on the bill Thursday.

Rep. Lockman says it's intended to discourage so called sanctuary cities, which refuse to help federal immigration officers.

There are no sanctuary cities in Maine, but Portland, South Portland, and Hallowell are considering that designation.

Originally posted here:
Illegal immigration bill causes clash at State House - WGME