Mediaboss Marketing

Refugees and migrants look out at Italy as they arrive on a Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) vessel to Reggio Calabria, Italy, on June 12, 2017.Chris McGrathGetty Images

Val Camonica is a sleepy valley in northern Italy home to medieval villages, Roman sites and, now, a hundred refugees from Africa.

The new arrivals are being hosted in old cottages scattered in 30 villages, as part of a national program aimed at integrating refugees. Theyve been given new homes and jobs by local authorities; they are learning Italian, running hotels and restaurants and bringing tourists on guided tours of the region. Too bad Val Camonica is an exception. Between 2014 and 2016 the program involved only one eighth of Italian towns, accommodating barely 25,000 of the 156,000 refugees currently in camps across Italy.

But programs like this will be needed more than ever as Italy's migrant crisis has worsened this year. Since the beginning of June , 15,000 migrants reached Italian shores. Roughly 85,000 have landed so far this year, according to the U.N , a 19% increase from this point last year, and versus only 9,395 total arrivals in Greece. Italian officials fear the final toll of incoming migrants will be higher than last year's total of 181,436 .

After the closure of the Balkan route last summer thanks to an agreement between the E.U. and Turkey, the bulk of migrant flows, mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa, has shifted to Italy and the country is struggling to cope. Amid non-stop arrivals and overflowing migrant camps, Italy is pleading with its European neighbors to help.

The Italian government has requested that more economic migrants be repatriated, more refugees be relocated across Europe, and more financial resources and stronger border agreements between Libya and Niger to limit outflows. Most pressingly i t has also asked for a revision of a relief scheme led by Frontex, the E.U's Border and Coast Guard Agency, which makes Italy the headquarters of all sea operations, and consequently a magnet for all rescued refugee boats.

Italy wants other European southern countries (mainly Spain, France, Malta and Greece) to be forced to open their ports to incoming migrants saved at sea by their boats and NGOs, instead of picking them up and dropping them off in Italian harbors as is currently happening. The Mediterranean crisis must be regionalised, meaning Europe cant go on using just Italian ports. NGOs relief operations, and relevant costs, should be a burden on the shoulders of the nations involved in the rescues, Undersecretary of State for E.U. Affairs Sandro Gozi told TIME.

A recent deal with Germany and France to support patrols by the Libyan coastguard, boost refugee relocation across Europe and regulate international NGOs who operate rescue ships in the Mediterranean initially lifted Italys hopes that peer countries were waking from their slumber.

But Italys expectations were not met at the E.U. Interior Ministries summit in Tallinn last week focused on immigration. All Rome got was the official green light to define a new code of conduct and rules for NGOs to be forwarded to the European Commission for approval.

The NGOs are the subject of huge scrutiny in Italy . Several probes are underway in the country over possible links between NGOs and human smugglers though NGOs including Save The Children and Medicins Sans Frontiers have denied allegations of collusion with smugglers, stressing that their rescue operations respected sea codes of conduct and were being carried-out in cooperation with the Italian coast guard.

Frontex told TIME it will meet on Tuesday to discuss Rome's request to revise the relief scheme, but Germany and France have so far declined to help Italy by opening their ports to migrants. Austria, meanwhile, has threatened to deploy its army at the border with Italy. The G20 summit in Hamburg over the weekend produced no results for Italy: World leaders stressed that each nation has the right to protect its own sovereignty and borders

In past weeks Rome warned it could shut its ports to non-Italian NGOs. Its the only weapon it has if other members turn a deaf ear to its repeated calls for help. But its not easy, nor doable at the moment under Frontex rules. But if Rome were to find a way to close access it would lead to chaos, forcing other southern nations to open their ports to incoming refugees.

The European Commission has unveiled plans to relocate of thousands of refugees to Greece to ease pressure on Italy and to set-up a coordination centre in Libya, but unless other member states open up their ports or agree to higher migrant quotas then little can be done.

The Italians want Brussels to be tougher on member states who are taking a smaller share of the burden. We insist that the European Commission moves along the path of sanctioning and cutting E.U. funds to all member states that fail to cooperate in the quota relocation scheme or take in just a tiny, ridiculous stake of refugees, said Gozi.

The crisis has also impacted politics internally, as parties of every stripe react to the increase in migrants. In particular, populists and far-right groups are capitalizing on the increase to push an anti-immigration platform. Were witnessing what we have always predicted: a biblical invasion of African migrants, of whom just 5% are real asylum-seekers fleeing from wars while the rest are economic migrants who must be pushed back, Nicola Molteni, a party deputy from the far-right Northern League, told TIME. His figure is inaccurate, but not by much according to Italy government data, economic migrants make up 85% of the intake this year.

But more mainstream politicians are also taking a hard line on migration. In a Facebook post, Matteo Renzi, former premier and Democrat runner at next years elections, called for a closed, set number of migrants and to boost partnerships with asylum-seekers origin countries. Italian officials are holding summits with Tunisian and Libyan authorities and businessmen in a bid to strengthen political-economic ties.

Authorities in Italy are calling in vain for more cooperation from mayors and local bodies to host migrants by taking part in the refugee integration scheme. As Italy considers itself dealing with the influx of migrants from across the Mediterranean single-handedly, it's hard to see more projects like Val Camonica getting off the ground.

Read this article:
Italy Is Pleading With Europe to Help Deal with a Record Influx of Refugees - TIME

Victims of Illegal Immigration Urge the Senate to Pass Legislation to Save American Lives

On Wednesday June 28, 2017, President Donald J. Trump met with American families whose loved ones were killed by illegal aliens. Many of these illegal aliens had extensive criminal records and had been repeatedly deported. During their meeting with the President, these American families urged the passage of two critical pieces of legislation that the President campaigned on. Both Kates Law and the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act easily passed the House with bipartisan support. If enacted, the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act will cut federal grant money to cities that prevent law enforcement officers from turning over dangerous criminal aliens to federal authorities and Kates Law will enhance criminal penalties for those who repeatedly reenter the country illegally. The President is now calling on the Senate to act swiftly to take up these bills, pass them, and send them to his desk for signature.

Compilation Video

Juan Pina's Story

Every year, far too many Americans are victimized, assaulted, and killed by illegal aliens who have been removed from the country multiple times. Sanctuary cities are releasing violent criminals, including members of the bloodthirsty MS-13 gang, back onto our streets every single day. Innocent Americans are suffering unthinkable violence as a result of reckless policies. It is time for these tragedies to end.

Excerpts from personal stories told at the roundtable discussion:

Laura Wilkerson: My son Joshua was eighteen years old and in November 2010, he was systematically tortured, brutally beaten, murdered, and then his body set on fire after death [by] somebody who shouldnt have been in this country. Josh was a good kid. This is not about politics. This is about safety. Thats all its about. Both parties should be on board with this. There shouldnt be any objection to it. We dont want [any] other families to have to endure this. Its about public safety.

Julie Golvach: [O]ur son, was the second of four shot that night and weve lost everything. He was my only child. I want some action. If this ha[d] been done years ago, my son would still be here. I want action. I want some action so nobody else has to go through the loss that we feel.

Dan Golvach: This is what some politicians in the country ha[ve] decided is acceptable for us. Its not acceptable. While these politicians are sitting at home on the holidays, all warm and cozy with their families, most of us [at this table] are at the cemetery. And its just not acceptable.

Mary Ann Mendoza: Im tired of our politicians not caring about their fellow Americans. Why? When did it ever become more important to our elected officials to protect illegal criminals in our country and not care about us?

Melissa Oliver-Storz: The man that murdered my father was deported twice previously and returned to our country illegally. This senseless crime has affected my family in many ways that are unexplainable. The pain is tremendous and its something well never get over. I think it is important that we focus on these laws and getting them passed. We need our law enforcement officers to have more information about these people that are in our country illegally, so we can go ahead and get them detained, and so this cant happen to another family.

Juan Pina: My daughter, Christy Sue Pina, she was murdered. She was strangled, stabbed, raped, [and] sodomized. Her nude body was thrown in an artichoke field in the winter. The person that did this had kidnapped another fourteen-year-old girl. He tortured her, got put in jail, he got out [on bail]. He went back to Mexico. This was in July of 87. In September, he came back. He kidnapped another one. Did the same thing. He got put in jail again. Went back to Mexico. Came back in 90. February 8th, they found my daughter out there in an artichoke field and he took off. They didnt catch him that time either. He left, but they had an idea who it was. A few months later, he came back [and] tried to kidnap a little twelve-year-old at seven oclock in the morning on her way to school. Im my daughters voice. [W]hat [the] President, here, is trying to do is the best thing ever. Im all for everything that youre doing. Americans first. Americans first.

Michelle Root: Why do we have to encounter any type of violence? And I'm sorry, but these laws that are trying to be passed? Most of them are common sense, and until this happened to me, I thought this is what was in place. And to find out it wasn't was terrifying to me.

Sabine Durden: Im a legal immigrant, and I did it the right way. I came here knowing I wanted to be here. I had to go through all the steps and Im proud to be a citizen now. And I had one son, Dominic. I brought him with me. Thats all I got. He was my only child Mr. President, since I had no family left, I wanted to commit suicide. I wanted to be with my son. And on June 16, when you came down the escalator, and you mentioned those words illegal immigration, I was walking through my living room and I dropped to my knees, because it was my little sign from God. And a month later, I met you personally in Los Angeles. You were the only one that ever met with us, and became our voice. So youre not only my hero, [and] my President, you are my lifesaver. I wouldnt be here without you.Thank you. And we need to pass these two laws. They need to be passed in [the] Senate Stop wasting time, sign these bills, please.

Steve Ronnebeck: My son was Grant Ronnebeck, 21 years old. He was killed January 22nd of 2015 by an illegal immigrant while he was working the overnight shift at his convenience store. Grant was killed because he wasnt counting change fast enough for a pack of cigarettes. Grant was just one of the kindest, nicest kids you will ever meet.... One thing that I think that you, Mr. President, realize [is] that every one of our childrens deaths has been preventable. All the deaths of our loved ones [were] preventable. And Mr. President, Chairman Goodlatte, I think you guys realize that and thats why youre doing what youre doing and I want to thank you both for what youre doing. Passing these laws is instrumental. I dont think that I would wish the devastation that weve felt everyday on anyone. [W]hen your childs death was preventable, its even harder than if they were to die from cancer or something like that. It justit rips part of you away that youll never get back.

See the rest here:
ICYMI: [VIDEO] Victims of Illegal Immigration Urge the Senate to ... - Whitehouse.gov (press release)

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden has intensified its crackdown on illegal immigrants after a failed asylum-seeker killed five people in Stockholm, but the move has raised concerns that more migrants will be driven underground to join a shadowy underclass.

In the past months, police have staged wider sweeps on workplaces to check papers, netting undocumented workers, sending a warning to employers and sparking heated debate in a nation that has been traditionally tolerant to migrants.

In May, police carried out their biggest raid so far when dozens of officers swooped on a constructions site in Stockholm. Nine were caught and sent to detention centers, while another 40 escaped by scrambling onto scaffolding and across roof tops.

Swedish authorities had already started to tighten up on illegal immigrants, but police stepped up their activities after Uzbek construction worker Rakhmat Akilov drove into Stockholm shoppers in April.

"We have an unlimited amount of work," said Jerk Wiberg, who leads the Stockholm police unit in charge of domestic border controls. A 22-year veteran who has caught thousands of illegal immigrants, Wiberg led the raid at the construction site in May.

After Akilov became another militant in Europe to use a truck as a weapon, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven made it clear that "no means no" for those whose asylum bids are rejected. Akilov, whose lawyer said he had admitted to committing the crime, had been in hiding after his asylum request was denied.

The Migration Agency estimated 10,000 asylum-seekers a year will choose to disappear rather than be deported. Up to 50,000 undocumented immigrants already work in hotels, transport, construction and restaurants, the agency said last year.

Migration Minister Morgan Johansson said that a "dual labor market ... where a growing group lives on the outside of society and remains in Sweden" after having been denied residency was unacceptable.

"It also increases the risk of them being exploited. We cannot have it that way," he said, adding: "One way is to go after the employers ... (using) expanded workplace checks."

While cheap migrant labor is welcomed by some small businesses, government officials and economists worry that the shadow economy undercuts Sweden's economic model, whose generous welfare provisions and high wages are built on high rates of productivity and one of the world's heaviest tax regimes.

Tough measures against immigrants go against the grain for many in Sweden, a country of 10 million which once called itself "a humanitarian superpower" that generously welcomed migrants fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa.

But attitudes appear to be changing and a 2017 study by Gothenburg University showed 52 percent favored taking fewer refugees into the country with 24 percent opposed. Two years ago 40 percent backed reducing refugee numbers with 37 opposed.

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats are now the second biggest party in polls with support of around a fifth of Swedes.

The Social Democrats, the country's biggest party in every election since 1917 and leader of the governing coalition with the Greens, has been forced to balance its traditional left-wing credentials with the need to enforce immigration laws.

Despite political support for the crackdown and tougher rules on immigration, police struggle to enforce deportations. Between January and April police deported just under 600 people, a third fewer than in the same period last year.

Some of those caught were freed because detention centers were full, while others cannot be deported as they don't have passports to prove their country of origin or their home countries refuse to take them.

The government never discloses how many are held in detention centers, saying there are about 360 beds and deportees are normally repatriated within three weeks. The government has told the migration agency to add another 100 beds.

An extra 800 million crowns ($95 million) has been added to the police budget this year to bolster the clampdown, but senior officers say this is not enough.

In 2016, police made about 1,100 unannounced workplace checks, almost three times more than in 2015, and caught 232 illegal immigrants. A further increase is expected in 2017 as the net widens.Illegal immigrants are also detained through checks at transport hubs, on vehicles or after committing crime.

Deportations made up a small fraction of the 20,000 rejected asylum seekers who left Sweden last year.

"We have been able to increase the number of people who leave Sweden substantially. But we're listening to the police and we have paved the way for more resources and wider powers," Johansson said in an interview, adding:

"We will have to increase that number further."

Expanded police powers include workplace checks without concrete suspicion of a crime, to be allowed from next year, with sharply higher fines for employing illegal immigrants.

Immigrants themselves have been unnerved. When police burst into a pizzeria in the southern city of Malmo where Ehsanulla Kajfar, a 38-year-old Afghan refugee, was working in May he said he thought they were looking for "terrorists or drug dealers".

He was surprised to be handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a police vehicle as tax officials scrutinized the restaurant's employee ledger. He was told his papers were not in order and was taken to a detention center.

"Sweden used to be a nice country, even when I was living underground," he told Reuters. "Now although I have a residence permit from Italy and I am registered at the tax agency in Sweden, I'm still locked in a detention center."

Nicaraguan Hugo Eduardo Somarriba Quintero, 37, said he was wrongly detained in the big raid in Stockholm in May due to an error by authorities and then released. Migration Agency records confirmed the details of his case.

"But I've lost my job the company where I was working was dropped from the construction site (because of irregularities in not checking work papers properly). Now I am looking for work and there is no job for me," he tearfully told Reuters, adding:

"Before there was a lot of tolerance for migrants. Now the laws are harder."

Muhammad, a 22-year old Afghan who declined to give his family name, has been in hiding for three years in Malmo since his asylum application was rejected.

He has moved three times this year and never stays in a place longer than three months. All his belongings are packed in a suitcase and two plastic bags if he needs to leave in a hurry.

Muhammad relies on food stamps from the church and leftover food from restaurants and grocery stores.

He has learned to avoid the city center when there is an increase in policing and gets help from other immigrants and volunteers who work for asylum-seekers' rights. They warn each other of police checks and raids through text messages.

"Last time the police made a push to find immigrants, my friend stayed inside for 15 to 20 days," Muhammad said. "But I can't stay inside all the time, its too depressing."

Reporting by Johan Ahlander and Mansoor Yosufzai, additional reporting by Alister Doyle, editing by Peter Millership

Read the original:
Sweden intensifies crackdown on illegal immigrants - Reuters

The House of Representatives recently passed two laws to crack down on illegal immigrants in the United States Kates Law (H.R. 3004) and the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act (H.R. 3003). Both were prompted by the tragic 2015 murder of Kate Steinle by an illegal immigrant named Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, and by the perception that illegal immigrants have created a crime wave.

That perception is simply untrue.

Illegal immigrants are not all criminals, as most immigration offenses are civil violations and not criminal ones. Civil violations in immigration law are punished with deportation, while criminal violations are punished with jail time. The Center for Migration Studies estimates that 66 percent of illegal immigrants who entered in 2014 did so by overstaying a visa, which is not a crime. Its difficult to prove in court that the other 36 percent committed a crime by entering illegally.

Fear of an illegal immigrant crime wave is sparked by the fear that they are overwhelmingly murderers, rapists, and thieves. In reality, illegal immigrants have lower incarceration rates and live in places with lower crimes rates than native-born Americans.

Regardless, fear of an illegal immigrant crime wave is not sparked by the specter of people breaking administrative immigration rules, but by fear that they are overwhelmingly murderers, rapists, and thieves. In reality, illegal immigrants have lower incarceration rates and live in places with lower crimes rates than native-born Americans. Far from perpetrating a crime wave, immigrants actually decrease crime rates.

Those who think illegal immigrants are unusually crime-prone tend to make several errors when making their case. The most common is to only look at non-citizen incarcerations in federal prisons. First, that is a bad measurement because non-citizens includes illegal immigrants and also legal non-citizens, so it is an over count. Second, federal prisons only hold about 10 percent of all prisoners, with the other 90 percent incarcerated in state and local prisons and jails.

Federal prisons hold prisoners convicted of federal crimes or crimes committed while crossing a border, including immigration offenses and drug smuggling, which disproportionately lead to foreigners being imprisoned. In May 2017, the last month for which data are available, 46.3 percent of federal inmates were incarcerated for drug offenses and 8.2 percent for immigration crimes. Imprisonment of non-violent drug and immigration offenders is not the hallmark of a crime wave.

Looking at all incarcerated prisoners in state, federal, and local adult correctional facilities provides a more accurate picture of illegal immigrant criminality. Based on census data, the numbers show that illegal immigrants are about 44 percent less likely to be incarcerated than native-born Americans. Focusing on prisoners between the ages of 18 and 54, 1.53 percent of all native-born adults are incarcerated, compared with 0.85 percent of illegal immigrants in the same age range including those incarcerated for immigration crimes and in immigration detention. Excluding those particular crimes brings the illegal immigrant incarceration rate down to 0.50 percent one third of the native rate.

This holds true even when you take race into account. Whereas white, native-born Americans are incarcerated at a rate of 0.90 percent, illegal immigrants of every race and ethnicity are still less likely to be incarcerated, at a rate of 0.85 percent.

American cities with more illegal immigrants do not have higher crime rates. Even immigration restrictionists like Representative Steve King, R-Iowa,admit that legal immigrants are less crime-prone than natives, but they also live in the same cities as illegal immigrants. This makes it difficult to estimate how illegals affect crime rates on the local level.

However, the evidence strongly suggests that they at least dont worsen them. A study of recidivism rates in Los Angeles conducted by two RAND Corporation scholars discovered that there was no difference between rearrest rates over a 30-day period between illegal and legal immigrants. While not perfect, this study is still broadly consistent with the others.

Federal and state governments do not consistently record the number of incarcerated illegal immigrants they should start doing so immediately. Regardless, the available evidence overwhelmingly shows that illegal immigrants are incarcerated at lower rates than native-born Americans. As for the supposed illegal immigrant crime-wave, the evidence for that remains to be seen.

Alex Nowrasteh is the immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity.

Original post:
Illegal immigrant crime wave? Evidence is hard to find | Fox News - Fox News

LOS ANGELES U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he will not stand back and let the national murder rate continue to rise.

During a stop in Las Vegas on Wednesday, the attorney general said he plans to hire 300 additional federal prosecutors to fight violent gangs like MS-13, a ruthless criminal enterprise with roots in El Salvador.

The national murder rate has increased 10 percent the past year. According to Sessions, thats the largest increase since 1968.

Sessions was in the City of Lights to continue his fight against Sanctuary Cities. He said too many jurisdictions are still refusing to cooperate with federal authorities and are protecting criminal who, under federal law, should be deported.

SESSIONS SAYS SANCTUARY CITIES RISK LOSING DOJ, DHS GRANTS

The Justice Department is threatening to withhold federal funding from cities that dont cooperate with federal officials in enforcing immigration laws.

An illegal immigrant taken into custody. (Fox News)

"When cities like Philadelphia, Boston or San Francisco advertise that they have these policies, the criminals take notice," Sessions said in Vegas.

He said lax immigration enforcements leads to increased violence. He pointed to Kate Steinle, who was killed by an illegal immigrant in San Francisco who allegedly moved to that city because of its sanctuary status.

"Her death was preventable and it should have been prevented," Sessions said. "He walked the streets freely because San Francisco refuses to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In fact, he admitted that one reason he was in San Francisco that day was that he knew the city had these policies in place."

SANCTUARY CITIES LOSE ACCESS TO FEDERAL GRANTS THAT REQUIRE COMPLYING WITH FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAW CUE THE HISTORIANS

Right now, four cities, four counties and two sanctuary states are undergoing a legal review by Sessions, including Vegas, where he urged Clark County to cooperate with ICE. In all, he said, some 300 jurisdictions refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

ICE agents, even in hostile sanctuary cities like Los Angeles, continue to target criminal aliens. (Fox News)

These jurisdictions, he said, are protecting criminals rather than their law-abiding residents.

He said cooperation will help the government dismantle gangs like MS-13, which is wreaking havoc across the country.

To take these gangs off of our streets, he said, we need cooperation between law enforcement at the federal, state and local levels.

More:
Sessions says when cities protect illegal immigrants, 'criminals take notice' - Fox News