Immigration security

Exclusive: Cyprus sold passports to criminals and fugitives

Convicted fraudsters, money launderers and political figures accused of corruption are among dozens of people from more than 70 countries who have bought so-called "golden passports" from Cyprus, according to a large cache of official documents obtained by Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit.

The Cyprus Papers is a leak of more than 1,400 passport applications approved by the government of the island nation between 2017 and 2019, and it raises serious questions about the Cyprus Investment Programme.

Passports from the Republic of Cyprus can be important for individuals from countries that have restricted access to Europe, as Cyprus is a member of the European Union (EU) and a passport offers its holder access to free travel, work and banking in all 27 member states.

In the coming days, Al Jazeera will reveal the identities of dozens of people who acquired Cypriot citizenship who, according to the country's own rules, in many cases should not have received a passport.

Immigration security

Rights groups: Trump's 'exploiting a health crisis' to end asylum

The Trump administration on Tuesday indefinitely extended its policy of urgently expelling most migrants and asylum seekers crossing the border irregularly in a move rights groups said is an effort to "exploit a health crisis" to effectively end asylum at the US-Mexico border.

Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued the extension of the order that authorises Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to immediately remove migrants and asylum seekers in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus while in custody.

President Donald Trump's administration issued the initial 30-day order in March, and it was extended for another month in April. The new version notably has no fixed end date, though it said the CDC will review public health data every 30 days to ensure it is still necessary.

Immigrant rights advocates said the order violates obligations the US has towards asylum seekers.

"These now indefinite restrictions have nothing to do with curbing the spread of COVID-19," said Andrea Flores, deputy director of immigration policy for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Immigration security

First 18,000 Syrian refugees cross Greek border amid fresh tear gas clashes with guards after Turkish president Erdogan vowed to open doors to Europe and KEEP them open

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to keep borders open for Syrian refugees headed for Europe as the first 18,000 cross the Greek border and migrants clash for the second day with guards.    

'What did we do yesterday (Friday)? We opened the doors,' Erdogan said in Istanbul in his first comments since 33 Turkish troops were killed in northern Syria on Thursday. 'We will not close those doors ...Why? Because the European Union should keep its promises.'

The Turkish leader also said 18,000 migrants have amassed on the Turkish borders with Europe since Friday, adding that the number could reach as many as 30,000 on Saturday.   

Migrants played a cat-and-mouse game with Greek border patrols throughout the night and into Saturday, with some cutting holes in the fence only to be turned back by tear gas and stun grenades. Greek authorities also fired tear gas to repulse attempts by the crowd to push through the border.

Immigration security

The Terrorists Migrating into Europe

....Bensman's report indirectly proves that the three EU countries -- Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic -- which refused to take in any of the migrants that came during the migrant crisis, citing security concerns, were right. The leadership of the European Union, however, initiated legal proceedings at the Court of Justice of the European Union against the three countries over the issue. In October, the Advocate General, legal advisor to the Court, said that EU law must be followed and that the EU's principle of solidarity "necessarily sometimes implies accepting burden-sharing".

A ruling on the issue by the Court is expected early next year. If the Court follows the advice of the Advocate General, it will rule that the three countries were in breach of EU law when they refused to take in their appointed quota of migrants. In response to the Advocate General, Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller, said, "ensuring security for our citizens is the most important goal of the government's policies. Our actions were dictated by the interests of Polish citizens and the need for protection against uncontrolled migration".

Immigration security

The Undocumented Agent

One afternoon in April 2018, Raul Rodriguez was working on his computer at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in Los Indios, Texas, when two managers entered the building. Somebody must be in trouble, he thought. The managers usually arrived in pairs when they needed a witness.

For nearly two decades, Rodriguez had searched for people and drugs hidden in cargo waiting to get into the United States. He was proud of his work as a Customs and Border Protection officer; it gave him stability and a sense of purpose. Even in the spring of 2018, when public scrutiny of CBP began to intensify—the agency had officially started separating children from their parents—Rodriguez remained committed to his job. Though he wasn’t separating any families at the border, he’d canceled the visas and initiated the deportations of thousands of people in his years of service.

“Hey, Raulito,” one of the managers said, calling him over. Rodriguez walked past agents who were trying to look busy on their computers. Just two years from being eligible to retire, Rodriguez says he had an unblemished record. He couldn’t imagine what the managers wanted...

Immigration security

Brian Lonergan: Immigration is unquestionably a national security issue. We need to start treating it like one

We stand at possibly the most dangerous point in the more than four-decade conflict between the United States and Iran. The Trump administration’s decision to kill Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike has the Islamic Republic vowing revenge.

The world now waits for the inevitable Iranian response. Given their long history of sponsoring terror in the Middle East and around the world, anything is possible. The most obvious move is that they would disrupt the shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf, from which comes much of the world’s oil supply.

But the threat from Iran is not just half a world away. It is here in our communities. Thanks to our porous borders and lax immigration enforcement, we also have to consider the possibility of terror attacks by Iranian sleeper agents currently in the U.S.

While America fights with itself over what to do about our immigration laws, the bad actors of the world have been paying attention. They see massive caravans from Central America demanding asylum, and many of the travelers gaining entry into the U.S. What better way to get operatives into the United States and execute a terrorist attack?

Immigration security

Trump administration releases rule to restrict 'birth tourism'

The Trump administration on Thursday formally issued a rule allowing customs officials to deny entry to travelers whom they suspect are headed to the U.S. for the sole purpose of giving birth on American soil.

A rule issued by the State Department marks the administration's first formal effort to cut down on the practice known as "birth tourism," which President Trump has heavily criticized and suggested should be a reason for ending birthright citizenship.

"This rule establishes that travel to the United States with the primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the United States is an impermissible basis for the issuance of a B nonimmigrant visa," the statute reads.

"Consequently, a consular officer shall deny a B nonimmigrant visa to an alien who he or she has reason to believe intends to travel for this primary purpose," it continues.

Immigration security

Turkey vows to ‘open the gates’ to flood Europe with Syrian refugees

Turkey’s president vows to send millions of refugees to Europe if its countries do not back his proposal to settle them in a Syrian “safe zone.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned he would “open the gates” for asylum-seekers if European countries failed to support his plans to resettle them in Syria’s northeast, the Independent reported.

“If Turkey’s plans for the return [of the refugees] … is not supported, we will have no choice but to open our borders,” Erdogan warned.

Turkey already hosts about 3.6 million Syrians who fled conflict in their homeland, but wants to send up to 2 million back across the border.

Earlier this month, Erdogan told European leaders he would “send 3.6 million refugees your way” in retaliation for international criticism of his country’s military operation in northern Syria.

Immigration security

Home Office 'infiltrating' safe havens to deport rough sleepers

The Home Office is using information gathered in “immigration surgeries” at charities and places of worship to deport vulnerable homeless people who are told that attending will help them get financial support, the Guardian has learned.

Interviews and internal emails revealed the Salvation Army, Sikh gurdwaras and a Chinese community support centre are among the bodies allowing Home Office teams in London to run sessions in spaces that are intended to be safe havens for homeless people.

Attendees are assured the sessions are not offered as part of “an enforcement approach” to immigration cases and told that taking part may help them regularise their status.

Secret plan to use charities to help deport rough sleepers

 

Read more

However, the initiative is run by the Home Office’s immigration enforcement unit and if officials conclude that attendees have no right to be in the country, they may be asked to agree to their voluntary removal. If they refuse they risk being subjected to the Home Office’s “case-by-case” discretion and deported.

Immigration security

Europe on brink of new refugee crisis ‘EVEN GREATER’ than 2015 – German Interior Minister

Europe may soon face a massive inflow of refugees and migrants that will be even bigger than at the peak of the infamous crisis, Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has warned, urging to assist Greece and Turkey.

“We must do more to help our European partners with controls on the EU external borders. We have left them alone for too long,” the minister told German Bild am Sonntag newspaper in the wake of his visit to Greece and Turkey, where he also discussed migration policies.

Seehofer also warned that if Europe does not find “strength to solve this problem” it could see a “loss of control” in case another refugee crisis breaks out. The minister, who spoke with the Turks and the Greeks with the incoming EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, vowed that the two countries will do “everything so that it does not happen again.”

Immigration security

Trump Will Block Visa Applicants Who Cannot Prove They Can Get Health Insurance

President Donald Trump invoked broad executive powers Friday, issuing a proclamation to block the entry of immigrants applying for visas who cannot prove that they will be able to obtain health insurance within 30 days of entering the United States.

Trump’s order takes effect Nov. 3 and applies to those who apply for immigrant visas abroad and do not have health insurance set up within a month after their entry or the financial means to pay for medical costs.

The move appears to be the latest front in the administration’s extensive efforts to restrict immigration. Trump’s proclamation cites the same provision of law he used in the 2017 travel ban to block people from coming into the country and a later ban on asylum-seekers who crossed into the country without authorization. It will apply to US citizens' foreign national spouses who want to live in the country.

Immigration security

Italy: Salvini Out, Migrants In

Italy's new government, which has pledged to reverse former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's hardline approach to migration policy, appears to have triggered a new wave of mass migration from northern Africa.

More than 1,400 migrants reached Italian shores since the new government took office on September 5, according to data compiled by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

During just the past several weeks, the number of migrant arrivals to Italy has increased incrementally: 59 migrants arrived on September 6; 67 arrived on September 9; 121 arrived on September 14; 259 arrived on September 15; 275 arrived on September 18; and 475 arrived between September 19 and September 25, according to the IOM. Overall, the number of migrant arrivals in September 2019 is up by more than 100% over the number of arrivals in September 2018.

Many of the new arrivals are reaching Italy by using new people-smuggling routes that originate in Turkey. In recent weeks, at least five migrant boats have landed in Calabria, in the far south of Italy. On September 21, for instance, 58 migrants, all Pakistani males, reached the Calabrian port of Crotone.

Immigration security

U.S. signs asylum deal with El Salvador to deter migrants despite violence there

The Trump administration on Friday announced it had brokered an immigration accord with El Salvador designed to ensure the government of this small Central American country — one the most dangerous nations in the Western Hemisphere — offers refuge to migrants from all corners of the world journeying to the U.S. 

The deal, unveiled by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, is one of several controversial multilateral accords the administration has sought to forge with countries in Central America's so-called Northern Triangle to curb migration of families to the U.S., which skyrocketed in May but has decreased in recent months. 

McAleenan, who has spent much of his interim tenure leading diplomatic engagements with countries where the bulk of U.S.-bound migrants are coming from or transiting through, helped broker a similar "safe third country" deal earlier in the summer with Guatemala.

Immigration security

Trump unveils plan to ‘transform’ America’s immigration system, focus on high-skilled workers

President Trump on Thursday unveiled a long-awaited immigration overhaul that would dramatically alter how the U.S. accepts people into the country, upending the system in order to favor admissions based on merit rather than family ties.

"If adopted, our plan will transform America's immigration system into the pride of our nation and the envy of the modern world," Trump said from the Rose Garden.

The proposal would judge immigrants with a points-based system that would favor high-skilled workers -- accounting for age, English proficiency, education and whether the applicant has a well-paying job offer.

Currently, only about 12 percent of immigrants are admitted based on employment and skills, while 66 percent are admitted based on family connections inside the U.S. Administration officials estimate that those numbers would flip to 57 and 33 percent, respectively, under the Trump plan.

"Currently 66 percent of legal immigrants come here based on random chance, they're admitted solely because they have a relative in the United States, and it doesn't really matter who that relative is," Trump said.

He said the plan would help recruit "top talent."

Immigration security

Despite falling numbers, immigration remains divisive EU issue

Migrant arrivals to Italy have almost dried up, new asylum requests across the European Union have more than halved in three years and at the end of 2018, Hungary’s reception centers housed just three refugees.

On the face of it, Europe’s migrant crisis appears over, but the shockwaves still resound around the continent ahead of this month’s European Parliament election, and nationalist politicians are looking to capitalize on the continued tumult.

“The most important thing is that leaders are elected who oppose immigration so that Europe will be in a position to defend itself,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on the sidelines of an EU summit in Romania last week.

Opponents accuse far-right and populist parties of grossly exaggerating the problem, but the issue still resonates, with a YouGov poll published on Monday showing that immigration was currently the voters’ top concern, followed by climate change.

Immigration security

Federal authorities arrest dozens over alleged US immigration scam that offered fake marriages for $70,000

Federal investigators say they've arrested dozens of people in Texas on Monday after busting a sham marriage scheme that charged foreigners up to $70,000 – and even provided them with a fake wedding album – to help obtain legal immigration status in the U.S.

The group’s alleged ringleader, 53-year-old Ashley Yen Nguyen, ran the criminal enterprise out of the Houston area but had associates helping her across the state and in Vietnam, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Texas. At least 50 people out of the nearly 100 named in a 206-count indictment are reported to be in custody as of Monday morning.

“The spouses allegedly entered into the marriage pursuant to a financial arrangement for the primary purpose of circumventing U.S. immigration laws,” the Department of Justice said in a statement obtained by KHOU.

The indictment, which remains sealed since not all of those charged are in custody, says the scheme began around August 2013.

Immigration security

Thousands more Central American migrants approach U.S.-Mexico border

Thousands more migrants are heading toward the U.S.-Mexican border, hoping to gain permanent residency here even as the Trump administration tightens rules on detention and obtaining political asylum.

Some 2,000 migrants arrived in Mexico this week, forcing officials of Chiapas state to declare an emergency. 5,000 more migrants had set out toward the U.S. on Monday, according to the Mexico News Daily.

Meanwhile, "Pueblos Sin Frontreras," a group often cited as being behind the caravans since last year, denied on its Facebook page in a post on Tuesday that it is organizing the large groups and leading them on the long journey to the U.S. border from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

“Nonetheless, as defenders of human rights of the migrants," the group wrote, "we are in solidarity with the families, children, men and women that see as their only option to flee their communities and migrate.”

Pueblos Sin Frontreras assailed Mexican authorities for what the group says is their failure to honor previous promises to treat the migrants humanely by giving them visitor visas on humanitarian grounds, and are instead adopting a hard line to keep them from getting close to the United States.

Immigration security

Central American Farmers Head to the U.S., Fleeing Climate Change

Central America is among the regions most vulnerable to climate change, scientists say. And because agriculture employs much of the labor force — about 28 percent in Honduras alone, according to the World Bank — the livelihoods of millions of people are at stake.

Last year, the bank reported that climate change could lead at least 1.4 million people to flee their homes in Mexico and Central America and migrate during the next three decades.

The United States has allocated tens of millions of dollars in aid in recent years for farmers across Central America, including efforts to help them adapt to the changing climate.

But President Trump has vowed to cut off all foreign aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador because of what he calls their failure to curb the flow of migrants north.

Critics contend the punishment is misguided, though, because it could undermine efforts to address the very problems that are driving people to abandon their farms and head to the United States.

Immigration security

'Our country is full': Trump claims emergency during border visit

Donald Trump once again insisted the US immigration system was overburdened and illegal border crossings must be stopped on a visit to the US-Mexico border in California.

Trump traveled to Calexico, California, on Friday to view a section of the border barrier and participate in a roundtable on immigration.

“There is indeed an emergency on our southern border,” Trump said at the briefing, adding that there had been a sharp uptick in illegal crossings. “It’s a colossal surge, and it’s overwhelming our immigration system. We can’t take you anymore. Our country is full.”

Trump, as he so often does, mixed fact with fiction when warning of the threat.

He described the section of border barrier he visited as new, even though it was a long-planned replacement for an older barrier. The Trump administration has not completed any new mileage of wall or fence anywhere on the border since taking office.

Immigration security

Hijacking of an Oil Tanker Is a Turning Point in Migrant Crisis

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called them “pirates.” But the women and children who disembarked from a cargo ship hijacked by migrants in European waters were simply desperate.

They were among the 108 people escaping what human rights groups say is torture and sexual assault in Libya, a country left broken by a NATO-backed uprising that ousted a dictator but failed to bring peace.

Over the course of 24 hours, a group of men wrested control of the vessel on Wednesday when it became clear it was returning to Tripoli only for Maltese special forces, backed by helicopters, to board the ship at nightfall and redirect it to Valletta by Thursday morning.

As the Turkish-flagged El Hiblu 1 docked at the capital’s port a toddler and a young girl in torn jeans and a pink jacket were the first off as armed personnel stood guard on deck. Four men in handcuffs, believed to have been those who commandeered the ship, were escorted away by police.