Arizona Senate Panel Passes Sweeping Bills Targeting Illegals, Birthright Citizenship
FOX NEWS: PHOENIX -- An Arizona Senate committee late Tuesday narrowly approved a sweeping bill that would target illegal immigrants in public housing, public benefits and the workplace.

The committee earlier Tuesday also approved a bill that would deny automatic citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants in a measure designed to set up a possible U.S. Supreme Court case on the issue.

Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce, who authored Arizona's controversial illegal immigration law last year that touched off a nationwide debate on whether states can enforce federal immigration laws, sponsored Tuesday's more sweeping measure.

"If you're in the country illegally, you don't have a right to public benefits, period," he said. >>> Associated Press | Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Italie : arrivée d'immigrants tunisiens
leJDD.fr: Près d'un millier d'immigrants tunisiens sont arrivés illégalement dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche sur l'île italienne de Lampedusa, selon les gardes-côtes italiens. "Depuis minuit, 977 personnes sont arrivés à Lampedusa", a déclaré dimanche matin le commandant du port de Lampedusa Antonio Morana, alors que que deux autres embarcations se rapprochaient de la petite île."La situation est difficile", a reconnu le commandant Morana, "les débarquements se poursuivent à un rythme incessant".

La mer calme et le beau temps favorisent ces départ depuis la Tunisie d'embarcations chargées d'immigrés clandestins. Le gouvernement italien a proclamé samedi l'état d'urgence humanitaire "mais cela ne suffit plus, nous devons mobiliser les pays de la Méditerranée qui ont des navires, des avions et des hélicoptères" pour contrôler la côte tunisienne, a jugé dans une interview au Corriere della Sera de dimanche le ministre des Affaires étrangères, Franco Frattini. [Source: leJDD.fr] | Dimanche 13 Février 2011

LE MONDE: L'incertitude politique pousse de nombreux Tunisiens à émigrer : Des milliers de Tunisiens ont pris l'exode pour tenter de rejoindre clandestinement les côtes européennes ces derniers jours, fuyant une Tunisie en reconstruction où le gouvernement de transition reste sous forte pression sociale et politique. >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Dimanche 13 Février 2011

Lampedusa, mille arrivi nella notte : «stato di emergenza umanitaria»

Arizona Drops the Anchor on 'Anchor Babies'
State known for controversial illegal immigration law introduces bill targeting birthright citizenship

Greece to Build 128-mile Anti-migrant Wall
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Greece has announced plans to build a controversial new wall along its 128 mile-long land border with Turkey to keep out illegal immigrants.

Christos Papoutsis, a Greek interior minister, insisted the wall was necessary after Brussels intervened last year to prevent an immigration crisis by sending in an elite taskforce of border guards to protect the frontier between Greece and Turkey, the EU’s most insecure boundary. He compared the planned barrier to the 650-mile fence along sections of the United-States-Mexico border.

“Co-operation with other EU states is going well. Now we plan to construct a fence to deal with illegal migration,” he said.

”The Greek public has reached its limit in taking in illegal immigrants. We are absolutely determined on this issue. Greece can’t take it anymore.”

Critics said the planned wall would be viewed as a symbol of widespread opposition, led by France, Germany and Greece, to Turkish EU membership and an emblem of a new Christian-Muslim divide between West and East. >>> Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Monday, January 03, 2011

Gaddafi Demands £4 Billion from EU or Europe Will Turn 'Black'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Muammar Gaddafi has demanded that the European Union give him more than £4 billion to fight illegal immigration or else Europe will turn "black" and be swamped by Muslims.

During an EU-Africa summit, that ended on Tuesday in Tripoli, the Libyan leader described European's economic relationship with the African continent as a "failure".

Unless "Christian, white" countries gave him extra funding, Colonel Gaddafi predicted that Europe would be flooded with illegal immigrants leaving impoverished Africa.

"We should stop this illegal immigration. If we don't, Europe will become black, it will be overcome by people with different religions, it will change," he said. >>> Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Barack Obama Has Bowed Before the UN Over Arizona Immigration Law
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – NILE GARDINER: There can be few sights more humiliating for the American people than that of a US president kowtowing to a foreign leader or to supranational institutions. Continental Europeans are used to this sort of thing after decades of dominance by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, and have grudgingly accepted over time the gradual and undemocratic erosion of their freedoms. But most Americans fiercely defend their national sovereignty, and find the idea of giving international organisations a say over their laws and lives completely unacceptable.

The Obama administration however has submitted a report to the UN Commissioner on Human Rights, South African judge Navanethem Pillay, which makes direct reference to a popular Arizona immigration law aimed at tackling illegal immigration, which is fiercely opposed by the White House, and is the subject of legal action by the Justice Department. The report references

A recent Arizona law, S.B. 1070, (which) has generated significant attention and debate at home and around the world. The issue is being addressed in a court action that argues that the federal government has the authority to set and enforce immigration law. That action is ongoing; parts of the law are currently enjoined.

The highly controversial reference to the Arizona law serves only one purpose – to gain UN and international support for the Obama administration’s position in the face of mounting opposition from Arizona legislators and a majority of the American people. A recent Rasmussen poll showed 61 percent of Americans backing Arizona-style laws for their own states, and just 28 percent supporting a Justice Department challenge.

By doing so, Obama officials undoubtedly hope to stir up international condemnation of the Arizona policy in advance of the UN General Assembly meetings in September, which they believe will increase pressure on Arizona to back down. It is a highly cynical move that speaks volumes about the Obama team’s willingness to undercut American sovereignty and popular will on the world stage. Continue reading and comment >>> Nile Gardiner | Tuesday, August 31, 2010

State Department Defends Human Rights Report
FOX NEWS: P.J. Crowley on why Arizona immigration law was singled out in new report to U.N. commission singles out

Gaddafi Causes Storm in Italy After Trying to Convert Young Women to Islam
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, left, shakes hands with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Photograph: The Sydney Morning Herald
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's invitation to hundreds of young women to convert to Islam overshadowed a two-day visit to Italy intended to cement the growing ties between Tripoli and Rome.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hailed Italy's relationship with Libya at an evening ceremony on Monday attended by some of the biggest names in Italian business, many hoping to pick up lucrative contracts in the energy-rich North African state.

Gaddafi called on the European Union to provide five billion euro ($7.1 billion) a year to help fight illegal immigration.

However, the mercurial leader attracted most attention earlier in the day by summoning busloads of young women hired by a hostessing agency to a meeting at a Libyan cultural centre near the Vatican and urging them to convert to Islam.

Media reports said three women had converted, although it was not possible to verify if that was true.

"It was very interesting, the role of the woman in Libya was very interesting," Barbara Persichetti, one of the women who attended, told Reuters Television.

The event, which repeated a similar operation on a previous visit to Rome last year, led to criticism from the media and opposition and embarrassment from many in Berlusconi's own centre-right camp.

"What would happen if a European head of state went to Libya or another Islamic country and invited everyone to convert to Christianity?" asked the newspaper Il Messagero. "We believe it would provoke very strong reactions across the Islamic world."

Several commentators accused Berlusconi of sacrificing principles and dignity for the sake of trade and investment ties with Libya, whose huge sovereign wealth fund has invested heavily in Italy in recent years.

"Ever since Gaddafi arrived here, he's been taking this country for a ride, like buying women," said Stefano Pedica, a senator from the opposition Italy of Values party. ”Outdated Ideas” >>> Reuters | Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Related material here, here, here, and here

JD Hayworth's Republican Challenge to John McCain Grows as Anti-immigrant Anger Spills onto Arizona's Streets
THE GUARDIAN: State's tough new rules capture mood of growing fury – and are starting to set a national trend

Protesters in favour of the anti-immigrant law, which faced a legal challenge, in Phoenix, Arizona. Photograph: The Guardian
JD Hayworth, a barnstorming Arizona Republican who is campaigning for the Senate, has strong opinions about his state's new law on illegal immigration.

The law, known as SB1070 and due to come into effect this week, requires police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and makes it a crime not to have valid immigration papers on your person. It has prompted Hispanics to fear racial profiling, immigrants to flee the state in droves, activists to organise consumer boycotts and the Obama administration to sue in federal court.

Hayworth has an objection, too. He thinks the law is not enough. Speaking to an overwhelmingly white crowd at a "town hall" meeting in suburban Mesa last week, Hayworth said it was time to stop automatically granting citizenship to anyone born in Arizona. "There is a whole new term: birth tourism. In the jet age there are people who time their gestation period so they give birth on American soil," he declared. State senator Russell Pearce, who helped come up with SB1070, is now pushing for a law along those lines.

By any standards this is extreme stuff. Yet Hayworth, far from being out on the edge of Arizona politics, is a politician on the rise. He is challenging Senator John McCain in a right-wing rebellion that could turf the Republicans' most recent presidential candidate out of the Senate seat he has held since 1986. That this even seems possible shows just how powerful the fear over illegal immigration has become in Arizona. >>> Paul Harris, The Observer | Sunday, July 25, 2010

Full Court Press on Illegal Immigration

Photo: Fox News
Lawmaker Warns Parks Takeover by Mexican Cartels, Illegals 'Intensifying'
FOX NEWS: Federal environmental laws are handcuffing U.S. Border Patrol agents to a foot-and-horseback strategy as they try to battle Mexican drug cartels and illegal immigrants who are turning wide swaths of America's border with Mexico into a virtual no-man's land.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, ranking Republican on the House Parks and Public Lands Subcommittee, said the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southern Arizona -- part of which was closed in 2006 because it was considered too dangerous for Americans to visit -- is just the tip of the iceberg.

He said there's plenty of other parkland along the border that's either closed to the public or is considered too dangerous because of concern about drug gangs, human smugglers and illegal immigrants, and that the problem is getting worse.

"You travel here in America at your own risk," Bishop told FoxNews.com. >>> FoxNews | Thursday, June 17, 2010

Vicar 'Conducted Sham Marriages for Illegals'
THE TELEGRAPH: A vicar conducted hundreds of sham marriages to help illegal immigrants gain residency in Britain over a four-year period, a court heard.

The Rev Alex Brown, 61, and co-defendants Michael Adelasoye, 50, and Vladymyr Buchak, 33, are accused of preying on Eastern Europeans desperate for money and Africans who were willing to do anything to stay in the country in a ''massive and cynical scam''.

Between July 2005 and July 2009, Brown presided over a total of 383 marriages at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, a 30-fold increase compared to the 13 he had conducted over the previous four years.

The three men went on trial at Lewes Crown Court yesterday charged with conspiring to facilitate the commission of breaches of immigration laws.

Opening the case, prosecutor David Walbank told jurors the three paid money to nationals from EU member states such as Switzerland [sic], Iceland [sic] and Norway [sic].

In return for the money they were expected to wed African nationals, mainly Nigerian, in order for them to become permanent residents in Britain.

''This case involves a massive and systematic immigration fraud," said Mr Walbank.

The court heard how Buchak, a Ukrainian national who had himself been living illegally in the country since at least 2004, was responsible for ''cajoling and persuading'' the Eastern Europeans into the marriages of convenience. >>> | Friday, June 11, 2010

Tensions Rise as Jobless Migrants Are Blamed for the Pain in Spain
TIMES ONLINE: The food bank in Vic, 40 miles north of Barcelona, occupies an old bakery in a side street. Each day hundreds of unemployed stream in to collect handouts of bread, milk, pasta and other necessities. The overwhelming majority are immigrants, predominantly Moroccans and sub-Saharan Africans who flocked to Vic in the past few years to work on building sites or in the huge pig farms and meat factories that surround the town and give it its distinctive smell.

At least 10,000 came, swelling Vic’s population by a quarter. They did the hard, dirty work and were welcomed. Not any more. Half lost their jobs when Spain’s construction bubble burst in 2008 and brought the good times to an abrupt end.

A deeply unpopular €15 billion (£12.7 billion) austerity package rushed through parliament yesterday will make life even harder. On top of that, the immigrants are now the target of Platform for Catalonia, Spain’s equivalent of the BNP, which is based in Vic. “Control immigration — stop the crisis,” its leaflets proclaim.

“They insult us. They say maybe we’re the cause of the crisis, that we take their jobs. It’s not fair and it’s not nice,” said Mercy Omoroagbon, 30, as she collected her handout. She arrived from Nigeria in 2002, lost both her cleaning jobs last year and now lives off the charity of friends.

“They say the Spanish can’t work because of the immigrants. It’s not true. We did the work the Spanish didn’t want or wouldn’t do,” said Joy Ekechukwu, 33, another Nigerian who came to Spain 11 years ago, lost her factory job and now struggles to support her two young children. Read on and comment >>> Martin Fletcher | Friday, May 28, 2010

White Supremacists’ Rally Sparks Violent Clashes in Los Angeles
MAIL ON SUNDAY: A white supremacist group rallied against illegal immigration in Los Angeles city centre yesterday as hundreds of counter-protesters gathered in a tense standoff that resulted [in] several arrests, thrown rocks and police in riot gear.

Police officers stood between the white supremacists and counter-demonstrators on the south lawn of Los Angeles' City Hall, where about 50 members of the National Socialist Movement waved American flags and swastika banners for about an hour.

Five people, all of them counter-protesters, were arrested at the demonstration.

The white supremacists, many of them wearing flack helmets and black military fatigue uniforms, shouted 'Sieg Heil' before each of their speakers took the podium to taunt counter-protesters with racial, anti-Semitic and misogynistic epithets.

'We will meet you head on,' one of the white supremacists warned the crowd from behind several phalanxes of police in riot gear.

Members of the Detroit-based group said they picked the location for their rally because of Los Angeles' large immigrant population. They accused some of the immigrants of stealing jobs and committing crimes. >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Sunday, April 18, 2010

Activists Push Ballot Initiative to End State Benefits for Illegal Immigrants and Their U.S.-born Children
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The measure would end public benefits to illegal residents, challenge the citizenship of their U.S.-born children, cut welfare payments to those children and impose new birth certificate requirements.

In a stretch of desert just north of the U.S.-Mexico border, men and women in khakis and the colors of the American flag recently gathered at a border watch post they call Camp Vigilance and discussed their next offensive in the nation's immigration wars.

The target: Illegal immigrants and their U.S.-born children who receive public benefits.

The plan: a California ballot initiative that would end public benefits for illegal immigrants, cut off welfare payments for their children and impose new rules for birth certificates.

"We will be out in full force to qualify this initiative," said Barbara Coe, who helped develop Proposition 187, the 1994 measure that would have ended benefits to illegal immigrants but was ruled unconstitutional. "Illegals and their children are costing the state billions of dollars. It's invasion by birth canal."

Supporters of the initiative, recently unveiled by San Diego political activist Ted Hilton, hope to challenge the citizenship of children born in the United States to parents who are here illegally. >>> Teresa Watanabe | Monday, July 13, 2009

Misery Meets Greece's Migrants (May 22, 2009)

Italian Parliament Criminalizes Illegal Immigration
USA TODAY: ROME — Italy's lower chamber of parliament has passed a hotly debated measure making it a crime to enter or stay in Italy illegally as Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative forces continue cracking down on illegal migration.

In a bid to ensure swift passage, Berlusconi's allies put the legislation to a confidence vote, which they easily won 316-258. Confidence votes force lawmakers to close ranks since defeat would force the government's resignation.

The legislation must now be approved by the senate. It would make it a crime to enter or stay in Italy illegally, punishable by a fine of $6,840-$13,670, although no prison penalty would be imposed. In addition, the legislation imposes a prison term of up to three years for anyone who rents an apartment to an illegal immigrant. [Source: USA Today] AP | Wednesday, May 13, 2009

NZZ Online: Italiens Parlament macht illegale Einwanderung strafbar: Geldstrafe bis 10'000 Euro – Abstimmung mit Vertrauensfrage verknüpft

Ein umstrittenes Gesetz des italienischen Ministerpräsidenten zur Strafverfolgung illegaler Einwanderer hat die erste parlamentarische Hürde genommen.

Italiens Regierungschef Silvio Berlusconi macht ernst. Mit gleich drei Vertrauensabstimmungen boxte er im Parlament seine Vorschläge für eine strengere Ausländer- und Flüchtlingspolitik durch.

Wer illegal nach Italien einreist oder sich dort aufhält, muss gemäss dem Gesetzesentwurf künftig 5000 bis 10'000 Euro Geldstrafe zahlen. Eine Haftstrafe ist nicht vorgesehen. Allerdings muss mit bis zu drei Jahren Haft rechnen, wer illegal eingewanderten Personen eine Wohnung vermietet. >>> sda/dpa | Mittwoch, 13. Mai 2009

Obama's Aunt Becomes Symbol in Immigration Debate
ASSOCIATED PRESS: BOSTON — Barack Obama's Kenyan aunt lost her bid for asylum more than four years ago, and a judge ordered her deported. Instead, Zeituni Onyango stayed, living for years in public housing.

Now, in a case that puts the president in a tough position both personally and politically, Onyango's request is being reconsidered under a little-used provision in U.S. immigration rules that allows denied asylum claims to be reheard if applicants can show that something has changed to make them eligible.

Such as the ascension of her nephew to the presidency of the world's most powerful country.

"If she goes back to Kenya, she is going to be much more in the limelight, and that, in and of itself, could put her at a greater risk. The chances of her going back and keeping a low profile are gone at this point," said Boston immigration attorney Ilana Greenstein.

Onyango, 56, the half-sister of Obama's late father, moved to the United States in 2000. Her first bid for asylum was rejected, and an immigration judge ordered her deported in 2004; she continues to live in public housing in Boston.

In December, a judge agreed to suspend the deportation order and reopen her case. An initial hearing is scheduled Wednesday in U.S. Immigration Court in Boston.

Obama has said repeatedly that he didn't know his aunt was living in the United States illegally and believes that laws covering the situation should be followed. If she wins asylum, he could look soft on immigration enforcement. If she loses, he could face criticism from immigrant advocacy groups.

The White House says Obama is staying out of it. >>> By Denise Lavoie | Tuesday, March 31, 2009

85,000 Illegal Immigrants Flood In from France
DAILY EXPRESS: MORE than 1,000 illegal migrants a month are pouring into Britain from northern France.

In the six years since the closure of the notorious Sangatte refugee camp near Calais, 85,000 have passed through French Channel ports to the UK.



The figures come from Father Jean-Pierre Boutoille, head of a refugee charity in Calais who says Britain’s hard line against illegal immigration has proved fruitless.


The Catholic priest reports that more and more migrants are arriving in northern France every day, intent on getting to the UK.



Father Boutoille points out that Britain’s black economy and generous welfare system continue to draw immigrants from the world’s troublespots. 85,000 Illegal Immigrants Flood In from France >>> By Nick Fagge in Calais | September 1, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Broché)
The Dawning of a new Dark Age (Relié)

Italy: Illegal Immigration Soars
Photo of illegal immigrants entering Italy from North Africa courtesy of the BBC
BBC: The number of illegal immigrants entering Italy doubled in the first seven months of the year compared with the same period in 2007, Rome says.

The figures come in spite of a government crackdown on crime and an increase in the number of deportations.

More than 15,000 illegal immigrants entered the EU via Italy between January and July, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said.

Many illegal immigrants arrive on boats organised by people traffickers.

Mr Maroni, whose Northern League party formed part of the right-wing government coalition, has campaigned strongly against clandestine immigration.

Most of the illegal immigrants come across the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has launched a crackdown on crime, which most Italians associate with illegal immigration.

He brought in stringent new measures making it an offence punishable by up to four years jail to enter the country illegally. Italy Illegal Immigration Soars >>> By David Willey, BBC News Rome | August 15, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Italy)

Mayoral Candidates Unite in Call for Illegal Immigration Amnesty
THE INDEPENDENT: Today, all four major candidates in London's mayoral election join religious and business leaders in proposing a radical solution for illegal immigrants

A formidable coalition of businessmen, politicians, religious leaders and community workers will pledge their support tonight for an amnesty for illegal immigrants who have been resident in the UK for several years and can pass strict tests to prove their contribution to British society.

All four of London's main mayoral candidates – including, against the official policy of his party, the Tory candidate Boris Johnson – will back the campaign to offer undocumented workers the chance to be integrated into mainstream society and obtain papers allowing them to work and pay taxes legally.

In an unprecedented move that will exert even more pressure on the Government to heed calls for an amnesty, they will be joined by an array of influential figures from outside the political world, including Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, leader of the Muslim Council of Britain and Stephen O'Brien, one of the City's leading businessmen.

"Enormous untapped potential and appalling waste is taking place right in front us," Mr O'Brien, chairman of the lobby group London First and former chief executive of Business in the Community, said yesterday. "Business leaders recognise that the case for an amnesty is both principled and pragmatic. The economic and moral case for liberating this army of workers from the underground economy is irrefutable." Mayoral Candidates Unite in Call for Illegal Immigration Amnesty >>> By Amol Rajan | April 9, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback)