Denmark tightens border controls to curb cross-border crime and illegal immigration

Danish custom officers check a unindentified driver from the Netherlands at the Danish-German border in Padborg, Denmark Photo: EPA

Denmark has tightened its border controls in a move which opponents claim could sound the death knell for the EU’s principle of free movement.

Telegraph | Jul 5, 2011

By Matthew Day

The Scandinavian country deployed an extra 50 customs officers at crossings on the German and Swedish borders in an attempt to curb cross-border crime and illegal immigration.

This figure will rise to 98 by the end of the year.

Denmark, which belongs to the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone, also plans to increase video surveillance at crossings and build four new customs houses.

Denmark’s decision to become the first country to break ranks with its Schengen peers has sparked concern for the future of unrestricted travel between EU countries.

The principle of open borders is already threatened by political pressures created by the influx of refugees fleeing the turmoil in North Africa.

Cecilia Malmstrom, European commissioner for internal affairs, warned of repercussions for Denmark if it was found to break Schengen regulations.

“If the Danish government proceeds with a proposal in breach of EU law, we stand ready to take the necessary measures to protect the European values of free movement,” she wrote in her blog.

Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s foreign minister, criticised the Danish move, saying it endangered EU co-operation and solidarity, while Jorg-Uwe Hahn, Europe minister for the German state of Hesse, called for Germans to boycott holidaying in Denmark by “voting with their feet” to punish the Scandinavian country.

Heightening European fears that Denmark’s decision may lead to the unravelling of the Schengen zone France’s National Front immediately seized on the Danish initiative with its latest campaign poster stating “Denmark patrols its borders … why don’t we?”

But Denmark defended its decision, arguing the new border regime was in line with Schengen regulations as its customs officers will not be checking passports.

“It’s been proven that illegal merchandise is being smuggled into Denmark. Cross-border criminality should not enjoy freedom of movement, but people should,” Peter Christensen, the Danish tax minister, told public broadcaster DR.

Brown’s government ‘left the British working man screwed by cheap labour’, says Who frontman Roger Daltrey

Daily Mail | Jul 3, 2011

By Ben Todd

Entering the debate: Who frontman Roger Daltrey has used an interview to give his views on immigration, the NHS and the Coalition government

He was a Sixties rebel, renowned for voicing working class angst.

And now legendary Who frontman Roger Daltrey has waded into the debate on immigration.

Daltrey, now 67, has told how the influx of thousands of immigrant workers from the rest of Europe during Labour’s 13-year reign left the indigenous working-classes unemployed.

The star told how the last government left ‘the British working man screwed like he’d never been screwed before by cheap labour coming in from Europe.’

He went on: ‘We do need immigration, but surely it should be a level playing field where they can’t undercut every working–class bloke in England for their jobs.’

However the current Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government were not spared his ire either, with Daltrey adding: ‘The quality of our politicians is tragic.’

He continued: ‘I don’t care what people say about me. I tell it like it is, and, if I’m wrong, I’ll just say, ‘OK, I’m wrong.’ I’m not always the most diplomatic person. I know my faults, but I’m comfortable with me.’

Daltrey also had harsh words for the machinations of the NHS.

The star has long been involved in charity the Teenage Cancer Trust. As a result, he has experienced the workings of the NHS.

He said: ‘You suddenly see the enormity and complexity of it, and the truth that no one wants to accept that there’s nobody in charge.
‘Everyone knows it can’t carry on, but you can’t touch anything in the NHS because the nurses are in their trench, the doctors are in their trench, the unions are in their trench – it’s the First World War.’

Daltrey, who lives with wife Heather in a sprawling estate in East Sussex, is also furious at rural poverty.

The star- who has five children – said in a new interview: ‘I live 50 miles from London, and we’ve got some of the highest levels of teenage and childhood poverty in the country. It’s disgusting. Just because it’s a rural area, it gets forgotten.’

Daltrey was speaking as he publicised a new version of The Who’s famous rock opera Tommy.

The star – who starred as Tommy in the film version of the musical – will embark on an UK tour later this week.  He will then embark on a two-month US tour of the opera in September.

Tommy was originally written by the band in 1969 before being turned into a Ken Russell directed move in 1975. To date, the album has sold 20 million copies.

Mexico orders US-bred mass killing suspect to stand trial on organized crime charges

Associated Press | Jun 10, 2011

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican judge has ordered an alleged U.S.-bred drug gang leader to stand trial on charges of organized crime and kidnapping in connection with more than 250 killings in a northern Mexico border state.

The federal Attorney General’s Office said Friday that Martin Estrada Luna and three other men will be tried in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.

Estrada Luna was arrested in April. Investigators say he masterminded the killings as head of a cell of the Zetas drug gang.

They allegedly killed 72 migrants last August and 193 people months later in Tamaulipas state.

The 34-year-old was born in Mexico and grew up in the U.S. He was deported to Mexico in 2009.

Immigration to the UK is ‘out of control’

Turnaround: More people are coming to settle in Britain than quitting for abroad

Immigration increased the fastest since Britain joined the EU seven years ago.

Daily Mail | May 27, 2011

By Steve Doughty

Immigration rose to near-record levels last year, official  figures have revealed.

Net migration increased at the  fastest rate since Labour opened Britain’s doors to workers from the Eastern European states that joined the EU seven years ago.

In the year up to September 2010, the figure for net migration – the difference between immigration and emigration – was 242,000, the third highest on record.

Some 586,000 people arrived to live in Britain and 344,000 emigrated.

The net migration of 242,000 was nearly 100,000 higher than the previous year.

It means that David Cameron must more than halve immigration if he is to get anywhere close to the Coalition ‘aspiration’ of bringing net migration down to tens of thousands a year.

A raft of figures published yesterday delivered a series of blows to the Government’s hopes of curbing the levels of immigration that critics say have distorted the economy and deepened poverty and benefit dependency over the past 14 years.

Migration from Eastern Europe is back up again after falling in 2009.

The numbers of Poles and other Eastern Europeans in the UK rose by 43,000.

Immigration from Eastern Europe rose by some 50 per cent to 72,000 while the numbers of Eastern Europeans leaving to go home dropped by nearly half to 29,000.

Labour put no restrictions on the rights of Eastern Europeans to work in the UK when their countries joined the EU in 2004. As a result, the Coalition cannot close the doors or tighten the rules.

Ministers did succeed in cutting the numbers of student visas issued to those from outside Europe in the 12 months to March this year.

Mass immigration ‘has made the UK’s poor even poorer’

Competition for unskilled jobs means many give up and turn to benefits

Poverty in working-age adults reaches highest level in 50 years

Daily Mail | May 13, 2011

By Steve Doughty

Ministers drew a link for the first time yesterday between large-scale immigration and rising levels of poverty among low-paid workers.

Iain Duncan Smith said that Labour’s open door to migration meant tens of thousands more people were chasing unskilled jobs – and that in turn meant many gave up on work for a life on benefits.

The Work and Pensions Secretary named immigration as one of the causes of rising distress among low-skilled workers after the latest official breakdown showed working-age adult poverty has reached its highest level in 50 years.

The figures showed slightly less poverty last year among children and pensioners, and average take-home incomes went up.

But the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies said this was mainly because of increasing state benefits and tax credits in the year before the general election. It predicted record falls in incomes and a vicious squeeze on living standards this year.

The poverty figures showed that 5.7million working-age people were living below the Government’s poverty line in the financial year that ended in April 2010, a rise of 700,000 in five years between 2004 and 2009.

The IFS said the 16 per cent of working-age people now below the poverty line is the highest since it started compiling its own records in 1961.

However, the great bulk of the increase did not come during the recession years after 2007, when unemployment began to rise, but in the three years between 2004 and 2007.

This was the period when the economy was booming – attracting one and a half million Poles and other Eastern Europeans who came to work in Britain after the borders were opened when their countries joined the EU.

Immigration from other parts of the world was also running at unprecedentedly high levels over the three years.

Mr Duncan Smith said: ‘Labour’s open-door immigration policy meant that the competition for low skill jobs in many areas increased, and a life on benefits became a more attractive option than a life in work.

‘That’s why this Government is doing the responsible thing and reforming the welfare state and tightening up on immigration to get Britain working and end the madness of generations living on benefits with no higher aspiration.’

Labour ministers defended high immigration on the grounds that it benefited the economy.

The poverty figures, however, suggest there was force behind the arguments of critics of immigration who said the benefits were felt only by the well-off – and those on low incomes were facing greater competition for work and lower pay.

According to the Households Below Average Incomes report, the share of working-age adults in poverty – below 60 per cent of median income – stood at 14 per cent in 2004. Last year it reached 16 per cent.

Mr Duncan Smith said that despite the falls in official poverty levels, inequality is at record levels and working people have borne the brunt of paying for the state benefits that gave better living standards to the workless.

‘These figures lay bare the growth of income inequality in the UK which is now the highest it has ever been,’ he said.

He added that ‘benefit dependency and worklessness (had been made) inherent to the UK way of life with middle and low income earners picking up the bill.’

Obama: Illegal immigration is an “underground economy that exploits cheap labor while depressing wages for everyone else.”

Obama renews call for immigration reform

UPI | May 10, 2011

WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) — President Barack Obama went to the Texas border town of El Paso Tuesday to push his ideas for immigration reform.

While he said the influx of immigrants through the centuries “enriches us all,” Obama called the U.S. immigration system “broken,” with an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. He said the situation has led to “a massive underground economy that exploits a cheap source of labor while depressing wages for everyone else.”

Immigration reform will help middle-income families and make America more competitive in the global economy, he said.

Obama said his administration has spent the past two years working to secure the nation’s borders, with 20,000 Border Patrol agents now in place — more than double the number in 2004 — and a fence separating the United States from Mexico “basically complete.”

He said the effort has been augmented by intelligence gathering and analysis, the use of drones and partnering with Mexico. More drugs, cash and weapons have been seized than ever before, and fewer people are crossing the border illegally, he said.

“So, we have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement,” Obama said.

There are those, however, who will want even more border agents and security measures.

“Maybe they’ll say we need a moat. Or alligators in the moat,” he said. “They’ll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That’s politics. But the truth is, the measures we’ve put in place are getting results.”

But, he said, the “ultimate solution” is to pass reform measures so “fewer people have incentive to enter illegally in search of work in the first place.”

He called on Congress to “put politics aside” and “finish the work we’ve started.”

Obama laid out several reform steps he said are needed, starting with securing the borders and enforcing current laws. He said businesses need to be held accountable if they exploit undocumented workers. He also said illegal immigrants “have to admit that they broke the law, pay their taxes, pay a fine and learn English,” as well as “undergo background checks and a lengthy process before they can get in line for legalization.”

The president said the country’s “outdated system of legal immigration” needs reform so “it easier for the best and the brightest to not only study here, but also to start businesses and create jobs here.”

“We need to provide farms a legal way to hire the workers they rely on, and a path for those workers to earn legal status,” he said.

“And we should stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents — by denying them the chance to earn an education or serve in the military. That’s why we need to pass the Dream Act.”

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and other senators are to announce Wednesday they will bring up the Dream Act bill.

The National Retail Federation’s chain restaurants branch reacted positively to Obama’s speech and called for comprehensive reform “to address glaring deficiencies in our country’s ability to provide a steady, stable supply of workers to keep our economy growing.”

“Reforms must address both short-term and longer-term workforce needs,” National Council of Chain Restaurants Executive Director Rob Green said in a release. “But reform should be truly comprehensive and deal with all the issues of this complex subject rather than making employers scapegoats for the shortcomings of our immigration system. Any mandatory system of employer verification of workers must be phased in over time, include a safe harbor for companies that use the system in good faith and avoid disruptions to the normal course of business activity.”

Obama called on people to take part in the national debate by logging on at www.whitehouse.gov.

“We need Washington to know that there is a movement for reform gathering strength from coast to coast. That’s how we’ll get this done,” he said.

Georgia governor signs anti-illegal immigration law

Protesters set up outside the governor’s office and there were threats of boycotts against the state.

CNN | May 13, 2011

by Gustavo Valdes, CNN

Atlanta (CNN) — Despite protests outside his office and boycott threats, Georgia’s governor signed into law Friday one of the toughest anti-illegal immigration measures enacted by an individual state.

The measure, which Gov. Nathan Deal inked about a month after it cleared the Republican-dominated Georgia Legislature, allows law enforcement officers to ask about immigration status when questioning suspects in certain criminal investigations.

HB 87 also imposes prison sentences of up to one year and fines of up to $1,000 for people who knowingly transport illegal immigrants during the commission of a crime. It also asserts that workers convicted of using fake identification to get jobs could be sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined $250,000.

“This legislation is a responsible step forward in the absence of federal action,” Deal said after the bill signing. “Illegal immigration places an incredible burden on Georgia taxpayers.”

As they have throughout the debate, leaders in the local Latino community railed against the measure. Among them were several dozen people who demonstrated Friday outside the governor’s office at the state Capitol, chanting, “Shame on you.”

The legislation drew threats of lawsuits targeting the bill, as well as boycotts aimed at forcing the government’s hand. The group Southerners on New Ground is calling for a national boycott of conventions and vacation travel to Georgia, while a blog entry on the website of the group Somos Georgia warned, “Veto HB 87 or Boycott! It’s your choice, Governor Deal!!”

“This is the beginning of a road that we’ll travel that will take a long time,” Teodoro Maus, president of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, said Friday in Atlanta.

Similar efforts have been pursued — with some success — targeting other states that have passed legislation aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. Nonetheless, anti-illegal immigrant bills can still be found from coast to coast.

The National Conference of State Legislatures found that, in 2010 alone, more than 1,400 bills were introduced aiming to give individual states more of a role in immigration enforcement. Of those measures, 208 laws were enacted, 10 were vetoed, and 138 resolutions were adopted.

The best-known such effort was in Arizona. Among other things, that legislation would have required local law enforcement officers in Arizona to apprehend and help deport illegal immigrants.

The U.S. Justice Department sued, arguing that only the federal government has that authority. Last month, a three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Justice Department and against Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed SB 1070 into law last year. Brewer has asked the Supreme Court to lift the court order that is blocking enforcement of parts of the law.

Wade Henderson, the head of the advocacy group Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, blasted what he called Georgia’s “odious piece of legislation.” He said it was a “copycat” of the Arizona law and effectively legalizes “racial profiling.”

“Georgia’s lawmakers have not learned from Arizona’s mistakes,” Henderson said Friday in a statement. “These laws presume everyone is guilty, contradicting the fundamental American presumption that those accused are innocent until proven otherwise.”

The Mexican government added Friday that it “regrets” Deal’s decision to sign the law.

“The legislators and state executive ignored the many contributions of the immigrant community to the economy and society of Georgia,” the Mexican government said in a statement.

But some who support the Georgia legislation — including Deal and Phil Kent, a spokesman for the conservative group Americans for Immigration Control — said it is not about discrimination but rather about protecting taxpayers.

“The illegal immigrants in our state have been swamping our hospitals and schools,” Kent said. “It’s a very expensive proposition. We just want to make sure that people are welcome here and that they come here legally. And then we can cut back on the illegal immigration.”

President Barack Obama’s administration has opposed such state-specific measures, including fighting them in court, saying that having as many as 50 different immigration policies (one for each state) would be counterproductive from a law enforcement standpoint and damaging from an international relations standpoint.

Asked about HB 87 last month by CNN affiliate WSB, Obama defended the federal government’s actions.

“The truth on the matter is we’ve done more on enforcement than any previous administration,” the president said. “We have more border patrols; we have had serious crackdowns on employers who are hiring undocumented workers.”

Superman renouncing the US, going global at the UN

Superman is seen in this panel from the Action Comics issue #900 is shown in this publicity photo released to Reuters April 28, 2011. The Man of Steel, in the latest issue of Action Comics which hit newsstands on April 27, 2011, said he intends to renounce his U.S. citizenship in a speech before the United Nations. Credit: Reuters/DC Comics/Handout

Superman threatens to renounce U.S. citizenship

Reuters | Apr 29, 2011

By Alex Dobuzinskis

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Superman, citizen of the world?

The Man of Steel, in the latest issue of Action Comics which hit newsstands on Wednesday, said he intends to renounce his U.S. citizenship in a speech before the United Nations.

“I’m tired of having my actions construed as instruments of U.S. policy,” Superman said in a short story in the issue, Action Comics No. 900 from the Time Warner Inc unit DC Comics.

In the comic, Superman never actually renounces his citizenship, he only talks about his plans to do that.

But conservative commentators reacted with disgust to the new storyline, given that the fictional superhero has long proclaimed he stood for “Truth, Justice and the American way.”

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In a blog post at The Weekly Standard, senior writer Jonathan Last questioned Superman’s beliefs, now that he seems to have rejected the United States.

“Does he believe in British interventionism or Swiss neutrality?” Last wrote. “You see where I’m going with this: If Superman doesn’t believe in America, then he doesn’t believe in anything.”

The new plot twist for Superman comes as the superhero visitor from a distant planet, who was raised by a Kansas farmer and his wife, looks to take on a more global mission for his battle against evil.

“The world’s too small. Too connected,” Superman said in the comic book.

Superman, who was first introduced in the 1938, has a long association with the United States. But Joe Shuster, the artist who helped create the character with writer Jerry Siegel, was born in Canada.

And critics have described Superman’s life story as a metaphor for the immigrant experience, because he is an alien.

DC Comics co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio seemed to downplay their landmark superhero character’s latest declaration, in a joint statement.

“In a short story in Action Comics 900, Superman announces his intention to put a global focus on his never ending battle, but he remains, as always, committed to his adopted home and his roots as a Kansas farm boy from Smallville,” they said.

White children to be minority in US by 2023

Photo: ALAMY

White children are now in a minority in 10 American states, and are on course to be a minority nationwide by 2023, according to data from the US census.

Telegraph | Apr 7, 2011

By Jon Swaine

New York – An analysis of the survey, which was carried out last year, found that the total number of white children in the US had declined by 4.3 million over the past decade.

During the same period, the number of Hispanic children increased by 4.8 million. Almost one in four American children is now Hispanic – twice the proportion registered in 1990.

Since the turn of the century, the number of white children has dropped below the number of other children in large American cities including Atlanta, Dallas, Texas, Orlando and Phoenix.

Related

White children in the minority in 10 states

The census data suggested the US would contain fewer white children than children from other races overall by 2023. The same will be true of the entire population by 2042, it indicated.

“Slower growth among whites owes in part to their lower fertility rate – about 1.9 births per white woman, compared with three births per Hispanic woman,” said the Brookings Institution report.

The growth was also partly attributed to immigration. Only 15 per cent of new immigrants between 2000 and 2009 were white, compared with 78 per cent who were Hispanic.

Birthing Center for Chinese ‘Maternity Tourists’ Is Shut Down in California

abajournal.com | Mar 29, 2011

By Debra Cassens Weiss

Authorities have shut down a birthing center in California for Chinese “maternity tourists” who wanted their babies born in the United States.

The women paid tens of thousands of dollars to have their babies delivered in a row of connected townhouses on a quiet street lined with palm trees in San Gabriel, the New York Times reports. The story explains the possible incentive: After the babies born here turn 21, they could petition for permanent residence status for their parents.

The discovery of the facility raises questions about whether maternity tourism has entered “a new, more institutionalized phase,” the Times says.

Southern California has become a hub for birth tourism, the Los Angeles Times reports. And the Chinese aren’t the only foreigners targeted, according to the New York Times. Advertisements in Mexico and South Korea tout packages for maternity tourists. One Turkish-owned hotel in New York City includes a stroller with its monthlong “baby stays.”

About 10 women discovered at the California birthing center have gone to U.S. motels or have returned home with their babies. The property owner has been cited for illegal construction.

Controversy over so-called birthing tourism has led to calls for repeal of the 14th Amendment that gives automatic citizenship to children born here, even to illegal immigrants.