Tag: boat people

Pope lectures on Lampedusa

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
The Pope on Lampedusa yesterday. Photo: Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

Lampedusa is the Italian island that is usually the first bit of land the mostly Muslim illegal aliens come to when leaving North Africa via boat.  Lampedusa and Malta have been plagued for the last few years with the arrival of boat people, some claiming they want asylum—asylum from the turmoil that the US and European countries (including Italy) helped create with their enthusiasm for the Arab Spring and the destabilization of Libya.

Now the Pope unexpectedly arrives on Lampedusa, says Mass and lectures about the “globalization of indifference,”  which is fine, of course, as long as he only exhorts individual Christians to PRIVATE giving (opening their homes and wallets) and does not continue to demand Caesar’s money for the church’s charity.  And, frankly, that is exactly what is happening at least in America as long time readers of RRW know—the political activities of the Catholic Bishops are being funded by you through taxation.

Here is the story from the New York Times:

ROME — Pope Francis traveled on Monday to Lampedusa, the tiny Mediterranean island that has become a gateway to Europe for thousands of desperate asylum seekers and migrants, as well as an unknown number of others who have died during the perilous crossing from North Africa.

It was the pope’s first official trip outside Rome, and he used it to draw attention to a continuing humanitarian problem while chiding the world for its indifference.

“These brothers and sisters of ours were trying to leave difficult situations to find a little serenity and peace…..

Serenity and peace!  Then why do they riot and clash with police on Lampedusa, here is one instance of many!  In that post we quoted a line from The Independent:

Until the recent mass influx of north Africans, Lampedusa was a quiet community that relied on fishing and summer tourism for a living. The endless flow of arrivals and the catastrophic effect this has had on tourism have seen tempers fray.

Gee, not a peep out of the New York Times on the catastrophe for Lampedusa residents.

Not all arrivals are in need of asylum—many are economic migrants not protected by any international law regarding refugees and asylum.  ‘Economic migrant’ is just a fancy phrase to describe illegal aliens.  The NYT continues:

New arrivals on the island, about 75 miles north of Tunisia, are fed and fingerprinted and then separated into three groups: economic migrants, who could be repatriated after their cases are reviewed, and asylum seekers and minors, who after a few days are sent to detention centers on Italy’s mainland.

And here, when the Mayor of Lampedusa calls this a “humanitarian disaster” I don’t think he is talking only about the boat people.  I think he just might mean this is a human tragedy for the Italian people.

While praising volunteer associations, law enforcement officials and residents of the island for the assistance they have provided to the migrants, the pope criticized the “globalization of indifference” that he said was widespread among too many others. We “have forgotten how to cry” for migrants lost at sea and “take care of each other,” the pope said in his homily.  [Maybe Pope Francis could take some of the “refugees” back to Vatican City with him—ed]

Officials in Lampedusa said they hoped the pope’s visit would bring attention to what they saw as a humanitarian disaster.

“This island is the setting of one of the most epochal dramas of our time, but it is ignored,” said Giuseppina Nicolini, the mayor of Lampedusa. “The numbers of those lost at sea are those of a war, but a silent war that no one speaks of, except a few blogs that no one reads.”

Who is silent in the “silent war” (the suffering Italians?) because it surely isn’t the mainstream media that is silent on the plight of the migrants, and what “blogs” is he talking about?

For more on Lampedusa, click here for our complete archive.

As Rudd takes over in Australia, the looming issue is what to do with the boat people

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update July 8th:  Immigration policy will be what the next election in Australia will hinge on, here at the Herald Sun:

Asylum seeker policy is set to be a major battleground of the election as both the Government and the Coalition promise tougher action.

Thousands of mostly Muslim boat people have been arriving on Australian shores and roiling the political landscape there for years. 

This boat packed with Sri Lankans arrived in Australia in April, and many of those on board were promptly flown back to Sri Lanka. Photo: ABC

Note to readers:  forget it if you think you can escape to Australia!*

Looks like they too have lost control of their borders!

This NYT article is from last Wednesday, in advance of a meeting that was planned in Indonesia on the boat people crisis.  I don’t know how that turned out.

From the New York Times:

 Mr. [Kevin] Rudd, who last week replaced the struggling Julia Gillard as prime minister amid record low poll numbers for their governing Labor Party, is facing a hotly contested election currently set for September. No issue looms as large over his chances of retaining power as slowing the record number of rickety boats attempting the perilous crossing between the two countries. 

Thousands of asylum seekers fly into Indonesia every year, where they pay smugglers to ferry them in often unsafe, overcrowded vessels to Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory in the Indian Ocean that is its nearest point to Indonesia. Iranian and Afghan asylum seekers, together with Sri Lankans who often sail directly to Christmas Island without transiting in Indonesia, make up the majority of such asylum claims. Accidents at sea have killed more than 600 people since late 2009, and finding a long-term solution has eluded successive Australian governments going back more than a decade to John Howard, the conservative former prime minister.

Experts say recent statements from senior Australian ministers and advisers to Mr. Rudd signal a push to get tough on asylum seekers ahead of the elections as a means of insulating the Labor Party against claims that it has lost control of the country’s borders.

By the way, in 2010 we had a report that the US State Department, in a perversion of international refugee law, was taking some of the Sri Lankans who arrived illegally in Australia to Oakland, CA for resettlement.  The Malta doctrine!

Not refugees!  Economic migrants!  (this statement must be making the heathen rage):

 Foreign Minister Bob Carr of Australia, speaking by telephone from Brunei late Tuesday, placed regional security concerns and asylum seekers at the top of the agenda for the summit meeting. He repeated his recent claim that nearly all those now seeking asylum in Australia by boat are economic migrants and thus not entitled to refugee status under the U.N. Refugee Convention, to which Australia is a signatory.

And, get this, once a citizen of Iran gets out of Iran, no country can deport them back to Iran!  That sure is one way to spread Islamic colonizers throughout the world!  (Don’t forget to read about Al Hijra—the Islamic doctrine of immigration!)

He singled out Iran, which is feeling the bite of U.N. sanctions aimed at getting it to abandon its nuclear program and does not accept the repatriation of its citizens, as a major source of such migrants. He said Australia would be discussing ways to dissuade citizens of that country in particular from attempting the crossing.

About the photo:  Here is the story at Radio Australia.  By the way, although not Muslims, western countries are concerned that the Sri Lankan migrants are connected to the Tamil Tigers  faction which pioneered the use of the suicide belt to make its political point.

*For ambitious readers, we have 100 previous posts on Australia, click here.

Here they come! More Muslim illegal aliens to Italy and Malta…

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….which means more for America too!

They come via boat from mostly North Africa to seek asylum (they say) in the West.  The US has added an extra draw—we have transformed some of Malta’s illegal alien Somalis into legitimate refugees and brought them to your towns.

Migrants brought in by helicopter to Malta earlier this week. Photo: Times of Malta

Refugees are supposed to seek asylum in the first safe place they arrive, but the whole system has now been perverted because the US (during the Bush Administration!) changed the rules.  Asylum shopping is all the rage.

We told you about the controversial perversion of refugee law in RRW’s first month in existence in 2007.  Here is that short post, but it wasn’t until later that we understood the significance of what Bush did.

This is Malta’s and the European Union’s problem, not ours!

This is the news on the latest arrivals yesterday, from the UN:

5 July 2013 — The United Nations refugee agency estimates that some 8,400 migrants and asylum-seekers landed on the coasts of Italy and Malta in the first six months of this year, most of them from North Africa, having crossed the Mediterranean, one of the busiest seaways in the world.

Around 7,800 of the migrants and asylum-seekers arrived in Italy, while Malta received around 600, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Most of those making the journey departed from North Africa, principally Libya (around 6,700 people). The remaining 1,700 crossed from Greece and Turkey, landing in southern Italy.

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are the main places of origin of these migrants and asylum-seekers, particularly Somalia and Eritrea. Other countries of origin include Egypt, Pakistan and Syria. Nationals of Gambia, Mali and Afghanistan also make these crossings, but in smaller numbers, noted UNHCR.

[….]

“In view of the perils, UNHCR again calls on all vessels at sea to be on alert for migrants and refugees in need of rescue,” he said at a news conference in Geneva. “We also renew our call to all shipmasters in the Mediterranean to remain vigilant and to carry out their duty of rescuing vessels in distress.

“International and European law also requires States to ensure that people intercepted or rescued at sea who seek asylum can gain access to territory and to an asylum procedure where their international protection needs or claims can be examined,” he added.

No “pushback” from Malta allowed! 

A day before the above UN story, the Times of Malta reported on the arrival of more boats.  The US will be taking some off their hands!  Hey, do you think Europe might take some of our illegal aliens?  Not a chance!

The Malta office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said today that pushing back irregular migrants to their point of departure was not an option in view of the situation they faced in Libya.

In a statement, it noted that in less than 24 hours, four overcrowded boats were intercepted by Italy and Malta and almost 800 people were rescued. A total of 290 were brought to Malta.

A pushback policy was momentarily introduced some years ago following a controversial agreement between Italy and the Gaddafi regime, lambasted by humanitarian organisations.

“Those in need of international protection will now have the opportunity to have their asylum claims assessed. UNHCR Malta commends all entities and individuals involved in this effort,” the office said.

[….]

So far in 2013, around 600 asylum seekers have arrived in Malta, while almost 200 beneficiaries of protection have been assisted to settle in the US and other countries. [What other countries?—ed]

In fact we have taken 210 of Malta’s illegal alien boat people in the first 8 months of this fiscal year.  There were 191 cases which means the majority of the aliens we took were single (all men?).

You know that the possibility of winning the asylum prize—a free ticket to America—is a lure for more illegals to try to get to Malta.

For a gazillion previous posts on Malta, click here.

Australians lamenting the high cost of educating asylum seekers’ children

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have a pile of stories I want to post, just the run of the mill news about refugee problems around the world—you know the boring stuff.  I look on those stories now as a refreshing vacation of sorts from the daily diet of refugee/immigrant terrorist stories of late.   Here is one in my stack.

Children of the ever-growing tide of boat people arriving in Australia will cost the taxpayers $55 million over four years, here at the Herald Sun.

The Aussies say more kids are on board these boats, but from what I’ve seen most asylum seekers are young virile Muslim men.

But before I give you some of the story, something just occurred to me—at least in Australia they are having discussions on this topic. That’s just how it is in Canada too where it seems there is a daily dose of political back and forth IN THE MEDIA on the details of the problems and costs  those country’s face with their ever-expanding refugee and asylum systems.

In the US we aren’t even having a public discussion on the topic! 

When is the last time you saw an article in a major national publication outlining the cost of educating asylum-seeking children? 

How many of you even have a rough idea of how many asylum seekers are granted asylum (like the Tsarnaevs) in the US each year?

I follow the press from Canada and Australia and can assure you these discussions are happening at least weekly if not more frequently.  Here in the US the media must have decided such topics are verboten! Verboten!  Verboten!

Back to the news from Australia:

EDUCATING asylum seeker children will cost more than $55 million over four years amid a record number of minors arriving on boats.

The Opposition has accused the government of cutting university funding while spending millions on meeting the educational needs of asylum seeker children with more than 3000 arriving so far this financial year.

How refreshing is this—they even have an opposition immigration leader!

Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the the costs of educating children had to be met but he blamed the bill on a blow out in boat arrivals.

“While Julia Gillard is actually cutting funding to schools and universities, she is providing an education revolution for asylum seekers arriving on illegal boats,” he said.

“Labor’s budget blowout on asylum seekers of more than $10 billion, includes the federal government paying for the full education costs of students who have arrived by boat.

“Given the record number of children coming on boats, it is not surprising that these costs are so high.”

[….]

Meanwhile, the government revealed the arrival of two new asylum boats carrying 150 people yesterday.

More than 2300 people have arrived so far this month.

Here are some statistics for US asylum seekers granted asylum in 2011.

Of all the individuals granted asylum in 2011, 54 percent (13,484) were granted asylum affirmatively, while 46 percent (11,504) were granted asylum defensively.

An additional 9,550 individuals outside of the United States were approved for asylum status as immediate family members of principal applicants. [The Tsarnaev boys would have been in that number, whatever it was back in about 2002—ed]

So that amounts to close to 35,000 in one year.  Gee, wonder what that costs us to educate the kids?  And, those are just the ones granted asylum, what about those who are still in the pipeline waiting for approval or who have never identified themselves or been caught yet.

By the way ‘granted asylum affirmatively’ means they got here and asked for asylum, and ‘defensively’ means they got here illegally, got caught and are in removal proceedings and asking for asylum.

Update for comparison:  News from burning Stockholm reports that Sweden approved 44,000 asylum seekers in 2012!  Most are from Muslim countries. Yikes, no wonder they are suffering!   Imagine what those kids are costing the welfare nation.

In 2012 alone, Sweden accepted 44,000 asylum seekers, up by nearly 50 percent from a year earlier.

Boatloads arrive in Australia too; Iranians top the list at the moment

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I just old you about Malta and Italy where boatloads of Africans are arriving looking for the good life, and as regular readers know, Australia too is being swamped.  In fact, to read Australian media accounts it seems illegal immigration (aka seeking asylum in politically-correct lingo) is the biggest political issue the government there faces.

So why do I bring you news from Canada, Malta (Europe), and Australia?  Because frankly I believe this migration of the third world to the first is the biggest threat Western Civilization faces, yes Islamic supremacism is right up there, but would not be so challenging if it weren’t for the tide of migrants swamping the West—many are Muslims, but many are poor and uneducated in need of jobs we don’t have and social services we can’t afford.

Sri Lankans aboard the ship of fortune.  AFP PHOTO / AMAN ROCHMAN

I have a lot of news on Australia today.  Here is the first story about who is going there.  From the Herald Sun:

THREE south Asian countries are surfacing on people smugglers’ manifolds this year as the changing face of asylum seekers is revealed in new figures.

More Vietnamese and Burmese people are braving the perilous sea journey to Australia than ever before and nearly 250 people have arrived from Bangladesh this year – the first time the country has appeared in official statistics. [Remember they are talking about 2013 numbers and the year is still young—ed]

The change comes as Iranians become the leading group of asylum seeker arrivals and the massive numbers of Sri Lankan seen last year shrink dramatically.

It’s the first time since the statistics were kept that Iranians have held the position, with arrivals from war-torn Afghanistan the largest group in each year from 2011 back to 2008.

Iranians have made up nearly double the numbers from Afghanistan, who are the second largest group, at 563 arrivals.About 430 people have told authorities they are stateless, making up the third biggest group.

Three hundred and twenty people were Pakistani and 147 from Iraq.

But the fifth largest cohort this year – the 244 people who have arrived from Bangladesh – have not before appeared on official counts.

It comes as more people from Vietnam and Burma risk the dangerous sea journey to claim asylum, at 133 and 93 people respectively.  [I’m surprised to see the Vietnamese numbers—ed]

Bangladeshis are probably Rohingya Muslims:

Head West young man (or is that East!) Rohingya boarding boats at their first opportunity

He [refugee advocate] said the displaced Rohingya moved into Malaysia then Indonesia, where they got boats.

But they were also pushed into neighbouring Bangladesh, he said.”My suspicion is that it (Bangladeshi arrivals) has been as a consequence of the Rohingya people getting out and some Bangladeshi are able to find a way to get from Bangladesh to Australia now,” he said.   [Many believe the Rohingya are ethnically Bengali in the first place.—ed]

That ship of fortune! 

The above Herald Sun article provides a link to a story from last year in which we learn what the Gillard government is offering some asylum seekers.  All aboard!

WASHING machines, microwave ovens, DVDs and plasma TVs are among a 60-item welcome gift pack for asylum seekers offered rent-free homes in the community.

To fulfil a promise to move an influx of families out of detention, the Gillard Government is now fitting out each home with up to $10,000 worth of furnishings and electronics.

They are given food hampers upon arrival at rented homes where they wait for their claims to be processed.

Is it any wonder then that a new political party is rising in Australia, here.