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IMMIGRATION WATCH



Archive for February, 2007

Britain is taking in 20,000 new EU migrant workers each month

February 28, 2007 at 2:14 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

The flow of migrants from Eastern Europe seeking work in Britain rose last year, with more than 20,000 a month registering for the first time with the Government. Figures published yesterday show huge numbers of young migrants are continuing to head for Britain, more than two years after eight former Soviet bloc states joined the EU. A total of 232,000 initial applications for work were made last year - more than 20,000 up on 2005.

The continuing surge in the number of jobseekers is also highlighted by initial applications in October and November last year being 3,000 higher than in June and July. Yet in previous years the numbers fluctuated, with more applicants in summer than winter. Overall, more than 579,000 people have registered with the Government since May 2004, when Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined the EU. Almost two thirds of the total - 360,000 - were Poles, followed by Lithuanians and Slovaks, who made up 11 per cent and 10 per cent of applicants respectively. The figures do not include the self-employed, estimated at 200,000.

Although Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, insists that the large migrant work-force is benefiting Britain, the continuing increase will cause disquiet among Labour back-bench MPs who are concerned at the scale of migration. Local councils have also expressed concern about the impact of such large-scale migration on public services. John Reid, the Home Secretary, has reacted to their alarm by imposing strict curbs on Bulgarians and Romanians, the latest new EU entrants who can come to work in Britain.

Mr Byrne said the latest figures showed that migrant workers were filling skill and labour gaps that could not be met by the native population. He added: “We need to maintain progress on our immigration reforms and understand the transitional impacts from the accession in 2004 before we take the next step.” Initially, research [i.e. politically-inspired guesswork] for the Home Office estimated that up to 13,000 migrants would seek work in the first year after accession. David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “These figures completely blow that estimate out of the water. Immigration can be of real benefit to the country but only if it is properly controlled, taking into account its impact on the economy, public services and social cohesion. This is demonstrably not the case.”

The figures show that although the number of Poles heading for Britain continues to increase, amounting to almost three quarters of all initial applications in the final three months of 2006, the number of migrants from the Czech Republik, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia fell by more than 25 per cent last year.

In another set of figures released yesterday asylum applications fell to their lowest level since 1993 last year as part of a general decline in numbers seeking refuge in the EU. Despite the fall, Britain remains the second-favourite EU destination after France. A total of 23,710 applicants, rising to 27,800 including dependants, sought asylum last year, compared with the record of 103,000 five years ago after the Home Office lost control of the immigration system.

The Home Office missed its target for deporting failed asylum-seekers in the last three months of the year but for 2006 as a whole hit the target set by the Prime Minister. Overall, 18,235 failed asylum-seekers and dependants were removed. [They need a TARGET for deporting illegals?? What about deporting all of them?]

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Tuberculosis and illegal immigration

February 28, 2007 at 7:00 am · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

The article below is from a nationalist site but makes a good point. Why is London a world headquarters of TB? The demographics give a clear answer: Immigrants are only a small proportion of the overall British population but are a massive proportion of the TB sufferers. And since the immigrants concerned undoubtedly live at close quarters with others of similar ethnic origins, that some of those others become infected in no way detracts from the immigrant origin of the problem. Many of the “British born” TB sufferers mentioned would no doubt be relatives of immigrants. The fact that many sufferers lived in Britain for 2 years before presenting to a doctor is also of course meaningless, given the slow progress of TB. I presume that Britain, like any other advanced country, has some health screening for legal immigrants so the problem undoubtedly is a direct consequence of Britain’s large illegal immigration problem

“Lazy hacks at the Labour supporting Daily Mirror have made some very strange claims concerning TB (Tuberculosis)!

Apparently, despite all the reports from various health agencies and trusts, TB has little to do with immigration and everything to do with poverty! That’s why, presumably, it is at sky-high levels in places such as Leicester, Slough, Bradford, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney - but not in Liverpool, Newcastle, Swansea and Plymouth!

Daily Mirror claim: “Half of all TB diagnosed is in British People that were born in the UK!” and “It’s a disease of the poor rather than a disease of immigrants”

Government’s Health Protection Agency says: “As in previous years the London region accounted for a substantial proportion of cases in 2005 (43%) and had the highest rate of disease (46.3 per 100,000). Most tuberculosis cases continue to occur in young adults (61% were aged 15-44 years) and in the non-UK born population (72%).”

Daily Mirror claim: “Most immigrants with TB tend to have already lived here for two years and contract it due to stress and poor living conditions”.

NHS says: “It is true that over half of the people diagnosed with TB in this country were born abroad but immigration alone does not explain the recent rise in TB cases. Around 40% of people born overseas who develop TB in this country have lived here for more than 10 years (but - presumably - have maintained physical contact with their home countries and with people from those countries - Ed.)

If the Mirror tells lies about TB what other subjects does this Labour supporting rag lie about?

And according to the World Socialist Web Site:

“Medical experts are warning about the developing threat of tuberculosis (TB) in Britain, and especially in London. The Annual Public Health Report 2000/2001 produced by the East London & The City Health Authority highlights some of the conditions that have enabled TB to take a hold.”

“Districts in East London have been particularly affected: Newham with 108 cases per 100,000 of its population has made London “tuberculosis capital of the affluent Western world”. The figures even put it ahead of Russia, where the collapse of the public health system has led to 91 cases per 100,000, whereas in India the figure is 41 per 100,000.”

In other words your average Londoner has a higher chance of contracting TB in, say, Barking - than he ever has in, say, Turkey!”

Source

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Police to start enforcing immigration laws

February 27, 2007 at 10:09 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

What a radical idea!

Arizona and Phoenix police officers will be trained so they can assist with the enforcement of immigration law, under a soon-to-be-announced agreement that changes the state’s approach to fighting illegal immigration.

The Phoenix area is to be the focus, but the plan will put local authorities on the front line when it comes to combating border-related crime such as drug and human smuggling. Members of Phoenix police and the Arizona Department of Public Safety who complete the Immigration and Customs Enforcement training will be able to act as federal officers.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Arizona Department of Corrections already have similar agreements in place, and sheriff’s deputies were scheduled to begin specialized immigration-law training this morning.

More here

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UK immigration panel orders deportation of convicted terrorist to Jordan

February 27, 2007 at 12:24 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit


The UK Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled Monday that a convicted terrorist from Jordan must return to his home country despite his arguments that he risks being tortured upon returning to Jordan. SIAC chairman Justice Ouseley said there was no real threat of persecution for Islamic cleric Abu Qatada, basing the commission’s decision on a 2005 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the UK and Jordan that guarantees deportees will not face abuse upon their return. While many argue that the MOUs are meaningless agreements, UK Home Secretary John Reid praised the commission’s decision to recognize the pact since it would allow the UK to continue deporting security threats.

Qatada, who has been held in a UK prison for the past five years under anti-terrorism and immigration laws, plans to appeal the SIAC’s ruling. He was convicted in Jordan for terrorist attacks and is allegedly linked to al Qaeda, which Qatada denies. Amnesty International UK expressed concern Monday at the SIAC’s ruling, saying the commission “discounted ample evidence showing the risk of torture if Abu Qatada is returned,” including Amnesty’s documentation of abuse of so-called “security suspects” such as beatings while victims are suspended from the ceiling for hours at a time.

The UK has come under criticism for its reliance on memorandums of understanding countries also including Libya and Libya. In 2005, Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture said the agreements circumvent the absolute prohibition in the Convention against Torture against the forcible return of detainees to countries where there is a risk of torture or ill-treatment. Source

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Immigration into Europe

February 26, 2007 at 1:36 am · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

Post excerpted from American Thinker

Geo-Political Decline

Europe’s demographic situation is in stark contrast to that of the United States, where the population officially passed the 300 million mark in October 2006. The United States is now the third most populous country in the world, behind China and India. Moreover, the United States is growing faster than any other industrialized nation… in fact, it is virtually the only developed country expected to grow this century. All analysts agree that America’s demographic dynamism will have major geo-political implications, especially for Europe.

 Some Europeans are beginning to acknowledge this reality. The Paris-based EU Institute for Security Studies predicts that by 2025, Europe will represent only six percent of the world’s population and that its relative share of global wealth and trade will have shrunk. It says that

‘the ongoing debate on the future of Europe suffers from a lack of perspective on the global developments that are changing the context of European integration itself…the risk is that the Union and its Member States will be increasingly subject to, rather than agents of, change.’

The False Promise of Immigration

How did the United States, which turned 230 years old in July 2006, get so big so fast? American growth has been fuelled by a combination of economic stability, high birth rates and immigration. Indeed, the United States is the largest immigrant-receiving country in the world. Some 50 percent of the 100 million newest Americans are recent immigrants or their descendents.

Europe, however, is also a magnet for immigration: It will attract up to 1 million newcomers this year. But the European experience with immigration is quite different from that of America. Part of the reason is that many immigrants to Europe end up on welfare, while in the United States, almost all immigrants take one or more entry-level jobs and work their way up the economic ladder. Welfare is simply not the American way.

Islamic Conquest of Europe?

Moreover, most immigrants to the United States are fully integrated into American society by the second generation, regardless of their country of origin. By contrast, most immigrants to Europe are Muslims who refuse to assimilate and instead tend to cluster in marginalized ghettos on the outskirts of cities across the continent.

Here, too, the American experience is quite different. The best available estimates show that there are between 1.9 million and 2.8 million Muslims in the United States. And unlike their European counterparts, American Muslims generally do not feel marginalized or isolated from political participation. According to a 2004 Zogby Poll, American Muslims are more educated and affluent than the national average, with 59 percent of them holding at least an undergraduate college degree. Moreover, the majority of American Muslims are employed in professional fields, with one in three having an income over $75,000 a year.

But back to Europe: The Muslim population of Europe has more than doubled since 1980, and according to some estimates, there are some 25 million Muslims living on the continent today. Demographers predict that this figure may double by 2015, and that the number of Muslims could outnumber non-Muslims in all of Western Europe by mid-century. This prompted Princeton University’s Bernard Lewis to tell the German newspaper Die Welt that ‘Europe will be Islamic by the end of the century.’

This reality is already influencing European foreign policymaking and does not auger well for the future of transatlantic relations. Indeed, many analysts believe that the steady weakening of Europe is the underlying cause for the widespread anti-American and anti-Israel bigotry found among Europe’s elites, many of whom are bowing to pressure from Muslim residents as a way to buy a fake peace with radical Islamists. Says Fouad Ajami, a well-known authority of the Arab world: ‘In ways both intended and subliminal, the escape into anti-Americanism is an attempt at false bonding with the peoples of Islam.’

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French nationalist leader vows to halt immigration

February 25, 2007 at 12:00 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen presented his election program today, vowing to halt immigration and integration with Europe, which he said was leading France to disaster. Making his fifth and probably last bid for the presidency, the 78-year-old told a convention of his National Front Party he would cut off social benefits to immigrants and “restore France’s borders”.

Amid cheers and chants of “Le Pen, president!”, the far-right leader said France was crumbling under poverty, unemployment, the dislocation of factories and “massive immigration”. “We cannot hide the fact that the situation today is catastrophic,” Mr Le Pen told more than 2000 supporters gathered in the northern city of Lille for the two-day convention. He accused his rivals of “sacrificing French products at the altar of Europe” and said the next president must heed the “no” verdict of the 2005 referendum in which a majority of French voters rejected an EU constitution.

During his one-hour speech, Mr Le Pen described immigration as “the major cause of the overall impoverishment” of the French and called for “strict immigration controls and the return of illegals to their countries”. “We will reserve all of the social benefits for the French people”, Mr Le Pen said, describing the measure as an application of his policy of national preference.

With two months to go before the first round of voting, Mr Le Pen is in fourth position in the polls, behind centrist Francois Bayrou, Socialist Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy, the candidate of the governing rightwing party.

The former Foreign Legion paratrooper stunned the nation when he qualified for the second round of voting against Jacques Chirac in the 2002 election with nearly 17 per cent of votes, beating Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin.

The National Front convention intended to step up Mr Le Pen’s campaign was overshadowed by a dispute over the collection of signatures from locally elected politicians that are needed to qualify as a candidate. Mr Le Pen accused unnamed politicians of waging a campaign of intimidation against mayors who had agreed to back his candidacy for the April-May vote. “A certain number of mayors who have signed (endorsement forms) are receiving phone calls from people who are trying to dissuade them from signing,” he said. Under the procedure, mayors and other elected officials fill out a form officially endorsing a candidate that is sent to the constitutional council, the body that decides on the eligibility of the contenders.

Founded 35 years ago, the National Front has seven MPs in the European parliament in Strasbourg and 150 regional councillors, but it has no representation in the National Assembly.

Source

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CIS Updates

February 24, 2007 at 7:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

1. Op-eds: Week-long debate between Mark Krikorian and Tamar Jacoby in the L.A. Times
2. Backgrounder: ‘Immigration, Intergroup Conflict, and the Erosion of African American Political Power in the 21st Century’
3. Backgrounder: ‘Becoming American: The Hidden Core of the Immigration Debate’
4. Testimony: ‘Preventing Illegal Employment: Federal ‘Basic Pilot’ Program is an Effective and Business-Friendly Tool’
5. Panel discussion transcript: ‘The State of Politics, Law, and Security in Mexico: Implications for U.S. Immigration Policy’

– Mark Krikorian

1.
Dust-Up
Late, great, immigration debate: What action on immigration can we expect out of the new Congress leading up to a presidential election? All this week, Mark Krikorian and Tamar Jacoby debate immigration.
LATimes.com, February 19-23, 2007

Secure Fence Act

Immigration economics

Amnesty

Workplace immigration raids

Politics of immigration

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2.
Immigration, Intergroup Conflict, and the Erosion of African American Political Power in the 21st Century
by Frank Morris and James G. Gimpel

Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder, February 2007

Excerpt: * While social scientists continue to debate the impact of large-scale immigration on low-skilled American natives, these same Americans certainly believe that high levels of immigration threaten their economic well-being. Current research shows that these fears are as much alive among African Americans as Caucasians.

* Conflict between African Americans and Latina/os for group position, status, and political power is increasing as most immigrants of Hispanic ancestry settle in areas proximate to African American populations in the nation’s largest cities.

* African American gains in office-holding appear to be leveling off at higher levels of office, while Latino gains are rapidly rising. These gains are coming at the expense of non-Hispanic white office-holders and African Americans, though African Americans are more threatened given their smaller overall numbers.

* Steadily rising immigrant populations will continue to change the racial complexion of U.S. House representation in a number of California, Texas, and New York congressional districts within the next 20 years.

* With the 2010 census redistricting, just a few years away, as many as six seats currently held by members of the Congressional Black Caucus could be given up to Latino candidates.

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3.
Becoming American: The Hidden Core of the Immigration Debate
by Stanley Renshon
Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder, January 2007

Excerpt: ‘The central question of American immigration policy is how this country can help facilitate the emotional attachments of immigrants and citizens alike to the American national community. Given the centrifugal pulls of multiculturalism and international cosmopolitans this is easier said than done. Multiculturalists want to substitute racial and ethnic identities for an American identity, while cosmopolitans think that emotional connections to this country are too parochial and nationalistic and urge our citizens to look abroad for their primary attachments.

‘This paper argues that our current laissez faire policy regarding the incorporation of citizens and immigrants alike, our failures to enforce immigration laws, and the doublespeak that characterizes our responses to illegal immigration are deeply corrosive to the fabric of the American national community.

‘This country faces catastrophic dangers from abroad and major policy issues at home. In such circumstances, pervasive public feelings that reflect instrumental, shallow, or ambivalent emotional national attachments are not only undesirable, but also dangerous. But what can be done? Feelings of attachment cannot be mandated by legislation or instilled by clarion calls to patriotism.

‘This paper spells out a set of proposals to help facilitate and deepen the attachment of immigrants and Americans alike to our national community.’

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4.
Preventing Illegal Employment: Federal ‘Basic Pilot’ Program is an Effective and Business-Friendly Tool

Statement of Jessica M. Vaughan before the Colorado Senate’s State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee, January 31, 2007

Excerpt: ‘This legislation is a reasonable approach to a difficult problem, and is consistent with the direction many states are moving, and eventually federal government, I believe. The state of Georgia has already enacted a law making participation in Basic Pilot near-mandatory. The Arizona and Rhode Island legislatures will be considering full mandatory participation this year, and a similar Indiana bill passed a committee vote on January 18, 2007.

‘Mandatory verification of immigration status for new employment is not a silver bullet. Rather, it should be considered as one key part of a larger strategy to address illegal immigration that relies on partnerships between federal and state authorities, and between government agencies. This strategy acknowledges that the population of more than 12 million illegal immigrants realistically cannot be apprehended and deported one by one. Nor is the federal government likely to enact a mass amnesty to legalize this population. Instead, lawmakers should rely on an array of policies to increase the day-to-day enforcement of immigration laws, prevent employment, and encourage voluntary compliance with immigration laws. Other proven tools include electronic status verification for public benefits, immigration law training for state and local law enforcement and public agency employees, strict standards for drivers’ licensing, and rigorous identification standards for financial institutions. Adoption of these policies will convince a large number of illegal aliens that they would be better off returning home on their own, thereby easing the burden on local communities, and enabling federal authorities to concentrate their resources on the most problematic cases.’

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5.
The State of Politics, Law, and Security in Mexico: Implications for U.S. Immigration Policy

Panel discussion transcript, January 18, 2007

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Australia to get tough on requiring immigrants to learn English

February 23, 2007 at 6:00 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

Mutual obligation is to become the Howard Government’s new mantra on immigration, with migrants expected to learn English after they arrive in Australia. Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration Teresa Gambaro will use a speech tonight to unveil a major shift in the Government’s approach to migrants, saying that Australia always helps those in need but expects “those receiving assistance to contribute in return”.

“The principle of the ‘fair go’ is a uniquely Australian value. A ‘fair go’, however, expects fair effort,” Ms Gambaro will tell a symposium run by the Islamic Council of Victoria and the federal Government. “The Government will continue to support all migrants by ensuring they have access to education, employment and involvement with mainstream community activities. “In return, the Government expects migrants to make the effort to learn the language and the culture.”

It is unclear at this stage how the Government plans to enforce the program. The shift to mutual obligation will bring settlement services in line with the Government’s approach to social security over the past decade, where responsibilities are imposed on welfare recipients. It follows moves by the Howard Government to emphasise integration over diversity as part of a broader shift away from multiculturalism.

Ms Gambaro says there are already many common values between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians and that “there is no incompatibility between a commitment to Islam and being Australian”. “For Australia’s Muslims, there is no conflict between veils and Vegemite,” she says. Mutual obligation would also help Australia’s non-Muslim population better understand Islam, the Queensland MP says.

The speech by Ms Gambaro is her first in the new portfolio and maps out a significant new direction for settlement services. Ms Gambaro says the term multiculturalism has become “redundant”. She says: “Multiculturalism, as a term, can be interpreted in any number of ways … in my view, its very imprecision is a critical weakness. “It doesn’t tell us what we share in common, it doesn’t tell us who we are, it doesn’t tell us what our values are.”

Ms Gambaro says that while individual backgrounds should be celebrated, “we cannot afford to be confined by them”. “Australia cannot be a nation of islands within an island,” she says. “Instead we should celebrate our cultural diversity and commitment to shared Australian values and a great method of doing this is by ensuring we can all speak to one another - in English.”

Ms Gambaro, whose Italian parents came to Australia with scant English skills, says she can empathise with migrants. “Learning English can be difficult - I know this from personal experience - but it is not an insurmountable hurdle, nor is it an unreasonable expectation. This is because English language ability is a passport to participation, a passport to prosperity.”

Source

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Australia stops illegal imigrants again

February 23, 2007 at 5:55 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

Australia is striking a deal with Indonesia for an even more radical version of John Howard’s Pacific Solution - sending 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers home via Indonesia in possible breach of international refugee conventions. The asylum seekers, who were intercepted by the navy near Christmas Island on Wednesday, are set to be taken to Indonesia and then sent back to Sri Lanka after secret talks between the three countries in Jakarta yesterday. This means they would be sent home via Indonesia, which is not a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention. Australia would be free of any responsibility towards them, and the asylum seekers would almost certainly be robbed of any chance to lodge an asylum claim under international law.

Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Indonesia, Janaka Perera, confirmed last night that Australian and Indonesian officials had told him the 83 men would be returned to Jakarta, then sent home. He expected the men to arrive in Sri Lanka within days. “Sri Lanka’s position is that they have travelled illegally to another country and they should be returned to Sri Lanka.” Both Australia and Indonesia had said they would assist with the repatriation, he said.

It is understood that Australian and Indonesian law enforcement and immigration officials discussed the plan in Jakarta yesterday.The Herald understands the meeting was told Australia feared it would face a flood of asylum seekers if tough action was not taken against the new arrivals. The boat carried the largest single load of asylum seekers to approach Australia since 2001, the year of the Tampa crisis that spawned the Pacific Solution, under which asylum seekers were refused access to the Australian mainland. Under that process, boat people were still given the opportunity to lodge asylum claims at offshore detention camps such as Nauru.

Before the deal was revealed to the Herald in Jakarta, the Prime Minister, John Howard, had insisted the 85 would not be brought to the Australian mainland. He said the boat’s arrival was an opportunity to tell people smugglers that “they needn’t think for a moment that our policy has changed”. Australia still had “a very strong, effective border protection policy”.

In November 2001, after trailing badly in the polls for months, Mr Howard stormed to victory in the federal election in the wake of the Tampa crisis. During the campaign, he declared: “We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.”

The new boatload departed Indonesia, with two Indonesian crewmen on board, intelligence sources confirmed. Yesterday’s meeting discussed either directly shipping the asylum seekers back to Java, or flying them to Jakarta. Returning them on their boat was rejected for safety reasons. Indonesia could justify returning them to Sri Lanka as they had arrived in Indonesia illegally, Australian officials told the meeting. They also said the Sri Lankans should be returned as quickly as possible to prevent them lodging asylum claims or staging protests. Australian and Indonesian officials also agreed to co-operate to apprehend the people smugglers behind the operation. It is understood Australian intelligence has already identified two suspects. Australian Foreign Affairs officials refused to make any comment.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees senior officer responsible for asylum seekers in Indonesia, Shinji Kubo, said his organisation had not been informed of the moves. “We are very keen to know what will happen to them,” he said. Other international officials, speaking anonymously, said it would be legally dubious for Australia not to deal with the refugees itself or to return them to Indonesia, and could create an international test case. The case was complicated by an obligation to rescue lives in danger at sea. Refugee advocacy groups had called on the Government to bring the asylum seekers to mainland Australia or provide access to lawyers for advice on their rights.

The Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, denied reports that the navy had tried to turn the vessel back to sea when HMAS Success intercepted it. But he said the Government wanted to ensure the asylum seekers did not reach the mainland. “[We] do not want to encourage this sort of behaviour - of people being put on unseaworthy vessels out in the middle of the Indian Ocean - and the tragedy that can come from that. “I think it is quite irresponsible to be sending a boatload of people on a small vessel, which is proven one way or the other to be unseaworthy.”

Asylum seekers who land on the mainland have more extensive legal rights than those held on external territories such as Christmas Island. Mr Andrews said crew from HMAS Success had repaired engine damage on the men’s boat on Tuesday when they first intercepted it, but they found it had stopped moving shortly afterwards. Navy crew invited the men aboard on Wednesday when they discovered the vessel had been further damaged to the point that it was unseaworthy. Mr Andrews did not know whether the navy would tow or sink the vessel. “This is Australian Government policy in practice,” he said.

Source

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Australia: Federal government warns Muslim haters of citizenship loss

February 21, 2007 at 6:00 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

Dual citizens who work to divide Australia rather than unite it should be stripped of their Australian citizenship, Treasurer Peter Costello said today. “If somebody is an Australian citizen and also, let’s say, an Egyptian citizen and that person doesn’t support what this country stands for… I think we’d be within our rights to say to that person, well, Australia’s not for you,” Mr Costello told Macquarie Radio.

The comments come after the uproar started by Australia’s Islamic leader Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilali who compared Australian women to uncovered meat and also claimed Muslim Australians had more right to live in Australia than Anglo-Saxons, the majority of which are descendants of convicts. “You get into a difficult situation if they’re not dual citizens, because at that point, if you take away Australian citizenship they’re not a citizen of anywhere, they’ve got nowhere to go.”

But Mr Costello said burning the Australian flag should not be outlawed. “I hate people burning the Australian flag,” Mr Costello told Macquarie Radio. “It makes me sick in my stomach but then you think to yourself, these people are disaffected people, some of them are just plain bad people, I wouldn’t want to make them martyrs.”

Source



Muslim bomber has job on trains

February 20, 2007 at 5:37 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

UK: Muslim bomber has job on trains: “A muslim fanatic who dressed as a suicide bomber at a rally threatening terror attacks has got a job on TRAINS. Sick Omar Khayam cleans carriages unsupervised for rail giant First Group. And he has even got keys to onboard electrical cupboards. Furious train drivers last night claimed the safety of staff and passengers is being put at risk. One driver added: “It’s an astonishing security breach. “We cannot believe this man is employed in a job giving him access to locked places on trains where bombs could be hidden and never be found. “He has keys that could be passed on to others for the electrical cupboards in carriages. It is a risk too far.” Convicted drugs dealer Khayam, 22, had been filmed dressed as a bomber at the controversial demonstration outside London’s Danish Embassy last year. He wore a sinister camouflage outfit with a black vest. Extremists around him - protesting at cartoons of the prophet Mohammed - waved placards supporting the 7/7 London bombings and calling for new UK terror attacks.”

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“Heroville”, Canada

February 19, 2007 at 6:02 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

The tumultuous entry (now broadcast around the world) of Herouxville, Quebec into Canada’s immigration debate demonstrates the great divide that exists in Canada on the immigration issue.

On one side are the majority of Canadians who instictively feel something is wrong with Canada’s mass immigration policy (currently about 250,000 per year, the highest per capita in the world). On the other side are Canada’s mass immigration industry and its supporters (often described as a fifth column) who tell Canadians that mass immigration is wonderful.

The national and international uproar that Herouxville has caused is wildly out of proportion to its size. The town has a population of 1300 and is located in rural Quebec, about 150 km. northeast of Montreal. Most Canadian towns and cities of all sizes have passively accepted the historically high immigration levels that Canada’s federal government set for the country in 1990, but which it has never justified. In doing so, Herouxville is literally like David taking on Goliath.

In fact, the little town’s virtual “Declaration of the Rights of Canadians”, which bravely contradicts official multicultural policies, sounds almost like a call to revolution.

Ironically, Herouxville has not had the direct experience with mass immigration that Canada’s urban centres have had. In fact, it has only a few immigrants. So it is surprising that it has made its recent observations. Undoubtedly, the observing has been done from a distance. And obviously the place it has looked at is the large urban area of Greater Montreal. Like Greater Toronto/Southern Ontario and Greater Vancouver/Fraser Valley, the Montreal area has experienced probably the highest immigrant inflow and the greatest demographic change in its history.

Clearly, recent immigrants have felt empowered by their high numbers. And they have been encouraged by Canada’s immigration industry to assert their power. And that is precisely what Herouxville is reacting to. In the opinion of many Canadians, the little town is saying now what the country’s federal government has been too timid to say, but should have said many years ago: that the interests of the country (in this case, Canada’s cultural practices) are paramount. Cultural practices that conflict with those in Canada have to be left behind in immigrants’ countries of origin.

The councillors clearly point out that, like most Canadians, they are willing to accept some immigrants, but that a long-established society exists in Quebec. This society has developed its own culture and it is tired of hearing recent multiple demands, (particularly in the Montreal area) that Canadians should adjust to the cultural wishes of new arrivals.

As public reaction across the country has subsequently shown, Herouxville’s frustration is shared by the majority of the country’s population. For years, most Canadians have disapproved while Canada’s “officialdom” has either not spoken up against or subserviently bowed to demand after demand.

There is a long litany of disapproved demands. For example, like most people in Canada, Herouxville did not like the Supreme Court’s approval of the wearing of the Sikh dagger (kirpan) in schools. Like most of Canada, it does not approve of women being subordinated to men and male maltreatment of females—a practice which is officially denied but actually practiced by some immigrant groups.

It also believes that newcomers should use the public schools to learn how to integrate into Quebec society; immigrants’ own private schools will undermine that goal. Finally, it declares that Canada has many traditions such as Christmas which have to be respected.

One thing that the declaration does not say directly is that the immigration industry and a significant number of recent arrivals seem to believe that this demographic change in Montreal and other parts of Canada should continue unabated. It would seem that Herouxville does not approve.

Obviously, this is because, like the rest of Canada, Herouxville was never asked if it wanted a mass immigration policy. Nor was it asked if it wanted the major demographic transformation which has occurred in the country since this policy was implemented in 1990.

It would seem that, by implication, Herouxville (as well as a number of other Quebec towns and some provincial politicians who have recently expressed solidarity with Herouxville), are bluntly saying to Canada’s official “accommodators”: “Why are we bringing in all of these people?” and “Enough is enough!”

Canada’s accommodating “officialdom” has not liked what Herouxville has said. Among the accommodators is Canada’s CBC, which eminent Canadian journalist Robert Fulford has called a “herd of independent thinkers”. Although the CBC has done very good work generally, its record on immigration is poor, to say the least.

Many Canadians are aware that the CBC has shamelessly promoted mass immigration, abused its position as a publicly-funded institution to cater to every whim of Canada’s immigration industry (often reaching new depths of sycophancy in the process), and intimidated anyone who opposes mass immigration. There is a huge amount of evidence to back up these claims.

The like-minded in a number of other media outlets (as well as a number of politicians) have mocked and patronizingly dismissed Herouxville and the many Canadians who agree with the Quebec town. Neither they nor the CBC want to admit that mass immigration policies have spawned what many Canadians would call a cultural, enviromental and economic disaster-in-progress.

Nor do they want to shoulder part of the responsibility for what has occurred, or face the good possibility that they will be called to an accounting. In fact, both continue to use their power to bully. And both find it incomprehensible that they could be wrong.

However, according to the Herouxville Town Council, “officialdom” is wrong. Direct response to the town has been much like that recorded in the rest of Canada. Around 99% of the 2000 people who had e-mailed the council by the end of last week agreed with the Town Councillors. In one Councillor’s opinion, the reaction of the majority of e-mailers is summed up by one commentator: “At last, someone is standing up instead of prostrating themselves like certain ministers, judges, executives and companies.”

Most Canadians would say: “Three cheers for Herouxville”. And, for its demonstration of courage in trying to restore sanity to immigration and to re-take control of Canada from the country’s immigration industry and its fifth column supporters, most would bestow on it the well-deserved title of “Heroville”.

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neurocysticercosis

February 19, 2007 at 5:40 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

A nice little gift from Mexico: “Federal researchers say neurocysticercosis, a brain infection caused by a pork tapeworm, is a “growing public health problem in the United States,” especially in states bordering Mexico, where the disease is endemic. Neurocysticercosis is the “most common parasitic disease of the central nervous system,” according to a study jointly conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and California public health officials, who reported that “international travel and immigration are bringing the disorder to areas where it is not endemic,” such as this country. “Neurocysticercosis is the primary cause of epilepsy in endemic areas. This brain worm is very serious,” Victor C. Tsang, chief of the immunochemistry laboratory in the Parasitic Disease Division of the CDC said in a telephone interview. “Oral-fecal contamination is the standard route of transmission,” he said of the condition…. Carriers tend to be people from rural developing countries with poor hygiene, where pigs are allowed to roam freely and eat human feces. Mr. Tsang said the condition is rife in Mexico and other parts of Latin America”

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Limit Muslim migration, Australia warned

February 17, 2007 at 6:05 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

Good that somebody dares to say the obvious

Life can become untenable when the Muslim population of a non-Muslim country reaches about 10 per cent, as shown by France, a Jewish expert on Islam says. The Australian Jewish News yesterday quoted Raphael Israeli as saying Australia should cap Muslim immigration or risk being swamped by Indonesians. Professor Israeli told the Herald that was a misunderstanding. But he said: “When the Muslim population gets to a critical mass you have problems. That is a general rule, so if it applies everywhere it applies in Australia.”

Professor Israeli, an expert on Islamic history from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has been brought to Australia by the Shalom Institute of the University of NSW. The Australia-Israel Jewish Affairs Council is co-hosting many of his activities. He said Muslim immigrants had a reputation for manipulating the values of Western countries, taking advantage of their hospitality and tolerance. “Greeks or Italians or Jews don’t use violence. There is no Italian or Jewish Hilaly [a reference to the controversial cleric Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly of Lakemba mosque]. Why?”

Professor Israeli said that when the Muslim population increased, so did the risk of violence. “Where there are large Muslim populations who are prepared to use violence you are in trouble. If there is only 1 or 2 per cent they don’t dare to do it - they don’t have the backing of big communities. They know they are drowned in the environment of non-Muslims and are better behaved.” In Australia, Muslims account for about 1.5 per cent of the population.

Professor Israeli said that in France, which has the highest proportion of Muslims in Europe at about 10 per cent, it was already too late. There were regions even the police were scared to enter, and militant Muslims were changing the country’s political, economic and cultural fabric, and demanding anti-Semitic and anti-Israel policies. “French people say they are strangers in their own country. This is a point of no return. “If you are on a collision course, what can you do? You can’t put them all in prison, and anyway they are not all violent. You can’t send them all back. You are really in trouble. It’s irreversible.”

Professor Israeli said that in Australia a few imams had preached violence. “You should not let fundamentalist imams come here. Screen them 1000 times before they are admitted, and after they are admitted screen what they say in the mosque.” He said some Muslims wanted to impose sharia (Islamic law) in their adopted countries, and when propaganda did not work they turned to intimidation.

Professor Israeli said his task was to describe, not prescribe. He also said his warning did not include immigrants, including Muslims, who simply wanted to improve their lot. As long as they respected the law and democracy, their numbers - Buddhist, Muslim or Jew - were immaterial. It became material when a group accepted violence. “The trains in London and Madrid were not blown up by Christians or Buddhists but by Muslims, so it is them we have to beware,” he said.

Keysar Trad, of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, said “Not only religious clerics need to be screened before entering Ausralia but also academics . this type of academic does nothing but create hatred, suspicion and division. We should review not only what the man has said but also those who have sponsored him, to see if they endorse those comments.”

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Britain: Polish road signs `help to keep drivers on straight and narrow’

February 17, 2007 at 6:03 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

There are probably more speakers of Gujurati, Hindi, Bengali and Urdu than Polish in Britain so why not signs for them? Fair’s fair!

Council chiefs defended a decision to erect road signs in Polish after being accused of political correctness gone mad. Eight temporary diversion signs in English and Polish were placed around country roads on the Cheshire-Shropshire border at the request of Cheshire County Council. The signs, which explain how to reach the market town of Whitchurch while road works are underway on the A49, were condemned by some residents as a waste of money.

But Steve Kent, highway engineer for the council, said the decision was motivated by safety concerns. Thousands of Poles have settled in Whitchurch and Crewe, and many are employed as drivers. Police have been repeatedly called out to deal with congestion caused by lorries taking wrong turnings. Mr Kent said: “It is a practical and commonsense approach to a problem which we encountered on two similar schemes at the end of last year. “We found that Polish-speaking drivers were failing to understand diversion signs and were arriving at sections of roads that we had closed off. That caused congestion as we had to reverse them out. “In other cases, they would drive on a footpath and thunder past a work gang, which has safety implications. “We thought that creating the signs, which are just eight out of around 200 for the scheme, could prevent similar problems. They probably cost a couple of hundred pounds, which was footed by the contractor at no cost to the council.”

Philip Davies, a Tory MP who campaigns against political correctness, said: “It’s absolutely bonkers but what worries me is that once one council starts, others follow.” A driver, who asked not be named, added: “You could be forgiven for wondering whether you were driving deep into Polish countryside, not the middle of Cheshire.” Two months ago one of the biggest bus companies in Manchester was ordered to suspend its fleet amid concerns over whether its Polish drivers had a good enough command of English to understand road signs. About 100 of the 130 drivers at UK North and GM Buses Ltd are Polish.

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The Indians are coming!

February 17, 2007 at 5:41 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

Indian truckdrivers coming: “Truckers on American highways will hear a new accent on their two-way radios when India exports its first batch of lorry drivers to the US to meet a severe manpower shortage. For the past four months more than 200 “transportation specialists” have been put through their paces at a training school in the state of Andhra Pradesh where US conditions have been replicated - from the size of the trailers to Yankee truckers’ slang…. They are just the latest in a line of exportable skills from India, home to one-sixth of the world’s population, as profit-driven enterprises and cash-strapped governments prove only too willing to tap into an English-speaking workforce eager to do the jobs rejected by others, often for a fraction of the salary…. Drivers in the US on average take home $5,000 a month plus good benefits but fewer Americans are interested in long-haul because of the amount of time they spend away from home. Gagan Global, the US company recruiting the drivers, says that there are an estimated 20,000 vacancies that urgently need filling…. Mr Gagan defended his programme, saying that both the US and India would benefit. “They’re not taking away jobs [in the US]. There is a shortage. There are companies that have 5,000 trucks and 1,000 of them are sitting idle in their yards without anyone to work them,” he said.”

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Dutch politician blasts Koran, Mohammed

February 15, 2007 at 6:05 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

DUTCH anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders was quoted as urging Muslims to dump half the Koran and saying he would chase the Prophet Mohammed out of the country if he was alive today. “Islam is a violent religion. If Mohammed lived here today I could imagine chasing him out of the country tarred and feathered as an extremist,” Mr Wilders told De Pers daily in an interview.

Mr Wilders, who is seen as an heir to murdered populist Pim Fortuyn and whose new party won nine seats out of the 150 in Parliament in November elections, has warned of a “tsunami of Islamisation” in a country home to one million Muslims. “I know that we’re not going to have a Muslim majority in the next couple of decades, but it is growing,” he said. “You no longer feel that you’re living in your own country. There is a battle under way and we must defend ourselves. There will soon be more mosques than churches here.”

Mr Wilders, who has lived under heavy guard since 2004 when a Dutch-Moroccan killed filmmaker and Islam critic Theo van Gogh, has campaigned to ban the Muslim burqa veil, wants to freeze immigration and ban new mosques and religious schools. “If Muslims want to stay here they must tear out half of the Koran and throw it away. They shouldn’t listen to the imam. I’ve read the Koran … and I know that there are enough awful things in it,” he said.

Maverick politician Fortuyn broke taboos with his criticism of Muslim immigrants in the Netherlands and his pronouncements that the country could not absorb anymore foreigners. He was gunned down in 2002 by animal rights activists just days before an election which saw huge popular support for his party.

Nasr Joemann, secretary for the Contact Organisation for Muslims and Government, said he planned to raise the demonisation of Islam with the new Dutch cabinet, expected to be finalised in the next week after months of coalition talks. “I don’t think this sort of comment from a member of parliament is good for integration or for relations between Muslims and non-Muslims but we don’t want to react to the content because we cannot take it seriously,” he said.

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The gold of the Americas

February 13, 2007 at 5:43 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

The gold of the Americas: “Mexicans living abroad sent home a record $23 billion last year, raising new questions about whether the government of President Felipe Calderon can afford to slow migration. In just one year, the amount of money migrants wired their families jumped 15 percent, according to Mexico’s central bank, overtaking tourism to become the nation’s second-biggest source of foreign income after oil. “This is a river of gold that flows into Latin America and Mexico. Daily. Weekly. Monthly. It never stops,” said Sergio Bendixen, president of Bendixen & Associates, a public opinion research firm in Coral Gables, Fla., that surveyed Mexicans on both sides of the border for the Inter-American Development Bank.”

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BNP Growing

February 11, 2007 at 5:49 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

BNP becoming the conservative alternative in Britain? “In a council by-election in Nuneaton & Bedworth yesterday, the “extreme right wing” BNP came in second with 31.15 percent of the vote, only narrowly beaten by the incumbent Labour, which took the seat with 37.54 percent. One should never draw conclusions from one set of results - especially from local by-elections. But this was a hard-fought contest, where the turnout was 36.08 percent despite the heavy snow, compared with the 20 percent that might have been expected. The Conservatives managed a mere 17.17 percent, the Lib-Dems 6.79 percent and UKIP a pathetic 0.45 percent, accounting for exactly eight votes. They were even beaten by the English Democrats, who pulled 75 votes. BNP’s vote compares favourably with its share of the vote in Bradford during last May’s local authority elections, when it achieved 27.5 percent of the vote in the wards which they contested.” More here

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Libertarian BNP?

February 9, 2007 at 5:50 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

Interesting article by the British National Party here. The so-called “Fascists” have embraced libertarianism — the diametric opposite of Fascism! Liberty is a great British tradition so there is no contradiction in them doing so.

National Guard forced to run

February 6, 2007 at 5:51 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

National Guard forced to run: “A recent standoff between National Guardsmen and heavily armed outlaws along the Mexican border has rattled some troops and raised questions about the rules of engagement for soldiers who were sent to the border in what was supposed to be a backup role. Six to eight gunmen — possibly heading for Mexico with drug money — approached a group of Tennessee National Guard troops at an overnight observation post Jan. 3 on the U.S. side of the Arizona-Mexico border. No one fired a shot, and the confrontation ended when American troops retreated to contact the Border Patrol.”

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AUSTRALIA WAKING UP ABOUT BLACK “REFUGEES” AT LAST

February 5, 2007 at 6:07 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

Australia is set to drastically reduce its Sudanese refugee program this year. With growing community concern about the behaviour of the refugees, Federal Cabinet will soon consider a proposal from Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews to reduce the intake from Horn of Africa nations. Australia’s humanitarian program has allowed thousands of Sudanese refugees to come to Australia in recent years. But there are growing doubts about the wisdom of the decision, especially with the rise of gangs of Sudanese youths and drunk drivers.

There are about 18,000 Sudanese in Victoria, with many traumatised by their experience of civil war — and the challenge of living in a Western society. A Sunday Herald Sun survey of 400 cases at magistrates’ courts across Melbourne found 14 per cent of offenders came from the Horn of Africa and the Middle East — many of them refugees — about 20 times the representative proportion of the population.

“Australia has one of the most generous humanitarian resettlement programs in the world at 13,000 a year,” Mr Andrews said yesterday. “But immigration is a process, not an event. “Successful immigration requires integration into the broader community.”

A high-profile court case this week highlighted the crime spree of a Sudanese man, Hakeem Hakeem, 21, who raped two teenage girls and an elderly women in a drunken, drug-fuelled episode. He was sentenced to 24 years in jail. Hakeem had been in Australia for only one month before committing the crimes.

The proposed new policy would focus on settling refugees from the Asia Pacific region.

Sudanese elders believe their community is being unjustly targeted. The elders yesterday blamed failures in Australian welfare and education systems for crimes in the community. Jago Adongjak, an educator at the South Eastern Region Migrant Resource Centre and an elder of Melbourne’s 7000-strong Sudanese community, said many fellow migrants who had escaped the war-torn nation were facing a different conflict in Australia. “I came here because there was a war in Sudan and I was a target for the junta,” Mr Adongjak said. “I was expecting a peaceful land of opportunity — and there are opportunities — but we are also facing a battle here, to survive.” Mr Adongjak dismissed claims the community did not respect or trust authorities as much as other cultures and had drink-drive issues.

“The Sudanese are not as bad as we are portrayed,” he said. “We know because we have just had a meeting with the police and they told us according to their statistics the Sudanese are not anywhere near the worst community for crime in Victoria. “And I know because I live in the community. “On the issue of drink-driving, I would not say the Sudanese are exceptional either.” The major cause of crime and restlessness in the community was disadvantage, he said. Large families did not receive adequate housing, with several children sharing small rooms. [And back in Sudan??]

Children struggled at school because they only had nine months to learn English before being put in classes based on their age, rather than ability. Parents also found it hard to provide because their professional qualifications were not recognised, so they had to settle for lower-paid jobs, Mr Adongjak said. [And what were they paid back in Sudan??]

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BNP gains

February 5, 2007 at 5:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized · Edit

Brits flocking to the anti-immigration British National Party: “Success breeds success and we have enjoyed a great deal of success over the last 12 months! Election triumphs and legal victories have helped raise our profile and brought many new members into our ranks and this deluge of new blood combined with the most impressive renewal rates we have ever had, has caused a bottleneck in membership processing. The workload of the membership team has increased due to the changeover to the fairer rolling membership system and the introduction of a 2 month lapsed membership deadline, which caused an increase in the volume of enquiries to the department checking on the progress of applications, well before the 4 week grace period requested, in last months’ BN. This has now pushed the processing time back even further.”






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