A parent should not move his or her child to a foreign country without a court order and a detailed co-parenting plan.
Why Is a Court Order so Important?
Filing for divorce is a big decision for any couple. However, couples with children have even more to consider when divorcing. They have to work together to create a workable co-parenting plan that outlines custody, visitation, and communication plans. Typically, a couple files a custody agreement with the family court that states which parent is the primary custodial parent. However, custody agreements are state-specific. A judge needs to agree and enter an order before a parent can move children across state lines. If one member of the couple is considering immigrating as a single parent, he or she must receive permission from the family court.
Even if the custodial parent has sole custody of the children, he or she must have a court order before leaving the country with the children. A parent who relocates a child to a foreign country without a court order and the other parent’s consent has committed parental kidnapping. If the parent’s new home participates in the Hague Convention, the authorities in the United States and the new country will work together to return the child.
What Does a Court Consider When Deciding Whether to Allow Relocation?
If both parents agree to the move, a judge is likely to agree to the arrangement. However, absent an agreement, the parents will have to petition the family court to enter an order either allowing or disallowing relocation of the children. When determining whether to allow relocation, a family court judge will consider:
· Which parent has primary custody
· The country to which the parent wishes to relocate
· Whether the parent is relocating for a new job
· The immigration status of the parent after relocation
· What type of support system the child will have (extended family and friends, for example)
· The care the child will receive, including education, medical, and shelter
· How convenient it will be for the co-parent to visit
· Quality of life
· The feasibility of the child maintaining a healthy relationship with both parents
How Can Parents Make a Workable Long Distance Co-Parenting Plan?
It can be difficult for a divorcing couple to agree to and stick with a co-parenting plan. Both parents have to commit to the work and cooperation needed to make it successful. If both parents agree to an overseas move or a judge enters an order allowing the custodial parent to move, they will need to create a strong parenting plan that considers the difficulties added by extreme distance. The Co-Parenting plan should include:
· Accommodations for healthy communications between parents and children
· Plans for regular, consistent communication between the non-custodial parent and the children
· An agreement for respectful communication between the two parents
· A calendar that outlines visitations between the non-custodial parent and the children, including holidays and extended visitation periods
As in any situation involving children, the parents and family court’s top priority should be the well-being of the children. When an overseas move benefits the children, all parties should work together to ensure the children can maintain a happy, healthy, and meaningful relationship with both parents.
The EU will pay €2,000 ($2,225) each to refugees
in overcrowded camps on the Greek islands willing to go back to their home
countries.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson announced the scheme in Athens
on March 12.
The scheme was agreed with the Greek government.
Ylva Johansson said it was temporary – open for one month only – and only for
refugees who arrived before January 1.
The commissioner said 5,000 migrants would be eligible for the
“voluntary return”.
This month, hundreds of immigrants and refugees have reached Greek islands near Turkey by boat, increasing the pressure on struggling reception centers. The camps on those islands already have nearly 42,000 asylum seekers, though they were designed for about 6,000.
Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which is working on the Greek islands,
says more than 14,000 of the refugees are children.
Ylva Johansson said seven EU member states had agreed to take in at least
1,600 unaccompanied children from the camps, seen as especially vulnerable.
Many of the refugees are Syrians
fleeing the civil war, but there are also Afghans, Pakistanis and West
Africans. It is not clear how many would qualify for refugee status.
Aid agencies consider Syria too
dangerous for refugees to be sent back there, but some other countries of
origin, such as Pakistan, are considered safe enough.
Greece has temporarily suspended its
processing of new asylum applications – a move condemned by aid groups.
The latest surge in numbers at the Greek border came after Turkey announced
that it would no longer stop them trying to enter Greece. Turkey, which is
hosting 3.7 million Syrian refugees already, accuses the EU of not doing enough
to help.
Ylva Johansson said repatriation of refugees from the islands would be
coordinated with the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) and
the EU border force Frontex.
The situation is also acute on the Greece-Turkey land border, where Greek police have used tear gas and water cannon to keep immigrants out.
President Donald Trump has issued a memorandum
saying that asylum seekers should pay a fee to have their applications
processed in the latest move in his crackdown on migration.
The presidential memorandum, issued on April 29, called for a slew of new
rules.
The president also wants to disqualify asylum seekers who enter the US
illegally from obtaining temporary work permits.
Critics say that fees would put the process out of reach for many people.
In his memo, President Trump said the fee would not exceed the cost of
processing the applications, but estimates have not yet been provided of what
this may be.
The vast majority of countries do not charge asylum application fees.
Victoria Neilson, a former official at US Citizenship and Immigration
Services, the government agency that accepts asylum applications, told Reuters:
“The majority of people coming to
the United States seeking asylum are coming with little more than the shirts on
their back.”
Under the current system, asylum seekers who enter the US both legally and
illegally are allowed to work while their claims are processed.
President Trump said regulations should be drawn up to ensure that asylum
claims are adjudicated in immigration court within 180 days, except under
exceptional circumstances.
While asylum cases are already meant to be finished within this timeframe, a
backlog of more than 800,000 cases means that asylum claims can take years to
be completed.
The orders given by President Trump to the Justice Department and Department
of Homeland Security mark a dramatic shift in US policy.
The president has given officials 90 days to come up with the new
regulations.
The orders come amid Donald Trump’s efforts to stem the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross into the US.
It can sometimes feel like lawyers and judges are talking in another language. In actuality, basic legal terminology is pretty easy to understand once you’ve been in court a few times and seen how things work. Context matters a lot, and so observing court proceedings is a great way to get an introduction to the legal world. However, most of us have better things to do than hang around a courthouse for hours on end, and TV shows don’t always do the best job of painting an accurate portrait of the legal system.
The meaning of guilt and innocence
There are multiple types of lawyers for multiple types of court, but we tend to pay the most attention to things that happen in criminal court. In criminal court, you’ll hear terms like plaintiff and defendant. A plaintiff is the person or party bringing the case. So if a case were called “State of Washington v. John Doe,” then the State of Washington is the one bringing the charges. John Doe is the defendant, meaning he must defend himself against the charges. However, the burden of proof lies with the prosecuting attorneys who work for the state. You may have noticed that a jury will declare someone “not guilty” rather than “innocent.” See, the prosecution has to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. That means the jury should have more to go on than just, “I don’t like that guy’s tie; he must be guilty.”
Sometimes juries struggle to define “reasonable doubt,” because different people have different definitions of a “reasonable person.” Typically speaking, though, arguments like, “My evil twin did it and framed me,” aren’t going to fly in most courtrooms unless something else is seriously wrong with the prosecution’s case. A competent criminal defense law firm can generally come up with a better defense than one involving secret evil twins. If they can’t, most good lawyers will try to talk to prosecutors and get a plea deal for their client. In a plea deal, prosecutors and defense attorneys meet in the middle, often by having the defendant plead guilty to a lesser charge.
Immigration courts
It’s easy to think of immigration court as a type of criminal court, especially since the people who appear there can be held in a detention center beforehand. However, if someone is pulled over for drunk driving and then found to be in the country without documentation, then they must be handed over to immigration authorities before they can be deported, and immigration court is considered civil, rather than criminal. State prosecutors will charge the person for drunk driving, and they will have the right to a public defender if they can’t afford to hire their own attorney. Someone appearing in immigration court, though, has no right to their own counsel. There are activist groups that work to provide immigrants with lawyers free of charge, or pro bono, but those groups don’t have endless resources. Immigration courts aren’t considered part of the judicial branch of government, either; instead, they’re overseen by the U.S. Justice Department, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions has received some pushback on his plan to speed up immigration court proceedings.
The best time to address an immigration issue is before an arrest. That may not always be possible, especially in cases where people’s parents brought them to America as children, but if, for instance, you’re a Canadian who is trying to immigrate to America, contact an immigration lawyer in Toronto prior to crossing the border. It’s a complicated, confusing system that often bears little resemblance to other kinds of court.
Smuggling networks are quite intricate, their networks are multilateral: they involve people on both sides of the Mediterranean, that’s to say on both continents -Africa and Europe.
In order to combat these networks and destroy them, governments of several African and European countries need to collaborate and work together. Most African countries involved fail to see the gravity of the issue and treat the matter as a domestic problem.
Italian investigations: Study by Sahan Africa
The majority of “leaders” monitoring the central Mediterranean route are of Eritrean origin they join forces with their Somali and Sundanese counterparts. It is obviously challenging to catch the criminals of such complex networks.
Italian investigations were held in 2013 and 2014 due to the terrible tragedies that took place near Lampedusa. According to sahan these investigations disclosed a lot of considerable details “these enquiries revealed, in considerable detail, a great deal of information about the organisation and structure of key human smuggling and trafficking networks between the Horn of Africa and Europe via the Central Mediterranean Route.” These two operations where respectively called “operation Tokhla” and “operation Glauco 2”
The Tokhla enquiry brought about several arrests in Sicily. Maesho Tesfamariam who is an Eritrean ringleader based in Germany was also captured following this investigation.
The 2014 Glauco 2 operation was an 18-month ongoing investigation, that uncovered the operating methods of a couple of notorious smugglers that go by the name of “Medhanie Yehdego Mered” who is originally Eritrean and “Ermias Ghermay” who is Ethiopian. According to the Study made by Sahan Africa these two people were responsible for “the vessel that sank off the coast of Lampedusa in October 2013.” The operation documented communications between these two people and their associates who were based in several countries including Sudan, Israel, Sweden and Switzerland. On the other hand, Mered was responsible for a boat that drowned on 18 April 2015. The investigative squad intercepted calls between Mered and his counterparts based in Sudan , Italy , the Netherlands and Sweden. Based on Sahan’s study “The public release of the Glauco 2 findings apparently disrupted Mered’s plans to emigrate to Europe and sent him into hiding, leaving his network in the hands of his associate, “Wedi Issak”.”
Several prominent names were mentioned by the same study including the Eritrean Abdurazak Esmail, who is one of the largest smugglers managing a network from Libya. He works in parallel with other people named “Jaber” and “Abduselam” and another accomplice called Jamal Saudi – a former prisoner in Eritrea.
In case the accusations against them are correct, then these aforementioned people are responsible for the story of the ghost boat, the vessel that disappeared at sea with 180 passengers back in April 2014. Several other boats had the same fate in 2015 as well. the smuggling networks are widespread between Sudan and Libya and there are several people involved from both countries but most of the traffickers are of Eritrean origins. This was clearly mentioned in the published reports of the Tokhla operation and the Sahan Africa study “Eritrean smugglers and traffickers in Libya and in Sudan include “Kidane”, “Walid”, “Chegora” and a female smuggler, “Zaid”, all of whom operate warehouses in Ajdabiya. Among the largest smugglers exclusively operating in Sudan and feeding into networks in Libya are “Wedi German”, “Kiros”, “John Merhay”, and “Shumay Ghirmay”.”
Ethiopian investigations: Study by Sahan Africa
Based on Sahan’s study, Ethiopian authorities conducted an investigation in 2014 and 2015. This enquiry lead to the arrest of over two hundred traffickers most of which were related to the southern route – the corridor to South Africa-. The federal police of Ethiopia claims that despite all these arrests migrants are still moving on and being smuggled in and out of the same countries. According to the police as well, migrants are channelled from Somaliland and Eritrea into Ethiopia all the way to Addis Ababa where they are usually linked with their following smugglers. The migrants will eventually cross Sudan via a transit hub located near Khartoum called “Camp Hajar” in order to reach Libya afterwards (as demonstrated below) .
Ethiopian investigation uncovered the financial transactions of a notorious smuggler that goes by the name of Ali Hashi who happened to be a relative of a famous Somali businessman. Ethiopian authorities possess a list that has all the names and phone numbers of smuggling drivers.
In accordance to the aforementioned information a Sudanese official contacted by Sahan stated the following “[This] issue is affecting our border security tremendously. Parts of Libya are becoming uncontrollable. It is becoming a smugglers’ paradise, everybody can do whatever they want to do. The smuggling trade is therefore threatening the security of Chad, Central African Republic, Sudan, the whole region.”
The whole region is clearly under threat if the authorities of the countries involved don’t take the necessary measures to secure their borders.
Not in terms of the damage that immigrants are doing. Oh no – the problem is with the native British population. In the wake of Brexit, the UK has been host to a wave of anti-immigrant attacks and a rising sentiment of isolationism.
This is a crucial issue, even beyond the natural concern for the well-being of the immigrant populace. It’s a problem because, quite simply, the UK cannot function without its immigrants. They are needed through every section of society. However, fuelled by various sections of the media, this anti-immigrant undercurrent has burst into the mainstream – with potentially ruinous repercussions if it is not addressed.
One of the major problems is the misconceptions the native populace have regarding immigration. They tend to see the issue as a simple, step-by-step process:
Step 1: Potential immigrant decides to come to the UK because it’s such a great life on welfare benefits.
MYTH! The perception that the UK offers wildly attractive benefit payments is a myth. For example, France, Italy and Germany spend far more per-person on benefits than the UK. A huge amount of UK welfare claimants actually live below the poverty line.
Furthermore, immigrants are far more likely to work than not work. 6.8% of the British workforce are now immigrants, from a population of around 13%. This is a better ratio than for the UK nationals.
It has been theorized that the main reason immigrants choose the UK as a destination is because English is one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world. It’s a simple matter of a desire to assimilate.
Step 2: They get an immigration lawyer and move to the UK incredibly quickly, at which point they are able to access all benefits and social systems like the NHS.
MYTH! You have to be living in the UK (or its territories) for three months before you can access benefits.
Step 3: They are immediately given a property through social housing.
MYTH! Social housing allocation is allocated on a needs basis. There are strict rules for who can even apply, and once an immigrant gets on the list, they join the queue within the same points system as anyone else. There are no extra points awarded for being an immigrant, but this fact doesn’t stop the repetition of the opposite. In fact, it’s one of the most-repeated misconceptions in the UK.
Step 4: If they do work, they take jobs from British workers.
Of course, if an immigrant takes a job then that means a British person cannot occupy it. However, immigrants are more likely to do work that the native populace doesn’t want to do, such as cleaning services.
Secondly, there is a serious skills gap in the UK. The National Health Service, for example, relies on immigrants to keep running – there’s simply not enough native-born healthcare professionals with adequate training to fill the gap. There have been serious fears about potential removal of EU nationals and how it may affect the service.
In Conclusion
Immigration is a subject that is controversial, but the facts and figures speak for themselves. If the UK continues on its current sentiment, it will undoubtedly shoot itself in the foot. Thankfully, plenty within the UK recognize the benefits of immigration and will stand up to defend it. Only time will tell if they are successful.
In his first extensive post-election interview on 60 Minutes that will be aired on November 13 at 7 p.m. ET/PT, President-elect Donald Trump has said he will deport or jail up to three million illegal immigrants initially.
Those targeted would be immigrants with criminal records, such as gang members and drug dealers, Donald Trump said.
The president-elect also confirmed that another election promise, to build a wall with Mexico, still stood but could include fencing.
Photo AP
Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in November 8 presidential vote.
His victory shocked many who had expected Hillary Clinton to win following favorable opinion polls.
Donald Trump is due to take over at the White House on January 20, when President Barack Obama steps down after two terms in office.
Both houses of Congress are also under Republican control.
Asked about his plans for the Mexican border, Donald Trump said “a wall is more appropriate” in some parts but “there could be some fencing”,
Other undocumented immigrants would be assessed once the border was secured, Donald Trump added.
However, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said earlier that border security was a greater priority than mass deportation.
“We are not planning on erecting a deportation force,” he told CNN’s State of the Union program.
“I think we should put people’s minds at ease.”
Forcing Mexico to pay for a border wall became a rallying cry among Donald Trump supporters during the campaign.
Donald Trump caused outrage by suggesting Mexicans were exporting “their rapists” to the US, along with drugs and other crime.
What is an immigrant? Is someone that should be despised for “coming over here and taking our jobs and benefits?” Or is it just a person that is trying to take up residence in another country by choice or circumstances out of their control? Opinion seems divided at the moment, with a concerning majority on the side of hostility.
That means that being an immigrant in the UK right now is a pretty difficult situation to be. Read on for some of the current issues that the immigrant population is facing.
Getting into the UK
Getting into the UK is often held up as the Shangrila of immigrant destinations. It is argued that because we offer benefits and free health care, a large proportion of immigrants head for the UK as their first country of choice.
The concern by those that hold this view is that because we are only a small island, that we cannot take such a large influx of people. It is argued in a lot of British tabloid media that immigration is putting a strain on our benefits services, as well as the NHS.
However, it is worth remembering that there is a difference between immigration and asylum. Many people confuse the two. Asylum seekers or refugees are granted access to some benefits and health care. Usually, because they have had to leave their country of origin in haste and with few possessions.
It is also is worth remembering that being accepted as an asylum seeker is not the easy process everyone thinks it is. Refugees have to go through the process of showing how they were persecuted in their country of origin before they are granted status.
Immigration is different in that the subjects don’t have to be under any persecution to apply for immigrant status. EU immigrants have a different status to non-EU ones at the moment.
Non-EU immigrants have to go through the rigorous process of immigration before they can enter the country legally. They need a Visa and may be refused if they do not have work and a residence already in place. It is also worth noting that immigrants are not immediately given access to social houses or benefits.
Some people raise concerns about illegal immigrants coming into the UK in secret or on study visas. They are concerned that they will stay when their documents do not cover this. If this is the case, then the UK government may choose to deport them when they are alerted to their presence.
Some people may be granted immigration status, and be able to work and live in the UK for a period of time. But it is more complicated to stay here in the long term. Persons wishing to stay permanently will need to apply for ILR. Or Indefinite Leave to Remain. This is the legal standing that long-term immigrant can get. It allows them to stay in the country and claim benefits the same as other residents.
The process of gaining an ILR is not easy. Persons wishing to stay will need to be able to prove their status and show the reasons why they need to stay.
These can be things such as being married to a UK national or being in full-time employment here. Persons applying for this status will need to check things like their documents for ILR. They need to and make sure everything is in order before they make their application and have their interview.
It is possible for some immigrants to get some help with getting everything in order before they take the interview. One problem that immigrants can come across when applying for their ILR is that it can be tough for non-English speaking applicants. The use of legal terms and requirements in a tongue that is not their first language can be confusing. That is why it is helpful to get as much assistance as possible when going through this process.
The Changing Political Situation
The effect of Brexit is something of a concern for those involved in immigration. That is because it is possible that UK will change the way it admits people from the EU into the country.
While we were a member of the European Union, we had a free movement agreement where people from the EU could come and live and work in Britain without a Visa. The same applied to English immigrants living and working within the EU.
However one of the main debate issue during Brexit was the concern that UK jobs were being taken over by EU residents. People were especially worried that not enough were being left from UK citizens.
The UK will not close its border to EU immigrants completely. But it does reserve the right to more strictly control who is granted entry to work in the UK. Also, Brexit also gives the UK government the power to stop massive influxes of EU residents seeking work in the UK at one time.
Finding Work In The UK
So EU citizens will, for the most part, be able to work in the UK. But what does that actually look like? It seems that the view is that many people are coming across to the UK and getting jobs that Uk people would need. But how easy is it to find a good job when you are an immigrant?
Well, firstly the general attitude towards those of non-Uk heritage has taken a hit since Brexit. It seems to be that at least people are less willing to embrace workers from outside of the UK.
It is also important to note that many of the EU immigrants that come over for work are working way below they professional level. There are plenty of university graduates that find themselves not in their chosen field but picking and packing in factories. This is because the money offered there is better that what they would get at home for the job they have actually trained for.
It isn’t an ideal situation to work so hard to gain qualifications only to be doing something that anyone with basic training can do. So it is unlikely that they will take to these roles in the long term. So while these jobs may pay well comparatively, they might not be right for a long term career move.
People’s Attitudes in The UK
Something that is very tough for immigrants in the UK at the moment is some of the British populations’ attitudes towards them. After Brexit, there was a spate of racially motivated attacks that was reported widely by the media.
Living in what is perceived to be a hostile situation and taking a risk to be allowed to earn a decent wage for hard work, seems pretty unacceptable. It can make the feeling of alienation and isolation that many immigrants experience all the more difficult.
The key problem with this is that if people feel under threat, they will retreat back into groups of their own culture. This prevents integration into British society. If this happens, it will only widen the ‘us and them’ mentality, which is not got for either side.
However, this is not how everyone in the UK feels about the immigration situations. There has been an outpouring of support across business and social media with the hashtag #refugeeswelcome. Which is a gesture of solidarity for the Syrian refugees resident in the Calais jungle trying to come into the UK?
It also shows that not everyone is fearful of people that are refugees and immigrants. It is important to remember that there are still plenty of Britons that are happy to embrace those from other cultures with open arms. Those that encourage hate and fear are not the only ones with a voice.
Donald Trump has defended his call for a wall on the Mexican border, during his visit to meet President Enrique Pena Nieto.
The GOP nominee said he did not discuss who would pay for the wall.
Donald Trump also called Mexicans “amazing” and “spectacular” people, in contrast to earlier comments branding Mexican migrants “rapists” and “murderers”.
President Pena Nieto said Mexicans had been hurt but he respected that Donald Trump genuinely wanted to build relations.
Donald Trump will later fly to Phoenix, Arizona, to deliver a key speech on measures to tackle illegal immigration.
He has seen his poll ratings slip since the GOP conventions last month.
Both nationally and in key states, Donald Trump trails Hillary Clinton, who enjoys particularly strong support among minorities.
Donald Trump said his words to Enrique Pena Nieto had been strong and straightforward.
He tried to put behind him his previous comments on Mexicans by saying those in the US had made a “great contribution”.
“I have a great feeling for Mexicans. They are amazing people,” he said.
Donald Trump said he had employed many Mexicans and that they were “beyond reproach, spectacular people with strong values of faith and community”.
He said: “We recognize and respect the right of either country to build a physical barrier or wall on any of its borders.”
But he said there was no discussion on who would pay for the wall.
Donald Trump had earlier threatened to stop cash earned by Mexicans based in the US being sent home until the country paid for it to be built.
He concluded by saying he was honored by President Pena Nieto’s invitation to visit, adding: “I call you a friend.”
Enrique Pena Nieto accepted there were border challenges but pointed out the massive contribution Mexicans have made to the US, and that “six million jobs rely on exports to Mexico”.
He said: “My priority is to protect Mexicans wherever they may be. That is my responsibility. Mexicans in the US are honest people, hard-working people who respect their families, their community and the law. They deserve everybody’s respect.”
President Pena Nieto has invited both candidates to visit Mexico, but has faced criticism at home over Donald Trump.
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox earlier told CNN: “We don’t like him. We don’t want him. We reject his visit.”
Former First Lady Margarita Zavala also tweeted: “We Mexicans have dignity, and we reject your hate speech.”
At least two demonstrations have been planned in Mexico City.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign has not yet said if she will travel to Mexico.
Donald Trump may drop his proposal to deport 11 million people who are living illegally in the United States.
Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said the mass deportation plan, which was a central plank of Donald Trump’s campaign, was yet “to be determined”.
Kellyanne Conway’s comments at the weekend came after the Republican presidential nominee met with a new panel of Hispanic advisers.
Donald Trump told Fox News on August 22 he was not “flip-flopping” but wanted a fair plan.
He is scheduled to deliver a speech on immigration in Colorado on August 25.
Photo AP
Donald Trump has taken a hard-line stance on immigration since the beginning of his campaign, vowing to create a “deportation force” as well as make Mexico pay for the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border.
While struggling to keep up with Hillary Clinton in the polls, Donald Trump has addressed black and Hispanic voters in recent days with the aim of broadening his support beyond white working-class voters.
“What he supports is to make sure we enforce the law, that we are respectful of those Americans who are looking for jobs, and that we are fair and humane to those who live among us,” Kellyanne Conway told CNN on August 21.
When asked to clarify if Donald Trump would maintain his position on creating a deportation force, Kellyanne Conway responded: “To be determined.”
Donald Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, insisted that the plan remains unchanged.
“I don’t think the message is changing at all. I think people are just getting to know Donald Trump better,” he said.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign later released a statement saying there would be little revision to his immigration plan despite Kellyanne Conway’s suggestions.
“Donald Trump’s immigration plan remains the same as it’s always been – tear apart families and deport 16 million people from the United States,” said Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta.
If the deportation plan is dropped or refashioned, it would not be the first shift in Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
Donald Trump’s controversial plan to issue a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the country changed to a ban on countries with a history of terrorism against the US. That switch followed questions raised by constitutional experts.
Last week, the Trump campaign faced a dramatic overhaul with the exit of campaign chairman Paul Manafort as well as the hiring of Breitbart News boss Stephen Bannon as CEO and Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager.
In a speech in Ohio, Donald Trump has said that he would enact “extreme vetting” of immigrants.
The Republican presidential nominee outlined his plans to combat Islamic extremism, including a new screening test for arrivals to the United States.
Applicants will be tested to determine if they share Western liberal values like LGBT and religious tolerance.
Donald Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton poured scorn on his plan, labeling it a “cynical ploy”.
“This so-called <<policy>> cannot be taken seriously,” said her spokesman.
“How can Trump put this forward with a straight face when he opposes marriage equality and selected as his running mate the man [Mike Pence] who signed an anti-LGBT law in Indiana?”
Under Donald Trump’s plan, citizens from countries with a history of terror will be banned but it is not clear which nations.
Photo Getty Images
In the speech, the New York billionaire did not lay out his own military strategy for defeating ISIS.
He did repeat his claim he was opposed to the Iraq War before it began, which fact-checkers say is untrue.
Donald Trump also said that the oil in Iraq should have been seized by the US government to prevent it from becoming the property of ISIS.
In his speech, he also promised to:
Ban immigration from countries where terrorism is widespread and vetting is poor
Make alliances with all countries fighting against terrorism
Introduce an ideology test for new immigrants arriving to the US
Keep Guantanamo Bay prison open
Establish a presidential commission to investigate Islamic terror
Work with NATO, despite previously calling it “obsolete”
Donald Trump initially proposed a blanket ban on all Muslims but has changed it to one that is based on an unspecified list of countries that export terror.
The latest proposal includes creating an ideological test for immigrants entering the US, with questions addressing how each applicant views American values such as religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights.
“Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into the country,” Donald Trump said.
The Republican nominee said that the test will not only expose terrorist sympathizers, but also will “screen out any who have hostile attitudes towards our country or its principles”.
Donald Trump heavily criticized Hillary Clinton, saying that she lacks the “mental and physical stamina” to defeat ISIS.
He attacked her plan to increase the rate of Syrian refugees arrivals, which he claimed would cost $400 billion.
Donald Trump is still facing a backlash for repeatedly describing President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as “founders” of Islamic State.
Vice President Joe Biden speaking at a campaign event with Hillary Clinton said that Donald Trump’s claim that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had “founded” ISIS proved his views to be “dangerous” and “un-American”, and that it had made US soldiers in Iraq less safe already.
Recent polls show Donald Trump significantly trailing Hillary Clinton in key battleground states.
President Barack Obama’s plan to shield millions of undocumented immigrants living illegally in the US failed to pass the Supreme Court.
The court has announced it is split on the president’s plan.
The divide comes as a blow to Barack Obama’s 2014 executive action which he enacted without Congress and will now be assessed in a lower court.
Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan applauded the news, saying only Congress should write laws.
However, Barack Obama said the deadlock was “heartbreaking” for millions of people.
“They are Americans in every way but on paper,” the president said at the White House, adding that reform will happen, sooner or later.
“Congress is not going to be able to ignore America forever,” Barack Obama added.
Texas led 26 Republican-led states in challenging the program, which would have given the right to work to millions of people.
The deadlock between the eight judges was only possible because of the death of the ninth, Justice Antonin Scalia, leaving a vacancy that is still unfilled.
This is the first tied decision produced by the Supreme Court, as the Senate continues to block Barack Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) initiatives had been on hold since 2015 as the court considered the programs’ legality.
DAPA was considered particularly controversial as it allows the parents of US citizens and permanent residents to remain in the county for up to three years and apply for work permits.
Lawyers for the state of Texas argued that state governments would be overburdened by having to spend more on public services with the addition of the undocumented residents.
The lack of ruling leaves the legal status of about four million undocumented immigrants in limbo.
Barack Obama’s unilateral action would have allowed migrants to obtain work permits and would block them from deportation while their citizenship status was being determined by lawmakers.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton called the courts deadlocked opinion “unacceptable” and said that immigrants “enrich our communities and contribute to our economy every day”.
She said in a statement: “We should be doing everything possible under the law to provide them relief from the specter of deportation.”
Republican lawmaker Paul Ryan applauded the Supreme Court for making “the president’s executive action on immigration null and void”.
“The Constitution is clear: The president is not permitted to write laws, only Congress is.”
Paul Ryan, the top-ranking elected Republican, is at odds with the party’s presidential nominee-to-be Donald Trump over his plans to build a wall on the southern border paid for by Mexico.
Donald Trump told a bikers’ rally in Washington DC that illegal immigrants in the US often get better care than the nation’s military veterans.
“We’re not going to allow that to happen any longer,” he said.
The Republican presidential nominee did not provide any evidence for his assertion.
In 2015, Donald Trump sparked anger by attacking the military record of Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war.
Donald Trump said John McCain was only considered a hero because he was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.
Photo Getty Images
He then added: “I like people who weren’t captured.”
Since then Donald Trump, who never served in the military, has tried to repair the damage by frequently honoring veterans at his rallies and holding fundraising events for them.
The billionaire’s latest comments came at the annual Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally on Sunday, which was dedicated to remembering POWs and those missing in action.
Despite previous criticism, many in the crowd cheered Donald Trump.
He was speaking ahead of the June 7 California primary.
Donald Trump is running unopposed in California after his Republican rivals pulled out and he reached the number of delegates needed to secure the nomination. It has yet to be formalized.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have clashed over immigration and other issues during the Democratic debate in Florida.
The Miami event took place just days before the next round of primaries, including Florida.
With 246 delegates at stake, the southern state is the biggest prize.
Bernie Sanders had a surprise victory in Michigan on March 8, but Hillary Clinton increased her overall lead with a big win in Mississippi.
In the Republican race on the same day, Donald Trump won three more states (Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii) in his bid to win the Republican nomination. Rival Ted Cruz won a Republican-only race in Idaho.
Photo Getty Images
The states were the latest to choose candidates to compete in November’s presidential election.
During the Miami debate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for voting against an immigration reform back in 2007.
“Just think, imagine where we would be today if we had achieved comprehensive immigration reform nine years ago,” she said.
Bernie Sanders responded by saying he had concerns about the treatment of guest workers. The proposed program was “akin to slavery”, he said.
The Vermont senator also said that Hilalry Clinton was against allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.
Nearly two million Hispanics live in Florida, and their support will play a big role in the 15 March primary.
Florida is home to nearly 1.8 million Hispanics, including about 15% of the state’s Democrats.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders also discussed job creation, education and climate change.
They both attacked Republican front-runner Donald Trump, with Hillary Clinton saying that his “trafficking in prejudice and paranoia has no place in our political system”.
Hillary Clinton said Donald Trump could not even decide “whether to disavow Ku Klux Klan”.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders said: “I think that the American people are never going to elect a president who insults Mexicans, who insults Muslims, who insults women, who insults African-Americans.”
Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto has likened Donald Trump’s rhetoric to that of Adolf Hitler.
In an interview with Mexican daily Excelsior, Enrique Pena Nieto called Donald Trump’s rhetoric “strident”.
The Mexican leader added that “that’s how Mussolini got in, that’s how Hitler got in”.
Enrique Pena Nieto also said that Donald Trump had hurt US-Mexico relations.
The Republican presidential hopeful has said that if he is elected he will build a wall along the US-Mexico border to keep immigrants from crossing into the US illegally.
Donald Trump has also insisted that Mexico would pay for the border wall, which President Enrique Pena Nieto dismissed out of hand.
The president said there was “no scenario” under which Mexico would ever pay for such a wall.
Donald Trump, who has made the fight against illegal immigration the main plank of his campaign, outraged Mexicans last June when he called undocumented Mexican immigrants “criminals” and “rapists”.
Enrique Pena Nieto said Donald Trump offered “very easy, simple solutions to problems that are obviously not that easy to solve”.
“And there have been episodes in human history, unfortunately, where these expressions of this strident rhetoric have only led to very ominous situations in the history of humanity,” he said.
“That’s how Mussolini got in, that’s how Hitler got in, they took advantage of a situation, a problem perhaps, which humanity was going through at the time, after an economic crisis,” he added.
Enrique Pena Nieto, who had up until now avoided commenting on Donald Trump’s candidacy, insisted he would be “absolutely respectful” of the US political process.
Egyptian student Emadeldin Elsayed has agreed to voluntarily leave the US after posting on Facebook that the world would thank him if he killed Donald Trump.
The 23-year-old student pilot was not charged with a crime but the authorities sought to deport him, his attorney, Hani Bushra, said.
Immigration authorities said they would allow Emadeldin Elsayed to return home voluntarily as long as he departed by July 5.
Emadeldin Elsayed is being held in a jail in California after his visa was revoked.
Photo Facebook
Hani Bushra said on March 7 that Emadeldin Elsayed’s detention was illegal.
“He’s being detained, I think, primarily because he’s a Muslim and he’s a Middle Easterner,” Hani Bushra told the AP news agency.
“This kid is going to become a poster boy for hating America.”
Secret Service agents interviewed Emadeldin Elsayed in early February after he posted a photo of Donald Trump on Facebook and wrote he was willing to serve a life sentence for killing the billionaire, and the world would thank him, Hani Bushra said.
Emadeldin Elsayed had said earlier that he never intended to hurt anyone. He said he wrote the post because of Donald Trump’s comments about Muslims.
Donald Trump, a front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination for the presidency, has promised a crackdown on immigration. He has vowed to build a wall along the entire Mexican border and called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.
A group of 113 Cuban refugees have been flown by the Costa Rican authorities to a Mexican border town, from where they are expected to enter the US.
The group, including children and pregnant women, landed in Nuevo Laredo on February 9.
They were among thousands stranded in Costa Rica after neighboring Nicaragua denied them passage north.
Cubans are allowed automatic residence when they set foot in the US.
Photo AP
However, after the United States and Cuba normalized ties following years of animosity, the number of Cubans trying to reach the US surged amid fears the policy would be dropped.
Central American nations reached a deal last month allowing refugees stranded in Costa Rica to continue on to the US.
The first flight carrying about 180 flew from Costa Rica to El Salvador in January.
Latino protesters have marched in New York as Donald Trump presented the NBC’s Saturday Night Live show.
Donald Trump became the seventh presidential hopeful to host the NBC show, five months after the network dropped him after he made derogatory statements about immigrants.
Groups marched to NBC’s studios, criticizing the network.
Donald Trump’s opening monologue on the show made light of the protests.
When he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump described Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug smugglers.
Soon afterwards, NBC dropped the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants co-owned by Donald Trump, saying “respect and dignity for all people” were “cornerstones of our values”.
Photo NBC
However, NBC announced last month that Donald Trump would return to the airwaves for a one-off appearance on SNL.
He had previously hosted the show in 2004.
Donald Trump told the audience in New York that he was there “to show I can take a joke”.
While Donald Trump’s campaign officials have not commented on the protest, he said in June that he was on good terms with his Hispanic employees and that “Latinos love Trump, and I love them”.
In the opening sketch of Saturday night’s show, Donald Trump was heckled by a man calling him racist – only for it to emerge that the voice belonged to Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David.
“I heard if I did that I would get $5,000,” Larry David said, referring to an offer made by a Latino rights group to any potential hecklers.
“As a businessman, I can fully respect that,” Donald Trump replied.
The foreign ministers of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are to meet their counterpart from Germany and current EU presidency holder Luxembourg, amid a growing row over refugee quotas.
The Central European countries – the so-called Visegrad-four – reject quotas proposed by the EU Commission and backed by Germany.
The talks in Prague are expected to focus on this issue.
The European Commission wants 120,000 additional asylum seekers per year to be shared out between 28 EU members.
This would be a sharp increase from the current 40,000.
Photo Getty Images
In recent weeks, tens of thousands of migrants have been desperately trying to flee conflicts in countries like Syria and Libya. Many of them travel through Hungary to Germany, Austria and Sweden – wealthier EU nations with more liberal asylum laws.
The Central European nations have all rejected the proposed compulsory quotas.
This is despite the fact that each of them would take in far fewer refugees than Germany if the EU backs the proposals.
Ahead of the Prague meeting, the Czech Foreign Ministry said it was aimed at improving “better mutual understanding among EU member states… [in light of] some differing views”.
Hungary in particular has become a key point on the journey north for the migrants, with more than 150,000 people arriving this year.
On September 9, the Hungarian army started military exercises to prepare for a possible future role in guarding the border and stemming the flow of people – a move criticized by human rights groups.
A new razor-wire barrier is also being built along Hungary’s border with Serbia.
The authorities in Hungary have been told to expect 40,000 more migrants by next week.
At least 10,000 migrants have arrived in Munich after an arduous journey through Hungary and Austria.
German members of the public applauded and offered sweets as some 450 migrants arrived on a special train service.
The plight of the migrants has highlighted the EU’s struggle to deal with a surge of asylum seekers.
Earlier this week there were chaotic scenes in Budapest as Hungary blocked them from travelling onwards.
Photo Getty Images
Many migrants refused to be taken to camps in Hungary to register for asylum, insisting they wanted to travel on to Germany and Austria.
Crowds broke through security lines and began walking 108 miles to the border, many with small children.
Under mounting pressure, Hungary opened its border with Austria, which expects to have received some 10,000 people by the end of the day on September 5.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany can cope with an influx of newcomers, without raising taxes or jeopardizing its budget.
Austria has also said it will not limit the number of migrants crossing its borders.
However, there is little sign of a coordinated EU response to the crisis, despite more than 350,000 migrants having crossed the EU’s borders in 2015 alone.
Germany, backed by the European Commission, has been pushing for a quota system for dividing the people reaching Europe between member states. But this has been opposed by several eastern members.
On September 5, Hungary said that while it had temporarily relaxed restrictions on the transit of asylum seekers, it was pressing ahead with plans to tighten border controls and could send troops to its southern frontier if parliament agreed.
In a recent interview, Donald Trump says he wants to end the automatic right to citizenship for all children born in the US.
Under the current law, all children born in the United States – even if their parents are illegal immigrants – get citizenship under the constitution.
Other measures the Republican presidential hopeful outlined would include raising visa fees to pay for a wall along the Mexican border.
Immigration is a central plank of Donald Trump’s campaign to be the Republican contender in next year’s election.
“They have to go,” he told NBC’s Chuck Todd during Meet The Press interview.
A tough deportation policy was needed, Donald Trump said, because “there’s definitely evidence” of crimes linked to immigrants living in the country illegally.
He said he would also deport all undocumented immigrants, and pay for a tripling of the number of immigration officers by eliminating tax credit payments to immigrant families residing illegally in the US.
Donald Trump added families with US-born children could return quickly if deemed worthy by the government.
“We’re going to try and bring them back rapidly, the good ones,” the Republican front-runner candidate said.
He added: “We will expedite it so people can come back in.”
“The good people can come back,” Donald Trump said, without elaborating.
European Union states have been asked to take in 40,000 asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea who land in Italy and Greece over the next two years.
Under the European Commission’s latest plan, Germany, France and Spain would receive the most migrants.
The idea of using quotas to resettle those who have made it to Europe has caused controversy in some EU states.
The UK government says that it will not take part in such a system.
France, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia and Estonia have also all voiced concerns, and a final decision will be taken by EU governments after a European Parliament vote.
Denmark has the right to opt out of the plan while Ireland and the UK can decide whether they wish to opt in.
The plan applies to Syrian and Eritrean nationals who arrive in Italy or Greece after April 15, 2015. The European Commission said it could also apply to Malta if it also faced a sudden influx of migrants.
This is in addition to moves announced earlier this month by the EU for a voluntary scheme to settle 20,000 refugees fleeing conflict who are currently living outside the EU.
Of the 40,000 migrants considered “in clear need of international protection”, the Commission says:
Germany would take in 8,763 (21.91%)
France would take in 6,752 (16.88%)
Spain would take in 4,288 (10.72%)
Dimitris Avramopoulos, the home affairs commissioner, said it was not proposing “the fixing of quotas… for migration in general” and but it was “up to each member to decide how many refugees they will grant refugee status [to]”.
“We only propose – and we insist on that – a fair distribution of a concrete number of migrants in clear need of international protection across the European Union,” he said.
Countries would receive €6,000 ($6,600) for every person relocated on their territory under the latest proposal, the commission said.
More than 1,800 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in 2015 – a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014.
Some 60,000 people have already tried to make the perilous crossing this year, the UN estimates.
Many are trying to escape conflict or poverty in countries such as Syria, Eritrea, Nigeria and Somalia.
The European Commission said Italy and Greece were facing an exceptional level of migration, with Italy seeing a 277% rise in irregular border crossings from 2013 to 2014 and Greece seeing an increase of 153%.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has also urged Europe to do more to help migrants, calling for search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean to be “further strengthened”.
Earlier this month, EU ministers backed plans for a naval force to set up to combat smuggling gangs, if necessary by military force, inside Libyan territorial waters.
An Ivorian boy has been smuggled into Spain from Morocco inside a suitcase, Spanish police say.
The 8-year-old boy, named Abou, was found inside the case being carried by a 19-year-old woman into Ceuta, a Spanish enclave next to Morocco, on May 7.
When police opened the case, they found the boy in a “terrible state”, a spokesman for the Guardia Civil told AFP.
The boy is now in the care of authorities in Ceuta.
According to El Pais, the 19-year-old is not related to the boy, and was paid by his father to carry the suitcase.
The boy’s father lives in the Canary Islands and had hoped to be reunited with his son, El Pais said.
The Spanish news agency Efe said the boy’s father, also named Abou, had travelled back to Ivory Coast to pick him up, having moved to Gran Canaria in 2013.
The father then reportedly paid the Moroccan courier to carry the suitcase. A police spokesman told Efe: “She seemed to hesitate, and it looked as though she didn’t want to come through the border.
“At first we thought that there could be drug packages, but gradually discovered that it was a human body.”
The boy’s father travelled across the border an hour-and-a-half after his son. At that point, Efe said, he was detained by border guards.
Ceuta and another Spanish enclave, Melilla, sit on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, and are each surrounded on three sides by Morocco.
Madrid says they are integral parts of Spain and manages their borders, but Morocco claims sovereignty over the territories.
Despite being surrounded by six-meter-high fences, the enclaves have proved to be popular areas for migrants to try to cross into Europe from Africa.
Human Rights Watch says at least 4,300 people entered Ceuta and Melilla illegally in 2013, compared to 2,804 the year before.
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