Latest news with #asylumSeekers
SBS Australia
6 hours ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
‘I didn't sleep at all': One mother's terrifying wait for news from a war zone
Nayran Tabiei keeps busy in the kitchen making traditional Syrian dishes for her catering business in Melbourne. But this week, her thoughts were far away, worrying about her three sons in Iran's capital Tehran. "The mobile is cut, the line they cut - no news at all. My heart started to beat. I didn't sleep at all. I tried every night, every day I'm trying to message and you see 100 message in my mobile but no answer." As bombs rained down on the city, Ms Tabiei could only hope her boys - aged in their 20s – had survived. "I'm boiling from inside because the thing - when nothing in your hand and nothing you can do. You just, y'know you want to help. My heart start like where we go, what do we do? And I cannot give them any money. I cannot give them any support, even call." Ms Tabiei is married to an Iranian man and the couple fled Syria in 2012 with their young daughter, leaving three young sons with their grandmother in Tehran. "I make bad decision. I felt so bad. I cannot believe 14 years gone I didn't see them and it's hard for a mum to see them grown up without them beside me." Arriving in Australia as an asylum seeker, Ms Tabiei later opened a small café called Flavours of Syria, offering work and training to many, like herself, who were forcibly displaced. "Hundreds and hundreds of asylum seekers, I help them open their business and start up. It makes me proud. I'm so happy in Australia and sharing my food and culture." Finally, just days ago, Ms Tabiei had the phonecall she hoped for – from her sons who are alive and well, having fled Tehran. "My boy called me, my heart beating - yeah good! They stay in the mountain. They took a room with their friend and when they called I am like 'Oh thank God, they are alive!'" Ms Tabiei wants to reunite her family but says every effort to bring her sons here has so far failed. "From the day I heard that crisis in Iran I sent all the parliament that I need help. My hearts shaken and I need my children beside me. In this moment we need help. And 14 year I didn't see them." In a further loss, rising costs have also forced her to close her Syrian café in Melbourne's St Kilda. "It's hard to pay the rent and the cost so high. Before we had plenty of girls in the kitchen, but now I cannot afford to hire." Recent data from credit reporting agency CreditorWatch shows that 10 per cent of all Australian hospitality businesses closed down over the past year. CEO Patrick Coghlan explains: "They are being hit from all sides. Obviously, consumer discretionary spend is down, cost of labour, cost of goods, et cetera, all increasing." From next week, a raft of new costs will add to the pressures, according to Luke Achterstraat, CEO of the Council of Small Business Organisations, or COSBOA. "As of one July, the award rate goes up three and a half percent. The super guarantee increases by 0.5 per cent. So that's 4 per cent already on the wage stack. And don't forget, on top of that you have payroll tax." Mr Achterstraat says more help is needed. "It's the toughest operating environment in recent memory. For a small business with revenue of up to $20 million per year, we are calling for the corporate tax rate to be slashed from 25 per cent to 20 per cent." The most recent Consumer Price Index ,or CPI, shows inflation sitting at 2.1 per cent in the 12 months to May. Creditorwatch CEO Patrick Coghlan says the new figure offers fresh hope. "We've seen two rate cuts already. They're the biggest drivers of economic activity, of GDP, of spending both from consumer and commercial. And we're expecting a couple of more of those this year as well. So, the trend is certainly heading in the right direction." Any interest rate relief is too late for Ms Tabiei, who shut her café to focus on a lower-cost catering business. Keeping busy is a labour of love, she says, and cooking distracts from other worries. "Really I make it with my heart, my love. And when you taste it, you will see that the love in it. And it is all about giving the culture and sharing the love."
CTV News
9 hours ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Guatemala's president denies new asylum deal with U.S.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, left, and Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo walk inside the National Culture Palace to their meeting in Guatemala City, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Pool photo via AP) GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala President Bernardo Arévalo said Friday he has not signed an agreement with the United States to take asylum seekers from other countries, pushing back against comments from U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Noem and Arévalo met Thursday in Guatemala and the two governments publicly signed a joint security agreement that would allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to work in the capital's airport, training local agents how to screen for terrorism suspects. But Noem said she had also been given a signed document she called a safe third country agreement. She said she reached a similar deal in Honduras and said they were important outcomes of her trip. Asked about Noem's comments Friday during a news conference, Arévalo said that nothing new was signed related to immigration and that Guatemala was still operating under an agreement reached with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February. That agreement stipulated that Guatemala would continue accepting the deportation of its own citizens, but also citizens of other Central American nations as a transit point on their way home. Arévalo said that when Rubio visited, safe third country was discussed because Guatemala had signed such an agreement during U.S. President Donald Trump's first term in office. But 'we made it clear that our path was different,' Arévalo said. He did add that Guatemala was willing to provide asylum to Nicaraguans who have been unable to return to their country because of the political situation there out of 'solidarity.' The president's communications office said Noem had been given the ratification of the agreement reached through diplomatic notes weeks earlier. During Trump's first term, the U.S. signed such safe third-country agreements with Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. They effectively allowed the U.S. to declare some asylum seekers ineligible to apply for U.S. protection and permitted the U.S. government to send them to those countries deemed 'safe.' By Sonia Pérez D.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
France could take back Channel migrants under new deal
Sir Keir Starmer is in talks with France to return Channel migrants in a 'one in, one out' deal. Ministers are understood to hope that they can announce an agreement in principle when Emmanuel Macron, the French president, makes his state visit to the UK next month for the Anglo-French summit. Under the scheme, Britain would send back Channel migrants to France within weeks of their arrival in return for the UK taking asylum seekers from France. Home Office sources indicated that a returns scheme was a 'work in progress'. France has resisted such moves since the Dublin returns agreement was scrapped under Brexit and argued that any new agreement would have to be EU-wide. However, France opened the door to taking back Channel migrants for the first time after Bruno Retailleau, the French interior minister, said that it would 'send a clear message' to others planning to make the journey. France has also agreed to start intercepting migrant 'taxi boats' at sea for the first time after previously refusing to do so for fear of breaching maritime safety laws. The policy change driven through by Mr Retailleau is expected to be confirmed at the summit, which is taking place from July 8-10. The moves come after small boat crossings hit record levels with more than 18,000 migrants having reached the UK so far this year, up 43 per cent on the same point last year and the highest number since the first arrivals in 2018. The French have been open to a pilot, one-for-one scheme, which, if successful, could be extended EU-wide. The EU has previously rejected returns agreements that are only bilateral between two countries. A deal would be limited to the UK taking asylum seekers in France with family connections in Britain in exchange for a corresponding number of Channel migrants being returned to France. No 10 has, however, also been studying more ambitious returns schemes. Senior figures from the European Stability Initiative (ESI) have been invited to Downing Street twice in the past eight months to present their ideas. In their presentations, ESI proposed almost every Channel migrant would be returned to France within three to four weeks with very occasional exceptions for people with the strongest family connections to the UK. In return, the UK would agree to take in a capped number of asylum seekers from the EU of, for example, 20,000 a year under a time-limited scheme. They argued that without a near-100 per cent return rate, there would be no deterrent to crossings, predicting that as soon as it became clear there was no prospect of success, the incentive for migrants to make the dangerous, expensive journeys would evaporate. The ESI team argued that their scheme could be extended to a wider group of countries than just France. It also offered them a model for striking their own 'returns' deals with countries that were the source of illegal migrants. The EU has already backed the creation of return 'hubs' - temporary detention centres in non-EU countries where deported migrants would wait before being sent back. Sir Keir confirmed last month that the UK was also in talks with a 'number of countries' about return hubs for failed asylum seekers, which he described as a 'really important innovation'. Home Office sources said it was uncertain whether a deal would be formally announced at the Anglo-French summit. However, they will face pressure not to limit the number of migrants they can send back to France. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, warned that the scheme would fail unless all illegal migrants were denied asylum in the UK and removed from Britain. 'We pay the French half a billion pounds to wave the boats off from Calais, and in return we get a merry-go-round where the same number still come here,' he said. 'The French are failing to stop the boats at sea, failing to return them like the Belgians do, and now instead of demanding real enforcement, Labour are trying a 'one in, one out' gimmick. 'If Labour were serious, they would not have scrapped the returns deterrent the National Crime Agency said we needed – instead, they've surrendered our immigration system. Pathetic.'
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Loss of tourist beds due to housing asylum seekers 'no longer critical', report says
The loss of tourist beds due to the need to house international protection applicants and refugees from Ukraine is 'no longer critical,' according to new research by Fáilte Ireland. New figures show that more than 8,000 extra beds are believed to have come available again as tourist accommodation in the past six months, as the number used to house asylum seekers and refugees has decreased by 12 per cent over the same period. Advertisement The research revealed that the number of beds under State contract has now fallen to 5.7 per cent of all tourist accommodation registered with Fáilte Ireland across the country – down from 12 per cent two years ago. A report by Fáilte Ireland shows a total of 57,410 beds were occupied in May 2024 under contracts with the Government for housing refugees and asylum seekers – a decrease of 8,047 since November 2024. It shows a continuing downward trend in the need to use tourist accommodation to house non-tourists with the number of beds registered with Fáilte Ireland in use for housing asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees down 26 per cent in the past year. 'The impact on most destinations has reduced significantly and, in national terms, is no longer critical,' the report stated. Advertisement The latest figures, which are based on data from the Department of Justice, show 14,010 asylum seekers and refugees were housed in Fáilte Ireland registered properties last month – an annual decrease of 44 per cent. A further 43,400 were living in non-Fáilte Ireland registered facilities but which would have been providing accommodation for the tourism sector – a decrease of 17 per cent in the past year. Fáilte Ireland acknowledged that the figure of just under 6 per cent of all registered tourist beds being under State contract might understate the real impact of contracted beds on the availability of tourist accommodation. It pointed out that for every registered bed under contract there was one or more beds contracted in unregistered tourism relevant sites. Advertisement The latest figures also highlight that there are four countries where the registered bed stock unavailable for tourist accommodation remains in excess of 10 per cent. They are Wicklow (14 per cent); Clare (12 per cent); Meath (12 per cent) and Louth (10 per cent). The rate in other popular tourist destinations is varied including Cork (9 per cent), Mayo (7 per cent), Dublin (6 per cent), Kerry (5 per cent) and Galway (3 per cent). At one stage, 33 per cent of all Failte Ireland registered properties in Clare were being used to house asylum seekers and refugees. Advertisement However, the figure is now below 5 per cent in a majority of the 26 counties, while no Fáilte Ireland registered accommodation providers are under contract in Laois, Longford and Roscommon. 'For most counties, the impact on destinations has reduced significantly and is no longer at critical level,' the report stated. However, Fáilte Ireland acknowledged that some areas were still challenged in terms of providing tourist accommodation in the peak season. Last November, Fáilte Ireland estimated that the economic impact of the displaced bed stock on the tourism industry was between €400 million and €670 million. Advertisement Ireland Department of Health probing consultant 'productiv... Read More It had expressed concern that the unavailability of some tourism accommodation was limiting the industry's ability to meet demand from domestic and overseas tourists, while also leading to higher prices due to a 'supply-demand imbalance.' Fáilte Ireland said the issue highlighted again the importance of having a fully inclusive register of tourist accommodation. A proposed Short-Term Tourist Letting Bill by the Government is due to require properties for short-term tourist lettings that are advertised on platforms like Airbnb to be registered with Fáilte Ireland. Such platforms will also be obliged to only advertise properties which have a valid registration number from Fáilte Ireland.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
New York City shutters migrant hotel known as ‘Little Ellis Island'
New York City officials have closed the historic Manhattan hotel that sheltered thousands of migrant families arriving with little more than the clothes in their backpacks after long treks from the southern border. The Roosevelt Hotel, dubbed the city's 'Little Ellis Island,' shuttered its doors to migrants on Tuesday. The early-20th-century hotel once served as the backdrop to dozens of Hollywood films and closed after a series of financial losses in 2020. But the city reopened it in May 2023 as an 'arrival center' for the scores of migrants taking buses and trains from Texas. Inside the Roosevelt's cavernous lobby, city workers devised a processing system that converted the front desk into a registration area. Asylum seekers from as far away as China were medically screened for physical and psychological maladies, and nurses administered vaccines. Beneath the ceiling's yellowing depiction of a blue sky and puffy white clouds, exhausted families waited to learn where the city would place them. While some were given a room at the Roosevelt, others were sent to different hotels, emergency shelters and living spaces. New York City officials reasoned that if they did not offer migrants a place to sleep, they would camp out on the streets instead. Ultimately more than 230,000 asylum seekers filed through the hotel as they began their New York journeys. Border crossings subsided a year after opening. But demand for housing persisted as migrants waited for work permits and struggled to get their footing financially in a new country. Inside the hotel's hundreds of old, wallpapered rooms entire families lived in cramped quarters like generations of New York immigrants before them. Babies were born. Birthdays were celebrated. Immigrant aid organizations delivered supplies. Air-conditioning units went down. New York City said there are fewer than 45,000 migrants remaining in the city's care. Social workers and resettlement case managers are still helping them. But the Trump administration has ended the reimbursements funding much of the programming, and the number of new arrivals has waned. Many of those who had arrived in recent years are now at risk of deportation. Jairo Garcia, 39, was one of the last migrant residents at the Roosevelt. He had arrived two years earlier with a congenital heart condition that left it functioning at less than 10 percent. The hotel offered him and his partner the privacy, flexibility and time to manage his multiple surgeries and medical visits. 'I'm pretty sad. The Roosevelt has been a blessing and support for so many. Before I was in a tent shelter and getting sicker,' Garcia said. 'I don't know where I would have been without it.' Photographer Stephen Yang spent time inside the Roosevelt Hotel for the past two years as part of an in-progress documentary, 'The Arrival Center.'
