Latest news with #asylumseekers
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Federal agents blast way into California home of woman and small children
Federal agents blasted their way into a residential home in Huntington Park, California, on Friday. Security-camera video obtained by the local NBC station showed border patrol agents setting up an explosive device near the door of the house and then detonating it – causing a window to be shattered. Around a dozen armed agents in full tactical gear then charged toward the home. Jenny Ramirez, who lives in the house with her boyfriend and one-year-old and six-year-old children, told NBC through tears that it was one of the loudest explosions she heard in her life. 'I told them, 'You guys didn't have to do this, you scared my son, my baby,'' Ramirez said. Ramirez said she was not given any warning from the authorities that they wanted to enter her home and that everyone who lives there is a US citizen. The raid comes as federal agents have ramped up immigration enforcement in Los Angeles and across southern California over the last few weeks. Huntington Park is in Los Angeles county. Immigrants have been swept up in raids at court houses, restaurants and straight off the street. Some of the people targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) have been US citizens. In one incident, Ice agents detained a Honduran woman seeking asylum and her children, one of which was a six-year-old boy who had been diagnosed with leukemia. The agents who raided Ramirez's home in Huntington Park on Friday also reportedly sent a drone into the house after setting off the explosive device. The agents told Ramirez that they were searching for her boyfriend, but did not tell her why, according to NBC. Ramirez told the news station that he was involved in a vehicle collision with a truck carrying federal agents last week. She said it was an accident and unintentional. A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection told NBC: 'Jorge Sierra-Hernandez was arrested because he rammed his car into a CBP vehicle, causing significant damage and obstructed the work of our agents and officers during course of a law enforcement operation.' The spokesperson said agents were 'assaulted' during this incident and 'additional rioters threw rocks and other objects at our personnel'. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately return the Guardian's request for comment. In a separate incident in Huntington Park on Friday, a man was arrested for apparently impersonating an Ice agent, according to another report by the local NBC station. Police said they arrested the man after he parked in a disabled zone. In his vehicle, they allegedly found a firearm and documents that appeared to be from Homeland Security Investigations and CBP. The man was arrested over possession of an allegedly unregistered firearm and later released on bail.
The Sun
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
If Keir Starmer can't stop the small boat smugglers, how will he ever stop the Russian army?
WELL, knock me down with a feather. It turns out that mass illegal immigration isn't a fabulously good thing, after all. I know, I'm as surprised as you are. 3 3 This will come as shocking news to the chatterati who've been singing the praises of open borders for years, insisting we welcome every Tom, Dick and Mohamed from the Third World who is able to pay a people smuggler a few grand in cash for a dinghy ride from Calais. But it appears that the arrival of tens of thousands of undocumented men of fighting age from the basket-case countries of the world has proved to be a bit of a problem. I'm not talking about the multi-billion-pound cost of processing the new arrivals — 18,000 already this year alone, via the Channel — then housing them in asylum hotels and hostels for years on end while paying their legal aid for appeal after appeal against deportation orders. Or the intimidation of local people and the harassment of young women and girls when the Home Office, in their infinite wisdom, plonks in the middle of our towns and cities hundreds of young men from alien cultures where women are viewed as property rather than equals. Alleged Iranian spies And this is quite apart from the many crimes committed by these new arrivals, from burglary and drug-dealing, to child abuse and robbery, and even terror and murder on our streets. Oh, and then there's the impact on wages for Brits seeking work, as the new arrivals take jobs illegally in the black market as food-delivery workers. They also pay zero tax from this income, while taxpayers continue to fund their accommodation. And now, on top of all that, we know the thousands flooding in on small boats are a threat to our national security. Security sources have told The Sun this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin and other hostile nations' leaders have weaponised the migrant crisis in a bid to destabilise Britain, as part of their strategy of hybrid warfare against the West. They didn't create the crisis but have acted fast to capitalise on it. Whether it's cyber-attacks, social-media disinformation campaigns and now helping smuggling gangs to breach our borders, it's all part of Putin's efforts to undermine our defences and stir up division in our country. And, by the looks of it, he's doing a bloody good job of it. Russia's regime is providing fake travel documents, helping smuggling gangs with military escorts and fomenting civil wars in Africa to drive up the demand for migration to Europe and sow chaos in our democracies. Meanwhile, only last month three alleged Iranian spies were charged under the National Security Act after arriving by boat and lorry to claim asylum. All this is happening despite Britain spending billions on security to patrol our coast and carry out surveillance in the Channel. Yet every day, hundreds more illegal migrants pay the people smugglers to get on dinghies and head to the white cliffs of Dover. How on earth can anyone trust Sir Keir Starmer to defend our country and our Nato allies from our enemies when, under his premiership, the number of arrivals on dinghies is up by more than 40 per cent this year compared with last. During this week's Nato summit at The Hague, in the Netherlands, the PM signed up to a pledge for the alliance's members to each spend five per cent of their GDP on defence and security by 2035. Of that money, 1.5 per cent would be allowed to be spent on things like tackling people-smuggling criminal gangs — a commitment that recognises for the first time the inextricable link between our defence and border control. There was no mention of where the extra annual £40billion or so will come from, to pay for the new pledge. But this is at least the first ray of hope that our political leaders, at home and across Europe, have finally woken up to the multi-pronged threat to the West posed by mass illegal immigration. If we can't stop thousands of men armed only with a mobile phone, life jacket and asylum application from storming our beaches, how do we think we could stop an army of Russian troops from invading Nato members? If we can't prevent smuggling gangs from defeating our security, what hope can we have of tackling the threats from Russia, China, Iran and anyone else who seeks to harm us? The first job of any government is the defence of the realm. If we don't act NOW to secure our borders, soon there might be nothing left to defend. MINISTERS are looking at a ban on primetime adverts for alcohol to tackle our supposedly problem drinking. We thought the Tories were bad with their constant nanny-state interference in our lives, but the puritanical streak is even stronger in the Labour Party. If this lot get their way, we wouldn't be allowed any fun at all. Whether it's banning ads for booze and fast food, taxing fizzy drinks and cakes and anything else we enjoy, it's all part of their sackcloth-and-ashes approach to EVERYTHING. And soon it won't just be the adverts they ban, it will be the beer, wine and spirits themselves. No wonder Labour love Net Zero so much when they can use it to justify forcing us to drive less, fly less, heat our homes less and even use less water. It seems they won't be happy until we're all unhappy, living off gruel in freezing-cold caves and desperately praying to the climate gods for salvation from our miserable existence. It's enough to turn you to drink. LABOUR IS LAYABOUTS PARTY THE Prime Minister is on a Starmer-charmer offensive with his backbench MPs in a bid to get his welfare reforms through the House of Commons next week. Almost 130 Labour MPs have vowed to block the reforms to sickness and disability benefits, forcing the PM to water them down in a humiliating challenge to his own authority. No10's handling of the rebellion has been inept, and the planned reforms don't even go far enough to cut the ballooning cost of working age welfare. But what's most baffling is why so many Labour MPs don't understand the moral case for reform. It is deeply unfair on the millions of people who get up every morning and go out to work to be forced to pay taxes to fund those who could work but choose not to. But it is also profoundly immoral to leave millions of people on the scrapheap of life, without the dignity and self-respect of doing an honest day's work. Labour used to be the party of just that – labour. But now it's the party of layabouts.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Third-country asylum plan shows UK is in ‘a very dark place', says Albanian PM
A UK plan to send refused asylum seekers to 'return hubs' in third countries shows post-Brexit Britain is 'in a very dark place', Albania's prime minister has said. In his first interview with the international media since leading his socialist party to a historic fourth term in office, Edi Rama said the idea of the UK wanting to 'look for places to dump immigrants' would have been inconceivable a decade ago. But it was in keeping with the shift in public discourse in Britain since Brexit, in which the 'totally unacceptable, totally ridiculous, totally shameful' had become normalised, he said. Announced last month by Keir Starmer during a visit to the Balkan state, the 'return hubs' scheme would involve centres in a third country processing the claims of people refused asylum who have exhausted legal pathways in the UK. 'It's one of those things that 10 years ago would simply not have not been imaginable … that Britain would look for places to dump immigrants,' Rama said from Tirana, the Albanian capital. 'The fact that today it's not just imaginable, it's happening, is not because of Keir Starmer or [Rishi] Sunak doing something outrageous; it's because of the country being in a very dark place.' Rama, who is renowned for his outspoken and contrarian views, voiced dismay at the level of public discourse in the UK. As a committed anglophile, he said, it was hard to take in. 'Eighty per cent of the things that are said, or are written, or are accepted as a normal part of the discourse in today's Britain are things that [before Brexit] would have been totally unacceptable, totally ridiculous, totally shameful,' he said. Under former Tory governments, relations between the UK and Albania became increasingly strained, overshadowed by boat crossings and accusations of illegal Albanian immigrants 'invading' British shores. Starmer's visit in May – the first ever by a British prime minister – – was aimed at putting bilateral relations on a new footing. While in Tirana, the Labour leader said talks were under way 'with a number of countries' to set up the hubs. But, in a move seen as a gentle rebuke to his guest, Rama said in a joint press conference that Albania would not be participating in the scheme. Seeking to put the record straight in the interview, Rama said that Starmer, a 'very decent [and] a delightful person', had neither made the request publicly nor been the first British leader to privately broach the subject. Rama said his response had always been the same: 'I have been clear about this since Boris Johnson asked me and Rishi asked me … I've always said no.' That Albania had previously agreed to a similar scheme with Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, was different because of the 'very special relationship' the two countries had. That deal, which envisaged intercepting people at sea and taking most of them not to Italy but to a reception centre in Albania for their asylum claims to be processed, has so far been obstructed by legal objections. From the day Albania's brutal Stalinist regime collapsed in 1991, Italy had stood by his country, Rama said. As a result his compatriots had 'a weak spot' for Rome. 'Practically we are one country made of two independent countries … Italy has been there for us in every dark moment and difficult situation since the day we got out of the hell of [being] the North Korea of Europe,' he added. '[We] have a weak spot for Italy, so when Italy asks us for something we say yes, full stop.' Rama's stance coincides with a newfound confidence as the small country, among Europe's poorest states, makes once-unthinkable strides towards joining the EU. With a dramatic change of pace and tone that he attributes to the new 'geopolitically driven spirit' of European policymakers since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, accession negotiations have accelerated as Brussels finally seeks to embrace the western Balkans. The region has long been viewed by Moscow as falling into Russia's sphere of influence. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion Rama, who turns 60 in July, ran his election campaign on the promise he would push ahead with pursuing accession to the EU. He now believes negotiations will be wrapped up by 2027 and 'within 2030 we'll be an EU member'. Albania, which joined Nato in 2009, has been an accession candidate for more than a decade. 'The whole approach to the process has dramatically changed,' he said. 'Now they [the EU] are very eager to go forward … With the Russian aggression everything changed, so somehow Vladimir Putin also did this, he made Europe much more interested in unifying.'. He sees a similar effect on the EU from the new occupant of the White House and is '100% convinced that Donald Trump's election is a good thing for Europe'. Rama said Trump's victory jolted Europe out of its languor and had brought 'an unsettling spirit' that the world needed. 'I think that when Trump says God saved him because he had a plan for America, I think he says only half the truth. God saved him because he had a plan for Europe too, to wake Europe up,' he said. Later this year, the Albanian painter turned prime minister will launch a 'thank you' tour of diaspora communities who, in a first, were able to vote in last month's election, helping him secure a landslide victory. More than 500,000 ethnic Albanians are thought to live in Greece alone. Rama's hope is that he can lure them back 'because now our salaries are very close to [those in] Greece and it's home'. But the socialist party leader, at 6ft 7in (2.01 metres), a basketball player in his youth, also has his critics. Charges of corruption in Albanian society are widespread. So, too, are accusations of creeping authoritarianism – Rama will be the longest-serving leader since Enver Hoxha, the country's former brutal dictator – though the allegations are labelled farcical by admirers and mandarins in Brussels. One former EU minister said: 'Edi is larger than life. His problem is that he is too big for his country and I am not referring to his height.' If Albania succeeded in its membership bid, Rama said it would be 'the right and most wonderful moment to pass the torch'. It would be a personal achievement but also 'help Europe be less boring and more sunny'.
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Teenage arsonist at Rotherham asylum seeker hotel riot sentenced
Two 16-year-old boys have been sentenced after participating in "disgraceful" violent disorder outside a South Yorkshire hotel housing asylum defendants, who cannot be named due to their age, admitted violent disorder, with one admitting a further charge of arson reckless as to whether life is inside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, "thought they were going to die at the hands of the violent, racist mob" on 4 August, Sheffield Youth Court teenagers, who were both told by a judge they would have been jailed had they been adults, were given year-long referral orders. The first defendant was captured on CCTV adding wood to a fire which was burning against the played to the court showed him hurl a fire extinguisher at police officers and push a metal bin towards a police Ford, defending, told the judge: "He wants me to assure you he isn't racist - he happened upon the incident without knowing what it was."He got carried away, swept up in it, and was being encouraged by adults present." When district judge Tim Spruce questioned why he initially told police he wasn't there, the boy said: "I didn't admit to it because I was scared. Sorry."Judge Spruce said the boy's actions could have resulted in "catastrophic harm and loss of life"."One adult charged with similar offences to you received a term of nine years," he told the boy."Make no mistake, if you were an adult you would be going to jail right now."Further CCTV showed the second boy pushing a burning bin towards the was part of a crowd which "violently" rocked a police van "to the point it became completely unstable", the judge said. 'Won't happen again' He told the boy he would have faced three to five years in prison had he been older."You were fully engaged, chanting, making violent gestures," the judge boy's mother took him to a police station after seeing an appeal for suspects shared on social Walker, defending, said: "He was helping his mum with the shopping before he got involved – that shows what he ordinarily does behave like."He didn't appreciate [the racial element] at the time – that was not his motivation."The teenager told the judge: "I would like to say I am very sorry for what I've done."It's not the real me, what happened on that day, and it won't ever happen again." Judge Spruce said many of the 58 police officers who were injured had not returned to work due to the "anxiety and distress" caused by the said: "Within that hotel there were families of migrants who had already fled trauma in their own countries, once again placed in fear, along with staff at the hotel."Disorder of this nature was extremely frightening for anyone close by and for people watching on the television."He added: "It was shameful and disgraceful, leaving communities terrified and intimidated."He said he accepted neither boy had overt racist views or negative views towards asylum seekers and their actions had been "isolated behaviour in a highly unique set of events".Referral orders can include courses about hate crime, fire safety and victim awareness, the court heard. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
The Sun
4 days ago
- The Sun
Small boat migrants working illegally as takeaway delivery riders will be ARRESTED and have bikes seized in crackdown
MIGRANTS working illegally as food delivery riders from asylum hotels are to be arrested and have their bikes seized in a major crackdown. The Home Office vowed to target the racket after yesterday's investigation by The Sun triggered widespread outrage. 7 7 Meanwhile, asylum seekers continued to brazenly cycle out of taxpayer-funded asylum hotels in Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats uniforms. Police and immigration officers pledged to arrest offenders on street corners and outside their hotels. And Facebook shut down groups flogging illicit Deliveroo and Just Eat accounts. They included a forum with 20,000 members in which dozens of accounts were offered for sale or rent every day. Cops will seize dangerous e-bikes and officials will target the busiest eateries visited by the illegal workers. And next week Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats will be hauled in to Westminster to meet with Border Security and Asylum Minister Angela Eagle to demand they step up in combating the scandal. The moves come after The Sun revealed migrants can start earning up to £1,000 a week on apps like Deliveroo and Just Eat within hours of arriving in Britain. 'Face the consequences' This is despite rules banning all migrants in hotels from working as delivery drivers, and barring those who in Britain for less than 12 months from any work at all. The Home Office said: 'We are cracking down on this illegal working tactic not just through new legislation, but with dedicated law enforcement operations. 'We are targeting the most prolific riders both on the streets where they are working, and the hotels where they are staying. Channel migrants queue for cash in hand jobs as secrets of UK's £260bn illegal economy revealed "Immigration enforcement are working hand-in-hand with the police so together they can seize these dangerous bikes, stop this illegal working racket, and ensure that fraudulent asylum-seekers face the consequences.' They added: 'We welcome Facebook's action against pages facilitating illegal working — a crime which undermines honest businesses and undercuts wages. 'The public won't stand for it, and neither will this Government, which is why we know more still needs to be done.' A Downing Street spokesman said: 'It's right that a spotlight is being shone on this racket. 'It undermines honest businesses and undercuts local wages. 'The public rightly won't stand for it, and neither will this Government.' Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp wrote to the delivery firms demanding action. 7 He told The Sun: 'The fact illegal immigrants are able to work for companies like Deliveroo within just hours of arriving in the UK is a disgrace. 'This increases the 'pull factor' that attracts illegal immigrants to travel from France to the UK. 'The companies deserve to be prosecuted and substantially fined. 'Home Secretary Yvettte Cooper's failure to stop this is shocking. 'I congratulate the Sun for your work in uncovering this scandal.' Hotels named as hubs in our investigation included the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in central London, where bikes are strewn and brazen illegal workers were yesterday still seen leaving in fast-food firm uniforms. The fact that it took this long shows how willing the entire industry was to turn a blind eye. Source We told how asylum seekers being housed and fed in hotels across the country were exploiting a loophole allowing legitimate account holders to sub-let work. On one online forum we found multiple posts offering accounts listed by place names. Many users hid behind anonymous accounts using nicknames. A source welcomed Facebook taking action, but added: 'The fact that it took this long shows how willing the entire industry was to turn a blind eye. 'These accounts were the critical artery and were so useful to anyone trying to get a job while living in a hotel. 'Now that is gone.' Last night Deliveroo said: 'We have zero tolerance for any misuse of our platform and any accounts which fail to meet their legal obligations will be offboarded.' 'All riders, including substitutes, must complete right-to-work checks including daily identity verification.' 7 Sources said the firm was also working on new ways to combat illegal work at migrant hotels following our probe. Just Eat said: 'We set clear standards and requirements for those who deliver on our behalf. 'We are continuously strengthening our approach to ensure anyone who delivers through Just Eat's platform has the right to work in the UK.' It said it had right-to-work checks and had added random facial recognition tests for couriers. Uber said: 'All couriers who use the Uber Eats app must undergo checks to ensure they have a legal right to work in the UK. 'Working with the Home Office and the rest of industry, Uber Eats has launched new detection tools to crack down on anyone attempting to work illegally on our platform.' PLANS 'IMPOSSIBLE' By Julia Atherley THE UK's borders watchdog has admitted he does not think the Government's plans to end the use of asylum hotels will work. David Bolt, Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, said there is not enough housing stock to make it happen by the end of this Parliament He told the Lords Justice and Home Affairs committee: 'I don't think it will be achieved, frankly.' Mr Bolt also said he did not believe that targeting the smuggling gangs will stop small-boats crossings of the Channel. A No10 spokesman said of his comments: 'I don't accept that. The Government is committed to restoring grip to the asylum system.' Currently, 210 asylum hotels are in use, costing £4million a day.
