All posts tagged: Immigration

In Los Angeles, a sister offers shelter and mercy to immigrants convicted of crimes

In Los Angeles, a sister offers shelter and mercy to immigrants convicted of crimes

Published by Sam Flores

LOS ANGELES (RNS) — Sister Teresa Groth calls herself a “pardoned sinner” who seeks to be “an instrument of mercy in the hands of God” — words paraphrased from the constitution of the Daughters of Mary and Joseph, her congregation. As executive director of Francisco Homes, a Los Angeles housing program for formerly incarcerated men, she says that calling has guided her work. Since 2009, Groth has been welcoming men who served long sentences and easing their transition back into the world.  Groth came to religious life later than most. Widowed at 30 with a baby, she said she threw herself into her parish and, in her early 30s, had a religious experience she describes as God addressing her guilt directly: “Just rest in my love. Trust me.” After her son left for college, she entered the Daughters of Mary and Joseph and came to Francisco Homes in her second year of formation. “First, we recognize that we have received mercy. I have received mercy,” Groth, 70, said. Founded in 2007 as an extension of a project of the …

Republicans Mull Dropping Billion Security Money Request for the White House and Trump’s Ballroom

Republicans Mull Dropping $1 Billion Security Money Request for the White House and Trump’s Ballroom

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators are considering whether to drop a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump’s ballroom after it has failed to win enough party support on Capitol Hill. Pressured by the White House, Republicans have tried to add the money to a roughly $70 billion bill to restore funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. But the security proposal has met with backlash from some GOP lawmakers who are questioning the cost and the lack of detail from the White House and U.S. Secret Service about how the taxpayer dollars would be used. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Wednesday that the bill was “back to square one” without the security money because “the votes are not there.” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the effort to add the security package to the bill was a “bad idea” and he does not think there is enough backing to pass it, even if it were reduced. The text of the bill has …

Vance urges immigration critics in UK to ‘keep on going’ after London protest

Vance urges immigration critics in UK to ‘keep on going’ after London protest

Published by Sam Flores

“A lot of people, frankly, a lot of people in the media, have tried to persuade all of those people that it’s somehow racist to want to protect your borders, even though very often the very people who are most affected by low-wage immigration are lower-income black and Hispanic Americans right here in the United States of America, and I guarantee that’s true in the UK. Source link

European countries reach new agreement on human rights – here’s what it means for the UK’s immigration debate

European countries reach new agreement on human rights – here’s what it means for the UK’s immigration debate

Published by Sam Flores

The 46 countries bound by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) have signed a new declaration on migration, setting out how they believe human rights law should apply to migration issues. With the ECHR playing a contentious role in immigration discourse in the UK, the UK government trailed this declaration as a “more modern interpretation” of the ECHR that would help “restore order and control”. Yet the declaration may not change very much in practice. The ECHR is a key human rights treaty signed by almost every European country, binding them to respect a list of fundamental rights. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has the final say in interpreting what these rights require in practice. Two ECHR rights are particularly important when it comes to immigration: Article 8 (the right to respect for private and family life), and Article 3 (the right to freedom from torture or inhuman treatment). This new declaration, signed in the Moldovan capital of Chișinău, follows a campaign by some countries, including the UK, to change the …

Nearly Half Of French Voters May Support National Rally, And Immigration Is A Major Concern

Nearly Half Of French Voters May Support National Rally, And Immigration Is A Major Concern

Published by Jenni Sidey

Via Remix News, Last Friday, an Ipsos poll conducted for the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, Le Monde, and Cevipof indicated that 45 percent of French voters are now considering voting for the National Rally (RN) in the 2027 elections, meaning the anti-migration party’s candidate is favored to win the presidency. According to Antoine Bristielle, director of the Foundation’s Opinion Observatory, the poll shows that RN “has managed to unite very different electorates around a common foundation, but that its cohesion remains fragile as soon as one moves away from this foundation.” The Jean-Jaurès Foundation identifies four main profiles of RN voters, which can be grouped into two categories. The “identity-based liberals” include older, politically engaged voters firmly rooted in the right, as well as the “forgotten France,” which represents “a working-class bloc, more economically vulnerable, marked by a strong sense of abandonment and combining demands for social protection with identity radicalism.” However, the other two groups are more recent profiles, demonstrating the RN’s expansion to new voters. The “shifting France,” representing those “less politically engaged and still uncertain,” and the …

ICE agent charged in Minnesota for shooting of immigrant

ICE agent charged in Minnesota for shooting of immigrant

Published by Sam Flores

Residents confront federal agents following a shooting on Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Scott Olson | Getty Images An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was charged with four counts of assault in the January shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in Minneapolis, prosecutors said Monday. The ICE agent, Christian Castro, was also charged with falsely reporting a crime in connection with the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said. That shooting occurred a week after another ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis. Castro, who is not in custody, is the second federal agent to be criminally charged in connection with their conduct during Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s controversial immigration-enforcement mission in Minneapolis and elsewhere in Minnesota. In April, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged ICE agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. with assault for pointing his gun at the heads of two people in another car on Feb. 5 as he tried to pass them while illegally driving in his unmarked SUV on the …

Trump ballroom security funding blocked by Senate parliamentarian

Trump ballroom security funding blocked by Senate parliamentarian

Published by Sam Flores

Construction cranes are seen, from the Washington Monument, on the site of the former East Wing of the White House on April 17, 2026. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images President Donald Trump’s push to secure taxpayer-funded security upgrades tied to his proposed White House ballroom hit a roadblock after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that a $1 billion Secret Service provision could not be included in a GOP immigration enforcement bill as drafted. The Senate GOP vowed to find another way to get the funding included in the bill. Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined Saturday that the provision, which included $220 million for security upgrades tied to the East Wing ballroom project, fell outside the jurisdiction of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Budget reconciliation bills must comply with strict rules, including the Byrd Rule, which bars provisions deemed extraneous to federal spending or outside the jurisdiction of the committees that drafted them. It’s up to the parliamentarian to determine what fits and what doesn’t. That means Republicans will have to rewrite the language if they want to keep …

European prosecutors probe €11M cost of Greece’s migrant camps – POLITICO

European prosecutors probe €11M cost of Greece’s migrant camps – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

In addition to the exorbitant cost, the process had also drawn the opposition’s attention because a New Democracy official had been appointed director of the ministry’s Technical Service, which was in charge of both constructions. Then-Minister of Migration Notis Mitarachi defended the appointment when the issue was raised in parliament in 2020, arguing that the technical service then operated through NGOs, which managed 82 percent of EU migration funds. The first contract now under EPPO investigation involves the expansion of an existing camp in Malakasa, built in order to accommodate 1,500 migrants transferred from the islands. The contract was awarded in April 2020 to a company based in Athens, without prior tender. While the initial deal for the structure’s basic maintenance was worth €4.3 million, the project was eventually delivered after at least five extensions and a supplementary contract worth €1.7 million. Former Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi speaks to the press prior to a meeting in the Europa building in Brussels on Nov. 25, 2022. | Thierry Monasse/Getty Images The EPPO is also probing …

An ICE Firearms Trainer Was Involved in At Least 4 Deadly Shootings

An ICE Firearms Trainer Was Involved in At Least 4 Deadly Shootings

Published by skeptic

The owner of a company that trained paramilitary Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents testified that he was involved in at least four lethal shootings, according to a 2021 deposition related to a lawsuit reviewed by WIRED. David S. Norman, the founder and proprietor of law enforcement training firm TruKinetics LLC, served as a Phoenix Police officer from the late 1990s until his retirement in 2020. Prior to founding TruKinetics the same year, according to records reviewed by WIRED, Norman was involved in six shootings while on duty that left four people dead and two more wounded. In every instance, the Phoenix Police Department said Norman fired on an armed suspect and exchanged volleys of gunfire in at least two of the shootings. Based in Gilbert, Arizona, TruKinetics offers training on small-team tactics, hostage rescues, close-quarters combat, building searches, night-vision firearms proficiency, pistol and rifle courses, “vehicle interdiction,” breaching with explosives, and sniper tactics, according to the company’s website. TruKinetics received $27,748 for a year-long contract to run a mandatory 40-hour training course that certain members …

Why running Britain is so hard, no matter who does it – POLITICO

Why running Britain is so hard, no matter who does it – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Things can’t only get better  It wasn’t always like this.  The last Labour prime minister to win big before Starmer was Tony Blair. When he came to power in 1997, the U.K. had a bigger economy than China’s, was a leading member of the growing European Union trade bloc, and was approaching peak oil and gas production in the North Sea. Blair led Britain for 10 years.  Nearly three decades on, Starmer inherited a country that has never really recovered from the economic shock of the 2008 financial crisis, is menaced by Russia, and now relies on imports for its energy security.  Keir Starmer celebrates winning the 2024 general election with a speech at Tate Modern in London on July 5, 2024. | Ricky Vigil/Getty Images It has found no lasting remedy for the resentment felt by many communities (outside London, the still-flourishing finance capital) who — over several decades — have seen traditional manufacturing roles move inexorably overseas. as the global economy tilts towards China and other rising powers.  “We had a pretty incredible run from the mid-to late-1980s, through the 1990s, until the [2008] crash,” said Jim O’Neill, a former chief economist at Goldman Sachs and an ex-Treasury …