Migrants and refugees and minions, oh my

Migrant Rights site continues to post articles on the plight of people seeking to work in another country to support their families.

here is their latest three part series on the problems they face.

read it: it puts into perspective all those western rich folks who see these countries as paradise, see only romanctic village when they see people living a "traditional lifestyle", and who oppose modernization for these people. But the dirty little secret is that they are so poor that often they need the wages from their children to survive...

Alok Pandey and Sanjay Sharma are grassroots social workers with Grameen Development Services who try to educate these communities on safe migration. ... the pradhan (head) of Sirori village was complaining that families pull children as young as 10 and 12 out of schools and make them work. Because that means Rs3,000 more a month.” Education is not seen as an escape from poverty. Especially when families keep growing, the older children have no choice but to drop out and work.

 But some seek a better life, and often use their savings to help one of their members to migrate and work overseas, mainly in the Middle East but also in nearby countries.

one of the big problems they face is illegal recruiters:

Sharma says there are three main ways in which unauthorised agents function, bypassing the e-Migrate system and other checks and balance that are in place. “They charge the worker and then send him to an agent; or they do an individual application because they understand the process. Individuals can apply for jobs too, but the employer has to be registered on the system, visas and contract attested by the embassy in the destination.”
 The third - and ‘real fraud’ according to Sharma - is sending workers on the wrong visas. “Tourist visas… forcing workers to work in captive environments because they are illegal there, too.”

Stories of those workers HERE. Mainly from India to Middle Eastern countries.

but it's not just to the Middle East (or Europe or to the USA).

China has an estimated 200 thousand Filipinos working there illegally, often entering by using "visitor visas".

Here in the Philippines, ten percent of our population works elsewhere, either immigrating, as temporary workers, on as seamen.

Rappler: DeGuzman

most of our extended family either works/lives overseas, or has worked overseas in the past.

They usually have an education to get a legal job, but Rappler article on illegal recruiters here shows that those seeking less skilled jobs from poorer areas are vulnerable to being defrauded.

An estimated 6,000 Filipinos leave to work overseas every single day – fathers, mothers, siblings, or even an entire family. (INFOGRAPHIC: Getting to know the OFWs)

To secure a job overseas, OFWs and their families spend large amounts of time and money to pay for fees, paperwork, as well as trips to and from hometowns and cities.

But in many instances, prospective workers can be scammed by illegal recruitment schemes. According to government data, migrant workers continue to be victims of illegal recruitment despite laws against it. A total of 1,567 illegal recruitment cases were reported to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2016. But this excludes cases that have either been dropped or not reported at all.

Sigh.

It is a worldwide problem, and the criminals see in this desperate search for a decent job as a way to make money.

and although the above articles are about democratic countries with where people seek to emigrate legally, and are scammed by criminals, those from less honest countries are even more vulnerable to be scammed or exploited by the ruthless criminals who prey on those displaced by war, poverty, or violence.

(FilAm) blogger Belmont Club points out that the real crisis is in countries imploding from local wars, open crime and bad governments: and that the crisis is huge, but underreported:

Yet the biggest aspect of the crisis, even though it is underreported, is in countries close to where 22.5 million have fled imploding societies -- the biggest such tide of displacement since WWII. The numbers are staggering: Turkey has 3.5 million Syrian refugees, tiny Lebanon a million; 1.5 million Afghans are camped in Pakistan; more than a million Sudanese are cooling their heels in Uganda. In South America, one million Venezuelans fleeing Bolivarian socialism have lodged in Colombia. In Central America, multitudes of "families and unaccompanied children" daily flee their own crime-ridden societies for the U.S.:

and this doesn't include the one million Afghans in Iran, who fled the Taliban before the US intervened there, or the "internally displaced" people fleeing the civil wars in Central Africa and Nigeria.

the UN center for refugees (UNHCR) estimate 25 million "refugees" but 68 million people "displaced".

The "migrant" crisis to Europe is only the tip of the iceburg, but as StrategyPage points out, the criminal smugglers are getting rich off of them:

These outlaws are key movers of illegal money and goods (people, weapons, oil and so on). Italy has been particularly effective here because many of the European criminals (working with Libyan outlaws) are Italian.

Italy is trying to crack down on the rampant people smuggling carried out by criminal gangs and Islamic terrorist groups in Libya. A new Italian government got elected recently by promising to address the continuing movement of illegal migrants from Libya to Italy and now Italy is refusing to let the people smuggler ships land in Italy and is going after the NGO (non-governmental organizations) rescue ships that work with the smugglers.

Italics mine. in other words, the NGO's are actually making things worse.

It has gotten to the point where the NGO rescue ships will take up position just outside (or even inside) Libyan territorial waters. The smuggler boats head right for the NGO ships and then any smugglers on board return to Libya while the NGOs see that the illegal migrants reach Italy.

It sounds cruel to stop these "refugees" (actually many of them men looking for work), but you know, that is how Bill Clinton stopped the illegal ships from leaving Haiti, after a couple hundred people drowned by trying to migrate on overloaded unsafe ships. He even sent thousands of them to Guantanemo bay to keep them from landing in the US so they could claim asylum, where the courts would take forever to send them back.

But never mind.

what does this have to do with the US crisis on the border?

NPR article from 2016 notes how criminals are fueling immigration from Central America by recruiting people to go. In this story it is about human trafficking.

CBC (Canada) article (2014) on the criminals encouraging people in Central America to migrate. It is a 6.6 billion dollar business, and business is booming.

BBC: the problem under Obama (2014)was massive, but his compassion resulted in a lot of folks thinking they could migrate without bothering to do paper work.

 lengthy deportation processes, especially when children are sent to wait with relatives already in the US, have contributed to the belief that some are being allowed to stay permanently.The White House has argued those who transport children across the border for a fee have abused such misunderstandings to drum up business.

 Mother Jones article (also from 2014) discusses the problem of trying to resettle these kids (usually boys in their mid or late teens) who come without parents.

NPR article noting a lot of them are wating in Mexico, and upset that the "get into the US free" card is now being threatened: and notes that Mexico is deporting a lot of them back:. 

Luna and other migration experts estimate that 400,000 Central Americans enter Mexico as migrants or refugees each year and that as many as half of them are detained by Mexican authorities.

this is the backstory of the Mexican presidencial candidate threatening to let anyone who wants to go into the US to get help going there: they are being stuck in the middle of this essentially man made crisis, and he doesn't want to keep paying for these folks to stay in Mexico

  (Strategy Page has an essay on the criminal gangs and the local corrupt cops and politicians who get rich off of corruption, kickbacks, Money laudering, drugs and people smuggling).

the dirty little secret is that these people are not "refugees", i.e. fleeing a tyrannical government, as much as people seeking entry to a country where they can live freely and support their families.

most would enter legally if they could, but let's be realistic: do you really want to resettle the 25 milion refugees, the 68 million people displaced in their own countries by war and terror? And if you open the doors, remember: lots of other people who aren't really in danger will decide to migrate to get a better paying job.(like the mom with the crying child on TIME Magazine's cover).

and awaiting in the wings: more "refugees" from the socialist paradises in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

The policies of President Obama made things worse, because instead of finding legal ways for folks to migrate , he decided to ignore the laws, which sent a message they could enter the US without the hassle of bothering to do the paperwork.

so essentially, when Trump decided to actually follow the law,  word is getting around:

so what is the answer?

1.Build the wall.

2. Screen people in other countries before they enter the US (or Canada, or Europe)...if they fail screening, put their name in a computer.

If they arrive without being screened from a country where this is available, or if they failed the screening test, deport immediately, not after three months waiting for a court case and often disappearing and not showing up.

3. Amnesty for those who are in the USA and have a job.

and then comes the hard part:

4. prosecute the drug cartels and criminals who are making these countries unstable. That is what Colombia did, and that is what Duterte is doing here (to the despair of the left and the NWO).

 The CIA used to do things like this, but the NGO's would go hysterical if they tried this again. Maybe hire Blackwater or another mercenary group to help them train local police to be honest and lethal against the bad guys, like they are doing against the terrorists/criminals in Africa. where mercenaries trained Nigerian soldiers to fight the Bokoharum and rescue the girls that Michelle Obama cried over. LINK2

And enlist the churches: Tell the churches in the USA to start preaching morality instead of the importance to vote for Democrats: being faithful to a spouse, not using illegal drugs, and being honest is one place to start.

if even half of those using illicit drugs stopped using them it would help.

Oh yes: And tell those who exploit workers without papers to work for them so they can make a larger profit that this is a sin.

as for the activists: stop protesting and go to work. Change diapers. Tutor students. Run a food bank. You can go to your nearest Catholic church for advice how to help.

But of course, excuse my cynicism:  the latest kerfuffle is not about mirgants: it is is merely another Alinsky tactic to use as an excuse to riot against Trump (riots scheduled the end of the month by the way). 

If it wasn't immigrants, it would be something else.

But things have escalated: they aren't just going after Trumpie boy: They now have started harassing people who work for the government.

This is 1968 redux: You know, when the radicals rioted in Chicago and the press did their best to blacken the name of Chicago and their cops, but the result was only to destroy Humprhey's candidacy because most normal people who saw the riots voted for Nixon.

so yes, I take it seriously when a Congresswoman threatens anyone who works for the government and urges her minions to do the same.

and that is the best case scenerio: on radical (and now some not so radical) right wing sites, some of the evil minions are discussing if they should fight back.

evil Minion

Mayor Daley call your  office...