Category Archives: Migration

More than 80,000 at risk of deportation from Australia under Labor bill likened to UK’s failed Rwanda plan

Posted on by

Bill gives authority to federal government to pay third countries to accept unlawful non-citizens on a removal pathway

More than 80,000 people are susceptible to deportation from Australia to third countries paid to take them under Labor’s new bill which has been likened to the UK’s failed Rwanda deportation plan.

At a Senate inquiry hearing on Thursday, home affairs department officials confirmed that the migration amendment bill could affect far more people than those released from immigration detention by the high court but insisted it did not expand the cohort of those eligible for removal.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

An estimated 75,400 people with no valid visa in the Australian community.

4,452 people on bridging visa E, so they can make “acceptable arrangements to depart Australia”.

986 people in immigration detention.

193 in community detention.

246 on bridging visa R, released as a result of the high court’s NZYQ ruling that indefinite detention is unlawful.

A further 96 people on BVRs that predated that decision.

Continue reading...

Fear and sympathy: small Irish town divided over asylum camp

Posted on by

A year after Dublin’s anti-immigration riots, a tent camp for asylum seekers faces hostility while some locals try to support the new arrivals

In the small town of Newtown Mount Kennedy, a holding centre for people who have just arrived in Ireland seeking asylum lies in the wooded grounds of Trudder House, a former convent. The building itself is disused and off-limits. Instead, men arriving from countries such as Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria are housed in 12-16 makeshift tents, separated from the town by a 10ft-tall fence daubed with graffiti reading “Newtown says no”.

Craig Bishop, a retired GP who is part of Newtown Together, a group of volunteers trying to support the camp’s residents, said the barricade created an immediate sense of “them and us”. “They come all this way for protection only to be behind a 10ft fence to be protected from who? From the locals,” he said.

Continue reading...

Labor bill could lead to lengthy detention of migrants before deportation to countries paid to take them, committee warns

Posted on by

Bipartisan human rights committee says there could be a ‘significant intervening period’ before non-citizens are accepted by other countries

The human rights committee has warned the Albanese government’s migration bill could result in lengthy spells in detention before non-citizens are deported to countries paid to take them.

In a report tabled on Wednesday the bipartisan committee, chaired by Labor MP Josh Burns, threw up significant roadblocks to the controversial bill and also queried the move by the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, to reimpose ankle bracelets and curfews on those released from immigration detention.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Migrant rights advocate held in Tunisia under anti-terrorist investigation

Posted on by

Rights group says Abdallah Said’s case is a troubling first for the country amid president’s increasing crackdown

Tunisian anti-terrorist investigators are handling the case of a leading advocate for migrants who has been taken into custody, in what the head of a rights group said was a troubling first for the country.

Abdallah Said, a Tunisian of Chadian origin, was questioned along with the secretary general and treasurer of his association, Enfants de la Lune, said Romdhane Ben Amor, the spokesperson for the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights.

Continue reading...

Canadian minister says ‘not everyone is welcome’ amid Trump migrant threat

Posted on by

Immigration minister Marc Miller’s comments come as country braces for migrant rise when Trump takes office

Canada’s immigration minister has said “not everyone is welcome” in the country as officials brace for an increase of migrants when Donald Trump returns to the White House with a pledge to carry out mass deportations.

The minister’s warning, seven years after Justin Trudeau promised that “Canadians will welcome” asylum seekers, reflects a stark shift in tone amid waning support for immigration and refugee resettlement in the country, according to migration experts.

Continue reading...

Man who ‘discarded’ wife after tricking her into leaving Australia jailed for exit trafficking

Posted on by

Victorian sentenced to more than four years in prison after leaving wife ‘grief-stricken and traumatised’ in Sudan

A Victorian man who tricked his wife into travelling to Sudan before taking her children and passport back to Australia has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

After a county court trial, the 52-year-old man in April became the first Victorian convicted of exit trafficking – where someone is coerced, threatened or tricked into leaving Australia against their will.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, contact the AFP on 131 237.

Information and confidential advice are also available from the Australian Red Cross, by calling 03 9345 1800 or visiting the Red Cross website.

Continue reading...

Italian judges strike another blow against Meloni’s Albania asylum deal

Posted on by

Far-right government angrily condemns ruling that seven men detained in Albania must be transferred to Italy

Italian judges have ordered seven men detained in a migration hub in Albania to be transferred to Italy, in another blow to a controversial deal between the far-right Rome government and Tirana aimed at curbing the arrival of asylum seekers.

The men arrived at the Albanian port of Shëngjin aboard a military vessel on Friday after being rescued in international waters while trying to make their way to Europe.

Continue reading...

Pay for NHS chiefs to be linked to performance with ‘no more rewards for failure’, Wes Streeting says – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is closed

Here are some of the main points from Jonathan Reynolds’s evidence to the Post Office inquiry so far this morning.

Reynolds said he accepted as business secretary he was responsible for ensuring the compensation scheme operated properly. He said in the past there had been “insufficient accountability”.

He said that since the general election there has been a “significant increase” in the pace at which compensation is being paid. The journalist Nick Wallis (who wrote a superb book, The Great Post Office Scandal) is live tweeting from the inquiry, and he quotes Reynolds as saying:

Since the general election there has been a significant increase in the pace at which compensation has been paid. The overall quantum of compensation is up in the last four months by roughly a third and the number of claims to which there has been an initial... offer being made in response to that claim has roughly doubled in the last four months [to] what it has been in the four months preceding the general election.

Home Office officials do not believe Labour’s plan to “smash the gangs” will work as a way of bringing down illegal migration to the UK, i can reveal.

They say that civil servants in the department have been “underwhelmed” by the approach that was being outlined again this week by Sir Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Continue reading...

Labor’s plan to re-impose ankle bracelet and curfew regime ‘very likely’ to face legal challenge, advocates say

Posted on by

Measure alongside bill to facilitate removal of non-citizens criticised as heavy-handed proposals ‘that interfere with fundamental rights’

Legal challenges against the Albanese government’s plans to re-impose ankle bracelets and curfews on non-citizens released from indefinite immigration detention are “very likely” as the home affairs minister tries to contain the fallout from a scathing high court ruling.

Tony Burke introduced a bill on Thursday to facilitate the removal of non-citizens from Australia, including paying third countries to accept people released from immigration detention, which would pave the way for cancellation of their bridging visas and possible re-detention.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

‘We don’t want them in Australia at all’: Labor wants more powers to re-detain and remove non-citizens to third countries

Posted on by

Tony Burke introduces bill to facilitate removal of unlawful non-citizens and regulations to reimpose ankle bracelets and curfews on those released after high court’s NZYQ decision

The Albanese government has introduced a bill to facilitate removal of non-citizens from Australia, including paying third countries to accept people released from immigration detention, triggering cancellation of their bridging visas and possible re-detention.

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, introduced the bill to “strengthen the government’s power to remove people who have had their visas cancelled to third countries” on Thursday.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

More than 50 people rescued from Channel, says French coastguard

Posted on by

Several bodies pulled from sea after boat got into difficulty off coast of Audresselles on Monday night

More than 50 people have been rescued after attempting to cross the Channel and the bodies of several others were found floating at sea.

The French coastguard said 51 people were rescued on Monday night after a boat got into difficulty when its engine failed off the coast of Audresselles in northern France. Those rescued were met by emergency services at Boulogne-sur-Mer quayside and taken to safety.

Continue reading...

Starmer says people smuggling should be seen as ‘global security threat similar to terrorism’ – UK politics live

Posted on by

PM gave speech at Glasgow’s Interpol general assembly as Kemi Badenoch works on shadow cabinet appointments

Starmer went on to say the government was “going to treat people smugglers like terrorists”. And he explained what that meant.

So we’re taking our approach to counter terrorism, which we know works, and apply it to the gangs with our new Border Security Command.

We’re ending the fragmentation between policing, Border Force and our intelligence agencies, recruiting hundreds of specialist investigators, the best of the best, from our National Crime Agency, Border Force, immigration enforcement and the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] and our intelligence agencies, all working together.

We have the powers to trace suspects’ movements using information from the intelligence services.

We can shut down their bank accounts, cut off their internet access, and arrest them for making preparations to act before an attack has taken place.

I will work with anyone serious who could offer solutions of this, anyone, because without coordinated global action, it will not go away.

And unless we bring all the powers we have to bear on this in much the same way as we do for terrorism, then we will struggle to bring these criminals to justice.

Continue reading...

Three people dead and 46 rescued after boat sinks in attempt to cross Channel

Posted on by

French maritime officials say rescue operation was launched after lifejacket spotted in sea off Calais

Three people have died after a boat sank in the Channel, French maritime authorities said.

The French maritime prefecture for the Channel and the North Sea said a further 46 people were rescued after the incident off the coast of Calais on Wednesday morning.

Continue reading...

EU refuses to publish findings of Tunisia human rights inquiry

Posted on by

Inquiry preceded controversial migration deal linked to claims of abuse in increasingly authoritarian country

The European Commission is refusing to publish the findings of a human rights inquiry into Tunisia it conducted shortly before announcing a controversial migration deal with the increasingly authoritarian north African country.

An investigation by the EU ombudsman found that the commission quietly carried out a “risk management exercise” into human rights concerns in Tunisia but will not disclose its results.

Continue reading...

Meloni’s government passes new law to save Albania migration transfer policy

Posted on by

Move by Italian PM overturns ruling by a Rome court that could have blocked deal to curb migrant arrivals

Italy’s far-right government has passed a new law to overcome a court ruling that risks blocking the country’s multimillion-dollar deal with Albania aimed at curbing migrant arrivals.

On Friday, a court in Rome ruled to transfer back to Italy the last 12 asylum seekers being held in the new Italian migration hub in Albania. The ruling has cast doubt on the feasibility and legality of plans by the EU to explore ways to establish migrant processing and detention centres outside the bloc as part of a new hardline approach to migration.

Continue reading...

Big business calls for $10bn housing reform fund to reward Australian states that streamline supply

Posted on by

Business Council of Australia also recommends phasing out stamp duty and fast-tracking migrant workers for building industry

The nation’s peak business body has called for a $10bn housing reform fund that will pay out to states that fix the regulation and planning bottlenecks contributing to the supply crisis.

The Business Council of Australia is also pushing for the nation-wide removal of stamp duty on homes, warning that it disincentivises people from moving to smaller dwellings and freeing up larger homes.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Blow to Meloni’s Albania deal as court orders asylum seekers’ return to Italy

Posted on by

Judges’ decision on 12 men held in Italian migration hub in Albania also casts doubt on EU’s hardline plans

The last 12 asylum seekers being held in a new Italian migration hub in Albania must be transferred to Italy, a court has ruled, in a heavy blow to a controversial deal between the far-right Rome government and Tirana aimed at curbing migrant arrivals.

The decision casts further doubt on the feasibility and legality of plans by the EU, discussed on Thursday, to explore ways of establishing migrant processing and detention centres outside the bloc as part of a new hardline approach to migration.

Continue reading...

Baby dies after boat capsizes in attempted Channel crossing

Posted on by

French authorities say 65 people rescued after overloaded boat sinks off coast of Wissant

A baby died after a boat carrying people in the Channel towards Britain capsized off the French coast, local coastguards have said.

Sixty-five people were rescued after the overloaded boat started to sink off the coast of Wissant, in northern France, on Thursday night. Some people were in the water when rescuers arrived. An unconscious baby found in the water was later declared dead.

Continue reading...

Why immigration is back on the European Union’s agenda

Posted on by

The new mood to tighten laws is driven in large part by the success of far-right parties, in power in seven countries

EU leaders met in Brussels today with migration at the top of the agenda. Here we examine why that has happened – and what the European Commission, as well as national capitals, might do about it.

Continue reading...

EU considers offshore centres for deportees as it hardens on migration

Posted on by

Idea of ‘return hubs’ gains traction after mainstream EU politicians were unnerved by rise of far right

The EU has opened the door to the untested idea of “return hubs” – offshore centres for people deported from the bloc – at a summit dominated by plans for a tougher migration policy.

The idea of the offshore processing of asylum claims or vaguely defined “return hubs” in non-EU countries has gained traction in recent weeks, after large gains for the far right in European elections in June unnerved mainstream leaders across the continent.

Continue reading...