politics of immigration – Page 13 – CounterVortex

South Asia

South Asia: millions more ‘climate refugees’

With stateside media focused on the unprecedented flooding and cascading industrial disasters from Hurricane Harvey in Texas, the far great deluges that have struck three countries in South Asia are going largely unreported. Up to 40 million have been impacted after weeks of unusually strong monsoon rains affecting India, Bangladesh and Nepal—adding to the fast-growing ranks of "climate refugees," now a nearly invisible global crisis.

North America

Arpaio pardon: green light for rights violations

Trump's pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio is a clear signal that constitutional and human rights violations are to be rewarded, not punished, under his administration. A federal judge found Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt last month, for violating a court order in a racial profiling case. In his announcement, Trump said that "Arpaio's life and career…exemplify selfless public service."

North Africa

Libya: Haftar vows to attack Italian warships

The military commander of Libya's unrecognized eastern government, Khalifa Haftar, threatened to bombard any warships entering the country's national waters—an explicit challenge to Italy, which is dispatching vessels to the Libyan coast as part of its effort to intercept migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa. The statement took aim at the Tripoli government, which Haftar accused of entering into agreements with foreign powers that "violate the sovereignty of Libya under the pretext of fighting illegal immigration."

Syria

Syrian refugees return —to face genocide?

The UN reports a “notable trend of spontaneous returns” of displaced Syrians as regime gains bring a modicum of peace to some areas—but mass killings by regime forces continue.

Europe

Manchester, xenophobia and the left’s complicity

The yellow press and much of the "left" react identically to the Manchester terror: by blaming "regime change" in Libya and demonizing refugees from the Arab world.

North America

Sessions pledges crackdown on Latin gangs

Attorney General Jeff Sessions pledged "zero tolerance for gang violence"—singling out MS-13, the Central American narco-network with roots on the streets of Los Angeles.

Mexico

Mexicans mobilize against Trump border wall

Andres Manuel López Obrador, Mexico's left-populist presidential front-runner, has filed a complaint with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission against Trump's proposed wall.

North Africa

Libya: Black African migrants face ‘slave markets’

The International Organization for Migration reports that its staff have documented "slave markets" on North African migrant routes, preying on young African men bound for Libya.

Syria

Syria: ‘population transfer’ or sectarian cleansing?

Western media refer to “evacuation” and “population transfer” of besieged Syrian towns, euphemisms that mask the sectarian and genocidal element of the regime strategy.

North America

Hunger strike at Tacoma ICE detention center

At least 750 female detainees have joined in a hunger strike to protest harsh conditions at ICE's privately contracted 1,500-bed Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash.

Greater Middle East

Saudis behind Somali refugee massacre: reports

More than 40 Somali refugees were killed when an Apache helicopter fired on a boat in the Red Sea off war-torn Yemen, but the Saudi-led coalition denies responsibility.

Europe

Fascist pseudo-anti-fascism in Dutch-Turkish tiff

Turkey's aspiring dictator Erdogan (carrying out his own ethnic cleansing against the Kurds) exploits the Srebrenica genocide in vulgar manner and calls the Dutch "Nazis."