Latest news with #OfficeofRemigration
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
State department ramps up Trump anti-immigration agenda with new ‘remigration' office
The state department is seeking to create an 'Office of Remigration' as part of a restructuring of the US diplomatic service to facilitate Donald Trump's rightwing anti-immigration policies. The plan would in effect repurpose the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), which sought to manage and facilitate the flow of people into the US under previous administrations, into a bureau meant to help deport immigrants from the country. A congressional notification from the state department obtained by the Guardian said the office would be involved in 'repatriation tracking', would 'actively facilitate' the 'voluntary return of migrants' to other countries, and would work with the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement to 'advance the president's immigration agenda'. 'Reflecting core administration priorities, these offices will be substantially reorganized to shift focus towards supporting the administration's efforts to return illegal aliens to their country of origin or legal status,' the document read. The overhaul is part of a broader restructuring of the state department under its secretary, Marco Rubio, to create a 'more agile department, better equipped to promote America's interests and keep Americans safe across the world'. Under the plan, which was submitted to Congress this week, the state department would eliminate or consolidate more than 300 offices and bureaus, leading to the firing, or 'reduction in force', of more than 3,400 employees. The firings would not target members of consular affairs or law enforcement and other key roles of state. The administration this week ordered US embassies to stop scheduling appointments for student visas in connection with plans to expand social media vetting of applicants. The supreme court on Friday allowed Trump to revoke the legal status of more than 500,000 people from countries including Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela under a programme meant to protect them from economic and political turmoil in their home countries. The charge against migration has been led by Stephen Miller, the combative aide to the president who has railed against programmes that allow migrants and refugees into the country. Related: How remigration became a buzzword for global far right Remigration has become a buzzword for the global far right, with European nationalist movements such as Alternative für Deutschland brushing off allegations of racism to promote flashy ad campaigns depicting mass deportations of migrants. Donald Trump embraced the term in September, saying he would 'immediately end the migrant invasion of America' and, referring to his presidential rival in last year's election, 'return Kamala's illegal migrants to their home countries (also known as remigration)'. The PRM has been a conservative target under the Trump administration because of its role in resettling immigrants to the US and in distributing grants to groups they say promote migration. In an article last September for the American Conservative, Phillip Linderman, the chair of the conservative Ben Franklin Fellowship, said it was 'past time for a complete overhaul of State's PRM bureau'. Members of BFF have occupied prominent roles in the state department under Rubio, pointing to a conservative vision for remaking US diplomacy and its apparatus. 'It is remarkable how many well-informed conservative foreign policy strategists have never even heard of PRM,' wrote Linderman. 'Even those who closely follow immigration and border issues rarely understand the role PRM plays in accommodating and promoting the worldwide movement of illegal migrants.' Several people at PRM told the Guardian after Trump's election that they expected it could be shut down entirely. Instead, Rubio's plan would reassign diplomats who work in the agency's Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs and Office of International Migration to staff the new Office of Remigration.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Trump Plans New Immigration Office Linked to Racist Far-Right Plan
President Trump is making remigration, a racist plan popular among the European far right, a reality, according to Reuters. The State Department on Thursday announced its plans to establish an 'Office of Remigration,' assuming it is approved by Congress, on July 1. The term 'remigration' is a white supremacist concept pushed by Austrian neo-Nazi Martin Sellner that posits that all immigrants and 'non-assimilated citizens' be forcibly removed, with the goal of establishing a white ethnostate. 'The Office of Remigration will serve as the [Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration]'s hub for immigration issues and repatriation tracking,' the plan the State Department submitted to Congress reads. 'It will provide a policy platform for interagency coordination with DHS and other agencies on removals/repatriations, and for intra-agency policy work to advance the President's immigration agenda.' This isn't the first time Trump has floated remigration. 'As President I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America,' he wrote on X in September. 'We will stop all migrant flights, end all illegal entries, terminate the Kamala phone app for smuggling illegals (CBP One App), revoke deportation immunity, suspend refugee resettlement, and return Kamala's illegal migrants to their home countries (also known as remigration).' His deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, another proponent of right-wing white supremacist policy, backed him up. 'THE TRUMP PLAN TO END THE INVASION OF SMALL TOWN AMERICA: REMIGRATION!' he wrote at the time. While remigration isn't a household term in the U.S., it's taken off in certain European political circles. The first 'Remigration Summit' took place earlier this month in Milan featuring multiple far-right leaders and chants of 'Save our nation, remigration.' 'It's outrageous,' Wendy Via, CEO and president of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told Wired. 'There is no hiding from the fact that the ultimate goal of 'remigration' is purely about ethnic cleansing. It is a terrible day for our country when 'remigration' proponents are crediting the US and Trump's administration for normalizing the term.' Those on the far right, particularly Sellner himself, think that the U.S. has been well on its way toward establishing remigration for some time now. 'There are differences between Europe and the USA, but the common line is the same: preserving the cultural continuity by stopping replacement migration. Reversing the flows with border security, mass repatriations, and incentives to leave,' Sellner told Wired. Trump's immigration crackdown, his extrajudicial disappearances of students based on their beliefs, and his invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act—which asserts that the country is being invaded by immigrants—are all obvious indicators of remigration already occurring here. 'Remigration is in fact already taking place in the US,' white nationalist author Cyan Quinn, who attended the Remigration Summit, told Wired. 'The first flight of 64 self-deportees following President Trump's stipend announcement have already arrived home safely in Honduras and Columbia.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
New Trump Office Has Name Reportedly Linked to Racist Policy of the Far Right
In a sweeping State Department overhaul, the Trump administration plans to create an 'Office of Remigration,' embracing a term closely linked with the European far-right involving the race-based mass deportation of immigrants. The revamp is part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump to deport millions of undocumented migrants. According to a document sent by the State Department to six congressional committees and obtained by multiple news outlets, the new office would serve as a hub 'for immigration issues and repatriation tracking.' The office would be part of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, a State Department official cited by Axios said. The plan, sent for approval by July 1, has sparked alarm as the term 'remigration' has become a buzzword for the global far right. In Europe, the ideology calls for the expulsion or forced repatriation of non-white immigrants and their descendants, regardless of their legal status. It has been used by far-right parties such as Austria's Freedom party (FPÖ) which in June 2024 urged the EU to name a 'remigration commissioner.' 'The Office of Remigration will serve as the [Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration]'s hub for immigration issues and repatriation tracking,' the document said. 'It will provide a policy platform for interagency coordination with DHS and other agencies on removals/repatriations, and for intra-agency policy work to advance the President's immigration agenda.' In a nod to remigration ideology, the Office of Remigration 'will also actively facilitate the voluntary return of migrants to their country of origin or legal status,' Wired reported. The Daily Beast has reached out to the State Department for comment. Wendy Via, CEO and president of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, described the plans as 'outrageous.' 'There is no hiding from the fact that the ultimate goal of 'remigration' is purely about ethnic cleansing. It is a terrible day for our country when 'remigration' proponents are crediting the US and Trump's administration for normalizing the term,' she told Wired. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, said on X: 'In a move likely intended to cause public outrage, Sec. Rubio is proposing eliminating the refugee and migration division at the State Department and replacing it with an 'Office of Remigration' — a term closely associated with the European far right and ethnic cleansing.' 'The way that it worked before, Population Refugee Migration was basically an entire bureau dedicated to bringing people into the United States,' a State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Axios. 'It had the migration function—it's in the name—we're just reversing the flow of migrants who shouldn't be here to go out of the country.' The development comes weeks after DHS data revealed that Trump—despite his fiery anti-immigrant rhetoric—is actually deporting people at a slower pace than his predecessor Joe Biden. According to Reuters, the Trump administration deported 37,660 people in its first month in office. That's below the monthly average of 57,000 removals and returns during Biden's final year as president.
Axios
2 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
State Department seeks to create "Office of Remigration" in restructuring
The State Department plans to create an "Office of Remigration" in a sweeping reorganization drive tied to the Trump administration's efforts to deport millions of immigrants, a department official told Axios Thursday. The big picture: The proposed new office would signal the State Department's shift from helping refugees to removing immigrants, even as it employs the term "remigration" — a concept that critics say has a troubled history in Europe, where it's used by far-right groups. Driving the news: The State Department on Thursday announced a proposed overhaul that would cut various programs and staff. The Office of Remigration would be part of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, a State Department official said. The proposal calls for an even deeper cut to domestic staffing than the 15% reduction that was floated in April. The department also intends to eliminate several divisions overseeing America's 20-year presence in Afghanistan, including an office responsible for resettling Afghan allies who supported U.S. military operations. Context: In Europe, the concept of remigration calls for the mass deportation or coerced repatriation of non-white immigrants and their European-born descendants. It's a term that's been used by far-right politicians, such as Austria's Herbert Kickl and Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD) party leader, Alice Weidel. Liberal and moderate critics in Europe say "remigration" has historically been used as a euphemism for ethnic cleansing. The term was popularized by Martin Sellner, a millennial influencer of Europe's far-right. Yes, but: "The way that it worked before, Population Refugee Migration was basically an entire bureau dedicated to bringing people into the United States," said the State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It had the migration function — it's in the name — we're just reversing the flow of migrants who shouldn't be here to go out of the country." Zoom in: A more detailed proposal sent to Congress proposes prioritizing migration and border issues over refugee resettlement. The Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration's "existing migration functions will be consolidated into three new functional offices under a (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State) for Migration Matters." "Reflecting core administration priorities, these offices will be substantially reorganized to shift focus towards supporting the Administration's efforts to return illegal aliens to their country of origin or legal status," the document said. The Office of Remigration would be one of these new "functional offices" and is described as a "hub for immigration issues and repatriation tracking." What they're saying: " Over the past quarter century, the domestic operations of the State Department have grown exponentially, resulting in more bureaucracy, higher costs, and fewer results for the American people," Rubio said in a statement. "The reorganization plan will result in a more agile department, better equipped to promote America's interests and keep Americans safe across the world." Rubio didn't mention the Office of Remigration in his statement, and the office is not listed on a new chart on the department's website.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
The Trump Admin Reportedly Wants An Office of Remigration. That's Alarming.
A sweeping plan to revamp the State Department would establish an Office of Remigration, a term popularized by far-right activists in Europe and white nationalists who want the mass removal of immigrants. The proposed new office was included in a 100-page-long notice to Congress from the State Department, which has been viewed by publications including CNN, Wired and The Handbasket. That document reportedly describes the Office of Remigration as a 'hub for immigration issues and repatriation tracking' aimed at facilitating 'interagency coordination' on 'removals/repatriations.' It also reportedly details using State Department funds to help advance 'the voluntary return of migrants to their country of origin or legal status.' The term 'remigration' is an alarming one that's effectively 'a euphemism for ethnically cleansing non-white people from Western countries,' Christopher Mathias previously wrote for HuffPost. 'Remigration is an immigration policy embraced by extremists that calls for the removal of all migrants—including 'non-assimilated' citizens—with the goal of creating white ethnostates in Western countries,' Wired's David Gilbert explains. It's been promoted by Germany's far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland, as well as Austria's far-right Freedom Party, and the term is rooted in the premise of forcibly deporting non-white people from Europe regardless of citizenship status, according to the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. The Freedom Party, for instance, has backed the 'remigration of uninvited foreigners' with the goal of promoting a more 'homogenous' country, The Associated Press reports. It's also a term that Trump and his senior adviser Stephen Miller have used before. '[We will] return Kamala's illegal migrants to their home countries (also known as remigration),' Trump wrote in a September 2024 Truth Social post. 'I will save our cities and towns in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and all across America.' 'THE TRUMP PLAN TO END THE INVASION OF SMALL TOWN AMERICA: REMIGRATION!' Miller added on X. Experts note that remigration is often promoted in conjunction with the racist and conspiratorial 'Great Replacement' theory, which claims that elites are trying to displace white people with people of color in Western countries. Far-right leaders believe the answer to this supposed threat is to remove immigrants and people of color wholesale. The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
