Latest news with #deportations
Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Migrant deportation terminal to be built at German airport
A 'deportations terminal' is to be built at Munich Airport to speed up the removal of illegal migrants from Germany. According to planning documents seen by the Die Welt newspaper, a new 60x66m zone will be added to the airport to deal solely with checking in and deporting migrants. The terminal, which is set to be completed in 2028, would process up to 50 flights per day in what is Germany's second largest airport. Germany's new government is striving to get tougher on mass migration in response to a series of deadly terror attacks committed by Syrian and Afghan asylum seekers. At the height of the 2015 refugee crisis, Munich received tens of thousands of asylum seekers arriving via eastern Europe, after then-chancellor Angela Merkel threw open the country's borders. Friedrich Merz, the current chancellor, has warned that Germany has been overwhelmed by the influx of asylum seekers since 2015 and says Mrs Merkel's decision was a historic error. 'We clearly did not cope with it,' Mr Merz said last week, referring to his predecessor's open borders slogan, 'wir schaffen das,' or 'we can manage it'. Since being sworn in last May, Mr Merz has instructed border guards to turn away asylum seekers from Germany's land borders and has pledged to speed up the process of deporting those who have lost their right to remain in the country. Last week, the German government deported dozens of Afghan citizens, including sex offenders and violent criminals, back to Kabul as part of an indirect deal with the Taliban. The 81 Afghans were put on a Qatar Airways jet at Leipzig airport as Alexander Dobrindt, the German interior minister, warned that 'serious criminal offenders have no right to reside in our country'. A similar deportation flight to Afghanistan was arranged by the previous government, led by centre-Left Social Democrats leader Olaf Scholz, in 2024. The public mood on mass migration has soured in Germany since 2015, and the Right-wing Alternative for Germany party coming second place in last February's federal elections. However, official statistics have shown a significant drop in the number of migrants and refugees coming to Germany, with a decrease of 30 per cent recorded in 2024.
Fox News
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
MORNING GLORY: President Trump and the next six months
President Donald Trump ran on closing the border and taming inflation. Done. And by "done" on the border, that means completely done: It is closed. Period. No new law was needed as former President Biden, Vice President Harris and Democrats coast to coast claimed in their failed effort to dupe voters in 2024. Deportations will require years of efforts even if only violent migrants are targeted, but the consequences of President Biden's open border are being reduced on a daily basis. President Trump had promised for more than a decade that Iran would not be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program. Trump sent the B-2s and obliterated it. If Iran tries again to build them, Trump or a strong president down the road will dispatch the B-2s again if Israel doesn't do it herself. President Trump told elites that he would stand with the forgotten men and women passed over and sneered at by the coastal "bigs." And Trump has done so by crushing the cherished projects of the elites —DEI and CRT —programs that ignore merit and our Constitution's mandate to be color-blind. Trump is in court with Harvard and soon more elite universities will be obliged to comply with color-blind admissions and safe campuses. Trump wants American higher education to be for Americans and to be made available on the basis of merit. The Trump promise of "no tax on tips" is done. Ditto for overtime and Social Security. The tax rates he put in place in 2017 have been made permanent. President Trump's "One, Big, Beautiful Bill" includes worlds within it, including tax credits for gifts to scholarship granting schools —who wouldn't use this?— and taxing Big Education endowments. Both are achievements, as is the defunding of NPR and PBS. But there is so much more to do. Reconciliation is a narrow path that includes a ruling by the Senate parliamentarian that any given legislative proposal meets the "Byrd Rule." Here's where the GOP should start: The tax credits which crossed the parliamentarian's goal line in round one of reconciliation. Senator Cruz's carefully crafted provision got the parliamentarian's approval and is a huge victory for proponents of school choice: A $1,700 annual tax credit for individuals that contribute to nonprofits that grant scholarships to elementary and secondary school students. As wonderful as that is, it is also just a start on reforming American K-12 education. It also provides a blueprint for moving a second reconciliation agenda, the centerpiece of which should be education reform. Raise the $1,700 tax credit and make it available to home-school consortiums/co-ops. The tax code also needs to evolve to penalize colleges and universities that admit too many foreign students at the expense of American nationals or which use metrics for admission that are forbidden by the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The tax code may also have to be changed by Congress to deny tax-exempt status to any college or university found to discriminate against Americans on the basis of race, religion or ethnicity. Because such a tax code change which raise revenue by taxing previously untaxed entities, it should travel the same path of approval through the parliamentarian that Cruz's first proposal did. Finally, federal education spending should favor states that have robust school choice options. Engineering a course through the Parliamentarian when only revenue issues are involved should be relatively easy as states without such programs —17 states have them, 33 do not— would lose a percentage of their federal education dollars. What a spur to school choice this would be. President Trump is already the modern-era president who accomplished the most with his first six months of a term. Becoming the education president in his second six months back would leave an indelible and positive legacy for parents and children extending long into the future. Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor, and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show," heard weekdays from 3 pm to 6 pm ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives America home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel's news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University's Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.
CBS News
a day ago
- Business
- CBS News
ICE on track for most deportations since Obama years, but still far short of 1 million target
Halfway into President Trump's first year back in office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency spearheading his crackdown on illegal immigration, is on track to record the most deportations since the Obama administration, according to internal government figures obtained by CBS News. During the first six months of Mr. Trump's second presidency, ICE recorded nearly 150,000 deportations — or an average of more than 800 per day — putting the agency on a trajectory to carry out more than 300,000 removals in the president's first year back in office if deportations continue at the same pace, the data indicates. That would be the highest annual tally since fiscal year 2014, when the Obama administration recorded 316,000 ICE deportations, historical agency figures show. The government's fiscal year begins in October and ends at the end of September. Created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, ICE is charged with deporting immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally or whose legal status is revoked, including because of criminal offenses or allegations of immigration fraud. The highest deportation level reported by ICE occurred in fiscal year 2012, when the agency recorded 410,000 removals. While it would be a significant increase, more than 300,000 ICE deportations in a year would still be far short of the target of 1 million annual deportations that Trump administration officials have outlined, highlighting the operational and legal constraints on immigration enforcement that Republican and Democratic presidents alike have confronted. At the same time, it's possible ICE's deportation efforts could expand significantly in the next six months, since the agency just received an unprecedented infusion of funding through Mr. Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including $45 billion to set up more detention facilities and $30 billion to fund every stage of the deportation process. In an exclusive interview with CBS News last week, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said the 1 million annual deportation goal could "definitely" be "possible" with the new funds, saying the agency plans to use the money to hire 10,000 agents and officers to locate and arrest those suspected of being in the country illegally. ICE is also not the only federal agency that carries out deportations. During Mr. Trump's first six months, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 112,000 deportations, according to the internal government data. Those include deportations of migrants who crossed the U.S. southern border illegally, though illegal crossings there have plummeted to levels not seen since the 1960s amid Mr. Trump's government-wide crackdown. Additionally, the statistics show the Department of Homeland Security has tracked over 13,000 self-deportations since the start of Mr. Trump's second term. His administration has aggressively pushed those in the country illegally to self-deport by setting up a government app to facilitate the process, offering them a $1,000 self-deportion bonus and warning them that they will be detained, fined or even criminally prosecuted even if they refuse to leave voluntarily. Tricia McLaughlin, the top DHS spokeswoman, confirmed ICE's deportation tally six months into the administration. She said the administration has recorded more than 280,000 repatriations and self-deportations across the board — not just those conducted by ICE — since Mr. Trump took office. Mr. Trump, who campaigned on launching the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history, has given ICE a sweeping mandate. His administration has reversed Biden-era limits on immigration arrests in the U.S. interior, enlisted other federal agencies and the military to help ICE with its deportation goals and dramatically expanded the categories of those eligible for deportation, including by revoking the humanitarian protections of hundreds of thousands of migrants. In recent weeks, ICE has held record levels of detainees in its sprawling detention system. As of earlier this week, there were more than 57,000 detainees facing deportation in ICE custody, according to internal agency data. ICE arrests have roughly doubled since Mr. Trump's first 100 days in office, though they remain far below the daily goal of 3,000 set by Stephen Miller, one of the president's top White House advisers. While ICE routinely highlights arrests of those in the U.S. illegally who have been convicted of violent crimes, its enforcement efforts have also led to the detention of asylum-seekers attending immigration court hearings, workers in a variety of industries and other non-criminals suspected of being in the country without permission. Those operations have been strongly denounced by Democratic lawmakers and have triggered protests in communities throughout the country, including in southern California. A recent CBS News poll showed that Mr. Trump's deportation effort has lost the majority support it once enjoyed among the public, with a growing share of Americans expressing concerns about immigration authorities not focusing on arresting and deporting dangerous criminals. Lyons, the acting ICE director, told CBS News that his agency continues to prioritize the "worst of the worst," but he said anyone found by his agents to be in the country illegally will be taken into custody and processed for deportation. "We have opened up the whole aperture of the immigration portfolio," Lyons said.
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
New Jersey's ban on privately operated ICE detention centers struck down by court
A U.S. appeals court struck down a law in New Jersey that prevented the federal government from contracting with private firms to operate immigration detention centers across the state. The court's 2-1 ruling marked a victory for President Donald Trump and his administration during their ongoing illegal immigration crackdown across the country. One of the Trump administration's efforts has been to expand a network of detention centers in preparation for the deportations of dangerous illegal aliens. The court's ruling also means CoreCivic Corp., a private prison firm, can continue to operate the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility, which is one of the centers ramping up deportations. In the decision, U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, who was appointed to the post by Trump, wrote, "Just as states cannot regulate the federal government itself, they cannot regulate private parties in a way that severely undercuts a federal function." Bibas added that the law "interferes with the federal government's core power to enforce immigration laws." New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed a law in 2021 that barred CoreCivic from renewing its agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to continue operating the Elizabeth Detention Center. CoreCivic ultimately sued the state, resulting in a district court judge siding with the private firm. The state then appealed the ruling to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court and received a decision counter to what it had hoped. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin expressed disappointment about the decision in a post on X on Tuesday. "As recent events at Delaney Hall underscore, entrusting detention to for-profit companies poses grave risks to health and safety, and as the dissenting judge noted, States retain broad latitude to protect the health and safety of people within their borders – particularly where, as here, there is no conflict with federal legislation," Platkin wrote, in part. Platkin added he is evaluating the next steps in the case. CoreCivic's Ryan Gustin told Fox News Digital that the company has "played a limited but important role" in the U.S. immigration center at the Elizabeth facility for more than 25 years. "We appreciate that we've had the opportunity to present our positions to the courts and are grateful to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals for reaffirming the federal government's discretion to rely on the Elizabeth Detention Center to support its vital mission," Gustin said. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was hit with a federal indictment for allegedly obstructing Homeland Security agents during an incident outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark on May 9. McIver and two other members of Congress said they were conducting a congressional oversight visit that coincided with an immigration protest when a clash ensued with federal agents. According to the DOJ, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was allowed into the facility's secured area and refused to follow federal agents' warnings to leave. When officers tried to arrest him, McIver allegedly put her arms around the mayor and "slammed her forearm" into one officer while grabbing another and using both of her forearms to forcibly strike the second officer. McIver has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Politics
- Forbes
EU Migration Ministers Meet In Copenhagen To Discuss Deportations
Copenhagen, Denmark Interior affairs ministers from various European Union member states have been meeting in Copenhagen - the capital of Denmark which currently holds the rotating EU presidency - to discuss ways to increase deportations of foreign nationals. The talks build on an earlier meeting in Germany, after which various schemes for blocking or deporting failed asylum seekers and other migrants deemed undesirable were endorsed. The issue of deportations - known as 'returns' in Brussels diplomatic language - has been pushed by Denmark in particular in recent years. The country's leadership recently spearheaded an open letter calling on Europe's legal and human rights regime to be reconsidered to allow more deportation flights. Denmark has also made it clear that it intends to use its holding of the European presidency - which broadly means it gets to set some of the policy debate and agenda for the next six months - to push the EU to open up more ways to remove people, and to set up extra-territorial reception centers known as 'return hubs.' Denmark is far from the only country pushing for such changes to Europe's asylum and migration system. The idea of preventing people arriving in Europe to seek shelter in the first place, and finding ways to remove them more quickly, has gone from being somewhat fringe in European policy circles to something approaching an orthodoxy. Leaders across the bloc have called on the European Commission - the EU's executive arm - to open up more avenues for deportations, and it has obliged them by initiating a legal framework for individual member states to pursue 'return hub' arrangements. At the same time, policy changes are underway that will see the so-called 'connection criteria' removed from EU frameworks. This principle, long considered sacrosanct, prevents people from being deported to a place they do not have a connection to - that is to say where they're originally from, or have some kind of residency. Removing that criteria will clear the way for people to be deported more easily, as many countries where people come from either do not accept back people deported by force, or for other logistical reasons are unable or unwilling to. The European Commission has also recently made a subtle change to the way it plans to spend the EU's external development money to prompt more countries to accept back their deported nationals. Within the Commission's new budget proposal is a clause that suggests development money could be taken away from countries that don't cooperate - although this would not apply to humanitarian assistance funding. The proposal is also noted for increasing the funding for border security and infrastructure, while leaving less money for asylum and inclusion programs. All of these moves - as well as similar plans seen in the United Kingdom - suggest that in the future European migration policy will focus more on strengthening borders and increasing deportations, where previously the dominant policy thinking in Europe was to allow people in and process their asylum claims.
