Category Archives: Immigration

Barriers to Block Migrants: Germany

“Build a Wall” Series – Germany

Barriers to Block Migrants

Map of Germany

Germany has been a welcoming nation for immigrants, but an open door invitation by the government brought an overwhelming surge of migrants. Over five times the number of migrants and refugees were registered in Germany in 2015 than in 2014. (1) Over 80% arrive without documentation (2) and all had to be accommodated. The countries and governments in Europe reacted to the massive influx. The number arriving in Germany slowed in 2016. Walls and barriers were built at country borders, benefits were altered to discourage more taking the dangerous journeys, and border crossing checks were set up to screen transport.

Infografik Anzahl der Asyl-Neuanträge in der EU ENGLISCH

Graph from http://www.dw.com (3)

Hamburg

Notes from August 8, 2015 video: Nearly 2 million people were at the border with Turkey and at the fastest current processing wouldn’t get a hearing on their status till 2023, so migrants were trying to get deeper into the EU by walking and taking any transport possible.

Immigrants, arriving in Rosenheim, Germany by train, were being processed efficiently. The arrivals were finger printed and checked for a known police record, then sent out to various housing throughout the country.

The city of Hamburg was required to take in 2.5% of all migrants arriving in Germany. Every day 200 – 300 new arrivals needed to be accommodated by the city. The large exhibition center was being prepared to house over 1,000 arrivals.

Helga Broeker, an elderly resident, read a letter advising that a local neighborhood park would be housing 500 asylum seekers. She said, “It is just like this everywhere in the city at the moment. Spaces must be provided, there is no alternative. But it is certainly a big disadvantage when you live that close.”

Munich, suburb of Neuperlach Süd

Notes from December 4, 2016 video: Housing for migrants was being placed all over Germany. In a suburb of Munich some homeowners were worried their property values would decline when a shelter for young unaccompanied migrants was placed 82 feet from their neighborhood housing. The homeowners took the city of Munich to court to have a 12 foot wall to separate the asylum center from their houses.

Related image

Wall being built next to a refugee camp in Neuperlach Sud, Germany

Daily Mail UK: A 12ft high Munich Wall built protect locals German city camp

German town to separate refugees, residents with barrier taller than Berlin Wall

Metro UK: Germany’s building a 12ft barrier to separate communities

German – Czechia / Czech Republic border

Schirnding, Germany: Human wall in protest

Notes from November 8, 2015 video: Some Germans and Czechs formed a symbolic human wall in protest against the influx of immigrants. They were followed by some media and police. The protesters walked peacefully through the woods on “Merkel’s path” where immigrants would travel to head into Europe. They carried signs and flags.

One sign reads “Gegen religiösen fanatismus” – Against Religious Fanaticism. Members of PEGIDA carried a banner with “Gewaltfrei und vereint gegen glaubenskriege auf deutschem boden” – Nonviolent and united against the war of faith on German soil (Google Translate). PEGIDA means “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West”. They are concerned about too many immigrants coming into their countries and that they would not integrate properly into their communities and cause a drain on resources. Housing migrants in Germany overwhelmed the facilities and were costing billions of Euros.

(1) Nearly 1.1 million migrants arrived in Germany in 2015

(2) Germany’s migrant crisis turns into a NIGHTMARE as 80% of refugees have NO documents June 10, 2016

(3) EU asylum applications drop by a third in first quarter 2016

Refugee crisis: Thousands are living in cramped conditions March 2016

Migrant crisis: Migration to Europe explained in seven charts March 2016

How Many Refugees Can Germany Handle? July 2015

The Guardian: After Berlin, Angela Merkel’s open door to migrants might slam shut December 20, 2016

Trump says: A nation without borders is not a nation

Controlling the US southern border

“For a nation of immigrants and immigration, the United States adjusts its immigration policies only rarely, largely because the politics surrounding immigration can be deeply divisive.” (1) President Donald Trump spoke on 01/25/2017 about his new executive orders during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security with increased border security plans between the US and Mexico.

Executive order 01/25/2017: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements

Executive order 01/25/2017: Enhancing Public Safety inside borders

Donald Trump during the 2016 Presidential election campaign said that he would build a wall along the border and “Mexico will pay for it.” He wanted to increase enforcement of the existing immigration laws, as well as not allowing the “bad people” to hide in sanctuary cities.

The speculation whether Donald Trump’s “wall” was serious has been ended. Trump announced the “immediate construction of a border wall” as part of his immigration reform. Mexico is not controlling their southern border. “We are in the middle of a crisis on our southern border” from an influx of immigrants coming up through Mexico from Central America. People are fleeing through Mexico heading north to the United States to escape gang violence and poverty.

Fleeing violence to the American dream

“El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are called the “Northern Triangle” and gripped with gang violence. The Council on Foreign Relations has estimated that “nearly 10 percent of the Northern Triangle countries’ thirty million residents have left, mostly for the United States.”

Image result for central america triangle

Monetary “aid” sent to assist the region is not enough. Trump says that a wall on the US southern border to deter entry into the United States would also help Mexico.  Perhaps Mexico also needs a wall or fence on their southern border.  The flow of people through Mexico drawn to the “American dream”  has caused problems for our southern border neighbor.

There are unaccompanied children from Central America heading to the United States. These children often actively seek out Border Patrol agents when crossing the US border requesting sanctuary. The influx can overwhelm local communities. The Department of Homeland Security locates a relative within the U.S. to send the children on after processing. There is no ongoing tracking of the children until their immigration hearings nor proper vetting of those who receive the children.

Children in Delaware

Mexicans continue crossing back and forth across the US border and also heading north to Canada. In 2010 Canada set up a visa requirement for Mexicans entering their country, but this was lifted in December 2016. There is expectation that the visa requirement will need to be added back in future, if there is another surge of immigration.

“eliminating all remaining barriers”

Controlling the borders is a part of Trump’s “nationalism”. Globalists have a preference for open borders. There has been a slow and diligent movement towards a “North American Union”. The plan is for a “free flow of people” across the three countries. Central America was not included in the original planned trade region. NAFTA was a step on this plan.

Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin met at U.S. President George W. Bush’s  Waco, Texas ranch in March 2005 to discuss how to further integrate the three countries and further open up the borders. A report from the meeting by the Council on Foreign Relations gave recommendations to further these goals.
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (emblem).png

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) was set up after this meeting with annual meetings. There have been 9 additional meetings between leaders of the three countries. President Obama set up additional dual bi-lateral meetings. Will the new US President participate in the globalist planned meetings to continue integrating the 3 North American countries?

This is a sample from the CFR report of recommendations from 2005.

“Move to full labor mobility between Canada and the United States. To make companies based in North America as competitive as possible in the global economy, Canada and the United States should consider eliminating all remaining barriers to the ability of their citizens to live and work in the other country. This free flow of people would offer an important advantage to employers in both countries by giving them rapid access to a larger pool of skilled labor, and would enhance the well-being of individuals in both countries by enabling them to move quickly to where their skills are needed. In the long term, the two countries should work to extend this policy to Mexico as well, though doing so will not be practical until wage differentials between Mexico and its two North American neighbors have diminished considerably.”

Immigration agents support Trump

The unions of the Border Patrol agents and ICE agents supported Donald Trump’s candidacy. They now support his new immigration control measures. Chris Crane is the national spokesman for a union of over 5,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.  Crane sued the Obama administration in 2012 over their lax immigration policies. Brandon Judd is President of the Border Patrol Council, which is a union of 16,000 border patrol agents. President Donald Trump thanked Brandon Judd and Chris Crane and said they would soon be very busy.

What will the wall be made of?

Donald Trump’s “Wall” may not be literally a wall of concrete and re-bar steel along the entire border.

Steve Inskeep of NPR’s Morning Edition interviewed Brandon Judd in November 2016 about border security with Mexico and asked about the Trump wall. President George W. Bush in 2006 began to build fencing along the border. The border patrol agent said that currently “about 10 to 15 percent of our border has an actual fence.” President Bush said that a fence would “help protect the American people” and “make our borders more secure.” Adding the fence was “an important step toward immigration reform.”

Judd said the real issue wasn’t a wall.  “The debate’s about border security. That’s what the debate is about.” He thought that there wasn’t going to be fencing across the entire southern border. There were needs for increases up to 30% of the border of “actual fence, comma wall” at strategic locations.

Fencing alone won’t stop the drug flow. Drug cartels have dug extensive tunnels to continue their trade to bypass the border fencing, which will require additional technology to thwart them. Judd said,”If we integrate intelligence strategy to combat the cartels, we absolutely can be effective – 100 percent effective.”

Donald Trump plans to build his “Wall” to protect the country. “Beginning today the United States of America gets back control of its borders.”

(1) Migrationpolicy.org: August 2013 Immigration US legislative reform

NPR Morning Edition 11/17/2016: Border Patrol Agents’ Union Confers With Trump On Securing The Border

NPR: Immigration Employees File Suit Against Obama’s New Immigration Policy 2012
Border Patrol Council (union)

BBC – Secure Fence Act to a real wall?

Wikipedia: Secure Fence Act of 2006

Center for Immigration Studies: Sanctuary Cities

Wikipedia: Sanctuary cities

A review of the “Building a North American Community” meeting from March 2005

Migrationpolicy.org: US unaccompanies children through southern border

CFR report: Northern Triangle violence Jan 2016

NBC: More than 10,000 unaccompanied minors on US southern border

MSNBC: Mexico’s southern border

Canada preparing for a potential flood of Mexican migrants

National ICE Council (union)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

US Citizenship and Immigration Services

US Immigration and Citizenship information

Coming to America: Mexican refugees from Pancho Villa

Mexican Immigration 1910 – 1920

Mexican refugees

Between 1910 and 1920 during the chaos of the “complex and bloody conflict” of The Mexican Revolution nearly a million Mexicans are estimated to have died.  Another million fled from the conflict in the first large wave of Mexican immigration into the United States. The social, economic  and political power struggle even drew in the United States military to cross into Mexico in 1916 in pursuit of Pancho Villa. Villa was a revolutionary general and is a hero in Mexico, but he is considered to be a rampaging bandit by my family.

Map image from Rand McNally and Company 1914 located in the Newberry Library in Chicago (Perspectives on the Mexican Revolution)

Refugees

Refugee = a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

My maternal grandparents’ family had deep roots in Mexico. During The Mexican Revolution my grandparents became refugees. They were part of the economic class targeted by the Villa revolutionaries, who seized their land and stole their property. The Villa army terrorized and killed and worse. A brave great-grandmother protected her family and home, standing off some of Villa’s forces with a rifle, before fleeing. A great-grandfather collapsed and died of a stroke watching his burning business. My grandfather hid in the hills to avoid being killed. My grandmother fled across the border by train with their young children, parents, other family and members of their household. She sewed some coins into her skirt. Arriving in San Antonio, Texas with only what they could carry, they began a new life in the United States. My grandfather was able to join them later. Some of the group of extended family eventually returned to Mexico after the conflict ended. (see addendum ***)

Below is a photo of Pancho Villa from Getty Images.

My grandparents stayed in the United States, but kept their roots in Mexico with cross border businesses and relationships living on the border in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. They raised a family and successfully integrated into the United States. Their sons fought in WWII and had successful professional careers. My mother was the youngest and born in the United States, as were some of my uncles.

Some Enchanted Evening

My father was an Indiana farm boy whose ancestors had immigrated at different points from Europe and Britain. My mother and father meeting was unlikely, but definitely kismet. In their long life together they contributed to the US economy and society in many positive ways. My parents believed in higher education. My father and mother were both bi-lingual in Spanish and English. Both earned advanced degrees, as well as making sure all of us kids were able to go to college. My grandparents and family have contributed to the United States as good citizens in many ways.

The song “Some Enchanted Evening” always reminds me of my mother and father. (1958 recording of movie “South Pacific” sung by Giorgio Tozzi)

#Nowall

Thankfully my grandparents and my young uncles fleeing from war in Mexico did not find a “Wall” of rules or a high fence to block their entrance. There was a legal way to arrive and to stay in the United States and work towards becoming naturalized citizens.

Thank you, Pancho Villa and Thank you, America

My appreciation for Pancho Villa is because his revolution helped bring my mother’s family to the United States. I am very fortunate to have been born a citizen of this great nation and I do not take that privilege for granted.

*** Memories from another sibling on what we were told about family story:

“I was told Pancho Villa personally shot one relative’s husband because the relative did not gather up his horses fast enough to turn them over to Pancho Villa’s men. One of Grandfather’s brothers was kidnapped and the family had to ransom him back.

I was told one of the cousin family groups (like a cousin twice removed relationship) saw a dead young woman in the streets with a little girl clinging to her trying to nurse. They grabbed up the child and kept running taking the child with them to America and making her a daughter of their family. When Grandmother was delivering identical twins (our uncles) one twin was breach. Grandfather went out to get a doctor in the town, but every time he came to a street he was asked “Who are you for? Who are you with?”. He feared being shot for a wrong answer. Grandfather was not able to find a physician to come. Grandmother’s mother managed to deliver the twins.” Only a few days old these twins were brought to America and contributed to and loved this great land, even as they also loved their original homeland of Mexico.

Immigration in the United States: New Economic, Social, Political Landscapes with Legislative Reform on the Horizon By Faye Hipsman, Doris Meissner

Library of Congress: The History of Mexican Immigration to the U.S. in the Early 20th Century

The Mexican Revolution and the United States in the Collections of the Library of Congress U.S. Relations with Mexico Post-Columbus, NM

Mexican Migration to the United States Historian Miguel A. Levario, from Texas Tech University, interviewed on 15Minute History

Perspectives on the Mexican Revolution historical collection in the Newberry Research Library in Chicago

USA Immigration and Citizenship 1865-1924 historical collection in the Newberry Research Library in Chicago