True Left

German Visa Scandal: Foreign Ministry Sidelined Official Who Protested the Relaxed Rules

FM Baerbock pushed through a simplified visa process now exploited by illegal migrants and foreign agents

europeanconservative.com

New details emerge in the German scandal about thousands of visas handed out by Annalena Baerbock’s foreign ministry to Middle Eastern migrants
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Baerbock (together with her state secretary, Susanne Baumann) instructed her embassies to speed up visa applications for those coming from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. She significantly relaxed the vetting process for family reunifications and also removed a high-level official who questioned the orders from her position at the Islamabad embassy, the biggest hotspot of the German visa abuses.

Anonymous sources familiar with the personnel shake-up say the head of the Islamabad embassy’s Legal and Consular Section was abruptly removed from handling Afghan humanitarian arrivals early this year after raising concerns about Berlin’s directive to process applications “quickly and favorably.”
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the foreign ministry reluctantly agreed to toughen up some measures, but only at the explicit demand of Nancy Faeser’s interior ministry.

Still, Baerbock kept fighting to keep the relaxed rules of her program up until the last minute, writing in a now-leaked memo to Secretary Baumann:

    We should not accept this [pressure from Faeser]. Stand firm here [and] escalate it further, publicly if necessary.

“Under Annalena Baerbock, the Federal Foreign Office has been downgraded to an immigration and smuggling agency. Thousands of migrants were smuggled into Germany in deliberate circumvention of the law,” AfD co-leader Alice Weidel declared earlier this month, after calling for an official inquiry into the motives behind the scandal.

Weidel accused the foreign ministry of “systemic abuse” that has been causing “serious damage to Germany and jeopardizing internal security” and called for Baerbock to be “removed from office immediately.”

A Sylacauga City Council meeting was cut short after only 20 minutes Thursday following questions from several residents about recent Haitian immigration to the area.

Council President Tiffany Nix brought the meeting to a close after several residents asked questions about how the city knew workers coming there were legal immigrants, who had determined this, and what effect they were having on crime and housing.
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“The first time I saw them, they came in our church. They wanted to come to Sunday School and church with us. That’s the first time I knew they were in town, and then there was three, then six, then eight. The ones at church with me are great people. They wanted to come to church, haven’t asked for a thing, worship and go home.”

Another resident asked why council members had not attempted to learn where immigrant workers are coming from on buses. Nix asked if anyone had actually seen anyone bused into town. From a video of the meeting, it did not appear anyone said they had.

“I also went by where they’re living, some of them, and they’re just sitting around there, not working,” the resident asked. “They supposedly came here to work.” Someone pointed out people work night shifts.

“I want to welcome anyone to Sylacauga that wants to come to Sylacauga,” Nix said. “If you’re here stimulating our economy, thank you. That’s how I feel about it. If people aren’t breaking the law, they’re not causing any problems, I don’t...I don’t see what the issue is.”

Another resident said, “the attitude of the council throughout this process is entirely unacceptable.”

“Do we know where the individuals we’re discussing are coming from?” he asked. “Where their point of origin is? Because you’re treating them like lawful U.S. citizens, which they are not.”

Nix jumped in at that point. “OK, so I’m going to cut it off...again, we have no reason to launch an investigation or to treat people differently because of how they look.”

See also:

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/news/re-war-2249/msg22933/#msg22933

https://trueleft.createaforum.com/true-left-vs-right/debunking-rightist-anti-immigration-arguments/msg21583/?topicseen#msg21583

On the other hand, it is necessary to qualify that we obviously do not consider a higher population in itself to be a good thing, unlike many neoliberals who are also capitalists. Our position is strictly that, given the entire world is overpopulated anyway (which we would have preferred to avoid in the first place), the world population should be allowed to distribute itself, whereupon currently richer and less densely populated countries would end up hosting a larger share than they currently do with closed borders. Neoliberals are likely to oppose policies that we advocate, such as limiting birth rate.

Pedro Sánchez unveils plans to help migrants settle in Spain

Prime minister champions migration in stance at odds with European neighbours
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Spain plans to make it easier for newcomers to settle, the prime minister said, promoting migration as an effective way to protect prosperity in sharp contrast with the attitude of much of Europe.
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His remarks come as governments across Europe responded to the surge of the far right by cracking down on migration. Last month Germany reintroduced checks at its land borders, saying it was necessary to “protect against the acute dangers posed by Islamist terrorism and serious crime”, while France’s prime minister, Michel Barnier, said recently that immigration levels were “often insufferable”.

Sweden and Finland have all announced plans to bring in new anti-immigration measures, while Italy has been accused of turning a blind eye to human rights as it hashes out deals with leaders in Libya and Tunisia to curtail arrivals.

The hardening sentiment has at times pitted governments against busnesses eager to grow: in March the largest company in the Netherlands voiced concerns that the country’s anti-immigration stance would impede its ability to attract skilled labour. Similar concerns have been voiced in Germany.

On Wednesday, Sánchez said Spain would set out on a different path, instead setting aside resources to better integrate migrants into the labour market and to reduce red tape for residency applications.
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Sánchez, speaking to parliament, thanked the people of the Canary Islands for providing a “daily example of humanity” as the number of arrivals along one of the world’s deadliest migration routes increased to more than 30,000.

The number of asylum seekers, many of them fleeing conflict and political instability, was reminiscent of the 120,000 Spaniards who made their own desperate journeys in rickety boats decades earlier, Sánchez said. “More than two million Spaniards emigrated during the Franco era, half of them irregularly,” he said. “We have to remember the odysseys of our mothers and fathers, our grandfathers and grandmothers in Latin America, in the Caribbean and Europe. And understand that our duty now, especially now, is to be that welcoming, tolerant, supportive society that they would have liked to find.”

It was a “moral debt” that the country owed to its older people, and one that now needed to be paid to provide prosperity for future generations. “We Spaniards are children of emigration,” he said. “We are not going to be the parents of xenophobia.”

Turin court acquits 18 anarchists who occupied former roadman’s house to help migrants

The Turin Court of Appeal has acquitted 18 far-left activists who occupied a former roadman’s house in Oulx, in the Susa Valley, to assist migrants attempting to cross the border into France. The...

Remix News · rmx.news

The Turin Court of Appeal has acquitted 18 far-left activists who occupied a former roadman’s house in Oulx, in the Susa Valley, to assist migrants attempting to cross the border into France.

The court ruled that the defendants acted “in a state of necessity,” invoking Article 54 of the Italian Penal Code, which exempts individuals from punishment if they commit acts to save themselves or others from imminent danger.

The case dates back to 2018 when the group occupied the property to provide a refuge for migrants traveling through the harsh mountain terrain of Alta Susa Valley. Many migrants, dressed inadequately for winter conditions, faced life-threatening situations while attempting to cross the border into France. The anarchists argued that their actions were necessary to prevent serious harm or death.

In the first instance, the court acknowledged the “invasion of buildings” but ruled for acquittal on the grounds of the “tenuity of the fact,” recognizing the minor nature of the crime. The building, known in Italian as a casa cantoniera which was previously used to house maintenance workers, had been derelict for some time.

The Court of Appeal went further, accepting the defense’s argument that the group’s actions were legally justified by the urgency of the situation.

“The judges recognized that the migrants, finding themselves in those mountain areas with no place to go and sometimes in summer clothes during winter, faced very serious dangers,” explained defense lawyer Danilo Ghia. “Numerous testimonies confirmed that the defendants saved lives.”
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the court’s decision highlighted the humanitarian aspect of the case. By applying Article 54, the judges established that the anarchists acted under the necessity of saving lives, creating what some see as a precedent for future cases involving humanitarian aid and migrant assistance.

Susa Valley - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

During the Roman age, Augustus formed an alliance with the Segusini of Cottii Regnum to link Italy and France by building a road through the Valley and over the Col de Montgenčvre (Passo del Monginevro), now 2 km away from the Italian border.

During the Middle Ages, the road was called Via Francigena, and pilgrims arriving from France passed through Mont Cenis and the Susa Valley on their way to Rome. It was one of the most used Alpine passes from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century. Several abbeys were built to accommodate pilgrims, such as Novalesa Abbey founded in 726AD on the foot of a mountain and the monumental Sacra di San Michele abbey.