Greece Hit By Sudden Surge In Refugees - Did Erdogan Break EU-Turkey Immigration Deal?

As tensions soar between Ankara and Berlin, following Germany"s angry response to Erdogan"s call for those of Turkish descent to vote against Merkel, a coincidentally huge wave of refugees has suddenly started appearing on Greek coasts, making some wonder if Erdogan has broken his EU-Immigration deal.

The last six days have seen over 1,200 refugees and migrants arrive Greece from Turkey.

New Arrivals:

• August 18: 105


• August 19: 308


• August 20: 136


• August 21: 397


• August 22: 250


• August 23: 174   

Source: Greek Migration Ministry

In addition, 84 new arrivals were recorded on the islands of Lesvos and Samos, on Wednesday.

As KeepTalkingGreece.com reports,  two people assigned to operate the boat engines were arrested.

A FRONTEX vessel rescued 48 refugees off the small island of Ro in the south-eastern Aegean.

2,400 people arrived in Greece August 1-20, 2017. Half of them arrived within just the last days.

Local authorities observe the incising number of arrivals with “keen concern” to see whether the phenomenon is temporary linked to the good weather conditions or if there is a more general trend. They already warn that the situation on the islands is slowly getting out of control.

More than 14,000 people are trapped on the Greek islands that have hosting capacity for 5,576 people.

Total numbers on the islands: 14,221

• in hotspots: 8,179


• in unofficial hotspots: 3,449

Reports from the island of Chios underline that a lot of refugees and migrants live outside the hotspots, spread across land plots without tents or any other facilities.

“Little kids are seen to walk around without shoes and sleep in carton boxes,” PolitisChios.gr reports from the area around unofficial hotspot of VI.AL.

On the island of Samos the situation is reportedly not much better

Sudden migrant flow increase – a Turkish plan?

According to the correspondent of AthensNewsAgency on the island of Lesvos, the Turkish Coast Guard has announced that it had zero intervention in the issue of refugees and migrants from the Turkish coast to the Greek islands as of August 15th.

However, the increase of the refugee and migrants flow does coincide with the bitter row between Ankara and Berlin.

Last Friday, President Erdogan described the main German political parties as “enemies of Turkey” and urged his German of Turkish descent to not vote for Merkel’s CDU, the Social-democrats and the Greens.

German politicians responded with fury to Erdogan’s remarks.

@NikolasGeorgiou

Meanwhile in Athens, Afghan migrants staged a protest outside the Ministry of Migrations and the offices of the European Commission demanding the annullation of the EU-Turkey deal, ‘equal rights treatment of protection seekers’ and a stop of deportations of Afghan migrants form EU countries.

Last year, the European commission had excluded Afghans from its refugees lists claiming their lives were not at risk if they should be deported to Afghanistan. They were no longer war refugees, Brussels ruled.

The Afghan protest was supported by Greek solidarity groups.

Europe: Migrant Crisis Reaches Spain

Authored by Soeren Kern via The Gatestone Institute,

• "The biggest migration movements are still ahead: Africa"s population will double in the next decades. A country like Egypt will grow to 100 million people, Nigeria to 400 million. In our digital age with the internet and mobile phones, everyone knows about our prosperity and lifestyle." — German Development Minister Gerd Müller.


• "Young people all have cellphones and they can see what"s happening in other parts of the world, and that acts as a magnet." — Michael Møller, Director of the United Nations office in Geneva.


• "If we do not manage to solve the central problems in African countries, ten, 20 or even 30 million immigrants will arrive in the European Union within the next ten years." — Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament.

Spain is on track to overtake Greece as the second-biggest gateway for migrants entering Europe by sea. The sudden surge in migration to Spain comes amid a crackdown on human smuggling along the Libya-Italy sea route, currently the main migrant point of entry to Europe.

The westward shift in migration routes from Greece and Italy implies that Spain, situated only ten miles from Africa by sea, may soon find itself at the center of Europe"s migration crisis.

More than 8,300 illegal migrants have reached Spanish shores during the first seven months of 2017 — three times as many as in all of 2016, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

You will find more statistics at Statista

Thousands more migrants have entered Spain by land, primarily at the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the north coast of Morocco, the European Union"s only land borders with Africa. Once there, migrants are housed in temporary shelters and then moved to the Spanish mainland, from where many continue on to other parts of Europe.

In all, some 12,000 migrants have arrived in Spain so far this year, compared to 13,246 for all of 2016. By comparison, 14,156 migrants have arrived in Greece so far in 2017.

Italy remains the main migrant gateway to Europe, with around 97,000 arrivals so far this year, compared to 181,436 for all of 2016. Italy has been the main point of entry to Europe since the EU-Turkey migrant deal, signed in March 2016, shut off the route from Turkey to Greece, at one time the preferred point of entry to Europe for migrants from Asia and the Middle East. Almost 600,000 migrants have arrived in Italy during the past four years.

Migrants wait to be rescued by crewmembers from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) Phoenix vessel on June 10, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

In May, Italy signed a deal with Libya, Chad and Niger to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean through improved border controls. In July, Italy also reached a deal with France and Germany to tighten the regulation of charities operating boats in the Mediterranean and to increase funds to the Libyan coast guard.

Since then, the Libyan coast guard has prevented thousands of migrants from leaving the Libyan coast for Italy. The crackdown, however, has sent would-be migrants scrambling for an alternative route to cross the Mediterranean. This appears to explain the increase in migrants arriving in Spain.

On August 14, Frontex, the European Union"s border agency, reported that the number of African migrants arriving in Italy from Libya had dropped by more than half in July compared to the month before. During this period, the number of migrants arriving in Spain rose sharply.

Frontex said that 10,160 migrants had arrived in Italy by sea in July — 57% fewer than in June and the lowest level of arrivals for a July since 2014. According to Frontex, 2,300 migrants made it to Spain in July, more than four times as many as the year before. Most of the migrants arriving in Italy and Spain are believed to be economic migrants seeking a better life in Europe, not refugees fleeing war zones.

"The vast majority of migrants crossing to Italy from Libya come from Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and other west African countries," said Joel Millman, an IOM spokesman, in an interview with the Financial Times. "Given the crackdown on migration from Libya, it seems natural that many would forsake the dangerous dessert [sic] crossing to Libya and choose to cross from Morocco."

Julio Andrade, a city councilor in Málaga, a port city in southern Spain, called it "the balloon effect." In an interview with the Irish Times, he said: "If you squeeze one area, the air goes elsewhere. If there is a lot of police pressure and arrests of mafias around the Mediterranean routes via Greece and Italy, for example, then the mafias will look for other routes."

Spanish authorities have reported that there is a surge in African migrants attempting to cross the land border at Ceuta by scaling fences that are up to six meters (20 feet) tall and topped by razor wire. Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said there were 2,266 attempts to jump the perimeter at Ceuta during the first seven months of 2017, compared to a total of 3,472 attempts in all of 2016.

On August 7, more than 300 mostly sub-Saharan Africans ambushed Spanish and Moroccan security forces and stormed the border crossing at El Tarajal; 186 migrants made it onto Spanish territory. On August 8, more than a thousand migrants armed with spears and rocks attempted to breach the same crossing. On August 9, Spanish authorities closed the border for a week. On August 10, around 700 migrants stormed the border; 200 migrants were arrested.

Meanwhile, on August 9, a video showed a rubber boat carrying dozens of migrants arrive at a beach full of sunbathers in Cádiz. José Maraver, the head of a rescue center in nearby Tarifa, told the Telegraph that a second boat had landed on another beach in the area and that this scene was now a regular occurrence. "Every day there are boats, every day there is migration," he said. "The situation is getting very complicated."

Migrants are also using other means to reach Spain. On August 6, for example, four Moroccans reached the coast of Málaga on jet skis. During July and August, police intercepted at least two dozen migrants using jet skis to cross over to Spain. On August 10, police using motion detectors and thermal imaging sensors found 56 migrants, including 14 children, hiding inside trucks en route from Ceuta to the mainland ferry port in Algeciras.

In an August 9 editorial, Spain"s El País newspaper said that it was "obvious that migratory pressure has moved to the western Mediterranean and there is no indication that this situation will change in the near future." It added:

"The migratory pressure Spain has experienced during the past several weeks is an increase of such dimensions that it exceeds all measures of surveillance and control. The massive entry of sub-Saharan people across the border of Ceuta, whether by jumping the fence or crossing the El Tarajal border, reveals the enormous difficulties in stopping the entry of those fleeing war, famine or economic hardship....

"The management of migratory flows requires a strong European policy and sufficient economic resources. Spain cannot stand alone as the guardian of southern Europe."

German Development Minister Gerd Müller recently warned that Europe must prepare for the arrival of millions more migrants from Africa:

"The biggest migration movements are still ahead: Africa"s population will double in the next decades. A country like Egypt will grow to 100 million people, Nigeria to 400 million. In our digital age with the internet and mobile phones, everyone knows about our prosperity and lifestyle."

The director of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Michael Møller, has echoed those concerns:

"What we have been seeing is one of the biggest human migrations in history. And it"s just going to accelerate. Young people all have cellphones and they can see what"s happening in other parts of the world, and that acts as a magnet."

The President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, said that in order to staunch the flow of migrants from Africa, the European Union would need to invest billions and develop a long-term strategy to stabilize the continent: "If we do not manage to solve the central problems in African countries, ten, 20 or even 30 million immigrants will arrive in the European Union within the next ten years."

Italian Ports Bombarded With Migrants; Interior Minister Demands Other EU Nations "Step Up"

More than a year after the BREXIT referendum shocked the world, the various EU member nations are seemingly no closer to a consensus on how to deal with Europe"s migrant influx.  The lack of a coordinated plan and disproportionate distribution of migrants across the continent has Italy threatening to close their ports to privately-funded aid boats until other nations "step up."   Per Yahoo News:

With arrivals in Italy up nearly 19 percent over the same period last year, Rome has threatened to close its ports to privately-funded aid boats or insist that funding be cut to EU countries which fail to help.

"There are NGO ships, Sophia and Frontex boats, Italian coast guard vessels" saving migrants i the Mediterranean, Minniti said, referring to the aid boats as well as vessels deployed under EU border security missions.

"They are sailing under the flags of various European countries. If the only ports where refugees are taken to are Italian, something is not working. This is the heart of the question," he said.

"I am a europhile and I would be proud if even one vessel, instead of arriving in Italy, went to another European port. It would not resolve Italy"s problem, but it would be an extraordinary signal" of support, he said.

Of course, in the face of the ever-growing crisis, the interior ministers of France, Germany and Italy got together to do what politicians do best: talk.  And while we"re sure that European citizens are very happy that "the talks went off very well," somehow we suspect the continued "all talk, no action" approach to the crisis is not entirely satisfactory for a continent that has been devastated by terrorist attacks of late.  

The French and German interior ministers met with their Italian counterpart Marco Minniti in Paris on Sunday to discuss a "coordinated response" to Italy"s migrant crisis, hours after Minniti had called on other European countries to open their ports to rescue ships.

The working dinner at the French interior ministry -- also attended by EU Commissioner for Refugees Dimitris Avramopoulos -- was aimed at finding "a coordinated and concerted response to the migrant flux in the central Mediterranean (route) and see how to better help the Italians," a source close the talks said.

The four-way talks between Minniti, Thomas de Maiziere of Germany, Gerard Collomb of France and Avramopoulos will also prepare them for EU talks in Tallinn this week.

"The talks went off very well," a member of the Italian delegation told AFP after the Paris meeting, with the "Italian proposals being discussed". The source offered no other details.

"We are under enormous pressure," Minniti had said earlier Sunday in an interview with Il Messaggero.

Meanwhile, over 2,000 migrants have died this year alone in their attempts to cross the Mediterranean.

More than 83,000 people rescued while attempting the perilous crossing from Libya have been brought to Italy so far this year, according to the UN, while more than 2,160 have died trying, the International Organization for Migration says.

Italy"s Red Cross has warned the situation in the country"s overcrowded reception centres is becoming critical.

"What is happening in front of our eyes in Italy is an unfolding tragedy," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Saturday.

Minniti said Rome would be pushing for a way to shift the asylum application process from Italy to crisis-hit Libya, and safely bring to Europe those who win the right to protection.

"We have to distinguish before they set off (across the Mediterranean) between those who have a right to humanitarian protection and those who don"t," he said.

Perhaps, at some point, politicians will learn how to act rather than just talk...but we won"t hold our breath.

Italian Officials Call For Investigation Of George Soros Supported NGO Migrant Fleet

Via Disobedient Media

Italian authorities are calling for monitoring of the funding of an NGO fleet bussing migrants into the EU from the North African coast after a report released the European Border and Coast Guard Agency has determined that the members of the fleet are acting as accomplices to people smugglers and directly contributing to the risk of death migrants face when attempting to enter the EU.

The report from regulatory agency Frontex suggests that NGOs sponsoring  ships in the fleet are now acting as veritable accomplices to people smugglers due to their service which, in effect, provides a reliable shuttle service for migrants from North Africa to Italy. The fleet lowers smugglers" costs, as it all but eliminates the need to procure seaworthy vessels capable making a full voyage across the Mediterranean to the European coastline. Traffickers are also able to operate with much less risk of arrest by European law enforcement officers. Frontex specifically noted that traffickers have intentionally sought to alter their strategy, sending their vessels to ships run by the NGO fleet rather than the Italian and EU military.

On March 25th, 2017, Italian news source Il Giornale carried remarks from Carmelo Zuccaro, the chief prosecutor of Catania (Sicily) calling for monitoring of the funding behind the NGO groups engaged in operating the migrant fleet. He stated that "the facilitation of illegal immigration is a punishable offense regardless of the intention.” While it is not a crime to enter the waters of a foreign country and pick them migrants, NGOs are supposed to land them at the nearest port of call, which would have been somewhere along the North African coast instead of in Italy. The chief prosecutor also noted that Italy is investigating Islamic radicalization occurring in prisons and camps where immigrants are hired off the books.

Italy has for some months been reeling under the pressure of massive numbers of migrants who have been moving from North Africa into the southern states of the European Union. In December 2016, The Express cited comments made by Virginia Raggi, the mayor of Vatican City, stating that Rome was on the verge of a "war" between migrants and poor Italians. The wave of migrants has also caused issues in southern Italy, where the Sicilian Cosa Nostra has declared a "war on migrants" last year amid reports that the Italian mafia had begun fighting with North African crime gangs who entered the EU among migrant populations.

CCTV footage showing an Italian gang leader, Emanuele Rubino, retrieve a handgun (circled) before shooting Gambian Yusapha Susso in a turf war last year

In February 2016, Disobedient Media published research indicating that multiple ships operating in the fleet mentioned by Frontex are sponsored by NGO groups with financial ties to organizations run by George Soros and donors to Hillary Clinton. Reports have also emerged citing a study by counter-extremism group Quilliam which states that ISIS now controls the human trafficking scene in North Africa and is actively recruiting from the migrant population. In addition to acting as de facto accomplices of human traffickers, the NGO"s criticized by Frontex may also be contributing to the worsening terror situation in Europe though their actions.

Caught On Tape: U.S. Immigration Official Okays Syrian Immigrants With "Fake Passports"

Over the past several months, we have frequently noted the staggering increases in the number of refugees Obama has permitted into the United States just as his Presidency is winding down.  In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, we noted that in the first 84 days of the 2017 fiscal year (October 1, 2016 - December 23, 2016), the Obama administration has accepted 25,584 refugees into the United States, an 86% increase year-over-year (see "Refugee Admissions Surge 86% YoY As Obama Rushes Arrivals Ahead Of Trump Inauguration").  And while we were expecting a large increase in refugee admittances in 2017 (see "Hillbama Administration Plans To Admit At Least 110,000 Refugees In 2017"), the ~30% increase that Secretary John Kerry estimated back in September is looking like a fairly modest increase now compared to the actual numbers. 

Meanwhile, just a few weeks ago we pointed out that European officials finally admitted that refugees were being directly recruited by ISIS both in Syria and in migrant camps throughout Europe to carry out terrorist attacks (see "Europol Admits ISIS Actively Targeting Refugees To Carry Out Terrorist Attacks In The EU").

Confirming what most of us deduced long ago via the application of just a bit of common sense, Europol and Frontex, Europe"s  border and coast guard agency, are finally admitting that their intelligence indicates coordinated efforts on the part of ISIS to recruit asylum seekers, both in Syria and in migrant camps after they"ve already reached Europe, to carry out terrorist attacks.  In a report published by Europol, counter-terrorism experts warn that, among other things, "Syrian refugee diaspora may become vulnerable to radicalisation once in Europe and may be specifically targeted by Islamic extremist recruiters."

But, here in the U.S. there should be no similar cause for concern because Josh Earnest has assured us that "significant screening was put in place to ensure that these [refugees] don"t pose an undue threat to our national security."

And while we have no doubt in the Obama administration"s commitment to a rigorous vetting process, we were somewhat alarmed by an undercover video revealed earlier today by the Daily Caller which seems to show a U.S. Immigration Services official in New York coaching a woman on how to help a Syrian family gain asylum in the US with "fake passports"...a situation which the official describes as "far from unique."

“The fake passport is one thing, we are going to use the name that is on the passport as AKA, also known as,” the man identified as Sergio responded. He added, “chances are considering the situation in Syria, they are not going to be sent back.”

The USCIS employee went on to say, “Was there ever a situation where people came with fraudulent documents and qualified for asylum? Yes, because it’s understood that they can not always obtain genuine documents. So it’s far from being unique.”

Of course, when the Daily Caller attempted to confirm whether granting asylum to refugees with "fake passports" was indeed "far from unique," they were courteously referred to a website for further assistance with their concerns.

The Daily Caller asked the USCIS if giving asylum to immigrants with fake documents is “far from unique” like the USCIS employee said in the video. A spokesperson responded by saying they do not “publicly discuss individual immigration cases” and giving a link to a information on their refugee and asylum programs.

A USCIS spokesperson also said that the agency cannot confirm the authenticity of the video as they claim it is heavily edited. The USCIS did not confirm nor deny that Sergio is an employee with the agency.

TheDC has previously reported on an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo which states difficulty in preventing fraud in the refugee program as “bad actors” use false biographies and “produce and submit fictitious supporting documentation.” It has also been reported that the Islamic State has a thriving fake passport industry.

Guess there is really no need for the elaborate games when you can just walk straight through the front door...

Why The Italian Government Can't Stop Refugee-Smuggling Boats? Because It Doesn't Want To

Via GEFIRA,

The rule of law is often invoked by as a Western value that “populist” movements want to destroy, yet the establishment’s own governments have long suspended that very same rule of law when it comes to immigration. The most evident example of this is the immigration policy started by the Italian Letta government in 2013 and continued since then under the Renzi government.

In October 2013, the Letta government, facing waves of refugees escaping the chaos of Western backed-Arab Spring in Libya, which later transpired as nothing more than insurgencies of Islamic radical groups, launched the operation “Mare Nostrum” or “Our Sea”, which consisted in the use of the Italian navy near Libyan waters to rescue asylum seekers from the African coast.

As noble as its motivation may be, a side effect of the operation was to encourage even more people to undertake sea travel because now they are certain that the Italian navy will rescue them. The result was a 224% increase in the number of boats leaving Libya, which translates into an average of almost 10 million euro a month for the Italian government.

In November 2014 Mare Nostrum was replaced with the EU-coordinated and funded Triton, covering a smaller part of the Mediterranean at the cost of 3 million euro a month. The official reason for the Triton operation is to control borders, however once we look at facts the goal of the operation is simply to bring in as many people as possible, regardless of whether they are refugees, economic migrants, legals or illegals. Since then, smuggling channels instead of being stopped have multiplied.
An established practice since the “Mare Nostrum” operation, continued under Triton, was for smugglers to launch a rescue signal to the patrolling navy and request assistance. In the meanwhile, NGOs pursuing the “open borders” have joined forces with them, assisting anyone, legal, illegal, refugee, who wants to reach Europe.

The European Commission that is responsible for Frontex, and what follows border controls, has a clear opinion on the matter. Commissioner for Home Affairs, Migration and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said: “Another important element that emerged strongly from the discussions on countering smuggling is that NGOs – and local and regional authorities – which provide assistance to smuggled migrants shall not be criminalised. I fully agree with this, of course, as I also agree on the need to protect the fundamental rights of those who are being smuggled. Those who we need to punish are the smugglers!”

Punishing the smugglers, unless they are part of NGOs, meaning the problem can’t and won’t be solved, because NGOs will always be free to smuggle migrants. This continues a well established tradition; during the Monti government in 2011-12 a Ministry for Immigration was created and given to Andrea Riccardi of the “Comunità of Sant’Egidio”, the prominent Italian open borders NGO. “Comunità of Sant’Egidio” runs projects such as “Humanitarian corridors”. The project funds an alternative route to bring people into Italy. Andrea Riccardi told the French media that he is convinced that Europe must open its borders. The Ministry was then given to Cecile Kyenge, a black woman born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who set herself a task of drastically reducing the requirements for acquiring Italian citizenship. She proposes a law that would give citizenship to the children of immigrants if they are born on Italian soil. Under Renzi, the ministry was reduced to a department within the ministry for Home Affairs, and handed to Mario Morcone, again affiliated with the “Comunità di Sant’Egidio”.

But what happens once migrants of all kinds reach Italian soil? They are sent to refugee centers, where they can apply for the status of refugees. It should be noted that Italy has long run out of places for asylum seekers, and so the government is paying hotels, hostels or citizens in general to take in people.

Here a common practice for those who know that their application will be rejected is to destroy their documents beforehand so that the time to identify them increases exponentially. Experience has shown that centers eventually become overcrowded, which turns out to be an occasion for migrants to riot, destroy properties and finally escape and become illegals. If they do not escape and their application is rejected, they are expelled. Expulsion however is voluntary and data shows that approximately only 50% of expelled migrants actually leave, probably to an other EU-Schengen country, the rest become illegals as well.

Moreover, as the “Mafia Capitale” scandal has shown, a collusion between members of the ruling Democratic Party controlling immigration-related institutions within the Italian state, including refugee centres, NGOs and the organized crime ensures that migrants are employed at the expense of Italian taxpayers and for insignificant hourly rates ensuring massive illegal profits for the racketeers. An infamous quote of a member of organized crime reveals how immigration is now a more profitable business than drug trafficking.

“Do you have any idea how much I make on these immigrants?” Salvatore Buzzi, a mafia affiliate says in a 1,200-page wiretap from early 2013. “Drug trafficking is not as profitable”. “We closed this year with a turnover of 40 million but… our profits all came from the gypsies (Roma people),on the housing emergency and on the immigrants,” Buzzi said. That was in 2013, when 20.000 immigrants arrived in Italy. In 2016, 180.000 immigrants arrived in Italy.

Corrupt politicians like Giuseppe Castiglione (NCD, partner of the ruling Democratic party), working for the Home Office, with the official mission of ”favouring the integration of those in need of international protection” in reality work to ensure profiteering from the crisis.

Illegal activities range from all levels; starting with the assignation of the construction of refugee centers to Democrat-related cooperatives in exchange for bribes; asylum seekers and illegals are then transferred to the Italian countryside and employed in the agricultural sector for an hourly rate between 1 and 3 euro.

When it comes to women, immigrants themselves organize prostitution rings within the refugee centers or sell them to work in the Italian streets.

Immigration, a tale of willingly lax enforcement of rule of law, smuggling, dishonesty, slavery and destroying Europe.