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<p>ROME (AFP) - Behind the high fences of the repatriation centre at Ponte Galeria, just down the road from Rome's Fiumicino airport, dozens of women sit outside, waiting for word on whether they will have to leave Italy.</p> <p>But as the government steps up its efforts to send more migrants home, many who pinned their hopes on asylum appeals are growing increasingly worried.</p>

A poll released Thursday suggests that registered voters in Arizona largely reject President Donald Trump’s plan to construct a large wall along the border separating the United States and Mexico. According to the poll, 62 percent of Arizona’s voters do not believe a border wall is necessary. Only 37 percent say a wall is needed. (One percent is undecided.) Among Republican voters in the state, the poll finds, 67 percent deem the border wall necessary and 32 percent deem the wall unnecessary — almost a mirror image of the overall results. In very large numbers, Democrats and independent voters who...

Health officials in Minnesota have been scrambling to contain a measles outbreak that has sickened primarily Somali-American children in the state. So far health officials have identified 34 cases, still mostly in Hennepin County, and they're worried there will be more. In Minnesota, the vast majority of kids under two get vaccinated against measles. But state health officials say most Somali-American 2-year-olds have not had the vaccine — about six out of ten. As the outbreak spreads, that statistic worries health officials, including Michael Osterholm, who directs the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

WASHINGTON -- After the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in March froze the interview process for Afghans who had supported U.S. forces due to a lack of visas, a bipartisan effort secured 2,500 more visas in the compromise spending bill up for consideration this week. The special immigrant visa (SIV) program was established in 2008 to allow Afghans who had helped the coalition as interpreters to find safe haven in the U.S. The visa criteria were later expanded to Afghans who provided "at least one year of faithful and valuable service" in support of U.S. government operations. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.),...

On Monday, International Workers Day, protesters will fill the National Mall and the streets of cities elsewhere to protest what they call the federal government’s “deportation machinery” and to demand civil rights reserved for citizens be bestowed upon illegal immigrants. The May Day protest by illegal aliens goes back to 2006 when “1.5 million people took to the streets across the country to demand immigration reform,” left-wing magazine The Nation reported on Friday. Now, protesters aren’t asking for a pathway to citizenship. “Today, no one, not even immigrants rights advocates, is calling for immigration reform anymore,” Nation contributor Julianne Hing...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans were poised Wednesday to take a big step toward banning "sanctuary cities" in their state, debating a bill through which police chiefs and sheriffs could even be jailed for not cooperating fully with federal immigration authorities. Although Democrats don't have the votes in the Republican-controlled Legislature to stop the bill from going to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who made such a ban a priority, they vowed to fight it at every step, promising hours of emotionally charged debate on Wednesday before the Texas House votes. Under the bill, the state could withhold funding from...

... Although Mexicans still make up the largest group of unauthorized immigrants, numbers from Mexico have been on the decline since the Great Recession began in late 2007. The number of unauthorized immigrants from other countries has been on the rise since the end of the recession, hitting an estimated 5.7 million in 2016. Immigrants from Central America and Asia – largely from India and China — are two of the main drivers of that growth. ...

Barack Obama said that immigrants to the US are being demonised in the same way as Irish people who arrived in America after the Famine. In his first public speech since leaving office, the former US President said the Irish were treated like the “other” in the 19th century just like Muslims are today. Mr Obama drew parallels between the two periods in American history and that in both immigration policy was “‘driven by biases”.

Yes, border fences work. And that is exactly why the political class is so stridently intent on opposing the construction of a full double-layered fence or any effective barrier at the border. The bipartisan open borders cartel is all in favor of discussing sundry forms of “border security,” especially if it will afford them the political cover to pass amnesty. But the one tangible form of border security they will never support, and, in fact, will pull out all stops to prevent, is the completion of the border fence. .. Border fences work … just look at San Diego and...

MS-13, a group that was started by Central American immigrants in Los Angeles in the 1980s, is known for its ruthless and violent tactics. Most of the founding members were from El Salvador and fled to the U.S. during the country’s civil war that lasted 12 years, from 1980-92. Since then the gang’s membership has ballooned to at least 10,000 members in the United States and more than 30,000 worldwide, according to the FBI and Treasury Department. “[MS-13] is one of the most dangerous and rapidly expanding criminal gangs in the world today,” Philip Holloway, a legal analyst and former...

If you’re a violent criminal in Northern California, Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen has your back. Rosen has implemented a new office policy requiring prosecutors to “plead down” violent felony cases that may lead to a criminal being deported.

The UC Davis student senate has made it optional to display the American flag at its meetings, stirring up controversy on campus and conservative blogs. Senate Bill 76 passed Thursday, said Michael Gofman, a student senator who opposed the change. The bill amends bylaws that required the United States flag to be on display at every senate meeting of the Associated Students, University of California, Davis.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Immigrant labor is like bread and butter to the New Mexico economy. Without it, according to economists and business owners, key industries – including oil and gas, agriculture, construction, and hotel and restaurant operations – would face major hurdles to keep the wheels turning. “Without immigrants, our labor force would essentially stop growing, making it very difficult to increase our gross domestic product,” said New Mexico State University economist Jim Peach. “I understand the desire to control our borders but, if you disrupt the ecosystem, there are going to be bad consequences.” “If the Trump administration removes...

WOODBURN -- Cesar Mora's customers disappeared in waves. Every time a rumor spread, his door stopped swinging open. Mora runs Zapateria El Jalicience, a clothing store in downtown Woodburn. Men used to come in every Saturday to buy leather boots and cowboy hats for weekend parties. Then President Donald Trump signed an executive order beefing up immigration enforcement. Federal immigration agents detained 11 men at a Woodburn gas station, leaving workers afraid to go to their jobs and children terrified to attend school. Boots made of ostrich, crocodile and eel hadn't been touched in weeks. Mora's business is down 80...

When advocates of immigration controls suggest that legal immigrants and their children "assimilate" to the United States, they usually mean acquiring a working knowledge of the U. S. Constitution. Unfortunately, it may be easier for these kids to acquire a working knowledge of gang warfare. "There are problems with assimilating to the gang culture," Paul Skerry, a political science professor from Boston College, said at a panel discussion organized by the Center for Immigration Statistics (CIS). "Where we live now is in a great neighborhood with great businesses but we hear the gunshots every night from the gangs," Juan Rangel,...

A North Carolina state representative is calling for the resignation of North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall after he found hundreds of cases of illegal immigrants improperly becoming notaries public. State law requires a notary public to “reside legally in the United States.” Marshall, a Democrat, has commissioned 320 individuals as notaries who are not either legal permanent residents or citizens, according to records provided to North Carolina state Rep. Chris Millis. The legislator received records from the North Carolina secretary of state’s office which showed 250 illegal immigrants who received amnesty have become notaries public. Another 72 other...

HONOLULU – A federal judge in Hawaii is extending his order that blocks President Donald Trump’s travel ban until the state’s lawsuit works its way through the courts. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson issued the written ruling Wednesday after hearing arguments.

Northern Ireland factory halts production after machine became clogged with faeces, though no contaminated drinks reached shelvesCoca-Cola has called in police to investigate how human waste turned up in a consignment of its drink cans at one of the company’s factories in Northern Ireland. The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed on Tuesday it had opened an inquiry into how faeces ended up in the cans at the Helllenic Bottling Company factory in Lisburn, Co Antrim. Coca-Cola suspended night-time processing last week at the plant when machines became clogged. The soft drinks giant said it impounded all the affected cans...

Massachusetts state Rep. Michelle DuBois posted a warning to illegal immigrants on her Facebook page Tuesday about upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that are rumored to be taking place in the area. In the post, DuBois wrote, “ICE raid in Brockton (MA) on 3/28.”

Sociologists in the 1980s found out that when even minor infractions were ignored -- such as the breaking of windows, or vendors walking into the street to hawk wares to motorists in a traffic jam -- misdemeanors then spiraled into felonies as lawbreakers become emboldened. A federal law states that the president can by proclamation "suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate." Yet a federal judge ruled that president Trump cannot do what the law allows in...