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The number of people seeking international protection in Ireland in the first three months of this year has risen by more than 2,000 compared to the same time last year. Figures from the Department of Justice show 5,163 people applied for international protection up to 28 March. This represents a rise of 2,170, or 72%, from the same period of time last year when 2,993 applications were made by 28 March 2023. More than one third of those who have applied for international protection so far this year are from Nigeria (1,668) while 416 are from Bangladesh, 400 from Pakistan,...

Focus Ireland is hoping to help thousands of homeless people to register to vote ahead of the local and European elections in June. Focus Ireland’s director of advocacy, Mike Allen, said that there are around 9,500 homeless adults in Ireland and many of them would not be registered to vote. The charity is now hoping to change that as voting registration was simplified after the Electoral Reform Act was passed in 2022. More than 50,000 Irish people have spent at least one night of their lives homeless, according to figures published by Focus Ireland. …

Chief Executive of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association has described an increase in thefts last year — driven mainly by robberies from shops — as “frightening”. Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Vincent Jennings said it is not just just the thefts that are concerning, but the associated incidents — such as assaults, assaults causing harm, drunkenness, misogynistic and hateful comments being made to staff and public order offenses. Annual crime figures released by the Central Statistics Office show there was a significant increase in theft offenses last year. Almost half of the more than 74,000 thefts and related...

A Swedish MP who advocated for open borders during the 2015 refugee crisis said she has completely changed her mind and now wants to see a significant number of deportations. Louise Meijer, a lawmaker with the now-governing Moderate Party, previously “took a stand for openness” and supported the ‘Refugees Welcome’ mantra, but now wants to pull up the drawbridge completely. “But I have changed my mind on the matter,” she told Expressen, adding she now supports “an even stricter migration policy than the one I opposed at the time.” “The change that Sweden has undergone and is undergoing is fundamentally...

The Government is considering whether to charter flights in order to remove those who have failed in their asylum applications. The Office of Government Procurement has posted a tender on the eTenders website seeking information on the potential availability of such services. It is not yet at the stage of issuing a tender. Charter flights have been used in the past to deport failed asylum applicants, but have not been used in recent years. It comes as Algeria and Botswana are to be added to Ireland’s list of “safe countries”, under a plan brought to the Cabinet by the Minister...

Since opening the gates to unfettered mass migration in 2015, at least 7,000 women have been raped or sexually assaulted in Germany by alleged asylum-seeking illegal migrants, an analysis of government figures has found. A report from the Swiss-German paper of record, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, claimed that statistics from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) show that more than one thousand women — mostly Germans — have been sexually assaulted by migrants seeking refuge every year since 2017.

A 30-year-old man has appeared before Dublin District Court charged in connection with a stabbing yesterday. The assault happened at the north end of Grafton Street, close to the junction with Wicklow Street, in Dublin city center at around 9 am. A man in his 30s suffered multiple stab wounds and was taken to St James’ Hospital for treatment. […] Mr. (Mohamed) Akrouf, who is originally from Algeria and moved to Ireland last November, is charged with assault causing harm and possession of a knife. …

A Berlin housing association is scheduled to complete its latest block of social housing apartment buildings in the German capital next spring, but they are currently reserved exclusively for use by asylum seekers, it has emerged. The 128-apartment complex on Askanierring in the Spandau borough is expected to be opened by the Wohnungsbaugesellschaft Berlin-Mitte (WBM) housing association in May 2024, but will first serve around 570 refugees expected to move in indefinitely before it is available for Berliners currently on the social housing waiting list. WBM Managing Director Dormeyer recently praised the project as “contributing to the integration of refugees”...

More than 500 people are likely to be accepted under the Government’s Afghan Admission program, established in response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power there almost two years ago. Originally, places on the scheme were limited to 500; however, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice has said that “the number of places to be provided under the program is likely to exceed that number”. As of 27 July this year, 178 applications had been approved, representing 479 beneficiaries. This represents a third of all applications submitted.In total, 528 Afghan citizens living in Ireland...

Hundreds of people have marched at a rally in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, in support of asylum seekers. The rally follows a series of protests directed against people seeking asylum being accommodated in Dún Laoghaire and Ballybrack in Dublin. It was organized by a newly established group, Dún Laoghaire Welcomes, and was supported by trade unions, the IADT students’ union, community groups and political parties.Musicians and singers were also in attendance, including Christy Moore. …

There have been confrontations between anti-immigration protesters and gardaí after protesters marched to the International Protection Office on Mount Street in Dublin city centre. Since March, a growing number of tents have been pitched outside the office and in surrounding streets. The protesters shouted at asylum seekers, telling them they were not welcome; and there were also confrontations with gardaí as some pursued a man they objected to. A number of garda units, including one Public Order unit, attended the scene. No arrests were made. “All persons present later dispersed from the scene,” An Garda Síochána said in a statement....

The Taoiseach has said he is extremely concerned about the rise of the far-right in this country, adding that anti-refugee protests are “not the Irish way”. Leo Varadkar said scenes witnessed at a number of protests in recent days and weeks are not acceptable, but admitted that robust systems must be put in place to ensure people who arrive here have genuine reasons to seek international protection. “Refugees are welcome here,” he said. Mr. Varadkar confirmed that the refugee crisis and the war in Ukraine were raised during a meeting with European Parliament president Roberta Metsola in Government Buildings. Speaking...

Swedish officials are warning Ukrainian women living in refugee centers not to dress in a way that might provoke men from “other cultures” — code for Muslim migrants, which, in Sweden, is mostly of the Somali variety—who reside in the same refugee center. And how do these hapless Ukrainian refugees dress, to prompt such a warning? According to Gitana Bengtsson, who has been helping them, “they usually dressed like us, you and me. There is nothing strange about it. They did not look like prostitutes. If those women lived in the city, no one would tell them how to dress.”...

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year’s Eve, set afire by young revelers, a much lamented tradition that appeared in decline this year, which saw only 874 vehicles burned. The number of cars burned overnight has declined compared to New Year’s Eve 2019 when 1,316 vehicles went up in flames, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Saturday on Twitter. Fewer arson attacks occurred because of massive police presence on cities’ streets this New Year’s Eve, enforcing law and order and restrictions on public gatherings and wearing face masks as infections driven...

Sen. Josh Hawley revealed this week that President Joe Biden ordered his administration to fill up American evacuation planes from Afghanistan with as many of the country’s citizens as possible, even if they were not vetted. “This email was shared w/ me by an American official present in Afghanistan during the evacuation who was shocked by Administration’s failure to vet Afghans before they were evacuated. Email details orders from Joe Biden to fill up the planes – even without vetting,” said the Missouri Republican. “Total inflow to the U.S. must exceed the number of seats available. Err on the side...

Germany remains the top destination for people seeking protection in Europe, with the number of asylum applications filed in the country already exceeding the 100,000 mark in 2021. Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) said that by the end of September it had received 100,278 initial applications from asylum-seekers. This is 35.2% more than in the same period last year. Most of the asylum-seekers who applied for protection for the first time came from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Of those, 40,472 initial applications came from people from Syria (up 57.1%), and 8,531 from people seeking protection from Iraq...

The FBI has been called in to investigate an alleged assault of a female soldier by a group of Afghan refugees being held at Fort Bliss, Texas. “We can confirm a female service member supporting Operation Allies Welcome reported being assaulted on Sept. 19 by a small group of male evacuees at the Doña Ana Complex in New Mexico said Lt. Col. Allie Payne.” The service member was given medical care and counseling, Payne said, according to KVIA-TV. “We take the allegation seriously and appropriately referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Task Force-Bliss is also implementing additional...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott asked President Biden to issue an emergency declaration for his state due to the increasingly difficult border crisis. In a letter to the president, Abbott specifically pointed to Val Verde County, where Haitian migrants have set up an encampment in Del Rio under the International Bridge. The governor said that as of Saturday there were nearly 16,000 migrants in Del Rio.

Pope Francis urged Hungary on Sunday to “extend its arms towards everyone,” in a veiled critique of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s anti-migrant policies, as the pontiff opened a four-day visit to Central Europe in his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. […] Francis spent just seven hours in Budapest before arriving Sunday afternoon in neighboring Slovakia to start a four-day tour. The lopsided itinerary suggested that Francis wanted to avoid giving Orbán — the type of populist nationalist he frequently criticizes — the political boost that comes with hosting a pope for a proper state visit...

WARSAW, Poland -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday that she found it unacceptable that refugees were being used to apply pressure to Poland and other European Union members on the border with Belarus. Speaking at a news conference during what she said she expected to be her last official visit to Poland as chancellor, Merkel appealed to Belarus...She stressed that she found it “completely unacceptable that such hybrid attacks” were being carried out with the use of people seeking to reach the EU...