America Must Learn the Lesson from Europe's Open Border Policy that Has Decimated It Politically and Socially

I WILL NOT ALLOW AMERICA TO TURN INTO A REFUGEE HOLDING CENTER. That is today's news all over the world. President Trump was speaking at a meeting of the National Space Council at the White House Monday when he addressed the ongoing illegal alien crisis on the southern border with Mexico and vowed the United States will never become Europe : "The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. It won't be. If you look at what's happening in Europe, if you look at what's happening in other places, we can't allow that to happen to the United States -- not on my watch. For the rest of the world, you look at everything that's taking place -- pick up your newspapers this morning and you see. We want safety and we want security for our country." • • • THE FACTS. Facts have little weight when the hysteria reaches the fever peak it at at right now. But, facts matter. President Trump placed the blame squarely on Democrats : "Immigration is the fault, and all of the problems that we're having -- because we cannot get them to sign legislation. We cannot get them even to the negotiating table. And I say it's, very strongly, the Democrats' fault. They're obstructing. They're really obstructionists. And they are obstructing. If the Democrats would sit down instead of obstructing, we could have something done very quickly -- good for the children, good for country, good for the world. It could take place quickly. We could have an immigration bill.....child separation -- we're stuck with these horrible laws. They're horrible laws. What's happening is so sad -- is so sad. And it can be taken care of quickly, beautifully, and we'll have safety." • The House is set to vote on two immigration bills this week. The White House supports both of them. An effort by a group of Republicans to pass immigration reform before the November midterms is part of the congressional activity. Trump is pressuring Democrats to negotiate with Republicans on an immigration bill that addresses family separations. The legislation, crafted as a compromise between moderate and conservative Republicans, would make it easier for children to be detained and harder for families to claim asylum. The bill also includes longstanding demands from the White House, including funding for a wall along the southern border and restrictions on legal immigration in exchange for legal protections for young DACA undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers. • Kellyanne Conway, a top advisor to President Trump, said in media appearances last weekend : “Nobody likes” breaking up families and “seeing babies ripped from their mothers’ arms.” Conway denied Trump was using the policy as leverage to force Democrats into negotiating immigration reform that also includes one of the President’s key campaign promises -- the border wall. Speculation about an elaborate strategy was fueled after Trump tweeted Saturday a call for Congress to work on a new immigration bill : "Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change!” In May, the President tweeted : "Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from their parents once they cross the Border into the US" Last weekend, Conway echoed the President, saying Democrats should begin working to get "real immigration reform" passed. She didn't reveal if Trump was willing to stop the family separation policy, saying only that "the President is ready to get meaningful immigration reform across the board." • The administration faces heavy criticism for enforcing the law, which has led to more than 2,000 children being separated from families who tried to enter the US illegally in just the six weeks since US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the zero-tolerance approach, promising a crackdown on people who illegally cross the border and those who prey upon them as human smugglers. AG Sessions states the DOJ zero tolerance policy clearly : “If you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you -- it’s that simple. If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, we will prosecute you.” • cnsnews.com reported on Monday that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told reporters at a White House press briefing that past administrations "absolutely’ separated illegal immigrant families." When NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker claimed separation of families at the border didn’t occur until Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the zero-tolerance policy, Neilsen said the administrations of Barack Obama administration and George W. Bush both separated families at the border. Here is their exchange : "NIELSEN: That's actually not true. So the last administration -- WELKER: Well, we've never seen this under previous administrations. NIELSEN: -- the Obama administration, the Bush administration all separated families at the -- WELKER: We didn't see kids separated from their parents. NIELSEN: They absolutely did. They did -- their rate was less than ours, but they absolutely did do this. This is not new. WELKER: There were unaccompanied minors, there's no doubt about that, But this -- NIELSEN: They separated families. WELKER: -- separating kids at this rate from their parents is something new and specific to this administration once the Attorney General announced the zero-tolerance policy. So why doesn't the President pick up the phone and change the policy? He said he hates it. NIELSEN: I think what the President is trying to do is find a long-term fix....Congress could fix this tomorrow." • Neilsen pointed out that if people are seekig asylum, there is no need to enter the US illegally. That should go to the border port of entry facility and make their declaration and wait in a special facility until the US decides their case. Nielsen slammed the media on Sunday, tweeting : "We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period. This misreporting by members [of Congress], press & advocacy groups must stop. It is irresponsible and unproductive. As I have said many times before, if you are seeking asylum for your family, there is no reason to break the law and illegally cross between ports of entry." • • • THE FIRST LADIES CHIME IN. Of course, except for Melania Trump, the First Ladies are Laura Bush and Michelle Obama -- both are #NeverTrumpes who voted for Hillary, the other First Lady. But, they got their air time. Laura Bush, wife of former President George W. Bush, who deemed the policy "cruel" and "immoral," said in an Op Ed for the Washington Post (where else?) : "I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart. Our government should not be in the business of warehousing children in converted box stores or making plans to place them in tent cities in the desert outside of El Paso. These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in US history." Michelle Obama retweeted the op-ed, adding : “Sometimes truth transcends party.” And at an event in New York, Hillary Clinton called Trump’s assertion that family separation is mandated by law an “outright lie. We are a better country than one that tears families apart, turns a blind eye to women fleeing domestic violence and treats frightened children as a negotiating tool...on funding for his border wall and tighter immigration restrictions, in exchange for protections for young undocumented migrants known as Dreamers." • First Ladies, like everyone else in America, have the right to speak their minds. But, just to correct Mrs. Bush -- the Japanese internment was of legal US residents and citizens. It was an effort to prevent domestic attacks after Pearl Harbor by Japanese who lived in the US but might have had their first loyalty to the Japanese Emperor who was considered a god. It was a shortsighted and ultimately unnecessary act. But, it has nothing in common with the illegal immigrant influx the US is facing at its southern borders today. • Melania Trump got it right. The First Lady's spokeswoman asid Melania Trump believes "we need to be a country that follows all laws," but also one "that governs with heart. Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform," the spokeswoman added. • One more fact -- Approximately 2,000 children have been separated from their parents in the past six weeks. They are separated from their parents who are illegal immigrants and are jailed upon capture. Children cannot be jailed so they are housed in care centers -- not cages. After hte illegal immigrant parents are docketed and given a date for a deportation hearing, they are freed under the current law passed under Obama that is called "catch and release." Then, they can be reunited with their children, unless relatives have already taken the children out of the care center. • DO HILLARY AND MICHELLE CARE TO TALK ABOUT STASH HOUSES? Breitbart reported on Sunday that : "Immigration agents teamed up with Border Patrol agents and Eagle Pass Police Department officer to remove 47 illegal immigrants from a stash house located near the Mexican border. The raid also resulted in the arrest of three US citizens on charges of human smuggling. Special agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) raided a suspected human smuggling stash house....after receiving a tip about the suspected smuggling operation, according to information obtained by Breitbart Texas from ICE officials. During the initial operation targeting the suspected human smuggling stash house, agents arrested 35 illegal aliens from Columbia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua, officials stated....A subsequent investigation discovered that 12 additional illegal immigrants from this stash house had been picked up earlier in the day by Border Patrol agents." • What Hillary and Michelle undoubtedly do not want to talk about is the human misery these illegal immigrants endure. Breitbart said : "Public awareness of the dangers faced by migrants who are warehoused in these stash houses appears to be leading to the shutting down of an increasing number of stash houses all along the Rio Grande River border area, Border Patrol officials previously told Breitbart Texas. Breitbart Texas has been reporting extensively on the number of human smuggling stash houses and the abuses of the migrants being stored like cargo. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has promised a crackdown on people who illegally cross the border and those who prey upon them as human smugglers." • • • THE DACA AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT VIOLENT CRIME PROBLEM CONTINUES. Townhall's Matt Vespa reported on Monday that : "Well, we’re back to this issue again : Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA drama is back. The constitutionally questionable program initiated by the Obama White House is the reason immigration became a primary action item. The Trump administration announced last year that they were going to wind down the program, citing White House lawyers’ inability to defend the shaky law. Also, the White House was facing a lawsuit from a group of GOP state attorneys general if they allowed DACA to continue. A six-month enforcement delay was instituted, affording Congress enough time to pass a DACA fix. There was only one problem : The Democratic Party. They’re not going to play ball with the GOP on much, especially with their base in resistance mode. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean DACA just goes away. So, before we get into how many violent criminal illegals were granted protections, let’s break down this program (via LA Times) : On June 15, 2012, the Obama administration implemented DACA. Under the program, people who came to the United States as children and met several key guidelines would not face deportation for two years, and could then apply to renew their status as a DACA recipient. Immigrants who were approved would also be eligible for work authorization. Nearly 800,000 DACA recipients have received approval to go to school and work legally in the United States....When DACA became a reality in 2012, it gave a specific group of people protections against deportation. To receive those protections an individual had to have come to the United States prior to turning 16, but be younger than 31 years old. The individual also had to be in or have completed school, and could not have a criminal record. It also requires the applicant to provide sensitive information, including evidence that they’re here illegally, in order to obtain DACA protections. This is why the immigration activist wing of America is edgy; the government knows where all these people are mostly. Right now, as both sides debate [amnesty]...with the two bills being voted on this week, let’s not forget that not every single one of these DACA recipients is an angel. There are some bad people who have obtained protections -- and it’s not just misdemeanor antics. We’re talking assault, rape, DUIs, and even a couple cases of child pornography. All of these people were granted DACA protections, despite prior arrests. All told, over 53,792 illegal aliens were granted protections despite some serious run-ins with law enforcement. The figures about these applicants who enrolled into the DACA program this morning are from the years 2012-2018. When you just account for the worst of the worst, like assault, battery, weapons-related, rape, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, murder, and other forms of sexual abuse (including statutory rape), that figure is still unacceptably high at 5,861. Yeah, some illegal aliens arrested for murder were granted protections. If that’s not insanity, or signs of a very, very bad immigration policy, I don’t know what to tell you, folks." Vespa goes on to say : "There have been stories of DACA recipients losing protections due to criminal activity. Yet, the tricky thing here is that arrests alone don’t bar someone from being enrolled in the program, only convictions. Yet, you’d think that someone arrested for murder, child porn, assault, battery, or rape wouldn’t get green lit by the system. Apparently, even on those vicious crimes, it’s possible for illegals to be shielded from deportation." Vespa makes it clear that it is the Democrats in Congress who are preventing reaching a decision about DACA : "Right now, every House Democrat, including a sizable portion of moderate Republicans, are starting this discharge petition business that would have allowed them to vote on immigration without going through the GOP leadership. It would have required 218 signatories. They were a few shy, which led to this deal this week, allowing votes to be held on two bills that don’t have much of a shot of passing. Oh, and did I mention that they’re both pretty much awful pieces of legislation, though the Trump White House has said they back both bills. Now, in the meantime, a secondary legal protocol has been set in effect, as the Trump administration filed a legal challenge against DACA in Texas, stating DACA violates the enforcement of federal immigration law, according to NBC News. The motion was filed last Friday. If a Texas federal judge rules in favor of the Trump White House, it would be in conflict with two other lower court rulings, prompting a quick motion for argument before the Supreme Court, as the federal government would argue it would be violating the law no matter what it did, according to the news organization. The Trump White House would ask for a hold on the lower court ruling, allowing the administration to end DACA immediately. Let’s see what happens." • • • WHY DOES TRUMP SAY AMERICA WILL NEVER BECOME EUROPE? In 8 words -- because Europe is a total illegal immigrant mess. • The Leftist Guardian put a "displaced people" shine on it on Tuesday : "Terrible human consequences’ -- A record 16.2 million people were forced to flee their homes in 2017, according to the UN refugee agency. Syria topped the list followed by Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia. Around the world there are 68.5 million displaced people -- more than the total population of the UK. The actor and refugee ambassador Angelina Jolie has warned that UNHCR activities in Syria are seriously underfunded, leaving women, children and families in desperate need. The UN general assembly is due later this year to consider for adoption a new 'global compact' on responding to refugee crises. Tomorrow is World Refugee Day." What the Guardian fails to point out is that on any given day in Paris or Rome, it can feel like the entire 68.5 million are there. • The Guardian noted that : "Trump ignored a intensifying chorus of condemnation of a zero-tolerance enforcement policy that has resulted in the separation of nearly 2,000 children from their parents in just six weeks. The separation tactic has drawn bipartisan backlash from prominent members of Congress, human rights advocates and religious leaders who have called the tactic cruel and inhumane." Which would you call "cruel and inhumane -- 2,000 children fed, clothed and sleeping in beds, or millions on the streets of European cities. • In speeches at a conference in New Orleans on Monday, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions stood by the enforcement policy. Neilsen said : "We will not apologize for the job we do, or for the job law enforcement does, for doing the job that the American people expect us to do. Illegal actions have and must have consequences. No more free passes, no more get-out-of-jail-free cards.” AG Sessions Sessions blamed past administrations for carving out exceptions for migrant families that crossed the border illegally, paving the way for the current crisis : “Word got out about this loophole with predictable results. The number of aliens illegally crossing with children between our ports of entry went from 14,000 to 75,000 -- that’s a five-fold increase -- in just the last four years.” He added the White House does not “want” to separate children from their parents and that the US is “dedicated to caring for those children. If we build the wall, if we pass legislation to end the lawlessness, we won’t face these terrible choices,” he said, urging Congress to act. “We will have a system where those who need to apply for asylum can do so and those who want to come to this country will apply to enter lawfully." • • • GERMANY. The Guardian called President Trump's attack on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's govenrment "unprecedented." The Guardian wrote : "Trump tweeted on Monday : 'the people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition.'....During the US presidential campaign, Trump called Merkel’s decision to keep open the country’s borders to Syrian refugees in the summer of 2015 insane.' In his latest tweet, Trump said 'crime in Germany is way up....Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!' ” • But, the Guardian does acknowledge that : "The US President’s tweets come just as Merkel has managed to buy time in a tense standoff with her interior minister over new immigration curbs. She faces a two-week deadline to find a European solution or risk the collapse of her governing coalition....On Monday, Horst Seehofer, the interior minister from the Bavarian sister party to Merkel’s CDU, reiterated his desire for Germany to start turning away at the border any migrants who had already registered in another EU member state. But Seehofer conceded that no such curbs would come into effect until after the European council summit on 28 and 29 June, with the two parties due to reconvene on 1 July. Merkel said that such migrants could only be turned away at the border with the agreement of the relevant EU states. Speaking in Berlin on Monday afternoon, Merkel said: 'CDU and CSU have joint goal of better regulating migration into our country and considerably reduce the number of people who arrive here, so that a situation like the one we had in the year 2015 cannot and won’t happen again.' But the chancellor insisted that Germany should not make unilateral changes to its migration policy and indicated she would seek bilateral agreements with Italy, Greece and Austria over the coming fortnight. 'In the CDU, we are of the conviction that German and European interests have to be considered together,' Merkel said. The Bavarian party argues that the country will remain a 'pull factor' for those seeking a better life in Europe unless the government sends a clear signal to discourage migrants from applying for asylum in Germany. 'On the way to a European solution, we need national measures,' said CSU delegate Stefan Mayer. Merkel’s supporters say the CSU’s hardline stance has less to do with the current situation on Germany’s borders than October’s state election in Bavaria, where the party faces losing votes to a far-right AfD and could fall short of an absolute majority. Seehofer’s critics argue that the urgent rhetoric of his 63-point migration 'master plan' does not take into account the fact that Merkel’s government has already gradually tightened the criteria and conditions for asylum applicants in Germany since the height of the 2015 refugee crisis and that the numbers of applications have dropped as a result. Merkel confirmed that Germany had struck deals with Italy and Greece so that migrants who have been returned to the country via which they first entered the EU, under the Dublin Regulation, will be barred from re-entering Germany. Seehofer, however, insisted that Germany was still not completely 'in control of the migration issue' and said it was a 'scandal' that migrants who had been issued with an entry ban to Germany could nonetheless reapply for asylum. In her press conference, Merkel warned that a decision to turn away migrants at German borders could have 'negative domino effects that would also harm Germany.' Some migration observers fear Germany 'going alone' with migrant curbs could inspire other states in Europe to simply not register asylum seekers and wave them through to Germany instead. • • • ITALY. Media outlet France24 reported last week that : "Italy's refusal to offer safe harbour to a rescue ship carrying hundreds of migrants has cast a harsh spotlight on the new populist government's hardened stance on immigration. A total of 629 migrants were left stranded at sea after both Italy and Malta refused to take them in, prompting alarm among European leaders. Spain has now offered to allow the ship to dock at Valencia. Italy's new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has called for 'obligatory' redistribution of asylum seekers around the European Union, and his coalition government has pledged to both curb migrant arrivals and speed up expulsions of illegal immigrants." • The ship has since docked in Valencia, Spain, and the 629 illegal immigrants are being cared for. The fear is that there will now be a new sea route opening from Libya and Africa to Spain instead of Sicily. But, Spain's minister of public works, Miguel Angel Abalos, said on Saturday that the migrants from the Aquarius would be granted a "special authorization" to remain in the country for one month before "they will be dealt with according to our laws without exception." Abalos said the Spanish government "will act with sensitivity and at the same time within the law, and with a message to Europe that it doesn't have an immigration policy up to the challenge at hand." • France24 gives figures about foreign nationals living in Italy, both legal and illegal : "There are five million foreign nationals legally residing in Italy, according to figures from national statistics institute Istat, which is equivalent to around 8.3% of Italy's population of 60.5 million....But focus is largely on the 690,000 migrants who have arrived by boat since 2013, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa. While some have papers, others don't -- and most are still in the country. Migration study foundation ISMU estimates there are some 500,000 people living in Italy illegally -- equivalent to 0.9% of the population, among them failed asylum seekers and those who have outstayed their visas. Figures from the International Organization for Migration show that around 120,000 immigrants arrived in Italy by sea in 2017, with the government putting the cost of taking them in at 4.2 billion Euros ($5.2 billion). Two-thirds of that figure was spent on caring for asylum seekers, while 18% went on sea rescue and 13% on medical assistance. In 2013, there were 22,000 people in asylum centres. By January, that number stood at 182,000. New hardline interior minister Matteo Salvini who heads the far-right League party has said Italy 'cannot be Europe's refugee camp,' vowing to halt the influx of arrivals and expel hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. And when the government was sworn in last week, Conte pledged to seek an overhaul of the so-called Dublin rules, under which would-be asylum seekers must submit applications in their country of arrival -- a huge issue for Italy. But any change in the numbers coming from North Africa will depend largely on stabilization efforts in Libya, and the sustainability of a controversial deal between Rome and the authorities and militias there which has slashed arrivals. Following the deal, which was signed last summer, the number of migrants reaching Italian shores in the first five months of this year to June 8 stood at 13,808 - down 84% on the same period a year earlier, interior ministry figures show. There was also a 12% increase in expulsions last year, with ministry figures showing the number hit 6,514, up from 5,817 in 2016. • • • FRANCE. theconversation.com reported on April 26 that : "On April 23, the French National Assembly passed the first reading of a controversial new asylum and immigration bill. For seven days, French MPs acrimoniously debated the proposed new law, demonstrating how far the current political concern with immigration all over Europe has turned into a debate about the soul of political parties. The bill will now have to be approved by the French senate. In the current parliament, where President Emmanuel Macron’s La République en marche (LRM) holds a total majority, passing new laws is usually a matter of procedure. Yet the bill caused a commotion as many of the new centrist MPs objected to some of its more repressive measures and sought to alter them. The long debate reflected the determination of parties from across the political spectrum to define themselves through their attitude to immigration. The bill demonstrated an ambition to address all issues relevant to immigration, mixing categories of general immigration, asylum and integration. Yet in reality, it mainly addressed illegal immigration and asylum procedures. This reflects the current rise in asylum seekers who wish to be recognized as refugees in France. The government presented it as 'centrist' in two ways. On the one hand, its overall repressive character, with a focus on shortening delays in the processing of asylum requests, was justified through the logic of technocratic efficiency....Simultaneously, the government presented the law as a compromise that contained a mixed bag of measures for both the left and right to support and oppose....The debate about the law in the National Assembly reflected a wider shift to the right of discourse about immigration in France, and unison between the right and the far right....As a result, the bill, which corresponds to traditional right-wing policy with its general hardening of immigration applications, appeared as a moderate, grownup compromise....to not blindly follow voters’ desires for reassurances by reducing the number of newcomers, but to create a system that takes the word “asylum” seriously and treats immigrants as human beings with complex, human motives. • There is a rising concern in Europe about the anti-Semitism resulting from mass Moslem immigration. More than 250 French public figures --- elected officials from all sides of the political aisle, representatives of different religions, intellectuals and artists -- signed a manifesto against "the new anti-Semitism" brought to France by mass immigration from the Moslem world. The manifesto, published by Le Parisien, sounded the alarm against a "low-level ethnic cleansing" of Jews in Paris and demanded that the verses of the Koran which call for the killing and punishment of Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims "be obsoleted" by theological authorities. In a counter-manifesto published by Le Monde, a group of 30 French imams insisted that Islam is not anti-Semitic. • French President Emmanuel Macron is calling for a revamp of the EU’s system for sharing the burden of asylum seekers. Three years after droves of people fleeing wars and chaos in the Middle East and North Africa threatened to overwhelm the EU, the immigration crisis threatens to throw European politics into disarray once more. While the number of people arriving in Europe this time round is just a fraction of what it was in 2015, right wing politicians in Italy, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Germany are tapping into voters’ resurgent anger. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Tuesday that the bloc needs to find a humane way to deal with immigrants that also offers protection to citizens : "We can’t make this a choice between humanity and security,” Grande-Marlaska said in an interview with Spain’s state broadcaster TVE on Tuesday. “Security and humanity together must be completely viable.” Merkel met with Macron in Berlin on Tuesday to prepare for next week’s EU summit with the stakes rising. In a concession to hardliners, the EU is also set to back “regional disembarkation platforms” to help deal with the migration influx in the Mediterranean, according to draft conclusions prepared for the summit. Bloomberg reports that the draft states : "Such platforms should provide for rapid processing to distinguish between economic migrants and those in need of international protection, and reduce the incentive to embark on perilous journeys." • On April 15, President Macron, in a two-and-a-half-hour television interview, said that radical Islam "is one of the greatest challenges facing our nation" and must be confronted by means of "a work of reconquest." He warned French citizens against "Islamophobia," which he claimed feeds on misconceptions about Islam: "Radical Islam is not Islam." Critics might disagree. Macron also said that Europe is facing an "unprecedented migration phenomenon that will last." Due to migration and demographics, he said, "Europe's destiny is tied to that of Africa." • On April 21, about 100 activists with the anti-immigration Generation Identity (GI) movement erected a "symbolic border" at Col de l'Échelle near the French border with Italy. The Alpine pass is a "strategic point of passage" for illegal migrants entering from Italy, according to GI spokesman Romain Espino. He criticized what he called "the lack of courage" by public authorities. "With a little bit of will, we can control immigration and borders," he said. Despite snow and freezing temperatures, more than 2,000 migrants are believed to have crossed into France at Col de l'Échelle since the beginning of 2018. • On April 30, members of the Communist Party and other far left groups in the Paris City Council introduced a proposal to establish a massive migrant shelter at Paris's iconic Bois de Boulogne park, which is situated in the city's upscale sixteenth arrondissement. The proposal is aimed at achieving a "territorial rebalancing" so that migrants are distributed across all parts of Paris. "Everyone must participate in the effort," said Jean-Noël Aqua, a Communist city councilor. "Solidarity is to be shown by all districts of Paris." • In early June, in the French government's latest attempt to deal with the illegal migrant influx, riot police helped to clear the Millénaire camp in northeastern Paris of many of its 1,600 inhabitants.The migrants, mostly from Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, were put on buses and taken to temporary housing and gymnasiums in the Paris region. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said 1,000 migrants had been moved. A spokesman for the greater Ile-de-France region said similar operations at smaller camps around Paris would take place as soon as possible. Europe has faced a refugee and migrant crisis since 2015, after years of conflict in the Middle East, with more than a million people from Africa and the Middle East arriving on the continent. And, in France, much of the migrant influx ended up in the northern port of Calais, where a giant slum was cleared in late 2016. Most of the rest have gathered in Paris and the southeast near the Franco-Italian border. Officials and NGOs say 2,700 illegal migrants live in the Paris area. They said the migrants would be allowed to file asylum requests. An NGO worker said: "A lot of these migrants believe they will end up being welcomed here, in France. We try to inform them on the realities they face, because if they have left their fingerprints in another country, they will be expelled." Under European law, asylum-seekers must remain in the first European country they enter. They often have to register with their fingerprints when they arrive. Mr Macron's government has said it wants to be both firm and fair on immigration. But it has taken a tougher stance lately, with parliament approving a bill that tightens asylum rules. • • • DEAR READERS, while it seems cruel to separate children from their parents, the truth is that the way to prevent separation is not to enter the US illegally. President Trump is right to point out the enormous problem in Europe. In 2015, when Merkel opened Europe's borders to the refugees coming from Syria and Iraq, it led to hundreds of thousands of "economic" illegal immigrants heading for Europe from all over the Middle East and Africa. The arrival of the Aquarius convoy in Valencia is just the latest in a spike of seaborne migrants crossing from African shores to southern Spain. Spain's maritime rescue service pulled 986 people from 69 small boats its rescue craft reached in waters in or near the Strait of Gibraltar between Friday and Saturday. Through the first five months of 2018, a total of 35,455 migrants reached Europe by voat, with 11,792 of them arriving in Spain. • It is easy to say that this cannot happen in the US. But, unless America gets its border control and immigration policies and laws in order, what is to prevent boatloads of illegal immigrants from arriving at the ports in Brownsville or San Diego or New Orleans or Miami? Europe never expected its crisis stage of illegal immigration. But, it happened. And, it can happen in the United States.