HUNGARY - New 'Iron Curtain'

"Why Hungary is building a new ‘Iron Curtain’" PBS NewsHour 8/4/2015

Man's comment is an example of the consequences of NOT having religious freedom.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In Hungary, government leaders say they can't cope with the flood of migrants entering their country:  80,000 so far this year.  So the government is racing to complete a 110 mile-long fence -- what opponents are calling a “new Iron Curtain” -- along its border with Serbia.  Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports.

MALCOLM BRABANT (NewsHour):  This family is more than 3,000 miles away from home in Congo.  After months on the road, they have just slipped across the frontier from Serbia and have been stopped by the Hungarian police.

The adults don’t want to be filmed, for fear of jeopardizing their chances of reaching France another thousand miles away.  In this porous border region, the country lane is teeming with migrants on a relentless march to Northern Europe.

You’re in Hungary.

MAN:  No, you are in Hungary.

MALCOLM BRABANT:  You are in Hungary.

Where have you come from?

MAN:  I’m from Serbia.  OK.  Enough.

MALCOLM BRABANT:  Nearby, a member of a right-wing vigilante group which claims to protect a local village stands guard over a group of Pakistanis who also just entered Hungary.  Some fled for economic reasons, others because of persecution.

MAN:  I wanted to marry some girl.  The Muslim religion, we don’t have permission for it, so they kill her.  So they don’t — they want to kill me, and now I’m running.  Even my family want to kill me, my relatives, everybody, because we cross a religion.  So, this is me running from there.

MALCOLM BRABANT:  The migrants fear a repeat of violence they say was inflicted by police in Bulgaria.

MAN:  They hit us here and here, here.  And they take all money, SIM cards, mobile. Everything, they take from us.

MALCOLM BRABANT:  But the vigilante lets them go.  The authorities estimate as many as 2,000 people are crossing illegally into Hungary every day.  Although most have no intention of remaining in the country, their sheer numbers intimidate some on isolated farms.

BORDER CRISIS - Can Central America Stem Migration to U.S.

"Can political leadership in Central America reverse conditions fueling migration?" PBS NewsHour 7/25/2014

Excerpt

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  We turn now to the crisis at the U.S. border, and what’s driving the wave of migrant children to make the dangerous journey.

As we saw from President Obama’s meeting today with the leaders of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, many of the factors at play stem from violence and instability in those countries.

To help us better understand the situation in Central America, Anita Isaacs is a professor at Haverford College.  She studies U.S.-Latin America relations and regional politics.  She also recently returned from Guatemala as part of a State Department study on civil society.

So, I want to ask, even with these kind of lofty aspirations that the president laid out today, what’s the likelihood that the underlying conditions in these countries changes?

ANITA ISAACS, Rutherford College:  Yes, I mean, I think that’s a great question.

And I think that, you know, the leaders, the president — the Central American leaders came to the United States to request a compassionate response from President Obama and the U.S. Congress and the U.S. people.

And I think that, to some extent, you know, amid the sea of anti-immigrant diatribe, we have seen some compassionate responses from — both from some members of Congress, Representative Engel in particular, and from sectors of U.S. society.

I think the real challenge now is whether we are going to see the same compassionate response in Central American countries, where the conditions that are — that fuel migration speak to tremendous inequalities, tremendous poverty and tremendous violence.

CALIFORNIA - Border Crossing Makeover

Home-town news via Kentucky....

"Busy US-Mexico border crossing gets makeover" by ELLIOT SPAGAT (AP), Kentucky.com 11/1/2012

A rerouting of tens of thousands of vehicles a day begins Thursday at the busiest crossing on the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a major expansion that aims to keep lines manageable while allowing for heightened inspections for contraband.

The reconfigured San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, promises to give inspectors from both countries more time and space to search for illegal goods without disrupting motorists who go back and forth across the border to work, visit family and friends and shop.

A week of trial runs eased fears that a sharp turn will create big delays for Mexico-bound motorists.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who drove through an inspection booth Wednesday night, said travelers can expect a smooth trip.

Mexican authorities say they allowed up to 21,600 vehicles a day to take the new route during trials that began Oct. 24, with waits of only 10 minutes during peak travel times. Up to 100 vehicles moved through 22 inspection lanes every minute, far more than the eight inspection lanes at the old crossing.

"It looks like we avoided the border's Carmageddon," said Kenn Morris, president of Crossborder Group Inc., a consulting firm that has been studying border wait times. He was referring to Los Angeles freeway closures that raised concerns of epic traffic jams.

Calderon, who finishes his six-year term Dec. 1, assured an audience that the expansion, which cost his government equivalent of $76.4 million, will alleviate delays.

The new Mexico-bound lanes come as the U.S. government is in the middle of its own $583 million expansion of the San Ysidro border crossing, which includes plans for a soft curve on Interstate 5 in California leading into Tijuana.

Instead of waiting for the U.S. government to finish realigning its freeway, Mexico decided to introduce a sharp right turn for motorists entering Tijuana. Motorists drive along the border for about 300 yards to reach inspection booths.

"This time we finished a lot earlier than they did," Calderon said.

About 35,000 motorists go back and forth across the border at San Ysidro every day. U.S.-bound motorists grew accustomed to waiting two hours or more after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon led to more thorough inspections. Mexico-bound motorists wait much less, though both governments have stepped up efforts in recent years to search for smuggled weapons and cash.

The big test for the new lanes will come Friday afternoons, when motorists wait up to 45 minutes to enter Mexico, said Jason Wells, executive director of the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce.

Wells believes the Mexican government won't accept long delays. Some speculate that it will reopen the old route if the plan flops.

"Even if this doesn't work on day one, there's enough pressure on both sides of the border that they'll make it work," he said.

AMERICA - On the Border, Juarez

"Juarez: 'The Most Lethal Place on Earth'"
PBS Newshour 2/16/2011

POLITICS - Congress Pulls Off It's Usual Slight-of-Hand

UseNet: On Sat, 30 Sep 2006 08:08:57, in sdnet.politics "Brian David Smith" wrote:

Congress votes NO on 700-mile border fence.

Agreed, late Friday Congress approved the construction of 700 miles of fence along the U.S.- Mexico border.

HOWEVER, they did NOT fund the fence. They only voted for a down payment, but nothing near fully funding the fence.

Bottom line, until the money is on the barrel, there is NO fence.

Once again, the do-nothing Congress has let the American public down.

There is NO fence. There is no money for the fence. All this approval did was made it look as if Congress had actually done something about the border problem.

NOT SO !

No funding effectively says NO.. Until all the money is there, Congress votes NO on the fence, and NO on border control. Once again Congress sucked up to big business that wants the cheap illegal alien labor.

The vote Friday is a political deception perpetrated by Congress.

It is a FAKE !!

The actual issue here is not the border fence itself, it is about Congress voting to have the fence (look voters we are doing something about our boarders) on one day and loudly advertising it, but voting NOT to fully fund it.

Of course this could not possibly have anything to do with mid-term elections coming up. Na (sarcasm off)