The United States secures the release of 135 Nicaraguan political prisoners who are freed to Guatemala

Associated Press

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The United States secures the release of 135 Nicaraguan political prisoners who are freed to Guatemala.

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  • Watch: Hundreds of migrants storm Spanish border from Morocco

    Chaos erupted on Sunday near the fence separating Morocco and Ceuta, a Spanish enclave located on the African nation’s coast, as hundreds of young Moroccan men co-ordinated an attempt to illegally cross the border.

  • Britain won’t turn migrant boats back to France, says immigration minister

    Britain will not adopt the Italian-style tactic of intercepting migrants’ boats in the Channel and turning them back to France, an immigration minister has said.

  • Why Italy can do what Britain cannot with migration

    Just two months after declaring the Rwanda Plan “dead and buried”, Sir Keir Starmer now says he is “interested” in Italy’s migrant deal with Albania.

  • Raids on restaurants, builders and other firms illegally employing migrants in Britain to be 'ramped up'

    More covert operations are also to be launched against crime gangs behind the cross-Channel crossings

  • How has Italy reduced small boat arrivals by more than 60% in a year – and what is the Albania scheme?

    Sir Keir Starmer says he is looking to Italy for answers on how to reduce Channel crossings

  • Channel crossings since Labour came to power top 10,000

    Home Office figures show 65 migrants made the journey in two boats on Monday, taking the provisional total for the year so far to 23,598.

  • Yvette Cooper defends Italy’s migration processing deal with Albania

    The home secretary said the arrangement is not comparable to the previous government’s plans to deport some migrants to Rwanda

  • UK PM Starmer praises Italy's Meloni for reducing illegal migration

    British Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Monday for her efforts in reducing illegal migration, saying his "government of pragmatism" sought new approaches to the hot-button topic.On his first visit to Italy since his centre-left Labour Party's landslide victory in July, Starmer expressed interest in the immigration policies of far-right leader Meloni -- including plans to operate Italian-run migrant centres in Albania -- and stressed the importance of cross-border cooperation. "You've made remarkable progress working with countries along migration routes as equals to address the drivers of migration at the source and to tackle the gangs," Starmer told Meloni during a joint press conference in Rome. "As a result, irregular arrivals to Italy by sea are down 60 percent since 2022," said Starmer, who has vowed to fight illegal migration at home. His visit, in which he toured a national immigration coordination centre with Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, came a day after the latest migrant shipwreck in the Channel claimed eight lives. The latest incident brings to 46 the number of people who have died this year trying to reach British shores. Starmer has rejected the previous Conservative government's plan to expel all undocumented migrants to Rwanda while their asylum claims are examined.As a former chief prosecutor, he said, he saw the value of cross-border collaboration on fighting terrorism. "And I've never accepted... that we can't do the same with smuggling gangs," he said. "And now of course Italy has shown that we can." In Britain, the perilous cross-Channel journeys that migrants attempt from northern France have posed a fiendishly difficult problem for successive governments.On Saturday, about 800 people crossed the Channel -- the second-highest figure since the start of the year, according to the UK interior ministry. - 'Pragmatism' -Starmer said he had discussed with his Italian counterpart a deal Rome signed with Albania in November to open two Italian-operated centres to house undocumented migrants while their asylum claims are processed. Asked directly whether he would consider such a plan for Britain, Starmer noted that the centres were not yet operational and "we don't yet know the outcome". Lower migrant arrivals to Italy were currently due to Meloni's efforts, said Starmer, referring to Italy's deals with Tunisia and Libya where funding is provided in exchange for help stemming the departure of Italy-bound migrants. "I've always made the argument that preventing people leaving their country in the first place is far better than trying to deal with those that have arrived in any of our countries," he said."Today was a return, if you like, to British pragmatism. We are pragmatists first and foremost, when we see a challenge, we discuss with our friends and allies, the different approaches that are being taken," he said. Under Italy's migrant plan with Albania, migrants with rejected asylum claims will be sent back to their country of origin, whereas those with accepted applications will be granted entry to Italy.But under the former UK government's Rwanda scheme, migrants sent to the East African nation could never have settled in Britain irrespective of the outcome of their claim.The two migration centres in Albania were supposed to have opened in early August, but have been delayed, with Meloni saying Monday it was a matter of "a few weeks". - Fewer arriving migrants -Starmer's trip to Italy has already spurred criticism, even within his own party.Labour MP Kim Johnson told The Guardian it was "disturbing that Starmer is seeking to learn lessons from a neo-fascist government, particularly after the anti-refugee riots and far-right racist terrorism that swept Britain this summer". Besides the Tunisia deal, Meloni's hard-right government has renewed a controversial deal with the UN-backed Libyan government in Tripoli dating from 2017, in which Rome provides training and funding to the Libyan coastguard for help deterring departures of migrants, or returning those already at sea back to Libya. Human rights groups say the policy pushes thousands of migrants back to Libya to face torture and abuse under arbitrary detention. Migrant arrivals to Italy by sea have dropped markedly, according to the interior ministry.Between January 1 and September 13, 44,675 people arrived in Italy compared to a figure of 125,806 for the same period in 2023.Across all the EU borders, meanwhile, the number of migrants crossing has dropped by 39 percent, according to border agency Frontex.But multiple factors are behind these trends, experts say, with many migrants seeking entry into the EU having changed their route. Crossings are up 13 percent over the Channel this year, Frontex said. adm/ams/rox

  • Biden administration says number of illegal border crossings has drastically fallen as Trump seizes on immigration

    US officials on Monday touted another month of low border crossings, citing recent executive action curbing asylum access at the US southern border, even as former President Donald Trump levels campaign attacks over the Biden administration’s handling of border security.

  • How has Italy sought to cut irregular migration and could UK copy the policy?

    Tunisia and Libya deals appear to have reduced small-boat crossings under Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government

  • Dutch coalition government bickers over immigration as king lays out agenda

    Decades-old rifts over how and whether the Netherlands should accommodate new arrivals have been driven wide open by a far-right surge.

  • What we know about Starmer's Italy trip in bid to curb migrant crossings

    The prime minister held talks today with Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome.

  • Giorgia Meloni: Starmer showed great interest in our Albania migration deal

    Britain promises to send £4m to back Italian crackdown on irregular migration

  • Starmer set to contribute €4.75 million to Meloni's anti-irregular migration initiative

    The UK prime minister met with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome Monday to discuss how the two countries could bolster cooperation in tackling illegal migration.

  • Married to a ‘Dreamer’; Dreading Trump’s Nightmare

    Rep. Delia Ramirez’s husband is undocumented. She says immigrants deserve America’s thanks, not MAGA’s hate

  • Former police chief to head govt's efforts on small boats

    Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says the government's new Border Security Command, led by former police chief Martin Hewitt, is gearing up to tackle small boat crossings.

  • UK PM Starmer meets Italy's Meloni for illegal immigration talks

    British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Monday to discuss tackling illegal immigration, a day after another Channel migrant shipwreck claimed eight lives.The perilous cross-Channel journeys migrants attempt from northern France have posed a fiendishly difficult problem to solve for successive British prime ministers.

  • Prince Harry and Meghan Markle told to 'move on' as neighbours grow 'fed up' of couple

    Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's neighbours in California are said to be "fed up" with the couple, according to reports. The pair moved to Montecito back in 2020

  • Prince William's four-word response to Meghan's pregnancy announcement at Eugenie's wedding

    Prince Harry has shared the moment he told his brother Prince William that Meghan Markle was pregnant with their first child - and his reaction was exactly what he'd hoped for

  • Jay Blades has court charge dropped

    The Repair Shop presenter, 54, appeared at Walsall Magistrates' Court wearing a black suit