Trump effect hits Europe: 'Let's deport'

Illegal immigrants arriving in Italy

President Trump has turned the United States' policy on illegal immigration upside down. Work actually has begun on the border wall, and it's not likely he's going to give up soon on his demands that Mexico, somehow, pay for it.

He's also turning the immigration practices across Europe upside down.

There, country after country is voting for political parties that want to close their borders, and it was Germany's Der Spiegel magazine that blamed Trump for the new perspective.

Now come the newest developments.

In a country that's residence to a pope who has preached "it is not Christian to shut out immigrants," political leaders are starting to move against uncontrolled newcomers.

It was during a visit last winter to Chile where Pope Francis said, "There is no Christian joy when doors are closed; there is no Christian joy when others are made to feel unwanted, when there is no room for them in our midst."

But Italy is making its plans clear, according to a report from Gatestone Institute senior fellow Soeren Kern. He explains the nation's new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, "has vowed to cut aid money for migrants and to deport those who are there illegally.

"Open doors in Italy for the right people and a one-way ticket out for those who come here to make trouble and think that we will provide for them," Salvini said. "One of our top priorities will be deportation."

Salvini leads the League Party, and formed a new coalition government with the populist Five Star Movement just days ago. It then outlined a 39-page action plan to crack down on illegal immigration.

And deport up to 500,000 undocumented migrants.

"The party is over for illegal immigrants," Kern's report quoted Salvini saying. "They will have to pack their bags, in a polite and calm manner, but they will have to go. Refugees escaping from war are welcome, but all others must leave."

Europe has been overwhelmed in recent years by illegal immigrants coming out of the Middle East turmoil and North Africa.

But the issue is not that there are those escaping danger and death; there are many who are young, male, single, and simply desiring better economic opportunities.

America also has been affected by the trend, although not to the extent of Europe, where nations like Germany county their newcomers in the millions.

Kern said Salvini visited Sicily, a main landing point for migrants, and warned, "Enough of Sicily being the refugee camp of Europe. I will not stand by and do nothing while there are landings after landings of migrants. We need deportation centere.

"There are not enough homes or jobs for Italians, let alone for half the African continent. We need to use common sense."

Nearly 120,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea in 2017. There were more than 180,000 in 2016, the International Organization for Migration said.

The decision is a major challenge to the European Union, which demands, "No one may be removed, expelled or extradited to a state where there is a serious risk that he or she would be subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

In Slovenia, an anti-immigration party on the parliamentary election and was faced with putting together a coalition government, officials confirmed Monday.

And voters in Hungary and Poland both have turned recently to parties that oppose orders to take asylum seekers and others, with little or no oversight to the program.

Another report, from CNN, said Hungary was debating a law that would criminalize helping illegal immigrants, and in Germany, the Christian Democratic Union and Social Democratic Party reached a coalition deal that adopts an anti-immigrant platform.

Police in France used riot police to clear a migrant camp in Paris, and European Union interior ministries will gather this week in Luxembourg to discuss immigration control, and whether there would be even harsher crackdowns that could result in deportations.