PayPal gets political and joins the side of NGOs traffic of illegal immigrants.
GEFIRA.ORG
PayPal gets political and joins the side of NGO’s traffic of illegal immigrants.
The activities of the NGO’s in the central Mediterranean, shipping migrants from Libyan waters to Italy, have in the last few months become a national controversy in the southern European country with many questioning where the funding for the NGO fleet comes from and what their motives are.
After initial background checks, prosecutors from Sicily are now investigating NGO members for the aiding of illegal immigration1) and association for criminal purposes2); this reflects the fact that the overwhelming majority of migrants coming from the Central Mediterranean route are not refugees, but simply illegal immigrants: in 2016, over 180,000 migrants arrived in Italy3), of which, according to the UNHCR database, 120,000 applied for the status of refugee with a 60% rejection rate 4) while the remaining 60,000 did not apply; thus, increasing the amount of non-refugees to over 70%; at least 132,000 illegal immigrants.
The illicit trafficking has also gained the attention of right-wing groups, such as Generation Identitaire (pictured), which organised a counter-movement to thwart NGO ships and a crowdfunding campaign linked to an account on Pay Pal. Open border activists have since then launched a social media campaign against GI, which resulted in PayPal suspending the account of Generation Identitaire, which had managed to gather 60,000 euros for their purposes5).
It is interesting to note that PayPal never took similar action against the accounts of NGO members who are effectively trafficking hundreds of thousands of illegals into Europe while they immediately blocked those who tried to prevent the traffic; hence, by observing the company’s behaviour, we must assume that they support the NGO’s cause.
Europeans who worry about the enforcement of the rule of law, specifically when it comes to illegal immigration, should know that the bankers of PayPal are not on their side.
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References
- Pm di Trapani: “Singoli membri di Ong indagati per favoreggiamento di immigrazione clandestina”, La Repubblica 2017-05-17.
- “Associazione per delinquere”. Nuova tempesta sulle Ong, Il Giornale 2017-05-18.
- Mozione del Giorno, Camera dei Deputati 2017-01-18.
- Statistics Italy, UNHCR.
- PayPal acts over French far-right group’s plan to thwart migrant rescue boats in the Mediterranean, The Local 2017-06-14.
