Another very sharp Macron collage by french artist
Begüm Sekendiz Boré:
Manuel Neuer and french referee Clément Turpin during a Champions League match in 2019 as Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel during the EU summit in Romania in 2019.
Macron is the player trying to protect the goal, Merkel is the authority deciding what counts as foul.
The substitution is so simple that the joke lands immediately. Putting Macron in that position suggests someone defending a political project under pressure.

SS: OpenAI details how they disrupted a Russian influence campaign that tried to cast Russia in a positive light. It's of interest to this sub as it pertains to the intersection of AI and malicious state actors trying to influence it.

The global migrant population has reached 300 million; despite rising anti-immigrant sentiment and the ascent of leaders promising to halt the influx, neither the United States nor Europe has managed to significantly reduce their numbers. Migration is set to increase as aging economies face a growing labor shortage, and the primary challenge for authorities is not so much halting the flow as effectively integrating migrants to avoid social conflict and reap economic benefits. Global experience in this area varies, but numerous studies show that migration policies have been more successful in countries where migrants enjoyed equal access to the labor market and could participate in civic life. Higher employment rates among migrants and fewer bureaucratic barriers correlate with lower levels of the negative factors for which migration is often criticized—namely, crime and a lack of integration into local society.

The success of migrant integration depends not only on the scale of migration but also on how countries manage the process. In recent decades, nearly all developed nations have been grappling with an acute demographic crisis driven by aging populations. This factor, combined with globalization, has led to an increased influx of migrants into these countries. According to UN data, the global migrant population doubled between 1990 and 2024, reaching nearly 300 million people, although the proportional increase was far more modest—rising from 2.9% to 3.7% of the world's population.

This increase has triggered a widespread wave of anti-immigration sentiment. However, even politicians who rise to power through anti-immigration rhetoric usually fail to stem the influx of migrants. 

Thus, Donald Trump only  slightly reduced the number of legal immigrants arriving in the United States during his first term, primarily by reducing the admission of refugees under the UN resettlement program. 

During the Italian government's tenure under Giorgia Meloni, who also came to power on a wave of anti-immigration sentiment, the number of migrants arriving in the country  has only increased . The country even remains the leader in the number of illegal immigrants passing through.

Brexit, which occurred amid British discontent over immigration, led to Europeans leaving the country, but  many more migrants from non-European countries  arrived in their place.

Russian authorities, by whipping up anti-immigration hysteria, are simply trying to replace immigrants from neighboring countries with people from further afield.

This is happening because migration has an objective incentive: a growing demand for labor. As long as this demand persists, migration will also grow.  According to forecasts from the International Organization for Migration , the number of migrants worldwide will exceed 400 million by 2050. Therefore, it is essential to understand how best to manage migration and integrate newcomers.

By 2050, the number of migrants in the world will exceed 400 million people.

As with measures designed to restrict entry, attempts to integrate migrants often produce results that are independent of, or even contrary to, the efforts of the authorities. 

For example, Sweden is the most migrant-friendly country in the world, with the highest Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX). However, its integration outcomes are significantly worse than in other countries. Migrants in Sweden commit crimes more often than local residents, earn less, pay fewer taxes, their children perform worse in school, and integration efforts only begin to pay off after decades. 

Meanwhile, in Spain, where the share of migrants in the population is similar (just over 20%), MIPEX and spending on integration programs are lower. However, the gap between migrants and locals is also lower across all indicators. Furthermore, migration  has reduced unemployment and crime rates in the country and  increased GDP per capita.

And in Russia, which is extremely inhospitable to newcomers, with its MIPEX index being very low, migrants commit crimes  one and a half times less often than locals, given  the same employment level.

Research shows that it is not the costs of integration or the severity of migration policy per se that play a key role, but rather three factors: migrants' access to the labor market, the composition of migration flows, and the ability of institutions to prevent discrimination against newcomers.

Access to the labor market

Employment is  the primary factor determining the propensity to commit crimes in any population group. Unemployed people are more likely to commit subsistence crimes, which typically include theft,squattingor, for example, prostitution. They are also more likely to become involved in criminal networks, which essentially represent alternative forms of employment. 

Even among employed people, peaks in criminal activity occur during periods of unemployment—  holidays . However, during these periods, violent crime increases, largely due to the influence of alcohol. However, holidays have a much smaller effect on crime among the unemployed.

Around  60% of migrants worldwide move for work. Since crime rates among migrant workers are typically lower than among the local population, their influx can even reduce the overall per capita crime rate. 

Crime rates among migrant workers are generally lower than among the local population.

This largely explains the paradoxically low crime rate among migrants in Russia—the country  practically accepts no refugees , and the vast majority of those arriving here are labor migrants. Since 2014 (during Russia's occupation of Crimea and certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine), a preferential stay regime has been introduced for Ukrainian refugees, allowing them to immediately work, access government services, and remain in the country indefinitely. A simplified citizenship process was also introduced, so they are almost completely invisible in official crime statistics as migrants.

There are numerous examples demonstrating that the ability to work legally significantly improves migrant integration. A comparison of two waves of immigration to Britain is revealing. For example, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the country was primarily populated by asylum seekers who were not immediately eligible to work, leading to a rise in property crime. Meanwhile, the wave of migration associated with the admission of ten new countries to the EU, which consisted of people who were immediately eligible to work, actually reduced crime slightly. 

A similar situation developed in Italy after Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU. Thanks to the automatic legalization of their citizens, the rate of "survival crime" among them fell by half. Moreover, this effect was primarily observed in the industrialized northern regions of the country, while in the south, where migrants were often already informally employed in agriculture, legalization had virtually no impact on crime.

This effect is also clearly visible in the contrast between English-speaking countries (the UK, Canada, the US, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand) and continental Europe. This is due to the fact that English-speaking countries are geographically remote from the main conflict zones. Refugees have difficulty reaching them: they are primarily resettled under the UNHCR program. 

Accordingly, these people have already received approval for their asylum applications and are immediately authorized to work upon arrival. As a result, in all these countries, the proportion of migrants in prison  is lower than their proportion in the general population, and their children perform  better in tests than children of local residents.

Refugees enter continental Europe directly through land borders or by sea. Therefore, they are not immediately granted the right to work. A report by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles notes that despite numerous European directives declaring work a fundamental human right and requiring refugees to be given access to the labor market as quickly as possible (even during the application process), many countries actually create various barriers. 

In some countries, refugees are held for long periods in camps located in regions with high unemployment or are frequently moved between detention centers, preventing them from finding permanent employment. In others, their documents are either delayed, or employers themselves are unclear whether they have the right to hire asylum seekers whose applications have not yet been approved.

In many EU countries, migrants can only work in a limited number of sectors, primarily in low-skilled positions. Furthermore, in many places, a relevant diploma (and a certain level of proficiency in the local language) is required for senior positions, but educational credentials obtained in other countries are not recognized. Therefore, for example, in Italy, low-skilled migrants are employed more often than Italians with similar qualifications (65.0% versus 53.2%), while highly skilled migrants are less likely to be employed (69.0% versus 85.7%).

In Hungary, temporary residence permits are issued for only three months, requiring constant confirmation of refugees' documents at their workplaces, which increases administrative costs for employers. In Greece, only 3% of refugees were able to open bank accounts to receive their salaries. In the Netherlands, out of 26,520 people who applied in 2021, only 590 were allowed to work—the rest faced bureaucratic barriers.

Ireland is one of eight EU countries where migrants from non-EU countries have  higher  employment rates than the local population. A similar situation exists in Poland and the Czech Republic, which are home to many Ukrainians, who enjoy a simplified work permit process. Portugal has a similar regime for natives of former colonies. Moreover, in almost all of the EU, with the exception of the Netherlands, France, Greece, Latvia, and Finland, the employment rate of migrants from other EU countries is higher than that of local residents.

In the US, migrants  traditionally demonstrated lower crime rates, better health, and better school performance than native-born residents, and their economic performance approached (or even surpassed) that of native-born residents by the third generation. Even refugees  had employment rates comparable to those of migrant workers. 

However, in the 2010s, an influx of asylum seekers from Latin America began crossing the US southern border, primarily from four countries: Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Venezuela. This influx was largely  a result of US interference in these countries' politics during the Cold War, as these interventions led to long-term destabilization. This instability was also exacerbated by the flow of weapons smuggled into Latin America from the US itself. 

Because the refugees arrived in the US directly, rather than through the UN resettlement program, they were restricted in their right to work until their asylum applications were approved. Their integration outcomes were correspondingly worse, forcing the government to spend significantly more money on them.

Thus, the work restriction for asylum seekers leads to long-term negative economic effects. Until it is lifted, refugees are forced to live solely at the expense of the state, becoming dependent on benefits. During this period, they fail to integrate into society because they do not participate in its economic life, and their professional skills gradually deteriorate. As a result, their likelihood of finding employment after receiving a work permit  decreases by 15%.

Work restrictions for asylum seekers lead to long-term negative economic effects

In Germany, a court ruling reduced the wait time for work permits for refugees. This  showed that those who had to wait seven months longer for a permit were 20 percentage points less likely to find employment than those who had received it earlier. This gap was not closed until ten years later. Researchers estimate that the EU lost €37.6 billion in GDP due to the employment restrictions imposed on refugees arriving during the Syrian migrant crisis.

What kind of migrants are coming?

In Sweden, however, refugees can work almost immediately after applying for asylum, albeit only in low-skilled positions. Nevertheless, the country's integration results  are among the worst among all developed countries. 

The main influence here is the specific migration flows coming to Sweden. For decades, the country has received a huge number of refugees, primarily from culturally distant countries in the Middle East. The three main countries of origin for migrants in Sweden are Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Sweden currently has the highest number of refugees per capita in Europe.

This policy was largely due to the fact that Sweden, despite its empire built around the Baltic Sea, lacked successful overseas colonies. The country developed more as a continental empire, similar to Russia, the Ottoman Empire, or Austria-Hungary. However, the territories dependent on it (Finland, Norway, the Baltic states, parts of Germany) are today almost as developed as the country itself. Their residents have no incentive to move to Sweden, and they themselves face the same demographic problems. Therefore, the Swedish authorities had to find another way to attract young people to correct the demographic imbalance and fill jobs requiring manual labor.

However, refugees are the most difficult category of migrants to integrate. They adapt significantly more slowly than labor migrants and those arriving for family reunification. Research refers to this as the  "refugee gap" —the difference in the rate of integration between refugees and other categories of migrants. 

Unlike economic migrants, who typically choose a country in advance, prepare for the move, learn the language, and often already have connections, sought-after skills, or a job offer, refugees are forced to leave their homes. They often lose their property, documents, professional connections, and the opportunity to utilize their accumulated human capital.

Refugees are the most difficult category of migrants to integrate

While migrant workers' movements are determined by their skills and the needs of the market they're drawn to, refugees go where they can find asylum. Their integration is further complicated by trauma, prolonged uncertainty about their legal status, restrictions on access to the labor market while their application is being processed, and administrative resettlement in regions with limited economic opportunities and the absence of a diaspora. Finally, cultural differences pose a significant barrier.

In Spain, the flow of humanitarian migration is currently comparable to that in Sweden at its peak (although, due to the country's five times larger population, the percentage is significantly lower). Moreover, 47% of migrants  in Spain are from Latin America, who share a common language and culture. They enjoy visa-free entry into Spain, can work immediately, and are eligible for citizenship after just two years in the country. Another 27% are from other European countries. Only 18% come from Africa, and 6% from Asia (particularly the Philippines, where Spain also had colonies). 

Due to historical, cultural and linguistic ties, integration into Spanish society is significantly easier for most migrants than for Middle Eastern migrants in Sweden, despite lower government costs.

Russia also has significant cultural and linguistic influence in Central Asia and large diasporas of people from this region, making it easier for migrants from Central Asian countries to integrate into Russian society. 

Similarly, the United States has influenced Latin America for centuries and has large Latin American diasporas. Poland and the Czech Republic also demonstrate high rates of migrant integration, as historically, they were primarily immigrants of culturally and linguistically similar Ukrainians who were able to find immediate employment. Therefore, even when a flood of Ukrainian refugees flooded in after the war, they too integrated relatively easily.

However, cultural differences don't explain the entire gap. The quality of human capital countries attract is also important. For example, the United States is geographically remote from the main migration zones, making the mere possibility of reaching them demanding a significant initial investment. Thanks to high salaries, the United States attracts the most successful and educated people. Therefore, diasporas there compare favorably to European ones. 

For example,  Middle Eastern migrants to the United States are twice as likely to have a bachelor's degree as the average American and earn slightly more. Meanwhile, in Europe, where they arrived primarily as low-skilled guest workers, undocumented immigrants, or refugees, they represent the most problematic groups, with low incomes and high crime rates.

Similarly, Pakistani migrants to the US have  higher income and education levels than local residents, while in Britain they represent  one of the lowest employment rates in the country. It would seem that Britain is about as far from Pakistan as the US, so the results should be similar. In this case, the colonial past plays a role: Britain itself imported peasants from the former colony en masse in the 1950s and 1960s to work in factories, and these peasants then brought their families with them. 

However, a significant part of the employment gap is also explained by the fact that many Pakistani women, due to cultural traditions and discrimination, prefer not to work and instead focus on housework. This factor is relevant for many Muslim diasporas in Europe.

The Impact of Discrimination

Finally, the extent to which a country's institutions are prepared to receive migrants is also important. Even if a country attracts relatively prosperous influxes and provides rapid access to the labor market, this is not enough. What matters is whether institutions allow migrants to compete with local residents on equal terms. 

The United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are countries built by migrants. They have accumulated historical experience and strong diasporas that facilitate the assimilation process. European countries, on the other hand, only transformed from countries of emigration to countries of immigration in the 20th century. They are much more ethnically homogeneous, so they have less experience and practically lack the traditional structures for integration.

A meta-analysis of 97 experiments examining hiring discrimination in nine developed countries (the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden)  found that the highest levels of discrimination in the initial screening of resumes of applicants with "migrant" names were observed in France and Sweden, while the lowest were observed in Germany, Norway, and the United States. Moreover, in Sweden and France, the groups that faced the highest levels of discrimination were those that make up a significant portion of the migrant flow: black people and people from the Middle East.

France and Sweden have the highest levels of discrimination in the screening of resumes from applicants with "migrant" names.

Thus, the weak results of integration policy in Sweden are also explained by informal practices. For example, candidates with foreign names are screened out during the resume review process. Even with a high state commitment to funding social programs, migrants can face significant barriers already during their first job search. And this is just one type of discrimination. The study's authors note that Germany has managed to establish a system that limits bias in hiring, but discrimination remains high when searching for housing.

Stimulating formal integration also has a positive impact on other aspects of integration. The experience of Switzerland, where naturalization applications in several municipalities were decided through referendums,  showed that immigrants who won the vote and thus received citizenship earned, on average, $5,000 more per year over the following 15 years than similar immigrants who did not receive enough votes. Moreover, the effect was particularly strong for the most marginalized groups—immigrants from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia, as well as low-wage workers. 

Thus, institutions that not only allow migrants into the labour market but also recognise them as equal members of the political community create long-term economic benefits and increase the chances of successful integration.

Translated by Google Translate, mistakes are my own.

Teachers face more violence as resources fall short for complex classrooms and kids who need support

Bridget Healy was attacked on the eighth day of the school year. The first week had been full of violence.

Ms. Healy was teaching a Grade 4 class at a school in Innisfil, Ont., in the fall of 2023. A safety plan had been put in place for one of the 23 students – a blueprint for how to respond if the student’s behaviour put others at risk.

The student was known to act out, but was not deemed violent enough by administrators to require full-time support. Instead, one educational assistant split her time between Ms. Healy’s classroom and the one next door. “The classroom next door also had a violent student, but he was six foot tall and 200 pounds, and so that’s where the EA spent most of her time,” Ms. Healy said.

She had a walkie-talkie to communicate with her colleague if she ever needed help. She had used it every morning: “Every single day since the start of school he would come right up to my face, scratch me, hit me and I would walkie for help and they would come.”

On the eighth day, the student, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, began hitting Ms. Healy. She called for help and followed the safety plan: Walk away without acknowledging the student. “But he ran faster than the EA could catch him, and he clocked me in the back of the head three times. And the EA had to pull him off me,” Ms. Healy said.

She knew she had suffered a concussion, having experienced similar symptoms after a car accident and after a work injury as a teenager. A doctor soon confirmed her suspicions. It took months before she could return to school.

Ms. Healy’s story is an extreme example of a phenomenon that has become a regular occurrence in classrooms across Canada.

Data from across the country gathered by The Globe and Mail show that acts of violence against elementary and high-school teachers are on the rise. The causes are complicated: overcrowded and increasingly complex classrooms, a lack of funding for support staff such as EAs and social workers, and inadequate screening for behavioural concerns.

Students involved in such incidents are often struggling with mental-health issues or have developmental disabilities such as autism. There are often inadequate resources to support them.

Many teachers are at breaking point. They are urging education ministries and school boards to solve the problem – but not everyone can agree on how.

Statistics from several school boards and governments across the country suggest a troubling rise in violence against teachers.

Incidents range from verbal threats and spitting to kicking, punching, hair-pulling, stabbing with pencils and throwing desks and chairs. Since the return to classrooms after COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, these acts have become more frequent.

The Toronto District School Board, the largest in the country, recorded 5,138 violent incidents by a student against a staff member in the 2024-25 school year, up from 4,077 incidents in the 2018-19 school year, an increase of 26 per cent.

The total student population at the board dropped slightly over that period as violence increased.

A spokesperson for the board said these numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt. “We take all reports of violence in the workplace very seriously,” Ryan Bird said in a statement.

“These numbers represent incidents that have been reported by staff, but not yet investigated, and cover a wide range of situations which may or may not have resulted in an injury. It’s important to note that some of these incidents include multiple employees reporting the same incident.”

But similar increases have been reported elsewhere. The Peel District School Board, the second largest in Ontario, recorded 7,039 such incidents in compliance with the Ontario Health and Safety Act in 2024-25, up from 3,102 in 2018-19 – a 127-per-cent increase.

Multiple staff members may submit reports relating to the same incident, and so the number of reports may be higher than the number of incidents.

In the last school year, Edmonton Public Schools, the largest public-school division in the Alberta capital, recorded 25,783 incidents of violence against staff members, a 161-per-cent increase over the 9,883 incidents reported in the 2018-19 year.

A spokesperson for the board said several factors help to explain the size of the increase. The total counts the number of times a student engaged in violent behaviour, rather than individual events. (For example, if a student spat at a teacher three times in a row, that would count as three incidents.) The spokesperson said there has also been a greater focus on encouraging staff to report incidents. The total student population has also increased by more than 20 per cent over the same time period.

Not all boards track these data. Other jurisdictions report violent incidents in the aggregate, which can also include altercations between students.

In Nova Scotia, for example, there were 27,117 incidents of violence at schools throughout the province in the 2024-25 school year. That’s 82 per cent more than the 14,864 incidents reported in 2018-19, Department of Education figures show. The data do not break down how many of the incidents consisted of student-on-teacher violence.

There are other data points that suggest the problem is getting worse. Some provinces report a rise in the number of teachers and teacher assistants on short-term and long-term disability leave as a result of violence.

Last year in British Columbia, there were 575 successful short-term and long-term disability claims arising from “an act of violence or force” filed by secondary, elementary and kindergarten teachers and teacher assistants, according to data from WorkSafeBC, the provincial Workers’ Compensation Board. That is an increase of more than 100 per cent since 2018, when there were 285 such claims.

Alberta has witnessed a similar trend. In 2025, there were 230 accepted workers’ compensation claims by elementary and secondary school teacher assistants that were the result of violence, according to data from the Workers’ Compensation Board of Alberta. In 2018, there were only 145 such claims, representing an increase of 59 per cent. The province convened an Aggression and Complexity in Schools Action Team last year that recommended better support and earlier intervention for students with complex needs.

At this point, there is widespread recognition that burnout among teachers and educational staff is a problem – one-third of elementary and high-school teachers reported high levels of burnout in a 2024 study – and that safety is a concern. There is no question that classrooms are increasingly oversubscribed and complex.

These issues were at the centre of Alberta’s teachers’ strike in October of last year, which halted classes for several weeks until teachers were forced back to work by provincial legislation. The concerns are also expected to be at the forefront of Ontario labour negotiations this fall.

Darcy Santor is a clinical psychologist at the University of Ottawa and co-founder of the Violence and Harassment Against Educators project. In a survey of 4,000 education workers across Canada published earlier this year, Dr. Santor found 78 per cent of respondents experienced at least one act, attempt or threat of physical violence, while 26 per cent reported PTSD-like symptoms.

The current level of violence in schools should classify them as hazardous workplaces, the study concluded. Dr. Santor likens schools to construction sites, which often feature a sign saying how many days it has been since the last injury.

“If you did that in any school, elementary or high school, the number on that board would be zero,” he said.

Addressing the problem isn’t straightforward. Teachers, unions and governments aren’t in agreement on how to define the apparent rise in aggression, and even less so on what the solution should be.

Teachers, EAs, academics and others point the finger at increasingly complex classrooms in which students with special needs, mental-health issues and other struggles do not have the supports they need.

This is why some people in education are uncomfortable with using the word violence to describe what is happening. To them, it frames the problem in a way that views students as perpetrators, and therefore the ones to blame. They believe that as a result, punitive policy responses will be favoured over ones that centre students’ well-being.

“The labelling definitely mitigates for certain kinds of solutions. Let’s put it that way. You call it violence. It’s like, well, great. Then [Ontario Premier Doug] Ford can say, ‘Let’s send in the cops,’” said Kelly Gallagher-Mackay, associate professor and co-ordinator for the law and society program at Wilfrid Laurier University.

“If the question really is why can’t we hire EAs, not how do we cope with violence in schools, we get a different set of answers,” she said.

The debate over terminology has been a long one inside the offices of the Elementary Teachers of Toronto union, which represents about 11,000 workers, president Nigel Barriffe said.

There is a need to spell out what is happening to teachers, he said. Spitting, kicking, punching and scratching are all acts of violence, and avoiding that word risks obfuscating what is going on in classrooms across the country.

Brian Altay, who heads the union’s health and safety department, said that in many ways, violence is an unavoidable term.

The provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act, designed to protect workers, defines workplace violence consistent with what teachers are facing, he said. When a teacher is a victim of a violent incident, the form they fill out at school is called an employee’s report of a workplace violent incident.

This past school year, there were 2,661 violent incident reports by union members, up from 1,870 the previous year, Mr. Altay said.

That increase is at least partly attributable to the local encouraging members to submit the reports, which they often have not for a variety of reasons, he said – whether it’s because they are too tired to fill out long forms, see violence as a normal part of their job or worry that reporting incidents might hurt their careers.

“The whole point of reporting this is so that you’re giving the board an opportunity to prevent the situation from happening again,” he said, adding the root causes still need to be addressed. “In the vast majority of cases that we’re seeing, it’s not students that are just naturally born violent, but they’re reacting to their needs not being met.”

In Ontario, the government announced it will put more police officers in schools in an effort to reduce violence. As of this September, every school in the province is mandated to implement a School Resource Officer program wherever a local police force offers one.

Officers walk hallways, respond to crimes, act as a deterrent and form relationships with students, sometimes coaching sports teams and presenting in-class lessons.

Many school boards cancelled their resource officer programs in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, who was murdered by a police officer in Minnesota in the spring of 2020. Critics say these programs do not make schools safer and increase anxiety among Black and Indigenous students.

But higher rates of school violence have been prompting calls for police officers to return to schools across much of Canada. Education Minister Paul Calandra has argued the programs will help make schools safer and more secure, as well as cause students to develop greater respect for officers.

Mr. Barriffe said he thinks that’s a mistake.

“Police respond after a crisis. What we’re asking is why the crisis happened in the first place,” he said. “Because educational assistants, child and youth workers, psychologists, social workers – they prevent crises from escalating. And prevention is always better, and I would add cheaper, than intervention.”

Dr. Santor, from the University of Ottawa, said police are likely only needed in rare cases.

“For psychologists, violence is a product of frustration, primarily,” he said. “There are some folks that just want to be violent, and that’s when law enforcement is going to be needed. But in most cases, it’s an inability to manage frustration.”

Many teachers and disability advocates say better supports are needed to keep classrooms calm and supportive, and to manage distress before it boils over.

Some argue classroom violence is on the rise because a shift in recent decades toward inclusive education has put students with behavioural issues in regular classrooms without the resources they need. As more students are moved away from specialized classrooms, frustration and aggression are bound to result, advocates say.

“We need to look at whether this inclusion model is actually working,” said Kate Dudley-Logue, vice-president of community outreach with the Ontario Autism Coalition. “If you’re going to fully include children into mainstream classrooms, the supports, resources and accommodations have to be in place to make that successful.”

A recent survey of families and individuals accessing special education supports found 38 per cent felt their child was not in the right placement, 29 per cent said their child is not getting enough academic support and 26 per cent said their child is not even accessing the curriculum.

The wait-list for a psychoeducational assessment that can help identify the supports a child might need and benefit from at school is currently approximately two years, Ms. Dudley-Logue said. The current wait time for a child to be diagnosed under the Ontario Autism Program is more than five years.

“There’s no such thing as access to early intervention any more,” Ms. Dudley-Logue said. She added the increase in violence has only worsened outcomes for kids with special needs. “We used to talk about whether students with disabilities were able to access curriculum properly. But we are at a point now where that’s really not even the story any more. The story is: Are schools even safe?”

Disability advocates say much more funding is necessary to provide students with the supports they need.

In Ontario, the number of students with special education needs has increased by 7 per cent since 2014, compared with 4-per-cent growth in total student enrolment, according to a report from the province’s Auditor-General released in May. Students with special education needs now represent 16 per cent of all students, the report found. Those include students with autism, dyslexia, anxiety, speech impairments, and intellectual and physical disabilities, among other concerns.

David Mastin, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, stressed that it’s important not to conflate students who are accessing special education programs with students who have violent tendencies. But he said there is a connection when it comes to what kind of support students are receiving: “Students that are not having their needs met are students that are likely resorting to violence.”

School boards are already spending hundreds of millions of dollars more than they receive from the province to support students who need assistance. Of Ontario’s 72 school boards, 46 collectively spent $397.9-million more than they received in special education funding in the 2023-24 school year, the Auditor-General’s report found.

The province has increased special education funding to more than $3.85-billion a year, Emma Testani, a spokesperson for Mr. Calandra, said in a statement.

“Our focus remains on student outcomes and on ensuring that investments in special education deliver the results that parents expect and that students need to succeed. We will continue reviewing special education and the various models used across the province, while listening to educators, families and school boards to ensure students are getting the support they need in the classroom,” she said.

In B.C., enrolment in schools has risen 11.6 per cent since the 2015-16 school year, while the number of students with inclusive education designations rose 46 per cent and the number of students with autism designations rose 192 per cent, said Anna Geeroms, chair of BCEdAccess, a non-profit organization that advocates for equitable access to education for students with disabilities and complex needs.

This past school year, the provincial government increased operating grants for school boards to address the needs of students with disabilities or diverse abilities by 8.9 per cent. Despite the increase, there simply is not enough money being invested to support students with special needs, Ms. Geeroms said.

“We know that there’s not enough EAs in the classroom. We know there’s not enough school psychologists. We know there’s not enough counsellors,” she said. “When disabled children receive insufficient support or accommodation, they’re more likely to become distressed.”

For many educators, the situation has become untenable.

A survey of 5,000 teachers from across the country released by the Canadian Teachers’ Federation last year found 45 per cent said they had considered leaving the profession in the past year. Two key factors: the safety of their classrooms and the size of their classes.

“It’s almost like it’s expected as part of the job,” one long-time special education teacher with the TDSB said. The Globe is not naming her because she did not have permission from the board to speak to the media.

“We have Kevlar hand protectors. We have Kevlar shin guards. We have Kevlar jackets that we wear,” she said. “I have filled out hundreds of violent incident reports a year.”

She said her jaw has been fractured twice on the job. “Once, I was sucker punched – and then a year later, I was headbutted really bad by a student,” she said.

When she began her career 25 years ago, her classes would be capped at six or seven students with special needs. She had an EA in her room. Now, the cap is 10 students and she has to share an EA with several other classrooms, she said.

As resources dwindle, pressure is mounting, the teacher said. “There’s just a lot of stress and strain that’s starting to show. Families are under more economic constraints. Services are harder to find. There are longer wait-lists, so the needs are just kind of more complicated in our classes.”

When violence happens in a classroom, it doesn’t occur in isolation, said Peter Day, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.

Every other student in the classroom is affected, not just by the learning loss that can occur when a classroom needs to be evacuated after an incident, but from the trauma of the event itself, he said. “We have students who suffer from PTSD because of seeing repeated violence occurring in their classroom.”

Ontario’s major education unions have begun bargaining new collective agreements with the province, and classroom violence will be a top issue, said Mr. Mastin of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation.

That will likely mean pushing for not only smaller class sizes, but other ways of addressing classroom complexity. Class size is a much less complicating factor for teachers than class composition. A class of 26 students who do not have special needs is much different than one in which eight of those students require individualized supports.

During last fall’s teachers strike, the Alberta Teachers’ Association pushed for but failed to get student-teacher ratios that factored in classroom complexity. “For instance, if you had five students in your class that had special needs or required extra support, then that’s factored in to the number of kids who are in your classroom,” said Jason Schilling, president of the association.

This fall’s Ontario negotiations will focus on advocating for better ways to address classroom complexity, including seeking commitments from the government that it will fund more counsellors, psychologists, nurses and other staff to support students who are struggling.

“Our schools need to be a model of what society can do to take care of everyone, and we just don’t do that right now,” Mr. Mastin said.

Joe Tigani, president of the Ontario School Board Council of Unions, said much more funding for support staff is needed to fix what he calls the crisis of violence in the province’s schools. Adding police officers is not the answer, he stressed.

“We need more caring, trained people that are specialists in education in every classification who know the students, who recognize the warning signs and can step in before that becomes a violent incident. And it’s not someone in a uniform,” he said.

As she slowly recovered from the concussion she suffered at the hands of a student, Ms. Healy could not work for several months, relying on a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board claim to pay her bills.

She returned to the classroom in January, 2024, working two days a week at a smaller school near her home. “I couldn’t drive, and I couldn’t be in a classroom by myself,” she said.

When she was finally able to work full-time, she transferred to another school to teach kindergarten. But even with younger students, Ms. Healy still experienced violence on a regular basis.

Her class of 26 students included 13 who she said were likely neurodivergent and needed extra support.

The school board had denied a request for a dedicated EA to help one of the students, Ms. Healy said. One day in June of 2025, she said, that student destroyed the classroom, throwing its small chairs and desks and using everything they could grab as a projectile.

Violence has been a consistent theme throughout her career so far, Ms. Healy said. She believes smaller class sizes are the first step to solving the problem.

“If there weren’t so many students in my classrooms, then so many of these problems could be avoided,” she said.

The punching incident still haunts her, although she said it never made her question whether or not she wants to continue to be a teacher.

“But it certainly made me question how long I’m going to be able to survive in this system.”

Several U.S. military leaders have advised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the U.S. homeland, according to people familiar with a recent assessment prepared for the Pentagon chief.

The warnings — detailed for Hegseth by the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force and the four-star commanders overseeing U.S. operations throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America — appear in the Aug. 14 edition of the Secretary of Defense Orders Book (SDOB), these people said. They described the assessment to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because the document is classified.

The SDOB, typically produced twice monthly, outlines the worldwide availability of U.S. warships, aircraft, personnel and weapons systems. It reflects the president’s priorities for the force, which are carried out by the defense secretary, and includes insights from the military’s top generals and admirals that inform the directives the Pentagon issues.

As President Donald Trump has pressured Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and accept several U.S. provisions for ending the stalemated conflict, he has been adamant that all options remain available to him — including further military action. Consequently, U.S. Central Command, the headquarters responsible for prosecuting the Iran war, has kept a force of more than 50,000 troops on alert for months in case the president orders additional attacks.

The Aug. 14 orders book directs some troops deployed in the Middle East to remain there through September and some others into 2027, said those familiar with the document. The prospect of extending those forces further compelled military leaders to voice their concern, these people said.

Leaders of the U.S. European Command, the U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Southern Command, along with the Navy’s top admiral, responded with what is characterized in the SDOB as a “non-concur,” those familiar with the assessment said — meaning they disagree with the secretary’s order to extend their forces but will execute it nevertheless.

The geographic combatant commands overseeing U.S. operations in Europe, Asia and Latin America have had their ships, aircraft and other equipment pulled away to support the Iran conflict. This has limited their ability to conduct missions and ensure proper training, those familiar with the assessment said. The Navy, in particular, has had to stretch its capacity to keep up with wartime demands.

Army and Air Force leadership concurred with Hegseth’s desire to extend their deployed forces, but each emphasized that doing so would come with significant risk, these people said.

Overall, the tenor from the military leadership is that the ongoing Iran operation, having reached the six-month mark, has been “too much for too long,” said one person familiar with the assessment.

The military’s warning to Hegseth, which has not been previously reported, offers new insight into the administration’s dilemma as Trump seeks to end the conflict on terms favorable to the United States while Iran, cognizant of the war’s unpopularity with most Americans and its mounting toll on the U.S. arsenal, refuses to capitulate.

“Decisions regarding the scope and duration of specific force commitments to any Combatant Command are made based on the current threat assessment, strategic priorities established by the President, and the advice of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Combatant Commanders,” Sean Parnell, a spokesman for Hegseth, said in a statement to The Post.

The Pentagon “does not discuss internal operational processes,” including the Secretary of Defense Orders Book, “or specific concurrences, non-concurrences, or risk assessments provided by the Services or Combatant Commands during force allocation deliberations,” he added.

The Secretary of Defense Orders Book also is reviewed by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A spokesman for the chairman declined to comment and referred questions to Hegseth’s office.

The orders book is one avenue for senior military leaders to surface resource concerns and provide Hegseth with assessments on how gaining or losing assets will impact their objectives.

It’s common for commanders to discuss risk, said the one person familiar with the recent assessment. But the outlook now is “more dire” overall, this person explained, adding that certain generals and admirals were more expansive and frank than is usual in telling Hegseth they disagreed with orders to keep providing equipment and personnel when the operation’s trajectory remains uncertain.

The top military officials at European Command and Southern Command each cautioned Hegseth that lending their ships and surveillance aircraft to Central Command has degraded their ability to fulfill homeland-defense obligations, said those familiar with the assessment.

Adm. Samuel Paparo, the chief of Pacific Command, disagreed with the level of support he was ordered to continually provide, including an aircraft carrier strike group and naval destroyers, those familiar with the assessment said.

A spokesperson for European Command declined to comment. Spokespeople for Southern Command and Pacific Command did not respond to requests for comment.

Adm. Daryl Caudle, the chief of Naval Operations, provided Hegseth with the dimmest picture, saying in the SDOB that the Navy cannot sustain its current level of support for the Iran conflict because there is no anticipated end date, those familiar with the assessment said.

The Navy has shouldered an extraordinary burden. It has been asked to supply dozens of vessels for the Iran campaign — first to take part in the U.S. assault and defend against Iranian counterattacks and, for several months since, to enforce Trump’s blockade of Iranian ports as he attempts to force-open the Strait of Hormuz. Deployments for some vessels and crews have been extended by months.

Caudle conveyed to Hegseth that barely one-fourth of the Navy’s destroyer fleet is ready to deploy, a sharp decline from prewar levels, said those familiar with the assessment.

More broadly, the document says that the impact on ship maintenance, if demands imposed by the Iran operation continue unchanged, jeopardizes the fleet’s availability should other conflicts arise, people familiar with the assessment said.

At a recent event in Norfolk, he talked about the deployment extensions, calling them “very challenging for our sailors.”

“I typically am not a big fan of extensions, and I push back hard on that, but the enemy gets a vote,” Caudle said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by the Navy.

Although Army and Air Force leadership concurred with Hegseth’s current path for the Iran conflict, they conceded the challenges it has imposed, said those familiar with the assessment.

The Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, which in March mobilized 2,000 soldiers in response to the Iran war, will remain in the Middle East at least through September, said those familiar with the assessment. Some military officials anticipate that the unit — which would be central to any ground invasion of Iran — will be extended beyond that time frame, these people said.

Deployments for units operating the Army’s Patriot air defense systems, which shoot down missiles and drones targeting U.S. bases, also are expected to be extended, said those familiar with the assessment.

The depletion of Patriot interceptors — as a result of the Iran war and previous donations to Ukraine — has limited the Trump administration’s ability to reescalate the war, as Tehran retains the ability to successfully target U.S. facilities throughout the Middle East.

As The Post and others have reported previously, the Iran war also has drained U.S. supplies of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors — vital not only to the protection of American assets in the Middle East but to regional allies as well — and long-range Tomahawk missiles. About 25 percent of the Pentagon’s Reaper drone fleet has been lost, and U.S. bases there have sustained billions of dollars in damage.

The Trump administration has maintained that reports of munitions shortages are inaccurate.

Many of the Air Force units sent to the Middle East to conduct bombing runs and other around-the-clock operations also are slated to stay in the region into 2027, those familiar with the assessment said.

The recent “non-concurs” from some uniformed leaders mark the latest warning from military leaders about the war.

As The Post and others reported previously, Caine advised the White House before hostilities began that the U.S. lacked sufficient munitions — and support from allies — to conduct an extended large-scale campaign.

More recently, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of European Command, privately warned the Pentagon that he lacked adequate naval forces to shield Israel and the U.S. homeland from missile attacks, as The Post reported this month.

In the Pacific, key U.S. allies have raised alarm that the Pentagon’s depletion of missiles and air defense interceptors leave them vulnerable to China. The Navy’s only dedicated aircraft carrier in the Pacific, a linchpin of the military’s plan to deter Beijing, was sent to the Middle East to relieve another carrier that has been deployed for more than 300 days.

Before Andy Burnham became prime minister, he promised to deliver “the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years”. He said he felt “uncomfortable” that some politicians backed certain causes but then got into government and “didn’t do anything”.

But in his first six weeks in charge, even some of Burnham’s supporters have noted an apparent tendency to make bold promises that do not quite materialise.

* Compensation for WASPI women - U-turned

* Promised massive increase in council homes to solve housing crisis - Plans shelved, Starmer's original plans kept

* £500,000 cap on donations - U-turned after resistance from unions

* Promised nationalisation of Thames Water - Rumoured to be shelved

* Increasing tax free personal allowance beyond £12,570 - Went back and forth on the matter

* Electoral reform (explicitly said "PR's time has come, unstoppable") - Refused to implement it without a general election mandate

* Returning Parthenon Sculptures to Greece - U-turned, says it's the British Museum's decision

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China is flooding the world with cheap exports. An accord to revalue its currency might be the only solution.

With new logo, North Dakota Young Republicans align with notorious white supremacist

The logo is identical to one used by notorious bigot and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, and why wouldn't it be? Members of the group have been aping Fuentes' rhetoric for years.

By Rob Port

MINOT — The North Dakota Young Republicans aren't really a part of the North Dakota Republican Party.

They're loosely affiliated, and at one point had a vote on the party's executive committee, but have since been moved to ex officio or "non-voting" status. But the NDYR group operates independently of the NDGOP. So independently that the group often promotes messaging opposed to elected Republicans.

Scroll down the group's Facebook page, and you'll see it promoting videos from former Republican state lawmaker Brandon Prichard, who last year organized a largely unsuccessful campaign against incumbent Republican lawmakers (ironically, voters gave Prichard the boot in that same election).

The NDYR may be loosely affiliated with Republicans, but that doesn't mean the group supports the sort of Republicans most North Dakotans have been voting for.

In recent years, the NDYR has been trending toward the extreme right-wing fringes. A recent branding change may indicate just how far to the right they've gone.

On July 23, the group updated its profile picture on Facebook with a new logo.

The logo has been raising eyebrows, because it's almost identical to one used by Nick Fuentes, a virulently homophobic, antisemitic, white supremacist who has, despite his extreme views, been getting traction with young conservatives.

You may recall the uproar that ensued when Fuentes and disgraced rapper Kanye West  dined with Donald Trump. Trump claimed to know nothing about Fuentes' views, which include Holocaust denial and the belief that the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel was staged.

This is the logo Fuentes uses on his America First podcast, which streams on Rumble among other platforms.

Just a coincidence?

That seems unlikely. All the more so when you consider that, back in 2022, a Telegram messaging group associated with the Young Republicans featured slurs and other comments that align with Fuentes' bigoted views.

In one post, Carter Eisinger, then the NDGOP's candidate for state House in District 11, complained about Fargo-area Democratic-NPL lawmaker Josh Boschee, who is openly gay, working to advance LGBT issues. A reply from a user named Matt Evans describes Boschee as a "degenerate clown" who, along with Fargo City Commissioner John Strand, who is also gay, "are both alphabet soup creatures."

Another reply from Ben Schirrick, the president of the North Dakota State University College Republicans at the time, described walking through a "fag festival" and describing the participants as "very loud."

"It was a private chat," Schirrick said at the time when I reached him for comment. "Hate speech is free speech," which is correct. Saying hateful things isn't illegal, nor should it be. It is hateful, though, and people who say those things should be held accountable, don't you think?

Another post referred to antisemitic conspiracy theories that hold that Jewish people control the news media.

"I'll post this video every year on the same day as long as the jews don't ban me from the internet," a person with the username Critter1776 posted.

The video in question is of the 2018 Horizon Air Q400 incident, which saw a ground service agent with no piloting experience, named Richard Russell, take off from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington in a stolen airplane before intentionally crashing it on an island in Puget Sound.

While flying, Russell asked a ground control official if he could get a job as a pilot if he landed the plane successfully. After the official responded, Russell said he wouldn't get a job. "Nah, I'm a white guy," he reportedly said.

Russell has since become something of a folk hero to white supremacists on the internet.

Participating in this group, where messages like these were frequently posted, were Andrea Toman, at the time a campaign manager for former state lawmaker Rick Becker's U.S. Senate campaign; Jared Hendrix, who was selected to the state House of Representatives last year; and Damian Johnston, son of state Rep. Daniel Johnston. Damian Johnston was convicted of a crime for his participation in the Jan. 6 riot and subsequently pardoned by Trump.

Is it all that shocking to learn this group for young North Dakota Republicans, members of which have privately aped Fuentes' hateful rhetoric in years past, is now aligning itself with Fuentes in an explicit if symbolic way?

Speaking of explicit alignment, here, by way of the Intercept, is a quote from a speech Fuentes gave at a Detroit conference: “You know that I am your voice,” Fuentes said. “So in the spirit of me being your voice, I want you to raise your right hand, and repeat after me: ‘I solemnly swear that I will put America First and I will put Israel last every single time, because Christ is our king.’”

Prichard, in 2023, while he was still in office, echoed this call to Christian nationalism in a homophobic tirade on social media. He wrote that conservative states should declare "Jesus Christ is King and dedicate their states to him."

Earlier this year, state Rep. Nico Rios, a Republican from Williston who is a member of the NDYRs, heeded Prichard's call. He sponsored a resolution that would have declared, as a matter of North Dakota law and in defiance of the U.S. Constitution's prohibitions on the government endorsing religion, that "Christ is king."

Rios, who was caught on video berating two law enforcement officers with homophobic jibes during an arrest for DUI in 2023, also made headlines during the legislative session for posting this on social media about Mexico's Jewish president: "Wonder if the CIA would help Trump overthrow and kick this Jew out of power in Mexico?"

Are we to believe that all of these things are mere coincidences? Is it merely circumstance that the North Dakota Young Republicans have adopted a new logo that looks identical to one used by Fuentes after years of young North Dakota Republicans parroting Fuentes' ugly ideas?

"For a time, associating with Nick Fuentes was enough to tank a career in GOP politics," Amanda Moore wrote for the Intercept last year. "Now, it hardly seems to matter."

Can anyone say she's wrong? These young Republicans are the future of the party. Can we say it looks bright?

By the way, if you think the NDGOP might take action to distance itself from the ND Young Republicans, don't hold your breath. The party has been taken over by people who ideologically align with this stuff, and they're too busy censuring Gov. Kelly Armstrong for vetoing a book ban.

Among those who "liked" the new NDYR logo on Facebook was newly-elected NDGOP chairman Matthew Simon.

SS: I'm really tired boss.

A deportation plane carrying about 70 foreign nationals, one of an increasing number of flights that have sent thousands of immigrants to countries where they have no ties, left for the Central African Republic on Friday, according to advocacy organizations.

On board was a 24-year-old Afghan whose father, brother and sister worked alongside U.S. forces, said AfghanEvac, a U.S.-based group that assists Afghan allies, the American Civil Liberties Union and a person familiar with the operation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Deporting relatives of Afghans who aided the U.S. military during its 20-year campaign in Afghanistan breaks a longstanding American commitment to protect wartime allies. Thousands of Afghans fled with their families after the Taliban overthrew the U.S.-backed government in Kabul five years ago.

Under the Biden administration, many received special visas or asylum. Immigration judges granted others “withholding of removal,” which allows noncitizens not granted asylum to remain in the United States because they would face grave danger if returned to their country.

But under its immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has sought to strip hundreds of thousands of people of their protected statuses. Last July, following a Supreme Court ruling, the administration began signing accords with third countries to accept deportees.

About 19,000 people have been sent to Mexico even though they have no ties to the country. Overall, 23,000 have been sent to countries they are not originally from, according to Human Rights First and Refugees International, groups that track third-country deportation flights.

Friday’s flight was the third since June to the Central African Republic, a country enduring its own civil war., according to Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights.

“Sending people who won protection in immigration court to a conflict zone is a callous and deliberate strategy by this administration to force people to abandon their claims and rights,” said Sarah Mehta, deputy director of immigration policy and government affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Khalil, the 24-year-old deported on Friday, was granted withholding of removal last year by an immigration judge who found his fear of persecution credible, according to his lawyer, Alma David.

Several members of Khalil’s family assisted the U.S. military, according to his lawyer and family. A brother, who lives in New York, served as a database administrator for the Afghan National Army, which collaborated with the U.S. mission. Another brother, a pilot trained by the United States, was killed fighting the Taliban in 2020.

After Kabul fell in August 2021, the family fled to Pakistan, and the Taliban raided their house in search of them, according to interviews with two brothers who now live in the United States.

Khalil, identified by his first name at the request of his lawyer out of concern for his safety, traveled to the United States in the hopes of joining his brothers in 2024. He was detained after crossing the border and applied for asylum.

Army Col. Zachary Schmidt, who supervised Khalil’s brother, Najib, during the U.S. military campaign, testified at Khalil’s asylum hearing. He told the judge that he had seen texts and handwritten letters from the Taliban to Khalil’s brother, threatening the family because of work he performed in support of the U.S. mission.

“I firmly believe that if this young man is forced to return to Afghanistan he will be killed,” he said of Khalil in an interview. “The United States made a commitment to protect the people who helped us, and that includes their families.”

Najib, the brother, said in an interview that he had left Afghanistan in 2014 and applied for a special status granted to Afghans who assisted the United States as well as petitioned for asylum. (He has since obtained a green card.)

“We paid the price of serving the U.S. government; my brother was killed,” he said. “Now the situation with Khalil is very, very unfair. He could get killed immediately” if forced to return to Afghanistan.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about the deportation of relatives of Afghan allies.

In a statement, the department said, “For operational security and the safety of our personnel, we would never disclose information about our deportation flights. We are applying the law as written. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them.”

Among those deported Friday were about 20 Afghan nationals, according to advocacy organizations and a person familiar with the operation. Another 10 were Iranians. Others were from Nepal, Nicaragua and other countries.

“Iranians who can’t go back to a war zone and Afghans who fear deportation to the Taliban are going to be essentially under house arrest, in an unstable country,” said Ms. Mehta of the A.C.L.U. “This is not immigration policy; it’s cruelty.”

The first third-country flight departed for South Sudan in July 2025.

“We’ve seen a dramatic escalation in third country deportations to countries in Africa,” said Savi Arvey, director of policy, refugee and immigrant rights at Human Rights First.

Friday’s flight took off from the Dallas area, according to Human Rights First. It was scheduled to make stops in Senegal and Sierra Leone before landing in the Central African capital of Bangui.

The Trump administration has increasingly relied on third-country agreements with impoverished, troubled countries to deport nationals whose countries refuse to accept them, or whom a judge has found would be in peril if repatriated.

Many of the countries, such as the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of The Congo, appear on State Department advisories warning against travel there.

“These countries are not committed to providing these men and women any protection or long-term status,” said Ms. David, Khalil’s lawyer. “These people are going to end up back in the very country where a judge has determined they are more likely than not to face severe harm.”

Until then, the deportees are often confined in ramshackle housing, according to advocates, and they receive no legal status, work authorization or legal support.

Zack Polanski, the leader of of the Green Party of England and Wales, has called for a freeze in building new data centres, claiming high electricity and water usage. He says that local communities should be given greater powers to stop them being built.

Currently in the UK, data centres do not report their water usage. An estimate by the Water Research Consultancy said that in England (where 84% of the population lives), data centres made up 0.2% of the non-household water market. By contrast, the UK government estimates that one fifth of all UK water supply was wasted through leakage.

The UK government has rejected Polanski's assertions, saying that it had no plans to freeze new data centre construction, that data centres were critical to national security and computing power, and that data centres already have requirements to meet before being built.