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These Filipinos paid thousands for a job in Poland. Now they feel cheated

These Filipinos paid thousands for a job in Poland. Now they feel cheated

This is the first article in a two-part series about alleged exploitation of Filipino domestic workers.  Hong Kong, China – The sizzling of chicken adobo – a sweet and savoury Filipino dish – fills the air of a high-rise apartment in Doha. It is Sunday, Andrea’s only day off, and she is preparing dinner before another long work week begins. After more than five years in the Qatari capital, Andrea* has long been tired of her sales job and living conditions in the city, where she shares a flat with three fellow Filipinos. So when a friend moved to Poland for work last year, Andrea seized the chance to apply with a recruitment agency that promotes mostly factory jobs in the European country. But after transferring about 2,500 euros (US$2,700) to agents, she is yet to receive her plane ticket. “I am so stressed because of the big amount of money I already paid,” she told Al Jazeera. “I keep thinking how I can get [it] back.” Andrea is not alone. Al Jazeera interviewed 10 Filipino workers and saw written statements from 20 others who claim they were promised jobs in Poland that never materialised, after falling prey to a network of agencies and individual agents working together across multiple countries. Despite having paid thousands of dollars in fees, they fear they won’t ever reach the European country. Andrea said she was told her application would be completed in about six months and cost 3,500 euros ($3,820). But the last she heard from her Poland-based agency was that she needed to pay an additional 500 euros ($550) because her work permit had expired while she was waiting for a visa appointment with the Polish embassy. “They are asking [for] just money and not processing the applications properly,” Andrea said. Stronger rights, higher salaries Filipino workers, both in the Philippines and in popular migrant worker destinations such as Qatar and Hong Kong, are being drawn to Poland through a mixture of word of mouth and social media accounts promoting jobs. For many, the prospect of living and working in Europe seems like a dream come true. In the Philippines, millions have struggled with soaring inflation and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while many migrant workers in Gulf countries and elsewhere in Asia face low salaries, poor conditions and meagre protections. “Here in Qatar, even if I work for 50 years, I won’t be able to become a permanent resident,” Andrea said. Andrea doesn’t believe she would ever be allowed to bring her family from the Philippines to Qatar, which in 2018 became the first Gulf country to start granting foreign residents permanent residency, no matter how hard she works or how long she stays. Instead, she sees a factory job in Poland as a ticket to greater opportunities for her and her family. Filipino workers in three different locations – Qatar, the Philippines and Hong Kong – told Al Jazeera they were led to believe they would find higher salaries in Poland, although they were rarely informed would also face significantly higher taxes. Other touted perks include the chance to bring one’s family to Poland, despite that not being a straightforward process for low-income workers, and access to other European countries. The number of Filipino workers in Poland has grown rapidly in recent years. Poland issued 22,557 work visas to Filipinos in 2022, compared to just 2,057 in 2018, according to data from the Polish Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy. Between 2015 and 2022, Filipinos were among the top five fastest-growing groups to enrol in the country’s social insurance program. A spokesman for Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “the need for Filipino workers in Poland is a combination of a number of factors related to the dynamic growth of the Polish economy in recent years as well as demographic challenges”. Filipino migrant workers are being drawn to Poland through a mixture of word of mouth and social media accounts promoting jobs [Dan Archer/Al Jazeera] According to migrant workers and labour experts, unscrupulous agents are taking advantage of the country’s growing allure. Most workers said they were asked to make payments in three instalments. The total amounts varied from about $3,500 to $5,000, well above the legal maximum amount in the Philippines. Poland prohibits employment agencies from charging placement fees outright. Workers also reported hidden charges, a lack of regular updates, and sometimes even verbal intimidation from agents. Victoria* has lost all hope of a future in Europe. After her food business went bankrupt in the Philippines, she felt she had no option but to leave her home country. Then, last year, Victoria found the Facebook page of an agency that posted videos and photos of Filipino workers who had taken jobs in Poland. “They encouraged me to work there,” she told Al Jazeera, recalling the first online exchanges with agents. Victoria said that Poland’s lack of language restrictions and the prospect of becoming a permanent resident were major draws. “I want [my son] to be a doctor. That’s why I want to go to Poland,” she said. Victoria said she sent about 162,000 Philippine pesos ($2,880) via Western Union to recruiters with a Poland-based agency. But then they requested an additional 1,500 euros ($1,635) as an “assurance fee” – a payment supposedly intended to dissuade workers from abandoning their job in Poland, which is often solicited on the understanding it will be refunded after six months to a year. Victoria, a single mother who remortgaged her house and borrowed money from an acquaintance to cover her application, couldn’t afford the payment. She said she was mocked by the recruitment firm after sharing her dire financial situation and told there were no refunds. “Every day, I cannot sleep,” Victoria said, calling for workers to be compensated and agents “to be punished”. Victoria filed complaints with Filipino authorities against the Polish agency. To date, no one has been punished and she has not received a refund

Alabama congressman says everyone ‘has some type of racist in them’ during debate: report

Alabama congressman says everyone ‘has some type of racist in them’ during debate: report

An Alabama congressman said everyone “has some type of racist in them” during a Wednesday night debate with his Republican opponent.  Rep. Jerry Carl made the remarks during a GOP primary debate against fellow Rep. Barry Moore. Both lawmakers are vying to be the Republican nominee for a congressional seat in the state’s March 5 primary after Alabama’s congressional maps were redrawn.  During the debate, the moderator asked both men if they agreed with GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who said the United States has “never been a racist country” during an interview earlier this month with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade. VENTURE CAPITALIST, CONSERVATIVE FIREBRAND RAISES EYE-POPPING AMOUNT IN BID FOR ARIZONA HOUSE SEAT “I used to work a lot with ministers, and I had some very private conversations. Everyone has some type of racist in them,” Carl said. “My mother, who [after] Pearl Harbor — she couldn’t stand the Japanese. She couldn’t stand them. And it used to just eat her from the inside out. So it’s there.” Carl’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. “What I said is there’s been racism in America, and we need to do everything we can to eradicate it and stand united regardless of skin color,” Carl said in a follow-up statement to The Hill. “The far left wants to divide us on race with ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter, and Barry Moore does it by voting to keep [critical race theory] in our military.” CNN’S DON LEMON ROASTED AS ‘SEXIST’ FOR SAYING NIKKI HALEY PAST HER ‘PRIME’ “This district was drawn along racial lines, and I disagree with that because we need to look at people for who they are, regardless of their skin color. Barry Moore compared opposing races to ants who have been thrown together, but we need to stand united as Americans to do what’s best for our country, regardless of our race,” Carl added. When Moore answered the question, he suggested that the Black Lives Matter movement and far-left Antifa organizations were responsible for causing “division” in the country, The Hill reported.  “So I think as a nation, we obviously have some issues, but the Civil Rights Movement and what Martin Luther King brought in our nation, the way we healed through that process is quite remarkable. Matter of fact, I think we’ve gotten to a point almost in this country that we didn’t see racism. And then Black Lives Matter and Antifa begin to divide us,” Moore said in his response. “Race needs to be a thing of the past. Healing needs to be a thing of the future,” he added.

Texas AG Ken Paxton says state won’t comply with Biden administration order to reopen park to federal agents

Texas AG Ken Paxton says state won’t comply with Biden administration order to reopen park to federal agents

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday his state has no plans to comply with an order from the Biden administration to grant Border Patrol agents access to a riverfront park that is at the center of a border dispute.  The defiance comes in the wake of a Supreme Court decision earlier this week that cleared the way for Border Patrol agents to cut or remove razor wire Texas had installed around Shelby Park. The area has become a popular corridor for migrants to illegally enter the U.S. Texas seized control of the park this month and began denying entry to Border Patrol agents, escalating a feud between Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration, which the governor accuses of not doing enough to curb illegal crossings. After the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday, Texas said it would be installing more rows of razor wire. The fencing has become one of Abbott’s most visible measures to deter migrants in the border city of Eagle Pass. TEXAS GOVERNOR DOING ‘EXACTLY RIGHT THING’ AMID CONSTITUTIONAL BATTLE OVER BORDER ENFORCEMENT: LEGAL EXPERTS On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent the state a letter demanding access again to Shelby Park, which is next to the Rio Grande. It asked Texas to respond by Friday. Paxton told Fox News earlier Thursday that Texas had no plans to comply with the deadline.  TRUMP, RFK JR SIDE WITH TEXAS IN BORDER FIGHT WITH BIDEN ADMIN AS 25 STATES SHOW SUPPORT Paxton cast doubts on the prospect of a physical confrontation between state and federal officials, predicting that the matter would play itself out in the courts.  That prediction is shared by National Border Patrol Council Vice President Chris Cabrera, who also told Fox News on Thursday you’d be “hard-pressed” to get a Border Patrol agent to go up against their counterparts, i.e., Texas National Guard, on the ground.  Another border agent told Fox News, that each agency knows it has to “respond to direct orders from superiors,” adding that there was plenty of mutual respect on both sides.  Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.  A DHS spokesperson told Fox News that enforcing immigration law is a “federal responsibility.”  “Rather than helping to reduce irregular migration, the State of Texas has only made it harder for frontline personnel to do their jobs and to apply consequences under the law,” the spokesperson said. “We can enforce our laws and administer them safely, humanely, and in an orderly way.”  Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Texas Gov. doing ‘exactly right thing’ amid constitutional battle ever border enforcement: legal experts

Texas Gov. doing ‘exactly right thing’ amid constitutional battle ever border enforcement: legal experts

The latest Supreme Court shadow docket decision in Texas’ battle with the Biden White House has sparked a showdown over the Lone Star State’s constitutional authority to defend itself with the federal government seemingly getting in its way.  On Monday, in a 5-4 decision on an emergency appeal, the Supreme Court ruled to temporarily overturn a lower court’s injunction which banned the federal government from cutting razor fencing Texas had installed along the border near Eagle Pass while litigation continues.  Late Wednesday night, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared his constitutional authority under Article 1 to reserve the right of his state to self-defense against an invasion, adding that the executive branch has broken its constitutional pact with the states by failing to enforce federal immigration laws.  Legal experts told Fox News Digital that Texas is well within its constitutional rights and within the Supreme Court’s order to keep building the razor wire fence — even if the feds continue to cut it — ahead of an appeals court addressing the matter on the merits. BORDER BATTLE LINES: DEMS CALL ON BIDEN TO SEIZE CONTROL OF TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD, AS GOP ALLIES BACK ABBOTT Gene Hamilton, vice president and General Counsel at America First Legal and a former Justice Department official in the Trump administration, said Abbott continuing to install the razor wire is “exactly the right move.”  “Unless and until a federal judge comes in and says, ‘you may not, State of Texas, put razor wire up along the border anymore, Texas should keep doing exactly what it needs to do. And eventually, this turns into a game of will between the Feds and the State of Texas,” Hamilton said. Hamilton noted that he believed the Supreme Court’s controversial order was wrong, and gave too much weight to the government’s assertions about the wire’s effect on the federal government’s ability to enforce the immigration laws. He asserted that Texas was not interfering with the government’s enforcement of the laws by creating additional barriers along the border and contended that those barriers actually facilitate the federal government’s ability to deter and prohibit illegal crossings at the locations where they were present. ABBOTT DECLARES TEXAS HAS ‘RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE’ FROM MIGRANT ‘INVASION’ AMID FEUD WITH BIDEN ADMIN “The Supreme Court’s two-sentence order simply vacated the injunction preventing the federal government from tearing down the barbed wire fencing Texas has placed on state property while the case is on appeal,” Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies told Fox News Digital.   “The Supreme Court’s order does not prevent Texas from continuing to place barbed wire or other barriers along the border on state or private property. But while the case is pending, there is nothing preventing the federal government from tearing down the wire fencing,” he said. As to Abbott’s Article 1 assertions, von Spakovsky said that “whether or not what is happening is an ‘invasion’ within the meaning of the Constitution is a controversial and legally undetermined issue.” Article 1, Section 10, which Abbott says was “triggered” by Biden’s inaction at the border states: “No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.”  “It is truly shocking and outrageous that the Biden administration has so intentionally and deliberately mishandled the security of our Southern border that states like Texas, for the first time in our history, feel the need to invoke the invasion clause,” von Spakovsky said.  Ultimately, he says, the matter will need to be decided by the Supreme Court.  In 2012, the Supreme Court decided a case against Arizona brought by the federal government, who sued after Arizona empowered state officials to enforce immigration laws. Arizona lost that case, but the late Justice Antonin Scalia dissented, writing that “as a sovereign, Arizona has the inherent power to exclude persons from its territory, subject only to those limitations expressed in the Constitution or constitutionally imposed by Congress. That power to exclude has long been recognized as inherent in sovereignty.” GOP GOVERNORS RALLY BEHIND TEXAS AS ABBOTT DEFIES BIDEN: ‘DERELICTION OF DUTY’ William Lane, a partner at Wiley Rein LLP and former DOJ official, suggested to Fox News Digital that the Supreme Court may eventually consider the Texas case on the merits, or a number of other challenges between states and the executive branch percolating in the courts. If the Court does choose to weigh in, it may be asked to reconsider Justice Scalia’s theory.  “A decade ago, the Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Arizona to regulate immigration. Justice Scalia, dissenting, argued that states retain at least some inherent authority under the Constitution to control their borders,” said Lane. “The Court has changed significantly since then, and it’ll be interesting to see whether there’s any appetite to revisit that decision as states like Texas try to address illegal immigration on their own,” he said. “It should be no surprise that Governor Abbott has chosen to embrace Justice Scalia’s theory of state sovereignty in defending Texas’s actions,” he added.  Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law emphasized that the high court’s Monday ruling, as an emergency docket decision, was “very narrow.”  But, he said, “I think what we are getting closer to is, unless the Supreme Court says what Texas can and can’t do, Texas will be pushing the boundaries.” The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear the merits of Texas’ case over the Eagle Pass razor wire on Feb. 7. 

Trump, RFK Jr. side with Texas in border fight with Biden admin as 25 states show support

Trump, RFK Jr. side with Texas in border fight with Biden admin as 25 states show support

Longshot presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., GOP candidate former President Donald Trump, and other high-profile figures are siding with Texas in the Lone Star State’s spat with the Biden administration over its handling of illegal immigrants at the border.  The independent said Texas was “right” to defend its borders amid what he regarded as the failed policies of the Biden administration.  “A country without borders is not a country at all,” he tweeted.  TRUMP TELLS STATES TO SURGE NATIONAL GUARD TO TEXAS AS ABBOTT STANDOFF WITH BIDEN ACCELERATES Kennedy is among a growing list of public figures and red states that are throwing their support behind Texas after a Monday Supreme Court decision gave Border Patrol officials the greenlight to remove razor wire from a riverfront park near Eagle Pass that has become a popular corridor for immigrants illegally entering the U.S.  MSNBC’S REID COMPARES LAWMAKERS WORRIED ABOUT BORDER TO ‘OLD SOUTHERNERS’ WHO RESISTED INTEGRATION Former President Donald Trump, the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 race, said all Americans ought to be supporting Texas’ “commonsense measures” and vowed to work with Gov. Abbott and other border states to “stop the invasion, seal the border, and rapidly begin the largest domestic deportation operation in history.”  “Those Biden has let in should not get comfortable because they will be going home,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.  Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., accused Biden’s “failed” border policies of having “wreaked havoc in every corner of our country, including Louisiana.”  Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin accused the Biden administration of refusing “to secure the border” and offered his state’s support of Gov. Abbott and Texas’ “constitutional right to defend itself.  Youngkin is among more than two dozen Republican governors who have released a joint statement targeting the Biden administration for refusing to “take action or responsibility for the crisis at the Southern border.” SPEAKER JOHNSON SAYS HOUSE ‘WILL DO EVERYTHING IN ITS POWER’ TO BACK TEXAS OVER BORDER FEUD “President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border,” reads a joint statement from 25 Republican governors. “Instead of upholding the rule of law and securing the border, the Biden Administration has attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country.”  The statement continues: “We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border. We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally.”  The razor wire fencing in Texas has become one of Gov. Abbott’s most visible measures to deter migrants in the border city of Eagle Pass. Texas seized control of the park this month and began denying entry to Border Patrol agents, escalating a feud between Abbott and the Biden administration. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security sent the state a letter demanding access again to Shelby Park, which is next to the Rio Grande. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday that Texas had no plans to comply with the Biden administration’s deadline.