Migration

This week’s news roundup features a closer look at Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s agenda on immigration, as well as a number of personal stories on asylum and Mexican-American relations:

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has decided it is time to talk tough on immigration to outflank the Tories, as they try to garner that political topic for themselves. Over recent weeks, David Cameron, the Conservative leader has made a number of relatively vague statements on how immigration is a burden to local councils and a problem that needs to be acted upon. Now Mr. Brown wants to be seen to be doing just that: The Prime Minister has announced new immigration rules for thousands of foreigners seeking work in the country. The scheme would extend the language testing requirement already in operation for highly-skilled (i.e. university qualified, doctors, lawyers, etc.) migrants to the second tier, the skilled migrant category. Skilled workers from outside the EU will have to prove their English language skills or risk being sent home. According to analysts, this new measure could shut out around 35,000 skilled workers a year - and this, in turn, is worrying to British employers. Reuters quotes David Frost, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce: “In recent years migrant workers to the UK have ensured the continued growth of the economy, possessing a work ethic and skill level that many young British people just do not have. Of course language skills are important but I would be concerned if this meant that those who want to work and help our economy grow are kept out of the country and take their skills and talent elsewhere.” The Times paints the policy initiative in a far more nationalist perspective, as this announcement arrives in tandem with an incentive package for UK employers to hire British workers, with an emphasis on youth and long-term unemployed.

• In conservative politics elsewhere, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Guiliani has come out to say that illegal immigration is not a crime, kicking off a further dust-ruffling discussion with rival Mitt Romney, who accused Mr. Guiliani of not taking the issue seriously enough. In making his case, the former New York mayor is defending the City’s so-called sanctuary policy, which stopped city workers from reporting suspected illegal immigrants. The policy is intended to make illegal immigrants feel that they can report crimes, send their children to school or seek medical treatment without fear of being reported. It did require police to turn in illegal immigrants suspected of committing crimes. While NYC’s approach is an enlightened one and one that demonstrates true public policy making, Mr. Guiliani’s overall solution to the immigration problem is not: “My solution is: Close the border to illegal immigration.” Now that’s an innovative and helpful public policy proposal.
• We recently reported on how heads of local Iraqi provinces were denying settlement to internally displaced refugees. The latest report by the International Organization for Migration shows just how dire the situation has become: “In Basrah as in other governorates, the report finds that displaced women cannot access limited health facilities because of chronic insecurity and in Kirkuk, traditional customs continue to restrict the movement of displaced women. In Anbar, although governorate authorities have not officially imposed restrictions, the intensity of intertribal conflict requires IDPs to have tribal ties to an area in order to stay there safely.”
• Another prominent case of an illegal immigrant mother has been resolved. The story of Zhenxing Jiang made international headlines in 2002, when news broke that she had miscarried twins after allegedly being mistreated by US immigration official trying to deport her. The case has been under review for a number of years, but now Ms. Jiang has been granted political asylum and is thus allowed to remain in the US with her husband and American passport-carrying children. In her original asylum claim, Ms. Jiang had noted that under the Chinese one-child policy, she could have faced forced abortion or even sterilization, had she returned to the country with two American children.
• The San Francisco Chronicle features a profile of Lionel Sosa, the Mexican-American entrepreneur and political advisor on Latino Affairs who has now thrown his weight into finding practical ways of bridging the divide between Mexico and the United States with his new think tank MATT.org - Mexican & Americans Thinking Together.
• When three Muslim-fundamentalist terrorists were arrested in Germany earlier in the week, following the discovery of a plot to blow up a number of establishments frequented by Americans in September, Germans were shocked at the news that two of the suspects were countrymen who had converted to Islam and become radicalized through the mosque they visited in Ulm, but mostly through the terrorist training camps they attended in Pakistan. Hardly any public attention was lavished on the third suspect - a Muslim of Turkish origin. While all of Germany pondered the possible threat of the “new converts,” the New York Times examines what impact the involvement of a second-generation Turk in this plot might have on the image of the Turkish community in Germany.

Since 1954, there has been a decline in the vision of America as a liberator of nations and people as they were known for in the Second World War and the Korean Conflict and their anti-colonial position after 1945.  Since 1954, the realization that US Foreign Policy could do more harm than good was defined in Guatemala where the CIA helped oust democratically elected leader Jacobo Arbenz in a coup and installed a military leader Colonel Armas on behalf of the United Fruit Company. United Fruit feared that land reforms by Arbenz would lead to expropriations by the government and hurt United Fruit who owned the majority of Guatemala’s rural farm production and was one of the top banana producers worldwide at the time. The CIA actively aided United Fruit by overthrowing the government and labelling Arbenz and communist and using force to remove Arbenz from power. It resulted in decades of human rights abuses and dictatorships in Guatemala and still produces much conflict today in Guatemala with the Chiquita company, the altered name of United Fruit Co.

While the US has assisted greatly in places like Korea, Japan and Bosnia in the last fifty years, the interference by US Foreign Policy in places where the objective was unclear or stability of government to achieve an economic or political objective took precedent over natural power trends and democratic movements in the country often resulted in disasters inside the US and abroad.

Unclear objectives were part of the conflict in Vietnam and were inherited by the War in Iraq and subsequent civil war that has commenced in what is currently the most dangerous place in the world. It was finally admitted this week that the Iraqi Government will likely not be able to manage the future situation in the country, and unlike in Vietnam where Saigon was taken by the communist forces, Iraq has nothing but splinter groups who will push the country further into anarchy.

Stability of governments to meet an objective was also a strong motivation for US involvement. While in cases such as Bosnia where the objective was clear and noble, other cases such as those in Latin America often produced hundreds of thousands of refugees as well as one party states to ensure stability in the region. The trend and methods in the Guatemalan case spread most notably in Chile in 1973 where Agusto Pinochet was able to murder his democratically elected opposition with CIA aid and ensure his dictatorship until the late 1990s. The 80s saw more bloodshed with support for traditional leaders in Nicaragua and El Salvador who are still suffering from effects of the conflict to date.

Until Iraq, the activities of the US were seen as becoming more as a policing duty as in the Balkans as opposed to producing coups like in Guatemala and Chile. In the 90s, Colombia and the War on Drugs brought US aid to the conflict, albeit more debatable in its result as FARC and other groups often do not represent the people of Colombia, but took to kidnapping western oil workers in the region and contributed to hurting locals in Colombia which have suffered greatly from instability over more than two decades. While the US was not the aggressor in many cases in the Andean region, companies were seen to abuse their position in developing regions but without direct US support for the companies, but only military aid to democratically elected Colombian government officials. These conflicts continue to plague Colombia to this day.

In the end despite moral and immoral activities by the US, the result for many errors in US foreign policy has been a reflection of the errors committed in Guatemala in 1954. Millions of refugees have fled Iraq, Colombia, Vietnam, Chile, Central America and Guatemala of course due to poor decisions and sometimes active punishment of those in opposition. Many of these individuals live in your communities today, and are a reflection of why choosing leaders and their decisions do make a difference to the health of communities worldwide.

Please refer to Kyle de Beausset’s articles on the Chiquita Bananna Boycott and his article on Illegal Aliens and Guatemala.

  Jacobo Arbenz: Elected Leader or Communist? The Media Decides… 

In the 1990’s the pattern was clear. A business deal to produce a product like toys was made in the US, the manufacturing was done in Mexico, the characters and branding for the toys were Japanese and the people who maintained the office were from Mexico, albeit living in the United States and the product in the end went all over the world.

Now the most popular character for younger children in the world today is Dora the Explorer, who is a character of a child of Latin American descent who is tremendously popular in the US and abroad. Unfortunately her character’s toys are not bringing jobs to Mexico despite the cultural links, but are being produced in China. The problem is that this time international politics, the Olympics and suicide in China by one of the top officials in an American toy company surrounds an unclear pattern of how culture, politics and lead paint has produced a scandal that could spark a trade war due to a fictional Mexican girl who is Made in China.

Nearly a month ago it was discovered that many of the Mattel toys coming to the US from Chinese manufacturing plants had too much lead in the paint they used to be suitable for toys for young children. Mattel’s apology was appropriate and reasonably responsive and many toy lines were recalled in turn. A rash of criticisms of China abounded in US media after a number of product recalls, included tainted pet food which killed a few unlucky animals and send a mid-level Chinese factory worker to jail as the sole culprit of the poisoned vittles. Then the head of the manufacturer of many of Mattel’s products in China, Zhang Shuhong, committed suicide for still unknown reasons linked to the tainted paint scandal.

With much of the enormous US debt due to the Iraq war owned by China and the upcoming Olympic games in Beijing, there has been a small PR war arising out of the product scandals. Despite this, developed countries worldwide are moving from Mexico and the Middle East production of the 1990s to China despite all the criticisms and abuses that are now highlighted post Dora the Explorer.

Ironically, the trend in China is likely contributing to a rise in migration worldwide. While in Mexico since 1994, tourism and Maquilladora manufacturing contributed greatly to the rise in the standard of living and stable growth in the Mexican economy, many argue in the world of Dora and the Chinese economic boom, the main revenue to Mexico now is those sourced from those funds coming from the US from legal and illegal Mexican migrants sending funds back to their relatives in Mexico. It could be that the numbers of migrants are increasing with labour jobs moving to China and persons to the US from Mexico, but also that one of the highest grossing products is also teaching American children Spanish in order to communicate and appreciate those coming to the US like Dora herself. While many of these trends have not yet been clearly defined in academic research, the Dora effect will likely become more prevalent with more debt and scandals surrounding international trade, cultural migration and Dora the Explorer herself.

In this weeks Weekly Roundup we take a look at the US Presidential Campaign and political attacks by Romney against Giuliani’s immigration record, the National Guard situation at the US border as well as Remittances to Mexico and Census changes in the US and problems with the immigration laws in the UK:

• In one of the strongest conflicts yet between Republican presidential front-runners, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney attacked rival Rudy Giuliani Wednesday, implying that Giuliani supported illegal immigration when he was mayor of New York. See the story here.
• NBC Reports There Are “Fewer Than 1,000″ National Guard Troops Along The Border. NBC’s HODA KOTBE: “Well back here on the ground, there are reports of a snag in the President’s border patrol plan. Instead of growing to 6,000 National Guard troops along the border, there are fewer than 1,000, with many states reluctant to send more. See the story here.
• Legal restrictions targeting illegal immigrants have contributed to a sharp fall-off in the remittances sent to Mexico from a number of US states, according to a survey published yesterday. Remittances are one of Mexico’s largest imports of funds into the country. See the story here.
• The government’s proposed changes to immigration rules for skilled migrant workers are unfair and break human rights law, a parliamentary committee said on Thursday. See the story here.
• As of 2006, non-Hispanic whites made up less than half the population in 303 of the nationals 3,141 counties, according to figures the Census Bureau is releasing Thursday. Non-Hispanic whites were a minority in 262 counties in 2000, up from 183 in 1990. See the story here and here.

This week’s news takes a look at the situation in the small country of Moldova where a majority of its workers abroad are illegal, examines the further developments in the shooting of the Brazilian man during the chaos of the London Bombings and the resulting inquiry into his death and focuses on Libya’s human rights record and deaths on the US border. We also take a look at Australia’s further integration issues and a record breaking number of African Migrants reaching the Canary Islands of Spain this past week :

• IMF forecasts that Moldova will be the world leader for the amount of money sent home by migrants in 2008. Most of the Moldovan workers abroad are illegal immigrants. See the story here.
• London police misled public after accidental shooting, panel finds a top official failed to inform the commissioner of the victim’s identity, thus allowing erroneous reports to be perpetuated in the media. The Brazilian national was killed by London police during the anarchy of the London Bombing, but inquiries found that errors by the London police were skewed and subsequently covered up in the aftermath of the situation. See the story here.
• Libya is set to take charge of a UN anti-racism committee in a move condemned by human rights groups who say the north African country’s rights record disqualifies it from the post. Libya takes over on the heels of torture allegations put forward by foreign medics recently released from the country. See the story here.
• The number of illegal immigrants who have died trying to get into the United States is higher than ever this summer. According to USAToday, many migrants have not been able to survive the harsh conditions of the deserts between the US and Mexico and often perish during the journey. Resaons for this are discussed in the article. See the story here.
• In a report by CNN, The body of a Cuban-American, Luis Lazaro Lara Morejon who was under investigation in a migrant smuggling case was found riddled with bullets along a road outside the Caribbean resort of Cancun, authorities said Tuesday. See the story here.
• A new test for Migrants to Australia is to be created according to the Sydney Morning Herald. People who are seeking to immigrate will face stricter scrutiny of their ability to integrate into Australian society, the Minister for Immigration, Kevin Andrews said this past week. See the story here.
• A record-breaking 180 African immigrants reached the Canary Islands in a single ocean-going canoe on Monday as new super-sized vessels began to be used in the perilous journey from Africa’s Atlantic coast. The 180 sub-Saharan Africans were picked up by a Spanish maritime rescue vessel off the island of Tenerife. See the story here. 

This week’s collection of articles features the apparent failure of an international meeting to address the refugee crisis in Iraq and surrounding countries, and new measures by the Australian federal and state governments to facilitate employment for migrant workers. The positive impact that citizenship can have on integration rounds out this week’s look at the most important stories on the global movement of people.

• Politicians, administrators and experts from Syria, Egypt, the Arab League and United Nations relief organizations, as well as representatives of the United States, the European Union, Turkey, Iran, Russia and Japan attending as observers met in Amman, Jordan this week to discuss how best to address the needs of Iraqi refugees. Attendants expressed frustration at what seems to have been little more than a talking shop, as the New York Times reports. While the focus should have been the development of an economic, security and infrastructural strategy for dealing with the refugees, aid was the central focus of most of the discussions. The conference came just two days after Amnesty International had warned that the Iraqi refugee situation was nearing a breaking point. More than two million Iraqis have now fled the sectarian violence raging in their country and almost two million others are internally displaced. A humanitarian crisis of unforeseen dimensions looms, if immediate action isn’t taken, the organization warns - and conferences like Friday’s meeting in Amman are clearly insufficient to address the pressing situation. Amnesty calls on both the Iraqi government to live up to its promised aid payments but also demands Western governments offer generous resettlement packages. We have covered the tenuous situation of Iraqi refugees in a number of blogs in the past, particularly the reluctance of many EU governments to accept additional displaced Iraqis fleeing the insecure situation in their homeland.
• In a related story in the same paper, US officials have admitted they are not acting fast enough in issuing visas to Iraqi refugees.
• The US State of Georgia has introduced some of the harshest legislation against illegal immigrants in the nation. Its full effect is only now becoming clear. Local police officers and sheriffs have essentially been given the right to decide the deportation of illegal migrants and can run immigration status checks even in routine measures, such as traffic controls. A recent case reported in the LA Times proves just how this new legislation could increase the vulnerability of those that already live without legal protection.
• Newsday columnist Sheryl McCarthy criticizes the exploitation many migrant workers are subject to in lower-than minimum wage jobs in New York and all across the country in her weekend commentary.
• The Australian government looks set to invest into new measures to help businesses provide English language education on the job. The Western Australian newspaper is also reporting that the state labor government will invest AUS $50 million towards a major revamp of the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP), which is essentially the ticket to legal residence and eventual citizenship in Australia. In related news, a new study by  the University of New England’s (UNE) Centre for Applied Research in Social Sciences has revealed that migrants are better educated, more law-abiding, are generally healthier and less dependent on welfare than the average Australian-born citizen. Now that is some food for thought…
•  The St. Pete Times from Florida offers a glimpse into the difficult situation many migrant families face, when the parents are undocumented migrants but the children are US nationals. What happens to the children, when the parents are jailed or deported? The legal situation is still unclear and decisions generally made on a case-by-case basis.
• And finally an inspiring story from the New York Times on the role citizenship can have on integrating even the oldest of migrants.

This week’s news features commentary on the future of illegal immigration in the United States, a roundup of the integration summit in Germany and a call to change the international refugee convention to include the victims of famine and drought.

• Der Spiegel has full coverage of the German integration summit (in English), which hardly went as originally planned, plagued by boycotts from Turkish organizations. The overall integration concept was criticized by migrant groups for not being inclusive enough. Given the almost 40 years during which Germany denied being an immigration country, despite the largest number of foreigners living on its soil in Europe, this policy action plan attempts to be a tour de force. Nevertheless, much like the immigration legislation that was introduced during the last administration, one cannot but feel that all this comes a little too late. Coverage on the issue from the IHT can be found here.
• The European Council on Refugees and Exiles has published its report on the situation for refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced
  persons (IDPs) in Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation and Ukraine in 2006.
• Over in the UK, the Institute for Public Policy Research is calling for an amnesty on illegal immigrants so that these migrants could become active tax payers. The think tank argues that deportation of Britain’s estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants would not only be a huge burden on tax payers, but is practically impossible - to say nothing of the fact that it would take over 30 years at the current rate. The BBC has the story here.
• Australia’s newspaper The Age features a commentary by Dr. Mirko Bagaric, former member of the Refugee Review Tribunal, who argues that the international refugee convention should be amended to include those suffering from famine and abject poverty: “Australia should take a leading role in broadening the scope of people it will allow to migrate for reasons of need. We need to broaden the definition of a refugee so that our compassion extends to those who are suffering the greatest degree of deprivation.”
• One of New York City’s most prominent immigration activists, Victor Toro, might face deportation, the New York Times reports, after his status was unveiled in a routine check by border patrol agents on regional transport.
• Another article in the same paper chronicles how immigrant activists are increasingly turning to second generation migrants as allies in their political efforts: “Many young people raised in this country know their way around a system that sometimes baffles their parents. Those who are citizens can speak out for those who have yet to get their papers.”
• Though not strictly from this week, The Economist, features an article on the drive to naturalize legally resident immigrants ahead of the US Presidential elections next fall.
• The same magazine comments on the failure of the Senate immigration Bill and offers a glimpse into the future: “Likely consequence will be an outbreak of ad hoc law-making in cities and states. Liberal and Hispanic enclaves may follow the example of National City, on the outskirts of San Diego, and declare themselves to be “sanctuary cities” where police officers are told not to quiz people about their immigration status. Others—probably a greater number—will tell the cops to do precisely that, or enact other laws against illegal immigrants and the people who house and employ them.”

With the failure of the Immigration Reform Bill there has been a refocusing on the issues regarding the current state of affairs surrounding illegal immigration. This year there has already been 275 bodies found between US-Mexico border and it is expected that that number is going to rise to a record of over 500 bodies in 2007. Much of the criticism coming from some border experts is that increased border security creates a situation where migrants seek more dangerous and unfriendly means to make it across the border, and since 1994 when border security was tightened nearly 4,500 Mexicans and Central Americans have perished trying to make it to the US.

While there is much debate on why it has become more dangerous to cross the border, it is believed that while in the past many met their fate due to traffic accidents, the main culprit in recent history is hypothermia from cold desert temperatures and many being drenched while crossing the Rio Grande river between Mexico and the US and not being able to warm themselves to save their lives. Another risk mentioned are the cases of some smugglers, commonly called “coyotes” abandoning their migrants or physically assaulting them. While much of the statistics show the evident rise in risks in crossing the border and the links with border security, much of the information details only the situation US side of the border. Despite all these statistics, or lack thereof, much of these issues are common knowledge on both sides of the border.

The question that needs to be asked in my opinion is whether these migrants from Mexico and Central America and the US and its economy and people are two independent issues, or whether in that part of the Americas those two groups are completely interdependent on each other. One can only give their best observation, but I believe there is a solid point to be made in the film A Day Without a Mexican-2004 where California is ground to a halt when on May 14th every Mexican worker disappears from the streets of California and its citizens attempt to manage their lives without the thousands of illegal immigrants who do much of the labour in today’s America.

Despite the humoristic observations of the filmmakers, in reality the situation on the border is one of perpetual crisis. With an economy so dependent on its inexpensive labour and so resistant to accept the workers who do those tasks, it seems the solution to many of these issues are non-existent except to make a movie about something no one can agree on yet everyone knows they could not live without.

The failure of Immigration reform in the US marked a special occasion in recent US political history where both parties have come to complete consensus over an issue, and have decided that NO ONE can agree on anything when it comes to reforming the unworkable immigration laws in the United States. The plan was finally put to rest when members of both the Democrats and Republicans could not come to any consensus in reforming the key issues tied in with immigration last week. The main points of disagreement among US politicians were debates over border security, what to do with the approximately 12 million illegal immigrants in the US, and allowing a new process for foreign workers to be able to work legally in the US. Addressing these three main issue were considered by many as asking too much too soon in altering current US immigration policy.

The effect on the Bush Administration disallows any attempt to improve domestic support and his overall reputation before he leaves office. Many political experts see immigration as a dead issue until 2009, when a new President can adopt the issue to gain their own support and leave the Bush legacy with only Iraq and scandals as its main points of historical debate. It remains to be seen how future candidates will address immigration, if at all in the upcoming US elections.

The real losers however are immigrants and Americans themselves. In the June 30th article by the New York Times: Immigrants Work On as Bill Dies and Views Divide, news of the failed reforms met some concerned groups with quiet mediocrity while others were happy to know that they may still have a good chance to make it to America without increased border security hindering their chances. Workers currently in the US, like Ediberto Perez reacted by saying: “Well, I am just going to keep working, What more can I do?” Also spoken about in the New York Times article was Mr. Brito, who thought him and his companions would never gain legal status. He has his wife and four children living in Mexico and while said he would love to become legal, it would not stop him from working at any job he can find.

Criticisms of the continuation of the labour situation in the US have met criticism from across the border in Mexico. Mexican President Felipe Calderon called the Senate’s decision a “grave error” and a failure to find a “sensible, rational, legal solution to the migration problem.” Jorge Bustamente of the UN human rights commission for migrants criticized the lack of reform measures by stating, “It means the continuation and probably a worsening of the migrants’ vulnerable conditions.” Mexican newspaper El Universal also commented on the failure of the immigration reform by stating that while American politicians want labour, they are unwilling to legalise the labour they require.

While delaying approaching the immigration issue until 2009 may not solve any current problems, it is evident that there is still a severe lack of consensus in dealing with immigration in the United States. While agreeing to disagree is the result of this latest round of immigration issues across America and beyond its borders into Mexico and abroad, everyone concerned must deal with its political paralysis for the time being.

The US Senate’s failure to move the compromise bill on immigration reform forward has dominated headlines over the past few days. Meanwhile, the election of the first black mayor in Ireland is being heralded as a success of that country’s integration policies. As Portugal takes over the rotating EU Council Presidency from Germany for the next six months, the European Council of Refugees and Exiles highlights a number of priorities, including the creation of a pan-European asylum system.

• The Economist summarizes the proposed US immigration bill and the political arguments that ultimately led to its failure.
• Randal Archibold of the NYT visited US migrants as the news broke to gather their impressions. His five-page article vividly proves why the current legal situation is unsatisfactory, and endangers the lives and livelihoods of many thousands of migrants living, working and contributing to the US economy in all 50 States today.
• The first black mayor in Ireland is heralding his election as a proof of how well European societies can adapt to rapid flows of migration, the Guardian reports. Rotimi Adebari, who arrived in Ireland as an asylum seeker seven years ago and had difficulties finding employment in the first few years, was elected mayor ofPortlaoise, backed by established parties, including Fine Gael and Sinn Féin councilors.
•  Another migrant vessel sank between Libya and Malta this weekend, killing at least 20 would-be immigrants. German newspaper, the Frankfurter Rundschau, is reporting that the Italian government has reacted and presented a new immigration law to curtail immigration but de-criminalize the attempt to land on Italian shore. Romano Prodi’s coalition government is also proposing to get rid of the obligatory language test introduced by the previous conservative government under Silvio Berlusconi. Instead, the new law introduces the concept of “sponsors” which commit themselves to guaranteeing a job or financial support to allow a new migrant legal status. In addition, the government wants to end the mandatory detention of illegal immigrants. Only violent or uncooperative migrants are to be detained in the future and financial aid offered to facilitate the return of those migrants not accorded the temporary right to stay. The opposition led by Berlusconi has announced to fight this new legal proposal. We will cover this story and add English links as soon as they become available.
• The European Council on Refugees and Exiles has published its memorandum to the Portuguese EU Presidency, recalling the priorities toward creating a Common European Asylum System by 2010.