Migration

This week’s news roundup is truly a mixed basket of stories, including a look at the new US citizenship test, a new set of statistics on immigration, which raise a few questions for the Home Secretary in the UK and a story on how a new musical phenomenon is visualizing just how much Italian society has changed over time.

• Janet Hinshaw-Thomas, the founder and director of Prime - Ecumenical Commitment to Refugees, a two-decade-old refugee resettlement organization in Pennsylvania has been arrested in Canada for aiding Haitian migrants in seeking asylum in the country. This is the first time the 2002 law on prosecuting “criminal smugglers” has been applied to someone working for an immigrant aid organization, the New York Times reports. Hinshaw-Thomas’ organization has been accompanying migrants who have exhausted their legal options in the US to the Canadia border over the past few months, always giving Canadian authorities advanced notice. Her lawyer is disputing the charges.
• The United States has been giving citizenship tests to those seeking a blue passport for years and these have become the golden standard for many European countries who are currently developing their own versions of these exams. Now, the US test has been updated: knowing who the Speaker of the House is and correctly identifying Susan B. Anthony’s role in the women’s civil rights movement will help assess whether an immigrant has understood basic concepts of modern American democracy. American or not, would you be able to answer these questions?
• We have highlighted the difficulties the dire economic situation in Zimbabwe is causing neighboring countries in previous posts. This article from the International Herald Tribune describes the situation for Zimbabwean migrants - some permanent, some merely daily labor migrants - in neighboring Zambia. Around a 1,000 Zimbabweans cross into Zambia daily just to purchase basic provisions no longer available in Zimbabwe.
• Michael Kimmelmann reports from Rome on Italy’s changing face, visible in one of the first truly multicultural, successful orchestras. A documentary the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio went around the international film festival circuit and boosted the group’s popularity at home. They now play sold-out shows up and down the country and politicians hungry for votes have begun to take notice.
  
• Members of the European Parliament are backing EU Commissioner Franco Frattini’s plans for an EU Blue Card.
• Looks like the UK government needs some better statisticians: earlier in the week, the Office of National Statistics published new projected migration figures, revising previous estimates with an increase of 30%. Naturally, anti-immigrant groups and opposition politicians jumped all over the Labor government for their apparent failure to live up to their “complacent assumptions” of migrants coming into the country. Instead of 145,000 migrants annually, the new figure now stands at 190,000. Home Secretary Jaqui Smith reiterated her commitment to bringing in highly-skilled migrants on a points-based system and cracking down on criminal immigrants and illegals with her proclaimed “zero tolerance” approach, while immigration minister Liam Byrne pointed to the fact that these new numbers could be attributed to the EU decision to relax rules on labor migration from the Union’s newest members to other member states.
• The UNHCR has created an excellent web resource on the Iraqi refugee situation, including an update of recent relief work in the region. In addition, the UNHCR is closely monitoring how Iraqi refugees are being treated in exile.

After the painful debate in the US about immigration this past year, none of the future Presidential candidates came out as a hero for the Hispanic voter in the intense conflict between individual Democrats and Republicans as well as within the parties themselves on how to change the US Immigration fiasco for the better. While not a hot issue beforehand, the Bush Presidency opened the issue to allow a debate beyond Iraq and allow Mr. Bush to end his second term with some positive changes to internal policies in the United States near the beginning of 2007.

While seen by many as self-serving, Bush did try to create positive change to US Immigration policy recently, which was in 2001 his main focus before 9/11. In the end, the support for giving more access and legalizing illegal workers in the United States started where it ended, absolutely nowhere. The only beneficiaries were American media outlets who were given something else to report on besides climate change and the occasional car chase in Springfield, Anywhere, USA. Since the end of the Bill this past summer, the only mention of immigration was on Lou Dobbs and the occasional report on the lack of progress of the fence to be built between the US, Mexico and even Canada.

With the increased furor of the US Presidential elections, a large pile of candidates has announced their intention to run. With such a large number of candidates comes large debate that is hard to follow in any neighborhood or community in the US. One debate this past week was done on a Spanish language channel in the US where the Democratic candidates gave their opinion on issues ranging from immigration to immigration as Jon Stewart cleverly pointed out. The interviewer also questioned issues concerning Cuba and how to address Chavez of Venezuela and his negative PR campaign of the US. While most of the responses were directed by each candidate slightly to the left or slightly to the right of their colleagues, the main focus was on how Republicans often-created negative impressions of immigration to quell any proper debate on the issue, while Democrats were seeking a concrete solution to the immigration issue. This image might have been quashed however, when Sen. Bill Richardson, who is of Hispanic descent, was prohibited from speaking in Spanish as not to give unfair advantage to him in the translated debates. In the end I believe that with the vast number of candidates and everyone waiting for the end of Bush, many do not give much attention to any debates at this point so far away from the voting date. The only assurance is that there will be a new President, but no one could predict who it could be at this point…so place your bets!

In Canada in the large and economically significant Province of Ontario there is an election coming next month to decide who will run Canada’s largest economy, yet the focus is not on recessions and profits, but on who has the right to demand funding for religious schooling in the Province of Ontario.

Since the formation of Canada’s two largest populations in 1867, mostly French speaking Catholics and the British English speaking Protestant populations, there has been a compromise allowing funding for the Catholic school system along with the public system to accommodate the reality of society at the time. The issue is that since 1867 Canada has become one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse populations in the world and in 2007 the country is no longer rooted in the same ethnic heritage as it once was. Despite a 1989 UN report condemning the funding of only one religious group in Ontario, the funding of the Catholic school system and no other system has not seriously been addressed. Despite the current Primier of Ontario being married to a teacher from the Catholic school system and his children attending the same school system, there has not been significant criticism of the current system in the government nor in society as a whole until the official opposition brought the issue to the forum in the current election. The reality is that with severe funding issues in Toronto and other structural issues it will be difficult to change the status quo in education and funding. Despite that, most do agree it is not a just system, but no one dared to change anything about the situation. It went so far that Primier Mcguinty of Ontario is publicising funding for other groups as “Segregation”, but despite all the advantages he personally takes from one religious group having rights above any others, he has labelled a term which honourable people such a Dr. Martin Luther King coined to describe a true tragedy in history and used it to maintain true  segregation in the Province.

“Exaggeration is truth that has lost its temper” - Gibran Khalil Gibran

Difficulties in the Americas does not only stop with public schooling. In California there is a debate about the rights of homosexuals in the private religious schooling systems and if children who do an act against the tenants of the religious group who run the school have a right to attend the school despite their actions being contrary to the basic rules of the religion. While it is really not clear how the situation will turn out, it will most likely depend on the funding status of the school as well as the rights individuals have in a congregation as opposed to rights of an individual.

The real issue at hand in both the above scenarios is what to do with groups which have been in the US and Canada for a short period of time in comparison to other groups and their rights to education for their children. In the case of Ontario, despite some religious affiliations being able to submit to religious tribunals in the Province, when Muslim groups sought to open tribunals based upon Shari’a Law it was denied by public authorities. Many see the denial of religious funding as an issue of denial of funding to Muslim schools as opposed to funding simply non-Catholics. While Jewish, Hindu, and Evangel groups are the vast majority seeking funding for schooling in Ontario, there is some discussion of the issue as being more anti-Muslim as opposed to pro-diversity, even though there are relatively small numbers of Muslims in Ontario compared to other groups in Canada and similar countries in Europe. While the debate is not clearly defined yet in the election campaign due Oct 10th in Ontario, a reflection of the issue is taking place currently in New York State.

Opening this week is the Khalil Gibran International Academy, which is rooted in the study of Arabic culture and literature. Despite concerns about the Academy being a school to teach radical Islam to young children by paranoid people in the community via public funding, the reality is that Arabic culture is as diverse as anywhere else in the world and is not solely rooted in Radicalism or even Islam itself. Gibran, a resident of New York an immigrant from Lebanon of Christian origin in the early 20th Century is one of the most well known poets in Middle Eastern literature and is studied by most of the groups residing in the Middle East and abroad. Paranoia about education serves in all these instances above as a disservice to those who seek to study the tradition of one culture yet must gain permission from others who do not wish to acknowledge equality in education. Often the criticism comes from groups beyond those who currently do not possess the rights and power to educate their children in any fashion they see fit with full public support. Education is power when the rights to disagree still allows to have the maturity to fund schools and education in a community, even if you do not agree with it or as seen above, understand it. Anyone who read Gibran before would note this debate his words:

“I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit” - Gibran Khalil Gibran

In this week’s New Roundup we highlight skilled workers and their challenges working in the United States as well as the surprising death threats against community leaders of minority heritage in a small city in Canada and further findings of Migrants in Southern Europe. We also look at fighting racism in the Czech Republic and Russia and problems on the Mexico border.

• Border Crossings - Rising Breed of Migrant Worker: Skilled, Salaried and Welcome: The New York Times discusses why while many countries are seeking to restrict immigration by low-skilled migrants, they are increasingly working to attract those with advanced degrees and scarce skills. See the story here. 
• In a small East Coast Canadian city of Saint John, a city councillor who says he’s been a victim of race-related incidents is not surprised to see more incidents in the city, after another councillor with Korean ancestry received death threats. The suprising threats against the tiny city’s minorities has shocked a country while prides itself on multiculturalism. See the story here.
• Italian coastguards rescued more than 400 migrants off the southern island of Lampedusa on Thursday, including a group of 300 men, women and children crammed into a wooden boat, officials said. See the story here. As well,  a similar incident in Spain A new wave of illegal migrants has set a course for Spain’s southeastern coast in an attempt to reach European shores. See the story here.
• The Prague Jewish Community took issue about the Czech football team Sparta’s fans racism  and sent an open letter to representatives of the Czech first soccer league team Sparta complaining about its fans who yell anti-Semitic slogans during the team’s games. See the story here.
• Student held over internet video of Nazis beheading ‘migrants’ as Russian police detained a university student on Wednesday on suspicion of circulating an Internet video which appeared to show neo-Nazis beheading one non-Slav migrant and shooting another in the head. See the story here and here. 
• At least 3,000 Central American migrants remained stranded along railroad lines in southern Mexico after an American train operator shut down its operations there. See the story here.
• Soccer’s world governing body slapped Jaime Grondona with a nine-month ban on Wednesday in response to the Chilean player’s behaviour at last month’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. See the story here.

The BBC World Service did a series called India-Pakistan 07’ this past week on radio and television programming detailing issues and conflicts and positive developments since the independence of India and Pakistan 60 years ago this past August 14th 1947. While independence from the British Empire and division of the colony into the free states of India and Pakistan is a matter of celebration, the politics and division of the country also resulted in one of the largest mass migrations of individuals in the 20th Century and also in the deaths and assaults of thousands of migrants in the process.

India and Pakistan are some of the most multicultural, multiethnic and multi-religious countries in the world today and India is seem to be one of the next major international economic powers and Pakistan an increasing regional power. India’s and Pakistan’s Diaspora also have become large and important communities in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Africa and of course Asia, working in all levels of society and some of the most important fields of study and the economy in their adoptive nations. This mass movement of people all around the world starting within the British Empire, towards mass migrations in 1947 on the border between the newly independent states and forward into the modern world towards the Americas and Europe and the Mid East have made the people of India and Pakistan one of the most widely spread communities around the world, but also has created enormous debate on the history of many of the conflicts which propelled much of the migration and the violence resulting from the forced migration arising out of Partition.

Inspiring many poets, artist, politicians and filmmakers, the division of India and Pakistan has left a deep impression on people on all sides of the conflict to date. This inspiration has followed much of the people from the region overseas and across generations. In a Canadian production, the movie Partition was created to reflect issues surrounding the conflict at the time and illustrate the problems different ethnic and religious communities faced during the period of separation of India and Pakistan. Described as a South East Asian Romeo and Juliet, the movie focuses on a couple from different religious background during the forced migration of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and other ethnic communities in the border regions of India and Pakistan during Partition of the former British Colony. The fictional story reflects thousands of similar real accounts and artistic interpretations of the conflict and history of the region.

It should be encouraged to look into more of the history of the people and the region, as many of us all around the world have Indians and Pakistanis as friends and neighbors. It would be a positive development for all people to understand more about the debates and conflicts in a region of ever-growing importance.

Marina Nemat has just published her book The Prisoner of Tehran on her time as a political prisoner in Iran in the 1980s. In her time there she was arrested for having negative views of the Revolution of 1979 and was put in prison for many years. Her perspective is an interesting one, as one of her interrogators, who was a political prisoner himself under the Shah became her husband in the end. While she was forced to marry him, there was some respect between the couple and the views he held as a prisoner himself. In the end Marina was released from prison and while all these years she has refrained from telling her story, in her book she reveals for the first time her life as a political prisoner. Marina now lives in Canada.

With the problems in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, the influence of Iran on communities and individuals linked with Iran is growing, and while many Iranians are members of some of the most successful and peaceable communities abroad, the effect of the Government has often impacted many Iranians inside Iran like Marina Nemat as well as Iranians and other people outside of Iran in a negative fashion.

Like Marina, Zahra Kazemi a Canadian journalist who was born in Iran, was also arrested during her time in Iran. Despite her being a foreign national, she was taken as a prisoner for reporting the wrong information about the government in Iran. She was consequently raped and killed in a way to disrespect her in the most brutal manner and then publicized to have perished due to an illness during her time in prison. While her son pushed for recognition and action to be taken in honour of his mother, very little was done in regard to the issue.

This week the International Herald Tribune published an article concerning the Jewish Community of Argentina’s troubles with the ever growing relationship between Argentina and Venezuela. The concern is one involving economy and terrorism as President Hugo Chavez, who provides much of Argentina’s energy in the current energy crisis there, has made overwhelming gestures towards the Iranian Government in order to increase ties with another oil producing nation as well as spite the United States. What worries Argentine Jews is the fact that the bombing of the Jewish Community Centre in Buenos Aires a few years ago which killed more than 50 people and wounded 200 was sponsored by the Iranian Government and members of Hizbollah according to the article. The influence of Iran via Venezuela towards Argentina who has the largest Jewish population in Latin America is a great worry to the victims of the bombings in Buenos Aires and Argentines as a whole.

In a final article from the New York Times, American soldiers in Iraq increasing claim to find support of insurgents by Iran. While there have been many small stories and rumours about Iran’s involvement in Iraq, the support of Hizbollah in Lebanon and political difficulties in that country may be a reflection of the ever growing influence of Iran abroad. While the true actions of Iran in Iraq and abroad are never clear to observers, it is something that the region and world community will eventually need to address in the near future.

While Iranian people in Iran and in the Diaspora have contributed greatly to communities all around the world in which they live, some aspects of a future Iran should be considered in the context of their ever-growing influence. It is unknown what responses people in Iran and abroad may take to actions by the Iranian Government, but with the positive and negative presence and influence of Iranians and Iran abroad the result is sure to be one of great interest.

With so many Chileans migrating to Canada in the 70s and 80’s, it was considered a home field advantage for Chile’s U-20 team last night in Toronto, Canada during the semi-finals of the Under 20 FIFA World Cup of Soccer/Futbol. In the end the Chilean team received 2 Red Cards, ejecting 2 players from the Chilean team and leading to a severe confrontation between local police and members of the Chilean team after the match. Many of the players were handcuffed and physically detained inside the stadium after the end of the match.

In front of the Canadian Embassy in Santiago, Chile many people saw the treatment of their national team as discriminatory. Many in Canada, who are not used to passionate expressions of support for a team outside of Hockey viewed the response after the loss by the Chilean team as unorthodox and the Toronto police quickly sought order during the match and after. The view by many in Canada is that the players threatened the overly strict FIFA official at the end of the match and the police quickly responded to the possible threat. In Chile, it was seen by many as a discriminatory response by Canada towards Chile’s national team who had a right to be upset at the poor conduct by the official of the match. While FIFA will likely respond to the actions of the young Chilean players and the strict approach by the official, it seems that the end of a fairly exciting U-20 tournament will likely sour much of the progress made during the last 3 weeks of Fair Play as promoted by FIFA since the infamous head butt by France’s Zidane during the final of the last World Cup.

With Latin passion being responded to with pepper spray, tasers and batons in Canada, there seems to be moments of controversy at the end of each World Cup…at least it will keep people watching.  Oh, and Argentina won against Chile 3-0…almost forgot!

As Canada’s most famous Ex-Canadian, Mr. Conrad Black was found guilty on some of the charges today in a Chicago court for some of the counts of fraud and taking millions of dollars from shareholders and most notably obstruction of justice. While most of the offences Mr. Black was accused of were quashed and Mr. Black will surely appeal any convictions against him, the path towards the American court and accusations against him in defrauding his company Hollinger International is an interesting case of what it is to be a citizen of a country and how important that status is in the realm of international law.

Mr. Black arose to media fame in the Canadian province of Quebec where he worked as a journalist and eventually ran his own publication in the early part of his career. With the expansion of Mr.Black’s media empire, he gained more influence and critics in Canada and eventually abroad. As a Canadian, Conrad Black was eligible after his years of work to be granted a Lordship in Britain as Canada is a major part of the British Commonwealth. The situation at the time however was not favorable to Black, as with his newly minted conservative cross Canada publication The National Post criticizing Liberal Prime Minister Chretienat the time, the Prime Minister was seen by many as violating his customary powers of office and disallowed Mr.Black from being granted his Lordship in the UK. While the Prime Minister of Canada rarely if ever disallows a Lordship from being granted under customary traditions, it was felt by Black that the right of the media to criticize politicians was not respected by Mr. Chretien and as a personal assault the Prime Minister at the time was denying Mr. Black the honours of the Crown he rightfully deserved. As a result, Conrad Black renounced his Canadian citizenship to spite Mr. Chretien and was given honorary British citizenship with his Lordship.

As time passed the different commercial and corporate laws of the UK, Canada and the US were applied against Mr. Black and his activities in running his media empire. With legal issues abounding, Mr. Black sought to reestablish his Canadian identity post-Chretien and with the varying legal risks between other countries and the US it was thought by many in Canada that he wanted to re-instate his status as a Canadian for legal issues, while many others saw Canada as a country that would take any refugee and saw no reason why a son of Canada should not be granted citizenship in his place of birth.

With a change in the Government in Canada from the Liberal Party to the Conservatives coming due to the corruption of Canada’s Prime Minister’s Office under Jean Chretien in the Sponsorship Scandal, Conrad was also accused in the US of charges of fraud and obstruction of justice. Mr. Black as not being Canadian was not granted any favoritism or assistance in his former country where he grew his life and career, and came to Chicago to face trial. With the results of today’s trial it is unclear to the public if Mr. Black is the man who Chretien wanted the public to believe, or if he was a victim of a Canadian Prime Minister who tried to punish Conrad for promoting freedom of speech and who subsequently disappeared in the wake of the Sponsorship Scandal and has yet to face trial himself. The legacy of Conrad Black is one of many great publications and a trial which will frame the remainder of his life.

In my personal experience as a legal advisor to refugee claimants in Canada there was a duty to follow the laws, respect the country I was living in and do the best for my clients. While many cases were falsified, and others were very legitimate, there was always one problem in the system that stood out as an irritant to preserving the rights of individuals in Canada. The lack of morality of those representing clients was always my personal main concern while working within the Canadian Refugee System. More often than not, clients would gain representation from what are known as Immigration Consultants. While many are honest and good at their job, mostly they are unregulated, have no standards or guidelines in assisting their clients, and in many cases with abusive consultants they would overcharge for services that their clients could not afford or did not understand. There are many great Consultants and Lawyers in the system, but some are too awful to consider discussing in this forum.

A recent report by TheStar.com set out to challenge the legitimacy of the Immigration Consultant system by placing hidden cameras in some consulting sessions. What was found is that a few of those Consultants were overcharging their clients to an extreme degree, and even more disturbing falsifying information on their client’s documentation in order to obtain their immigration papers or win their claims for refugee status.

In the article above many of the Immigration lawyers claimed to get a lot of business from clients who’s lives have been destroyed by the unethical actions of their Immigration Consultants. I have found this to be true in many cases, but as well many lawyers have not been completely fair in their work with immigration cases either.

While lawyers in Canada are certified by the local Province’s Law Society, and many Immigration Consultants are now becoming registered with the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, the vulnerability of many clients and their perception that they lack certain fundamental rights in a foreign country often lead them to trust much of what their representatives advise them to do while their applications are in process. While moral and legal obligations to their clients and their membership in their respective professional societies gear those agents to assist their clients, it is often not the case. Do you believe foreign citizens should have rights abroad? It is a question which needs to be asked in every society and implemented if respect for these individuals shall become part of the institutions and people who work with immigration issues.

In a report by the CBC.ca, a discussion of the wage gap between Canadian Immigrants since the 1960s and American Immigrants since the same period shows that there is a significant difference between the two groups of immigrants. The report states that in Canada there seems to be less of a wage gap, as 4 in 10 immigrants to Canada have an undergraduate university degree or greater, while in the US it is 2 in 10. This has to do with the Canadian policy of taking in mostly skilled labour in the immigration process, as opposed to the US policy of taking mostly immigrants connected by family into the United States. While both countries also take in family related immigrants and skilled immigrants alike, the main engine might be where the immigrants come from and the need for certain skills in the American and Canadian society respectively.

Much of the US immigration comes from Mexico and Central America. As well, the US is a beneficiary of the Brain Drain from other countries, where highly educated people from one country flood to another for better opportunities and payment. Canada itself loses a great number of its educated citizens to the US which might explain while 2 in 10 are skilled immigrants to the US, it still is a large number of individuals from all over the world working and promoting the US economy.

Regarding Canada, in last week’s post on What Exactly is “Canadian Experience”?, we see that while Canada may take in many more skilled immigrants, there is strong evidence that the arbitrary barriers to employment for these skilled immigrants may dissolve any benefit to bringing in 4 in 10 skilled immigrants. In reality, many end up taking jobs in very low income sectors despite having a university education or higher. The situation in Canada has become so bad for many skilled immigrants that stories of foreign surgeons driving taxis or similar horror stories abound and a consensus among many skilled immigrants that Canada has become more of a trap for skilled immigrants than a benefit. Many skilled immigrants come to Canada to find that they will have an almost impossible task in requalifiying as well as living with lower real income than in their state of origin.

While Canada may bring in more skilled people, it is evident that the US benefits more from the skilled labour it does accept. There are of course many other factors in this comparison that require a full analysis, but in the meantime more attention needs to be brought on the issues of employment and economic rights in the debate on legal immigration in the US and Canada.