Migration

Immigration was the hot-button topic across Europe for much of this week (see our separate article on the Blue Card proposal). Following EU Commissioner Franco Frattini’s announcement to introduce a Europe-wide measure to facilitate the immigration of highly-skilled workers to combat existing labor shortages, Member State governments fell all over themselves to criticize the measure, if only to appease a presumed electoral backlash. But there was more news across Europe and the world:

• Earlier in the week, the French parliament debated the President’s new immigration legislation, which includes a proposal to demand DNA samples from visa applicants looking to move to France to prove genetic family ties to those already living in the country. The amendment would require consular offices in the native countries to administer such tests. Human rights organizations were quick to point to the costs of these tests, which the proposal suggests should be voluntary. Tests would serve to weed out economically and perhaps genetically less desireable migrants, they say.
• Brice Hortefeux, France’s immigration minister is also stepping up the pressure elsewhere. In trying to make good on the promises in the Sarkozy electoral campaign (see my commentary on the French election and immigration), he met with local administrators during the week to address why they were failing to meet the ambitious deportation goals set by the President. Sarkozy wants to see 25,000 illegal immigrants deported from France this year. Needless to say, human rights and migrant organizations are heavily critical of the emphasis on achieving the ‘right’ numbers.
• Ahead of EU Commission’s ground-breaking announcement on legal migration, the members of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee sat down to formulate their recommendations toward addressing the situation of illegal immigrants.  One key issue was that jail time for illegals be limited to a more humane period of time. Parliamentarians suggested that illegal immigrants be held no longer than 18-months ahead of deportation across all EU Member States.  The lawmakers decided illegal immigrants can be held in custody for three months from the moment they are apprehended by police, after which an extension of up to 15 months needs to be justified — for example, when background checks on the immigrant take longer or if the person has no valid papers and documents must be obtained from third countries. In addition, parliamentarians want to see a greater degree of protection for illegal immigrants with residence permits that have fallen seriously ill and want to curtail the deportation of unaccompanied migrant children.
• Randal Archibold of the New York Times is reporting that while overall numbers of migrants crossing the border to the US from Mexico in Arizona is down - in part due to reinforced policing measures - the number of migrants dying in transit toward the promise of a new life is heading toward a new record.  Migrants are unaccustomed and unprepared to weather the climate changes in the Arizona desert and as they are forced to charter new ground to evade border patrols, there is little word-of-mouth on how to prepare for harsh conditions.
• Nine months after the fact, Union representatives at the Swift & Company meatpacking plants (we featured the story here) are suing federal immigration agents over the way workers were treated during a raid, which led to the deportation of over 600 workers.
• The Associated Press is reporting that Saul Arellano, son of prominent immigration activist Elvira Arellano (we covered the story here) has rejoined his mother in Mexico. Earlier in the week, 150 people staged a protest in Congress against his deportation to Mexico, given his US citizenship status.
• This week’s big migration-related story is obviously the EU Blue Card proposal to bring in thousands of skilled-migrant workers to combat looming labor shortages. Other countries, such as Malaysia, are also learning that simply expelling migrants for the sake of popular politics, has a profound impact on the economy. The IHT is reporting that the country’s campaign to expel 600,000 illegal migrant workers is starting to backfire, as demand for workers is growing with increasing government investsments ($57 billion) in agriculture, construction and manufacturing to sustain economic growth through 2010. Some plantation owners and construction companies are already reporting labor shortages and things are expected to get worse.
• Speaking of Asian governments, Japan Focus has published an overview of how municipalities in the country are dealing with migrant needs and how that, in turn, influences their two-pronged integration policy, which closely and purposely mirrors the European approach (*side note: who would have thought that the patche Europea immigration and integration policy is a model worth exporting!). The full report can be read here. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the results of the survey show that there is a great variance of how social integration questions are addressed, with some communities choosing not to differentiate between local and migrant population in terms of services offered, and others focused particularly on the needs of migrant women.

Many in Africa and Eastern countries know Athens and Greece as the unofficial gateway to Europe. Many of the migrants coming from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe often make their way to Greece to gain funds and documentation to start a life in Europe through making their living in the crowded and multicultural streets of Athena. While living in Greece is a great opportunity for many, Greeks themselves bear the burden of processing, living with and administering much of the immigration coming to Western Europe through their ancient and proud state and culture.

On occasion the tensions of so many migrants can put a great burden on the government and institutions of society. As mentioned in the last few postings by my wonderful colleague Cathryn Cluver, countries such as Syria and Jordan are doing their best to accept and integrate more than 2 million refugees from Iraq, but their social infrastructure, economy and residents can only absorb a certain number of people until it becomes unbearable. Like Jordan’s refusal to accept more refugees in large numbers, and Syria issuing a Visa program for future migrants from Iraq, any country which has a disproportionate number of migrants coming in a short period of time will have problems digesting and equipping new citizens and residents into mainstream society in a proper manner.

While the Iraqi refugees are more likely now to flood into to Greece, issues in Greece may make life for migrants even more difficult. It is suspected that the cause of the massive fires in Greece this summer was started by an Iraqi migrant. As well, the death of a legal Nigerian migrant this past week in Athens made many Nigerians in Greece protest their ill treatment living in the ancient city.

With Athens being the gateway from the east to the west, the structure and society of Greece will likely accommodate and occasionally slightly implode based upon migration issues creating tension in Greece and neighboring nations…one constant however is that Greece will remain as the meeting point for many cultures in the years to come as it has been in its golden age.

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.

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.