View the current edition of Immigration Reading List or view the Archive.
The Center's work is located on the Publication page.
We also offer the Immigration Reading List as an E-mail Update.
GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
1.
Latest issue of DOJ EOIR Immigration Law Advisor
2. Canada: Report on the evolution of English-French bilingualism in Canada
3. U.K.: Immigration statistics quarterly report
REPORTS, ARTICLES, ETC.
4.
New report from TRAC
5. Three new reports and features from the Migration Policy Institute
6. New working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research
7. Five new papers from the Social Science Research Network
8. "Continued Humanitarian Crisis at the Border:"
9. "Unauthorized Mexican Migration and the Socioeconomic Integration of Mexican Americans"
10. "New Americans in Texas: The Political and Economic Power of Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in the Lone Star State"
11. "Immigrants Contributed An Estimated $115.2 Billion More To The Medicare Trust Fund Than They Took Out In 2002–09"
12. "South American immigrants in the USA: Education levels, tasks performed and the decision to go back home"
13. "Migration and labour markets in OECD countries: a panel cointegration approach"
14. "Welfare participation by immigrants in the UK"
15. "The use of welfare by migrants in Italy"
16. "Determinants of immigrants' cash-welfare benefits intake in Spain"
17. "The remittances framework in Lesotho: Assessment of policies and programmes promoting the multiplier effect"
18. "Chinese professional immigrants in Australia: a gendered pattern in (re)building their careers"
BOOKS
19.
North American Integration: An Institutional Void in Migration, Security and Development
20. Are Human Rights for Migrants?: Critical Reflections on the Status of Irregular Migrants in Europe and the United States
21. Global Crossings: Immigration, Civilization, and America
22. To Sin Against Hope: How America Has Failed Its Immigrants: A Personal History
23. Human Trafficking Around the World: Hidden in Plain Sight
JOURNALS
24.
Human Mobility
25. Journal of Refugee Studies
1.
Around the World in the INA: Designating a Country of Removal in Immigration Proceedings
By Adam L. Fleming
Immigration Law Advisor, Vol. 7 No. 5, May 2013
http://www.justice.gov/eoir/vll/ILA-Newsleter/ILA%202013/vol7no5.pdf
Return to Top
********
********
2.
Study: The evolution of English-French bilingualism in Canada from 1961 to 2011
Statistics Canada, May 2013
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130528/dq130528b-eng.pdf
Excerpt:
English–French bilingualism was also influenced by the influx of new immigrants, whose mother tongue is neither English nor French in approximately 80% of cases.
Outside Quebec, immigrants (6%) were less likely than the Canadian-born (11%) to report being able to conduct a conversation in both English and French and thus contributed to the increase in the non-bilingual population.
In Quebec—contrary to elsewhere in the country—the immigrant population contributed to the increase in bilingualism, as immigrants in that province had higher rates of English–French bilingualism (51%) than the Canadian-born (42%).
Return to Top
********
********
3.
Immigration Statistics, January to March 2013
U.K. Home Office, May 23, 2013
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2013/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2013
Excerpt:
Asylum: There were 22,592 asylum applications, a rise of 14%, with rises in applications from nationals of Pakistan, Syria, Albania, India and Bangladesh. However, this remains low relative to the peak in 2002 (84,132), and similar to levels seen since 2005. At the end of March 2013, 14,225 of the applications received since April 2006 from main applicants were pending a decision, 24% more than a year earlier.
Removals and Voluntary Departures: There were 5% fewer enforced removals (to 14,120), and 9% fewer passengers refused entry at port and who subsequently departed (to 13,606). There was a 4% increase in voluntary departures (to 28,309), although this increase can be explained by a low quarterly figure at the start of the year ending March 2012.
Return to Top
********
********
4.
New from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University
Legal Noncitizens Receive Longest ICE Detention
June 3, 2013
http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/321/
Excerpt: How long do some individuals remain locked up? According to ICE records, at the end of December 2012 there were 4,793 who had already spent at least six months in ICE custody and still had not been released. For these detainees the average detention time was already over a year. A dozen of these individuals already had spent between 6 and 8 years in ICE custody and still remained locked up[3]. These individuals of course were being administratively detained. ICE does not have authority to detain individuals for criminal violations.
Decisions on ICE Detainees: State-by-State Details
May 22, 2013
http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/320/
Excerpt: Nearly four out of ten individuals (39%) left ICE custody from the same facility where they were first detained. Table 1 presents the reason ICE recorded for their departure. Slightly more than one out of four (26%) were deported. Of these, a total of 22 percent were legally removed and barred from reentry to the U.S., while an additional 4 percent were given a "voluntary return" or a "voluntary departure" — that is, they were deported but not barred from reentry. See sidebar for explanation of ICE's various book-out reasons.
Where Individuals Enter ICE Custody: State-by-State Details
May 20, 2013
http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/319/
Excerpt: Almost every state showed some ICE activity. However, the number of individuals taken into ICE custody varied widely, depending on location. At one extreme was Texas, where 24,811 entered ICE custody — as noted earlier, accounting for more than one out of every three detainees in the country. At the other extreme were twelve states — in addition to the District of Columbia, Guam, Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands — that had around ten or fewer individuals per week who were detained. This added up in each state to fewer than 100 detainees over this two-month period. Alaska and Montana at the bottom end each had only six individuals placed in ICE custody during these two months. Two states — Rhode Island and Mississippi — recorded no detainees.
Return to Top
********
********
5.
New from the Migration Policy Institute
1. A Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Health Coverage Profile of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States
By Randy Capps, James D. Bachmeier, Michael Fix, and Jennifer Van Hook
MPI Issue Brief, May 2013
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/CIRbrief-Profile-Unauthorized.pdf
2. Migration and environmental change: Assessing the developing European approach
By Andrew Geddes and Will Somerville
MPI Policy Brief, May 2013
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/MPIEurope-EnvironmentalMigration.pdf
3. Tuareg Migration: A Critical Component of Crisis in the Sahel
By Merise Jalali
Migration Information Source, May 30, 2013
http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=953
Return to Top
********
********
6.
New from National Bureau of Economic Research
Immigrant Assimilation into U.S. Prisons, 1900-1930
By Carolyn M. Moehling and Anne Morrison Piehl
NBER Working Paper No. 19083, May 2013
http://www.nber.org/papers/w19083
Return to Top
********
********
7.
New from the Social Science Research Network
1. Giving Shelter from the Storm: Colombians Fleeing Persecution Based on Sexual Orientation
By Luz Estella Nagle, Stetson University College of Law
Tulsa Law Review, Vol. 48, 2012
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2273649
2. Lessons from Gideon
By Erwin Chemerinsky, University of California, Irvine School of Law
Yale Law Journal, Vol. 122, 2013, Forthcoming
UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2013-111
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2273874
3. Trials of People Smugglers in Indonesia: 2007-2012
By Melissa Crouch, National University of Singapore (NUS) and Antje Missbach, Melbourne Law School
Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society Policy Paper
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2264696
4. The Citizenship Line: Rethinking Immigration Exceptionalism
By Rachel E. Rosenbloom, Northeastern University School of Law
Boston College Law Review, Forthcoming
Northeastern University School of Law Research Paper No. 143-2013
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2272827
5. South-South Migration and the Labor Market: Evidence from South Africa
By Giovanni Facchini, University of Nottingham; Anna Maria Mayda Georgetown University; and Mariapia Mendola, University of Milan
Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano Development Studies Working Paper No. 351
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2271172
Return to Top
********
********
8.
A Continued Humanitarian Crisis at the Border:
Undocumented Border Crosser Deaths Recorded by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, 1990-2012
The Binational Migration Institute at The University of Arizona, June 2013
http://bmi.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/border_deaths_final_web.pdf
Return to Top
********
********
9.
Unauthorized Mexican Migration and the Socioeconomic Integration of Mexican Americans
By Frank D. Bean, Susan K. Brown, Mark A. Leach, James D. Bachmeier, and Jennifer Van Hook
Russell Sage Foundation American Communities Project of Brown University, May 2013
http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Data/Report/report05132013.pdf
Return to Top
********
********
10.
New Americans in Texas: The Political and Economic Power of Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians in the Lone Star State
Immigration Policy Center, May 2013
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/docs/new_americans_in_texas_2013_0.pdf
Return to Top
********
********
11.
Immigrants Contributed An Estimated $115.2 Billion More To The Medicare Trust Fund Than They Took Out In 2002–09
By Leah Zallman, Steffie Woolhandler, David Himmelstein, David Bor, and Danny McCormick
Health Affairs, May 2013
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/early/2013/05/20/hlthaff.2012.1223
Return to Top
********
********
12.
South American immigrants in the USA: Education levels, tasks performed and the decision to go back home
By Carlos Medina and Christian Posso
Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 40, No. 2, 2013
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mcb/002/2013/00000040/00000002/art00007
Return to Top
********
********
13.
Migration and labour markets in OECD countries: a panel cointegration approach
Applied Economics, Vol. 45, No. 16, June 2013
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00036846.2012.661400#.UbEzDthi3p8
Return to Top
********
********
14.
Welfare participation by immigrants in the UK
By Stephen Drinkwater and Catherine Robinson
International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2013
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mcb/016/2013/00000034/00000002/art00001
Return to Top
********
********
15.
The use of welfare by migrants in Italy
By Michele Pellizzari
International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2013
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mcb/016/2013/00000034/00000002/art00005
Return to Top
********
********
16.
Determinants of immigrants' cash-welfare benefits intake in Spain
By Nuria Rodriguez-Planas
International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2013
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mcb/016/2013/00000034/00000002/art00006
Return to Top
********
********
17.
The remittances framework in Lesotho: Assessment of policies and programmes promoting the multiplier effect
By Lefeela Joseph Nalane, Abel Chikanda, and Jonathan Crush
The ACP Observatory on Migration, 2012
http://www.acpmigration-obs.org/sites/default/files/Remittances-Framework-Lesotho-FINAL.pdf
Return to Top
********
********
18.
Chinese professional immigrants in Australia: a gendered pattern in (re)building their careers
By Fang Lee Cooke, Jiaying Zhang, and Jue Wang
International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 24, No. 13, July 2013
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/rijh/2013/00000024/00000013/art00009
Return to Top
********
********
19.
North American Integration: An Institutional Void in Migration, Security and Development
By Gaspare M. Genna and David A. Mayer-Foulkes
Routledge, 280 pp
Hardcover, ISBN: 0415823536, $112.29
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415823536/centerforimmigra
Book Description: The course of events since the implementation of NAFTA has had unexpected elements with significant impacts on North American integration. First has been the rise of China as a larger source of imports and production partner than Mexico. Second has been the rise of security concerns since September 11, 2001. The result has been much stronger integration between Canada and the US than with Mexico. Migration issues are now linked with security, which has risen to a top priority in the international agenda. While liberalization has furnished strong economic incentives for integration, it has not provided a sufficient guide for the political process, which requires leadership and appropriate institutions to coordinate and regulate the special interest groups. A coherent and effective North American integration would be a valuable asset in the context of global integration and competition, yet the issues involved are quite complex and varied.
North American Integration: An Institutional Void in Migration, Security and Development examines the current state of North American integration. The editors gather an international group of experts to give a broad, coherent picture of the current, multifaceted process of integration, and find that institutional development is an essential component. Divided into three sections, the book:
* Discuss the determinants of integration and shows that the institutional characteristics of the three countries, including democracy and basic rights, are the most important.
* Provides examples of institutional building in contexts for which institutions are lacking, specifically labor, migration and health issues.
* Examines issues such as overall security arrangements, trade, drug related violence, energy, and the continuing wage gap among the countries, which have an important bearing on integration.
Return to Top
********
********
20.
Are Human Rights for Migrants?: Critical Reflections on the Status of Irregular Migrants in Europe and the United States
By Marie-Benedicte Dembour and Tobias Kelly
Routledge, 264 pp.
Hardcover, ISBN: 0415619068, $120.78
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415619068/centerforimmigra
Paperback, ISBN: 0415828457, $42.99
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415828457/centerforimmigra
Kindle, 653 KB, ASIN: B00794SLZG, 265 pp., $34.39
Book Description: Human rights seemingly offer universal protection. However, irregular migrants have, at best, only problematic access to human rights. Whether understood as an ethical injunction or legally codified norm, the promised protection of human rights seems to break down when it comes to the lived experience of irregular migrants. This book therefore asks three key questions of great practical and theoretical importance. First, what do we mean when we speak of human rights? Second, is the problematic access of irregular migrants to human rights protection an issue of implementation, or is it due to the inherent characteristics of the concept of human rights? Third, should we look beyond human rights for an effective source of protection? Written is an accessible style, with a range of socio-legal and doctrinal approaches, the chapters focus on the situation of the irregular migrant in Europe and the United States. Throughout the book, nuanced theoretical debates are put in the context of
concrete case studies. The critical reflections it offers on the limitations and possibilities of human rights protections for irregular migrants will be invaluable for students, scholars and practitioners.
Return to Top
********
********
21.
Global Crossings: Immigration, Civilization, and America
By Alvaro Vargas Llosa
Independent Institute, 384 pp.
Hardcover, ISBN: 1598131338, $20.17
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1598131338/centerforimmigra
Book Description: The recent reawakening of the debate about migration in the new millennium has evoked intense emotion, particularly in the United States and Europe, and Global Crossings cuts through the jungle of myth, falsehood, and misrepresentation that dominates the debate, clarifying the causes and consequences of human migration. The book first looks at the immigrant experience, which connects the present to the past, and America to the rest of the world, and explores who immigrants are and why they move. It contends that the conduct of today is no different than that in the past, and contrary to the claims by immigration critics, the patterns of contemporary migration do not differ fundamentally from those of other epochs. The book then discusses immigration and culture and tackles assimilation, globalization, and cultural differences. In assessing whether critics are justified in pointing to a major cultural shift, award-winning author Alvaro Vargas Llosa reviews such topics as religion,
education, entrepreneurial spirit, and attitudes toward the receiving society, and analyzes economic factors that include jobs, wages, education, and the welfare state. The book concludes that immigration’s contributions to an economy far outweigh the costs, and it makes a call for open minds and provides a pro-immigration agenda for reform.
Return to Top
********
********
22.
To Sin Against Hope: How America Has Failed Its Immigrants: A Personal History
By Alfredo Gutierrez
Verso, 256 pp.
Hardcover, ISBN: 1844679926, $16.74
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1844679926/centerforimmigra
Book Description: Alfredo Gutierrez’s father, a US citizen, was deported to Mexico from his Arizona hometown—the mining town where Alfredo grew up. This occurred during a wave of anti-immigrant hysteria stoked by the Great Depression, but as Gutierrez makes clear, in a book that is both a personal chronicle and a thought-provoking history, the war on Mexican immigrants has rarely abated. Barack Obama now presides over an immigration policy every inch the equal of Herbert Hoover’s in its harshness.
His family experiences inspired Gutierrez to pursue the life of a Chicano activist. Kicked out of Arizona State University after leading a takeover of the president’s office, he later became the majority leader of the Arizona State Senate. Later still, he was a successful political consultant. He remains an activist, and in this engrossing memoir and essay, he dissects the racism that has deformed a century of border policy—leading to a record number of deportations during the Obama presidency—and he analyzes the timidity of today’s immigrant advocacy organizations. To Sin Against Hope brings to light the problems that have prevented the US from honoring the contributions and aspirations of its immigrants. It is a call to remember history and act for the future.
Return to Top
********
********
23.
Human Trafficking Around the World: Hidden in Plain Sight
By Stephanie Hepburn and Rita J. Simon
Columbia University Press, 552 pp.
Hardcover, ISBN: 0231161441, $78.91
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0231161441/centerforimmigra
Paperback, ISBN: 023116145X, $21.36
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/023116145X/centerforimmigra
Kindle, 1087 KB, ASIN: B00APDGFM4, 565 pp., $14.84
Book Description: This unprecedented study of sex trafficking, forced labor, organ trafficking, and sex tourism across twenty-four nations highlights the experiences of the victims, perpetrators, and anti-traffickers involved in this brutal trade. Combining statistical data with intimate accounts and interviews, journalist Stephanie Hepburn and justice scholar Rita J. Simon create a dynamic volume sure to educate and spur action.
Hepburn and Simon recount the lives of victims during and after their experience with trafficking, and they follow the activities of traffickers before capture and their outcomes after sentencing. Each chapter centers on the trafficking practices and anti-trafficking measures of a single country: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Niger, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Syria, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Examining these nations' laws, Hepburn and Simon reveal gaps in legislation and enforcement and outline the cultural norms and biases, societal assumptions, and conflicting policies that make trafficking scenarios so pervasive and resilient. This study points out those most vulnerable in each nation and the specific cultural, economic, environmental, and geopolitical factors that contribute to each nation's trafficking issues. Furthermore, the study also highlights common phenomena that governments and international anti-traffickers should consider in their fight against this illicit trade.
Return to Top
********
********
24.
Human Mobility
Newsletter CSEM, June 2013
http://csem.org.br/csem/noticias
English language content:
Forced migration: Pastoral Guidelines
. . .
A new document dealing with the issue of forced migration was presented Thursday at the Holy See Press office by the Presidents of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People and the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.
The pastoral guide entitled “Welcoming Christ in refugees and forcibly displaced persons” has been written to give a better understanding of this phenomenon, and its impact on societies and communities.One of the participants and the press conference was Johan Ketelers, Secretary General of the International Catholic Migration Commission.
He says the decreasing levels of structural solidarity and the political environment are not always able or willing to respond adequately to the protection needs of people in critical situations. Giving Syria as an example Mr Ketelers told Lydia O’Kane, “Syria is in a deplorable situation, economically, but also socially, what can be done on behalf of those people, well mainly those that leave the country, they can be assisted, those that we try to assist inside the country but that remains at the humanitarian level, but these problems are not of humanitarian dimension only they are of a political dimension.”
. . .
http://csem.org.br/csem/noticias/1277-forced-migration-pastoral-guidelines
Refugees from embattled Syrian town report harsh conditions, difficulties in reaching safety
. . .
The refugees describe Qusayr as a ghost town, heavily damaged and rocked by warfare. People are hiding in bunkers or holes dug as shelters. One lady said her family could not leave their hole for a week and had to live off the food they could bring with them.
"One of the few men to have arrived in Lebanon said he had fled after his home was bombed and his 20-year-old son had been killed. He had no belongings with him. All those we spoke to reported great fear of approaching any checkpoint," Fleming said.
UNHCR does not have access to Qusayr and the refugee accounts are hard to verify. "However, we share the concern of others over the serious humanitarian situation and the risks for the civilian population. It is imperative that people seeking a route out of Qusayr, and other unsafe locations, be allowed access to safe areas," Fleming stressed.
UNHCR is also concerned about impediments in the way of people seeking to reach safety in other parts of the region. In Jordan, more than 4,300 people managed to cross from Syria between May 27 and June 2. This compares to 26,600 people in the first 18 days of the month. Refugees continue to report difficulties in accessing the border.
. . .
http://csem.org.br/csem/noticias/1276-refugees-from-embattled-syrian-town-report-harsh-conditions-difficulties-in-reaching-safety
UN and Japan sign agreement to combat illicit drugs and human trafficking
The United Nations and the Government of Japan today agreed to enhance regional cooperation to fight the trade of illicit narcotics and human trafficking, as well as terrorism and cybercrime in Africa and Southeast Asia.
The Joint Action Plan of Action between the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Japan was signed at the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), which concluded earlier today in Yokohama, Japan.
“The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Government of Japan have a long and fruitful history of cooperation across the globe, in areas ranging from countering illicit narcotic drugs, combating terrorism and strengthening crime prevention and criminal justice. I welcome this new Joint Plan of Action, which will serve to strengthen our efforts still further,” said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov.
“We know that insecurity and conflict fuel crime while drugs and crime fuel conflict and undermine security. Addressing these threats can contribute to building peace and promoting human security within and across regions,” he added.
. . .
http://csem.org.br/csem/noticias/1275-un-and-japan-sign-agreement-to-combat-illicit-drugs-and-human-trafficking
European Union (EU) provides over £42 million aid to help refugees fleeing war torn Syria
By Dion Dassanayake
. . .
Jordan has so far taken 489,000 registered refugees from the country embroiled in a civil war, and they expect 1 million in total by the end of 2013.
The aid from the European Commission (EC), the EU's executive arm, will help the education of Syrian children and fund medical treatment.
Štefan Füle from the EC said: "Jordan is playing a vital role in providing support and hospitality to the Syrian refugees in their time of need.
"We realise the burden this creates on Jordan’s resources and the resulting enormous strain the country is put under.
Jordan has received almost half a million refugees from war torn Syria
"The EU remains deeply committed to assisting the Jordanian Government in its response to the refugee crisis."
. . .
http://csem.org.br/csem/noticias/1274-european-union-eu-provides-over-42-million-aid-to-help-refugees-fleeing-war-torn-syria
Sex trafficking in U.S. linked to Mexico
By Elizabeth Aguilera
. . .
The men are all from the Mexican state of Tlaxcala, which is within a couple hours drive of Mexico City. It is there, in a town called Tenancingo, that the majority of Mexico’s sex traffickers originate. They are known as romeo traffickers, who lure young women with promises of love, marriage and a better life in the U.S. and then force them into prostitution.
Sex rings across the U.S., including in San Diego County, have been linked to these tiny towns in Mexico's interior. Many that go on to trade women and girls in other cities across the country traveled by car or foot across the southwest border or through ports of entry in San Diego.
. . .
http://csem.org.br/csem/noticias/1273-sex-trafficking-in-u-s-linked-to-mexico
Evangelical groups launch $250,000 immigration campaign
By Alan Gomez
. . .
The ad buy will feature radio ads and billboards in 13 states featuring pastors urging people to support the ongoing efforts in Congress to pass an immigration bill that would allow the nation's 11 million unauthorized immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship, strengthen border security and revamp the legal immigration system.
Russell Moore, who will take over as head of the Southern Baptist's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission on Saturday, said they are more aggressive this time around because more immigrants have joined their congregations, giving members a better understanding of who they are. And he said it reflects a broader acceptance of granting citizenship to unauthorized immigrants among conservative Americans that should be embraced by Republican critics in Congress.
"Our involvement signals the fact that we don't see this as a blue state, red state, culture war question," Moore said. "When you have people of courage and goodwill, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is heroically working to craft legislation that is fair and just, I think it's very difficult to pigeonhole this into the easy left-right categories we're accustomed to."
. . .
http://csem.org.br/csem/noticias/1272-evangelical-groups-launch-250-000-immigration-campaign
+++
Newsletter CSEM, May 2013
http://csem.org.br
MOST UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ARE CHRISTIANS FROM LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
An estimated 83 percent, or 9.2 million, of the 11.1 million people living in the United States illegally are Christians from Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The study highlights this and other findings in an examination of recent trends in the geographic origins and religious affiliation of immigrants to the United States.
It also reveals that the share of Christians among undocumented immigrants is slightly higher than the percentage of Christians in the U.S. population as a whole. As of 2010, Christians were estimated to make up just under 80 percent of U.S. residents of all ages.
According to the study, in the last 20 years, the United States has also granted permanent residency status to an average of one million people annually through various means.
In the last two decades, an estimated 600,000 Christian immigrants have been granted permanent resident status annually. And although this figure accounts for the largest share of any religious group, the share of Christians granted permanent resident status has dropped seven points in the last decade.
An estimated 68 percent of legal permanent residents in 1992 were Christians compared with an estimated 61 percent in 2012. This is reflective of the smaller percentage of permanent residents who now originate from Europe and the Americas.
. . .
http://csem.org.br/csem/noticias/1197-most-undocumented-immigrants-are-christians-from-latin-america-and-caribbean
BETTER HEALTHCARE NEEDED FOR IMMIGRANT MOTHERS-TO-BE
. . .
Lead author of the study and midwifery expert, Hannah Dahlen, said researchers had looked at all women giving birth in the state in an eight-year period until 2008. They found those born in India - now the number one migrant group to Australia - had the highest rate of interventions, such as caesareans and episiotomies. They also had the highest number of low birthweight babies and the highest overall perinatal mortality rates.
Professor Dahlen, from the University of Western Sydney, described the findings as "concerning" and said it was unclear why there were differences in birth outcomes.
"It is certainly not that Indian women are less capable of a normal birth," Professor Dahlen said.
"We need to examine if there is a failure in our health system to provide culturally sensitive and appropriate models of care to women of multicultural backgrounds. We know that if women feel scared, unsupported and isolated, they are much more likely to end up having medical intervention."
Poor English language skills may impact the standard of communication and care received, she said, and make women feel less confident in telling clinicians what they wanted.
. . .
http://csem.org.br/csem/noticias/1202-better-healthcare-needed-for-immigrant-mothers-to-be
MIGRANT WORKERS FACE TOUGH TIMES IN THAILAND
. . .
Most of these workers are employed on a residential construction site just north of here, where they pour cement, plaster walls, build roofs or install electrical wiring from seven in the morning until six in the evening, seven days a week. They do not have much to show for these gruelling hours on the job, returning home with as little as six dollars a day.
One of this shantytown’s residents, Nang Soi Sat, tells IPS the long working hours and paltry income are not even her biggest concerns: she is more worried about maintaining her legal status in the face of multiple challenges.
Thailand is home to an estimated 2.5 million migrant workers. The country’s economic boom – which has seen an 18.9 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) since 2011 – relies heavily on a constant influx of labour from neighbouring countries. Over 82 percent of the workers hail from Myanmar (Burma), 8.4 percent from Laos and 9.5 percent from Cambodia.
Those from Myanmar say ethnic strife and civil conflict sent them fleeing in search of better opportunities in the region. A network of garment and furniture factories housed in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that dot the Thai-Myanmar border quickly absorb incoming migrants to work for a pittance.
. . .
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/05/migrant-workers-face-tough-times-in-thailand/
YOUNG AFRICANS FLOCKING TO DUBAI, JOINING SOUTH ASIANS AS GUEST WORKERS
. . .
Although Kenya has a relatively small population (42 million, far smaller than other African states like Nigeria and Ethiopia), its people are highly educated, ambitious and discouraged by very high jobless figures in their native country (40 percent as of 2008, according to the CIA/World Factbook).
The Standard Digital newspaper of Kenya reports that an estimated 40,000 Kenyan guest workers currently live in the UAE (which includes Dubai), primarily in the construction, hotel and travel industries. (Hundreds of Kenyans work at the Dubai International Airport alone.)
Still, other Kenyans toil as domestic workers, while a handful are affluent business people. “Life is very good in Dubai, much better than what I experienced in Kenya,” Eric Kariuki, a security guard from Nyeri, told the paper.
Indeed, Africans have now joined legions of workers from Asia, particularly India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, who have long established themselves in the UAE, and Dubai in particular, as part of the huge foreign worker population.
But Indians and Pakistanis far outnumber Africans -- they account for some two-thirds of Dubai’s entire population of a little more than 2 million.
However, despite Dubai’s riches, immigration laws make it difficult, if not impossible, for Africans and other foreign peoples to settle permanently. The right to stay in the emirate depends on having the continued sponsorship of one’s employers. In addition, low-wage workers are not allowed to bring their families with them.
. . .
http://csem.org.br/csem/noticias/1221-young-africans-flocking-to-dubai-joining-south-asians-as-guest-workers
Return to Top
********
********
25.
Journal of Refugee Studies
Vol. 26, No. 2, June 2013
http://jrs.oxfordjournals.org/content/current
Selected articles:
‘We Are Not Here to Claim Better Services Than Any Other’: Social Exclusion among Men from Refugee Backgrounds in Urban and Regional Australia
By Ignacio Correa-Velez, Ramon Spaaij, and Susan Upham
http://jrs.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/2/163.abstract
The Housing Resettlement Experience of Refugee Immigrants to Australia
James Forrest, Kerstin Hermes, Ron Johnston, and Michael Poulsen
http://jrs.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/2/187.abstract.html?etoc
Unpacking the Micro–Macro Nexus: Narratives of Suffering and Hope among Refugees from Burma Recently Settled in Australia
By Mark Brough, Robert Schweitzer, Jane Shakespeare-Finch, Lyn Vromans, and Julie King
http://jrs.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/2/207.abstract
‘It was the Most Beautiful Country I have Ever Seen’: The Role of Somali Narratives in Adapting to a New Country
By Robyn Ramsden and Damien Ridge
http://jrs.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/2/226.abstract
Safeguarding a Child Perspective in Asylum Reception: Dilemmas of Children’s Case Workers in Sweden
By Lisa Ottosson, Marita Eastmond, and Isabell Schierenbeck
http://jrs.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/2/247.abstract
Repatriation and Integration of Liberian Refugees from Ghana: the Importance of Personal Networks in the Country of Origin
By Naohiko Omata
http://jrs.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/2/265.abstract
Return to Top
