Immigration News: January, 2005 - Volume 12

THE AMERICAS

Border, Sanctions, TPS

Border. The Border Patrol reported 1,159,802 apprehensions on the Mexico-US border in FY04, up from 931,557 in FY03 and 955,310 in FY02. Each person

Bush, Congress, States

After his re-election in November 2004, President Bush promised to pursue an aggressive "ownership society" agenda of Social Security privatization,

Mexico: Legalization, Labor

President Vicente Fox congratulated Bush on his re-election and invited him to work for "an integral migratory agreement that will permit migration

H-1B, Outsourcing

The L-1 Visa and H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004 raised the annual limit on H-1B visas beginning in March 2005 by exempting up to 20,000 foreigners with

Foreign Students, J-1s

US dominance of international higher education may be eroding, as universities in English-speaking countries such as Britain, Australia, Canada, and

Labor, Temps, $17 an Hour

US employment increased by 1.6 million between November 2003 and November 2004, but the discrepancy in the findings of the household and payroll

Canada: Immigration, Nafta

Canada admitted 221,000 permanent immigrants in 2004; the 2005 target is 220,000 to 245,000. Many of the newcomers have a difficult time getting

Latin America

President Bush in mid-July 2004 condemned human trafficking at the first US Department of Justice conference on trafficking in forced labor, saying

ASIA

China: Migrants, Economy

China has an estimated 114 million rural-urban migrants (liudong renkou or "floating population"), most of whom earn $50 to $70 a month in factories

Japan, Korea

Japan is in its third year of economic recovery, but wages are flat or falling, largely because of the success of temporary employment agencies that

Southeast Asia

The economic impacts of the December 26, 2004 tsunami are expected to be limited on the economies of southeast Asia, in part because so many of the

South Asia

India has a thriving medical tourism industry that attracts cost-conscious patients from first- and third-world countries for procedures that may

EUROPE

EU: Turkey, Camps

In mid-December 2004 EU leaders endorsed eventual Turkish entry into the EU, but said that there could be permanent restrictions on freedom of

Germany: New Law, Labor

Germany's new immigration law went into effect on January 1, 2005 (www.bmi.bund.de). There are now two residence permits, limited and unlimited

UK: Migration, Enlargement

Some 513,000 persons arrived to stay more than a year in 2003 in the UK, including 236,000 foreigners. About 362,000 long-term residents left,

Spain, Portugal, Greece

Spain intercepted an average of 1,000 migrants a month trying to slip into southern Spain or the Canary Islands in 2004, but the new socialist

France, Benelux

A third of the immigrants in France (including those born in France to immigrant parents) have become naturalized French citizens. About 120,000

Northern, Eastern Europe

Sweden. The Washington Post reported that immigration is changing "old concepts of what it means to be French or German or Swedish" by profiling the

OTHER

Australia, New Zealand

The Settler Arrivals Report showed that in 2003/04, some 110,000 immigrants arrived, including 18,272 from Britain and Ireland, a doubling of the

Africa: Dafur, Ivory Coast, Debt

The conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region persisted in Fall 2004 despite a trickle of African troops sent to try to prevent genocide against

Middle East

Israel. Israel expects 22,0000 immigrants in 2004, down from 25,000 in 2003. The Hot Line for Migrant Workers complained that foreign workers who

Globalization and Poverty, GATS, Textiles

The UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) released its World Economic and Social Survey 2004: International Migration report in