Immigration News: July, 2005 - Volume 12

THE AMERICAS

DHS: Enforcement, Asylum

The 10.3 million unauthorized foreigners in the US reported in the March 2004 Current Population Survey were almost four percent of the 293 million

Congress: Real ID, Guest Workers

The Real ID Act of 2005, which would establish national standards for drivers licenses, was signed into law in May 2005. Under Real ID, states must

States, Census, Health

California/Los Angeles. California added 539,000 residents in 2004, bringing its population to 36.8 million. Immigration is slowing, and so is

Labor, H-Visas, Mobility

In April 2005, the US added 274,000 jobs, keeping the unemployment rate at 5.2 percent as the economy created almost 10,000 net new jobs a day. In

Mexico: Legalization, Brazilians, Economy

Mexican President Fox continues to campaign to improve the rights of Mexicans in the US, but his efforts sometimes boomerang. In May 2005, while

Canada: Brain Waste

Brain Waste. Canada uses a point system to select immigrants likely to contribute economically to Canada, ensuring that most newcomers are young,

Latin America: Remittances, Cafta

Latin American nations received $46 billion of the $100 billion in remittances to developing countries in 2004, including $16.6 billion to Mexico;

ASIA

China, Hong Kong

China is rapidly urbanizing, in part because urban incomes are higher than rural incomes. In 1980, about 80 percent of Chinese residents lived in

Japan, Korea

Japan's population is projected to peak in 2006 and then begin to decline, but there are no plans to open the country to large-scale immigration.

Southeast Asia

Thailand. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra promised on May 1, 2005 that the government would better regulate the 1.3 million migrants from

South Asia

India sends millions of unskilled and semi-skilled migrants to Gulf oil exporters. The migrants are better educated than most Indians: 80 percent of

EUROPE

EU 10-Migrants, Services, Seasonals

There were fears that, if nationals of the EU-10 countries that joined on May 1, 2004 had freedom of movement rights upon accession, some 355,000

Germany: Services, Migrants

The Social Democratic Party lost elections in Germany's largest state, North Rhine-Westphalia, in May 2005, prompting Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to

UK, Ireland

Britons went to the polls on May 5, 2005 and re-elected the ruling Labor Party of Prime Minister Tony Blair to a third successive term; Labor ended

France, Italy, Benelux

A mid-April 2005 fire in a Paris hotel left 24 asylum seekers dead and highlighted the growing number of asylum applicants, some 65,600 in 2004, and

Spain: Legalization

Some 3.7 million foreigners were 8.4 percent of Spain's 44 million residents in 2004, when 650,000 immigrants arrived. The foreigners include

Eastern Europe, Turkey

The Czech Republic and most other Eastern European countries have "special schools" for the mentally disabled; 90 percent of those enrolled in

OTHER

Australia, New Zealand

Australia in mid-April 2005 announced plans to accept 140,000 immigrants in 2005-06, up 20,000 from 2004-05, an almost doubling since the late 1990s.

South Africa, Other Africa

South Africa enacted an Immigration Act in April 2002 and amended it in October 2004 in a context of growing xenophobia and the existence of

Global Trends

Former Portuguese prime minister (1995-01) Ant¢nio Guterres was named UN high commissioner for refugees in May 2005. Guterres has been the head of