Immigration News: October, 2005 - Volume 12

THE AMERICAS

Congress: Bills, Emergencies

Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) introduced the Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act of 2005 in July 2005. It would

DHS: CBP, ICE, USCIS

The Department of Homeland Security is creating a policy office headed by undersecretary Stewart A. Baker to develop a comprehensive strategy for

Census: Population, Poverty, Immigrants

Between April 2000 and July 2004, the US population rose from 281 million to 294 million, including 198 million whites, 41 million Hispanics, 39

Day Labor, H-1B, Students

The US economy lost 35,000 jobs in September 2005 and the unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent, reflecting in part the impacts of Hurricane Katrina.

Unions: AFL-CIO

Four unions representing a third of the AFL-CIO's 13 million members, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (1.4 million members), United Food

Mexico: Polls, Fox, Economy

Mexico-US migration pressure remains strong. The Pew Hispanic Center released surveys in August 2005 reporting that 40 percent of Mexican adults say

Canada: Polls, Borders

According to an August 2005 opinion poll, two-thirds of Canadians want immigrants to integrate rather than maintain their ethnic identity and

Cafta, Ecuador, Caribbean

Cafta. The House approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement on a 217-215 vote in June 2005, following the Senate's 54-45 approval, after

ASIA

China: Migrants, Economy

There are about 120 million internal rural-urban migrants in China, mostly young people from rural areas with junior middle school educations who

Japan, Korea

About 15,000 Filipino entertainers or performing artists have lost job opportunities in Japan and more are expected to lose jobs because of tightened

Southeast Asia

The Malaysian government announced in July 2005 that 60,000 refugees from Indonesia's Aceh province, Myanmar and the southern Philippines will be

Southern Asia

India is planning the world's largest public works program, promising to provide at least one person in each rural household 100 days of manual work

EUROPE

EU: Turkey, Integration, EU-10 Migrants

The EU opened accession talks with Turkey on October 3, 2005, with the EU saying they are likely to last until 2014. Turkey has been an associate

Germany: Election, Asylum, Labor

Some 60 million Germans were eligible to vote on September 18, 2005. In inconclusive voting, Christian Democratic Union Angela Merkel replaced Social

UK: Bombings, Migrants, Ireland

Four bombs planted by British-born South Asians killed 52 people in London tubes and buses in July 7, 2005. Two weeks later, four more bombs went

France, Benelux, Northern Europe

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in June 2005 asked a committee to study how "to ensure immigration is more closely tailored to France's economic

Southern Europe

Spain had a three-month legalization ending in May 2005 that drew 690,679 applications from unauthorized foreign workers, its fifth and largest

OTHER

Australia, New Zealand

Some 120,600 immigrants arrived in 2004-05, including 77,880 skilled immigrants and their families. Australia boosted the target number of skilled

Middle East, Africa

Most Middle East oil exporters face a similar problem: foreigners are over 50 percent of the labor force, high birthrates mean that 25 to 35 percent

GCIM: Global Migration Facility

The 19-member Global Commission on International Migration released a six-chapter, 98-page report October 5, 2005, calling on all nations to respect

UN: Population, MDGs, UNDP

In 1950, when the world's population was 2.5 billion, two-thirds of all people lived in developing countries (the UN puts the USSR in the

ILO: Multilateral Framework

The ILO discussed labor migration at its June 2004 conference, concluding with a call for a rights-based multilateral framework to improve migration

Remittances, WTO

Global remittances reached an estimated $204 billion in 2004, including $144 billion to developing countries. In 1990, remittances to developing

Hanson: Attitudes to Immigrants

Economist Gordon Hanson joins the host of critics who say that the US immigration system is broken, and argues that the costs of current immigration