Immigration News: January, 2003 - Volume #10

THE AMERICAS

INS: Registration, Border, Polls
The INS, formerly in the Department of Justice, was moved (along with 21 other federal agencies) to the new 170,000-employee Department of Homeland Security (www.dhs.gov).

Labor: Certification, H-1B
The US unemployment rate was six percent in November 2002-- 8.5 million workers were jobless and 134 million were employed.

Mexico: Ag, Remittances, Social Security
The Mexican government has turned a novel written by Enrique Romero Moreno, a former protection officer at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, into a radio drama

Mexico: Nafta and Migration
The North American Free Trade Agreement has been in effect eight years, but "Nafta at 10" conferences are being held to reflect the Fall 2002 date

Haiti, Mercosur, Chile
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is led by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Canada: Immigration, Asylum and US
Canada admitted 250,346 immigrants in 2001, 53 percent from Asia and the Pacific, including 16 percent from China

ASIA

Labor Exporters
Some 10 million Asians are expected to leave their countries for jobs abroad in 2003, up sharply from two to three million in 1993.

Japan, Korea
Japan had a record 227,984 foreign workers in June 2002, including 86,699 hired through labor brokers.

China: Economy, Migrants
China has too many people employed in agriculture, and joining the World Trade Organization will increase rural-urban migration as farm prices drop.

Thailand, Singapore
Thailand is planning a new system for managing guest workers.

Afghans Return; Sri Lanka
Afghanistan, a country of 28 million, saw at least six million people leave during 23 years of fighting.

EUROPE

EU: Enlargement, Turkey, Morocco
The EU accepted 10 new members in December 2002, increasing the number of EU-member states from 15 to 25

Germany: No New Law, Labor
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe blocked Germany's new migration law in December 2002

UK, Ireland
Britain agreed to accept 1,200 Kurds from the Sangatte Red Cross center at the French end of the Euro-Tunnel in exchange for the closing of the center by December 30, 2002.

France, Benelux
In most European countries, unemployment rates for foreigners are twice the rates of natives.

Northern Europe
Norway, a country of 4.5 million, is one of the world's richest and most generous countries in granting foreign aid

OTHER

Australia, New Zealand
Australia detains foreigners who arrive illegally by boat and without documents, often in isolated detention centers.

Saudi Arabia
There are about 16 million Saudis, half under age 20. Unemployment among the young is high; almost 30 percent among those 20 to 24 years old.

South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast
South African nonfarm employment rose in fall 2002 for the first time since 1989.

Migration, Trade and Development
The UN Population Division defines a migrant as someone outside her country of birth or citizenship for 12 months or more

Global Trends
The average number of babies per woman fell from five in 1960 to 2.7 in 2002.