Immigration News: October, 2004 - Volume 11

THE AMERICAS

USCIS, ICE, CBP

Expedited Removal. The Department of Homeland Security in August 2004 announced that the 11,100 Border Patrol agents will be able to remove

Congress: 9-11 Report, Platforms

The bipartisan commission that investigated the September 11, 2001 attacks reported that all of the hijackers broke U.S. immigration laws, and some

Labor, H-1B, Census, Health

US payroll employment peaked at 132.5 million in March 2001, and was 131 million in summer 2004. About eight million Americans or 5.4 percent were

Canada: 225,000 Immigrants

Canada plans to admit 225,000 immigrants in 2005, including 60 percent skilled workers and their families and 40 percent family unification and

Mexico: Social Security, Migration, Economy

President Vicente Fox provided an upbeat picture of economic improvement in the annual state-of-the-nation address (informe) on September 1, 2004.

Latin America: Remittances, Crime, Economy

Remittances. The Inter-American Development Bank projected that some $30 billion may be remitted to Latin America in 2004, up sharply from $23

ASIA

China, Hong Kong, Taiwan

Migration. China "officially" has 114 million internal migrant workers who moved from rural to urban areas, and their number is projected to rise to

Japan, Korea

Japan has an estimated 760,000 foreign workers-- 1.5 percent of the 53 million strong work force- and two million registered foreign residents- those

Thailand: 1.3 Million Registered

Thailand had a nationwide registration program for unauthorized foreign workers in July 2004, and 1,269,074 foreign migrants registered for a fee of

Southeast Asia

Malaysia. Malaysia plans to deport at least 700,000 of the 1.2 million Indonesian migrants in 2004-05, and then admit Indonesian migrants under an

India, Bangladesh, Iraq

Some 54 percent of India's 1.1 billion people are under 25, and Indian youth are split on the direction the country should take to develop:

EUROPE

EU: Turkey, Demography

The EU gave Turkey a conditional yes to EU membership in October 2004, saying that Turkey had fulfilled the political criteria to start accession

Italy, Spain: Boat People

Thousands of migrants traveled by boat from North Africa to Italy's southern islands in Summer and Fall 2004. After 2,600 arrived in Lampedusa -

France, Germany, Switzerland

Two French journalists were kidnapped in Iraq in August 2004, and they urged the French government to give in to their captors' demand by revoking a

UK: Tories, Asylum, Students

Conservative Party leader Michael Howard announced that, if the Tories return to power, there will be a major overhaul of British immigration policy,

Northern Europe, Benelux

New Danish laws have led about 1,000 mixed Danish-foreign couples to live in Sweden, with the Danish partner commuting to Copenhagen to work or

Russia, Eastern Europe

Russia. The US gave asylum to a leader of Chechen rebels in August 2004, prompting protests from Russia that the US was not cooperating in the war

OTHER

Australia

Prime Minister John Howard was re-elected leader of Australia in October 2004 for the fourth time since 1996. Howard won the last election in 2001

Middle East: Gulf, Israel

Gulf. Gulf oil exporters have had several "amnesties" under which unauthorized foreigners can leave without paying fines- the UAE had such an amnesty

Africa: Sudan, Namibia

Sudan. There was "genocide" and ethnic cleansing in Dafur in western Sudan in summer 2004, as irregular nomadic Arab militias known as Janjaweed

Global Trends

Demography. Globally, fertility has fallen from about six children per woman in the early 1970s to three today. However, half of the world's 6.4