Week of November 22–30, 2021

The Catholic Legal Immigration Network has called on the Biden administration to abandon the Trump-era immigration policy that forces would-be asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico. The group claims that “meaningful access to counsel, justice and due process under MPP is categorically impossible” and that the policy forces those seeking asylum into dangerous conditions in Mexico. Under the policy, asylum-seekers are required to wait on the Mexican side of the border until their case can be heard in a US immigration court. While the Biden administration has tried to end the policy, a judge has ordered them to continue to comply with it. Biden administration officials have said that they are seeking Mexico's cooperation and the policy may be restarted by the end of 2021. Critics have argued that the policy leaves asylum-seekers vulnerable to kidnapping and rape in Mexico.

A rising number of immigrants seeking asylum in Maine are leading to a shortage of space in temporary shelters. In 2019, Portland Expo was used to house nearly 450 asylum-seekers, but now there are 513 in temporary accommodation. The difference this time is that the refugees are not arriving en masse, but in smaller groups, many of them from the Democratic Republic of Congo or Angola, with a few Haitians also beginning to arrive. Portland has contracted with six hotels to act as overflow shelters for those seeking asylum. While the hotels may not get the rates they would typically get, every room is full every night. The hotels are paid by general assistance, which is currently being reimbursed for the hotel stays by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of a special COVID programme.

Wayside Food Programs in Maine conducted focus groups with 33 community leaders from seven cultures to better serve immigrants. The organization discovered that many immigrants do not eat the items in the to-go boxes given to them because of cultural and religious preferences. During the focus groups, the organization found that immigrants want traditional food and are reluctant to eat canned food due to uncertainty about its contents. Wayside is now creating boxes of food with items that can be used to make traditional meals, such as rice, dried beans, and cooking oil, instead of canned foods. The organization hopes to give immigrants a taste of home and bring families together over traditional meals. Additionally, Wayside is spreading the word to people who participate in food drives to collect items that are preferred by the immigrant community

Despite an increase in state troopers sent to the border by the Texas Department of Public Safety, officers are struggling to keep up with the flood of illegal migrants attempting to enter the US. The responsibility for apprehending those actively evading detection largely falls on the Texas state troopers who were sent there by the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, under “Operation Lone Star”. There is a sad irony that, nine years after the Obama administration sued the State of Arizona in Arizona v. United States to prevent that state from enforcing its own immigration laws, the federal government is dependent on Texas DPS to do its job of securing the border. Those in charge apparently like the daily chaos that is the Southwest border, and don’t want things to change anytime soon. Border Patrol agents are grateful for the troopers’ efforts, but neither the president nor his quasi-border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, have spent much time at the border of late.

Experts and campaigners have put forward several potential solutions to tackle the rising number of small boats crossing the English Channel. These include taking refugees' claims seriously, addressing the root causes of global conflicts, creating safe and legal routes for refugees to enter the UK, processing UK humanitarian visas on French soil, and overhauling the UK's asylum system, which is experiencing record delays. The government has been criticised for misunderstanding the reasons behind the current crisis and wrongly claiming that 70% of people crossing the channel in small boats are economic migrants. Critics argue that it is hard to identify solutions if the nature of the problem is misunderstood. Despite the promise of more safe routes, the number of people resettled under the government’s UK resettlement scheme was down 45% year on year.

The recent sinking of a boat in the English Channel, which killed over 30 people, is the deadliest migration tragedy in the area to date. However, similar incidents in waters surrounding Europe’s southern borders are common. The main gateway to Europe for migrants trying to enter the continent is the Mediterranean Sea, where 1,600 people have died or gone missing this year alone. Since 2014, the International Organization of Migration estimates that 23,000 people have perished while trying to cross the Mediterranean in unsafe boats or rubber dinghies. In the same seven-year period, approximately 166 people have died in the English Channel. The busiest and deadliest migrant route to Europe this year is the central Mediterranean where people travel in crowded boats from Libya and Tunisia towards Italy. More than 400 people were rescued this week while trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands. Critics claim that Europe is turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in Libyan detention centres for migrants.

Statistics Canada's job vacancy report showed that Canada had over 1 million job vacancies in September, indicating that more employers are hiring, but there remain many unfilled positions. The reopening of the Canada-US border in August and easing of travel restrictions for tourists in September may have contributed to job growth in tourism and related sectors. However, job shortages continue to be an issue, with nearly 200,000 vacancies in the accommodation and food sector and a job vacancy rate of 14.4%. Over half of businesses in the accommodation and food services sector report they expect to face obstacles in recruiting the right candidates. Meanwhile, the health care and social assistance sector had over 130,000 vacancies, while the retail trade had nearly 122,000 vacancies in September. The report suggests that an increase in job vacancies may signal an increase in economic activity and hiring, but it may also signal worsening structural labour market imbalances, such as skills shortages and geographic mismatches between vacancies and workers capable of filling them.

New Zealand's Labour government has promised a "pathway" to residency for around 165,000 migrants in a bid to solve the country's stalled immigration system. The government has come under fire for its lack of progress on immigration, with many of the country's 60,000 Indian migrants facing "uncertainty and despair" due to visa issues. The announcement of a new residency policy was met with jubilation and relief in the migrant community, but critics argue that the policy is highly restrictive, with only those deemed a benefit to the economy able to apply. The Labour party's platform in 2017 was to cut net migration, and the government has continued this stance, targeting wealthy investors while making it harder for employers to take on foreign workers.

Almost 100 House Democrats are urging the Senate to expand immigration protections in President Joe Biden’s social spending and climate bill, known as the Build Back Better Act. The Democrats want the Senate to include a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people, something that the Senate parliamentarian has already rejected twice. The House’s version of Build Back Better includes temporary work and deportation protections through a parole program that allows some undocumented people to change their status to prevent deportation. Those immigration provisions in the House bill are now under review by the Senate parliamentarian. Build Back Better is being considered under a process known as reconciliation so that only a simple majority vote is required in the evenly split Senate.

Immigration New Zealand has closed an avenue that allowed Afghans stuck there following the Taliban’s return to power to apply for a visa. The country’s High Court had ruled that exceptions to visa applications based on humanitarian grounds in the applicants’ home country should not have been refused. However, Immigration New Zealand has issued new instructions and will now reject such applications, claiming that “a humanitarian crisis occurring outside of New Zealand is not relevant to the determination of a request to travel to New Zealand”. The changes also alter the “humanitarian” exception for getting a critical purpose visa to “compassionate” grounds. An avenue for family support visas remains open.