Critics are condemning a proposal by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators that would overhaul the immigration system, noting that the bill would diminish the rights of asylum seekers. The bipartisan bill, introduced on Sunday by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), has been months in the making. In addition to implementing several…
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On May 19, 2023, Virgilio Aguilar Méndez, an 18-year-old Indigenous-Maya farmworker, was eating and talking to his mother on the phone outside of his Super 8 motel room in St. Augustine, Florida, where he was staying with three other farmworkers. He was working to send money to his family in Guatemala. St. Johns County police Sergeant Michael Kunovich approached Aguilar Méndez and described him to…
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Progressives on Saturday urged the U.S. President to halt his immigration-related appeals to “a voter who doesn’t exist” as he promised voters at a campaign event in South Carolina that he would immediately “shut down the border” between the U.S. and Mexico if Congress passes a bipartisan immigration bill. Senators are expected to release the legislative text of the bill this week…
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As nine Democratic governors join together to call on President Biden and Congress to address the humanitarian crisis faced by migrants, we look at conditions faced by tens of thousands of asylum seekers in New York City and Chicago. Many arrived over the last year on buses from Texas as part of Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s anti-immigrant efforts. We hear from a migrant staying in a tent…
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The former Die Linke politician’s new party embraces a model that has found purchase among sections of the left across the Global North: left-wing economics paired with a variety of political positions pulled from the right.
This post was originally published on Dissent MagazineDissent Magazine.
Last Friday, a woman and her two children tragically drowned while attempting to cross the Rio Grande into Eagle Pass, Texas. Federal agents were barred by Texas officials from accessing the river to help the drowning family. The bodies of the migrants were recovered by Mexican authorities the next day. “This is a tragedy, and the state bears responsibility,” U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said…
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The Biden administration has filed an emergency appeal asking the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a lower court injunction that is blocking the federal government from removing razor wire that Texas set up along the U.S.-Mexico border to deter asylum seekers. The motion from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which was filed on Tuesday, expedites the process for having an injunction lifted by the Supreme…
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On September 22, 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it would begin paying growers to use the notorious H-2A contract foreign labor (or guestworker) program. Tapping into $65 million from the American Rescue Act, the USDA will pay between $25,000 and $2 million per application to defray the expenses of recruiting migrant workers from three Central American countries…
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A federal appellate court panel on Friday delivered a blow to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s anti-migrant regime, ruling 2-1 that the state must remove from the Rio Grande a buoy barrier intended to block people from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Texas and Abbott over the buoys, which are part of the governor’s Operation Lone Star, in July. U.S.
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Irish authorities on Friday condemned a far-right, anti-immigrant faction that rapidly spread rumors about the perpetrator of a violent knife attack in Dublin and ultimately tore through the streets of Ireland’s capital Thursday night, setting cars and buses on fire and smashing storefront windows. The country was shocked Thursday by a mid-day stabbing attack on three young children — including a…
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Immigration has been a touchstone of United States political debates for decades, and several cities claim to be at a “breaking point” as they struggle to absorb and support arrived migrants. But is there really a border crisis? And why are cities like New York unable to cope with the influx of migrants when their numbers are not unusual by historic standards? Have the Biden administration’s…
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Recently, members at our New York City-based workers center, who include undocumented Indigenous Mexican restaurant workers and Puerto Rican grandmothers who are residents of public housing, have been asking about all the attention and aid being given to new migrants. “What about us who’ve been here?” they ask. Every day they see media images of a “surging” wave of migrants coming into New York…
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Over the past year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bused more than 13,000 migrants to Chicago. Many entered the city with next to nothing — and some didn’t even make it safely. Last month, the Texas Department of Emergency Management announced that a 3-year-old girl had died en route to Chicago from Texas — the first known fatality of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. For years…
Migrant rights groups and Texas Democrats on Wednesday welcomed a federal judge’s order that the state remove from the Rio Grande about 1,000 feet of orange buoys fastened together with metal cables and anchored with concrete blocks. The federal Department of Justice sued Texas and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott over the buoys in July. Judge David A. Ezra of the Western District of Texas — an…
Opposition National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis was among three political leaders who made a surprising commitment at a debate last night to build 1000 state houses in Auckland each year.
Labour Party leader and caretaker prime minister Chris Hipkins and Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson also agreed to do so, with resounding “yes” responses to the direct question from co-convenors Sister Margaret Martin of the Sisters of Mercy Wiri and Nik Naidu of the Whānau Community Centre and Hub.
All three political leaders also pledged to have quarterly consultations with a new community alliance formed to address Auckland’s housing and homeless crisis and other social issues.
The “non-political partisan” public rally at the Lesieli Tonga Auditorium in Favona — which included more than 500 attendees representing 45 community and social issues groups — was hosted by the new alliance Te Ohu Whakawhanaunga.
Filipina lawyer and co-chair of the meeting Nina Santos, of the YWCA, declared: “If we don’t have a seat at the table, it’s because we’re on the menu.”
Later, in an interview with RNZ Morning Report today, Santos said: “It was so great to see [the launch of Te Ohu] after four years in the making”.
‘People power’
“It was so good to see our allies, our villages and our communities — our 45 organisations — show up last night to demonstrate people power
“Te Ohu Whakawhanaunga is a broad-based alliance, the first of its kind in Tāmaki Makauarau. The members include Māori groups, women’s groups, unions and faith-based organisations.
“They have all came together to address issues that the city is facing — housing is a basic human right.”
She chaired the evening with Father Henry Rogo from Fiji, of the Diocese of Polynesia in NZ.
Speakers telling heart-rending stories included Dinah Timu, of E Tū union, about “decent work”, and Tayyaba Khan, Darwit Arshak and Eugene Velasco, who relating their experiences as migrants, former refugees and asylum seekers.
The crowd was also treated to performances by Burundian drummers, Colombian dancers and Te Whānau O Pātiki Kapahaka at Te Kura O Pātiki Rosebank School, all members of the new Te Ohu collective.
Writing in The New Zealand Herald today, journalist Simon Wilson reported:
“Hipkins told the crowd of about 500 . . . that he grew up in a state house built by the Labour government in the 1950s. ‘And I’m very proud that we are building more state houses today than at any time since the 1950s,’ he said.
“’Labour has exceeded the 1000 commitment. We’ve built 12,000 social house units since 2017, and 7000 of them have been in Tāmaki Makaurau. But there is more work to be done.’
“He reminded the audience that the last National government had sold state houses, not built them.
“Davidson said that housing was ‘a human right and a core public good’. The Greens’ commitment was greater than that of the other parties: it wanted to build 35,000 more public houses in the next five years, and resource the construction sector and the government’s state housing provider Kāinga Ora to get it done.
“’We will also put a cap on rent increases and introduce a minimum income guarantee, to lift people out of poverty.’
“Willis told the audience there were 2468 people on the state house waiting list in Auckland when Labour took office in 2017, and now there are 8175.
“’Here’s the thing. If you don’t like the result you’re getting, you don’t keep doing the same thing. We don’t think social housing should just be provided by Kāinga Ora. We want the Salvation Army, and Habitat for Humanity and other community housing providers to be much more involved.’
“Members of that sector were at the meeting and one confirmed the community housing sector is already building a substantial proportion of new social housing.”
By Blessen Tom, RNZ journalist, and Liu Chen , RNZ journalist, for IndoNZ
The upcoming general election in Aotearoa New Zealand is poised to witness an unprecedented influx of around 250,000 first-time voters.
Data from the Electoral Commission shows that around 60,000 individuals will be eligible to vote for the first time this year after turning 18 since the 2020 election.
However, a more sizeable chunk of voters is expected to come from the roughly 200,000 individuals who will be eligible to vote for the first time after being issued fast-track residency visas in 2021.
Forty-nine-year-old Deepa Tripathi Chaturvedi is one such voter.
Having arrived in New Zealand in 2017 after a 20-year career as a broadcast journalist in India, Chaturvedi is looking forward to voting for the first time outside of India.
“I’m really excited to vote,” she says. “It’s my first time voting outside India. Secondly, I’d really like to see a change.”
Chaturvedi is concerned about the mounting cost of living in New Zealand, describing it as an increasingly arduous endeavor.
“Living in New Zealand is becoming incredibly difficult,” she says.
Home hopes look dim
Despite her reasonably steady income, the prospect of being able to purchase a home of her own looks dim.
“I believe in having my own place, but I just can’t afford it,” she says.
Chaturvedi is also concerned about the government’s immigration policies.
“I think it’s important to value your migrants and the current policies don’t reflect that,” she says.
Chaturvedi understands the importance of participating in the election.
Although Chaturvedi is unfamiliar with New Zealand’s mixed member proportional (MMP) electoral system, she wishes to educate herself about it before voting.
Chaturvedi also draws comparisons between voting in India and New Zealand.
Long queues in India
“There are voting booths in India I think every 2km, so it’s very convenient,” she says. “But the queues can be quite long. ”
Unlike New Zealand, which allows advance votes to be submitted, voters can only cast their ballots on election day in India.
She hopes that she won’t have to stand in long queues when she votes in Auckland for the upcoming October election.
Aravind Narayan Suresh, a 28-year-old IT professional and 2021 resident visa holder, shares Chaturvedi’s excitement about the upcoming election.
Having migrated to New Zealand as a student, Suresh is eager to take part in the democratic process once again.
“I have only voted in India and, now that I have an opportunity here, I’d love to participate in the democratic process again,” he says.
His optimism is tempered by the economic challenges he currently faces, including the high cost of living and petrol prices.
“I have my wife over here and I can’t support her with one job, so I’m thinking of doing two,” he says.
Awaiting a work visa
Suresh’s wife is a civil engineer but cannot work in New Zealand because she is still waiting to receive a work visa.
“We have been waiting for seven months,” he says.
Suresh understands his right to vote gives him an opportunity to effect change – whether his preferred choices win or lose.
He also emphasizes the importance of diverse and inclusive representation among candidates in Parliament, believing it reflects the values of the community.
“I think it’s really important to see representatives of the community at the parliament.”
Like Chaturvedi, Suresh is also educating himself about New Zealand’s MMP electoral system but says he has found the overall enrollment process to be relatively straightforward.
Jaikrishna Anil Kanmani, another first-time voter, is looking forward to the election with a touch of nostalgia for the vibrant electoral atmosphere in India.
NZ elections ‘a little dull’
“I feel like the elections in New Zealand are a little dull compared to India,” he says. “It’s a public holiday (in India) and everybody is on the streets.”
He describes New Zealand’s MMP system as confusing and wishes to learn more about the mechanics of it as the election draws near.
“There are members in Parliament who didn’t win their electorates,” he says. “That seemed weird at first to me.”
He says he’s learning more about the electoral system to better understand how it all works.
Concerns about New Zealand’s housing crisis resonate with Kanmani, prompting him to dismiss the idea of purchasing a home due to exorbitant costs.
“I’ve completely dropped the idea of buying a house,” he says. “With the current living costs and the wages, we earn, there’s no way I would be able to put a down payment for a house.”
Serena Wei, who arrived in New Zealand from China in 2018, confesses to being overwhelmed by the array of political parties and candidates.
“I’m still a little confused now,” Wei says. “On the day of the general election, should I vote for a political party or a person? Because I have never experienced it, and I don’t know how to vote.”
As a mother of two, she worries about the country’s education system and its recent reforms.
“The current reforms make the curriculum and exams less difficult,” she says. “If everyone is moving forward, our country is stagnant, and we may lose touch with the progressing countries.”
Emma Chan has recently obtained her New Zealand residency and is looking forward to the election.
“I believe that actively engaging in democratic voting is a fundamental responsibility as a member of the community, contributing to both my own future and the collective well-being of everyone,” Chan says, speaking on condition of using a pseudonym to protect her identity.
Chan highlights the inherent relationship between key issues such as safety, economic development, education and race relations. She emphasises the government’s role in formulating holistic, long-term policies to address these concerns.
Snowee Jiang, who has previously volunteered for elections but has never voted, wants to vote this year to have a say on social issues.
Jiang, who received the fast-track residency visa in 2021, seeks genuine representation in elected officials rather than a political spectacle. She also urges greater Chinese voter participation through enhanced awareness campaigns.
“I hope that the Chinese can increase the proportion of voting,” she says. “Many people will not vote, and many people don’t care. I hope there will be more publicity in this regard.”
According to the Electoral Commission, 3,871,418 Kiwis are eligible to vote on both the general and Māori rolls in this year’s election and, as of August 2023, about 88 percent had already enrolled.
Advance voting starts on October 2, and election day is Saturday, October 14.
Official results for the general election will be declared on November 3.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott faced fresh criticism on Friday after officials confirmed a young child died during a bus trip from the border city of Brownsville to Chicago, Illinois — part of the Republican’s monthslong stunt of transporting migrants to communities with Democratic leaders. “The Illinois Department of Public Health said the child was 3 years old and died Thursday in Marion County…
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has indicated that he will defy an order from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to remove barbed wire buoy barriers in the Rio Grande, an action that has prompted a federal lawsuit against him and other Texas officials. The barriers are part of Abbott’s so-called “Operation Lone Star” program, which seeks to deter migrants from entering the U.S.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Seeking news coverage about the Adriana, the boat crowded with some 700 people migrating to Europe to seek a better life that sank in mid-June off the coast of Greece, I googled “migrant ship” and got 483,000 search results in one second. Most of the people aboard the Adriana had drowned in the Mediterranean, among them about 100 children. I did a similar search for the Titan submersible which…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
This content originally appeared on Human Rights Watch and was authored by Human Rights Watch.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration is planning to use $92 million of leftover COVID-19 federal relief funds to help pay for a highway interchange, a project that directly benefits one of his major donors, a new report finds. According to The Washington Post, which filed an open records request to uncover much of the information in its reporting, an interchange project near…
On 26 June 2023 HRW called on Spain use its six-month tenure as EU Presidency to translate into concrete and bold actions commitment to protect fundamental rights and the rule of law.
Spain holds the presidency as the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 2023. In anticipation of this pivotal moment Spain should make every effort to uphold the rights and values enshrined in this historic document.
HRW calls upon the Spanish government to consider the following priority issues and recommendations:
Two EU member states – Hungary and Poland – currently face scrutiny under Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU)…
The freezing of EU recovery and cohesion funds under the conditionality mechanism represents a welcome step but it is insufficient to address the gravity of the erosion of rule of law and human rights. While Hungary and Poland have adopted some limited measures in response to requirements under the mechanism, these have failed to address fundamental and long-standing concerns. ….We urge the Council to hold the Polish and Hungarian governments to account by using the powers conferred to it under the Treaties and to fulfil the strong mandate to act given to it by the European Commission and Parliament. The urgency of Spain’s leadership and responsibility cannot be overstated as it is one of only two remaining presidencies before Hungary and Poland in turn assume leadership of the Council. It is highly likely that during that time progress on rule of law will at best stall, and at worst Article 7 scrutiny will come to an end altogether…
Spain’s EU Council presidency comes at a critical time for the EU’s migration policy after the Council agreed on 8 June on a negotiating position on an EU-wide reform of its asylum and migration system. Given its mandate to lead on behalf of member states the negotiations with the European Parliament on a final agreement, Spain has an opportunity to broaden the scope for a rights-respecting approach.
We call on your government to:
The EU is equipped with solid instruments to ensure that human rights protection remains at the centre of its external action. The EU has shown resolve in its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has led at the United Nations to address key human rights crises.
..
During its Presidency, we call on your government to:
HRW Letter – Spain Presidency June 2023
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
Through a WhatsApp message from Portugal, my friend Eunice Neves asked to share a moment with me. She was with an Afghan couple, Frishta and Mohammad, and their baby son, Arsalan. The young family has resettled in Mértola, a small city in southern Portugal. They looked forward to celebrating World Refugee Day as part of a project which the Portuguese government lauds as a model for refugee…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
As many as 700 migrants are feared to have died after an overloaded fishing vessel capsized last week off the coast of Greece. As search and rescue efforts continue with dwindling expectations, the Greek Coast Guard is facing backlash over its failure to help rescue passengers before the boat sank. Most of the migrants were women and children; many were from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria and Palestine. They are presumed victims of what may be one the deadliest migrant shipwrecks ever recorded, yet the story has received far less public attention than the search for five passengers aboard a submersible to view the wreck of the Titanic. All five of those passengers were confirmed by the U.S. Coast Guard to have likely died Sunday, days before wall-to-wall media coverage began to speculate about their plight.
We discuss this disparity and the European refugee crisis at large with two guests: Giorgos Kosmopoulos, a senior migration campaigner for Amnesty International, and Laurence Bondard, spokesperson and operations communications manager for SOS Méditerranée, a nongovernmental rescue organization that operates in the central Mediterranean. Bondard has sailed on seven rescue missions with the NGO, part of a growing necessity in the region, where European countries have withheld the resources available for sea rescue. In the last decade, more than 30,000 refugees are estimated to have drowned in the Mediterranean.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) subjects pregnant, postpartum, and nursing migrants to inhumane and dangerous conditions, often in violation of the federal immigration agency’s own standards of care, according to documentation recently made public by advocacy organizations. According to an April 25 letter — signed by dozens of organizations, attorneys, immigration experts…
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) public feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) took a new turn on Monday, following the transport from New Mexico to Sacramento of dozens of South American migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.. The flights were arranged by the same contractor that transported migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last year, The Los Angeles Times reported.
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Preliminary findings from an internal investigation released this week by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) showcase how officials and contractors monitoring migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border were grossly negligent in refusing to treat a visibly sick child, who later succumbed to her illness, earlier this month. Eight-year-old Anadith Tanay Reyes Álvarez and her family arrived in…
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On 30 March, Europe’s top rights body blasted the “inhuman” treatment of migrants who were brutally turned away at its borders. This is especially true of the external borders of EU territory.
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture’s (CPT) annual report said that border forces had beaten migrants. They also suffered:
punches, slaps, blows with truncheons, other hard objects… by police or border guards…
Other forms of inhuman and degrading treatment were also deployed, such as firing bullets close to the persons’ bodies while they lay on the ground.
It said other tactics included:
pushing them into rivers (sometimes with their hands still tied), removal of their clothes and shoes and forcing them to walk barefoot and/or in their underwear and, in some cases, even fully naked across the border.
The CPT said it found “increasing numbers” of people who claimed they were pushed back from the European frontier by force.
CPT head Alan Mitchell said:
Many European countries face very complex migration challenges at their borders, but this does not mean they can ignore their human rights obligations. Pushbacks are illegal, unacceptable and must end.
The committee visited police, border and coastguard posts, detention centres, and transit areas on the main migratory routes to Europe.
The CPT called on the Council of Europe’s member states to guarantee migrants’ rights. This would involve registering each individual, providing medical and vulnerability assessments, and offering people the opportunity to apply for asylum. Moreover, the CPT added that:
Detention should only be used as a measure of last resort
46 countries make up the Council of Europe. The watchdog excluded Russia after its invasion of Ukraine last year. However, it remains a party to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture.
More than a million people arrived in Europe during the 2015-16 refugee crisis. The number of attempts by migrants to enter Europe hit 330,000 in 2022. This is up 64% from the previous year, the EU’s border agency Frontex said. And, as NGO Climate Refugees reported, this situation is only going to become more urgent:
Every day vulnerable people are forcibly displaced due to impacts generated by climate change. This isn’t something that will happen, this is something happening now.
Numerous studies, like The World Bank, forecast a grim picture of internal displacement in the millions, as the adverse effects of climate change induce more extreme weather, rising sea levels, threaten food security and impact livelihoods.
As we are seeing play out now, it is the poorest and most vulnerable communities – those who contributed the least to global warming – that are paying the price and are hit hardest by this crisis.
Additional reporting via Agence France-Presse
Featured image via YouTube
Migrant workers face brutal conditions from the borders to the fields and factories of the U.S. As The Wall Street Journal documented, President Joe Biden’s continuation of Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies has led to 2.2 million arrests and 890 deaths on the border, both record numbers. Migrants are fleeing economic crises often caused by U.S. policies as well as oppressive regimes…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.