tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/asylum-478/articlesAsylum – The Conversation2024-03-08T04:01:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2251582024-03-08T04:01:43Z2024-03-08T04:01:43ZBiden defends immigration policy during State of the Union, blaming Republicans in Congress for refusing to act<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580628/original/file-20240308-24-r50pvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address on March 7, 2024. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-delivers-the-annual-state-of-the-union-news-photo/2059263399?adppopup=true">Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>President Joe Biden delivered the annual <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/03/07/remarks-of-president-joe-biden-state-of-the-union-address-as-prepared-for-delivery-2/">State of the Union address</a> on March 7, 2024, casting a wide net on a range of major themes – the economy, abortion rights, threats to democracy, the wars in Gaza and Ukraine – that are preoccupying many Americans heading into the November presidential election.</em></p>
<p><em>The president also addressed massive increases in immigration at the southern border and the political battle in Congress over how to manage it. “We can fight about the border, or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it,” Biden said.</em></p>
<p><em>But while Biden stressed that he wants to overcome political division and take action on immigration and the border, he cautioned that he will not “demonize immigrants,” as he said his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, does.</em> </p>
<p><em>“I will not separate families. I will not ban people from America because of their faith,” Biden said.</em></p>
<p><em>Biden’s speech comes as a <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4422273-immigration-overtakes-inflation-top-voter-concern-poll/">rising number of American voters</a> say that <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/611135/immigration-surges-top-important-problem-list.aspx">immigration is the country’s biggest problem</a>.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://gould.usc.edu/faculty/profile/jean-lantz-reisz/">Immigration law scholar Jean Lantz Reisz</a> answers four questions about why immigration has become a top issue for Americans, and the limits of presidential power when it comes to immigration and border security.</em> </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580622/original/file-20240308-21-t103cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="President Joe Biden stands surrounded by people in formal clothing and smiles. One man holds a cell phone camera close up to his face." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580622/original/file-20240308-21-t103cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580622/original/file-20240308-21-t103cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580622/original/file-20240308-21-t103cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580622/original/file-20240308-21-t103cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580622/original/file-20240308-21-t103cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580622/original/file-20240308-21-t103cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580622/original/file-20240308-21-t103cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">President Joe Biden arrives to deliver the State of the Union address at the US Capitol on March 7, 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-arrives-to-deliver-the-state-of-the-news-photo/2067104727?adppopup=true">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>1. What is driving all of the attention and concern immigration is receiving?</h2>
<p>The unprecedented number of undocumented migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border right now has drawn national concern to the U.S. immigration system and the president’s enforcement <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/12/22/1221006083/immigration-border-election-presidential">policies at the border</a>. </p>
<p>Border security has always been part of the immigration debate about how to stop unlawful immigration.</p>
<p>But in this election, the immigration debate is also fueled by images of large groups of migrants crossing a river and crawling through <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/record-number-migrant-border-crossings-december-2023/">barbed wire fences</a>. There is also news of standoffs between Texas law enforcement and U.S. <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/24/texas-border-wire-supreme-court/">Border Patrol agents</a> and cities like New York and Chicago struggling to handle the influx of arriving migrants. </p>
<p>Republicans blame Biden for not taking action on what they say is an <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-doubles-warnings-migrant-crime-border-speech/story?id=107691336">“invasion”</a> at the U.S. border. Democrats blame Republicans for refusing to pass laws that would give the president the power to stop the <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-and-trump-s-dueling-border-visits-will-encapsulate-a-building-election-clash/ar-BB1j5jKy">flow of migration at the border</a>. </p>
<h2>2. Are Biden’s immigration policies effective?</h2>
<p>Confusion about immigration laws may be the reason people believe that Biden is not implementing effective policies at the border. </p>
<p>The U.S. passed a law in 1952 that gives any person arriving at the border or inside the U.S. the right to apply for asylum and the right to legally stay in the country, even if that person crossed the <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1158&num=0&edition=prelim">border illegally</a>. That law has not changed. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/politics/trump-overruled/#immigration">Courts struck down</a> many of former President Donald Trump’s policies that tried to limit immigration. Trump was able to lawfully deport migrants at the border without processing their asylum claims during the COVID-19 pandemic under a public health law <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-is-title-42-and-what-does-it-mean-for-immigration-at-the-southern-border">called Title 42</a>. Biden continued that policy <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-title-42-policy-immigration-what-happens-ending-expiration/">until the legal justification for Title 42</a> – meaning the public health emergency – ended in 2023. </p>
<p>Republicans falsely attribute the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/15/migrant-encounters-at-the-us-mexico-border-hit-a-record-high-at-the-end-of-2023/">surge in undocumented migration</a> to the U.S. over the past three years to something they call Biden’s <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4414432-house-approves-resolution-denouncing-bidens-open-border-policies/">“open border” policy</a>. There is no such policy. </p>
<p>Multiple factors are driving increased migration to the U.S. </p>
<p>More people are leaving dangerous or difficult situations in <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/02/the-crisis-at-the-border-a-primer-for-confused-americans.html">their countries</a>, and some people have waited to migrate until <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/border-numbers-fy2023">after the COVID-19 pandemic</a> ended. People who smuggle migrants are also <a href="https://thehill.com/campaign-issues/immigration/3576180-human-smugglers-often-target-migrants-with-misinformation-on-social-media-watchdog/">spreading misinformation</a> to migrants about the ability to enter and stay in the U.S. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580236/original/file-20240306-24-y12r2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Joe Biden wears a black blazer and a black hat as he stands next to a bald white man wearing a green uniform and a white truck that says 'Border Patrol' in green" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580236/original/file-20240306-24-y12r2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580236/original/file-20240306-24-y12r2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580236/original/file-20240306-24-y12r2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580236/original/file-20240306-24-y12r2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580236/original/file-20240306-24-y12r2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580236/original/file-20240306-24-y12r2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580236/original/file-20240306-24-y12r2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">President Joe Biden walks with Jason Owens, the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, as he visits the U.S.-Mexico border in Brownsville, Texas, on Feb. 29, 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-walks-with-jason-owens-chief-of-us-news-photo/2041441026?adppopup=true">Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>3. How much power does the president have over immigration?</h2>
<p>The president’s power regarding immigration is limited to enforcing existing immigration laws. But the president has broad authority over how to enforce those laws. </p>
<p>For example, the president can place every single immigrant unlawfully <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1103&num=0&edition=prelim">present in the U.S.</a> in deportation proceedings. Because there is not enough money or employees at federal agencies and courts to accomplish that, the president will usually choose to prioritize the deportation of certain immigrants, like those who have committed serious and violent crimes in the U.S. </p>
<p>The federal agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2023/12/29/immigrants-ice-border-deportations-2023/#">deported more than 142,000 immigrants</a> from October 2022 through September 2023, double the number of people it deported the previous fiscal year. </p>
<p>But under current law, the president does not have the power to summarily expel migrants who say they are afraid of returning to their country. The law requires the president to process their claims for asylum. </p>
<p>Biden’s ability to enforce immigration law also depends on a budget approved by Congress. <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/02/29/fact-sheet-impact-of-bipartisan-border-agreement-funding-on-border-operations/">Without congressional approval</a>, the president cannot spend money to build a wall, increase immigration detention facilities’ capacity or send more Border Patrol agents to process undocumented migrants entering the country.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580242/original/file-20240306-18-k0ch8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large group of people are seen sitting and standing along a tall brown fence in an empty area of brown dirt." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580242/original/file-20240306-18-k0ch8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580242/original/file-20240306-18-k0ch8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580242/original/file-20240306-18-k0ch8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580242/original/file-20240306-18-k0ch8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580242/original/file-20240306-18-k0ch8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580242/original/file-20240306-18-k0ch8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580242/original/file-20240306-18-k0ch8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Migrants arrive at the border between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to surrender to American Border Patrol agents on March 5, 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/groups-of-migrants-of-different-nationalities-arrive-at-the-news-photo/2054049040?adppopup=true">Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>4. How could Biden address the current immigration problems in this country?</h2>
<p>In early 2024, Republicans in the Senate refused to pass a bill – developed by a bipartisan team of legislators – that would have made it harder to get asylum and given Biden the power to stop <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-biden-border-authority/">taking asylum applications</a> when migrant crossings reached a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/senate-vote-border-bill-aid-02-07-24/h_3263c78238d0d2de96a203fad7fd9e94">certain number</a>. </p>
<p>During his speech, Biden called this bill the “toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen in this country.”</p>
<p>That bill would have also provided <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/senate-vote-border-bill-aid-02-07-24/h_3263c78238d0d2de96a203fad7fd9e94">more federal money</a> to help immigration agencies and courts quickly review more asylum claims and expedite the asylum process, which remains backlogged with millions of cases, Biden said. Biden said the bipartisan deal would also hire 1,500 more border security agents and officers, as well as 4,300 more asylum officers. </p>
<p>Removing this backlog in immigration courts could mean that some undocumented migrants, who now might wait six to eight years for an asylum hearing, would instead only wait six weeks, Biden said. That means it would be “highly unlikely” migrants would pay a large amount to be smuggled into the country, only to be “kicked out quickly,” Biden said. </p>
<p>“My Republican friends, you owe it to the American people to get this bill done. We need to act,” Biden said. </p>
<p>Biden’s remarks calling for Congress to pass the bill drew jeers from some in the audience. Biden quickly responded, saying that it was a bipartisan effort: “What are you against?” he asked. </p>
<p>Biden <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-weighs-invoking-executive-authority-stage-border-crackdown-212f/">is now considering</a> using section 212(f) of the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/laws-and-policy/legislation/immigration-and-nationality-act">Immigration and Nationality Act</a> to get more control over immigration. This sweeping law allows the president to temporarily suspend or restrict the entry of all foreigners if their arrival is detrimental to the U.S.</p>
<p>This obscure law gained attention when Trump used it in January 2017 to implement a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-immigration-ban-raises-more-questions-answers-here-s-n1188946">travel ban</a> on foreigners from mainly Muslim countries. The Supreme Court upheld the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/world/americas/travel-ban-trump-how-it-works.html">travel ban in 2018</a>. </p>
<p>Trump again also signed an executive order in April 2020 that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-immigration-ban-raises-more-questions-answers-here-s-n1188946">blocked foreigners who were seeking lawful permanent residency from entering the country</a> for 60 days, citing this same section of the Immigration and Nationality Act. </p>
<p>Biden did not mention any possible use of section 212(f) during his State of the Union speech. If the president uses this, it would likely be challenged in court. It is not clear that 212(f) would apply to people already in the U.S., and it conflicts with existing asylum law that gives people within the U.S. the right to seek asylum.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Lantz Reisz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A rising number of Americans say that immigration is the country’s biggest problem. Biden called for Congress to pass a bipartisan border and immigration bill during his State of the Union.Jean Lantz Reisz, Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Co-Director, USC Immigration Clinic, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230722024-02-13T13:21:23Z2024-02-13T13:21:23ZImmigration reform has always been tough, and rarely happens in election years - 4 things to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575094/original/file-20240212-24-rrmn75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrants cross the border from Mexico into Texas on Feb. 6, 2024. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-cross-the-border-to-usa-through-gate-36-and-to-be-news-photo/1983631787?adppopup=true">Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Immigration is already a major polarizing issue in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Arrests for <a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-crossings-mexico-biden-18ac91ef502e0c5433f74de6cc629b32">illegal border crossings</a> from Mexico reached an all-time high in December 2023, and cities like New York and Chicago are struggling to provide housing and basic services for tens of thousands of <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/04/texas-migrants-new-york-bus-companies-lawsuit/#:%7E:text=As%20of%20Dec.,33%2C600%20migrants%20to%20New%20York.">migrants arriving from Texas</a>. </p>
<p>In early February 2024, a group of senators <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-unveils-118-billion-bipartisan-bill-tighten-border-security-aid-2024-02-04/">proposed new immigration legislation</a> that would have slowed the migrant influx at the border. The bill would have made it harder for migrants to both apply for and receive asylum, which is the legal right to stay in the U.S. because of fear of persecution if they return back home. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-border-deal-rejected-lankford-immigration-045fdf42d42b26270ee1f5f73e8bc1b0">But the bill</a>, like others proposed in recent years, quickly faltered after Republicans opposed it. </p>
<p>This is far from the first time that Democrats and Republicans have failed to pass legislation that was intended to improve the country’s immigration system. </p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Y1qVRfUAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar of immigration and refugee policy</a>. Here are four key reasons why meaningful immigration policy change has been so difficult to achieve – and why it remains a pipe dream:</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People wearing dark clothing and jackets reach for and hold bags of bread." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Newly arrived migrants receive a meal from a church in Manhattan on Jan. 24, 2024. According to New York Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, 172,400 migrants have arrived in the city since the spring of 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-mostly-newly-arrived-migrants-receive-an-afternoon-news-photo/1958071905?adppopup=true">Spencer Platt/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>1. Immigration reform has always been hard</h2>
<p>The U.S. has faced major roadblocks every time it has tried to achieve immigration reform. </p>
<p>For decades after World War II, presidents, lawmakers and activists tried and failed to revamp the nation’s immigration system to remove <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/erika-lee/america-for-americans/9781541672598/?lens=basic-books">racist quotas based on national origin</a>, set in the 1920s, that restricted all but northern and western Europeans from immigrating to the U.S. </p>
<p>Change finally came in 1965, when Congress passed the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/laws-and-policy/legislation/immigration-and-nationality-act">Immigration and Nationality Act</a>. This required extensive negotiations. The final bipartisan bargain <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/10/03/445339838/the-unintended-consequences-of-the-1965-immigration-act">removed racist quotas but appeased those who wanted to restrict immigration</a> by prioritizing new immigrants’ connections to family already in the country – a preference that lawmakers thought would favor Europeans.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691088051/dividing-lines">last big immigration reform</a> happened in 1986, when Congress passed the <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/irca">Immigration Reform and Control Act</a>. Year after year, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Congressional bills to address the porous border with Mexico and the undocumented immigrant population living in the country went nowhere. After many false starts, an uneasy Left-Right majority finally agreed in 1986 on a package that sanctioned employers who hired undocumented immigrants, provided legal status to roughly 3 million undocumented migrants, created a new farmworker program, and increased border security resources.</p>
<p>For almost four decades, Washington has been stuck in neutral on this issue.</p>
<h2>2. The US is more polarized on immigration than ever before</h2>
<p>Americans have been at odds over how to handle immigration since the nation’s founding. But partisan and ideological polarization over border control and immigrants’ rights <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo221112082.html">is greater today</a> than any other time.</p>
<p>Over the past 20 years, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-politics-of-immigration-9780190235307?cc=us&lang=en&">Democratic and Republican voters</a> and politicians alike became more firmly <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo28424644.html">aligned with rival</a> pro- and anti-immigration rights movements.</p>
<p>In 2008, 46% of Republicans and 39% of Democrats said they thought immigration to the U.S. <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/395882/immigration-views-remain-mixed-highly-partisan.aspx">should be decreased</a>. In 2023, GOP support for decreased immigration soared to 73%, compared with just 18% of Democrats who said they wanted that. Today, Republicans are almost three times as likely as Democrats to see unauthorized immigration as a very big national problem – <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/06/21/inflation-health-costs-partisan-cooperation-among-the-nations-top-problems/">70% versus 25%</a>.</p>
<p>Despite growing polarization, leaders from both parties have tried a few times in recent decades to work together on bipartisan reform. </p>
<p>In 2006, former President George W. Bush, a Republican, joined Senators Edward Kennedy, a Democrat, John McCain, a member of the GOP, and other lawmakers in a coalition that pushed for comprehensive immigration reform. Like the 1986 reform, their proposal included stronger border security measures, a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants and a new, expansive program for employers to legally host foreign workers. </p>
<p>Right-wing pundits and anti-immigrant activists vigorously mobilized <a href="https://cis.org/Historical-Overview-Immigration-Policy">against the legislation,</a> and the GOP-controlled House of Representatives killed the bill.</p>
<p>In 2013, a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/06/24/getting-to-maybe">bipartisan group of politicians called the “Gang of Eight”</a> spearheaded a new reform. Their bill reflected a familiar package: a new path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, more work visas for skilled foreign immigrants, and a guest worker program. The <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/immigration-bill-2013-senate-passes-093530">Senate passed the legislation</a>, but the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2007/06/26/immigration_22/">measure then died</a> in the House. The Republican majority there refused to vote on what they considered an amnesty bill.</p>
<p>Partisan warfare over immigration reached a fevered pitch during the Donald Trump presidency. Liberals, for example, rallied against Trump’s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/01/a-weekend-of-protest-against-trumps-immigration-ban/514953/">ban on immigrants from some Muslim countries</a>, and conservatives fretted over <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-the-migrant-caravan-and-a-manufactured-crisis-at-the-us-border">caravans of migrants crossing into the country</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kyrsten Sinema wears a red dress and red framed glasses and gestures with her hands, while people stand around her and hold out phones and tape recorders." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">US Senator Kyrsten Sinema, one of the co-sponsors of the Senate bi-partisan border and immigration bill, speaks to reporters in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sen-kyrsten-sinema-speaks-to-reporters-at-the-u-s-capitol-news-photo/1988744214?adppopup=true">Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. There’s little bipartisan agreement over what the problem actually is</h2>
<p>Most Americans generally agree that the nation’s immigration system is broken. Yet different political groups cannot agree on what exactly is wrong and how to solve it.</p>
<p>For some Republicans, including former Trump, the problem is lax border control and permissive policies that allow dangerous migrants to enter and stay in the country. Right-wing politicians and commentators, like Tucker Carlson, have exploited these anxieties, warning that large-scale immigration will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/us/replacement-theory-shooting-tucker-carlson.html">“replace” white Americans</a>. Their solution is to militarize the nation’s borders, deport undocumented immigrants living in the country, and make it harder for people to legally stay in the country. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/mobility-socialism-how-anti-immigration-politics-advances-socialism-and-impedes-capitalism">There are also conservatives</a> who think immigration is consistent with the principles of individual liberty, entrepreneurship and national economic growth. They support more visas for highly skilled newcomers, especially those with strong science and technology backgrounds.</p>
<p>Democrats <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/09/08/republicans-and-democrats-have-different-top-priorities-for-u-s-immigration-policy/">aligned with the immigrant rights</a> movement believe that the country is obliged to address the humanitarian needs of migrants seeking asylum at the southern border. They argue that millions of undocumented people <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520287266/lives-in-limbo">living in the shadows</a> of American life creates an undemocratic caste system, and they think this can be solved by creating pathways for most undocumented immigrants to get legal permanent residency. </p>
<p>Moderate Democrats <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2024/02/07/kyrsten-sinema-border-bill-impact-arizona-election/72509061007/">advocate tougher restrictions to address migrant surges</a> that overwhelm Border Patrol agents and other officials along the U.S.-Mexican border. Their solutions include hiring thousands of new immigration officers, strengthening physical and technological barriers along the border, and making the asylum program more efficient. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Joe Biden wears dark sunglasses and a suit and walks, in front of men in green uniforms, along a large fence. The sun shines through it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Joe Biden walks along the U.S.-Mexico border fence in January 2023 in El Paso, Texas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-walks-along-the-us-mexico-border-fence-news-photo/1246095870?adppopup=true">Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Immigration reform is especially messy in a presidential election year</h2>
<p>Presidential election years are fertile ground for politicking on immigrants and borders, but not lasting policy reform.</p>
<p>In 2021, President Joe Biden and his supporters introduced an <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2024/02/07/kyrsten-sinema-border-bill-impact-arizona-election/72509061007/">immigration bill</a> that would offer a pathway to legal residency for nearly all undocumented immigrants. But the measure never gained the 60 votes necessary to win passage in the Senate. </p>
<p>Now, Biden finds himself <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4394262-biden-approval-rating-on-handling-immigration-reaches-all-time-low-poll/">underwater with voters, including Democrats, on immigration</a> and the perceived chaos at the border. </p>
<p>Eager to protect themselves in the 2024 election and to alleviate the headaches that migrant surges at the border present, Biden and other top Democrats temporarily set aside past blueprints for legalizing undocumented people and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-unveils-118-billion-bipartisan-bill-tighten-border-security-aid-2024-02-04/">joined Republican negotiators</a> in advancing one of the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/border-deal-to-cut-illegal-immigration-is-released-after-months-of-talks-26a66211">toughest border security measures</a> in decades. This bill, which the Senate introduced on Feb. 5, 2024, would have dedicated US$20.2 billion to strengthen border security, and it would have made it much harder for immigrants to apply for or receive asylum. </p>
<p>Republican border hawks had long demanded more restrictive immigration rules. But they did not embrace this deal. When Trump eviscerated the legislation, intent on keeping problems at the border as a campaign issue, Republican members of Congress lined up to quickly kill the legislation.</p>
<p>The death of the bipartisan Senate border deal is a triumph of election-year grandstanding over governing. Yet its demise also reflects a much longer trend of ideological conflict and partisan warfare that has made congressional gridlock on immigration reform a defining feature of contemporary American politics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Tichenor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Immigration reform has always been hard to accomplish. As the U.S. enters an election year, bipartisan reform now appears out of reach.Daniel Tichenor, Professor of Political Science, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2191732024-01-10T13:32:59Z2024-01-10T13:32:59ZRepublicans are pushing for drastic asylum changes – an immigration law scholar breaks down the proposal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568299/original/file-20240108-23-1ap3d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrants cross through a gap in the U.S.-Mexico border fence on Dec. 22, 2023, in Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-cross-through-a-gap-in-the-us-mexico-border-fence-news-photo/1876398355?adppopup=true">Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is bipartisan agreement for the need for immigration reform and stark disagreement on what that reform should be. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/13/monthly-encounters-with-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border-remain-near-record-highs/">rise in illegal</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-republicans-democrats-want-do-us-mexico-border-security-2024-01-08/">border crossings since 2020</a> has applied significant pressure for changing under what conditions someone can apply for asylum. This government system is designed to provide life-saving relief for noncitizens afraid of returning to their home countries. </p>
<p>Undocumented migrants entering the United States have few plausible options to legally stay in the country. For many migrants fleeing their countries due to violence, war, government collapse, natural disasters or any personal threats that could harm them, the only legal pathway of immigrating to the U.S. is by receiving asylum. </p>
<p>Conservative Republicans in Congress are now <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4387973-shutdown-risk-grows-with-gops-border-fury/">proposing legal changes</a> that would make it harder for most applicants to get asylum. </p>
<p>The Republicans’ plan is <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4390204-5-things-to-know-about-border-bill-hr2-gop-shutdown-threats/">similar to</a> both a similar rule that the Department of Homeland Security adopted in 2019 and a policy that President Joe Biden is trying to push through. </p>
<p>I am an <a href="https://gould.usc.edu/faculty/profile/jean-lantz-reisz/">immigration professor</a> and teach asylum law. I believe it’s important to understand what sets Republicans’ proposed law apart from previous iterations. </p>
<p>The president cannot change the law, but Congress can. If these lawmakers succeed in changing federal asylum law, the law would override the court decisions striking down previous versions. Because Congress has broad power over immigration, the new laws would likely be upheld if challenged in court.</p>
<p>Still, currently, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-and-asylees-united-states">most people who seek asylum </a> do not receive permission to stay in the country, and they are deported. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People are seen standing in a desert on a grey day with a white SUV nearby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the U.S.-Mexico border in Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-wait-to-be-processed-by-the-u-s-border-patrol-news-photo/1876398361?adppopup=true">Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Understanding asylum</h2>
<p>Currently, any noncitizen, including someone who already lives in the U.S. or who entered the country without a visa – <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1158&num=0&edition=prelim">can apply for asylum</a>. This is true regardless of the person’s legal immigration status. </p>
<p>A person can ask the U.S. government for asylum only once they are in the country or at the border – and they must ask for asylum within a year of arriving in the U.S. </p>
<p>Applying for asylum is a complicated process that could take several years. Undocumented migrants <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/supreme-court-says-detained-immigrants-not-entitled-to-bond-hearing">often apply for asylum</a> while they are detained in an immigration detention center. </p>
<p>Overall, asylum applicants <a href="https://www.usa.gov/asylum">will need to prove</a> that they face severe harm in their home country from their government or someone their government cannot control, like an armed militia group. This potential severe harm must trace back to their race, religion, political opinion, nationality or some characteristic they cannot, or should not have to, change.</p>
<p>Asylum seekers first make their case to a U.S. government asylum officer, who judges the veracity of their claim in an interview. </p>
<p>If migrants pass this <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum/questions-and-answers-credible-fear-screening">first interview</a>, the migrant is allowed to seek asylum before an immigration judge. </p>
<p>At this stage, asylum seekers will need to show extensive evidence of events and other conditions that place them in severe danger if they are deported. Getting this proof is very difficult for asylum seekers, who typically require the help of an attorney to <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/396/">complete this application process</a>. </p>
<p>Even if an applicant meets all of the requirements to get asylum, a judge still has the discretion to decide whether or not this person should receive it. </p>
<p>Judges then give some migrants asylum, allowing them to apply for U.S. green cards, which are the documents that give someone <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/brochures/USCIS_Welcomes_Refugees_and_Asylees.pdf">legal permission to remain</a> in the U.S. They can then lawfully work, receive certain government benefits and eventually apply for citizenship. </p>
<h2>A backlog</h2>
<p>As a result of the rising number of undocumented migrants crossing into the U.S. – increasingly from <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2023-11/2023_0818_plcy_refugees_and_asylees_fy2022.pdf">places with widespread government instability</a> and violence, like Venezuela and Honduras – asylum requests are also on the rise.</p>
<p>Asylum cases in immigration court more than tripled <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2023-11/2023_0818_plcy_refugees_and_asylees_fy2022.pdf">between 2021 and 2022</a>, rising from 63,074 to 238,841. And the <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/reports/705/">asylum case numbers continue to grow</a>. </p>
<p>This rise in asylum applications is then coupled with a growing backlog of asylum cases in immigration court. </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/reports/734/">3 million cases</a> still waiting to go before a judge in immigration courts – 1 million of these are asylum cases. In comparison, the average number of backlogged <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Refugees_Asylees_2016_0.pdf">asylum cases</a> from 2012 through 2016 consistently remained below 200,000. </p>
<p>Consequently, people seeking asylum typically <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-migrants-us-asylum-process-legal-limbo/">now wait an average of four years</a> before they have an asylum hearing in court – and, in many cases, may wait longer for a decision that they have appealed. </p>
<p>An asylum seeker may, in some cases, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2023/09/01/new-york-businesses-give-immigrant-work-permits-to-asylum-seekers/?sh=58b60afb4219">apply for a work permit</a> if they must wait more than six months for a decision.</p>
<h2>Republican plan</h2>
<p>Conservative House Republicans are now <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-threaten-government-shutdown-immigration-deal-democrats-rcna132534">threatening a government shutdown</a> that could happen as early as Jan. 19, 2024. They also have blocked more foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, and are using their power over this aid as leverage for changing asylum laws. </p>
<p>Biden, meanwhile, wants Congress to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-republicans-democrats-want-do-us-mexico-border-security-2024-01-08/">approve nearly US$14 billion</a> to pay for more border security agents, as well as asylum officers and immigration judges. </p>
<p>Republicans have rejected Biden’s proposal and instead <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22hr2%22%7D&s=3&r=1">want new laws</a> that would deny asylum to any migrant who passed through a third country while traveling to the U.S., or who did not enter the U.S. at an official port of entry along a border. </p>
<p>These changes target the fact that most migrants who cross into the U.S. without documentation – and apply for asylum – come from countries other than Mexico. But these people, coming from countries like Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba, first pass through Mexico on their way to the U.S. Approximately 71% of the over <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/11/12/1212058889/migrants-u-s-southern-border-historic-numbers-why">2.4 million</a> people who were apprehended at the southern border in 2023 traveled through Mexico, but were not <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/border-numbers-fy2023">Mexican citizens</a>. </p>
<p>If this proposed law is passed, these migrants would no longer have a court consider their asylum applications. </p>
<p>Instead, they would not be allowed to apply for asylum. They would be immediately deported back to their own countries. </p>
<p>Democrats have opposed the changes when they were proposed as part of a bill in May 2023, but some <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-republicans-democrats-want-do-us-mexico-border-security-2024-01-08/">Democrats are more open</a> to asylum restrictions and may compromise to reach a deal. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People walk along white walls that wrap in a circular manner. The people carry backpacks, children and wear jackets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ukrainians who were seeking asylum arrive at the U.S. port of entry in Tijuana, Mexico, in April 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ukrainians-who-are-seeking-asylum-walk-at-the-el-chaparral-news-photo/1390002303?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Not the first go-around</h2>
<p>The proposed change that would deny asylum to those who have traveled through a third country is identical to a Department of Homeland Security rule that the agency adopted under former president <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/asylum-ban-trump-administration-blocked-by-judge-today-2019-07-24/">Donald Trump’s administration in 2019</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/politics/biden-asylum-court-ruling/index.html">Biden has proposed a similar policy</a>, with exceptions for a migrant who obtained special permission to enter the U.S., or who was denied asylum in another country. The <a href="https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/03/05/19-56417.pdf">Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals</a> struck down Trump’s rule in 2020 because it violated current asylum law that permits anyone to seek asylum, regardless of how they enter the U.S. </p>
<p>The president cannot change the law. </p>
<p>A federal district court <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/25/texas-biden-asylum-rule-california-judge/">struck down Biden’s policy</a> in July 2023 on the same basis. Biden has appealed <a href="https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/cases-of-interest/east-bay-sanctuary-covenant-v-joseph-biden/">that decision</a>. </p>
<p>Republicans are proposing other laws to make it harder to receive asylum. One change would require asylum seekers to present a large amount of evidence proving their fear of persecution during their first interview with a government asylum officer – not later, when they go before a judge. The law would also end programs that allow migrants to stay with sponsors in the U.S. while seeking asylum. </p>
<p>In summary, the proposed changes would make it almost impossible for a migrant entering through the U.S.-Mexico border to get asylum, even if that migrant has a legitimate fear of returning to his or her home country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Lantz Reisz receives funding from Los Angeles City and County. </span></em></p>A GOP proposal would make it nearly impossible for most migrants now crossing the US border to gain asylum and the right to remain in the country.Jean Lantz Reisz, Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Co-Director, USC Immigration Clinic, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2149582023-11-01T19:54:40Z2023-11-01T19:54:40ZCanada’s refugee pilot programs risk making refugees prove their worth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557163/original/file-20231101-27-nsb8h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C139%2C2973%2C2106&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Admitting refugees based on their skills risks setting a dangerous precedent, and Canada would be wise to proceed with caution.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canadas-refugee-pilot-programs-risk-making-refugees-prove-their-worth" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Canada’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/economic-mobility-pathways-pilot/immigrate/eligibility.html">Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP)</a>, intended to settle skilled refugees to fill urgent Canadian labour shortages, risks commodifying refugees and humanitarianism. A shift towards using <a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-needs-to-stop-wasting-the-talent-of-skilled-immigrants-182005">an asylum claimant’s economic potential to judge their claim</a> risks blurring the lines between humanitarian- and economically-driven migration to Canada. </p>
<p>Canada has garnered international praise for the way it has welcomed refugees. The country has a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/canada-role/timeline.html">long history of granting protection to individuals fleeing persecution, war and violence</a>. Since 1980, <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/in-canada/refugees-in-canada/">Canada has welcomed over one million refugees</a>, and takes pride in their contributions to the Canadian economy and its multicultural milieu. </p>
<p>Canada’s welcoming approach, and its <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-story-behind-the-worlds-first-private-refugee-sponsorship-program-126257">private refugee sponsorship program</a>, have been touted as a model for other countries to follow. Canada has also been celebrated for its <a href="https://www.fmreview.org/latinamerica-caribbean/dustin-ferreira">proceedings involving refugees who have suffered due to their sexual orientation or gender identity</a>.</p>
<p>Finding durable solutions to global refugee crises is a persistent challenge. However, admitting refugees based on their skills risks setting a dangerous precedent, and Canada would be wise to proceed with caution.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people holding signs that say welcome to Canada" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A family waits to welcome Syrian refugees at Toronto Pearson Airport. The EMPP risks jeopardizing Canada’s welcoming reputation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/economic-mobility-pathways-project-labour-mobility.html">The EMPP</a> was launched in April 2018 in collaboration with refugee-focused organizations like <a href="https://www.talentbeyondboundaries.org/">Talent Beyond Boundaries</a> and <a href="https://www.refugepoint.org/">RefugePoint</a>, and is designed to combine refugee resettlement and economic immigration. </p>
<p>Through the EMPP, around 10 to 15 “skilled refugees” in the Middle East and East Africa were referred to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/provincial-nominees/works.html">provincial nominee programs</a> in Canada. Through these programs, Canadian provinces are able to nominate people for permanent residence. The EMPP was intended to be another avenue for refugees seeking to come to Canada. </p>
<p>In the summer of 2023, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced two new immigration streams under the EMPP. Refugees who secured a full-time job offer could come to Canada through the EMPP Skills Job Stream. Those without a full-time job offer, but who <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/in-canada/other-immigration-pathways-refugees/economic-immigration-skilled-refugees/#:%7E:text=To%20date%2C%20a%20software%20developer,other%20applications%20are%20being%20processed.">possessed skills that match with employers’ needs</a>, could apply through the EMPP Federal Skills Without a Job Offer Stream. </p>
<p>These newer pathways apply a skills distinction to refugee selection and admission in Canada. Essentially, they distinguish refugee applicants based on their perceived skills, education, training and experience. Such a practice is counter to <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-relating-status-refugees">international</a> and <a href="https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-2.5/page-1.html#h-274085">national</a> protocols that state refugees must be protected based on their fears of persecution. </p>
<p>More importantly, distinguishing refugees in this way only serves the private interests of employers and businesses, and not necessarily those of asylum seekers. </p>
<h2>Making refugees prove their worth</h2>
<p>The government states the EMPP gives Canadian employers access to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/economic-mobility-pathways-pilot.html">“a new pool of qualified candidates”</a> who can meet ongoing labour shortages.</p>
<p>Migrant-receiving countries in the Global North have long relied on immigration to enhance their economic competitiveness. This economic basis for immigration has a long history in Canada and can be traced back to the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/immigration-policy">1967 introduction of the points system</a>. Under this system, people seeking to immigrate to Canada are ranked and assessed based on their skills and human capital.</p>
<p>This kind of skilled immigration has become the <a href="https://theconversation.com/immigrants-could-be-the-solution-to-canadas-labour-shortage-but-they-need-to-be-supported-194613">preferred solution</a> to Canada’s ongoing labour shortages, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pandemic-created-challenges-and-opportunities-for-canadian-immigration-194490">particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>These immigration systems can often create power imbalances between companies and their workers that are ripe for abuse. They can often give employers significant say in <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-regulations-on-migrant-farm-workers-should-tackle-employer-employee-power-imbalances-198489">who gets to stay in Canada and who does not</a>.</p>
<h2>Risks of abuse</h2>
<p>Inserting labour market objectives into refugee policy means the federal government risks not fully considering the dangers of exposing already vulnerable refugees to increased trauma and exploitation by <a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-the-good-myth-exposed-migrant-workers-resist-debt-bondage-90279">employers or unregulated recruiters</a>. </p>
<p>Assessing a refugee based on their employment or economic prospects fails to consider their other needs, <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/fr/magazines/mai-2016/from-newcomer-to-canadian-making-refugee-integration-work/">such as health care, housing and language training</a>. The current EMPP pathways remain small and are intended to complement, rather than replace, the humanitarian impetus driving Canada’s refugee policy. </p>
<p>Now is the time to stop, think and apply caution. There is a need for more dialogue on the potential risks for refugees if Canada starts to assess their applications based on their economic prospects rather than the depth of their humanitarian needs. </p>
<p>This is especially important as Canada could serve as a model for other countries, which it has done in the past, and shape the lives of global refugees.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214958/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Romeo Joe Quintero does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada has cultivated a reputation for being welcoming toward refugees. However, a new pilot program risks jeopardizing that reputation by making asylum seekers prove their economic worth.Romeo Joe Quintero, PhD Student, Human Geography, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2150612023-10-05T05:11:41Z2023-10-05T05:11:41ZWhy the government’s plan to overhaul the asylum system is a smart use of resources – and might just work<p>Immigration Minister Andrew Giles today <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/05/labor-to-prioritise-new-asylum-seeker-claims-as-part-of-160m-package-to-tackle-backlog">announced</a> significant changes aimed at restoring the integrity of Australia’s refugee protection system. </p>
<p>The key focus is on reducing the significant backlogs in the processing and reviewing of protection visa applications once people apply for asylum in Australia. </p>
<p>The aim is to ensure people who fear persecution or other serious rights abuses can be granted protection quickly. This will, <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AndrewGiles/Pages/restoring-integrity-protection-system.aspx">Giles</a> says, allow them to “rebuild their lives with certainty and stability”.</p>
<p>According to Giles, “Australians are rightly proud of our country’s generous refugee program”. But there is no denying the current onshore protection system is broken. </p>
<p>The focus of successive governments in recent years has been on blocking and punishing asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat. This has distracted both the public – and the government – from the serious systemic issues slowing down access to protection here in Australia.</p>
<h2>A decade for a final decision</h2>
<p>The onshore protection system covers people who arrive in Australia on a valid visa – such as a tourist or student visa – and then apply for asylum. </p>
<p>Some people have valid protection claims, some don’t. A key problem is that processing times for these claims have been ballooning in recent years. On average, it <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/refugee-council-welcomes-investment-in-protection-visa-reform/">now takes around</a> 2.4 years for an initial decision on a protection claim to be made by the Department of Home Affairs. If the application is denied, it takes another 3.6 years to seek a merits review of the claim at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. And if it’s denied again, there’s an additional 5.1 years for judicial review by the courts. </p>
<p>As a result, some people have had to wait as long as 11 years for a final decision. Such delays have a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00207640231159297#:%7E:text=The%20mental%20distress%20of%20asylum,ongoing%20uncertainty%20of%20legal%20status.">devastating impact</a> on people with genuine asylum claims, who are forced to live in limbo and uncertainty for lengthy periods of time.</p>
<p>On the flipside, these delays have also been “motivating bad actors” to take advantage of the system by lodging increasing numbers of “non-genuine applications for protection”, according to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/visa-exploitation-review-urges-tougher-penalties-and-a-ban-on-temporary-migrants-in-sex-work-would-this-solve-the-problem-214953">Nixon report</a>, a review into the exploitation of Australia’s visa system by Victoria’s former police chief commissioner, Christine Nixon, which was released this week.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/visa-exploitation-review-urges-tougher-penalties-and-a-ban-on-temporary-migrants-in-sex-work-would-this-solve-the-problem-214953">Visa exploitation review urges tougher penalties and a ban on temporary migrants in sex work. Would this solve the problem?</a>
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<h2>The proposed changes</h2>
<p>In this context, we welcome the A$160 million investment announced by the government today to implement a faster and fairer onshore protection system. This will increase the decision-making capacity across the whole asylum system. The funding includes:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>$54 million for the initial processing of claims by Home Affairs</p></li>
<li><p>$58 million for the appointment of ten additional members to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the body that reviews claims that have been rejected </p></li>
<li><p>and ten additional judges to the Federal Circuit and Family Court. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Another $48 million will be provided for legal assistance to support people through the complex asylum application process – something we have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/01/scrapping-legal-aid-for-refugees-will-cost-australia-more-than-it-saves">long called for</a>.</p>
<p>There is a wealth of evidence demonstrating legal assistance increases the fairness and efficiency of the asylum process. Research by the <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/kaldor-centre-data-lab">Kaldor Centre Data Lab</a> found asylum applicants with legal representation are, on average, <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/breaking-down-data-what-numbers-tell-us-about-asylum-claims-aat">five times more likely</a> to succeed on a merits review than applicants who represent themselves. They are also <a href="https://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Issue-453-05-Ghezelbesh-et-al.pdf">six times more likely</a> to succeed at the judicial review stage. </p>
<p>There is a wealth of similar research from other countries, including <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/capa.12503">Canada</a>, <a href="https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/budapest/15098.pdf">Switzerland</a> and the <a href="https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9502&context=penn_law_review">United States</a>, showing legal representation makes the entire system more efficient.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-refugees-succeed-in-visa-reviews-new-research-reveals-the-factors-that-matter-131763">How refugees succeed in visa reviews: new research reveals the factors that matter</a>
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<p>This is because refugee lawyers provide a very important “triage” service in the process. Their specialised understanding of the law – as well as the social and political conditions from which asylum seekers have fled – means they only take on cases they feel have merit. In this way, lawyers help reduce the number of unmeritorious claims reaching tribunals and courts.</p>
<p>Refugee lawyers also help asylum seekers prepare their statements coherently and systematically. They identify relevant evidence and legal principles, which assists decision-makers to focus on the key aspects of the claim. </p>
<p>When an asylum seeker is unrepresented, decision-makers have to spend much more time ensuring the applicant understands the process and possible outcomes. They also want to ensure the person feels they have had a fair hearing. Overall, this is an inefficient use of public resources.</p>
<h2>Smarter use of resources</h2>
<p>These reforms represent a significant departure from Australia’s previous attempts to increase the efficiency of Australia’s asylum processes. Over the past three decades, successive governments have instead limited the rights of people seeking asylum – including by cutting funding for legal support. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Submission_Administrative_Review_Reform.pdf">research</a> has made clear these efforts have almost always backfired, leading to more appeals and longer delays. </p>
<p>The most egregious example is the so-called “fast-track” procedure for processing the claims of certain asylum seekers who arrive by boat. Not only is the procedure unfair, but (contrary to its name) it has also been <a href="https://kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Submission_Administrative_Review_Reform.pdf">excruciatingly slow</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-temporary-visa-system-is-unfair-expensive-impractical-and-inconsistent-heres-how-the-new-government-could-fix-it-185870">Australia's temporary visa system is unfair, expensive, impractical and inconsistent. Here's how the new government could fix it</a>
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<p>Now, to help speed up the asylum process more broadly, the government is implementing a new approach called “real-time priority processing” of protection visa applications at Home Affairs. This will involve a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/05/labor-to-prioritise-new-asylum-seeker-claims-as-part-of-160m-package-to-tackle-backlog">last in, first out</a>” approach that prioritises new asylum applications for rapid processing. </p>
<p>The rationale is this will de-incentivise unmeritorious applications and abuse of the asylum system.</p>
<p>While this makes sense as an interim measure as the government works through its significant backlogs, we still need a wider discussion on different approaches to prioritising claims. We need to ensure government resources are being used most efficiently and in the best interests of people seeking asylum. </p>
<p>There are potential lessons Australia can draw on from overseas. <a href="https://irb.gc.ca/en/information-sheets/Pages/less-complex-claims.aspx">Canada</a>, for example, prioritises and fast tracks applications that have a high likelihood of success. <a href="https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/en/home/asyl/asylverfahren.html#:%7E:text=Under%2520the%2520revised%2520Asylum%2520Act,version%2520of%2520the%2520Asylum%2520Act.">Switzerland</a> accelerates cases with both high and low chances of success. Only complex cases requiring further investigation take longer to resolve. </p>
<p>To ensure fairness, Switzerland also provides universal access to government-funded legal representation. We need to spend more time examining these models to see what we can learn and adopt in Australia. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.kaldorconference.com/">Kaldor Centre</a> is continuing this process by hosting a conference in Sydney next month which will discuss how we can ensure fairness for people seeking protection in the decade ahead. However, the central focus of the announcement this week on increasing the quality and capacity of Australia’s asylum system is a welcome first step in the right direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215061/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Ghezelbash receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the NSW Government. He is a member of the management committee of Refugee Advice and Casework Services and a Special Counsel at the National Justice Project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane McAdam receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Eleven years is far too long for a final decision on asylum claims. The government’s vision is for a new system that will be both faster and fairer.Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney, UNSW SydneyJane McAdam, Scientia Professor and Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2058812023-06-26T16:14:13Z2023-06-26T16:14:13ZHow music therapy can help rebuild the lives of refugees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532732/original/file-20230619-15-kln7gp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C22%2C7304%2C4704&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Music therapy is well-placed to provide support in addressing trauma and promoting wellbeing.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/music-note-art-sound-instrumental-concept-465116960">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past 20 years, the number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide due to conflict has reached a figure <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/who-we-are/figures-glance">in excess of 90 million</a>. This has more than doubled since the early 1990s, a time period labelled “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article/33/4/639/6209808">the decade of displacement</a>” by the United Nations Refugee Agency. This rate of increase shows no signs of slowing and has been fuelled by the current situations in Syria and Ukraine.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason for displacement, there is no doubt that <a href="https://istss.org/getattachment/Education-Research/Briefing-Papers/Trauma-and-Mental-Health-in-Forcibly-Displaced-Pop/Displaced-Populations-Briefing-Paper_Final.pdf.aspx">being forced to leave your homeland is traumatic</a>. The journey to a safer place can be physically and emotionally challenging. <a href="https://www.europeanea.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Stress-and-refugees.pdf#:%7E:text=Common%2520reactions%2520after%2520traumatic%2520life%2520events%2520include%253A%2520-,plan%2520for%2520the%2520future%253B%2520pre-occupation%2520with%2520the%2520past.">Shock and denial</a> are often the first emotions experienced by refugees. </p>
<p>Long-term problems include unmanageable emotions, flashbacks and difficulty with relationships. Physical symptoms such as nausea and headaches may also occur. While practical support such as providing physical safety, food and clothes and medical help are crucial, psychological support also needs to be offered.</p>
<h2>Music therapy</h2>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/mtp/article-abstract/41/1/e30/6608838?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Music therapy</a> is well-placed to provide support in addressing trauma and promoting wellbeing. It is a psychological therapy which is regulated by the <a href="https://www.hcpc-uk.org">Health and Care Professions Council</a> (HCPC) in the UK. Music therapists use a range of music-based interventions including interactive music-making, songwriting and listening to music. These help to build a therapeutic relationship with participants. </p>
<p>Music therapy offers a flexible and accessible way of supporting wellbeing and sharing difficult experiences. It can also bring positive memories of the cultures from which refugees have come. These can be shared with others and help to build resilience.</p>
<p>In the early stages of trauma, music can be part of a psychological first aid (PFA) package. PFA is usually offered in the initial aftermath of a traumatic event as well as in later stages. It seeks to provide people with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18181708/">safety, connections and hopefulness</a>. The integration of these elements into music-based and music therapy interventions is useful for refugees. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/esol-english-classes-are-crucial-for-migrant-integration-yet-challenges-remain-unaddressed-204415">Esol English classes are crucial for migrant integration, yet challenges remain unaddressed</a>
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<p>Music is something found in every culture. People carry their own musical experiences with them wherever they go and can call on them for solace. Music can also be a go-to resource for those needing comfort. With such a huge range of musical genres and styles, there is something for everyone. </p>
<p>Because music is comprised of a series of different patterns – something the brain is attracted to and actively <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35352057/">seeks out</a> – there are opportunities for emotional regulation. This is central to supporting refugees’ wellbeing. </p>
<p>Moreover, music-making with a music therapist in the immediate aftermath of trauma offers the opportunity to build relationships, stabilise feelings and reduce anxiety. These are crucial steps in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5744879/">mitigating the impact of trauma</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A boy and a man sit at a table. The boy is playing a colourful xylophone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Music is comprised of a series of different patterns, something the brain is attracted to and actively seeks out.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-psychologist-working-little-boy-office-2097484426">Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the course of <a href="https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/2539/2310">my research</a>, I have worked with a range of displaced people, including refugees and asylum-seeking families, focusing on families with children under the age of 3. My studies have shown that people who have had music therapy find it useful and supportive for a number of reasons. </p>
<p>It offers a safe space to meet others in music without the need for words or explanations. This space supports the development of feelings of safety as well as awakening creativity – something that is vital for mental health. Music therapy also fosters and builds connections with others in the same situation. </p>
<p>My projects used the core principles of PFA linked to music therapy for small groups of asylum-seeking families from Albania, Egypt, Syria and Pakistan. The simple, structured activities needed minimal English, so were accessible. </p>
<p>Movement to music, communication through rhythm games, free improvisation and songs from participants’ homelands as well as music from the UK were all used to engage the groups. This helped families feel a sense of belonging in their new home.</p>
<h2>Feeling safe</h2>
<p>The predictability of the sessions’ content was also helpful. People who experience trauma need help to feel safe, and providing a structured session does this. They also facilitated language development and social skills for the children. </p>
<p>Bonding as a family, something that can be disrupted by trauma, was also improved. To support this therapists can use lullabies and children’s songs from the original cultures of the families, as well as UK-based tunes – Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is always very popular.</p>
<p>Music and music therapy are useful tools to employ in planning PFA and continuing therapeutic support for refugees. While it is important to be sensitive to the wishes of refugee families who may not be ready to engage in musical activities, it is crucial that this provision is available to those who do wish to access it. </p>
<p>Refugees who engage with music and music therapy in their new homes often report improvements in their ability to manage their situation and move forward. Finding ways to offer access to these opportunities more widely will benefit greater numbers of those seeking to build new lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Coombes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Music therapy offers a flexible and accessible way of supporting wellbeing and addressing traumatic experiences.Elizabeth Coombes, Senior Lecturer in Music Therapy, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2062592023-06-01T15:37:24Z2023-06-01T15:37:24ZListen: Trans scholar and activist explains why trans rights are under attack<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/e2ecabe1-cf01-433c-bd7e-7aac7f1d241a?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>This year we’ve seen an aggressive push to implement anti-trans legislation across the United States. There are currently more than <a href="https://translegislation.com/">400 active anti-trans</a> bills across the country. </p>
<p>Some of the legislation <a href="https://time.com/6265755/gender-affirm-care-bans-u-s/">denies gender-affirming care to youth</a> – and criminalizes those health-care providers that attempt to do so. Other bills <a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-nonbinary-hormone-puberty-missouri-lawmakers-5a8922430ffab9e43cf9b7ce254bff9f#:%7E:text=Charlie%20Riedel%2C%20File">block trans students from participating in sports</a> and still others have banned books with trans content. </p>
<p>These bills have at least two things in common. They all aim to make being trans harder in an already hostile society and they are being spearheaded by the far-right. </p>
<p>Where does anti-trans sentiment come from? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529186/original/file-20230530-23-atrb5u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black Lives Matter activists organize a sit-in at Yonge Street and College Street during the Trans Pride March, in Toronto, 2016. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima)</span>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/transphobia-white-supremacy/">enforcement of a gender binary</a> likely has much to do with the preservation of white power. And, <a href="https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2022/5/20/through-line-critical-race-dont-say-gay-great-replacement">violence</a> against trans people continues as a result. </p>
<h2>Is Canada better?</h2>
<p>What do things look like in Canada? Are we a safe haven or are we following some of the same trends?</p>
<p>Recently, a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/us-transgender-asylum-petition-1.6779692">petition</a> signed by <a href="https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4268">over 160,000 people</a> asked the Canadian government to extend asylum to trans and gender non-conforming people from nations in the West, previously considered safe. </p>
<p>To get a better understanding of trans histories in Canada, <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/listen-to-an-american-canadian-trans-scholar-and-activist-explain-why-trans-rights-are-under-attack">we are joined by Syrus Marcus Ware</a>, an artist, activist and assistant professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University. He is a co-curator of Blockorama/Blackness Yes! and a co-editor of <a href="https://uofrpress.ca/Books/U/Until-We-Are-Free"><em>Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada</em></a>.</p>
<p>We discuss the history of anti-trans and queer actions in Canada. We also speak about backlash and ways to move forward.</p>
<h2>Listen and Follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/listen-to-an-american-canadian-trans-scholar-and-activist-explain-why-trans-rights-are-under-attack">Don’t Call Me Resilient</a></em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. </p>
<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person with a rainbow on their shirt holds up a hand with a pointed finger and a sign in the other hand. They appear to be yelling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529465/original/file-20230531-24-q99it2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brenna Thompson protests this month against an abortion ban and restrictions on gender-affirming care for children in Lincoln, Neb.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Justin Wan/Lincoln Journal Star via AP/KOLN-TV OUT</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-3814961">All Power to All People? Black LGBTTI2QQ Activism, Remembrance, and Archiving in Toronto</a> (<em>Transgender Studies Quarterly</em>) by Syrus Marcus Ware </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/05/30/pride-flag-wont-fly-at-york-catholic-schools-after-board-votes-against-the-motion.html">‘A travesty’: Outrage swells over York Catholic board’s rejection of Pride flag</a> (<em>Toronto Star</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/10/05/supreme-court-cant-ignore-equality-rights-claims-of-refugees.html">Supreme Court can’t ignore equality rights claims of refugees</a> (<em>Toronto Star</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://xtramagazine.com/power/toronto-bathhouse-raids-40-years-194590">Everything you need to know about the Toronto bathhouse raids</a> (<em>Xtra</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://xtramagazine.com/power/what-the-national-inquiry-into-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-girls-means-for-two-spirit-canadians-158992">What the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls means for Two-Spirit people</a> (<em>Xtra</em>) </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-2009-015">Settler Homonationalism: Theorizing Settler Colonialism within Queer Modernities</a> (<em>Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies</em>) by Scott Lauria Morgensen </p>
<p><a href="https://blockorama.ca/">Blockorama/Blackness Yes!</a></p>
<h2>From the archives - in The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/transgender-hate-crimes-are-on-the-rise-even-in-canada-121541">Transgender hate crimes are on the rise even in Canada</a>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cuts-to-telehealth-in-ontario-mean-fewer-trans-and-non-binary-people-will-have-access-to-life-saving-health-care-198502">Cuts to telehealth in Ontario mean fewer trans and non-binary people will have access to life-saving health care</a>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-went-to-cpac-to-take-maga-supporters-pulse-china-and-transgender-people-are-among-the-top-demons-they-say-are-ruining-the-country-201442">I went to CPAC to take MAGA supporters' pulse – China and transgender people are among the top 'demons' they say are ruining the country</a>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/right-to-party-20-years-of-black-queer-love-and-resilience-80040">Right to party: 20 years of Black Queer love and resilience</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
This year, there are more than 400 active anti-trans bills across the U.S. What do things look like in Canada? Are we a safe haven or are we following those same trends?Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientBoké Saisi, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2044152023-05-15T15:43:18Z2023-05-15T15:43:18ZEsol English classes are crucial for migrant integration, yet challenges remain unaddressed<p><em>You can also read this article <a href="https://theconversation.com/esol-pwysigrwydd-dosbarthiadau-saesneg-i-ymfudwyr-ar-heriau-iw-datrys-205783">in Welsh</a>.</em> </p>
<p>In the year ending September 2022, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-december-2022/summary-of-latest-statistics">more than 70,000 people</a> had claimed asylum in the UK. The vast majority were from countries that do not use English as a first language. </p>
<p>Being able to communicate in English is essential for newly arrived migrants. People who have gone through traumatic experiences are, understandably, often desperate to build new lives. They want to use the skills and knowledge they have to access work and education. To do that, they have to navigate the health, social security, housing and education systems. </p>
<p>Language is the single most important area that can promote integration for migrants. My research has shown that <a href="https://www.academia.edu/44971642/Exploring_ESOL_Teacher_Working_Conditions_and_Professional_Development_In_England_And_Wales">language teachers</a> are uniquely placed to positively affect the lives of people in these situations. </p>
<p>In fact, the 2016 <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-casey-review-a-review-into-opportunity-and-integration">Casey review</a>, a government-commissioned report on the state of social cohesion in Britain, highlighted that developing fluency in English is critical to integration.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-like-youre-a-criminal-but-i-am-not-a-criminal-first-hand-accounts-of-the-trauma-of-being-stuck-in-the-uk-asylum-system-202276">'It’s like you’re a criminal, but I am not a criminal.' First-hand accounts of the trauma of being stuck in the UK asylum system</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Given its importance, refugees and people seeking asylum are often keen to enrol in English for Speakers of Other Languages (Esol) classes. And these classes can provide more than language tuition alone. They are a social space, providing a sense of structure to daily lives, offering both linguistic and psychological support. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/news/plans-will-leave-spending-adult-education-and-apprenticeships-25-below-2010-levels-2025#:%7E:text=Press%20Release-,Plans%20will%20leave%20spending%20on%20adult%20education%20and%20apprenticeships,below%202010%20levels%20by%202025&text=Total%20spending%20on%20adult%20education,as%20compared%20with%202010%E2%80%9311.">cuts to adult education budgets</a> following the change of government in 2010, and the introduction of austerity, mean access to Esol language support is often difficult. There can be long waiting lists and <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/4/3/74">too few classes</a> available. </p>
<p>Also, the way adult education is funded in the UK means teachers are obliged to follow an assessment system to measure language competence. That constraint frequently results in classroom time being focused more on passing exams than on developing fluency or bestowing a warm welcome and sense of belonging. </p>
<p>While coping with the demands of building a life in a different country through a new language, many Esol learners are also dealing with the trauma associated with forced displacement. That’s on top of the <a href="https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/lln-2018-0064/">stress involved</a> in navigating an often hostile and complex asylum system. </p>
<p>Such challenges mean Esol teachers can be a vital bridge to the new society. And the Esol classroom can be the prime location for getting information and for creating the bonds needed for successful integration. With that in mind, how Esol classes are organised and managed is fundamental to a person’s success in learning English and all the associated opportunities. </p>
<p>However, providing Esol classes, primarily through colleges of further education, is a hugely bureaucratic undertaking. This often results in the potential of Esol classes to promote integration being missed. </p>
<p>One of the reasons is that these classes are funded in the same way as other adult education subjects. Accordingly, teachers must follow a curriculum that provides evidence that learners are progressing. This results in teachers putting their efforts into preparing students for constant tests and assessments. And that leaves little time to address the real-life concerns, needs and interests of their migrant learners. </p>
<p>It also means the opportunities to bring about a sense of belonging are instead replaced with learning about matters such as verb conjugations and the English tense system. </p>
<p>Changes are needed to both the way Esol is funded and organised, and to the way Esol professionals are educated to view the language classroom. </p>
<h2>Solutions</h2>
<p>Removing some of the requirements to produce evidence of learning would shorten teacher administration time. It would also relieve the pressure on students and teachers to be constantly preparing for the next assessment. This would allow more time to focus on discussing issues of relevance to the learners.</p>
<p>There is much support from language experts for viewing Esol from this more human perspective. It is an understanding of the classroom that resonates with educators who have been advocating for a <a href="https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/pub_BC_NEXUS_booklet_web.pdf">participatory pedagogy</a> – which involves more collaboration and decision making among students – for Esol since the turn of the century.</p>
<p>This style of teaching focuses classroom content on the <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/%22When-I-wake-up-I-dream-of-electricity%22%3A-The-lives%2C-Cooke/a9ad375c87803c59b586b05e3ce5825d4f758d9d">lives of learners</a>. Examples of typical issues that dominate such discussions include the challenge of finding meaningful employment, the effects of trauma, culture shock, separation from family, money worries and finding accommodation.</p>
<p>This means more time is taken up with learners using language to express thoughts, anxieties, hopes and concerns that affect their new lives. And far less time is used by the teacher striving to cover an externally imposed syllabus. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Creative workshops to enhance language acquisition and integration for people seeking sanctuary.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Thinking afresh about language education for forced migrants means considering how a participatory approach may be an effective way to welcome newcomers and help with their integration. With little effort, language education for migrants could allow space for the development of projects that bring people together. It could foster friendship and understanding while also promoting language development.</p>
<p>Esol is not just another academic subject, it is the most important area that promotes integration. But, at present, opportunities to provide holistic, person-centred language education to people seeking refuge in the UK are being missed because of the overly bureaucratic and exam-focused system that prevails.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Chick is affiliated with the Welsh Refugee Council as a Trustee</span></em></p>Although English to speakers of other languages (Esol) is treated like any other subject, it can offer far more to those learners.Mike Chick, Senior Lecturer in TESOL/English, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2053432023-05-11T17:41:54Z2023-05-11T17:41:54ZDespite the end of Title 42, restrictions on asylum seekers are expected to continue under Biden administration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525473/original/file-20230510-18887-a0x73r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C143%2C3940%2C2514&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Venezuelan asylum-seeker carries his daughter before they cross the Rio Grande into Brownsville, Texas. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/venezuelan-asylum-seeker-jehan-carlo-ramirez-carries-his-news-photo/1245788787?adppopup=true">Veronica G. Cardenas/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Trump administration immigration order, Title 42, that allowed U.S. border officials to quickly expel migrants at the U.S. southern border – <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-keeps-title-42-border-expulsions-indefinitely-grants-gop-led-petition/">with no exceptions for asylum-seekers</a> – expires May 11, 2023. But its legacy of restricting asylum petitions may continue as President Joe Biden takes steps to reduce the flow of illegal immigration to the country.</p>
<p>Officially called <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2010-title42/html/USCODE-2010-title42-chap6A.htm">Title 42 of the U.S. Code</a>, the little-known law was written in 1944 to prevent the spread of influenza and allow authorities to bar entry to foreigners deemed to be at risk of spreading the disease.</p>
<p>In March 2020, on the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, then-President <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/29/immigration-title-42-biden/">Donald Trump invoked the law</a> to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>While the Trump administration was reluctant to impose federal lockdowns or mask mandates at the start of the pandemic, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2020/08/26/fact-check-and-review-of-trump-immigration-policy/?sh=2688d3be56c0">it was aggressive</a> in its use of Title 42 to close the border to many migrants, including people fleeing from persecution and planning to apply for asylum. </p>
<p>As written, <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2010-title42/html/USCODE-2010-title42-chap6A.htm">Title 42 of the U.S. Code</a> allows for the “suspension of entries and imports from designated places to prevent spread of communicable diseases.” </p>
<p>In practice, the law enabled U.S. law enforcement officers to immediately deny entry to asylum-seekers and other migrants.</p>
<p>Trump and his advisers used this law <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/us/coronavirus-immigration-stephen-miller-public-health.html">to advance their goal of restricting</a> the number of new immigrants.</p>
<p>In fact, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/politics/title-42-migrants/index.html">ruled in November 2022</a> that the Trump administration’s implementation of Title 42 was “arbitrary and capricious” and blamed the CDC for failing to come up with reasonable alternatives.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/ernesto.cfm">immigration researcher and expert on international borders</a>, I have followed border crossing trends and the effects of Title 42 since it went into effect. </p>
<p>By itself, the end of Title 42 will not weaken border security, as many <a href="https://tucson.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/investigative-commentary-signs-show-border-panic-is-overblown-politically-motivated/article_e34e0904-2b8a-5dcb-a558-7000d7ac3748.html">conservative politicians and commentators</a> have claimed. Nor, in my view, will it mean that the U.S. has open borders – despite the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/07/us/title-42-border-migrants.html">recent surge</a> of asylum-seekers at the U.S. southern border. </p>
<h2>More than a million migrants expelled</h2>
<p>During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/04/27/key-facts-about-title-42-the-pandemic-policy-that-has-reshaped-immigration-enforcement-at-u-s-mexico-border/#">around 51% of the people</a> encountered at the border were immediately expelled or put into removal proceedings as a result of Title 42. </p>
<p>U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters">over 1 million people</a> were denied entry under Title 42 alone in each of the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years.</p>
<p>After being sent back, many often tried to enter again and, as a result, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-number-of-encounters-at-the-southern-u-s-border-does-not-mean-what-the-gop-says-it-means-191144">inflated the counts of border encounters</a>. Others were <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Title_8_of_the_United_States_Code">expelled under Title 8</a>, which will continue to be used to deport people after taking their information. </p>
<p>For its part, the Biden administration expected the end of Title 42 and has already dispatched <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/02/politics/us-troops-border-migrant-surge/index.html">1,500 active-duty troops</a> to the U.S.-Mexico border to help shut down illegal border crossings. In addition, Biden’s <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-government-announces-sweeping-new-actions-to-manage-regional-migration/">new plan</a> would make any asylum claim ineligible unless migrants first applied in another country they had passed through.</p>
<h2>The number of border encounters may decline without Title 42</h2>
<p>In my view, after some months, the lifting of Title 42 will actually result in a decrease in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-number-of-encounters-at-the-southern-u-s-border-does-not-mean-what-the-gop-says-it-means-191144">official number of encounters</a> at the U.S. southern border because fewer people will be asking for asylum there and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/immigration-border-biden-trump/">counted multiple times</a>. </p>
<p>As a result, the bottleneck created by the pandemic border closure to asylum-seekers will eventually ease.</p>
<p>What is critical to understand is that the end of Title 42 in itself does not change the root causes of migration. </p>
<p>Political and economic conditions in Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela have forced many families to flee to the U.S., as has the widespread, <a href="https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/why-the-central-america-crisis-is-so-persistent/">unchecked organized crime</a> in certain regions of Mexico and Central America.</p>
<p>But recent measures established by the Biden administration suggest that people will face more – not fewer – difficulties in obtaining asylum in the U.S. after the end of Title 42. People now have to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbp-one-app-us-border-asylum-biden/">get an appointment</a> using the CBP One app and may also need to apply and be denied asylum at one of the safe countries they pass through on the way to the United States. </p>
<p>As partisan debate over immigration policy rages on, it is important to remember that Title 42 was originally designed to prevent the spread of a highly contagious disease – not to deny people their legal right to make a claim for asylum in the U.S.</p>
<p><em>This <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-trump-era-law-used-to-restrict-immigration-is-nearing-its-end-despite-gop-warnings-of-a-looming-crisis-at-the-southern-border-194971">article relied on reporting originally published</a> on Dec. 15, 2022.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205343/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ernesto Castañeda does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Title 42 has triggered criticisms from immigration advocates and public health experts. But the end of the controversial policy may mean fewer asylum seekers crossing the US border.Ernesto Castañeda, Associate Professor of Sociology, American UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2007762023-05-11T12:14:00Z2023-05-11T12:14:00ZImmigration policies don’t deter migrants from coming to the US – Title 42 and the border rules replacing it only make the process longer and more difficult<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518228/original/file-20230329-14-pf7xnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=100%2C9%2C2895%2C2092&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Honduran migrants head for the United States in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/honduran-migrants-part-of-the-second-caravan-to-the-united-news-photo/1082946788?adppopup=true">Orlando Sierra/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Politicians have been saying there’s an <a href="https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/in-depth/in-depth-why-many-experts-say-our-immigration-system-is-broken-and-what-is-being-done-to-fix-it">immigration crisis</a> at the border for decades and have been trying to fix it for nearly as long. The rules have changed many times over the years – and they are about to change again as a pandemic-era set of restrictions expires May 11, 2023.</p>
<p>Before the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration into the U.S. at the border with Mexico was governed by a group of federal immigration laws and regulations, <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title8/html/USCODE-2011-title8-chap12-subchapII-partII-sec1182.htm#:%7E:text=Any%20alien%20who%20at%20any,violation%20of%20law%20is%20inadmissible.">collectively known as Title 8</a>. These laws, among other things, set the terms for the rapid deportation of people who enter the country illegally or are not eligible for asylum.</p>
<p>In March 2020, after COVID-19 hit, President Donald Trump declared a national public health emergency. That triggered a more restrictive set of rules under a decades-old, little used set of public health regulations<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/09/politics/title-42-ending-whats-next-explainer-cec/index.html"> known as Title 42</a>. These regulations empowered Customs and Border Protection agents to both quickly expel migrants who entered the U.S. illegally and deny asylum seekers the right to enter the country as a way to stop the spread of a COVID 19.</p>
<p>As the public health emergency expires on May 11, the rules for prospective immigrants are changing again. The Title 8 rules are coming back into effect – and new measures from the Biden administration also will be in place. The administration’s goal is to stem the flow of an expected <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/07/us/title-42-border-migrants.html?searchResultPosition=2">13,000 migrants daily</a>. But these new measures may exclude refugees facing real danger.</p>
<p>One new measure, for example, <a href="https://abc7.com/biden-administration-mexico-border-title-42/13230234/">will deny asylum</a> to people who arrive at the U.S. southern border without first applying for asylum online or in the country they passed through. And <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-government-announces-sweeping-new-actions-to-manage-regional-migration/">under Title 8</a>, people who enter the country illegally could face <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-title-42-policy-immigration-what-happens-ending-expiration/">a five-year ban</a> from the U.S.</p>
<p>From my work as a <a href="https://globalmigration.ucdavis.edu/people/robert-irwin">scholar of migration studies</a>, I believe the new set of rules may make some of the most vulnerable migrants even more vulnerable to economic and political exploitation and violence by delaying or denying them the protection of the U.S. under federal laws and international rules about asylum.</p>
<h2>Delaying immigration and asylum</h2>
<p>Research shows that the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22451177/biden-border-immigration-enforcement-detention-deportation">United States’ immigration policies have never deterred migrants</a> from <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2023/01/13/monthly-encounters-with-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border-remain-near-record-highs/">coming to the country</a>; they have only made the immigration process longer and more difficult.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518242/original/file-20230329-22-219670.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Adults, some of them wearing face masks, and children stand outdoors waiting for U.S. Border Patrol officers to pick them up." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518242/original/file-20230329-22-219670.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518242/original/file-20230329-22-219670.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518242/original/file-20230329-22-219670.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518242/original/file-20230329-22-219670.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518242/original/file-20230329-22-219670.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518242/original/file-20230329-22-219670.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518242/original/file-20230329-22-219670.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Honduran immigrants wait for the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the Rio Grande River from Mexico into Mission, Texas, on March 24, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/immigrants-from-honduras-stand-and-wait-for-the-border-news-photo/1231998345?adppopup=true">Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/reports/705/">asylum court backlogs</a> have increased more than sevenfold over the past 10 years. There are more than 750,000 cases pending, with average wait times for a court date currently running over four years.</p>
<p>These figures do not account for the time it may take for migrants to get from their home countries to the Mexico-U.S. border, where they may also have to wait months or years to be allowed to cross. Parallel to immigration court backlogs are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/28/us/mexico-border-migrants-shelters.html">backlogs at the border</a>, where the slow trickle of admissions to the U.S. of new asylum seekers, permitted now only via a glitchy smartphone app, have failed for years to keep up with new arrivals, seriously challenging Mexico’s capacity for housing them.</p>
<h2>Humanizing deportation</h2>
<p>Since 2016, I have coordinated a digital storytelling project called “<a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/">Humanizing Deportation</a>,” which has published personal narratives in audiovisual form from over 350 migrants. It is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.855">the world’s largest qualitative database</a> on the human consequences of contemporary U.S. border and migration control policies.</p>
<p>Our research shows that as migration deterrence policies have multiplied and intensified over these past two presidential administrations, migration stories have become more complex and migrant journeys more arduous. One story from our archive shows how several of these policies have played out for a migrant family. </p>
<p>Our project is unable to verify all details of migrants’ stories, and what you read here is based on one family’s recollection of events.</p>
<p>A migrant from Honduras discusses the hardships, including deportation and kidnapping, he and his family faced as they traveled to the U.S. seeking asylum.</p>
<h2>Deportations, childbirth and a kidnapping</h2>
<p>A <a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/2018/11/21/124-from-inside-the-caravan/">Honduran migrant who wishes to remain anonymous</a> left his homeland initially in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/world/americas/trump-migrant-caravan.html">migrant caravan</a> in 2018. After crossing into the U.S., the migrant says that despite his insistence that he was fearful of being sent back and his refusal to sign a voluntary removal form, Border Patrol officers shouted obscenities at him and physically <a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/2019/05/28/166-after-the-caravan/">forced him to place a thumb print on the document</a>, then deported him to Honduras.</p>
<p>The migrant set out again soon after that, this time with his pregnant wife and young son. Before getting far, they were detained by Mexican immigration authorities and later deported. But they left again, getting as far as Huixtla, Chiapas, in Mexico, where they had to stop so that <a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/2019/07/05/124c-migrating-while-pregnant/">his wife could give birth</a>.</p>
<p>The family settled for a time in Monterrey, Nuevo León, but struggled to make a living there. They decided to pay a smuggler to accompany the wife and son to the Mexico-U.S. border, where in the summer of 2019 they crossed and were picked up by Border Patrol. Officers allowed the two to initiate their asylum process through the <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/archive/migrant-protection-protocols">Migrant Protection Protocols program</a>, a U.S. government program that returns migrants who arrived in the United States from Mexico by land back to Mexico while U.S. immigration proceedings are underway. Under its guidelines, they were sent back to Mexico to await a court date.</p>
<p>Human rights <a href="https://www.hrw.org/tag/remain-mexico#:%7E:text=%E2%80%9CRemain%20in%20Mexico%E2%80%9D%20sends%20asylum,asylum%20in%20the%20United%20States.">advocates criticized Migrant Protection Protocols because of dangers</a>, such as extortion, kidnapping and rape that migrants face in Mexico. In this case, immediately after mother and son returned, <a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/2022/02/23/124e-now-on-the-other-side/">they were kidnapped</a>. Without the money to pay the ransom, they had to turn to friends and family, including the woman’s mother, who sold her house in Honduras to get them released.</p>
<p>Back in Monterrey, the husband, afraid to try applying for asylum after being deported but determined to reach the U.S., paid a smuggler to get him to Tennessee.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, his wife didn’t wish to stay in Monterrey. “I was really afraid – I didn’t go out because I felt they might kidnap me again,” she told us. So she retreated to southern Mexico with her son and baby daughter.</p>
<p>Working as an auto mechanic, the husband was able to earn enough money in Tennessee to pay most of what they owed the smugglers and their family.</p>
<p>Then, in 2021, when the Biden administration allowed migrants who had abandoned their Migrant Protection Protocols asylum applications to resume the process – but in the U.S. – the mother and children joined the husband in Tennessee. The following year, <a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/2022/02/23/124d-now-on-the-other-side/">they moved to California</a>, where as an immigrant family they feel more welcome than in Tennessee. Although the wife is still waiting for a court date, the family is hopeful that she and the children will be granted asylum. But she was thrilled to give birth recently to a baby boy in California.</p>
<p>“Because it’s more peaceful,” says the father, who is afraid to join his wife’s asylum claim because of his previous deportation. “We’ve heard that it’s where the immigrant community is most protected.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-03-02/biden-asylum-proposal-trump">Numerous policies over the past seven years</a> have been enacted to deter migration, but many people have migrated anyway. They have been forced to navigate long, difficult, dangerous journeys and often traumatic migration processes that have endangered and complicated their lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert McKee Irwin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>US immigration policies have not deterred migration, but they have made the process longer and more difficult for migrants.Robert McKee Irwin, Deputy Director, Global Migration Center, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2032462023-04-18T14:20:27Z2023-04-18T14:20:27ZEurope outsourcing asylum to African countries is a terrible idea – there are alternatives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521017/original/file-20230414-14-uqt1v6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigerien police processing Emergency Travel Mechanism evacuees in Niamey, Niger in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laura Lambert </span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-349-94972-4_2">For 40 years</a>, western governments have entertained ideas of outsourcing asylum processing and refugee hosting to the global south. It is not a new idea. And neither are the controversies that have accompanied it. </p>
<p>Denmark and the UK have been in the news over this issue recently. In January 2023, however, after fierce domestic criticism, the new Danish government <a href="https://www.thelocal.dk/20230125/denmarks-has-suspended-asylum-centre-talks-with-rwanda">announced</a> it had paused its negotiations with Rwanda to bilaterally “transfer” all asylum seekers out of Denmark. Instead it suggested building an EU alliance to do the same. This step appeared at odds with the <a href="https://euobserver.com/migration/152193">criticism</a> of the Danish plans from both the European Commission and the <a href="https://ecre.org/denmark-meps-confront-danish-minister-on-rogue-asylum-policies-as-syrians-flee-to-other-member-states/">European Parliament</a>.</p>
<p>The UK, too, wanted to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. The plan was temporarily <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/jun/15/what-is-the-echr-and-how-did-it-intervene-in-uk-rwanda-flight-plans">halted</a> by the European Court of Human Rights in 2022. For its part, the British High Court <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-61782866">didn’t condemn</a> the policy as illegal. So it may be revived. </p>
<p>In line with these and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/new-german-migration-official-aims-to-send-refugees-to-africa/a-64667296">other</a> recent policy initiatives, prominent migration researcher Ruud Koopmans <a href="https://www.berlingske.dk/debatinterview/i-2018-faeldede-ruud-koopmans-en-knusende-dom-over-den-muslimske">supported</a> the idea of sending asylum seekers to Tunisia. But his endorsement was poorly timed, coming right after the African Union <a href="https://theconversation.com/tunisia-presidents-offensive-statements-targeted-black-migrants-with-widespread-fallout-201593">condemned</a> Tunisia for systematic racist violence against sub-Saharan migrants.</p>
<p>We’ve conducted <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23340460.2019.1683463">research</a> into European policies to discourage immigrants, and <a href="https://www.fmreview.org/externalisation/lambert">implementation</a> of emergency refugee evacuations from Libya to Niger. Based on this we explain the risks and frequent failures of outsourcing schemes, and offer more pragmatic alternatives for European asylum policies.</p>
<h2>Why these policies fail</h2>
<p>Initiatives to outsource asylum – known as “externalisation” – have frequently failed on different levels. </p>
<p>First, since the 1980s, there has not been enough political support in Europe for these radical ideas. Although vocal, proponents have remained a minority at the common European level. </p>
<p>Second, international organisations have voiced sustained criticism. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)<a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2021/5/60a2751813/unhcr-warns-against-exporting-asylum-calls-responsibility-sharing-refugees.html">implored</a> the Danish government to abandon its externalisation ambitions. It said that they undermined international solidarity and could lead to chain refoulement. This happens when one state after another successively deport a person under inhumane and degrading conditions. Instead, it encouraged Denmark to focus on improving the safe and orderly access to asylum. </p>
<p>Third, most countries have repeatedly rejected hosting these designs. The African Union <a href="https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20210802/press-statement-denmarks-alien-act-provision-externalize-asylum-procedures">condemned</a> the Danish plans in 2021. It said that developing countries already hosted 85% of the world’s refugees, and that such policies were xenophobic. A growing academic literature also argues that such externalisation policies actually represent a continuation of racialising <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23340460.2019.1683463">colonial practices</a> of transferring displaced people through imperial territories. </p>
<p>In practice, these proposals offer little substance more than hot air. They appear designed to appeal to domestic voters rather than to solve displacement. </p>
<p>For instance, in 2018 the <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2018/06/29/20180628-euco-conclusions-final/">European Council proposed</a> taking people who had been trying to reach Europe on boats in the Mediterranean to centres in North Africa for asylum processing. It remained a press release issued by national ministers unconnected to any EU policy process. The African Union <a href="https://www.eepa.be/?p=2713">criticised</a> the proposal as a violation of international law.</p>
<p>Yet Germany recently <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/new-german-migration-official-aims-to-send-refugees-to-africa/a-64667296">revisited these plans</a> – but only in a press interview. This seemed geared to accommodate conservative voters after government announcements of liberalising <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/45142/germany-bundestag-passes-opportunity-right-of-residency-law">residency</a> and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-needs-better-rules-for-citizenship-says-scholz/a-63901447">citizenship legislation</a>. </p>
<p>Announcing such plans without consulting potential partner states or regional bodies suggests revived colonial fantasies where all states in the global south can be paid off. Also, it demonstrates a complete disregard for any opposition among such states’ electorates. </p>
<h2>Niger and Rwanda</h2>
<p>Certainly, Europe’s financial-political incentives can weigh on different sub-Saharan governments. Rwanda received <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-61782866">£140 million</a> from the UK in advance to build accommodation. Rwanda has also used Danish and British desires to silence criticism of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/4/rwanda-backing-m23-rebels-in-drc-un-experts">its support for the M23 militia</a> in the Democratic Republic of Congo. </p>
<p>Niger got international praise for hosting refugees evacuated from Libyan prisons. Beyond new diplomatic recognition, it also <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-law-in-context/article/changing-the-administration-from-within-criticism-and-compliance-by-junior-bureaucrats-in-nigers-refugee-directorate/613C23CE83F34E83317DBF58173C58F9#article">received</a> additional resources for its asylum bureaucracy. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/45307925/Who_is_doing_asylum_in_Niger_State_bureaucrats_perspectives_and_strategies_on_the_externalization_of_refugee_protection_to_Niger">These included</a> a permanent camp infrastructure and salary increases for senior officials. </p>
<p>However, despite these incentives, outsourcing asylum risks also creates tensions in partner states. </p>
<p>First, refugees may get stuck in transit because their asylum claims are rejected, or because western governments abandon promises of resettlement. </p>
<p>In mid-2019, around 120 of 2,900 evacuees faced a rejection of their refugee claims. Both responsible Nigerien officials and refugees <a href="https://www.fmreview.org/externalisation/lambert">refused</a> their legalisation in Niger for various reasons.</p>
<p>The lack of economic opportunities in Niger weighed heavily on the refugees, as did the precarious security situation on the officials. According to local UNHCR staff in Niger, the government of Burkina Faso refused to host these refugees after hearing about Niger’s difficulties.</p>
<p>Second, outsourcing asylum procedures presupposes that the rule of law is functioning in the partner state. In Niger, the appeals process was <a href="https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/apuz/festung-europa-2022/514216/zwischen-abenteuer-risiko-und-ueberleben/">neither operational nor independent</a>. For one thing, the appeal committee had not met for three years and consisted of the same departments as the first instance. </p>
<h2>Political alternatives</h2>
<p>If politicians really want to reduce deaths in the Mediterranean, often used as the purported motivation for externalisation, they should stop <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/45860/international-law-and-the-criminalization-of-sea-rescue">criminalising sea rescue</a>. </p>
<p>EU states could also make it possible to claim asylum at embassies or consulates. Several European countries allowed this until the early 2000s. Similarly, humanitarian visas could be issued from embassies, as <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/da/press-room/20160315IPR19499/meps-want-eu-embassies-and-consulates-to-grant-asylum-seekers-humanitarian-visas">argued</a> by European Parliament members in 2016. This requires more resources for screening and case-processing. </p>
<p>These would be real steps towards dismantling so-called smuggling economies, whose incentives have only increased with the one-sided EU focus on deterrence and border control. Safe entry procedures would be an approach fundamentally different from containing displaced populations far from Europe. </p>
<p>A modern and pragmatic migration policy should abandon <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/postcoloniality-and-forced-migration">postcolonial illusions</a> that massive global inequalities and displacement can be addressed through deterrence and the outsourcing of refugee protection to third countries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203246/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Plans by European states to outsource their asylum procedures to African states often fail and don’t offer political alternatives to asylum in Europe.Laura Lambert, Senior Researcher, University of FreiburgMartin Lemberg-Pedersen, Honorary Associate Professor, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2026932023-03-30T16:38:32Z2023-03-30T16:38:32Z3 ways Ottawa can rebuild trust following changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517775/original/file-20230327-806-pz4erz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C2146&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">RCMP officers approach a woman as she enters Canada via Roxham Road near Hemmingford, Que., on March 25, 2023. Asylum-seekers at the unofficial crossing will now be turned away following amendments to the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the U.S.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/3-ways-ottawa-can-rebuild-trust-following-changes-to-the-safe-third-country-agreement" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The recent announcement to amend the Canada-United States <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/agreements/safe-third-country-agreement/additional-protocol.html">Safe Third Country Agreement</a> has drawn criticism from <a href="https://www.amnesty.ca/human-rights-news/joint-press-release/canada-safe-third-country-agreement-expansion/">human rights groups</a>, <a href="https://ccrweb.ca/en/statement-expansion-safe-third-country-agreement">refugee advocates</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/CARLadvocates/status/1639412980021338113">lawyers</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/justin-trudeau-and-joe-biden-are-missing-the-bigger-picture-about-migrant-border-crossings-202546">researchers</a> and the <a href="https://www.ndp.ca/news/ndp-reacts-governments-decision-related-safe-third-country-agreement">federal NDP</a>. </p>
<p>Unless the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/safe-third-country-agreement-top-court-1.6608810">Supreme Court of Canada</a> rules the original agreement is unconstitutional, the new deal on refugee claimants is likely to stand. Justin Trudeau’s government has invested significant political and diplomatic capital in negotiating the amendment. </p>
<p>It was agreed in principle almost a year ago, but implementation had stagnated. As late as the end of February 2023, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2174987843700">David Cohen</a>, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, hinted that no change to the agreement was likely. </p>
<p><a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1966383/chemin-roxham-trudeau-biden-coulisses-canada">Radio Canada</a> has reported the last-minute change of heart by Americans was due to an increase in irregular migration into the U.S. from Canada.</p>
<p>The recent tragedy at Akwesasne, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/akwesasne-st-lawrence-bodies-found-missing-people-1.6797256">where eight people died, including two children,</a> after attempting to cross irregularly from Canada to the U.S., highlights the perils of unofficial crossings. One person is still missing.</p>
<p>It also provides more evidence of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/freylindsay/2022/01/08/migrants-are-taking-ever-more-dangerous-routes-to-get-to-europe/?sh=7a98707d4257">broader global trends</a> that closing official channels pushes people into more dangerous routes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-is-playing-border-politics-again-this-time-with-canada-201142">The U.S. is playing border politics again — this time with Canada</a>
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<h2>Unexpected about-face</h2>
<p>The change of policy was indeed sudden. U.S. President Joe Biden alluded to it in his speech to Parliament, and then Trudeau announced it at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFTUC4Gnd6c">subsequent news conference</a> on March 24, 2023. The changes came into effect only a few hours later — just after midnight on March 25. </p>
<p>Refugee claimants were <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/migrants-roxham-heartbreak-1.6791113">caught unaware</a> and prevented from exercising their right to asylum after making long and costly journeys to the Canadian border. </p>
<p>Similarly, non-profit organizations serving refugee claimants called emergency meetings and <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1966230/chemin-roxham-entente-canada-etats-unis-migrants-asile-ontario?depuisRecherche=true">worked around the clock</a> to respond to information and gaps in protection for asylum-seekers.</p>
<p>In the aftermath of the renegotiated agreement, the Trudeau government should take three steps to rebuild trust and refugee protection:</p>
<h2>1. Provide more information</h2>
<p>Official information on the new deal and its exceptions should be communicated to prospective asylum-seekers. </p>
<p>Many people were still en route to the border, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/migrants-attempt-roxham-after-deadline-1.6791810">unaware of the change</a>. The government should provide a lay person’s summary of the agreement in French, English and the languages most spoken by refugee claimants.</p>
<p>In particular, it’s important that people understand that if they’re ineligible to make a claim, they will be returned to the U.S. and barred from ever claiming asylum in Canada in the future.</p>
<p>Information should also clearly <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/agreements/safe-third-country-agreement.html#toc1">indicate exceptions</a> to the Safe Third Country Agreement that remain in effect. </p>
<p>For example, unaccompanied minors and people with close family members in Canada may still be allowed to make an asylum claim.</p>
<p>These measures will help redress some of the confusion, uncertainty and fear that refugee claimants face when trying to make a decision about whether to cross the border.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A police officer with a ponytail stops people bundled in parkas and pulling suitcases along a snowy road." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517779/original/file-20230327-22-85xfis.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517779/original/file-20230327-22-85xfis.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517779/original/file-20230327-22-85xfis.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517779/original/file-20230327-22-85xfis.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517779/original/file-20230327-22-85xfis.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517779/original/file-20230327-22-85xfis.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517779/original/file-20230327-22-85xfis.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An RCMP officer stops people as they enter Canada via Roxham Road near Hemmingford, Que., hours after amendments to the Safe Third Country agreement enabled authorities to turn asylum-seekers away from unofficial border crossings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Mend strained relationships</h2>
<p>The federal government also needs to repair relationships with non-profit partners who form the backbone of Canada’s settlement services. No consultations nor briefings were undertaken with civil society partners prior to the announcement. </p>
<p>Officials have justified the surprise announcement, saying they wanted to avoid a <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-roxham-road-deal-migrants/">last-minute rush to the border</a>. However, the lack of transparency has caused anger and frustration among non-profit organizations that have been forced to scramble in response to a deal that has been shrouded in secrecy.</p>
<p>Immigration Minister Sean Fraser needs to organize meetings with key stakeholders to directly address their concerns. The government of Canada relies heavily on non-governmental organizations for service delivery across immigration categories. They should be treated as partners, not afterthoughts.</p>
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<h2>3. Clarify details</h2>
<p>Currently, refugee claimants have no way of knowing the criteria and process to apply for the <a href="https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2023/03/24/us-canada-migration-deal-aims-to-end-walk-around-crossings/">15,000 official humanitarian spots</a>, also announced at the Trudeau-Biden news conference. </p>
<p>The details of this program need to be clarified as soon as possible to redirect some prospective claimants from irregular crossings to safe passages.</p>
<p>The 15,000 number is small in comparison to the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/asylum-claims-2022.html">40,000 claimants</a> who crossed Roxham Road in Québec in 2022, as well as the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/americas.html">millions currently displaced</a> in the Western Hemisphere. The demand for this humanitarian program will greatly exceed available spots. </p>
<p>The government must decide on the criteria for the program in consultation with those most affected. It then needs to communicate these criteria in a transparent and equitable way to avoid repeating the current chaos and information gaps.</p>
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<h2>Expediency creates challenges</h2>
<p>The renegotiated Safe Third Country Agreement was politically expedient for the Trudeau government, but poses real policy and programming challenges. </p>
<p>As a first step to meeting these challenges, it is incumbent on the federal government to acknowledge and address the confusion, chaos and frustration that this new deal has created for claimants — and the non-governmental organizations serving them.</p>
<p><em>Listen to Christina Clark-Kazak on our podcast, Don’t Call Me Resilient: <a href="https://theconversation.com/roxham-road-asylum-seekers-wont-just-get-turned-back-theyll-get-forced-underground-podcast-202699">Roxham Road: Asylum seekers won’t just get turned back, they’ll get forced underground</a></em></p>
<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/9d2ad47f-4e56-4783-9e34-f7b76533c734?dark=true"></iframe><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202693/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Clark-Kazak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The renegotiated Safe Third Country Agreement was politically expedient for Justin Trudeau’s government, but poses real policy and programming challenges.Christina Clark-Kazak, Associate Professor, Public and International Affairs, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1988472023-03-13T12:37:23Z2023-03-13T12:37:23ZInternational law doesn’t protect people fleeing environmental disaster – here’s how it could<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513966/original/file-20230307-24-bns4rj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6232%2C4151&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bangladesh-dhaka-duari-para-on-20211017-2190353321">Martinbertrand.fr/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Researchers have tried for decades to find a relevant legal status for people forced to flee their homes as a result of floods, droughts and storms – calamities which climate change promises to make more severe and commonplace – as well as appropriate laws which might ensure their protection. But climate migrants are sometimes <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/climate-refugees-the-world-s-forgotten-victims/">forgotten</a> among the various flows of people seeking asylum. </p>
<p>To protect climate migrants who were forced to leave their country, some legal scholars have proposed amending the definition of refugee in the Refugee Convention of 1951 to consider environmental degradation <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/698753/EPRS_BRI(2021)698753_EN.pdf">a form of persecution</a>. This would expand eligibility for asylum as a refugee under international law beyond the existing grounds of persecution by religion, race, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinions.</p>
<p>But the principle of <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Migration/GlobalCompactMigration/ThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf">non-refoulement</a>, mentioned in the refugee convention, already prohibits a host country of returning asylum seekers to somewhere they would not be safe. This could be interpreted as guaranteeing access to an environment offering decent air and clean water according to the <a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/help/glossary/eea-glossary/environmental-quality">European Environment Agency</a>. </p>
<p>Despite this provision, international law is failing to protect climate migrants, which means that the scope of the refugee convention, however broad, must be widened.</p>
<p>Ioane Teitiota is a citizen of Kiribati, an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean. In 2015, he was denied asylum in New Zealand after floods forced him to flee with his family. He protested to the UN Human Rights Committee, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2020/01/historic-un-human-rights-case-opens-door-climate-change-asylum-claims#:%7E:text=In%202015%2C%20Ioane%20Teitiota's%20asylum,violated%20his%20right%20to%20life.">which ruled</a> that his situation did not constitute an imminent risk to life.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tropical island at high tide with palm trees and a village in the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513967/original/file-20230307-16-xv3j7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kiribati is a low-lying island threatened by rising seas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/village-on-south-tarawa-atoll-kiribati-1250888257">Maloff/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The legal right of the people of Kiribati to seek effective protection from saltwater intruding into farmland, coastal erosion and crop failures as a result of sea-level rise does not exist. New Zealand maintained that it could only reward refugee status to people if the state had failed to respect their fundamental human rights. The effects of climate change are systemic, the argument goes, rather than a personal persecution against Teitiota himself. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the Human Rights Committee said that people who fled their country because of the effects of climate change can argue that their experiences amount to persecution and seek refugee status under the refugee convention. Vulnerable people could also claim that climate change threatens their right to life under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. This includes situations where environmental disasters are interlaced with conflict, leading to water or air being contaminated by chemical weapons.</p>
<p>States might consider asylum claims resulting from climate disasters in the future. But until consensus is reached among scholars or jurists about the legal status of climate migrants, they will probably avoid introducing a broad interpretation of what comprises a climate migrant into international law.</p>
<p>Environmental disasters are unpredictable and the damage they cause can blight a territory for years, taking decades for people to properly recover. The people displaced may need to seek shelter in another country or region while the reconstruction is underway. </p>
<p>Climate change will cause an increasing number of disasters such as floods, droughts and wildfires. Legal solutions, especially in the case of climate change disasters, will be difficult to predict in advance. A firm understanding of what works where climate migrants are forced to settle will be invaluable.</p>
<p>States neighbouring vulnerable countries are more likely to be affected by inflows of climate migrants. By shouldering a disproportionate share of this responsibility, these countries will keep the impasse over the legal status of climate migrants alive on the international stage and have an outsize role in constructing an international consensus around their legal status.</p>
<p>As these countries attempt to acquire funding and build shelters to house migrants, they’ll also be dealing with a rising number of asylum claims. This will inevitably prompt research within the country to determine the most relevant legal status climate migrants need to guarantee their protection. This could attract international recognition as climate change and the entwined refugee crisis escalate.</p>
<p>There was a dramatic spike in 2015 in the number of migrants fleeing war and famine, especially in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Eritrea and migration policy remains a very sensitive and divisive topic of debate as a result.</p>
<p>Preparing the efficient protection of climate refugees is a challenge for the years to come. But in the meantime, people need help. The recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/2/9/turkey-syria-quake-updates">caused</a> several thousand deaths, but may have left millions without homes.</p>
<p>Only the creation of an efficient international framework of laws can guarantee refuge for people fleeing such environmental disasters in future. Building that outcome is likely to begin in the countries nearest to the suffering.</p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morgiane Noel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why the UN Refugee Convention should be updated to protect climate migrants.Morgiane Noel, Ph.D. in Law, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005012023-02-23T20:13:17Z2023-02-23T20:13:17ZBiden’s border crackdown explained – a refugee law expert looks at the legality and impact of new asylum rule<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512026/original/file-20230223-26-ranwy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C134%2C6000%2C3853&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Seeking shelter and asylum on the US-Mexico border.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/USAsylumPayingForASponsor/3a0ca617af9d4b468b65c0db1880250e/photo?Query=US%20mexico%20border&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=12461&currentItemNo=8">AP Photo/Gregory Bull)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Anticipating a potential surge of migrants at the southern border, the Biden administration on Feb. 21, 2023, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/21/us/biden-asylum-rules.html">announced a crackdown</a> on those seeking asylum after unlawfully entering the U.S.</em></p>
<p><em>The proposed rule change – which would see the rapid deportation of anyone who had not first applied for asylum en route to the U.S. – has been <a href="https://www.aila.org/advo-media/press-releases/2023/aila-condemns-biden-administrations-push">condemned by immigration rights groups</a>, which claim it runs counter to the “humane immigration system” that Joe Biden <a href="https://joebiden.com/immigration/#">promised while campaigning</a> for the White House.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation asked Karen Musalo, <a href="https://cgrs.uchastings.edu/about/bio/karen-musalo#:%7E:text=Professor%20Karen%20Musalo%2C%20Bank%20of,at%20UC%20Law%20San%20Francisco.">an expert on refugee law</a> at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, to explain what the new rule entails, what its impact will be and why it is so controversial.</em></p>
<h2>What is the new policy?</h2>
<p>The Biden administration’s <a href="https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2023-03718.pdf">new rule</a> – which is set to come into force on May 11 – will bar from asylum all non-Mexican migrants who arrive at the southern U.S. border without having first sought and been denied asylum in at least one of the countries they passed through on their journey.</p>
<p>The only migrants exempted from this rule are those who use a U.S. government app, <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/about/mobile-apps-directory/cbpone">CBP One</a>, to make an appointment to apply for asylum at an official port of entry. All others will be subject to a presumption of ineligibility unless they can demonstrate “exceptionally compelling circumstances,” such as a medical emergency – which they will have to prove during a rapid <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/primer-expedited-removal">screening process</a> in a border holding cell.</p>
<p>The policy – which immigrant rights <a href="https://justiceactioncenter.org/jac-condemns-bidens-plans-to-revive-trump-era-asylum-ban/">advocates</a>, <a href="https://www.menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/press/menendez-booker-lujan-padilla-joint-statement-on-biden-administrations-proposed-asylum-transit-ban-rule">congressional</a> <a href="https://www.menendez.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_president_biden_on_the_administrations_border_policies.pdf">leaders</a> and <a href="https://www.interfaithimmigration.org/2023/02/22/as-biden-moves-forward-with-asylum-ban-faith-groups-and-advocates-gathered-to-demand-restored-access-to-asylum/">faith groups</a> are calling an “asylum ban” or “transit ban” – is almost identical to one implemented by the Trump administration in 2019. The Trump-era rule was later <a href="https://www.aclu.org/cases/east-bay-v-barr">struck down</a> by the courts as unlawful.</p>
<h2>Why is the new rule being proposed now?</h2>
<p>The Biden administration is concerned that the expiration of a pandemic-era rule will lead to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/03/17/biden-border-mexico-migrants-title-42">greater numbers of immigrants</a> at the southern border.</p>
<p>In March 2020, the Trump administration totally closed the border to asylum seekers in a <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-is-title-42-and-what-does-it-mean-for-immigration-at-the-southern-border">policy referred to as Title 42</a>. It justified the closure as necessary to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these health concerns were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2200274">just a pretext</a>; it has been <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/top-cdc-scientist-said-covid-era-health-policy-used-to-expel-migrants-unfairly-stigmatized-them/">well documented</a> that high-level officials in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-official-told-congress-migrant-expulsion-policy-not-needed-to-contain-covid/">were opposed</a> to the policy and acceded only under <a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-pandemics-public-health-new-york-health-4ef0c6c5263815a26f8aa17f6ea490ae">intense White House pressure</a>.</p>
<p>Turning away all asylum seekers in this way was totally unprecedented, and <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/70192/the-trump-administrations-indefensible-legal-defense-of-its-asylum-ban/">inconsistent with</a> U.S. domestic and international legal obligations.</p>
<p>Biden <a href="https://joebiden.com/immigration/">campaigned on promises</a> to restore a humane asylum system. But on assuming the presidency <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165439/biden-title-42-trump-migrant-expulsion-mexico">he continued</a> Title 42 and even <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/title-42-block-nicaraguans-cubans-haitians-rcna64418">expanded it</a> to include individuals from additional countries.</p>
<p>Immigration rights advocates <a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-united-states-covid-government-and-politics-32251064466f9ed6b51e55c1bbd18680">brought successful legal challenges</a> to terminate the policy, while attorneys general of Republican-led states <a href="https://litigationtracker.justiceactioncenter.org/cases/arizona-v-cdc-az-title-42-termination-district-court">sued to keep it in place</a>. Finally, in January 2023, the Biden administration <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/us/politics/biden-covid-public-health-emergency.html">announced</a> that on May 11 it would end the coronavirus health emergency, which had provided the legal authority for the border closure.</p>
<p>This means Title 42 also comes to an end on May 11. Unwilling to restore access to asylum as had existed for 40 years before former President Donald Trump’s border closure, the Biden administration proposed the new rule.</p>
<h2>Is the policy legal?</h2>
<p>In 2019, the Trump administration proposed a rule very similar to that put forth by Biden, prohibiting asylum for migrants who did not first apply in countries of transit. The <a href="https://casetext.com/case/covenant-v-trump-2">courts struck</a> <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6981578/East-Bay-2020-07-06.pdf">down the policy</a> for violating the 1980 Refugee Act, which guarantees the right of all migrants who reach the United States to apply for asylum.</p>
<p>A bipartisan Congress passed the Refugee Act to bring the U.S. into compliance with its international obligations under the U.N.’s <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 Refugee Convention</a> and its 1967 Protocol, which prohibit returning refugees to any country where their lives or freedom would be threatened.</p>
<p>In striking down the Trump-era rule, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6981578/East-Bay-2020-07-06.pdf">pointed out</a> that the Refugee Act is very specific about the circumstances under which the government can deny asylum for failure to apply in a transit country. Under the act’s “safe third country” provision, that can happen only if the transit country is safe and has both a robust asylum system and a formal treaty with the United States agreeing to safe third-country status. The court found the Trump administration lacked all three conditions for imposing such a ban.</p>
<p>The Biden rule is somewhat different from Trump’s. It does not apply to individuals who schedule an asylum appointment at ports of entry through the CBP One app. </p>
<p>But this does not make the policy lawful. The Refugee Act expressly permits asylum seekers to access protection anywhere along the border – not just at ports of entry. And it does not require appointments to be made in advance.</p>
<p>In addition, CBP One has been plagued with <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/u-s-border-protection-app-causes-tech-headaches-for-asylum-seekers/">significant technical</a> problems, preventing many from even making appointments, and has raised serious equity and <a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markey-calls-on-dhs-to-ditch-mobile-app-riddled-with-glitches-privacy-problems-for-asylum-seekers">privacy concerns</a>.</p>
<p>And more importantly, there is no getting around the fact that most countries of transit neither are safe for migrants nor have functioning asylum systems. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl holds her stuffed animal high above the water as migrants wade across a river." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512079/original/file-20230223-16-gzvo89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants wade across the Rio Grande from Texas to Mexico to avoid deportation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ExodustoAmerica-AsylumBan/389eb605e83b414fb1a7ba7d554742b2/photo?Query=US%20deporting%20asylum&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=244&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Felix Marquez</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Asylum seekers arriving at the U.S. southern border pass through Mexico, which is <a href="https://humanrightsfirst.org/library/human-rights-stain-public-health-farce/">notoriously</a> <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/mexico/">dangerous</a> for migrants, and countries such as <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/nicaragua/">Nicaragua</a>, <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47083">El Salvador</a>, <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/guatemala/">Guatemala</a> and <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/honduras/">Honduras</a>, which are similarly unsafe and do not have <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/84977/bidens-embrace-of-trumps-transit-ban-violates-us-legal-and-moral-refugee-obligations/">anything approaching functioning asylum systems</a>.</p>
<p>Costa Rica, the one transit country in the region with an <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/costa-rica/freedom-world/2022">admirable human rights record</a> and an established asylum system, is currently receiving 10 times the number of asylum seekers as the United States on a per capita basis, and its system is <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/costarica#:%7E:text=Costa%20Rica%20has%20ranked%20among,from%20January%20to%20mid%2D2022">completely overwhelmed</a>. To expect Costa Rica to do more, and take in the refugees the U.S. turns away, is not reasonable or fair.</p>
<h2>What will be the policy’s impact?</h2>
<p>This rule will deny thousands of migrants fleeing persecution their right to seek asylum at the United States’ southern border. They will be returned to Mexico, where <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/06/mexico-asylum-seekers-face-abuses-southern-border">human rights organizations have documented</a> high levels of violence and exploitation of migrants, or deported to their home countries.</p>
<p>Beyond the individual human impact, the implementation of this rule will send the wrong signal to other countries that have – like the United States – ratified international refugee treaties and passed laws committing to protect those fleeing persecution.</p>
<p>The message is that flouting legal obligations is acceptable, as is the outsourcing of refugee protection to smaller countries with far less resources. The exodus of refugees from Ukraine and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/03/26/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-united-efforts-of-the-free-world-to-support-the-people-of-ukraine/">U.S. efforts to encourage European countries</a> to accept those fleeing the conflict underscore the importance of encouraging nations to take in refugees. Leading by bad example will only undermine that principle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Musalo receives funding from National Science Foundation in the past.
I am a full-time law professor and director of the law school's Center for Gender & Refugee Studies.</span></em></p>With the expiration of a pandemic-era restriction, the Biden administration is set to impose a new rule to curtail immigration at the US-Mexico border.Karen Musalo, Professor of International Law, University of California College of the Law, San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1908992022-09-20T20:36:20Z2022-09-20T20:36:20ZRon DeSantis dropping migrants off on Martha’s Vineyard may be illegal – an immigration lawyer explains why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485680/original/file-20220920-12-cwav4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C237%2C4996%2C3399&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An immigrant mother and child stand outside a church on Martha's Vineyard on Sept. 15, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/mother-and-child-spent-some-time-outside-the-st-andrews-parrish-house-picture-id1243258326">Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The unexpected arrival of approximately 50 Colombian and Venezuelan migrants on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, on Sept. 14, 2022, has prompted <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/18/1123644692/desantis-migrants-texas-massachusetts-marthas-vineyard-legal-questions">legal questions</a> about how and why, exactly, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chartered planes to drop them in this unlikely destination. </p>
<p>The move is part of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/15/desantis-migrants-marthas-vineyard-immigration-florida-00056870">a broader campaign</a> by Republican politicians to transport large numbers of migrants to liberal states and cities. </p>
<p>Since then, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has activated 125 National Guard members to help distribute food and other necessities to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/national-guard-migrant-marthas-vineyard-desantis-b2168915.html">the migrants</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/17/desantis-migrants-marthas-vineyard-cape-cod/10410896002/">now living</a> at a Cape Cod military base. </p>
<p>And a Texas county sheriff <a href="https://www.wcvb.com/article/migrants-brought-to-massachusetts-investigation-texas/41285564#">announced</a> Sept. 20 that he was launching an investigation into allegations that a Venezuelan migrant was paid to recruit the other migrants for the trip. Lawyers for 30 of the migrants have been asking for a legal investigation into what <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/09/18/ron-desantis-migrants-lawyers-criminal-investigation">they call a “political stunt</a>.” </p>
<p>Many of the migrants said <a href="https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/movies/simply-feel-misled-migrants-flown-151508329.html">they were falsely</a> promised housing, jobs and expedited <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/15/1123109768/migrants-sent-to-marthas-vineyard">work permits</a> if they boarded planes in Texas set for Massachusetts – a likely preferred alternative to the San Antonio <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/15/1123109768/migrants-sent-to-marthas-vineyard">shelter where</a> they were temporarily staying. </p>
<p>As an immigration <a href="https://gould.usc.edu/faculty/?id=72708">law professor</a>, I think it is important to understand that the answer to whether it is legal to move migrants potentially against their will and transport them across states is complicated and depends on several unknown factors. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Five young men who appear Latino stand next to one another outside of a red building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many of the 50 Venezuelan and Colombian migrants who were left on Martha’s Vineyard are asylum seekers, lawyers say.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/handful-of-migrants-outside-of-st-andrews-episcopal-church-two-planes-picture-id1243258377">Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The intent behind the drop-off</h2>
<p>First, there is an open question of whether the migrants were illegally staying in the United States at the time they were transported to Martha’s Vineyard.</p>
<p>There is a federal law, called <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1324&num=0&edition=prelim">8 U.S.C. § 1324</a>, that criminalizes transporting an undocumented migrant anywhere within the U.S. if the migrant has entered the U.S. unlawfully or remains in the country without a visa or other documentation. This law also prohibits someone from even helping or planning to transport undocumented migrants.</p>
<p>But someone who is found guilty of this law must have also known – and disregarded the fact – that the migrants were in the U.S. without legal paperwork or other permission from immigration officials. </p>
<p>Transporting consenting migrants who have the paperwork to be in the U.S. is legal. But certain factors – like DeSantis’ intent and knowledge of the migrants’ immigration status – could create potential civil and criminal liability. </p>
<h2>The migrants might legally be in the U.S.</h2>
<p>One key issue, then, is whether the migrants are legally authorized to be in the U.S. – and if not, whether DeSantis, his team and the charter airplane company helped the migrants illegally stay in the U.S. by flying them to Martha’s Vineyard. </p>
<p>Some of the migrants are reportedly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/18/migrants-marthas-vineyard-republicans">asylum seekers</a> and not “illegal immigrants,” <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-marthas-vineyard-desantis-flights-illegal-immigrants-sanctuary-destinations/">as DeSantis’ office</a> has said. </p>
<p>Generally, a migrant who is seeking asylum in the U.S. is not violating immigration law. That is because <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title8-section1158&num=0&edition=prelim">immigration asylum law</a> authorizes migrants to enter the U.S. and apply for asylum – meaning that they ask for the legal right to stay in the U.S. because they have legitimate fears of returning to their own countries. </p>
<p>Asylum seekers are allowed to temporarily stay in the U.S. while they await an immigration judge’s decision on their asylum application. Migrants might also get temporary permission to stay in the U.S. for other humanitarian reasons. </p>
<p>It is unknown how many of the migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard were authorized to remain in the country or have pending asylum applications. </p>
<h2>Moving migrants within the US</h2>
<p>Another major question is whether transporting migrants could somehow help or promote their potentially undocumented immigration status. </p>
<p>In 1999, for example, a <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-10th-circuit/1436445.html">U.S. federal court of appeals</a> determined that an individual transporting two undocumented migrants from New Mexico to Colorado in search of employment violated immigration law, since the move advanced the undocumented migrants’ unlawful presence in the U.S. </p>
<p>Perhaps there is evidence that DeSantis, or members of his team, helped or advanced the migrants’ unlawful entry or continued illegal presence in the U.S. by transporting them to a sanctuary location within Massachusetts. </p>
<p>Ultimately, DeSantis’ decision to fly migrants to Massachusetts likely frustrated the Biden administration’s immigration law enforcement. Randomly moving migrants across states makes it harder for the government to process asylum applications and to deport migrants who are not eligible for asylum. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blond curly-haired woman hugs a Latino young man wearing a baseball cap." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A volunteer hugs a Venezuelan migrant outside of a church on Martha’s Vineyard on Sept. 16, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/lisa-belcastro-a-volunteer-embraces-rafael-a-venezuelan-migrant-of-picture-id1243368410">Carlin Stiehl for the Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The known unknowns</h2>
<p>Other factors could determine whether DeSantis potentially violated human trafficking laws, as some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/16/migrants-marthas-vineyard-desantis-biden-democrats-criticism">immigrant advocates have</a> said.</p>
<p>This includes what the migrants were told – and by whom. Deceiving people and then moving them from one place to another could <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/kidnapping">constitute kidnapping</a>. Falsely promising available work permits is <a href="https://legalaidatwork.org/factsheet/fraud-or-misrepresentation-in-the-workplace/">also illegal</a>.</p>
<p>Human trafficking, <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking">according to U.S. law</a>, must include exploitation resulting in some kind of material gain. While there is nothing to indicate that DeSantis received compensation for flying the migrants to Massachusetts, the private airplane charter company did receive money to transport them. </p>
<p>The identities and knowledge of the government officials involved in the entire Martha’s Vineyard scheme have not been publicly released. </p>
<p>A formal investigation into the migrants’ individual circumstances – and an examination of those involved with the flight to Martha’s Vineyard – could determine whether this incident resulted in legal violations of civil or criminal laws.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190899/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Lantz Reisz receives funding from California Department of Social Services for immigration legal services.</span></em></p>A formal legal investigation would be needed to determine whether the Florida governor and associates violated human trafficking or other laws.Jean Lantz Reisz, Supervising Attorney, USC Immigration Clinic and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1874152022-08-02T17:24:37Z2022-08-02T17:24:37ZCanada must grant permanent immigration status to undocumented residents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477181/original/file-20220802-13-5zg4yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1976&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman takes part in a protest in Montréal in January 2021 to demand status for all workers. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the December 2021 <a href="https://pm.gc.ca/en/mandate-letters/2021/12/16/minister-immigration-refugees-and-citizenship-mandate-letter">mandate letter</a> to the newly appointed Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Liberal government tasked him with exploring “ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities.” </p>
<p>Sean Fraser <a href="https://www.cicnews.com/2022/07/canadas-immigration-minister-wants-to-make-good-on-mandate-letter-commitments-for-refugees-and-undocumented-workers-0727639.html#gs.70cv21">has since said</a> he’s working on designing a regularization program that can help address this issue. </p>
<p>In May, MPs passed <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/89339/motions/11528727">motion M-44</a> urging the government to design a plan to provide permanent residency to temporary foreign workers. If planned and executed correctly, these programs could be a historic opportunity to improve the lives of up to 1.7 million people who live in Canada without a secure status. </p>
<h2>Demanded action</h2>
<p>In July 2021, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/solidarity-across-borders-downtown-montreal-protest-1.6107740">migrants and advocates in Montréal</a>, Toronto, Edmonton and St. Catharines held rallies demanding that the programs be inclusive, comprehensive and permanent.</p>
<p>Now the question is whether the government will create a program that can provide status to all undocumented and temporary residents through permanent residency permits, or whether it will create a small symbolic program that will fail to properly tackle the issue. </p>
<p>There’s a lot at stake.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.migrationdataportal.org/themes/irregular-migration">Most industrialized countries</a> host a substantial number of undocumented residents. It’s an institutionally produced phenomenon that occurs when migrants travelling in search of safety, work, love or community encounter immigration and refugee policies that provide only limited protection to asylum-seekers and precarious and temporary permits to immigrants. Canada is no exception.</p>
<p>Our immigration system is geared towards temporary and conditional permits, many of them lacking a clear pathway to permanent residency and citizenship. Every year, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-reports-parliament-immigration.html">more migrants enter Canada with temporary permits</a> than permanent ones. This leaves them undocumented when their permits expire.</p>
<p>Strategies that make it possible to circumvent our international obligations towards asylum-seekers, in particular the <a href="https://bmrc-irmu.info.yorku.ca/files/2020/03/Asylum-Seekers-Safe-Third-Country-Resilience-Final-March-2020.pdf?x82641">Safe Third Country Agreement</a> as well as an <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/28/it-time-change-definition-refugee">outdated definition of “refugee,”</a> also leave many people without protection and official status to remain in the country.</p>
<p>Without addressing these root causes, regularization programs are only a temporary fix to a problem that was institutionally produced. However, these programs have tremendous positive outcomes for both migrants and society. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black woman in tears holds a sign that says The USA is Not Safe." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman cries as she participates in a protest outside the Federal Court of Canada building for a hearing regarding the designation of the United States as a safe third country for refugees in Toronto in November 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Common in the EU</h2>
<p>Regularization is <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/sites/default/files/2009-04/docl_8193_345982803.pdf">a common policy tool in the European Union</a>. France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Poland and many other countries all routinely implement regularization programs. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/governing-irregular-migration">Spain</a>, for example, implemented ad hoc programs under both conservative and progressive governments <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2018.1522561">that regularized more than a million people</a> between 2000 and 2006. It then launched a permanent ongoing mechanism to provide status to undocumented residents.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45407663">less common in Canada</a>, regularization programs have been implemented in the past. Under Pierre Trudeau’s government in 1973, some 39,000 people were regularized as part of the <a href="https://www.kairoscanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-Regularization-of-NonStatus-Immigrants-in-Canada-1960-2004.pdf">Adjustment of Status Program</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man comforts a woman, who has her hand on her face as she cries." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Algerian man comforts his wife as she covers her face during a 2002 news conference in Montréal. The couple was ordered deported by Immigration Canada after finding refuge in a city church, but eventually acquired permanent residence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But so far, the Canadian approach has been extremely restrictive, limiting access to relief programs to specific nationalities or people with specific family or work situations. <a href="https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.32079">A 2002 program</a> that provided status to only 900 Algerians is a good example of the Canadian government’s lack of ambition. </p>
<p>The mention of “undocumented workers” in Fraser’s mandate letter makes us fear this restrictive trend may continue.</p>
<h2>Benefits, potential policy pitfalls</h2>
<p>Regularization programs <a href="https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2012/regularisations-instrument-reduce-vulnerability-social-exclusion-and-exploitation">have many benefits</a>. </p>
<p>For migrants and those concerned about their well-being and rights, such programs can provide safety, stability and access to rights and family reunification. </p>
<p>For the government, a well-designed program can “reset” the growing population of people without status or at risk of losing it, thereby remediating a problem produced by years of policies favouring temporary and conditional permits. </p>
<p>Regularization can also provide a boon to the economy and the labour market by allowing workers to move from precarious jobs to more stable and better work in sectors where their skills are most needed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man works in a farmer's field among rows of seedlings. A tractor is in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A worker from Mexico plants strawberries on a farm in Mirabel, Que., in May 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-treat-migrant-workers-who-put-food-on-our-tables-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-4-153275">How we treat migrant workers who put food on our tables: Don't Call Me Resilient EP 4</a>
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<p>For regularization programs to be effective policy tools, they need to be inclusive and comprehensive. Here are some potential pitfalls: </p>
<p>1) Imposing a low arbitrary cap on the number of permits available, while useful for budgeting and staffing purposes, would make the program inaccessible to most. </p>
<p>2) Limiting the program to undocumented workers in specific sectors would have the sole purpose of addressing labour market needs while failing to recognize undocumented residents’ contributions in all sectors of the economy and society. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/guardian-angels-quebec-residency-1.5962835">The “guardian angels” initiative</a> — a program that provided a pathway to permanent residency to a few asylum-seekers who worked in very specific health-care jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic — has taught us that such an approach risks imposing restrictive professional criteria that would disqualify many workers. </p>
<p>3) Providing only temporary and conditional permits would be counter-productive because those permits are largely responsible for the growing number of undocumented residents in Canada. </p>
<p>This is a historic opportunity to tackle a long-standing problem and start rethinking our immigration and refugee model. </p>
<p>In the next few months, we’ll see whether the government intends to use this policy tool to its full potential or settle for a small symbolic program that will fail to bring about long-term structural change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Regularization programs that help refugees and migrants become permanent residents have tremendous positive outcomes for both migrants and society.Peter Nyers, Professor of Political Science, McMaster UniversityDavid Moffette, Associate Professor of Criminology, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1845222022-06-13T12:29:32Z2022-06-13T12:29:32ZImmigrants are only 3.5% of people worldwide – and their negative impact is often exaggerated, in the U.S. and around the world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467598/original/file-20220607-20-e7lvii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6700%2C4463&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Academic research plays an important role in helping dispel myths and misconceptions about migration.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-participate-in-a-special-memorial-day-naturalization-news-photo/1241038894">Spencer Platt/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>-<em><a href="https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/ernesto.cfm">Ernesto Castañeda</a> is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at American University and the Director of the <a href="https://www.ernestocastaneda.com/immigrationlab.html">Immigration Lab</a>. Castañeda explains why immigration is an important force counteracting population decline in the U.S. and why that matters to the economy and America’s global power. Below are highlights from an interview with The Conversation. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.</em></p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kG48oLHTxz0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ernesto Castañeda speaks about his work studying immigration and migration.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>What do you study?</strong></p>
<p>I direct the Immigration Lab where we conduct research around migration – in all its aspects. For example, emigration – people leaving their countries of origin; or internal migration – people moving within a country. There are millions of people living in a different province or state than where they were born, such as in China or the U.S. We also study international migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, people that cross borders looking for economic opportunities or trying to reunite with family.</p>
<p>We have studied refugees from Central America in Washington D.C., as well as from Afghanistan. We have also compared immigrants from Latin America in New York and those from North Africa in European <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cities-help-immigrants-feel-at-home-4-charts-97501">cities</a>. I’ve been studying migration since 2003, so almost 20 years.</p>
<p><strong>Immigration is a hot topic now. How different are they than when you started studying it 20 years ago?</strong></p>
<p>It’s funny because in the media we always highlight the new things, and there are indeed new twists and turns, new characters. But the story, the dynamics, the human drama, the structural issues are basically the same. So, the more things change, the more they stay the same. That’s why it’s easier to understand new crises, because immigration researchers have seen something similar happening in the past.</p>
<p><strong>How politicized is immigration?</strong></p>
<p>Immigration is something that has been with us for a long, long time. It’s something that is going to keep happening. It’s something that no one state can fully stop forever. But unfortunately, since as long as I can remember, it is something that has been politicized. There are a lot of misunderstandings by people in the public. Especially because politicians have, for a long time and in different places, used this topic for their short-term political advantage. So it’s something that is recurrent. Nonetheless, when I meet immigrants every day, the realities of their lives and what they are going through are very different from what you hear from the mouths of politicians and from a lot of media outlets.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://american.academia.edu/ErnestoCastaneda">research</a> has tried to understand what happened in the past and what’s going on right now in the streets in order to try to improve our understanding about immigration. If you look at all types of data, there are way more <a href="https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/immigrants-to-the-u-s-create-more-jobs-than-they-take">opportunities</a> born of migration than problems.</p>
<p><strong>The latest census shows that if it wasn’t for immigration, the US population would actually be in decline. So there’s a lot on the line as far as available workers, yes?</strong> </p>
<p>Yes, although some people think that the decline of immigration is not a bad thing, especially if it means maintaining a white majority. Yet immigration is not about a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/08/a-deadly-ideology-how-the-great-replacement-theory-went-mainstream">great replacement</a>” conspiracy but about the maintenance of a successful trajectory of economic growth, cultural vibrancy, scientific and technical innovation. In the economic system that we live in, one of the main ways that the economy keeps growing is by bringing in new labor. Cultural differences disappear across time and family generations. Furthermore, we are talking about changes around the edges. The great majority, over 80%, of the U.S. population has been and will likely continue to be U.S.-born.</p>
<p>Early in the pandemic, people were scared, and rightly so. It made sense to reduce air travel, border crossings and refugee resettlement. In the last couple of years, because of Title 42, which allows the government to prohibit the entry of persons who potentially pose a health risk at ports of entry, even asylum seekers have been sent back to Mexico and made to wait there. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, just in the U.S., we have lost over a million people because of COVID-19. People are also worried about inflation. But inflation has also been made worse by COVID deaths, people staying out of the workforce and by declining immigration, all resulting in a scarcity of workers. </p>
<p>So in the last couple of years we’ve seen an important decrease in migration while American couples have on average two children, keeping the population <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/12/us-population-grew-in-2021-slowest-rate-since-founding-of-the-nation.html">barely growing</a>. So, the current population will not grow without immigration. Declining population growth also means a decrease in economic growth and the influence of the U.S. abroad. If this occurs, then you’d have to be ready to make less money and spend more in goods and services. I don’t think we’re ready for that to be the norm. If we stop taking immigrants in, innovations, population and economic growth will take place in a different part of the globe.</p>
<p><strong>In your almost 20 years of research, what’s one thing that would surprise someone who is not in the field you’re studying?</strong></p>
<p>It’s important for everyone to know that most people do not want to leave their hometown. Most people want to stick around because that’s where their loved ones, family members and friends are. It is the place they know, and they have an attachment to the place. It takes a lot – like an invasion, hunger, a great educational or professional opportunity – to want to leave your home.</p>
<p>Another thing that’s important to know is that <a href="https://www.un.org/en/desa/international-migration-2020-highlights">only around 3.5% of the world</a> population lives in a different country than where they were born. There are as many people moving within China as through international borders. So, international migration is a very important phenomenon for immigrants themselves – we’re talking about the futures of many individuals and families. But in terms of the global population, it’s a very small proportion. And this is not because of immigration deterrence and border fences.</p>
<p>So we’re talking about an exception. Unfortunately, politicians and people make it sound like it’s the main problem. </p>
<p>People may think that immigrants are more likely to commit crime, yet it is the opposite. Immigrants are much <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/3/24/htm">less likely</a> to commit any crimes than the U.S.-born. They are also <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27013329/">less likely to use drugs</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498585651/Building-Walls-Excluding-Latin-People-in-the-United-States">border wall</a> is a monument to intolerance and racism that actively stigmatizes people in the area. Anti-immigrant policies and speech are driven by national politics, scapegoating, misinformation, and dramatic images about caravans, border camps, and border crossers without providing the full context and actual descriptions of reality. There are a lot of myths around migration, but when you look at the data qualitatively, quantitatively, in different societies, in different periods, it is almost the opposite from what people think. That is why academic research on immigration is very important to rectify the story.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184522/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ernesto Castañeda has received funding from NIH, NSF, and American University. </span></em></p>A sociologist shares what his research has taught him about migration.Ernesto Castañeda, Associate Professor of Sociology, American UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1838922022-06-08T21:05:06Z2022-06-08T21:05:06ZHow Haitian migrants are treated shows the ties between racism and refugee policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467204/original/file-20220606-18-7we5bh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5615%2C3724&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Haitians wait to be processed and receive medical attention at a tourist campground in Cuba in May 2022. A vessel carrying more than 800 Haitians trying to reach the United States wound up on the coast of central Cuba instead.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo Ramon Espinosa)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The first protected category of the United Nations refugee convention is race. The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 convention</a> defines a refugee as a person who is outside their country of residence or nationality “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”</p>
<p>Racism negatively affects the lives of Haitians <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/24/haiti-migrants-texas-del-rio-border-patrol-immigration-racism-united-states-henry/">at home and abroad</a>. Yet Haitian migrants today are rarely deemed eligible for asylum. </p>
<p>This requires us to think about racism and the treatment of refugees transnationally. Brazil-led <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13533312.2012.696389">UN peacekeeping operations</a> and <a href="https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2022/4/25/pushed-into-the-shadows-mexicos-reception-of-haitian-migrants">the outsourcing of U.S. immigration control</a> to Latin America further complicates asylum for Haitians. </p>
<p>Why is race is so central to the UN’s refugee convention? Probably because much of it was drafted by former Jewish refugees from the Holocaust and their allies. The drafters added two important clauses. </p>
<p>The first one, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fet016">Article 3</a>, stipulates non-discrimination by the receiving countries (by “race, religion, and country of origin”). The second is the principle of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feu021">non-refoulement</a> that prohibits countries from returning migrants to dangerous conditions back home. </p>
<p>Other considerations that determined the final scope of the convention include the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/johs.12053">breakup of empires</a> and wealthy countries’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/jinh.2010.41.1.7">continued racial barriers</a> to immigration. </p>
<h2>Haiti, colonialism and empires</h2>
<p>Much of the racism toward Haitians comes from abroad.</p>
<p>In the late 1700s, Haitian revolutionaries expelled French colonizers and abolished slavery. A few years later, Haiti <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr.117.1.40">provided refuge</a> for victims of enslavement and colonialism elsewhere.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/world/americas/haiti-history-colonized-france.html">France and other countries demanded reparations</a> for their lost “property,” meaning human beings. Haiti had to pay this debt throughout the 20th century. </p>
<p>From 1915 to 1934, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/08/06/haiti-us-occupation-1915/">United States military occupied Haiti</a>, with lasting social and political consequences. In 1937, Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/10/07/555871670/80-years-on-dominicans-and-haitians-revisit-painful-memories-of-parsley-massacre">slaughter of thousands of Haitians</a> living near the border. </p>
<p>From the 1950s through the 1980s, <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/2014/10/13/cradle-grave-united-states-protected-jean-claude-duvalier/17191805/">the U.S. supported the Duvalier dictatorship</a>. Since then, there has been nearly continuous foreign intervention in Haiti’s politics.</p>
<p>Facing economic and political instability, many Haitians go abroad to improve life for themselves and their relatives back home. For Haitians, the lines between diaspora, economic migrant and refugee are often blurred. But legally, these categories can make all the difference. </p>
<h2>U.S. sent Haitians back home</h2>
<p>Starting in 1981, the U.S. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fez005">adopted a policy</a> of interdicting and processing Haitian migrants at sea. This effectively established a loophole and allowed them to circumvent the principle of non-refoulement and send Haitians back home.</p>
<p>Following this precedent, wealthy countries today increasingly started to put immigration on “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1680115">remote control</a>” — in other words, they control immigration from a distance, in international waters and third countries’ territories. </p>
<p>There is now a broader outsourcing of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2018.1491277">security and human rights</a> as Latin American countries have been put in charge of receiving refugees and managing UN peacekeeping missions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young woman holds a baby with a boy and a man next to her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467826/original/file-20220608-19-76k0jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467826/original/file-20220608-19-76k0jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467826/original/file-20220608-19-76k0jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467826/original/file-20220608-19-76k0jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467826/original/file-20220608-19-76k0jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467826/original/file-20220608-19-76k0jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467826/original/file-20220608-19-76k0jk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants, many from Haiti, walk on the grounds of a government shelter during their journey through Panama trying to reach the United States in October 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Brazilians in Haiti, Haitians in Brazil</h2>
<p>In 2004, democratically elected Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide was ousted for the second time, probably with the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/traa.12174">help of the U.S</a>. Canada, France, the U.S. and other major players quickly recognized the regime that replaced him. Later that year, Haiti received a peacekeeping mission, the <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/minustah">United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH</a>. </p>
<p>Until 2017, MINUSTAH’s multinational military force was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13533312.2010.516979">run by Brazilian generals, with much meddling from the U.S., Canada and France</a>. </p>
<p>In order to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/eis.2018.4">depoliticize the situation</a>, these generals were instructed to deal with the problem of “gangs” by force. Urban neighbourhoods, where gangs supposedly resided, were precisely the bases of Aristide’s political support.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Armed soldiers carrying weapons walk in formation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467827/original/file-20220608-26-v2i3j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467827/original/file-20220608-26-v2i3j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467827/original/file-20220608-26-v2i3j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467827/original/file-20220608-26-v2i3j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467827/original/file-20220608-26-v2i3j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467827/original/file-20220608-26-v2i3j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467827/original/file-20220608-26-v2i3j9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">United Nations peacekeepers from Brazil are seen during a parade in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in August 2017, two months before the mission ended.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://editora.fgv.br/produto/missao-haiti-a-visao-dos-force-commanders-3506">a book about the military commanders of MINUSTAH</a>, these generals called the low-income neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince “favelas,” or shantytowns, suggesting the problem was one of policing. </p>
<p>Another term they use is <em>pacificação</em>. This is not just a translation of peacekeeping. Historically, <em>pacificação</em> was an euphemism for the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-93132014000100005">colonization of Indigenous Peoples</a>. </p>
<p>It’s also a reference to the work of Rio de Janeiro’s police units called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-018-9381-3">Unidades da Policia Pacificadora</a>. There was an <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315680040-12/entangled-paci%EF%AC%81cations-peacekeeping-counterinsurgency-policing-port-au-prince-rio-de-janeiro-markus-michael-m%C3%BCller">ongoing exchange of security management personnel, ideas and practices</a> between Port-au-Prince and Rio de Janeiro during that period. </p>
<p>After the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/2010-Haiti-earthquake">massive 2010 earthquake</a> that displaced hundreds of thousands of survivors, Brazilian authorities became concerned about Haitians <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/haitian-migrants-turn-toward-brazil">arriving in their country</a>.</p>
<p>My ongoing research with professors Martha Balaguera and Luis van Isschot at the University of Toronto explores how Haitian migrants are treated in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. </p>
<h2>‘Special relationship’</h2>
<p>Brazilian immigration policy is determined by the Conselho Nacional de Imigração (CNIg). In CNIg’s <a href="https://portaldeimigracao.mj.gov.br/pt/atas-de-reunioes">meeting minutes</a>, government officials mention Brazil’s “special relationship” with Haiti (the MINUSTAH operation) as a reason to accept Haitian migrants. </p>
<p>However, they argue that Haitians are not refugees, since they migrated because of the earthquake. They don’t acknowledge Brazil’s contribution to Haiti’s political and economic instability. </p>
<p>Brazilian officials express concern that Haitians will “establish a more permanent Haitian diaspora” in Brazil. This discourse is consistent with Brazil’s longer history of racially biased immigration policy <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X0202900104">that favoured Europeans</a>.</p>
<p>In response, Brazilian officials created a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663917746488">humanitarian visa</a> specifically for Haitian migrants. It provides temporary legal status, but doesn’t come with the same protections from deportation and government resources as asylum.</p>
<p>As the Brazilian economy worsened, many Haitians went north, hoping to get to the U.S. or Canada. Many go through Colombia, via the <a href="https://story.californiasunday.com/darien-gap-migration/">Darien Gap</a>, a dangerous zone that links Colombia to Central America. </p>
<h2>Haitians travel north</h2>
<p>In Colombia, Haitians join other migrants’ routes. This includes Colombians, many of African and Indigenous descent, who were displaced through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12019">land-grabbing</a> by paramilitaries and local elites. Others are from Venezuela, Africa and Asia. </p>
<p>Further north, they join Central American migrants <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-and-biden-ignore-how-the-war-on-drugs-fuels-violence-in-latin-america-148760">escaping violence from the transnational war on drugs</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-and-biden-ignore-how-the-war-on-drugs-fuels-violence-in-latin-america-148760">Trump and Biden ignore how the war on drugs fuels violence in Latin America</a>
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<p>Then they go to Mexico, where the U.S. <a href="https://raco.cat/index.php/AnuarioCIDOBInmigracion/article/view/360980">has outsourced</a> the management of asylum-seekers. </p>
<p>Many give up and <a href="https://www.kpbs.org/news/border-immigration/2018/06/12/tijuanas-little-haiti-stalled-migrants-planting-ro">stay in Tijuana</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A combination photo shows a bridge with many migrants under it and then the bridge after it was cleared of migrants." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467822/original/file-20220608-22-ghttb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467822/original/file-20220608-22-ghttb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467822/original/file-20220608-22-ghttb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467822/original/file-20220608-22-ghttb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=201&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467822/original/file-20220608-22-ghttb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467822/original/file-20220608-22-ghttb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467822/original/file-20220608-22-ghttb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=252&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This photo combination shows an area where migrants, many from Haiti, were encamped along the Del Rio International Bridge in Texas in September 2021, and a photo showing the area after it was cleared off by authorities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In southern Mexico, a kind of <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/164131/tapachula-mexico-immigration-prison-us.">open-air prison</a> was created to contain refugees without the right papers to go north. Those who reach the U.S. are then detained, after which <a href="https://www.wola.org/analysis/a-tragic-milestone-20000th-migrant-deported-to-haiti-since-biden-inauguration/">many get deported</a>.</p>
<p>The 1951 refugee convention was designed to protect people fleeing conditions created by Nazi Germany’s genocidal anti-Jewish racism. But the refugee system fails to prevent the pervasive and often deadly forms of racism that Haitians face. This racism is transnational, and its source are the countries of destination.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183892/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luisa Farah Schwartzman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The UN refugee convention’s first protected category is race. Yet the current refugee system does not protect Haitians from racism and its consequences.Luisa Farah Schwartzman, Associate Professor in Sociology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1813682022-05-12T15:51:56Z2022-05-12T15:51:56ZSettlement services need to improve their online offerings for tech-savvy newcomers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462019/original/file-20220509-22-wt576b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4899%2C2732&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Haitian family poses for a photograph after after taking the oath of citizenship on Parliament Hill in 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Welcoming and including newcomers is increasingly becoming an important part of creating vibrant cities. </p>
<p>Canadian municipalities like <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2021/ec/bgrd/backgroundfile-166820.pdf">Toronto</a>, <a href="https://london.ca/sites/default/files/2020-10/12E%20NewcomerStrategy_Final_LowRes%20Access.pdf">London</a>, <a href="https://www.winnipeg.ca/cms/projects/newcomer_policy/documents/summary_report.pdf">Winnipeg</a> and <a href="http://www.welcometohalton.ca/en/newcomerstrategy/Documents/HNS%20Strategic%20Plan%202017-2020.pdf">Halton Region</a> open their doors to a large number of newcomers.</p>
<p>These communities recognize the importance of digital initiatives like welcome portals, pre-arrival services, web/mobile phone applications and online newcomer guides in creating a welcoming environment. The mobility restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for these online services and has even <a href="https://www.undp.org/blog/digital-opportunities-migrants">spurred digital adoption among migrants themselves</a>.</p>
<p>Settlement agencies, however, still have work to do to ensure they’re offering enough online services to newcomers, including using online channels to communicate with them before they arrive in Canada.</p>
<h2>Digital divide</h2>
<p>Make no mistake — some newcomers may be excluded because of pre-existing inequalities in access to internet services or devices in their home countries. Demographics will determine whether they have access to digital services. </p>
<p>Those include age (<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2016/02/22/internet-access-growing-worldwide-but-remains-higher-in-advanced-economies/">young people use the internet more often than older generations</a>), gender, location (including whether they come from places in their home country with poor internet service or expensive or absent broadband services), household wealth, education levels and migration status (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2020.1781991">some refugees and asylum-seekers depend on internet service and social media platforms to navigate the journey between home and host country</a>). </p>
<p>This is known as the digital divide. For host countries like Canada, unequal access to digital services means another layer of inequality that must also be addressed by settlement services. Failure to do so could further exacerbate what’s known as <a href="https://migrationnetwork.un.org/resources/power-digitalization-age-physical-distancing-disc-digest-4th-edition">digital poverty</a>.</p>
<p>Newcomers who do go online must be skilled enough to navigate various platforms, persistent misinformation and hate speech on social media. </p>
<p>This requires them to obtain vital and accurate information. They can and do. <a href="https://km4s.ca/publication/research-and-recommendations-for-leveraging-technology-to-support-refugee-youth-in-the-middle-east-and-east-africa/">Refugee youth from the Middle East and East Africa, for example, use various platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and Viber before and after coming to Canada</a> to communicate and get information. </p>
<p>Similar examples are found among <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/781389">immigrants from Bangladesh</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1353/ces.2018.0016">refugees from Syria</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0539018412456770">the Tamil diaspora</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/reports-statistics/evaluations/pre-arrival-settlement-services.html">A 2018 report</a> found that newcomers who used pre-arrival settlement services were more informed about where to go to find more information after they arrive, they knew how to get their professional credentials evaluated and they had an overall better understanding of Canadian workplace culture.</p>
<p>They also actively looked for work, while some enrolled in further education to upgrade their skills.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The hands of a person are seen holding a small Canadian flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461640/original/file-20220505-27-7up0wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4368%2C2883&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461640/original/file-20220505-27-7up0wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461640/original/file-20220505-27-7up0wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461640/original/file-20220505-27-7up0wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461640/original/file-20220505-27-7up0wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461640/original/file-20220505-27-7up0wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461640/original/file-20220505-27-7up0wk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A young new Canadian holds a flag as she takes part in a citizenship ceremony on Parliament Hill in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New tech transformation</h2>
<p>Before coming to Canada, migrants often have limited sources of information about life here, relying mostly on their social networks. </p>
<p>Technology allows potential newcomers — with the assistance of friends and family on social media — to make <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12040">informed migration decisions and improve their search for job market information</a>.</p>
<p>Even before the pandemic, <a href="https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/centre-for-immigration-and-settlement/RCIS/publications/workingpapers/2022_2_Monteiro_Stein_Social_media_and_internet_usage_rates_on_employment_outcomes_among_newcomers_in_Canada.pdf">67 per cent of newcomers to Canada were using social media, similar to Canadian-born usage rates (68 per cent)</a>. </p>
<p>Newcomers were mainly using it to <a href="https://thepointer.com/article/2021-04-18/cultivating-success-for-many-newcomers-in-canada-starts-with-learning-english">learn English</a>, get local news, <a href="https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1353/ces.2018.0016">learn about the Canadian culture</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12040">connect with family and friends</a>, find job market information and for further education opportunities.</p>
<p>Nonetheless there can be some negative impacts on newcomer integration due to social media, meaning there’s a role for newcomer settlement service agencies to build greater trust into virtual spaces.</p>
<p>Some platforms can potentially inhibit integration if they limit interactions with local citizens. <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/17476">Chinese immigrants using WeChat, for example, interact a lot more with other Chinese immigrants and much less with Canadian-born citizens</a>. This can delay how newcomers learn about Canadian social practices. </p>
<p>Social media can also create <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444815591967">privacy and security challenges</a> for newcomers that leave them vulnerable to fraud, identity theft and misinformation. </p>
<h2>Searching for settlement services</h2>
<p>Settlement agencies don’t just deliver services to newcomers. They also identify the best possible channels to reach them and provide them with the necessary information to make settlement in Canada a seamless process. </p>
<p>But a <a href="https://acs-metropolis.ca/product/acs-summary-top-level-survey-findings-interim-report/">2021 study</a> found that although newcomers were using the internet for many things, few were using it to look for settlement services. There’s still a gap when it comes to helping newcomers with better targeted online services. </p>
<p>The federal government is <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/partners-service-providers/funding.html">investing in pre-arrival settlement service delivery</a> so that newcomers are prepared for life in Canada. </p>
<p>There are currently <a href="https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/0f249746-7337-4ef7-8ecd-a5f9db4c8b62">147 active settlement program initiatives</a> being funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. These projects are valued at over $250 million, with a goal of finding new ways of delivering services to newcomers. </p>
<p>About 45 per cent of these funds went towards 17 pre-arrival settlement service initiatives that virtually prepare newcomers for life in Canada. The initiatives provide employment-related services, orientation services, needs assessment and referral services. </p>
<p>Pre-arrival initiatives have seen success in <a href="https://accesemployment.ca/programs/pre-arrival-programs/canadian-employment-connections">digital learning</a>, <a href="https://www.buildonbatit.com/en/home">counselling</a> and community-building, including <a href="https://tricitieslip.ca/priorities-and-projects/social-inclusion-of-newcomers/">tackling xenophobia and misinformation</a>, <a href="https://www.canadainfonet.org/">skills training</a> and <a href="https://arriveprepared.ca/">starting an online business</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a white hijab adjusts the settings of her smartphone while capturing an image of a man with dark hair" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461641/original/file-20220505-26-ofur6a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=467%2C0%2C4553%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461641/original/file-20220505-26-ofur6a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461641/original/file-20220505-26-ofur6a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461641/original/file-20220505-26-ofur6a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461641/original/file-20220505-26-ofur6a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461641/original/file-20220505-26-ofur6a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461641/original/file-20220505-26-ofur6a.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman adjusts the settings of her smartphone while capturing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his address to members of the Muslim community in Cambridge, Ont., in April 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter Power</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The initiative taken by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and local governments are in step with the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/SOCSCI7050076">embrace of digital technologies and the internet among newcomer communities</a> and the <a href="https://on360.ca/policy-papers/integrating-newcomers-into-ontarios-economy-a-strategy-for-professionally-skilled-immigrant-success/">demand for more pre-arrival information</a>.</p>
<p>But more must be done to increase awareness among newcomers about the services provided by settlement agencies. </p>
<p>This is an area of focus for the project <a href="https://www.ryerson.ca/cerc-migration/virtual-bridge/virtual-bridge/">Virtual Bridge</a>, which aims to provide research and tools for settlement service agencies to improve their online communications and service delivery. Given the technological aptitude of so many newcomers to Canada, online outreach and services are critical to ensuring their successful resettlement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181368/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stein Monteiro receives funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nevyn Pillai does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Newcomers need settlement services to learn about life in Canada. Settlement agencies need to use online channels and communicate existing online services to help newcomers before they arrive.Stein Monteiro, Senior Research Associate, CERC Migration Program, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityNevyn Pillai, Social Media Analyst, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1817002022-04-28T12:21:09Z2022-04-28T12:21:09ZHow race and religion have always played a role in who gets refuge in the US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460113/original/file-20220427-24-2rper9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=108%2C30%2C3825%2C2626&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ukrainian refugees wait near the U.S. border in Tijuana, Mexico.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXUkraineRefugeesUnitedStates/807624ae5e484861b78de8d838d6d54f/photo?Query=refugees%20U.S.%20border&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1004&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Gregory Bull</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, <a href="https://www.iom.int/news/71-million-people-displaced-war-ukraine-iom-survey">millions</a> of Ukrainians have fled the country as refugees. Hundreds of those refugees have now <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/more-russians-ukrainians-seek-asylum-us-mexico-border-2022-03-04/">arrived</a> at the southern border of the United States seeking asylum, after flying to Mexico on tourist visas.</p>
<p>At the border, Ukrainians, alongside thousands of other asylum seekers, must navigate two policies meant to keep people out. The first is the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/lag.2021.0010">Migrant Protection Protocols</a>,” a U.S. government action initiated by the Trump administration in December 2018 and known informally as “Remain in Mexico.” The second is <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/guide-title-42-expulsions-border">Title 42</a>, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directive crafted in 2020, ostensibly to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The directive expels all irregular immigrants (those without permanent residency or a visa in hand) and asylum seekers who try to enter the U.S. by land.</p>
<p>On March 11, 2022, however, the Biden administration provided <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1glEe8MnsNWR15BsfQtiaSR75yKBrCuqe/view">guidance</a> allowing Customs and Border Protection officers to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-asylum-us-mexico-border/">exempt Ukrainians</a> from Title 42 on a case-by-case basis, which has allowed many families to enter. However, this exception has not been granted to other asylum seekers, no matter what danger they are in. It is possible that the administration may lift Title 42 at the end of May 2022, but that plan has encountered <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/politics/title-42-explainer-cec/index.html">fierce debates</a>.</p>
<p>The different treatment of Ukrainian versus Central American, African, Haitian and other asylum seekers has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/29/us/ukrainians-us-mexico-border-cec/index.html">prompted</a> <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/african-immigrant-advocates-point-double-standard-ukrainians-receive-u-rcna23092">criticism</a> that the administration is enforcing immigration policies in racist ways, favoring white, European, mostly Christian refugees over other groups.</p>
<p>This issue is not new. As scholars of <a href="https://www.unomaha.edu/college-of-arts-and-sciences/religion/about-us/directory/laura-alexander.php">religion</a>, <a href="https://sis.tcu.edu/cres/faculty_staff/luis-romero/">race</a>, <a href="https://www.umary.edu/about/directory/karen-hooge-michalka-phd">immigration</a>, and <a href="https://www.oxy.edu/academics/faculty/jane-hong">racial and religious politics</a> in the United States, we study both historical and current immigration policy. We argue that U.S. refugee and asylum policy has long been racially and religiously discriminatory in practice.</p>
<h2>Chinese asylum seekers</h2>
<p>Race played a major role in who counted as a refugee during the early years of the Cold War. The displacement of millions fleeing communist regimes in <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40068321">Eastern Europe</a> and <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/4499816">East Asia</a> created humanitarian crises in both places.</p>
<p>Under significant international pressure, Congress passed the 1953 Refugee Relief Act. According to historian <a href="https://www.albany.edu/history/faculty/carl-bon-tempo">Carl Bon Tempo</a>, in the minds of President Dwight Eisenhower and most lawmakers, “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691123325/americans-at-the-gate">refugee” meant “anticommunist European</a>.” The text and implementation of the act reflected this. Of the 214,000 visas set aside for refugees, the law designated a quota of only <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691176215/the-good-immigrants">5,000 spots for Asians</a> (2,000 for Chinese and 3,000 for “Far Eastern” refugees). Ultimately, approximately 9,000 Chinese (including 6,862 Chinese wives of U.S. citizens who came as nonquota migrants) were admitted under the 1953 refugee law, compared with nearly 200,000 southern and eastern Europeans, over the next three years. </p>
<p>Racial prejudice impacted the international response to refugees as well. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1995.tb01712.x">United Nations officials</a> had declared the displaced population in Europe a humanitarian crisis and appealed to the international community to relieve these pressures by accepting refugees. Over the next decade, Western nations including the U.S., France and Great Britain received millions of displaced Europeans as part of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2020.1756781">larger Cold War public relations strategy</a> to contain the Soviet Union and demonstrate the <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40068321">superiority of Western capitalist societies</a> to life behind the Iron Curtain. </p>
<p>Millions of ethnic Chinese displaced by the 1949 Communist Revolution <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501700149/the-diplomacy-of-migration/">were not greeted so kindly</a>. In the early 1950s, Hong Kong’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X14000365">population tripled</a> due to mainland Chinese fleeing civil war and communist rule, triggering a crisis. Most Western countries, however, <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393634167">continued to exclude Chinese and other Asians from immigrating</a> and made few exceptions for refugees. </p>
<p>In the United States, exclusionary provisions that barred Asians from immigrating as “aliens ineligible to citizenship” would not be removed from immigration law until the <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469653365/opening-the-gates-to-asia/">1965 Immigration Act</a>.</p>
<h2>Haitian asylum seekers</h2>
<p>The first Haitian asylum seekers, who are overwhelmingly Black, attempted to reach the U.S. in boats <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Immigration-Incorporation-and-Transnationalism/Barkan/p/book/9780765803863">in 1963</a> during the dictatorship of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417519000306">Francois Duvalier</a>. It was a period of great <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421000289">economic inequality</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417519000306">severe violent repression</a> of political opposition in Haiti.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Haitian men walking in a line wearing T-shirts and shorts, next to a ship, while a woman looks on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460123/original/file-20220427-24-4xkqtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Haitian refugees who were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard returning to Port-au-Prince after being repatriated in 1992.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/HaitiRefugeesReturnHome1991/76ffd475da184cc6bb199d94e492741e/photo?Query=haitian%20refugees%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=645&currentItemNo=319">AP Photo/Daniel Morel</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Immigration-Incorporation-and-Transnationalism/Barkan/p/book/9780765803863">Between 1973 and 1991</a>, more than 80,000 Haitians tried to seek asylum in the U.S. The U.S., however, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716294534001006">consistently attempted</a> to intercept and turn back boats carrying Haitian asylum seekers to avoid having to hear their cases.</p>
<p>In the 1980s and 1990s, nearly every single Haitian who tried to request asylum was either <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1229010">denied or turned away</a>. Some disparities between asylum rates could be explained by political factors, particularly the U.S. government’s interest in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24344212">prioritizing</a> refugees from communist countries.</p>
<p>However, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/503/442/1467096/">both</a> <a href="https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914c3a8add7b049347c81bd">found</a>, in Haitian Refugee Center v. Civiletti and Jean v. Nelson respectively, that racial discrimination could be the only reason for such strikingly different outcomes for Haitians. In Jean v. Nelson, the 11th Circuit <a href="https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914c3a8add7b049347c81bd">heard evidence from plaintiffs</a> that there was a less than two-in-1 billion chance that Haitians would be denied parole so consistently if immigration policies were applied in racially neutral ways. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229010">Both courts also noted</a> the differences in outcomes of asylum claims between Cuban refugees, who were predominantly white, and Haitian refugees.</p>
<p>In the same time period, even while Black Haitian asylum seekers were being turned away, European immigrants, who were primarily white, received preference in the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-104/pdf/STATUTE-104-Pg4978.pdf">Diversity Visa system</a> created by the Immigration Act of 1990. Northern Ireland, for example, was <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-104/pdf/STATUTE-104-Pg4978.pdf">designated</a> as a separate country from the United Kingdom, and 40% of “diversity transition” visas allocated during 1992 to 1994 were earmarked for Irish immigrants. </p>
<p>Similar <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/09/21/us-treatment-haitian-migrants-discriminatory">accusations</a> of racism and discriminatory treatment have surfaced over the last several months as Haitian asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border have been <a href="https://www.wola.org/analysis/a-tragic-milestone-20000th-migrant-deported-to-haiti-since-biden-inauguration/">forced onto flights</a> to Haiti and have faced <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/21/1039230310/u-s-border-agents-haiti-migrants-horses-photographer-del-rio">degrading treatment</a>.</p>
<h2>Syrian refugees and the Muslim ban</h2>
<p>Beginning in January 2017, President Donald Trump issued <a href="https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4616&context=wlulr">a series</a> of executive orders described by many refugee advocates as the “Muslim Ban.” The ban <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/us/politics/trump-syrian-refugees.html">suspended the entry of people from majority-Muslim countries</a>, including Syrians, and limited the number of refugee admissions of several majority-Muslim countries.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large group of Syrian refugees waiting at Jordan's border." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460124/original/file-20220427-26-28awrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Few Syrian refugees were allowed into the U.S. In this photo, Syrian refugees wait to be approved to get into Jordan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CongressSyrianRefugees/f792f02ff60c45b8b605d01255eb5fc7/photo?Query=syrian%20refugees%20US%20border&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=366&currentItemNo=140">AP Photo/Raad Adayleh, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Syrian refugees, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/the-us-has-slashed-its-refugee-intake-syrians-fleeing-war-are-most-affected/2019/05/07/f764e57c-678f-11e9-a1b6-b29b90efa879_story.html">most of whom</a> fled the Syrian civil war that began in 2011 and violence by the Islamic State, were specifically targeted in the Muslim Ban. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/02/01/2017-02281/protecting-the-nation-from-foreign-terrorist-entry-into-the-united-states">A February 2017 version</a> of the Muslim Ban claimed that Syrian refugees were “detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend[ed]” from admission, with few exceptions. This contributed to a <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/742553/syrian-refugee-arrivals-us/#:%7E:text=In%20the%20fiscal%20year%20of,Syrian%20refugees%20admitted%2C%20at%2012%2C587">significant decrease in the number of Syrian refugees</a> – from 12,587 to 76 between financial year 2016 to 2018.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920513516022">Research shows</a> that <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479838073/islamophobia-and-racism-in-america/">religion, particularly Islam</a>, is used to create <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240807300103">symbolic boundaries</a> of racial distinction in order to promote <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1349919">immigration enforcement goals</a>. Specifically, the government attempted to justify an exclusionary refugee policy based on race and religion by implicating Muslims and refugees in terrorism, as Trump did in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/07/donald-trump-ban-all-muslims-entering-us-san-bernardino-shooting">speeches</a>, even calling Syrians the “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/16/politics/donald-trump-syrian-refugees/index.html">trojan horse</a>” for terrorism. </p>
<p>International agreements for refugees and asylum seekers <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/3b66c2aa10">clearly state</a> that admissions should be based on need. In principle, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158">U.S. law</a> says this as well. But these key moments in United States history show how race, religion and other factors play a role in determining who is in, and who is out. </p>
<p>While refugees from the war in Ukraine deserve support from the United States and other countries, the contrast between the treatment of different groups of refugees shows that the process of gaining refuge in the United States is still far from equitable.</p>
<p>[<em>Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-explore">Sign up for This Week in Religion.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura E. Alexander receives funding from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) as a Public Fellow.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Hong receives funding from Public Religion Research Institute as a public fellow and from the Louisville Institute as the recipient of a sabbatical grant.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Hooge Michalka receives funding from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) as a Public Fellow and is a board member with Bismarck Global Neighbors.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luis A. Romero receives funding from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) as a Public Fellow. </span></em></p>Four scholars of race, religion and immigration explain how US refugee and asylum policy has long been racially and religiously discriminatory in practice.Laura E. Alexander, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights, University of Nebraska OmahaJane Hong, Associate Professor of History, Occidental CollegeKaren Hooge Michalka, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of MaryLuis A. Romero, Assistant Professor, Texas Christian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1815012022-04-22T13:58:58Z2022-04-22T13:58:58ZHow the UK’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is 21st-century imperialism writ large<p>In announcing his plan to <a href="https://theconversation.com/outsourcing-asylum-seekers-the-case-of-rwanda-and-the-uk-180973">partner with Rwanda</a> to manage migration, Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed, on April 14 2022, that the UK is “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-on-action-to-tackle-illegal-migration-14-april-2022">a beacon of openness and generosity</a>”. He lauded the great British tradition of offering sanctuary to those who seek it through legal routes while outlining how he intends to curb what he termed illegal migration.</p>
<p>Under this new <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abd_ArqW_bM">scheme</a>, people claiming asylum in the UK are to be relocated to Rwanda, where their cases will be processed. If they are granted asylum, they will be encouraged to remain in Rwanda for at least five years. </p>
<p>While the UK government <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/asylum-seekers-rwanda-one-way-ticket-not-get-refugee-status-uk-1575281">has promised</a> smooth operations, it is unclear how asylum seekers relocated from the UK might be accommodated in Rwanda, beyond temporary plans to convert <a href="https://news.sky.com/video/rwanda-inside-hope-guest-house-accommodation-for-uk-channel-migrants-12590080">a former hostel</a> into a detention centre. There is also no sense of what will happen to those who are not granted asylum. </p>
<p>Religious, international and human rights organisations are questioning the legality of this process. However, this attempt to move the immigration process offshore is not unique. It is part of <a href="https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/176073/1/OSI%20009-18%20Offshoring%20asylum%20and%20migration.pdf">a wider strategy</a> deployed by the powerful governments of richer nations, from Australia to the EU, to discourage unwanted arrivals by creating conditions that are hostile or inhumane. </p>
<p>And while they outsource migration management to low-income countries, these richer countries are furthering their own geopolitical interests. Human displacement is becoming a motor for what experts – from Canadian activist and author <a href="https://www.acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/view/1823">Harsha Walia</a> to British political scientist <a href="https://monthlyreview.org/2015/07/01/imperialism-in-the-twenty-first-century/">John Smith</a> – identify as 21st-century imperialism. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6">Migration</a> is not merely a consequence of poverty, inequalities, conflict and environmental crises. It is a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/50781503/Ivekovic_Europe_and_contemporary_migrations">political tool</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Border Force boat pictured returning to Folkestone Harbour, with white cliffs in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459311/original/file-20220422-26-minung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459311/original/file-20220422-26-minung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459311/original/file-20220422-26-minung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459311/original/file-20220422-26-minung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459311/original/file-20220422-26-minung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459311/original/file-20220422-26-minung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459311/original/file-20220422-26-minung.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Rwanda deal is the UK government’s latest strategy to restrict unwanted immigration to Great Britain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/folkestone-kent-united-kingdom-february-24th-1324300796">Susan Pilcher | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Politics of exclusion</h2>
<p>Sending asylum seekers to another country strips them of <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/1951-refugee-convention.html">their right</a>, as afforded by the International Refugee Convention, to have their cases considered in the country in which they have chosen to seek refuge. It denies them agency. It doubles their displacement. And it exposes them to prolonged uncertainty and further risk, namely, Rwanda’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/14/rwanda-human-rights-fears-paul-kagame">worrying</a> human rights record. In 2018, in particular, a dozen refugees were reportedly killed by Rwandan police after protests outside the offices of the UN high commissioner for refugees in Karongi district.</p>
<p>The UK government has said that the scheme will apply mainly to undocumented single men. Its key aim is to tackle the business model of people smuggling. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/TCMirregularmigration.pdf">Research</a> shows, however, that <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2079/1436958842.pdf?1650453096">for the most part</a>, undocumented migrants are fleeing areas affected by conflict, poverty and environmental crises, among other problems. </p>
<p>Comparing the Rwanda deal, then, with the safe haven opened up to Ukrainian refugees in recent weeks, it is clear that <a href="https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/uk-governments-rwanda-asylum-seeker-plan-reeks-of-racial-prejudice-angus-robertson-msp-3658199">UK immigration policy</a> is biased in terms of race, religion and skill-set. </p>
<p>Further, Johnson has called the Rwanda scheme a prototype, suggesting that it could be replicated elsewhere. There are certainly precedents, including Australia’s infamous arrangements with <a href="https://theconversation.com/multibillion-dollar-strategy-with-no-end-in-sight-australias-enduring-offshore-processing-deal-with-nauru-168941">Nauru</a> and with Papua New Guinea to house asylum seekers on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10304312.2018.1468414">Manus Island</a> These so-called processing centres are effectively places of detention. </p>
<p>The EU, meanwhile, is in talks, via its border and coastguard agency <a href="https://frontex.europa.eu">Frontex</a>, with the government of Niger to establish frontier zones on African soil. With the support of the International Organization for Migration, the aim is to keep undocumented people there while their cases are processed. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protestors in Australia hold up signs decrying the government's detention of refugees offshore." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459316/original/file-20220422-15-5iy5vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459316/original/file-20220422-15-5iy5vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459316/original/file-20220422-15-5iy5vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459316/original/file-20220422-15-5iy5vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459316/original/file-20220422-15-5iy5vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459316/original/file-20220422-15-5iy5vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459316/original/file-20220422-15-5iy5vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Precendents for the UK’s Rwanda scheme include the Australian government’s detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sydney-australia-july-20-2019-hundreds-1460462129">Holli | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>21st-century imperialism</h2>
<p>Research shows that plans like these are a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1035304617739759">strategy of empowerment</a> for already powerful nations. They allow them to offload, back to poorer countries, unwanted migrants, especially those who come from outside of Europe. At the same, they give <a href="https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/bisa21/9781526159014/imperialism-and-the-development-mythimperialism-and-the-development-myth/">those richer nations </a> a political and economic <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/45197784">foothold</a> in regions of interest. </p>
<p>When Johnson’s government closed down the Department for International Development in 2020, merging it with the Foreign Office, he effectively did away with international aid. International development was, instead, folded into diplomacy – directed by national and international political strategy. </p>
<p>The UK’s offer of £120 million to kickstart this partnership is attractive for Rwanda precisely because it comes under the aegis of development. The country is ranked 160th out of 189 in the 2021 <a href="https://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/RWA.pdf">Human Development Index</a>, has long been a recipient of <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/913346/Rwanda-Profile.pdf">UK foreign aid</a> and <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.ODA.ALLD.CD?locations=RW">international assistance</a> and already hosts nearly 130,000 refugees, <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/rwanda">90% of whom</a> remain in refugee camps and transit centres. The scheme would help elevate Rwanda’s international profile as an engaged partner in global migration and refugee governance. </p>
<p>For the UK, meanwhile, it represents <a href="https://waronwant.org/resources/new-colonialism-britains-scramble-africas-energy-and-mineral-resources">yet another business interest in Africa</a>. </p>
<p>At the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz43FAea7W0">UK-Africa Investment Summit</a> held in 2020, Johnson emphasised the UK’s ability to “support ventures” and desire to “strengthen partnerships” with Africa. While this growing relationship with the continent is framed in the positive terms of development, the <a href="https://www.waronwant.org/resources/new-colonialism-britains-scramble-africas-energy-and-mineral-resources">question arises</a> about the UK’s larger intent. </p>
<p>As partnerships go, these are fundamentally unequal. They seek to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/3-graphs-that-explain-why-investing-in-africa-is-good-for-uk-firms">fortify</a> the UK’s economy by way of foreign investments that bring back more revenue than the original outlay. Investing in poorer countries overseas is financially beneficial to the UK. It is also part of the UK government’s <a href="https://brexitcentral.com/supporting-overseas-investment-british-companies-can-bring-vast-benefits-uk/">post-Brexit strategy</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/International-Trade-and-Sustainable-Development-Economic-Historical-and/Milward/p/book/9781032085098">Evidence</a> shows that, in the long term, the surplus from such investments inevitably flows back to the richer countries. This perpetuates global <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-44766-6">structural inequalities</a>. It does little to sustain development. </p>
<p>Africa is both struggling to develop amid myriad environmental, social and economic problems and is rich in resources. Not only does Rwanda have a mining industry in tin ore, gold, tungsten ore and methane, it is also home to <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2022/01/20/in-rwanda-kivuwatt-transforms-gas-from-killer-lake-into-electricity/">Lake Kivu</a>, which is enormously rich in gases and a potential source for <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2022/01/20/in-rwanda-kivuwatt-transforms-gas-from-killer-lake-into-electricity/">energy generation</a>. </p>
<p>The Rwanda scheme presents troubling echoes of the UK’s imperial past: the colonial transportation of slaves and indentured workers across continents and seas; the empowerment of the imperial heartland through the violence that accompanied its historical ravages, for which reparation can never be complete. In a repeat of colonial politics, it tasks Africa yet again with working to the UK’s interests for only short-term financial benefits. In the long term, Africa’s needs remain unmet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Parvati Nair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Richer nations are increasingly looking to offshore their immigration processing and further their own economic and political interests at the same time.Parvati Nair, Professor of Hispanic, Cultural and Migration Studies, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1797922022-04-01T13:40:31Z2022-04-01T13:40:31ZUkraine refugees: six practical steps to rise to the challenge<p>Europe is, yet again, <a href="https://cream-migration.org/ukraine-hub.htm">in the midst of a huge immigration wave</a> – and it is likely to dwarf all the previous ones. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, more refugees have crossed the EU’s borders in the first two weeks than during the entire 2015 wave. This development poses huge challenges for the EU and the UK. </p>
<p>How can we best deal with this new human tragedy, and what are the lessons to be learned from previous refugee waves? </p>
<h2>1. Provide arrivals with jobs</h2>
<p>Host nations need to do what they can to integrate refugees into social and economic structures immediately. That means avoiding lengthy asylum procedures and bureaucracy. Red tape often leaves refugees living in limbo after arrival, unable to support themselves.</p>
<p>Instead, arrivals should immediately <a href="https://www.tent.org/resources/refugees-labor-market-access/">be given the opportunity to work</a>. This will not only <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.34.1.94">help the refugees themselves</a>, but will enable them to send support back home to anyone they’ve had to leave behind. Lengthy asylum procedures, uncertainty and exclusion from the labour market have also been shown to be major factors inhibiting refugees’ social integration and <a href="https://voxeu.org/article/scarring-effects-employment-bans-asylum-seekers">their future economic outcomes</a> in previous waves. </p>
<h2>2. Give them the training they need</h2>
<p>Getting a job is certainly the best way to integrate, but people arriving from crisis <a href="https://www.economicsobservatory.com/what-lessons-from-history-for-our-response-to-ukrainian-refugees">may need training and support</a> to get up and running. </p>
<p>Refugees are, by definition, fully unprepared for life in another country because their flight was never planned. The Ukrainian lawyer, doctor or teacher working before the crisis in Kyiv probably had little idea that they would soon end up as a refugee somewhere in Europe. In order to get a job, they need to be provided with the training they need, be that to <a href="https://voxeu.org/article/language-training-and-refugees-success">learn a language</a> or to gain the certifications needed to practice their profession in their host country. The host nation should also make sure that their existing certifications proving their qualifications are recognised quickly and pragmatically. </p>
<h2>3. Let them choose where to live</h2>
<p>Refugees are often given little choice in where they settle but they must be given that freedom. Being able to <a href="https://cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_09_22.pdf">choose where they live</a> is the best way for them to find a job because they can tap into existing networks of Ukrainians. </p>
<p>Previous dispersion policies have often deprived refugees of the advantage of existing ethnic networks and have left them allocated to areas with little economic opportunity, limiting their own prospects and undermining integration into receiving communities.</p>
<h2>4. Plan ahead</h2>
<p>Governments need to be seen to have a clear, coordinated and well communicated plan for dealing with the crisis – immediately and in the longer run. Such a plan should provide a staggered and transparent strategy, with clear longer term commitments. </p>
<p>This is essential not only for the refugees themselves, but also for employers, who will refrain from training refugees <a href="https://academic.oup.com/restud/advance-article/doi/10.1093/restud/rdac003/6527647">if there is uncertainty</a> about how long they will be available.</p>
<p>And if different host nations don’t coordinate their policies on this matter, they may regret it later. Different arrangements across countries will lead to cross-country flows.</p>
<h2>5. Engage local communities to avoid prejudice</h2>
<p>An important lesson from past refugee waves is the need to engage local populations in the immediate and longer-term strategies of support and labour market integration.</p>
<p>National governments should make it possible for more local-level groups to support arrivals – including the people who are going to employ them, work alongside them and provide them with the day-to-day services they will need.</p>
<p>If local populations are engaged in the process of integrating refugees, the experience will challenge any potential misconceptions or prejudices that may emerge.</p>
<h2>6. Acknowledge the potential for a backlash</h2>
<p>It is important to foresee the political fallout of a refugee crisis beyond the immediate stages. In Europe, the wave of empathy towards Syrian refugees in 2015, symbolised by the tragic death of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-look-away-from-aylan-kurdis-image-47069">Kurdish boy who had washed up on a Turkish beach</a>, quickly gave way to hostility after the violence that unfolded on new year’s eve in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35231046">Cologne</a> only a few months later.</p>
<p>Massive migration flows will inevitably create resentment and anxiety, which can be (and has been) exploited opportunistically by radical political movements. The value of openness, transparency and good communication about how refugees are being integrated is significant.</p>
<p>The challenge is huge, but the influx of people from Ukraine is also an opportunity for European nations to show strength and solidarity in the face of human tragedy. Countries along the Ukrainian border that were most sceptical about accommodating refugees during previous crises are this time firmly committed to humanitarian support. For the UK, this crisis provides an opportunity to illustrate that it and the rest of Europe can unite, overcoming their political differences in the interests of effectively responding to a humanitarian crisis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Refugees must be given the chance to work and make a full life for themselves in host countries.Christian Dustmann, Director, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), UCLIan Preston, Professor in the Department of Economics, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1769452022-03-31T12:44:57Z2022-03-31T12:44:57ZAfghan evacuees lack a clear path for resettlement in the U.S., 7 months after Taliban takeover<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455297/original/file-20220330-25-3vwwi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The U.S. has evacuated 84,600 Afghans since August 2021, but many of these people remain in a legal limbo.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/in-this-handout-provided-by-us-central-command-public-affairs-us-air-picture-id1234876758?s=2048x2048">Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen/U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Russia’s war against Ukraine has resulted in more than <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">4 million</a> Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country. </p>
<p>The United States said on March 24, 2022, that it would welcome <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/03/24/remarks-by-president-biden-in-press-conference-7/">100,000 Ukrainian refugees.</a></p>
<p>The Ukrainian refugee situation continues to overshadow another refugee crisis. That crisis stems from the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/30/afghanistan-update-last-us-troops-leave-kabul-ending-evacuation.html">U.S. military’s official withdrawal</a> from Afghanistan in August 2021. </p>
<p>Since the withdrawal, approximately <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2022/02/19/operation-allies-welcome-announces-departure-all-afghan-nationals-us-military-bases">84,600</a> Afghans were evacuated to the U.S. </p>
<p>It is estimated that thousands of Afghans vulnerable to the Taliban have been left behind. </p>
<p>“There are still Afghans being killed by the Taliban because we haven’t gotten them out of the country,” U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/28/some-lawmakers-worry-afghan-refugees-will-be-forgotten/">said on March 28</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VjFPaPEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">a scholar</a> of refugees and post-conflict reconstruction, I believe that the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/17/time-running-out-address-afghanistans-hunger-crisis">deteriorating situation</a> in Afghanistan will continue to result in rising numbers of refugees in the years to come. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Children and adults are seen from a distance in front of beige, white and blue tents, all fenced in" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young Afghan evacuees at a U.S. military base in Germany in October 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/young-evacuees-from-afghanistan-are-playing-and-running-around-at-the-picture-id1345674198?s=2048x2048">Lukas Schulze/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A hasty retreat</h2>
<p>Prior to the U.S. military withdrawal, Afghanistan produced the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/worlds-5-biggest-refugee-crises">second-largest number</a> of refugees in the world, topping <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/afghanistan-emergency.html">2.6 million</a>. The largest refugee crisis comes from 11 years of war in <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/news/syria-refugee-crisis-explained/">Syria</a>.</p>
<p>Following the Soviet Union invasion in 1979, the majority of Afghan refugees have fled to <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/news/20210823-where-do-afghanistans-refugees-go.cfm">Iran and Pakistan</a>. Since then, ongoing civil war and violence as well as the U.S. invasion in 2001 prompted more people to seek refuge in these countries.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/afghanistan-humanitarian-crisis-famine-foreign-aid-taliban">humanitarian needs</a> in Afghanistan now grow, Afghans continue to cross into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/world/asia/afghanistan-migration-refugees.html">these</a> countries. </p>
<p>The U.S. evacuation of Afghan refugees in 2021 was the largest evacuation effort in U.S. history since the 1975 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Newlife-P-J-Ryan/dp/1885372094">Operation New Life</a>, when 110,000 Vietnamese refugees were evacuated to Guam after the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/08/15/saigon-fall-kabul-taliban/">fall of Saigon.</a></p>
<p>President Biden called the Afghan evacuations an <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/08/31/biden-afghanistan-evacuation-extraordinary-success.html">“extraordinary success.”</a> </p>
<p>But there was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/16/1028081817/congressional-reaction-to-bidens-afghanistan-withdrawal-has-been-scathing">bipartisan condemnation</a> in Congress of the hasty nature of the withdrawal and evacuations, which resulted in many Afghans and some American citizens being left behind. </p>
<h2>Refugee system cuts</h2>
<p>In September 2021, the White House requested Congress to authorize <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/09/07/white-house-asks-congress-billions-afghan-resettlement/5758104001/">$6.4 billion</a> and received <a href="https://immigrationforum.org/article/funding-bill-will-help-afghans-resettle-integrate/">$6.3 billion</a> for Afghan resettlement.</p>
<p>But the nine <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/us-resettlement-partners.html">U.S. refugee resettlement agencies</a> designated to welcome and support refugee arrivals have still struggled to assist the large number of Afghans because of limited staff and continued funding shortages.</p>
<p>This is partially because during the Trump administration, there were severe cuts to <a href="https://theworld.org/stories/2019-09-27/us-refugee-agencies-wither-trump-administration-cuts-numbers-historic-lows">the number of refugees allowed in to the U.S.</a> President Donald Trump also cut <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/refugee-organizations-scramble-settle-afghans-years-trump-era/story?id=79812415">budgets for refugee spending.</a> </p>
<p>Afghan evacuees in the U.S. also continue to face legal and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1083029733/afghan-refugees-resettlement-housing-jobs">logistical</a> challenges in their long-term resettlement process. </p>
<h2>Difficult to stay in US</h2>
<p>Typically, the U.S. admits foreigners like Afghans who might fear to return to their home countries <a href="https://www.state.gov/refugee-admissions/">as either refugees</a> or, less often, <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum">asylum recipients</a>. Both of these options allow non-citizens to legally work and live in the U.S., and to eventually gain citizenship. </p>
<p>For Afghan evacuees, the legal pathways to stay permanently in the U.S. are complicated.</p>
<p>Some of the recent Afghan evacuees are recipients of
<a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/evacuations-afghanistan-what-afghan-special-immigrant-visa-siv-program">special immigrant visas</a>. These visas have gone to those who worked closely with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, and give benefits like work permits and a clear pathway to becoming citizens. </p>
<p>The majority of the evacuees, however, received <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/orr/Benefits-for-Afghan-Humanitarian-Parolees.pdf">humanitarian parole</a> - a temporary status given for emergency humanitarian situations. This is valid for up to two years. </p>
<p>On March 16, 2022, the Biden administration also announced that Afghans already living in the U.S. would receive <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/temporary-protected-status-overview">Temporary Protected Status</a>. This gives Afghans legal work permits, but only lasts for 18 months.</p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN11903">estimates</a> 74,500 Afghan nationals could be eligible for this status. </p>
<p>Some Afghan resettlement advocates are pushing for Congress to <a href="https://www.hias.org/sites/default/files/factsheet_afghan_adjustment_act_november_2021.pdf">pass legislation</a> that would allow certain Afghan evacuees to apply for permanent legal status in the U.S.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A U.S. soldier stands in front of a sign that says " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evacuees from Afghanistan wait to board a passenger plane bound for the U.S. at the U.S. military’s Ramstein air base in October 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/evacuees-from-afghanistan-wait-for-boarding-into-a-passenger-plane-picture-id1345660713?s=2048x2048">Lukas Schulze/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Desperate Afghans outside the U.S.</h2>
<p>Back in Afghanistan, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/taliban-afghanistan">Taliban’s takeover</a> has prompted a <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2022/2/15/Afghanistan-crises-hunger-inflation-migration-by-the-numbers">severe humanitarian</a> and <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/afghanistans-economy-collapse-and-chaos">economic crisis</a>. </p>
<p>About <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113982">95% of Afghans</a> are not getting enough to eat, according to the United Nations. </p>
<p>Taliban reprisals against Afghans who worked for the previous government, for the U.S. military, for U.S.-based nonprofit organizations and for democracy and human rights have <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/08/19/taliban-checkpoints-ring-kabul-airport-as-imf-suspends-funds-to-afghanistan">intensified</a> over the last several months.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.wartimeallies.co/_files/ugd/5887eb_6334755bb6f64b009b629f3513a16204.pdf">at least 78,000</a> special immigrant visa applicants who remain stranded in Afghanistan, waiting for their visas to be processed. </p>
<p>Since July 2021, there have also been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/afghan-refugees-humanitarian-parole.html">43,000 Afghans</a> outside of the U.S. who have submitted humanitarian parole applications - <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/us-received-overwhelming-number-of-humanitarian-parole-requests-from-afghans-/6441411.html">which cost $575 each</a> - to enter the U.S. </p>
<p>To date, the U.S. has approved parole for only <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/afghan-refugees-humanitarian-parole.html">170</a> applicants. </p>
<p>The exact number of Afghans who worked in democracy, human rights, journalism, law and education, including former students of the U.S.-government funded <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-university-of-afghanistan-evacuated-but-thousands-still-want-to-leave/">American University of Kabul</a>, who are desperate to flee Taliban rule remains unknown. </p>
<p>For many of these Afghans - some of whom were <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/afghanistan-family-left-behind-resettlement-taliban-evacuation-20211030.html">separated</a> from family during the evacuation process - <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/afghan-refugees-humanitarian-parole.html?smid=tw-share">hopes of resettlement</a> in the U.S. are fading.</p>
<p>In a recent conversation about the challenges facing Afghan evacuees in the U.S., Arash Azizzada, an advocate with the diaspora coalition <a href="https://www.weareafghans.org">Afghans for a Better Tomorrow</a>, explained to me that “There is a sense that the U.S. has abandoned Afghanistan.”</p>
<p>“Afghan-Americans and military veterans have sprung into action to respond to Afghans in crisis. But we can’t do this alone. We need more support to welcome Afghans with dignity,” Azizzada continued. </p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tazreena Sajjad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The U.S. has promised to take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. But there is concern that this could further complicate efforts to welcome and resettle Afghan evacuees.Tazreena Sajjad, Senior Professorial Lecturer of Global Governance, Politics and Security, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1788192022-03-16T14:17:38Z2022-03-16T14:17:38ZIs the welcome to Ukrainian refugees unusually generous — or overtly racist?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451743/original/file-20220313-17-19hvqqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1872%2C1077%2C5480%2C4084&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman holds a child as she arrives with other displaced Ukrainians at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, on Mar. 3, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/is-the-welcome-to-ukrainian-refugees-unusually-generous-—-or-overtly-racist" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing flow of refugees into neighbouring countries has caused some western media to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/27/western-media-coverage-ukraine-russia-invasion-criticism">ask in horror</a> how this could happen to “relatively civilized” people with “blonde hair and blue eyes” looking “like any European family that you would live next door to.”</p>
<p>These comments have <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/cbs-charlie-dagata-backlash-ukraine-civilized/">rightfully been criticized</a> by scholars, activists and other media outlets that have called out the double standards of news organizations and politicians.</p>
<p>Ukrainians throwing Molotov cocktails are <a href="https://twitter.com/JackyKemigisa/status/1497973974659174402">hailed as freedom fighters</a>, but non-white populations experiencing conflict — like Afghans, Syrians and Yemenis — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/civilised-european-look-like-us-racist-coverage-ukraine?fbclid=IwAR1ptWKGV2GCtAMWgFh-epmK0pI2MXq4NlyftJ8Hu4EA6hYEtJrEi7LKkUY">are treated with far less generosity </a> and are frequently labelled as criminals, terrorists or economic migrants abusing generous asylum systems.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1497973974659174402"}"></div></p>
<h2>Racist distinctions</h2>
<p>While this is nothing new, its candour has startled many.</p>
<p>For people like me working in the migration and refugee field, this racist distinction between supposedly civilized and non-civilized populations comes as no surprise, because this logic is deeply ingrained in the migration and refugee policies themselves. </p>
<p>Through layers of border control and other migration laws, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/imre.12288">wealthy states sort people into hierarchies</a>, keeping “unwanted people” in their regions of origin while facilitating mobility for supposedly ideal migrants.</p>
<p>The welcoming of Ukrainian refugees bluntly illustrates this hierarchy. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-canadas-welcome-to-fleeing-ukrainians-a-new-era-of-refugee-policy-178501">Is Canada's welcome to fleeing Ukrainians a new era of refugee policy?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The European Union and countries like Canada and the United States certainly resettle refugees of diverse backgrounds. But they also crack down on those attempting to reach their borders on their own initiative through <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-militarization-of-the-southern-border-is-a-long-standing-american-tradition/">militarized land</a> and <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/deadly-consequences-of-europe-s-border-militarization/">sea borders</a>.</p>
<p>For those who manage to overcome such obstacles, sophisticated safe third-country agreements are in place, including in Canada, as yet another hurdle that bars many from applying for asylum. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/u-s-canada-agreement-on-refugees-is-now-unconstitutional-98227">U.S.-Canada agreement on refugees is now unconstitutional</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Consider the migrant crisis by the Belarus-Polish border last year, when the European Union <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59289998">increased sanctions against Belarus</a> and Poland started building <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/feb/08/in-limbo-refugees-left-on-belarusian-polish-border-eu-frontier-photo-essay">a 353 million euro border wall</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, Canada detained Tamils arriving by boat in 2009 and 2010 with the pretext that they were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdx019">potential terrorists and human smugglers</a>. Ten years later, many of them <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mv-sun-sea-anniversary-1.5685947">were still in limbo</a>. </p>
<h2>Stopping migrants</h2>
<p>As if a border wall and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46355258">police with tear gas</a> aren’t bad enough, the U.S. has been implementing <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/us/politics/us-mexico-honduras-guatemala.html?">agreements with Mexico and some Central American states</a> to ensure that migrants are stopped before they even reach the American border. </p>
<p>Mexico, traditionally a country of emigration, has its own discriminatory laws due to U.S. pressure, but historically <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/indigenous-nationalities-and-the-mestizo-dilemma">also due to its own state-building project with a specific ethnic composition in mind</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-mexico-how-erasing-black-history-fuels-anti-black-racism-175315">In Mexico, how erasing Black history fuels anti-Black racism</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>As wealthy states make it increasingly challenging to enter their territories, they can <a href="https://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law/9780198848639.001.0001/law-9780198848639-chapter-3">cherry-pick who they consider desirable refugees through resettlement programs and other immigration schemes</a>. Those not selected are <a href="https://www.msf.org/escaping-violence-danger-no-way-out-central-american-migrants-mexico">left in difficult situations in transit states</a> or risk their lives in an attempt to reach safety. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451744/original/file-20220313-27-120tish.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men in uniforms stand with a podium and a microphone in front of them and flags behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451744/original/file-20220313-27-120tish.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451744/original/file-20220313-27-120tish.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451744/original/file-20220313-27-120tish.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451744/original/file-20220313-27-120tish.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451744/original/file-20220313-27-120tish.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451744/original/file-20220313-27-120tish.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451744/original/file-20220313-27-120tish.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Manitoba RCMP Superintendent Rob Lasson holds a news conference about four Indian citizens who died while crossing the Canada-U.S. border in January 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This past January, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/28/india-family-froze-to-death-canada-us-border-identified">an Indian family of four died while attempting to cross the U.S.-Canada border</a>, a direct result of harsh migration control.</p>
<p>Some might say the situation can be mitigated by respecting international refugee law. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.</p>
<h2>European refugee bias</h2>
<p>Racial discrimination is recognized as <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">one of the grounds for refugee protection in the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention</a>. However, the convention was itself drafted with a bias towards European refugees, even though <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004437784_005">non-European countries protested this narrow focus</a> and pointed to displaced populations in their own regions. </p>
<p>Although the geographical limitation was lifted in 1967, the definition of a refugee hasn’t been reconsidered and the refugee regime has continued to be particularly difficult for countries of the Global South.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="One Black man leans on another with a concrete fence in front of them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451745/original/file-20220313-28-1c158gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451745/original/file-20220313-28-1c158gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451745/original/file-20220313-28-1c158gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451745/original/file-20220313-28-1c158gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451745/original/file-20220313-28-1c158gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451745/original/file-20220313-28-1c158gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451745/original/file-20220313-28-1c158gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An African migrant helps another as they arrive on Spanish soil after crossing the fences separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco, in Melilla, Spain, in March 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Javier Bernardo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the 1980s and 1990s, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/11.4.350-a">a shift within refugee law and policy created what’s known as the myth of difference</a> by which refugees from the so-called Third World were different than those from Europe. That narrative has served as a pretext to contain refugees near their region of origin. People from the Global South were regarded as economic migrants rather than real refugees, the latter of which were white and anti-Communist. </p>
<p>This bias continues as nations of the Global North — many of which are reluctant to host refugees — are at the vanguard of developing refugee policy and knowledge.</p>
<p>Academic institutions in the Global North are <a href="https://rli.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2020/11/12/how-global-is-the-rsq-a-reflection-on-author-affiliation-and-knowledge-production-in-the-global-forced-migration-academic-discourse/">vastly over-represented</a> in publications about refugees, while international organizations such as the United High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2001.tb00003.x">dependent on northern funding</a>.</p>
<h2>Refugee law is political</h2>
<p>Because international refugee law is developed in such a political context, it isn’t aimed simply at helping refugees — it’s also a tool for states to manage the movement of people.</p>
<p>The result is that <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/in-canada/unhcr-role-resettlement/refugee-resettlement/">less than one per cent of refugees</a> are resettled every year. </p>
<p>Some recent commentators have argued that the Ukrainian refugee crisis has proven that humanitarianism can trump bureaucracy. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/help-for-ukraines-fleeing-refugees-shows-the-power-of-support-when-the-political-will-is-there-178207">Help for Ukraine's fleeing refugees shows the power of support when the political will is there</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukrainian-refugees-are-welcomed-with-open-arms-not-so-with-people-fleeing-other-war-torn-countries-178491">the current response</a> is evidence of the enormous capacity to host refugees, it also reveals selective generosity based on the idea that some refugees are more deserving than others.</p>
<p>Ukrainians fleeing should of course have the possibility to seek safety. But so should all refugees. Unfortunately, the existing legal infrastructure itself contributes to vastly unequal outcomes for people fleeing conflict depending on the colour of their skin and their country of origin.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178819/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Veronica Øverlid is a PhD candidate in Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University and a 2020 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar</span></em></p>Wealthy states sort people into hierarchies, keeping ‘unwanted people’ in their regions of origin while facilitating mobility for supposedly ideal migrants.Veronica Øverlid, PhD Candidate in Law and Legal Studies, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1723612021-12-03T13:41:10Z2021-12-03T13:41:10ZChurches aren’t helping asylum seekers ‘game’ the immigration system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434786/original/file-20211130-17-13xpgcp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=125%2C89%2C5865%2C3907&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-people-holding-hands-praying-worship-709782334">Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In November, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-59308938">Emad al Swealmeen</a> triggered a bomb outside the Liverpool Women’s Hospital. When it became known that Al Swealmeen was an asylum seeker who had converted to Christianity, it was reported that the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/terror-threat-level-raised-to-severe-after-liverpool-explosion-p8r6vcm20">Home Office</a> had accused churches of converting asylum seekers to Christianity in order to “game” the asylum system.</p>
<p>In my ongoing <a href="https://christianity-on-trial.com/">research</a>, I explore what counts as a credible conversion to Christianity in asylum processes in Germany and the UK. I have found that in reality, churches and clergy have a very limited role in the asylum process. Rather, it is the role of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-43555766">asylum decision-makers</a> (who work for authorities like the Home Office in the UK) to <a href="https://www.academia.edu/62825545/_What_is_truth_Negotiating_Christian_Convert_Asylum_Seekers_Credibility">assess</a> applications on the basis of conversion to Christianity.</p>
<p>I have analysed dozens of asylum decisions of converts to Christianity and case law and observed 32 appeal hearings. I have also conducted 38 formal interviews with judges, asylum applicants, lawyers, pastors and translators as well as many more informal conversations. </p>
<p>The UK and Germany are party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which (among other things) grants protection to those who would face religious persecution if they returned to their country of origin. Many Muslim asylum seekers who have converted to Christianity would face religious persecution in their home countries. </p>
<p>Assessing an asylum claim based on conversion therefore involves determining what risks an applicant would face on the basis of their faith if they were sent back to their home country. To do this, caseworkers and judges must be convinced that the applicant’s conversion is genuine.</p>
<p>Authorities in a secular state need to assess what beliefs a genuine convert would need to hold, and what practices are essential for a “true Christian”. However, religious conversion is personal and can differ from one person to another. Given that asylum seekers often <a href="https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1647&context=facpub">rely on their word alone</a> to prove their asylum claim, this is a challenging process. </p>
<p>While I have found that assessments can vary from one case to another, converts usually must be baptised and need to demonstrate that they know the “basics” about Christianity. These basics vary, but can include knowledge of Christian festivals, the Bible, prayers or the creed. Applicants may be asked to name a favourite Bible passage to show that the Bible means something to them personally. They must also be able to explain why they converted specifically to Christianity and what triggered their conversion. Importantly, they must show that it is important for their identity to live out their faith openly, for example by proselytising.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.academia.edu/62825545/_What_is_truth_Negotiating_Christian_Convert_Asylum_Seekers_Credibility">research</a> has shown that asylum decision-makers may be influenced by their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8p-rwzwwhvo&feature=youtu.be">culture</a> and socialisation in how they assess these narratives. For example, they may favour a rational and critical engagement with religion rather than supernatural or emotional reasons for conversion. They may also have a particular idea of what Christianity is and may expect answers more typical of liturgical traditions of Christianity, rather than free evangelical traditions.</p>
<h2>The church’s role</h2>
<p>Churches follow their moral mandate to welcome often destitute asylum seekers. Following the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Germany in 2015, many clergy reported in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=8p-rwzwwhvo&feature=youtu.be">interviews</a> that they were surprised by the interest in Christianity. They described how they scrambled to find translators to help those interested in Christianity to understand the church services. </p>
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<img alt="Ornate pulpit in the cathedral alongside which is a large banner hanging from a column in the name of Jesus of Nazareth proclaiming church support for refugees" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435037/original/file-20211201-23-1k6o7an.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435037/original/file-20211201-23-1k6o7an.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435037/original/file-20211201-23-1k6o7an.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435037/original/file-20211201-23-1k6o7an.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435037/original/file-20211201-23-1k6o7an.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435037/original/file-20211201-23-1k6o7an.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/435037/original/file-20211201-23-1k6o7an.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A sign at Worcester Cathedral proclaiming support for refugees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/winchester-england-june-ornate-pulpit-cathedral-1329812714">RogerMechan / Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>If asylum seekers ask for baptism, churches usually offer baptism training and courses about Christianity. Most pastors I interviewed were discerning about who they baptised, and often required a convert to be involved in their church for some time to test their commitment to Christianity. Sometimes a supposed “strategic” conversion turns into a genuine interest in Christianity over time. I observed a number of appeal hearings which happened many years after the initial asylum decision during which an applicant could demonstrate such a faith journey. </p>
<p>Pastors can write letters of support for an asylum application, or accompany a convert to their asylum hearings. However, the final decision regarding the credibility of an asylum seeker’s conversion lies with caseworkers or with judges in appeal hearings. </p>
<p>Determining the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/62825545/_What_is_truth_Negotiating_Christian_Convert_Asylum_Seekers_Credibility">credibility</a> of a conversion is an extremely difficult process, with potentially severe consequences for applicants if done wrong. For example, Iranians (who make up a <a href="https://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/DE/Behoerde/Informationszentrum/Entscheiderbrief/2019/entscheiderbrief-10-2019.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4">large portion</a> of conversion-based asylum applicants in Germany and the UK) are <a href="https://www.refworld.org/cases,GBR_UTIAC,5e53bc644.html">questioned</a> when they return to their country. They have to sign a document to renounce their conversion to Christianity. If they had previous problems with the Iranian security services, know someone who does, or have attended an underground church in Iran, they could still be persecuted by the state. </p>
<p>My research suggests that the assumption that churches baptise asylum seekers to help with their asylum process is largely false. Most churches are rigorous in discerning who is ready for baptism. Eventually, it is decision-makers of the state who must decide whether a conversion is genuine or not. They would do well to draw more on the expert evidence of clergy who know the asylum applicant and can comment on their religious life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lena Rose receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>Pastors have a limited role in asylum processes of Christian converts.Lena Rose, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.