A weblog about the business of immigrant work: employment, compensation, legal protections, education, mobility, and public policy.
Democrats and Republicans largely thought alike about immigration until after around 2010. A widening gap grew not only over immigration, but also over other issues such as over race and racial justice. Democrats have moved much more left since about 2010.
From an article in Vox
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees interviewed, in January 2019, 409 persons on the Mexico-Guatemala border, next to the international bridge, in Chiapas. 75% were from Honduras; 13% from Guatemala; 9% from El Salvador and 3% from Nicaragua. A third had arrived at the border in large caravans.
63% said they left their country due to being a victim of violence, or out of fear of violence. 70% said that to return to their country would expose them to risks, including risk of death.
Only 7% said that they had sought asylum in Mexico. Among the reasons for not seeking asylum in Mexico were misleading information or lack of knowledge; that the process was long; and that they were seeking to enter the U.S.
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The interviews revealed that 46% preferred to resettle in Mexico, while 30% wanted to go elsewhere, principally the U.S.
The majority of persons interviewed were member of a family group. A third were women and 31% were children. 9% of children were traveling without a parent or legal guardian.
From here.
An expanded scope of the Dreamer (DACA) executive order by President Obama would result in slightly over two million individuals to be protected. Sixty percent live in five states.
On average, they arrived in the U.S. at age 8, in about 2000. This indicates that on average they are about 27 years old now, well past formal education and at work. Their households total about seven million people.
From here.
About 200,000 Mexicans were deported from the U.S. in 2018. This is much lower than the 600,000 deported in 2009 but it has been roughly at the same level since 2014. What do they face when returning?
Reception services for people deported from the United States have significantly improved since 2014. But most returnees still face three obstacles: lack of identification documents upon return, difficulty getting education credentials recognized, and difficulty fulfilling the requirements to enroll in existing government programs.
Mexico’s National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migración, INM) receives deportees at one of 11 reception centers along the U.S.-Mexico border through its “We Are Mexican” (Somos Mexicanos) program. At these reception centers, people receive orientation, food, hygiene kits, medical attention, subsidized transportation assistance, referrals to local shelters, and certificates of repatriation (constancia de repatriación) that can in theory be used as a temporary form of identification to access some public services. In practice, the repatriation document is not recognized by most private or public institutions, effectively excluding returnees from many services during their first weeks back.
Employment in the formal sector in Mexico usually requires skill certifications that many returnees have difficulty obtaining. For those who wish to continue their education, revalidation of studies can take months or years.
Returnees cannot easily enroll in Mexico’s social programs, since most were not designed to consider Mexican citizens who have spent most of their lives abroad. Returnees do not meet requirements such as proof of residence (comprobante de domicilio) to register in federal health, education, and financial programs. Some jurisdictions have started adapting their programs to include this population. For instance, in 2017, Mexico City began to accept consular ID cards (matriculas consulares) and constancias de repatriación in lieu of proof of residence to qualify for unemployment benefits.
From here.
The other day I posted about the expiration on March 31 of special protected status for Liberians who had received this status in 2002 on account of civil war in that country.
The White House announced that it will extend protection for Liberians living in the United States. It will be extended through March 30, 2020.
From here.