Friday news and blog roundup
Jess Engebretson, at our sister project, War News Radio, reports on how internally displaced persons in Iraq are wondering where they should vote in the January provincial elections.
An official from UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, says that the world financial crisis may force more refugees to leave home and reduce host countries’ willingness and capability of taking them in.
The Houston Chronicle profiles Arizona governor Janet Napolitano, who is likely to be President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for the head of the Department of Homeland Security. She supports a fence along the US-Mexico border, guest worker programs, and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country.
Immigration Talk with a Mexican American blogs about the sharp decrease in the number of Mexicans emigrating from Mexico. The declining US economy and increased immigration enforcement may be the major factors in this decrease.
The Republican Party is reconsidering its stance on immigration, according to the Arizona Capitol Times. The party is divided over how much to change its message to appeal to Hispanics, the fastest growing ethnic group in the population.
The New York Daily News features a 13-year-old boy who was separated from his mother during the Postville immigration raid in May. According to the Chicago Tribune, 389 illegal immigrants were arrested during the raid, which was the “largest single-site immigration raid in US history.”
A recent poll conducted by Zogby International of Catholics shows that American Catholics are in favor of increased immigration reform. Many of these Catholics believe that a “pathway to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants is the best way to go about improving immigration policies in the United States.
Citizen Orange blogs about the anti-immigration, pro-environment ads sponsored by the Federation for American Immigration Reform. The ads link population growth through immigration to environmental destruction.
According to Reuters, the number of illegal immigrants entering Greece has almost tripled. They live in squalid conditions and have no access to medical care.
The British government’s latest immigration figures show “a complex picture of people coming and going,” according to the BBC. Both the number of immigrants and emigrants fell between 2006 to 2007.
