Tag: migration

Italy Senate passes government’s anti-migrant decree

  ROME, Italy (AFP) — The Italian Senate on Wednesday cleared the way for far-right leader Matteo Salvini’s tough anti-migrant and security decree to become law following a confidence vote. The populist government of Salvini’s League and Luigi Di Maio’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) won the vote with 163 senators for, 59 against and 19 abstentions, including five M5S members opposed to the stringent decree. The lower house of parliament now has until the […]

Canada planning to increase expulsions of illegal immigrants: report

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Faced with an influx of asylum seekers from the United States, Canada is planning to substantially step up deportations of illegal migrants, Canada’s public broadcaster reported Wednesday. A leaked email from a senior Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) official to staff, cited by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the goal is to deport some 10,000 persons a year, as much as a 35 percent increase over recent years. CBSA enforcement director Brad […]

Venezuelans in Peru take up Maduro’s offer to fly home

  by Carlos Mandujano Agence France-Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Nearly 100 migrants on Monday took up an offer by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to fly them home from Lima, citing xenophobia against Venezuelans and difficulties in getting work. The move is part of the socialist government’s “Return to the Homeland” scheme to counter a mass exodus and woo back young Venezuelans to work in the crisis-torn country. Ninety-seven migrants — including 22 children and four […]

Ecuador tightens entry requirements for Venezuelans

  QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Ecuador announced Thursday it was tightening entry requirements for Venezuelans to help deal with a wave of immigration from the crisis-torn country. Interior Minister Mauro Toscanini said Venezuelans entering the country will be required to present passports from Saturday. Up to now, Venezuelan nationals only had to present ID cards at the border, where they received a letter that allowed them to circulate freely in Ecuador. The move is part of […]

Honduras identifies 313 children separated from families in US

  TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — A total of 313 Honduran children separated from their parents as a result of the United States’ “zero tolerance” immigration police have been identified by Honduran consular staff, an official said Thursday. Liza Medrano, Honduras’ director of migrant protection, told a news conference that the country’s consular officials in the United States visited shelters in search of children after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered the reunification of separated families. “We […]

Yemeni asylum-seekers spark backlash in South Korea

JEJU, South Korea (AFP) – A few hundred asylum-seekers from Yemen have sparked an unprecedented wave of xenophobia in ethnically homogenous South Korea, echoing the anti-immigrant sentiment that has swept Europe and helped propel Donald Trump to the White House. More than a million migrants arrived in Germany after its borders were opened in 2015 to asylum-seekers — many fleeing war — which deeply divided the country and its neighbours. And the United States, by […]

Temer, Pence discuss Venezuela, Brazilian kids separated at US border

  by Yanina Olivera © Agence France-Presse BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian President Michel Temer and US Vice President Mike Pence discussed Tuesday the fate of Brazilian children stranded at America’s southern border and Venezuela’s deepening crisis. “I pointed out that our government is ready to help transport Brazilian children back to Brazil, if that is the wish of their families, the authorities of both countries will continue to be in touch with this issue,” Temer […]

Should I stay or go? Birds migrate to save energy: study

by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Why have some birds opted for a taxing life of constant migration — seeking out temperate climes to feed as winter arrives, only to return months later to breed? Seemingly paradoxically, the behavior is driven by a quest for energy efficiency, a study said Monday. Migrating birds, researchers found, gain more energy from whatever is on the destination menu than they expend getting there […]

Honduras regrets loss of US protection status for its nationals

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — Honduras expressed regret Friday that around 60,000 of its citizens living and working in the United States are losing special protection status under tougher migration changes brought in by President Donald Trump. The US Department of Homeland Security announced in a statement that it was ending the so-called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Hondurans, but giving 18 months’ time, to January 5, 2020, “to allow for an orderly transition.” Trump’s government […]

The bitter smiles of Central American migrants in Mexico

MEXICO (AFP) — Their lips often curve into a tentative smile as they face the camera, but the Central American migrants crossing Mexico toward the United States have little reason to be happy. The migrant caravan’s trek triggered the fury of US President Donald Trump, who demanded the Mexican government stop them and ordered thousands of National Guard troops to reinforce the border. Holding the few things they brought with them on their journey — […]

Protest in Madrid after street vendor’s death sparks clashes

by Laurence BOUTREUX Agence France-Presse MADRID, Spain – More than a thousand protesters took to the streets in central Madrid on Friday as tensions remained high a day after violent clashes over the controversial death of a Senegalese street vendor. The protesters gathered in a square in the Lavapies district of the Spanish capital in the early evening, many of them young, dressed in black and wearing bandanas. Some shouted “kill police”, an AFP journalist […]

Abuse or unemployment: stark choice for many Philippine domestics

  by Mynardo Macaraig Agence France Presse MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — After the murder of a Philippine maid in Kuwait, domestic helpers are streaming back to Manila with tales of abusive employers — but many are still prepared to take their chances overseas again. For them, the sometimes brutal conditions and the hide-and-seek with Kuwaiti police are outweighed by the need to provide for their families at home. “The mother of my boss, she would […]