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Norway. Norwegians on September 14, 2009 re-elected the ruling Labor-led coalition government. The Progress Party, which wants to reduce immigration and expel foreign criminals, received 23 percent of the vote, down from 30 percent support in pre-election opinion polls.

About nine percent of the 4.7 million residents of Norway in 2008 were immigrants (380,000) or the children of immigrants (80,000); they are about a quarter of the 560,000 residents of Oslo, and half the population in some suburbs. Net immigration was over 40,000 a year in 2007 and 2008, including about 20,000 from Africa and Asia? the leading non-European countries of origin are Pakistan, Iraq and Somalia.

Immigrants are less likely to be employed than Norwegians, 63 percent compared to 72 percent in 2007. Among immigrants, only half of those from Africa and Asia are employed, in part because relatively few women from these regions work, for instance, 31 percent of women with a Pakistani background work in Norway, compared to 68 percent of Norwegian women. Unemployment rates for African and Asian immigrants are far higher than for Norwegians.

Most of the immigrants from Africa and Asia are Muslim, and questions about the integration of up to 150,000 Muslims has generated tensions that bolstered the Progress Party. There are disputes about women wearing veils in schools and public institutions and swim classes.

Denmark. On August 12, 2009, police attempting to forcibly remove 20 Iraqi men from Brorson Church who had been denied asylum were initially blocked by activists. Eventually, 19 men were arrested as well as some of their Danish supporters; most of the rejected asylum seekers were returned to Iraq.

In 2008, 300 of 652 Iraqi asylum applicants were granted refugee status and allowed to settle in Denmark.

Russia. In order to crack down on smuggling, authorities on June 29, 2009 closed the 740-acre Cherkizovsky market that employed thousands of migrants selling goods imported from China and elsewhere. The Cherkizovsky market included a Tajik consulate to serve the estimated 18,000 Tajik migrants who acted as porters.

There was speculation that Cherkizovsky, owned by Telman Ismailov, an Azeri-born businessman, was closed on orders of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Ismailov is building a $1.4 billion luxury hotel in Turkey, and is an ally of Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov.

NGOs say that 100,000 migrants from China, Vietnam, Afghanistan and former Soviet states were employed at Cherkizovsky; the Russian government says that there were 3,000 migrant traders. Police are not allowing migrant traders to reclaim their goods unless they can prove the goods were imported legally.

Andrew E. Kramer, "Huge Profits Spell Doom for a 400-Acre Market," New York Times, July 28, 2009.