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April 2004 Volume 11 Number 2
Bush and Guest Workers President Bush's proposal to allow US employers to legalize their unauthorized workers, and to easily obtain additional foreign workers, generated
Border, Services The US government continues to step up controls on the Arizona-Mexico border, the scene of increased migrant smuggling and violence. The Border
Census, Welfare, California, New York City The US Census Bureau released new projections that foresee the number of US residents rising from 282 million in 2000 to 420 million in 2050. In
Labor: Outsourcing H-1B, L-1 The US had an eight-month recession between March and November 2001, but there has been little employment growth despite resumed economic growth.
Labor: H-1B, H-2B, L-1 There is an annual limit of 65,000 H-1B visas (those issued to foreigners on behalf of universities and nonprofit organizations are exempt), and it
Mexico: Returns, Politics, Death Row In February 2004, Mexico and the US agreed that Mexicans apprehended in the US just inside the border could volunteer to be returned to their
Latin America The Inter-American Development Bank reported that remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean totaled $38 billion in 2003, up from $32 billion in
China: Migrants, Agriculture China is a fragmented society, with a gulf between inland agricultural provinces and coastal provinces that produce manufactured goods for export. A
Japan, Korea Japan achieved its goal of raising the number of foreign students from 10,000 in 1983 to 100,000 in 2003- there were 109,508 in 2003, up from 10,428
Thailand: New Migrant Policies Thailand is decentralizing its guest worker policies. As migrants moved into Thailand from its poorer neighbors, Burma, Cambodia and Laos, the
Indonesia, Philippines, India Indonesia sent 480,393 migrants abroad via legal channels in 2003. The government is under pressure to do more to protect Indonesian women who
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EU: Enlargement, Asylum Enlargement. The EU will grow from 15 to 25 countries on May 1, 2004, as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia,
Germany: Labor The number of ethnic Germans born abroad who moved to Germany dropped from 90,000 in 2002 to 72,000 in 2003. Ethnic German arrivals peaked at
Austria, Slovak Republic Austria is a country of 8.1 million with a $24,000 per capita GDP; the Slovak Republic has 5.4 million residents and a $4,000 per capita GDP. After
UK: Gangmasters, Ireland To prevent "benefits abuse," the UK announced that Eastern Europeans would not need work permits to seek employment in the UK after May 1, 2004, but
France, Benelux, Scandinavia The French National Assembly voted 494-36 (with 31 abstentions) to ban head scarves in public schools in February 2004, implementing a recommendation
Spain, Italy Spain. Some 202 people were killed and 1,700 wounded in March 2004 when suspected Islamic terrorists- Moroccans living in Spain- detonated a series
Russia, Moldova President Vladimir Putin in January 2004 said that Russia "is in need of inflow of migrants [but] order should be established" in managing migration.
Australia, New Zealand, Oceania The Australian government announced that it will increase the number of skilled migrants by 5,000 and create an additional 1,000 spots for doctors
Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iraq Saudi Arabia continues to plan for a future with fewer foreigners, currently seven million or a third of residents; the goal is to reduce their
Africa Libya. During the 1990s, in the name of African unity, Libya opened its borders to thousands of sub-Saharan African workers. Resentment against the
Huntington on Immigration Harvard political scientist Samuel P. Huntington in the 1990s developed a "clash of civilizations" theory under which future international conflicts
Global Trends There are an estimated 80 million migrant workers (derived by applying labor force participation rates to UN estimates of migrants by country),
ILO Commission on Migrants The ILO's World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization (http://www.ilo.org) released its report in February 2004, "A Fair Globalization:
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