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July 2005 Volume 12 Number 3
DHS: Enforcement, Asylum The 10.3 million unauthorized foreigners in the US reported in the March 2004 Current Population Survey were almost four percent of the 293 million
Congress: Real ID, Guest Workers The Real ID Act of 2005, which would establish national standards for drivers licenses, was signed into law in May 2005. Under Real ID, states must
States, Census, Health California/Los Angeles. California added 539,000 residents in 2004, bringing its population to 36.8 million. Immigration is slowing, and so is
Labor, H-Visas, Mobility In April 2005, the US added 274,000 jobs, keeping the unemployment rate at 5.2 percent as the economy created almost 10,000 net new jobs a day. In
Mexico: Legalization, Brazilians, Economy Mexican President Fox continues to campaign to improve the rights of Mexicans in the US, but his efforts sometimes boomerang. In May 2005, while
Canada: Brain Waste Brain Waste. Canada uses a point system to select immigrants likely to contribute economically to Canada, ensuring that most newcomers are young,
Latin America: Remittances, Cafta Latin American nations received $46 billion of the $100 billion in remittances to developing countries in 2004, including $16.6 billion to Mexico;
China, Hong Kong China is rapidly urbanizing, in part because urban incomes are higher than rural incomes. In 1980, about 80 percent of Chinese residents lived in
Japan, Korea Japan's population is projected to peak in 2006 and then begin to decline, but there are no plans to open the country to large-scale immigration.
Southeast Asia Thailand. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra promised on May 1, 2005 that the government would better regulate the 1.3 million migrants from
South Asia India sends millions of unskilled and semi-skilled migrants to Gulf oil exporters. The migrants are better educated than most Indians: 80 percent of
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EU 10-Migrants, Services, Seasonals There were fears that, if nationals of the EU-10 countries that joined on May 1, 2004 had freedom of movement rights upon accession, some 355,000
Germany: Services, Migrants The Social Democratic Party lost elections in Germany's largest state, North Rhine-Westphalia, in May 2005, prompting Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to
UK, Ireland Britons went to the polls on May 5, 2005 and re-elected the ruling Labor Party of Prime Minister Tony Blair to a third successive term; Labor ended
France, Italy, Benelux A mid-April 2005 fire in a Paris hotel left 24 asylum seekers dead and highlighted the growing number of asylum applicants, some 65,600 in 2004, and
Spain: Legalization Some 3.7 million foreigners were 8.4 percent of Spain's 44 million residents in 2004, when 650,000 immigrants arrived. The foreigners include
Eastern Europe, Turkey The Czech Republic and most other Eastern European countries have "special schools" for the mentally disabled; 90 percent of those enrolled in
Australia, New Zealand Australia in mid-April 2005 announced plans to accept 140,000 immigrants in 2005-06, up 20,000 from 2004-05, an almost doubling since the late 1990s.
South Africa, Other Africa South Africa enacted an Immigration Act in April 2002 and amended it in October 2004 in a context of growing xenophobia and the existence of
Global Trends Former Portuguese prime minister (1995-01) Ant¢nio Guterres was named UN high commissioner for refugees in May 2005. Guterres has been the head of
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