Migration & Refugees

U.S.: Tough Laws Just One Peril for Day Labourers

By Valeria Fernández
Ovidio Perez's brother was planning to return to Guatemala because of a new Arizona law that made it a state crime to be an undocumented immigrant. He returned, but in a coffin.

FILM: Music for a New Abolitionist Movement

By IPS Correspondents
Musician Justin Dillon had been reading about human trafficking before he went on tour to Eastern Europe. In Russia, his young female translator told him about offers she was receiving to move west for jobs that seemed too good to be true - and with no paperwork to back them up.
Gaston Dorelus sells ice cream on a stick to local children. Credit: Jon Anderson/IPS

Haitian Immigrant Street Peddlers Try to Get a Leg Up

By Jon Anderson
Gaston Dorelus has little education, no vocational training, no extrinsic qualifications to make his way through life any easier.

MIGRATION-ECUADOR: Cubans Turn to Marriages of Convenience for Citizenship – Part 2

By Gonzalo Ortiz
Cuban nationals can be found every day at the busy corner of Amazonas and Naciones Unidas avenues in the Ecuadorean capital, where the National Civil Registry Office is located.

MIGRATION-ECUADOR: Cubans Find Door Half Open – Part 1

By Gonzalo Ortiz
Carlos sold his house, Juana got a divorce so she could remarry and obtain resident status, and Pedro bought a "letter of invitation" with 10 years of savings... These sorts of stories are common amongst Cubans anxious to make a new life in Ecuador.

US: Court Blocks Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Law

By Jim Lobe
In a legal victory for the administration of President Barack Obama, a federal court Wednesday temporarily blocked the implementation of key provisions of a controversial Arizona immigration law that was to take effect Thursday.
Immigrant football teams playing at the Primeiro de Dezembro Stadium, in Sintra, Portugal. Credit: Katalin Muharay/IPS

MIGRATION-PORTUGAL: On the Football Pitch, Everyone Is Equal

By Mario de Queiroz
Football functions on so many levels. It can be big business, moving astronomical quantities of cash, with obscene salaries for owners, coaches and star players. And it can be a widely played sport, found in every park, street or vacant lot. And it can be the common ground for multicultural coexistence.

Brazilian Immigrants Weather Crisis in Spain

By Clarinha Glock
Unlike so many immigrants who have come to Spain in search of jobs and a better standard of living, 39-year-old Flávio José Carvalho da Silva moved to this northeastern Spanish city from his home country of Brazil because he fell in love with a local woman.

Mentally Ill Adrift in U.S. Immigration System

By IPS Correspondents
Mentally disabled legal permanent residents of the United States and asylum seekers face indefinite detention, erroneous deportation, and unfair hearings in U.S. courts, according to a new joint report from two leading human rights organisations.

BULGARIA: Refuge Can Get Worse Than Rejection

By Claudia Ciobanu
A protest to close down Busmantsi, a detention centre for undocumented migrants in Sofia, highlighted the obstacles faced by refugees and asylum- seekers in Bulgaria.

Big Tobacco Profits from Kazakh Child Labour, Report Says

By IPS Correspondents
Hoping for better opportunities than they can find at home, many families from Kyrgyzstan travel to find work. Neighbouring Kazakhstan has the strongest economy in Central Asia, and tobacco farms attract workers fleeing Kyrgyzstan's high unemployment.

Justice Dept Draws a Line in Arizona’s Sand

By IPS Correspondents
While civil rights and Hispanic advocates are applauding the Justice Department's decision to sue the state of Arizona over its new "may I see your papers please?" anti-immigrant law, solid majorities of Arizona citizens are telling a variety of polling organisations that they approve of the legislation.

Swiss Knives Out for Migrants

By Ray Smith
The disputed 'black sheep' placards may soon return to Swiss streets. The country's Federal Council and parliament have validated a right-wing initiative calling for the automatic deportation of criminal foreigners.

Slavery Casts a Long Shadow

By Hannah Rubenstein
Ayana rises before the sun. She bathes, dresses, and leaves the house before her daughters awake.

Anti-Immigrant State Laws Could Multiply, Obama Warns

By Eli Clifton
U.S. President Barack Obama criticised "ill conceived" immigration laws in Arizona and called on Republicans to end their opposition to immigration reform and pass bipartisan immigration reform in speech delivered Thursday morning.

Iranian Diaspora Struggles to Find Unified Voice

By Barbara Slavin
Iranians should be forgiven for not coming out en masse to demonstrate on the anniversary of their disputed presidential elections.

MALAYSIA: Thousands of Refugees Living in Constant Fear of Arrest

By Baradan Kuppusamy
As Rajoo, 27, makes tea at a rundown shed in Brickfields, a depressed suburb of the capital inhabited by hundreds of Tamil immigrants from Sri Lanka, he evinces no sign of anxiety and a deep yearning for something.
A solar-powered desalination plant has sparked hope for clean water among the residents of Jat Mohammad village in Pakistan. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

PAKISTAN: Water Trickles Back into Village, Thanks to Solar Desalination

By Zofeen Ebrahim
Ismail Achar never thought a day would come when his island village would be reduced to a barren tract of land with hardly a drop of water to drink.

LITERATURE-CUBA: ‘Forbidden Stories’ by Sonia Rivera-Valdes

By Dalia Acosta
Lázara wakes up every morning in her home in New York, has a cup of coffee and, with the same passion with which she takes a stand for or against every cause, she turns on the radio, hoping to hear the news that she has been waiting for most of her life: the demise of former Cuban president Fidel Castro.
Immigrant rights activists gather at the USSF. Credit: Valeria Fernández/IPS

A Reform Movement by and for Undocumented People

By Valeria Fernández
Hundreds of grassroots organisations came together at the U.S. Social Forum here to discuss strategies in the fight for immigration policy changes that would put an end to criminalisation and the militarisation of the border with Mexico.
From Paso del Norte bridge between El Paso and Juárez, a passerby filmed the murder of Sergio Hernández under the Puente Negro bridge, in background. Credit: Daniela Pastrana/IPS

MEXICO-US: Wall of Hate and Poverty Divides El Paso and Juarez

By Daniela Pastrana
"Sergio, your death will be avenged by the angry, organised people" reads graffiti under the Puente Negro railroad bridge connecting this border city with El Paso, Texas.
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