Migrant cap 'will support business', says David Cameron

David Cameron has said the immigration cap, due to come into force next year, will be "business friendly".

Businesses have been lobbying the government to exempt transfers within companies from the cap on workers from outside the European Economic Area.

A temporary cap is in place but an announcement is expected next week on permanent measures from next April.

The PM told Sky News: "We will try and exempt many of the inter-company transfers from the immigration system."

The annual cap on non-EU immigration was a key Conservative manifesto commitment - although it was opposed by their Lib Dem coalition partners before the election. But businesses have complained it will leave them at a competitive disadvantage.

Net migration - the difference between the number of people coming to live in the UK and the number emigrating - stood at 196,000 last year.

The government has promised to at least halve this by 2015, partly by capping the number of skilled workers from outside the European Economic Area.

Read full article here.

Barbados budget indicates higher costs for doing business with Immigration Department

The cost of doing business with the Immigration Department is going up.

Minister of Finance Christopher Sinckler in delivering the Financial Statements and Budgetary Proposals for 2010, said some changes would be coming to the department from December 1, with the increases expected to yield about $4 million in revenue for Government.

From next month, adult passports will increase by $25, from $125 to $150; and for those under 16 years, from $75 to $100. For lost passports, persons will now have to pay more than $100 extra, with the cost moving from $190 to $300 for the replacement.

For single entry visas, persons will now pay US$100 (non-refundable), up from US$50, while work permits will also increase from between $25 to $125 in some cases.


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From War to Windrush

A new exhibit will be in place at the Institute of Jamaica's Tower Street Gallery from now until September 2011, celebrating the thousands of West Indians who volunteered to risk their lives for duty during World War I and II.

'From War to Windrush' and 'War: Lest We Forget' were presented to the public Sunday morning by the museums of history and ethnography director, Staci-Marie Dehaney, who said the pieces were collected "from families, veterans, different libraries, the Jamaican Military Museum, many different places" to give a cohesive archival viewing of the West Indian involvement during the two wars.

The project began in June 2008 as a special exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, London, marking the 60th anniversary of the arrival of the MV Empire Windrush, a ship carrying job-searching West Indians to Britain in the wake of 1948 post-war migration.

Read full article here.

Caricom's interest in 'spy politics'

By Rickey Singh

IF THE problem were not as nationally and regionally challenging, the news item could have been dismissed with as perhaps an error, or a joke.
However, some quick checking yesterday with the Caribbean Community Secretariat in Georgetown and Caricom's Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), made it abundantly clear that it was neither an error nor a laughing matter.
Indeed, with the dust yet to settle on the political storm that blew across T&T last Friday in the form of a parliamentary exposure about very extensive and intrusive spying activities operated by the previous government of ex-prime minister Patrick Manning, there came a surprising press release this past Monday from the Community Secretariat.
It announced the holding of a five-day training workshop — which is currently occurring in Port of Spain until Friday (November 19) — and involves 20 immigration officers from 11 Caricom countries, in addition to seven law enforcement officers from the Special Anti-Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT).

Read full article here.

California Supreme Court: Illegal Immigrants Can Have In-State Tuition Costs

College is an enormous expense for almost any student, and for illegal immigrants, who have no access to federal programs like Pell Grants or subsidized student loans, the costs are even more daunting. But now the California Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling that denied illegal immigrants in state tuition costs if the students graduated from local high schools -- a price break available to all other students in the system.

Via the Los Angeles Times:

The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday that illegal immigrants may continue to be eligible for in-state tuition at the state's colleges and universities rather than pay the higher rates charged to those who live out of state.

In a ruling written by Justice Ming W. Chin, one of the court's more conservative members, the state high court said a California law that guarantees the lower tuition for students who attend California high schools for three years and graduate does not conflict with a federal prohibition on giving illegal immigrants educational benefits based on residency.

California is one of several states that permit illegal immigrants to take advantage of lower college tuition for students who attend high school and graduate in state. About 25,000 illegal immigrants are estimated to receive in-state tuition in California.

Read full article here.

Princess Hijab is a PAris based Guerilla Artist 'hijabising' the Metro with her fabulous imagery!

Of her work, she comments: “If it was only about the burqa ban, my work wouldn’t have a resonance for very long. But I think the burqa ban has given a global visibility to the issue of integration in France”

See all images here.

Dysfunctional US Immigration System deporting vulnerable people

by Catherine A. Traywick, Media Consortium blogger

For the past several months, the Obama administration has relentlessly professed its commitment to targeting only the most dangerous "criminal aliens." But a new report released this week by the Immigration Policy Center suggests that misguided Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) polices render the administration virtually powerless to fulfill its promise.

As Braden Goyette at Campus Progress reports, ICE's practice of outsourcing immigration enforcement to local police through the 287(g) and Secure Communities programs undermines the administration's stated priority of deporting "the worst of the worst." She writes:

By using these partnerships to increase its deportation figures, the federal government gives up control over front-line enforcement to local police, opening up the door to subjective judgment calls -- essentially, all of the problems that plague everyday policing.

Law enforcement charged with enforcing immigration laws -- particularly in areas where heavy enforcement is politically popular -- routinely make discretionary arrests in direct defiance of the Obama administration's stated priorities. As a result, tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants have been deported because of minor crimes, such as traffic offenses.

A bigger issue, though, is that ICE's enforcement programs are fundamentally out of line with the Obama administration's avowed commitment to targeting criminals. The Secure Communities program, which requires local law enforcement agencies to share fingerprints with ICE, is a key example of this disconnect. The program routinely nets even the victims of violent crime. Secure Communities is expanding rapidly, despite its deviance from the agency's stated objective of pursuing criminals.

Read full article here.

The Hypocrisy of CARICOM

By Arif Bulkan

The following story was brought to my attention almost two years ago, involving a CARICOM national who was offered employment within a CARICOM agency, but which offer was subsequently withdrawn.

The agency in question was the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS), which was established in July 2006 by the CARICOM Heads of Government and whose offices are located in Trinidad and Tobago.

The candidate in question was interviewed in Jamaica in November 2008 for a position, and at the conclusion of the interview the panel offered him on the spot another, more senior post within the agency. The candidate was informed that all he needed to do was a polygraph test and a medical, and he unhesitatingly accepted the offer.

Read full article here

Thilo Sarrazin's new book Germany Abolishes Itself wants to end Muslim Immigration into Germany

Thilo Sarrazin is not charismatic, but he has become a man of influence. He has changed the debate over immigration in Germany.

In his view "suppressing emotion is even more dangerous" than broaching subjects that were recently largely off-limits.

Others, like analyst Prof Klaus Kocks, have issued a note of caution. "As a German," he told me, "you have to be more careful than others. You have to accept our history."

I met Thilo Sarrazin at his old school in Recklinghausen. He was there to promote his book, Germany Abolishes Itself. He is both reviled and admired for its controversial thesis.

Outside the school were a handful of protesters. One banner accused Mr Sarrazin of acting like the Nazis. There were many more, however, who had bought tickets to hear him. His book has sold close to a million copies.

His essential message is that Muslims are either "unwilling or unable to integrate" into Western society. "If the majority of migrants from non-Muslim countries don't have any obvious problem integrating," he told a packed hall, "then the failure to integrate on the part of migrants from Muslim countries can't be due to a fault on our side - because all are treated equally. It has to be because of a characteristic of Muslims themselves."

Read full article here and view video.

All Ah We Is One - Kamla and CARICOM

BY TENNYSON JOSEPH | TUE, NOVEMBER 09, 2010 - 12:00 AM

The recent view expressed by the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago that any aid given to CARICOM states affected by Hurricane Tomas “must in some measure” benefit her country provides yet another instance of the death of the integration idea at the hands of a newly elected leader eager to play to the local gallery.

Following so closely upon the heels of her ATM statement, it suggests a fully formed Persad-Bissessar perspective on Trinidad’s role in CARICOM.

It is a perspective which should be urgently reviewed.

This call for a rethink is not meant to suggest that Kamla Persad-Bissessar should abandon the pursuit of her country’s self-interest. Instead, it is based on the recognition that Trinidad and Tobago is the one Caribbean country best placed to benefit from economic and political integration.

Leadership not resistance It should therefore provide leadership and not resistance.

Politics always follows economics. It is for this reason that the possibility of Caribbean political integration has become truly real, only with the emergence of the Trinidadian business class as a genuine Caribbean bourgeoisie. Trinidadian investment in the commercial and banking sector in Barbados alone tells the whole story.

The next logical step must be for Caribbean political arrangements to adjust to these economic realities.

Read full article here.

Children of the Exodus

"Children of the Exodus:" Surge of Deportations Endangers Migrant Youth Abandoned in Mexico
A new investigation published in The Texas Observer looks into one aspect of the collateral damage of the current US immigration laws that result in tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children being deported to Mexico every year. Many of these children are abandoned on the streets of Mexican border cities and end up in shelters in areas that have been ravaged by escalating drug violence.

See video interview here with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.

Beverley Manley Gives Two Thumbs Up

Erin Hansen, Gleaner Writer

"It was quite an adventure," Barbara Blake Hannah - the first black television journalist to appear on Thames TV, BBC-TV and Channel 4 - recalled of her migration to England in the '60s.

"We went over there as bright-eyed innocents, we were bold and brassy."

At the launch for her new book, Growing Out: Black Hair and Black Pride at the Bob Marley Museum last Thursday, Blake Hannah gave a humorous anecdote of her first years in England with flatmate and guest speaker Beverley Manley, ex-wife of late Prime Minister Michael Manley.

Growing Out is the autobiographical story of Hannah Blake's experiences as a young woman in Jamaica, and what it was like migrating to Britain during the 'swinging '60s' at a time when black power, flower power and the anti-Vietnam war movement were high.

Read full article here

No Free Help

PM to assist neighbours hit by Tomas but...

By Ria Taitt


No help for Caricom countries hit by Tropical Storm Tomas without benefits to Trinidad and Tobago.

This was made clear by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday.

She said Trinidad and Tobago stands ready to assist its Caricom neighbours but she stipulated that any aid would only come after discussions with her Cabinet colleagues as well as the Opposition Leader, and must in some measure benefit the country.

Speaking at a news conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann's, Persad-Bissessar said she has received a call from the Prime Minister of St Vincent while Foreign Affairs Minister Suruj Rambachan had been in contact with his counterparts in Barbados and St Lucia, territories in the region which have been hit by Tomas.

Read full article here

Sex Tourism and Trafficking: Not one and the same

By Megan Rivers-Moore

Latin America and the Caribbean are characterised by a long history of migration into, out of, and within the region. The Caribbean diaspora is surely one of the most significant in the world, marked by complex ties across nations and within families.

This is the case of those who would be included under the ‘free movement of skilled nationals’ provisions, as well as the working class and poor men, women, and children who move in search of survival and improved life chances. It is within this context of migration and diaspora that we must place discussions of trafficking, a much talked about but often poorly understood topic that is at the forefront of concerns about migration, labour, and sexuality.

Read full article here

Are Caribbean countries facing existential threats?

Norman Girvan

The hurricanes of the last few weeks in the Caribbean have reinforced in my mind a growing sense that Caribbean states may be more and more facing a challenge of existential threats. (I prefer this idea to the discourse of ‘failed states’, which I find rather obnoxious and patronising; being associated with a political agenda of ‘humanitarian interventionism’ and the contemporary incarnation of the doctrine of imperial responsibility.) By existential threats I mean systemic challenges to the viability of our states as functioning socio-economic-ecological-political systems; due to the intersection of climatic, economic, social and political developments.

On Saturday 30 October the entire banana crop of St Vincent, the main export industry, was wiped out in the space of one afternoon. St Lucia and Barbados also suffered major economic damage. At the time of writing this, the weather system responsible is expected eventually to veer northwards and deal what will be another lethal blow to Haiti, where over one million people are living with only tented shelters to protect them as a result of the January earthquake. Another major human catastrophe may be unfolding before our very eyes, which we seem impotent to prevent. On the other hand, if the weather system stays on a westward course, it will deal further blows to Jamaica, which has not yet recovered from Tropical storm Nicole (J$20 billion damage), and probably Belize, which is still recovering from hurricane Richard.

30 years ago, one expected to deal with major disasters of this kind, say, once every ten years. Nowadays, most islands expect at least one, and possibly two or three, every year. In other words this now has to be seen as a permanent, recurring phenomenon or integral feature of Caribbean development.

When you combine acute climate change-related stress of this kind with (a) the acute economic stress arising out of trade preferences and the failure to develop a new “insertion” into the global economy, (b) fiscal stress due to unsustainable debt burdens and the impact of the global economic crisis; and (c) the seeming incapacity of governments to control the impact of transnational crime; one must wonder if we are not in fact experiencing an overlapping and interconnected series of challenges which in their totality, challenge the assumptions underlying the ‘national statehood’ dispensation of the region. Suppose, in other words, that we are not dealing simply with a series of ‘natural disasters’, but rather with a deeper, more systemic threat to the viability of our societies as functional entities in any meaningful sense of the word?

Most of us are not likely to view our condition in such apocalyptic terms, of course. Governments and opinion-makers tend to see each such phenomena as disconnected events, each requiring its own specialised response by a dedicated agency or stakeholder. Our governments give the appearance of being in permanent crisis mode, like the captain and crew of a ship caught in a perfect storm desperately trying to work out how to survive the next monster wave (even as they assure the passengers that they can cope!). Crisis management is not a condition that lends itself to strategic thinking.

Yet isn’t strategic thinking, that attempts to discern the connections among seemingly unrelated phenomena, not what is required? Indeed is it not a necessity for survival? I would think that the first step of such an exercise is for us to admit to ourselves that the problems we face are too wide in scopes and too vast in scale for any one Caribbean country to cope with by itself; that the thinking, institutions and structures we have no longer serve us well; and that no one—neither government nor opposition; public sector or private; civil society or academia—can singly provide the answers. Can we begin a conversation nationally and regionally—or rather, take existing conversations to a higher plane?

November 1, 2010.