Hundreds of parents in Alabama who fear being rounded up at any time and jailed or deported under the state's draconian new immigration law are making legal arrangements to have their children placed in the care of relatives or friends.
Lawyers working with Hispanic communities throughout Alabama report a huge surge in recent days in approaches from Hispanic families so desperate about the threat posed by the new law that they are preparing for the worst: sudden separation from their own children. They are drawing up power of attorney letters – documents usually applied to property or business assets, but in Alabama almost exclusively now used for the safe keeping of children.
"This is a real human rights crisis," said Linton Joaquin of the National Immigration Law Center. "There's widespread panic, and though parents don't want to abandon their children they are seeking guardianships for them."
Shay Farley, legal director of a collective of Alabama lawyers called Appleseed, says they have already drawn up more than 200 power of attorney papers in just one town, Tuscaloosa. A similar clamour for legal help is reported across the state.
Read full article here.
October 12, 2011
Alabama parents prepare for the worst: separation from their kids
An example of how migration might kick-start growth - for the Greeks
The Price of Austerity (BBC World Service)
CGD Experts
Michael Clemens
Oct 11, 2011
Senior fellow Michael Clemens was interviewed by the BBC World Service on the economic benefits of migration.
From the interview
The voices of ordinary Greeks - those struggling to hold things together in these difficult times - are not normally heard.
Coverage of Greece's economic problems is all too often dominated by images of ferocious riots and striking workers.
There is no question that wave after wave of wage-cuts and tax rises have generated a lot of anger, but the truth is that most Greeks haven't taken to the streets.
So, as the austerity measures bite ever deeper, how are these people being affected? The BBC's Europe Business Correspondent Nigel Cassidy reports from Athens.
Plus, what Greece and the other economies of the eurozone really need is economic growth to raise incomes and tax revenues and - the hope is - to begin to erode away those vast deficits.
Unfortunately most are experiencing - at best - stagnation.
So what could kick start growth? A recent survey by the American economist Michael Clemens of the Centre for Global Development suggests one answer could be migration. He concludes that the economic gains from freer migration would dwarf the gains from, say, freer trade - so long as the benefits to the migrants are included.
Justin Rowlatt asked him why migration can bring such big economic benefits.
Listen to it here at the link below.
See source
October 4, 2011
Diasporic Tourism & Investment in the Caribbean
The survey, conducted by the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services (SRC) of the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies, discovered some very interesting findings regarding the economic contribution of the Caribbean diaspora to the region's leading industry.
"We are confident that this report will put into perspective in a tangible way what the impact of the diaspora is. All these times it has been conjecture, we know the numbers are there, but have not been able to qualify or quantify the impact," said Irwin Clare, managing director, Caribbean Immigrant Services, New York.
"This should direct the resources, not just dollars and cents, but the full gamut of how you market and sell to this community," he argued, adding that there has been no clear marketing strategy for this community.
To see more on this report visit:
http://www.shridathramphalcentre.org/images/stories/news/2011/CTO_Caribbean_Week_Diaspora_Forum_DT_KEY_FINDINGS3.pdf
