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212. Coping with Destitution: Survival and livelihood strategies of refused asylum seekers living in the UK
- Author:
- Heaven Crawley, Joanne Hemmings, and Neil Price
- Publication Date:
- 02-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- UK asylum policy has increasingly restricted asylum seekers' access to welfare support, both while their application is being processed and if they are refused. Over recent years, there have been growing concerns about the scale and impact of destitution among refused asylum seekers. It is estimated that 283,500 refused asylum seekers we re living in the UK in 2005, and this number seems likely to have increased (NAO 2005). Existing evidence suggests that many asylum seekers have been destitute for more than six months and a significant proportion for more than two years. This strongly indicates that refused asylum seekers are prepared to face long periods of destitution in the UK rather than returning to their country of origin.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Migration, and Immigration
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom
213. Toward a U.S.-Mexico Security Strategy: The Geopolitics of Northern Mexico and the Implications for U.S. Policy
- Author:
- David J. Danelo
- Publication Date:
- 02-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Foreign Policy Research Institute
- Abstract:
- Since Mexican President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006, Mexico’s drug war has taken over 30,000 lives, destabilized the U.S.-Mexico border, and become a security crisis for the North American continent. Two years ago, a December 2008 Pentagon report warned about the strategic consequences for the United States of a rapid collapse of two nations: Pakistan and Mexico. “The Mexican possibility might seem less likely,” said the report, “but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault by drug cartels.” Any sudden collapse would require a U.S. response “based on the serious implications for homeland security alone.” This scenario has not come to pass, and a full scale collapse of Mexico remains unlikely. That said, Mexico’s security situation has direct consequences in the United States. Along the U.S.-Mexico border, coalitions of sheriffs, agents, activists and concerned citizens have rallied to increase public awareness. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, Mexican drug cartels maintain distribution networks in 295 U.S. cities through brutal gang activity. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has joined a chorus of policy analysts and terrorism experts by referring to Mexico’s drug war as a “criminal insurgency.” In recent visits to Mexico, both President Barack Obama and the Secretary of State have acknowledged U.S. responsibility to reduce drug demand and invest in “partnership.” As the joint response to the 2009 H1N1 flu virus by U.S. and Mexican health officials illustrated, United States and Mexico policy responses are inextricably linked.
- Topic:
- Crime, National Security, War on Drugs, Immigration, Fragile/Failed State, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States and Mexico
214. Jails and Jumpsuits: Transforming the US Immigration Detention System
- Publication Date:
- 10-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Human Rights First
- Abstract:
- Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) committed to transform the U.S. immigration detention system by shifting it away from its longtime reliance on jails and jail-like facilities, to facilities with conditions more appropriate for the detention of civil immigration law detainees. At the time of these commitments, in announcements in August and October of 2009, DHS and ICE recognized that detention beds were in facilities that were "largely designed for penal, not civil, detention." In fact, many criminal correctional facilities actually offer less restrictive conditions than those typically found in immigration detention facilities, and corrections experts have confirmed that less restrictive conditions can help ensure safety in a secure facility. DHS and ICE have consistently affirmed intentions to carry out the planned reforms in a budget-neutral way.
- Topic:
- Immigration and Prisons/Penal Systems
- Political Geography:
- United States
215. Luk Bouckaert and Jochanen Eynikel (eds.), Imagine Europe: The Search for European Identity and Spirituality
- Author:
- Müjge Küçükkeleş
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- Lately, the search for the revival of a European spirit to respond to the continent's pervasive crises in economic, social, cultural, and political spheres has been the subject of many books and articles.
- Topic:
- Immigration
- Political Geography:
- Europe
216. The Musician
- Author:
- Asaf Avidan
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- World Policy Journal
- Institution:
- World Policy Institute
- Abstract:
- I was born in a nation of immigrants. Over the 62 years of its existence, Israel has become a melting pot of social and cultural exchange. Poles, Germans, Yemenites, Moroccans, Egyptians, Russians and more— all foreigners that have unintentionally contributed their traditions to the biological and cultural composition of Israel.
- Topic:
- Immigration
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, Israel, and Egypt
217. Challenges for Integrated Border Management in the European Union
- Author:
- Otwin Marenin
- Publication Date:
- 01-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
- Abstract:
- The expansion of the European Union has required a rethinking of how the external borders of the EU can best be protected against transnational crime, illegal immigration, trafficking in goods and people, non-legitimate asylum seekers and terrorist-related threats. The history, strategic logic, issues faced and current policies for securing the expanding external borders of the EU through the integrated border management (IBM) vision and strategy will be described and critically analysed. The paper is based on information in publicly available documents from EU institutions, scholarly writings on borders and the management of border controls, my own prior writings on border controls and police reforms, and a few interviews with participants involved in creating a new EU integrated border management system.
- Topic:
- Crime, Regional Cooperation, Terrorism, and Immigration
- Political Geography:
- Europe
218. The United States and Mexico: More Than Neighbors
- Author:
- Andrew Selee, Katie Putnam, and Christopher Wilson
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- No country in the world affects daily life in the United States more than Mexico. The two countries are deeply intertwined, and what happens on one side of the border necessarily has consequences on the other side. Almost one in ten Americans is of Mexican descent, and a third of all immigrants in the United States today are from Mexico, while well over a half-million Americans live in Mexico. Mexico remains the second destination for U.S. exports after Canada, and millions of American jobs depend on this trade. From south to north the linkages are even greater: over three quarters of Mexico's exports go to the United States and one in ten Mexicans lives in the United States.
- Topic:
- Economics, Emerging Markets, Politics, Regional Cooperation, Bilateral Relations, Immigration, and Law Enforcement
- Political Geography:
- United States, Canada, Central America, and Mexico
219. The Microeconomic Determinants of Emigration and Return Migration and Return Migration of the Best and Brightest: Evidence from the Pacific
- Author:
- John Gibson and David McKenzie
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- A unique survey which tracks worldwide the best and brightest academic performers from three Pacific countries is used to assess the extent of emigration and return migration among the very highly skilled, and to analyze, at the microeconomic level, the determinants of these migration choices. Although we estimate that the income gains from migration are very large, not everyone migrates and many return. Within this group of highly skilled individuals the emigration decision is found to be most strongly associated with preference variables such as risk aversion, patience, and choice of subjects in secondary school, and not strongly linked to either liquidity constraints or to the gain in income to be had from migrating. Likewise, the decision to return is strongly linked to family and lifestyle reasons, rather than to the income opportunities in different countries. Overall the data show a relatively limited role for income maximization in distinguishing migration propensities among the very highly skilled, and a need to pay more attention to other components of the utility maximization decision.
- Topic:
- Economics, Migration, Political Economy, and Immigration
- Political Geography:
- Australia/Pacific
220. U.S. Immigration Policy
- Author:
- Jeb Bush and Thomas McLarty
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- The United States, a country shaped by generations of immigrants and their descendants, is badly mishandling its immigration policy, with serious consequences for its standing in the world. The urgency of this issue has led the Council on Foreign Relations to convene an Independent Task Force to deal with what is ordinarily regarded as a domestic policy matter. America's openness to and respect for immigrants has long been a foundation of its economic and military strength, and a vital tool in its diplomatic arsenal. With trade, technology, and travel continuing to shrink the world, the manner in which the United States handles immigration will be increasingly important to American foreign policy in the future. The Task Force believes that the continued failure to devise and implement a sound and sustainable immigration policy threatens to weaken America's economy, to jeopardize its diplomacy, and to imperil its national security.
- Topic:
- Security, Economics, and Immigration
- Political Geography:
- United States and America