Blog #13: A Swiss-E.U. Battle Over (European) Immigrants

In a recent report, the Swiss Federal Council announced that it has decided to impose quota starting May 1 on certain categories of residence permits for citizens of 8 EU member states including Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The council says that the government is acting in order to promote better integration and to prevent labor abuses in the labor market, after the numbers of people arriving have tripled from those countries over the past year. The European is angered by this situation and states that it would raise concerns with Swiss directly at a meeting set for June this year. Due to the low employment and high migration, the government has been considering setting a migration cap. The government also states that since May of 2011, immigrants with visas have averaged around 6k were as before it used to average about 2k per year. Another concern with Swiss officials is that the immigrants coming from poorer countries are causing pressures to be put on minimum wages and they are trying to make sure companies comply with minimum wage laws. On top of that, out of all the people in Switzerland, 1 in 5 residents are foreign born, which is relatively low.
In this instance, the Swiss government doesn’t seem to be trying to necessarily be discriminatory towards the issue by doing what they say they want to do as the EU complains. However, this can cause some issues between the EU nations and Switzerland’s international ties. This is a common theme that many countries are trying to do is stop the massive flows of migration because each country feels as if it is damaging their economy. If undocumented immigrants come into the country as well as refugees, many countries can see a deficit in their economy and start to experience difficulties providing resources and services to these people, they just don’t have enough money to support them. In my opinion, I think that immigrants can always help and hurt the economy. Its just how countries deal with them, how much they invest in the visa applications, how they run the system, etc, as to how immigrants will affect their economies. I think with investing money in the system, they can hire people to work in the government, processing applications and dealing with immigrant affairs, thus helping their economy and helping to reinvest in their economy. Because making a system flow smoothly and planning accordingly, they can invest in the future of the country by allowing people come into the country and work, start businesses and get educated, allowing them to help their economy in the international system. 


http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/a-swiss-e-u-battle-over-eastern-european-immigrants/ 

Blog #12: South Africa struggling with asylum seekers

South Africa has reported that they are struggling with the influx of refugees seeking asylum there as South Africa receives more individual asylum requests than any other country. The United Nations High Commissioner has welcomed the moves of refugees yet a spokeswoman from the agency for Southern Africa, Tina Ghelli, has expressed concerns that the people fleeing violence and oppression are finding it difficult to get help because economic immigrants are abusing and overwhelming the system in South Africa.
According to the UNHCR figures, more than 100k people sought asylum in the country last year, which is well above the the next highest number of applications received, some 74,000 in the United States. The highest number of immigrants are coming from Somalia, Zimbabwe, the Congo, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Xenophobic attitudes have led to an explosion of violence against foreigners, particularly those from elsewhere in Africa, in some of South Africa's poorest communities in 2008.
Delays in processing asylum requests have also become a huge issue with a backlog of over 150k applications. Despite a cold welcome and application delays, asylum seekers still keep coming with hopes for a better life. “Besides having the continent's biggest economy, South Africa has a liberal constitution that outlaws discrimination on the basis of race, gender and sexual orientation, and that enshrines rights to join a union and have access to adequate housing, health care, food and water. While its promises may not always be fulfilled, the charter stands out not only in Africa, but in the world.”
Global migration and refugees seeking asylum is a global issue not only felt by South Africa. It is important to notice that what all of these articles concerning immigration and refugee issues have in common is that conflict and unrest is always caused by ethnic and religious tensions. Many people feel that their home is being invaded when immigrants appear or even when refugees seek asylum from violence and oppression. Not only is violence and social isolation a problem in these instances, but the economic downturn and stress that is being put on the host country is just as great.
Normally when we see an “influx” of large amounts of people trying to get in one place, there is always chaos, confusion, delays, and family separations, and it becomes difficult for the country to document, help, and tell these people apart, whether they are refugees or simply migrants. It causes systems to falter, conflict to arise, and sometimes can even cause a lack in security which ends up leading to another refugee case for the people that came there.  At any rate, most all countries around the world aren’t able to keep up with and take care of their refugees and immigrants and are finding it hard to support them economically. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120412/af-south-africa-asylum/ 

Blog 11: Syria Refugee Spillover Causing Major Burdens For Neighboring Countries

According to a recent report, the US state Department is beginning to step up its efforts in assisting Syrian refugees who have spilled out into neighboring countries over the past year. It states that it is doubling the levels of humanitarian assistance to the region, however, most of that additional funding seems to be directed to programs inside of Syria or towards efforts to deliver aid and non-lethal supplies to the civilian opposition there, rather than to refugees and their host countries.
The many countries bearing the overflow of refugees are places like Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, surprisingly enough, and Turkey. The State Department is finding it hard to keep track of the number of Syrian refugees as so many are unable to be documented. 50k Syrians has been estimated to have fled the country as refugee and over 300k have been internally forced from their homes. The refugee crisis has been exacerbated by local politics and sectarian tensions, as officials who are supportive of the Syrian regime state that these refugees are criminals and terrorists, calling for them to be deported, and sparking a tense debate in the country’s legislature.
As we have seen in many of these cases, many officials in host countries are stating that the influx of refugees, including many that have been badly wounded, are causing a significant strain on their welfare programs. Despite Syria once being the home of over 100k Iraqis who had been displaced by the war, Iraq is now becoming a “safe haven” for Syrian refugees, many of whom have spread throughout the country and are receiving little to no humanitarian assistance. In this case, we are seeing many poor countries bearing the blow of the influx of refugees and whose economies aren’t able to handle.
Many UN organizations and refugee aid groups are said to be taking field missions to the camps of refugees and have expressed displeasure towards the Turkish government’s decision to count the refugees as guests rather than refugees, as the country bornes the fullest brunt because it shares a border with Syria. The migration, immigration, and refugee crisis we are seeing all over the world are causing huge issues on the world economy making it hard for countries to assist each other, creating tensions, and falling to disparity.
The report even states that The High Relief Commission is basically out of money and no one else is taking care of the Syrian issue. Unfortunately, despite the attempts in the UN’s mission for peace keeping and building, tensions are running high all over the world, as conflicts is displacing people everywhere, economies are falling, laws towards migration are changing, making the process for building a global economy hard for everyone. 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/05/syria-refugees-state-department_n_1406410.html 

Blog #10: Asylum Claims Rose 20 Percent Last Year, U.N. Refugee Agency Says

In a recent report, the UN stated that escapees from the new problems arising in the Middle East and Africa, along with people fleeing chronic conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, contributed to a 20% increase in requests for asylum in industrialized countries in 2011. The report from UN refugee agency surveyed 44 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, and said that the region with the largest increase in claims for the year was Southern Europe, where over 66k people seeking asylum arrived on boats to Italy and Malta, increasing 87% from 2010. The country of origin for the largest numbers of asylum seekers is Afghanistan, rising 37% in 2011. China proved to be the number one source for asylum seekers followed by Iraq. The US was the one country that received the most applications for asylum, estimated at about 74k applications. The report also noted that South Africa, although not covered by the report, has attracted large numbers of refugees recently, not only from other African countries but Pakistan and Bangladesh also. The UN report states that although this is an indicator of the desperation created by conflict, this is not an indicator of border migration trends.
During these challenging economic times, people, coming from many underdeveloped countries, are being driven out of their homes for a multitude of different reasons. Someone is considered a refugee, as defined by the UN, as those who have a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” and of course are in seek of safety. In the recent reports given by the UN, it appears as if people are actually traveling farther than usual to escape violence, economic turmoil, and war. In the past, refugee settlement areas, usually in other poor neighboring countries, have been places of extreme poverty, insanitation, unrest and have been targeted as militant recruiting grounds. Refugees and immigrants cause changes to their host country in many different ways, both economically, politically, and environmentally. In poor and fragile countries taking in refugees, the danger for destabilizing the government and the environment is more inevitable, causing devastating effects. This could be the number one reason why more industrialized countries are seeing such a significant overall increase in refugees seeking asylum.

Blog #10

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/world/asylum-claims-up-20-percent.html?scp=1&sq=UN%20migration&st=cse 

Blog #9: Chinese hoping ticket out of China is French class

A recent report states that many Chinese migrants are desperate to leave China, despite its prosperity and recent economic growth. More and more of its citizens are rushing to escape the country’s long standing problems such as hazardous pollution and contaminated food and are eager to provide better education prospects to their children. Canada is becoming one of the most favored destinations for migrants, along with the US and Australia, in particularly the province of Quebec. Unfortunately, however, many governments are making it harder to emigrate by imposing new quotas, cutting the professions sought under skilled-worker programs and raising the amount of financial commitment. The province, Quebec, does not, like the rest of Canada. Quebec selects its own immigrants and doesn’t have any “backlog” of applicants like the Canadian national program. The only requirement it has is that the immigrants must demonstrate their knowledge of French.
Immigration is a problem for most of the richest nations in the world causing a flood of immigrants to the point that there are societal conflicts and economic problems, leading to strict immigration laws in these countries. However, the report states that Quebec welcomes the heightened interest from potential immigrants and that there is a growing demand for immigration to French-speaking countries and especially Quebec. At this point, this is the only way out for most immigrants coming from China, as many countries have millions of immigration applications backed up and laws have even been tightened around family sponsored applications.
Just like the many immigration programs that have been put into place, such as the Bracero Program in the US and many others, allows the easy travel and migration to a new destination that needs a population and economic growth. However, many of these programs have led to disaster by accepting more applicants and immigrants than they can handle. In the short term, this seems like a great opportunity for both the Chinese immigrants and the province of Quebec. The Chinese immigrants will flee to a healthier environment with job and educational opportunities, and the province of Quebec will grow economically. But again, just like many others in the past who have set up immigration programs or promoted immigration to their country, it is likely that Quebec may accept more than they can handle, causing an over population, a rescindment of promises and opportunities, and they could end up deporting people back, causing an excess of issues for this province in Canada and contributing to the “on again, off again” cycle of immigration. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120319/as-china-learning-french-to-flee/ 

Blog #8: Environmental Migration: Climate Change Could Spawn Mass Migrations, Study Says

The Asian Development Bank is warning countries to prepare for mass migration due to environmental issues, says a recent report. A UN network of 2,000 scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts significant temperature increases, changing rain fall patterns, greater monsoon variability, a rise in sea-level, and more intense tropical cyclones in the Asia-Pacific. The scientists are also expecting these changes to accompany a rise in temperature across the planet caused by greenhouse gasses from burning fossil fuels for things like transportation and electricity. In 2010 and 2011, natural disasters displaced more than 42 million people from their homes in this region due to environmental issues. About one-third of Southeast Asia’s population lives in at-risk locations, including Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Although the scientists did not make any specific projections, because the numbers are difficult to estimate with migration decisions usually depending on a variety of factors including poverty, it is said that climate change is likely to become one of the major forces of migration in the 21st century.
Migration is one of the biggest issues today and has been for quite sometime. The reasons for people doing so around the world are complex and hard to keep track of. Unfortunately, in this situation, like many others in the past, migration is expected to be forced, in mass numbers, which normally begins occurring slowly until a natural disaster occurs, forcing the rest to migrate all at once. Although this is only a prediction, preparation is important, even if these predictions don’t actually occur. In many cases, mass migration causes hardships for many countries including lack of human resources and services to provide for the massive and sudden over population. It can also lead to an economic downfall due to the unknown amount time it will take to send these migrants back after such a disaster.
With so many people unable to work and in need of support, the host country usually provides welfare services that can eventually lead to debt and an economic deficit, which when worst come the worst, just like in Britain’s current situation, currencies can falter. Without the necessary preparations this can cause major issues for many of the host countries accepting these migrants. On the contrary, with successful preparation, countries affected by such disasters can organize successful housing, medical aid, and nutrition strategies to care for victims is mass quantities, avoiding the pressure to provide welfare services, like compensation funds or any other kind of “financial support”, or allowing them to over stay their welcome. Along with that, prepare for collaboration in rebuilding their communities so they can be sent back in a timely manner, after, of course, the disaster has ended.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/environmental-migration-climate-change_n_1340868.html 

Blog #7: Drug Gangs are 'Taking Control of Parts of British Cities' Warns UN Professor Hamid Ghodse

Migration is at an all time high in the UK with a recent report stating that it found an increase in social inequality, emerging cultures of excess, migration, as well as a shift in traditional values which are all being considered the “key threats to social cohesion” and the rise in drug and gang issues. The UK’s recent uproar in drug problems and fractured communities have been seen as the result of migration, creating a “vicious cycle of social exclusion”. The problems have begun to be so much more severe that UK authorities are trying to figure a way the crackdown on the rise of multicultural gangs and drug problems by using other countries like the US, Brazil, and Mexico as examples, countries who have seen gangs and drugs as a result of high migration. UK reports state that migration in the UK is widening the gap between the rich and the poor, immigrants are becoming faced with a future with limited opportunities and are increasingly disengaged from the “wider” society, causing them to be engaged in socially harmful behaviors like drug dealing and abuse. Because migration creates a sense of “dislocation” in the community as well as vulnerability, it leads to a rise in the people involved with illicit drugs by means of coping with their dislocation, according to a report from INCB.
In many articles about migration that I have written about thus far have involved violence, crime rate increase, and some kind of broken social cohesion in the affected area. Migration has a lot of great attributes that come along with it, however, when there is a mix of cultures and ethnicity there always tends to be some kind of ethnocentric issue that creates barriers between people with different cultures and backgrounds, causing major conflict with the issue of migration. It has been a known fact that with a rise in population comes a rise in crime. Yet, it seems as if in this case the UK is being a little too quick to strictly blame immigration for the rise in gangs and drugs. It is important to analyze and know where immigrants are coming from in order to determine if they are coming from a place that has a highly known drug smuggling problem to ensure they are properly processed into the country safely. However, it is not always necessary to blame an influx in population on migration as population increases also come from reproduction, and the idea of trying to stop the issue by attacking and focusing on migrants may not completely stop the problem. Although some immigrants may be involved in the higher crime rates, drug abuse, and gangs, it is important to understand that “locals” are very much involved as well and like in plenty of other places, migration causes hostility amongst the “locals” and can also result in anti-immigrant gangs, or xenophobic gangs like the ones that formed in Russia. Migration may have a little bit to do with the issues the UK is experiencing, however the UK authorities could to be trying to go about solving the issues all the wrong ways. 


http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/02/28/drugs-gangs-violence-liverpool-birmingham-un-chief_n_1305954.html 

Blog #6: Immigration Policies Deter Foreign Students from Studying in the UK, Warns Report

Recently the UK has been cracking down on immigration, changing laws to help deter the UK as an immigration destination. However, in recent reports, some say that this is resulting in a “clampdown” on international students, causing the UK’s share in international markets to go down by 1%, causing international students to choose other places to study abroad, rather than the UK. The UK has established a system of post-study work visas, which allows foreign students to find work while they are studying abroad and recent reports suggest that removing the program would have devastating effects on the UK’s ability to attract foreign students. They also suggest that the UK’s immigration policies need to be set up in a way that they can separate the long-term immigrants from foreign students, making sure that study abroad applicants are not affected by their policies.
Unfortunately, because of the UK’s immigration policies and the consideration of changing foreign student visas, this is causing many foreign students to worry and put them off studying in the UK. Over 70k jobs are created in the UK from foreign students, yet by trying to control migration with policies that prevent economic growth as well as attracting new talented students is causing the UK, who is also experiencing many economic challenges just like most of the world, to decline in the world market and threaten their reputation of quality universities and high standards.
Foreign students help international economies in many ways by creating jobs, building reputation, and reeling in income for the country’s development. Immigration is a known problem everywhere, causing many nationals to be angry and laws to get changed in many countries as today’s world economy is declining. However, education and laborers are the most important aspects that keep our economies in tact, keeping it from fully collapsing. If education were to be prevented,as well as immigration, then that could cause major economic issues and possibly cause a country’s economic growth to come to a stand still.   
This is even more dangerous for the UK as they appear to be sending more of their own students abroad than they are actually bringing in, causing a deficit in the amount of students being educated in the UK. Allowing immigrants to migrate to the UK and become educated is the best possible thing the UK could do in this time of economic crisis. On the contrary, the UK is trying to prevent immigrants from coming in, pushing current immigrants out, and deterring them from being educated. The UK states that they are cracking down on immigration to help promote “public confidence”, but this is starting to sound more like an ethnic and cultural issue rather than just promoting confidence and patriotism. It is hard to see any pros in this situation, considering the attitude of the UK and the immigration laws being put in place. Education creates jobs and immigration provides laborers to fill these jobs. Preventing the immigration cycle will not only cause the UK to seem a little empty, but their economic crisis could become a lot more severe. 


http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/02/23/immigration-policies-deter-students_n_1295940.html 

Blog #5: Migrants Struggle in the Shadows of Asia's Rising Tide of Inequality

All over Asia, many poor migrant worker's are being cheated out of wages and promised good-paying jobs overseas only to find out the complete opposite once they have immigrated. Thousands immigrate from Bangladesh each year, to parts of Asia and Africa, in hopes of a better future. But recent reports show that many of them will not make it back to the homelands alive, with the illegal immigrant system being ran by an underground "manpower" looking to get paid by transporting them. Many migrant workers become alienated in the new host country and are the target of hostility from the nationals who see them as economic competition, making it hard for the them to survive, and stranding them in a foreign land. Because they are promised good fortune abroad, work that pays good money for them to support their families, they take out loans in order to migrate which forces them to stay in the vicious cycle of migrant worker exploitation as they become dependent on any work they can get. Even in Thailand, the deep sea fishing industry has caused many men and boys from Burma, Cambodia, and Laos to be condemned to pretty much slavery with poor working and living conditions, low pay, poor nutrition, and round the clock working hours. All through out the world where migrant labor is promoted, worker exploitation and abuses are taking place. In Kuwait, Philippine immigrants who had immigrated for work were found to have been abused and sexually assaulted by their employers, but the Kuwait authorities claimed the workers are not protected because they are not legal migrants. Although there are international Human Rights laws in place, they are not protecting the rights of migrant workers. Worker abuses are still continuing to take place all around the world. Migration and labor laws in many of these countries are not being regulated and enforced. If anything, cheap foreign labor is being promoted and false hopes are being created for these poor workers, so much so, that many traffickers are pushing slavery and law makers aren't doing anything to stop it, just turning a cold shoulder by ignoring the reality of what is happening in their countries. And of course, this is not just happening in Asia, it is an upward trend all around the world, including the US, and worker exploitation, alienation, low wages for hard work, and violence are becoming the main theme when we talk about global migration.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-chen/migrants-struggle-in-the-_b_1278582.html

Blog #4: Greece to Build Border Fence Ward Off Illegal Immigrants and Asylum Seekers

Greece has announced Monday, January 30, 2012, that they will be building a 13 foot, 6 mile long fence with razor wire on the top along it's border with Turkey, to prevent illegal immigration, and estimated to be finished by late September of this year. Thousands of illegal immigrants cross the border from Turkey into Greece every year, sometimes using Greece as a "gateway" for traveling or immigrating to other countries in Europe as well. This has become a major immigration crossing due to the number of deaths occurring by crossing the Mediterranean sea. The fence will also be equipped with night vision cameras providing real time footage to a new command center watching the border. Greece is one of the 26 European nations in the Schengen Area whose external border controls are not within the zone because of the fact that Turkey has not yet signed the Schengen Agreement. However, because of the agreement, Greece is required to maintain it's border controls. While the Greek Public Order Minister Christos Papoutsis went to the border villages to announce the building of the fence where over 40 people protested stating that the fence is a violation of human rights and should not be built during a time in which Greece is experiencing a severe financial crisis and high unemployment, as the cost of building the fence is estimated to be over 4 million Euros. Although riot police stayed near by, there was no violence that occurred during the protester demonstration. It is said that Turkey's government does not oppose the border fence and Greece is already receiving emergency assistance at the border from the EU border protection agency called Frontex.  Even so, the EU has not supported this project and deems it "a waste of time" and "pointless".
    By putting up this fence, Greece is potentially causing more harm than good. Many refugees flee their countries in order to escape danger and seek safety. Refugees are coming from places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, and North Africa, including Algerians, Syrians, and Moroccans. Greece is possibly violating human rights, by rejecting refugees, and they could end up creating faltering international relations within the EU. Greece is already having issues with refugee costs in handling cases and getting them approved, and they are trying to push refuges into other nations which is going to cause a problem in refugees getting to other nations and thus causing more deaths and refugee hardships, violating EU law. They are also preventing economic growth by keeping them out, and during this time of their financial crisis, loosing money and producing no economic gain is the last thing they need. They could also end up seeing more deaths on the border than they are now, by either creating violence resulting in death or injury related deaths of people trying to find alternate routes or climbing the fence.
    On the other hand, Greece is also seeing many deaths of immigrants and refugees on their border already. People are having to cross the Evros river that flows along the border, causing many deaths from hypothermia and drowning. So, in turn, putting up the fence could prevent many of those deaths, saving more lives than causing deaths. Overall, though, the cons in this case over take the pros by a long shot. Greece is not be supported in this decision because again, they are potentially preventing refugees from finding safety, violating human rights and UN law, preventing their own economic growth, and possibly causing hardships for themselves and people in countries around the world. This is a growing global issue relating to not only immigration and migration, but potentially also human rights.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/world/europe/greece-to-build-fence-on-turkish-border-to-curb-illegal-immigrants.html?_r=1&ref=immigrationandemigration

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57372954/greece-to-build-anti-immigrant-border-fence/

http://euobserver.com/9/115161   

Blog #3: Putin: crackdown needed on illegal immigration

Foreign migration is one of the top issues that Russia is dealing with today. Over 10 million labor migrants enter Russia annually without proper visas, the majority of them coming from Central Asia that used to be under Soviet rule. Many of these foreign workers live in conditions that some would consider bad conditions, sleeping in basements and overcrowded apartments.

Many violent xenophobic hate groups have formed with the foreign workers’ presence, accusing them of stealing Russian jobs and forming ethnic gangs. These groups are killing and beating non-Slavic people as well as anti-racism activists. The fact that the immigrants are “taking their jobs” is not the real issue, according to Russia’s President, it is the fact that these workers are experiencing abuses, low payment and enslavement.
  
Vladamir Putin, Russia’s President and nominee in the current Presidential elections, states that people who enter the country and violate immigration and labor laws should be barred from reentering the country for up to 10 years. Out of the 10 million foreign workers in Russia, only about 4 million work legally. Putin also said that in order to further prevent these issues, more extreme penalties need to be put in place against those who break the nation’s laws by failing to register for work permits and on companies who profit by hiring them, instead of just issuing fines.

Violence and worker exploitation is the result of not only slack laws that are in place to enforce others but also ethnic and cultural clashes and ethnocentrism. Violent gangs are committing hate crimes against the other ethnic groups and their supporters and are killing them. The laws in place for legal immigration are not being enforced and other laws need to be set to protect the rights of these workers. So, the pros in this situation are the new laws that Putin is promoting to put in place to protect the rights of the foreign migrants as well as the Russian people who are also being affected, even harmed and killed, due to the violence against the foreigners.

The country’s unemployment is at a low 7 percent, so by regulating the foreign migrants and kicking illegal one’s out is going to allow more job opportunities for Russian nationals. The new laws may also promote patriotism amongst the Russian community as well as decrease the crime rate. However, even though this issue will be regulated, legal foreign migrants will still live in the country, so the crime and violence against them may not be stopped completely.

Also, strict laws, such as the ones Putin is promoting, can been seen as too strict and can cause less migration which can lead to less production and wealth for the economy in the future and it can even break the state’s international ties with other nations who send their students and laborers to Russia through special programs. This is a messy issue Russia is dealing with and the solutions presented by the President can both help and hurt the country. Their economy and society needs a hard looking at as well as some major readjustments.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46147188/ns/world_news-europe/t/putin-crackdown-needed-illegal-immigration/#.TyxAh4GOfZ0

Blog #2: Brazil to Grant Work Visas to Haitians

    Many countries around the world discourage immigration and make it hard for people to work and live legally in their countries. Brazil is one of those countries. However, since the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the government of Brazil has decided to make exceptions for those migrating to Brazil from Haiti in search of work and refuge. Brazil is granting work visas to a number Haitians coming to Brazil and they are expecting to grant over a 100 visas a month. Thousands of Haitians have traveled through the rough terrain of the Amazon in order to get to Brazil and many people who are stuck in towns outside of the Amazon are also being given visas to work. People from Pakistan and India who have traveled the same route through the Amazon to get to Brazil are normally immediately expelled from the country but Haitians are being given exceptions by the government. Especially because of the 2014 World Cup as well as the 2016 Olympics scheduled to take place in Brazil, manual labor has significantly increased and is in high demand. Even so, the amount of Haitians coming into Brazil are making it hard for authorities to house and feed while their applications are being reviewed.    There are many great things about what Brazil is doing and it could benefit the country greatly. Yet , as always, when there are good outcomes, there are also bad ones. Not only is Brazil helping the Haitian people, who are in dire need of it, but they are also benefiting their country’s productivity by allowing these people to come in and work, thus benefiting their economy. This also is going to give the Haitian people more opportunities to better their lives and allow them a chance to possibly return back to their own country and contribute the Haitian economy as well.
    However, this could emerge new problems for the country as well as the society. Because of the culture differences this could cause conflict within the community of Brazil. Culture clashes have always been a source of conflict in many areas and many people are very much ethnocentric, causing conflicts between cultures over misunderstandings and differences in values, languages and beliefs. Another issue that could arise is worker exploitation. Even though the country is giving them opportunities to work, they could end up underpaying them, not giving them equal pay for equal work, and they could also end up providing no worker benefits to them at all, such as taking deductions from their pay checks without providing any kind of health benefits, housing benefits, etc.  Over population is also another issue to consider when bringing new people into the country and market prices could inflate. Considering the condition of Haiti and their people, right now this an important and beneficial thing Brazil is doing for them. Though overtime, this could end up bringing new complications for everyone.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/world/americas/brazil-to-grant-work-visas-to-haitians.html?_r=1&ref=migrantlabor

Blog #1: Migrants' Paths Reshaping Latin America

Normally when we think about immigration or migration being a problem, here in the US, we tend to automatically assume it has to do with us dealing with that issue. However, migration is an issue all over the world and in the article “Migrants’ New Paths Reshaping Latin America” shows us that the problem is a widespread issue especially in our neighboring country. Because of the decline in the US economy, increased border protection, and the uprising dangers of the Mexican Drug Cartel, more and more people are beginning to move to other cities and countries throughout South America instead of the US. This article focuses on one city in particular in Mexico, Santa Maria Atzompa. Many of the locals are extremely up set about the thousands of new comers, even migrants from other Mexican cities, and the over population it is causing. Migrants are coming to Santa Maria Atzompa for new education and work opportunities. The population rose from a little over 5,000 people to more than 27,000 since 2006. Urbanization used to be one of the city’s main goals but now they are struggling to keep up with the population growth. Citizens originally from the small city are outraged by the changes the new comers brought with them such as workers pay decrease, strip clubs, paying taxes but receiving fewer services, and overcrowded schools. The government is now starting to rethink their laws and redesign the system according to the population increase.

This has become a huge social issue for this tiny city in Mexico and is affecting everyone in the city including the government. The locals who have always lived there are outraged and the government is going as far as changing their laws. The fact that there are more people coming into the city could mean great things in terms of pointing out the pros. This could mean economic growth, more money for the city to make improvements, more benefits for the people by establishing services that are convenient to the public and possibly even more education by establishing more schools and universities. However, the cons are just as great the pros. Over populating a small city may mean building on it to become a big city, but doing so could do the city more harm than good. Goods and services within the city could have a huge increase in price making everything more expensive, lower pay wages to workers and decreases in workers benefits, territorial issues in terms of expanding the city, pollution issues, a hike in crime and also the spreading of new sicknesses and diseases.  However, as time changes so does migration patterns. Depending on how the city handles the issue will determine the city’s future and whether or not people will begin to migrate away just as fast as they came in.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/world/americas/migrants-new-paths-reshaping-latin-america.html?pagewanted=3&ref=illegalimmigrants