# data[].attributes.headline
How do cooking styles travel, and how do they change along the way

# data[].attributes.subject
How do cooking styles travel, and how do they change along the way

# data[].attributes.body
I think that when people migrate, they bring their styles of cooking with them, and it changes depending on what resources are available to them

# data[].attributes.headline
"How the Quad Jump is Changing Women's Figure Skating," New York Times 

# data[].attributes.subject
"How the Quad Jump is Changing Women's Figure Skating," New York Times 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
BEIJING - The Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's performance in the women's figure skating event this week was supposed to be a highlight of the Beijing Games.

As the sport's breakout star here, she was expected to land quadruple jump after quadruple jump, just a week after the team event, where she became the first woman to land one at the Olympics. And Valieva, 15, would land those jumps with ease, like a bird floating onto a tree branch.

After it was made public last week that she tested positive for a banned drug, the question now is whether she can perform the way she always does, and that's with near perfection, amid a doping scandal that nearly cost her the right to compete here. Arbitrators ruled on Monday that she could skate, but that no medals ceremony would take place if she finished in the top three because her doping case is under investigation. After Tuesday's short program, she was in first place despite a stumble.

Valieva, trusty stuffed rabbit not far from her side, is ready to show off the quadruple jump that has helped lift the sport to another level. She is one of just 12 women who have landed the quad cleanly in competition, and she is expected to land several in Thursday's free skate.

"Now you pretty much need a quad to medal at the Olympics," said Mirai Nagasu, who in 2018 became the first American woman and third overall to land a triple axel at the Olympics. "To me that sounds crazy, but it's true."

In 2018, Nagasu's triple axel was the coveted skill at the Olympics. Since then, the bar to succeed in the sport has soared into another stratosphere. The quadruple consists of four full revolutions in the air before the skater, less than a second later, lands on one foot. It's a Russian specialty in the women's free skate.

Valieva and her Russian teammates - Anna Shcherbakova, 17, and Alexandra Trusova, 17 - are capable of landing more than just one quad in their free skate, the only program in which women are allowed to perform quads. They land several of them.

They are so good at those quads that even the top male skater, the Olympic gold medalist Nathan Chen, said he did not want to compete against them.

"They are so awesome that I think they'd beat all of us," he said with a laugh.

Men have been landing quadruple jumps for years, beginning in 1988 when Kurt Browning of Canada first performed one. But on the women's side, the advent of the jump, and its necessity for success, is relatively new and has shaken up the sport.

Note: The chart includes all attempted quads since 2005, regardless of how they were scored. The world championship was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2002, Miki Ando of Japan became the first woman to land a quad in international competition. For years, no one else landed the jump in an international event. But since the 2018 Olympics, 12 women, including nine Russians, have done so.

What sparked this quad era in women's skating - now called the Quad Revolution - was a monumental leap Trusova took one month after the 2018 Olympics, when she was 13.

Note: Only skaters who have landed at least one quad with positive grade of execution are shown.

At the junior world championships, Trusova, now known as the Quad Queen, landed two quads - a toe loop and a salchow. Last fall, she landed five quads in one free skate, serving notice to her competitors worldwide: The points race was on.

If other skaters wanted to catch her, they needed to up their games because quads, even landed poorly, can be worth more points than other jumps. A skater who performed a clean quad could score more than twice the number of points she would earn with a triple.

When Trusova skates, you can almost hear the sound of an adding machine calculating her points as they pile up, starting with the high base values for her quadruple jumps. From there, more points are added for how well she executed the jump, if it was done in combination with another jump and if it was landed in the second half of her program.

"Honestly, the Russians are so far ahead when it comes to base values, nobody will probably beat them," said Adam Rippon, who coaches the American Olympian Mariah Bell. "That's just the hard truth of where skating is right now. But over time that will change. It always changes."

The landscape of women's figure skating changed when Russian teenagers began taking over the sport eight years ago.

Adelina Sotnikova was 17 when she won the Olympic gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Games. It was Russia's first Olympic gold in that event and fourth Olympic medal in women's skating, including when it won bronze in 1984, as the Soviet Union. Four years later, at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, Alina Zagitova, at age 15, won the gold, and Evgenia Medvedeva, at 17, won the silver.

All three Russian women in singles skating in Beijing - Valieva, Trusova and Shcherbakova - are expected to win medals and sweep the event, just as the Russians did last year at the world championships. Even the fifth-place skater at Russia's 2022 championships performed quad jumps - three of them.

And all three of Russia's Olympic skaters are coached by Eteri Tutberidze at the Sambo-70 club in Moscow. Tutberidze coached Zagitova and Medvedeva, too, and gets the credit for coaching seven of the 12 women who have landed quads in international competition.

Before Valieva's failed drug test was made public, Nikita Katsalapov, the Russian ice dancer and team captain, was asked if he knew Tutberidze's secret to coaching the quad jump.

"You need to ask this to Eteri," he said. "There is a secret, for sure, and I'm wondering what it is, too."

The mystery is deeper now that the Valieva scandal has cast a shadow over the entire Russian skating program, particularly because Russia is already under penalty for implementing a state-run doping scheme at the Sochi Olympics. Whatever role performance-enhancing drugs turn out to have played at the Beijing Games, it's clear that Russia has a different sports system than nearly every other country, including the United States.

Their Olympic sports on an elite level are government-funded, so athletes don't have to pay for coaches or time on the ice or off-ice training - or anything.

Drew Meekins - who coaches Alysa Liu, the only American woman in Beijing to land a quad and one of only two American women to ever land one - said that Russians' access to intensive training benefits those learning the hardest skills.

If an athlete needs nine hours of training in one day to perfect a quad, Meekins said, she can easily get that time. In the United States, top coaching costs about $100 an hour, so many athletes, even on the elite level, pay for only a fraction of an hour a day and practice on their own otherwise, he said.

There is another important factor behind the Russian dominance lately, said Jim Richards, a former biomechanics and movement science professor at the University of Delaware who studied jumping in figure skating. He said the Russian women have the perfect body type for quads.

"They're skinny, and the skinnier they are, the faster they can spin," he said. "Of course they have to be athletes, but being able to do a quad is partly about physical attributes. If they're born that way and that's what their metabolism is, wonderful. But I'm not sure if it's a healthy thing to push these skaters toward quads if they have to look this way."

Based on Richards's studies, skaters ideally must be in the air for a minimum of 63-hundredths to 64-hundredths of a second and achieve a jump height of about 20 inches to land a quad.

The height of a quad can be as much as 5 percent to 8 percent higher than a triple jump, said Deborah King, a biomechanist at Ithaca College who studies figure skating. She estimates that Trusova and Scherbakova are jumping about three to four inches higher in their quads than in their triples.

Skaters must get into their best rotating position before they reach the highest point of a quadruple jump, which is earlier than for a triple, King said.

If they cannot jump 20 inches, Richards said, skaters must spin faster to compensate. One obstacle is often in the way, though - and that's the fear of injury.

"You have thousands of years of evolution that taught you, 'OK, I really don't want to spin any faster because I'm going to get hurt,'" he said.

Liu, 16, a two-time national champion, was the first American woman to land a quad, when she was 14. It was "really scary" to learn, she said.

"You have to be mentally tough and kind of reckless to do it," she said.

It's even scarier to do when you grow several inches, as Liu has in the past two years. Spinning got harder as her center of gravity shifted. She was also rebounding from a hip injury and in the process of relearning her triple jumps, so the quad quickly fell out of her grasp. She hasn't attempted one since March 2020.

"I did have one and did do it for a little bit," she said of the quadruple jump. "But now I don't, and I'm OK with that."

Notes: Skaters' orders are based on their rankings at the latest national championships. Alysa Liu withdrew from the 2022 U.S. National Championships; her score was taken from the last ISU Grand Prix she competed in, the NHK Trophy in November 2021. All other athletes' scores are from the most recent national championships.

Even though Liu plans to perform a triple axel at the Olympics - a jump that four years ago was also an amazing and rare feat for women - the base value of the components in her programs will not make her competitive with the Russians under normal circumstances.

This was the Russians' plan for more than a decade, said Tara Lipinski, an Olympic champion and figure skating analyst for NBC, explaining that they have gone out of their way to use the point system to their advantage and push the technical limits of the sport.

At the 2018 Olympics, the Russians relied on triple-triple jump combinations in the second half of their programs (for the 10 percent jump bonus given in the second half) to win the gold medal. For years, they have tailored the way they teach jumps to young skaters, Lipinski said, so they have the fundamentals to master a quad.

Those skaters implement a tweak here and a tweak there to their technique so that by the time they are ready to try a quad, all the components are in place for it: takeoff speed, height, tight body position as they rotate and quickness in rotating the body as soon as the feet leave the ice.

This must be done: The quad is now a part of women's skating.

"We laugh about it," Lipinski said, "because almost every month there's a new skater that you hear of who has a quad. It's what Olympic athletes are made of, and I think that's extraordinary."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How the Quad Jump Is Changing Women's Figure Skating

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
BEIJING - The Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's performance in the women's figure skating event this week was supposed to be a highlight of the Beijing Games. As the sport's breakout star here, she was expected to land quadruple jump after quadruple jump, just a week after the team event, where she became the first woman to land one at the Olympics.

# data[].attributes.headline
"Why the Quad Revolution in Women's Figure Skating is a Tragedy," Washington Post

# data[].attributes.subject
"Why the Quad Revolution in Women's Figure Skating is a Tragedy," Washington Post

# data[].attributes.headline
Body Size, Coping Strategies, and Mental Health in Adolescent Female Athletes, International Journal Sports Science and Coaching

# data[].attributes.subject
Body Size, Coping Strategies, and Mental Health in Adolescent Female Athletes, International Journal Sports Science and Coaching

# data[].attributes.headline
Why is it so hard for immigrants to become United States citizens?

# data[].attributes.subject
Why is it so hard for immigrants to become United States citizens?

# data[].attributes.body
I hypothesize that because the United States of America is so divided, issues in the United States overtake immigrants trying to become citizens, making their applications for citizenship longer

# data[].attributes.headline
Do belongings that migrants leave behind while migrating show about their culture, beliefs, and journey?

# data[].attributes.subject
Do belongings that migrants leave behind while migrating show about their culture, beliefs, and journey?

# data[].attributes.body
I believe that certain belongings will show the reason people migrate-most likely a family member, a belief-most likely Christianity or Catholism, accessories that show something important from their life-like a shirt from their dead grandma, and helpful items-like water bottles and plastic bags for food.

# data[].attributes.headline
How does housing policies in Texas influence where migrants live?

# data[].attributes.subject
How does housing policies in Texas influence where migrants live?

# data[].attributes.body
i think with recent gentrification in texas people who have migrated struggle with finding affordable housing. things like eminent domain, red-lining, and generational poverty.

# data[].attributes.headline
How do migrants contribute to human capital development to receiving countries?

# data[].attributes.subject
How do migrants contribute to human capital development to receiving countries?

# data[].attributes.body
People from other countries bring new knowledge of their culture, art, music etc, that would then add to our society and open our minds to new and creative ideas.

# data[].attributes.headline
what are the causes of death when people cross the border, whats their story?

# data[].attributes.subject
what are the causes of death when people cross the border, whats their story?

# data[].attributes.body
i think that the number of deaths is more then 100

# data[].attributes.headline
How has the American border wall influenced the way people migrate since 2016?

# data[].attributes.subject
How has the American border wall influenced the way people migrate since 2016?

# data[].attributes.body
I think it would most likely cause people to take even greater risks when migrating, like walking through the desert far away from the border wall.

# data[].attributes.headline
How has south Texas food culture changed 

# data[].attributes.subject
How has south Texas food culture changed 

# data[].attributes.body
the food changed with migration from mexico causing a combination between american and mexican food

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191308517300035

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abstract

Research on social categories has become one of the more active lines of research on organizations. Much of this research presumes the pre-existence of at least the "seed" of the category and then proceeds to study and explain how the category developed and became institutionalized. By contrast, this study joins several recent others in attempting to identify and explain why a previously non-existent social category emerged in the first place. Empirically, we examine the emergence of the Tex-Mex social category for food and cuisine. In studying Tex-Mex food, we present a brief analytical social history of the cuisine starting in Old Mexico and continuing up to contemporary times. We juxtapose the social facts that we report with prevailing theoretical ideas (social-activist theorization and similarity clustering) about category emergence drawn from organization theory. While insightful, we find current theoretical accounts to be incomplete in explaining why Tex-Mex emerged. By contrast, our analysis directs attention to the status dynamics of ethnic majority/minority populations, early inexpensive mass industrialization of the food and certain geographic factors. Casual comparisons to other ethnic food categories appear to support the speculative argument we advance.

Recommended articles Citing articles (0)
View full text

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Where did "Tex-Mex" come from? The divisive emergence of a social category

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Research on social categories has become one of the more active lines of research on organizations. Much of this research presumes the pre-existence of at least the "seed" of the category and then proceeds to study and explain how the category developed and became institutionalized.

# data[].attributes.headline
How has migration changed people's culture in, and the cultural landscape of, San Antonio?

# data[].attributes.subject
How has migration changed people's culture in, and the cultural landscape of, San Antonio?

# data[].attributes.body
I think that it has influenced the cultural landscape to be more diverse and varied, as well as introduced new art and ideas into people's minds.

# data[].attributes.headline
My San Antonio - Waves of migration to San Antonio

# data[].attributes.subject
My San Antonio - Waves of migration to San Antonio

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.mysanantonio.com/sa300/article/Waves-of-migration-to-San-Antonio-11237021.php

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From the Native Americans first drawn here by natural resources to more current immigrants...

# data[].attributes.headline
What are the reasons the US government continues to push away migrants from entering the US?

# data[].attributes.subject
What are the reasons the US government continues to push away migrants from entering the US?

# data[].attributes.body
I believe the reasons the US government continues to push away migrants from entering the US is that they think the migrants are taking jobs away from current US citizens and making the economy worse for the United States.

# data[].attributes.headline
Is there a way we make crossing the border safer without increasing the fear of immigrants.

# data[].attributes.subject
Is there a way we make crossing the border safer without increasing the fear of immigrants.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that building further immigration laws allowing people to come to America and immediately give them government services. These services will help them find a job so that the need for illegal immigration an the fear of it's results are greatly decreased.

# data[].attributes.headline
What are the causes of deaths for unauthorized vs. authorized migrants in Texas?

# data[].attributes.subject
What are the causes of deaths for unauthorized vs. authorized migrants in Texas?

# data[].attributes.body
I think that the causes of death for unauthorized migrants will have more unnatural causes because they are less cared for than authorized migrants.

# data[].attributes.headline
University of Incarnate Word - San Antonio's German Immigrants and Secession - Journal of San Antonio

# data[].attributes.subject
University of Incarnate Word - San Antonio's German Immigrants and Secession - Journal of San Antonio

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.uiw.edu/sanantonio/SanAntoniosGermanImmigrantsandSecession.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
san antonio migration culture - Google Search

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Jun 24, 2017 — They were followed by Spanish colonizers and the Indians from northern Mexico they brought with them; Canary Islanders; U.S. settlers arriving ...

# data[].attributes.headline
What are some of the struggles that migrants face finding/getting a job?

# data[].attributes.subject
What are some of the struggles that migrants face finding/getting a job?

# data[].attributes.body
I believe that the some of the struggles they face are finding jobs in the first place due to a language barrier. Another reason them maybe not knowing how to look for new jobs in a new place that is unknown.

# data[].attributes.headline
San Antonio Office of the Immigration Liaison - San Antonio ranked First among Texas Cities in Immigrant Integration

# data[].attributes.subject
San Antonio Office of the Immigration Liaison - San Antonio ranked First among Texas Cities in Immigrant Integration

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.sanantonio.gov/comm/News/ArtMID/24373/ArticleID/19488/San-Antonio-is-ranked-first-among-Texas-cities-in-immigrant-integration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
The City of San Antonio - Official City Website

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
San Antonio is ranked first among Texas cities in immigrant integration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CONTACT: Tracy Talavera, 210-207-4457
tracy.talavera@sanantonio.gov SAN ANTONIO, TX (Sept. 23, 2020) —The City of San Antonio ranks first among Texas cities in policies that help immigrants integrate into the community and economy, according to the third annual NAE Cities Index on Immigration Inte…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Situation at the U.S.-Mexico Border Can't Be 'Solved' Without Acknowledging Its Origins

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Biden's attempts to address immigration may be new, but the issue is one that has dogged his predecessors for decades

# data[].attributes.headline
How does the border effect the mental health of separated families?

# data[].attributes.subject
How does the border effect the mental health of separated families?

# data[].attributes.body
I think that the separation could cause immense amounts of trauma for both parties. children separated from their parents leaves them vulnerable and parents separated from their kids leave them depressed, since they were supposed to take care of the kids.

# data[].attributes.headline
What is the experience of a teenager migrating alone from Mexico to the US?

# data[].attributes.subject
What is the experience of a teenager migrating alone from Mexico to the US?

# data[].attributes.body
I think that the experience for a teenager migrating to the US alone is dangerous,and depressing.I think this because you're all alone and there can be many people trying to harm them

# data[].attributes.headline
How does crossing the border affect a child's education?

# data[].attributes.subject
How does crossing the border affect a child's education?

# data[].attributes.body
I believe that crossing the border childrens education might be affected.

# data[].attributes.headline
How has Relocation Diffusion affected the way Music had changed from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s?  

# data[].attributes.subject
How has Relocation Diffusion affected the way Music had changed from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s?  

# data[].attributes.body
I think that Relocation Diffusion affected music because people were leaving their home town/country. So, to remember where they came from, they probably shared a bit of their culture with others through Music. Then leading to people integrating aspects of said culture into their own music.

# data[].attributes.headline
How does the border being built affect ground dwelling mammals?

# data[].attributes.subject
How does the border being built affect ground dwelling mammals?

# data[].attributes.body
I want to know how the border being THROUGH McAllen and Benson affects ground dwelling mammals. How does it affect animals who are trying to go back home (or are trying to migrate for survival) and cant because the border is in the way? What does this mean for them? Does that area specific species go extinct?

# data[].attributes.headline
What are the effects the border wall has on the surrounding environment? 

# data[].attributes.subject
What are the effects the border wall has on the surrounding environment? 

# data[].attributes.body
I believe that the boarder wall effects the environment around it because it stops the migration of different land animals between the two countries. This can be very harmful to the entire species of the animals that can't migrate.

# data[].attributes.headline
How has Covid-19 affected the outcome of Mexican migrants likability of making it across the South Texas border.

# data[].attributes.subject
How has Covid-19 affected the outcome of Mexican migrants likability of making it across the South Texas border.

# data[].attributes.body
Covid-19 affected Mexican migrants likability of making it across the South Texas border by having more restrictions up for traveling, and causing a worldwide panic that made it difficult for migrants and everybody else.

# data[].attributes.headline
What is the environmental affect of climate change to the south Texas bird (Whooping crane) natural habitat in the last 50 years?

# data[].attributes.subject
What is the environmental affect of climate change to the south Texas bird (Whooping crane) natural habitat in the last 50 years?

# data[].attributes.body
I believe the affect of climate change pushes aside what it does to the environment leading the Whooping crane away from specific areas or hurting their habitat leading to the Whooping crane to no longer exist.

# data[].attributes.headline
how is it different migrating north of the border and south?

# data[].attributes.subject
how is it different migrating north of the border and south?

# data[].attributes.body
i think it would be easier/less dangerous to migrate from the north because there is less of a border and like no other countries so less people coming from the north.

# data[].attributes.headline
Migration data relevant for the COVID-19 pandemic

# data[].attributes.subject
Migration data relevant for the COVID-19 pandemic

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.migrationdataportal.org/themes/migration-data-relevant-covid-19-pandemic#:~:text=As%20of%2010%20October%202021,on%20UN%20DESA%2C%202020%3B%20World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Key migration trends

By theme

Changes in flows and migrant stocks

COVID-related restrictions have an impact on the mobility of migrants and the role of humanitarian organizations. Between 10 March 2020, a day before the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and 4 October 2021, 109,591 movement restrictions were implemented around the world ( IOM, 2021a). At the same time, 201 countries, territories or areas have issued 998 exceptions to these restrictions, thus enabling mobility ( ibid.). Assuming zero-growth in the number of migrants between 1 March and 1 July 2020, estimates suggest a decrease of nearly 2 million international migrants compared to the initially expected increase between mid-2019 and mid-2020 ( UN DESA, 2020).

In 2020, permanent migration inflows to OECD countries are estimated to have fallen by more than 30 per cent and 2020 was a historical low for migration to OECD countries since 2003 ( OECD, 2021). Among all categories of permanent migration to OECD countries, partially available data show that family migration experienced the largest decline in 2020 by more than 35 per cent ( ibid.).

Such a drop in migration inflows due to COVID-related restrictions can also have demographic effects on countries dependent on migration for population growth. For example, national data for 2020 suggest that the population of Germany did not grow for the first time in the last decade due to a decline in immigration (German Federal Statistics Office, 2021a). As of the end of 2020, the total number of foreign nationals in Germany had risen by 1.8 per cent, the lowest rate in the last decade ( German Federal Statistics Office, 2021b). In Australia, higher migration outflows than inflows in 2020/2021 is projected to lead to the lowest population growth in a century ( Australian Centre for Population, 2020).

International students have also been affected by mobility restrictions in both origin and destination countries. The number of first permits issued by OECD countries to international students dropped significantly in 2020 as a result of COVID-19. For example, the United States of America and the United Kingdom -- the most popular destination countries for international students -- issued 69 per cent and 40 per cent fewer first permits to students in 2020 respectively compared to 2019 ( OECD, 2021).

Infection and death rates among migrants

Low-skilled labour migrants in crowded dormitories have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Examples from Saudi Arabia and Singapore, where the Ministries of Health have provided official data on the migration status of individuals who tested positive, show the differential exposure to the virus of the migrant population. According to the Saudi Ministry of Health, 75 per cent of all newly confirmed cases as of 7 May 2020 were among migrants. In Singapore, over 95 per cent of the confirmed cases by 19 June 2020 were among migrants, with over 93 per cent of the total cases being related to migrants' dormitories ( Singapore Ministry of Health, 2021). Despite a downward trend in the number of new cases, as of 5 July 2021, cases among residents of dormitories continued to account for more than 87 per cent of the cumulative number of cases in Singapore ( ibid.). However, due to the exponential rise in COVID cases among those not resident in dormitories in the third quarter of 2021, the share of cases in dormitories dropped to 54 per cent relative to the overall number of cases in Singapore ( ibid.).

As international migrants are a highly heterogenous group, the effects on their health are also varied. A rapid systematic review of publications found that the incidence rates among migrants and forcibly displaced persons appear to be consistently higher than among non-migrant groups ( Hintermeier et. al., 2020). However, all studies included in this review focused on migrant and forcibly displaced persons who were at a higher risk of becoming infected due to their living and working conditions ( ibid.). Another review of peer-reviewed literature, national datasets and grey literature by Hayward et. al. (2020) also shows that migrants in high-income countries are at increased risk of infection and death due to COVID-19. In addition to migrants' living and working conditions, the study also attributes this disproportionate representation of migrants to limited access to healthcare ( ibid.) (see section on migration governance). Even though the incidence rates of COVID-19 are higher among migrants in several countries, comparing the data is also challenging due to national differences in demographics and data collection ( Laczko, 2021).

169 million people were estimated to be migrant workers in 2019 ( ILO, 2021). 24.2 per cent of all migrant workers globally were hosted in Northern, Southern and Western Europe, and another 22.1 per cent were hosted in Northern America. More than two in five migrant workers were hosted in these regions and were among the first to be affected by lay-offs and movement restrictions and lockdowns impacting livelihoods such as losing their businesses. As evidenced in the previous section, living conditions in crowded housing pose a particular risk to the spread of COVID-19 among migrant workers.

The unemployment rates of migrants increased significantly in more than 75 per cent of all OECD countries in 2020 ( OECD, 2021). An analysis of monthly data from the US Census Bureau shows that, from May to July 2021, the drop in the number of employed immigrants was steeper than the number of employed US-born adults compared to the same period in 2019 ( Capps et al., 2021). Although data on unemployment rates disaggregated by migratory status is not available at a nationally representative level, analysis of data collected by IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) shows that the unemployment rates of Venezuelans in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru were higher than the unemployment rates among the populations of the destination countries (Chaves-González et al., 2021).

Beyond unemployment, the share of immigrant workers living in poverty in OECD countries - despite being employed - was highest in Southern European countries and the United States in 2017/18. The in-work poverty rates in Spain and the United States in 2018 were 32.1 and 24.8 per cent respectively and it was 29.1 per cent in Italy in 2017 ( OECD, 2019b). Such migrants were disproportionately affected during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis when unemployment rates of citizens increased but measures to mitigate the effects did not include migrants.

Migrants, regardless of where they work, make important contributions to address the pandemic but are also exposed to higher risks of contracting the virus. As an illustration, among the 20 countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases as of 10 October 2021, available international data for 2015/16 show that at least 6 countries - the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy and Germany- depended on foreign-born workers in the critical sector of healthcare services ( OECD, 2019). On the higher end, 33 per cent of doctors and 22 per cent of nurses in the United Kingdom in 2015/6 were foreign-born ( ibid.).

Migrants constitute a significant share among sectors that are critical as well as sectors that are most affected by the crisis: For example, in 6 of the 20 countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases as of 10 October 2021, more than 10 per cent of all services and sales workers were foreign-born. Additionally, available data show that more than 9 per cent of all skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers in 5 of these countries were foreign-born (GMDAC analysis based on OECD DIOC, 2015/16). On average, 13 per cent of all key workers in the European Union (EU) are immigrants ( Fasani and Mazza, 2020). In 2017, the United States had recruited 161,583 foreign workers on seasonal work permits ( OECD, 2019) and seasonal workers in countries in the EU are often undercounted. An estimated 69 per cent of all migrants in the United States work in critical infrastructure sectors ( Center for Migration Studies, 2020 based on 2018 US Census Bureau data). In most of the OECD countries highly affected by the crisis, women make up between three and five out of seven of the foreign-born workers in the services and sales sectors (GMDAC analysis based on OECD DIOC, 2015/16). The lockdowns in many countries can have disproportionate implications on the socioeconomic status of migrant women, who are overrepresented in these sectors among all migrant workers.

% foreign-born workers among all services and sales workers, 2015/16

% women among foreign-born services and sales workers, 2015/16

% foreign-born workers among skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, 2015/16

% women among foreign-born skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers, 2015/16

Source: GMDAC analysis based on OECD DIOC, 2015/16 a b Since data are disaggregated by foreign-born, native-born and unknown, the percentages reflected here might be underestimates. Occupational data for the US are coded with US SOC codes and therefore are not directly comparable with data for the other countries in the above table which are coded with ISCO-08 codes.
There were an estimated 11.5 million migrant domestic workers (MDWs) around the world in 2013, approximately 8.5 million of whom were female ( ILO, 2015). In times of COVID 19, their employers may be infected and pass the disease on, perish with the worker losing their income since work permits are often tied to the employer. With border closures and economic constraints, returning to countries of origin is often not possible, trapping migrant domestic workers in destination countries without housing and income (see section on data disaggregated by sex below).

An estimated 41 per cent of total remittance inflows globally in 2019 as well as in 2020 were received in the 20 countries with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases as of 10 October 2021 (GMDAC analysis based on World Bank, 2021). Globally, 9 of the 20 countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases - the United States of America, India, the United Kingdom, the Russian Federation, France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Malaysia - were among the 20 countries from which the highest amounts of remittances were sent in 2020. Remittances sent from these nine countries alone made up more than 23 per cent of all global remittances received in 2020 (ibid.).

Before the COVID-19 crisis started, the World Bank ( 2019) had projected that 574 billion USD will be sent to low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2020, but job losses and difficulty to send remittances during shutdowns will significantly affect recipients dependent on these remittances for their financial stability. In April 2020, Ratha et al. ( 2020a) estimated that remittances to low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) will fall to 445 billion USD in 2020, a decline of 20 per cent compared to 2019. In October 2020, Ratha et al. ( 2020b) adjusted their forecasted decline to LMICs to 508 billion USD in 2020 and a further decline to 470 billion USD in 2021. However, the latest data show that remittance flows to LMICs fell by only 1.7 per cent to USD 549 billion, defying projected declines that would have been the sharpest in recent history ( Ratha et. al, 2021). Annual projections for 2021 expect remittance flows to LMICs to recover and increase by 7.3 per cent to USD 589 billion ( ibid.).

Oil-producing countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are an important destination for migrants from South Asia and East Africa. As many international migrant workers in the GCC states returned to their origin countries (see section on return migration below), sending remittances to their families is no longer possible. Since one in nine people around the world depend on remittances sent by migrant workers, COVID-19 impacts migrant families and communities in terms of remittance-supported nutrition, health, education and income, which in turn may lead to potential setbacks on progress made on several of the UN SDGs. It should however be noted that remittances are private funds and cannot replace Official Development Assistance and other public spending.

Data from countries that are major recipients of remittances highlight the nuanced trend behind these variations. After an initial dip in the first half of 2020 (mostly in March and April), remittances appear to have rebounded to pre-COVID-19 rates and historical highs in several countries. For example, Pakistan - where remittance inflows accounted for nearly 8 per cent of the GDP in 2019 - saw the highest amount of monthly remittances historically in July 2020 ( State Bank of Pakistan, 2020). In countries such as Mexico and Nepal, monthly remittances in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2020 increased to amounts higher than the previous year for the same period.

Several factors could be behind this trend: currency fluctuations paired with the effect of countries coming out of strict lockdowns - during which time usual household spending was limited and savings were higher - may have played an important role in the dip and rebound. Emerging economies faced sharp currency depreciation in February-March 2020 whereas the currencies of advanced economies were generally strong during the same period. This may have led to the usual amount of remittances sent getting converted to higher amounts in the receiving countries. The financial behaviour of migrants in times of crises could also be a factor, with migrants sending lockdown savings to support their families in countries heavily affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, but also vice versa, with families supporting migrants in countries affected. Additionally, migrants who returned to their countries of origin may also have transferred their savings through official channels before returning.

Due to the travel restrictions and border closures imposed by governments globally, several migrants - including seasonal workers and international students - were stranded and unable to return to their countries of origin. As of 13 July 2020, IOM's Return Task Force had identified at least 3 million stranded migrants ( IOM, 2020). Of these, more than 1.2 million migrants were stranded in the IOM region of Middle East and North Africa ( ibid.).

With migrants losing jobs and facing higher risks of being infected due to their often overcrowded living conditions, many workers are returning to their countries of origin, often with the help of bilateral negotiations that allow borders to be temporarily opened to return stranded migrants. Globally, India is the country of origin with the largest number of emigrants ( UN DESA, 2020) and as of 12 October 2021, India's official repatriation operation had facilitated the return of nearly 2.7 million stranded Indians from around the world ( Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation, 2021). More than 1.6 million undocumented Afghans returned from Iran and Pakistan between 1 March 2020 and 2 September 2021. Of these, 117,145 Afghans had returned in the first two weeks of March 2020 alone ( IOM, 2021d). As of 30 October 2020, more than 136,000 Venezuelan migrants and refugees had returned to Venezuela from other countries in the region (IOM and UN OCHA, 2020). At its peak, 600 Venezuelans returned from Colombia daily and an average of 88 Venezuelans returned from Brazil daily via the border at Pacaraima ( Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela, 2020). Between 1 April 2020 and 26 March 2021, IOM had assisted more than 62,000 migrants who were in quarantine facilities after returning to Ethiopia from neighbouring African countries and Saudi Arabia ( IOM, 2021e). Additionally, through the COVID-19 Return Task Force, IOM had assisted 1,100 migrants to return to their countries of origin in 2020 ( IOM, 2021f).

Data collected by IOM's DTM between 13 March 2020 and 18 August 2021 show that internal mobility restrictions in countries around the world had an impact on regular travellers and nationals in 60 per cent and 61 per cent respectively of the internal transit points assessed ( 2021g). Among 33,393 respondents of a study by the Mixed Migration Centre ( 2021), nearly 28 per cent reported that the pandemic had made it difficult to cross borders and another 25 per cent reported that it had affected internal mobility. With lockdowns leaving internal migrants unemployed and homeless, thousands of workers in the informal sector returned from cities such as New Delhi, India, to their hometowns ( UN, 2020).

Such exoduses of migrant workers - both international and internal migrants - have two main effects on the countries and places of origin: increased health vulnerabilities ( Zenner and Wickramage, 2020) and socioeconomic pressure. In addition to the direct economic effects of lost remittances (see section above), studies show that international remittances from migrants to their families reduce child labour and keep children at school ( ILO-UNICEF, 2020). With the projected loss of USD 109 billion in remittances due to COVID-19, more children are at risk of being forced into child labour.

Conversely, return migration also affects the former countries of destination that are dependent on migrant workers in essential sectors (see section on labour migration). Migrants made up an estimated 19 per cent of the population in Germany, 15 per cent in the United States of America and Spain, 14 per cent in the United Kingdom and 13 per cent in France at mid-year 2020 (all among the top 20 countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cumulative cases, as of 10 October 2021) ( UN DESA, 2020), where they are also overrepresented in essential sectors such as healthcare and services.

Approximately one in five international migrants were estimated to live in just 20 cities - Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Hong Kong SAR, China, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Vienna and Washington DC ( IOM, 2015). For 18 of these cities, international migrants represented around 20 per cent of the total population ( ibid.). The share of foreign-born persons in the total population in some cities exceeds the global average (around 3.4% in 2015) by a large margin ( IOM, 2015). Dubai had a foreign born population of close to 83 per cent, while in Brussels it is 62 per cent, in Toronto 46 per cent and Melbourne 35 per cent, to name a few examples ( ibid.).

Income inequality and marginalization affect local patterns of COVID-19 prevalence. For instance, while positive cases have been recorded throughout New York, most confirmed cases were in areas with the lowest median incomes, despite the limited local availability of testing. This is likely due to structural factors linked to living and working conditions preventing people from applying basic prevention and mitigation measures. More than 35 per cent of the population in New York in 2018 were foreign-born and publicly available data from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene show that migrants were overrepresented in all but 1 of the 10 areas most affected by COVID-19 in the city (in terms of positive cases per 1000 residents).

COVID-19 and related global movement restrictions have also affected displaced persons. UNHCR's estimation model compared to their forecasts shows that approximately 1.5 million fewer refugees and asylum-seekers arrived in 2020 than would have been expected without COVID-19 ( 2021). Globally, the number of new asylum applications lodged in the first half of 2020 was 32 per cent less than the number during the same period in 2019 ( OECD et. al., 2020). In OECD countries, the drop in number of new asylum applications was 31 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019 ( OECD, 2021). The European Union saw a nearly 34 per cent decrease in first-time asylum applications in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 ( Eurostat, 2021a) However, the number of first-time asylum applications had increased by 9 per cent and 115 per cent in the first and second quarters of 2021 respectively compared to the same time period in 2020 ( Eurostat, 2021b).

The 20 countries with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases as of 10 October 2021 hosted about 7.4 million refugees, or more than 35 per cent of refugees worldwide by the end of 2020 (GMDAC analysis based on WHO, 2021 and UNHCR, 2021). Of these 20 countries, Turkey, Germany, the Islamic Republic of Iran, France, and the US were among the top 20 refugee-hosting countries according to data by UNHCR for the end of 2020 (ibid.). Additionally, the United States of America, Turkey, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, France and Spain were among the 10 countries with the highest number of pending asylum applications as of the end of 2020 (ibid.). Despite the 1 million drop in asylum claims globally, nearly 21,000 unaccompanied or separated children had applied for asylum in 2020 ( UNHCR, 2021). As of 31 December 2020, more than 270,000 Venezuelans had pending asylum claims in the US, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Mexico and Argentina ( ibid.).

Despite the mobility constraints posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, migrants continue to embark on clandestine journeys, fleeing violence and poverty and seeking to improve their lives. COVID-19 responses have increased the risks and uncertainty of these journeys, pushing people into more perilous situations where humanitarian support and rescue may not be available. Some 7,130 people lost their lives during migration between 1 March 2020 and 5 October 2021, according to data from IOM's Missing Migrants Project (MMP). Not included in this total are the thousands of deaths linked to COVID-19 cases among migrant workers and deaths related to mobility restrictions and lockdowns.

Amidst the pandemic, at least 4,320 people lost their lives attempting to reach Europe on maritime routes between 1 March 2020 and 5 October 2021. The Central Mediterranean has remained the most dangerous irregular migration corridor worldwide - more than 2,050 people are known to have died on this route between 1 March 2020 and 5 October 2021.

In the first nine months of 2021, there has been a substantial increase in the number of people who died on maritime routes to Europe compared with 2020. From January to September 2021, at least 2,425 people lost their lives, which is a substantial increase compared to the fatalities recorded in the same period in 2020 (1,290) and 2019 (1,310). COVID-19 related measures continue to impact search and rescue efforts, with new imposed restrictions on the operations of civilian (NGO-run) vessels and denying or delaying disembarkation at safe ports in multiple instances.

Meanwhile, conflict and poverty exacerbated by measures to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, have compelled increasing numbers of people to embark on the extremely perilous journeys on the Western African Atlantic route from the coast of Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco to Spain's Canary Islands. Since September 2020, there has been an increase in crossings of the this route. At least 21,167 people arrived in the Canary Islands between September 2020 and January 2021 alone, compared with 2,456 in the previous five months of 2020 and 4,929 in the five-month period from February to June 2021. These numbers are still far below a peak in 2006, when 32,000 people arrived to the islands by boat from the coast of Africa. However, the trauma and risk of death that this dangerous crossing presents are concerning. Between March 2020 and 5 October 2021, MMP recorded the deaths or disappearances of at least 1,670 people on the migration route to the Canary Islands, 250 of which occurred in 2021. This figure is considered a severe undercount of the real number of lives lost on this route; NGOs have reported that the real number of migrant deaths on the route to the Canary Islands in the first six months of 2021 could be as high as 2,000.
Migrants in countries with the highest number of cumulative COVID-19 cases, as of 10 October 2021 : WHO, 2021 (accessed on 16 October 2021); GMDAC analysis based on UN DESA, 2020
The crisis of "invisible shipwrecks" on maritime routes to Europe, cases where a boat is reported missing, often by family members of those on board, but no survivors are found, has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is due to persistent search and rescue gaps as well as increased barriers for data sharing, which has made cases even more difficult to verify. In 2020, MMP collected evidence on 13 invisible shipwrecks involving hundreds of people, and there are strong indications that migrants continue to go missing without a trace in 2021. Some of the most significant evidence of this has been the human remains recovered on the Algerian coast (mostly near Aïn Témouchent, Oran, Mostaganem) signalling possible invisible shipwrecks on the Western Mediterranean route.

COVID-19 restrictions in South-Eastern Asia have meant hundreds of Rohingya migrants attempting to leave Myanmar have become stranded at sea as States refuse to allow them to disembark due to fears of infection. While it is difficult to know the true death toll on these stranded boats, one of them left an estimated 70 dead in April 2020 after the boat was refused entry to any country for more than two months. Another similar situation in February 2021 left at least 8 Rohingya migrants dead and 1 missing. During the 2015 Bay of Bengal crisis, which saw Rohingya boats similarly stranded, IOM documented more than 500 deaths at sea.

By age

The UN Sustainable Development Goals call for ensuring that no one is left behind, including migrants. Different age groups face varying vulnerabilities as both migrants and as part of a certain period in life. Globally, about 12 per cent of all international migrants are 65 years and older. However, in 11 of the 20 countries with the highest number of confirmed cases, persons aged 65 years and older represent a lower share in the international migrant stock compared to their share in the general population. India, Brazil, the Russian Federation, France, Argentina, Poland, South Africa, the Philippines and Ukraine are the countries where this is an exception. In 15 of the 20 countries with the highest number of confirmed cases, between 60 per cent and 84 per cent of migrants are estimated to be of working age (between 20 and 64 years old) (GMDAC analysis based on WHO, 2021 and UN DESA, 2020). Migrants are thus more likely to be either young or of working age and are part of the response by working in critical sectors. They are also at risk of being exposed to COVID-19 by working in sectors where home-based work is not possible (see section on labour migration for detailed analysis).

By sex

Women comprised less than half, 135 million or 48.1 per cent, of the global international migrant stock at mid-year 2020 ( UN DESA, 2020). However, more female migrants are migrating independently for work, education and as heads of households. Despite these advances, female migrants may still face stronger discrimination, and are more vulnerable to mistreatment compared to male migrants. In general, the pandemic has led to an increase in gender-based violence ( CARE and IRC, 2020).

Nonetheless, men are also exposed to vulnerabilities in the migration processes. Therefore, gender-responsive data on migration have potential to promote greater equality and are key to avoid exacerbated repercussions for disadvantaged groups. Care work also disproportionally rests on women, including caring for those affected by COVID-19 and children in light of day-care and school closures ( ibid.). As healthcare workers, female migrants may face an additional burden to their job by having to care for family members at home and at the same time potentially facing stigmatization if in contact with patients infected with COVID-19.

The larger presence of men in the international migrant stock is also reflected in the proportion of male migrant workers. In 2019, migrant workers were estimated to be 58.5 per cent male and 41.5 per cent female ( ILO, 2021). At 59.8 per cent and 46.7 per cent respectively, the labour force participation rate of migrant women was higher than that of non-migrant women in 2019 ( ibid.). In the current global health crisis, female migrant workers may thus be more affected by unemployment than female nationals, and can therefore experience double discrimination as both migrants and as women in their host country.

Migration Governance

Access to healthcare

An analysis of Migration Governance Indicators (MGI) assessments conducted between 2018 and 2020 in 84 countries, pre-COVID-19 pandemic, found these countries provide migrants with varying degrees of access to government-funded health services depending on their migratory status. The analysis, which covered 51 countries, showed that a third of these countries provide the same access to health care to both citizens and migrants, regardless of their migratory status. In half of the countries surveyed, equal access to health care is contingent on migratory status. Moreover, 12 per cent of the countries provide migrants with access to some health services only, including emergency health care (IOM, 2019; and Milan and Cunnoosamy, 2020). In most cases, there are no limitations to access to private health care or insurance.

Analysis of migration-related data from the United Nations Twelfth Inquiry among Governments on Population and Development - another effort to collect data on SDG target 10.7.2 - also shows that migrants' access to health services can depend on migratory status. The Inquiry, which collected data on 111 countries between late 2018 and early 2019, found that more than three quarters (86 per cent) of governments provide essential and emergency health care to all non-nationals, regardless of their migratory status, while 8 per cent indicate that they provide such services only to those whose status is regular.

Inclusion of migrants in crisis plans

COVID-19 affects all regardless of nationality, but migrants are often left out in national pandemic plans due to a lack of data disaggregation by migratory status. A review of pandemic influenza preparedness plans in 21 countries of the Asia Pacific region in 2016 only found 3 countries (Thailand, Papua New Guinea and the Maldives) adequately included non-citizens beyond health control measures at borders (18 out of 21 countries, Wickramage et al., 2018). Excluding migrants' access to entitlements or access to health care in domestic legal and policy frameworks may increase transmission risks, adverse outcomes and inhibit access to early detection, treatment and negatively affect public health management ( Zenner and Wickramage, 2020).

Most MGI countries do not have a strategy with specific measures to assist migrants before, during, and post-crisis phases. MGI assessment data from 84 countries indicates that there are no such strategies in 65 per cent (55 Countries) of the MGI countries assessed. These measures mainly pertain to internal displacement, refugee movements and humanitarian assistance on an equal footing to nationals and migrants. Measures on maintaining or upscaling health systems during a public health crisis are not specifically mentioned. Nineteen per cent of the countries partially include these types of measures in the sense that their strategies are inclusive of all vulnerable communities (thus informally encompassing migrants). Some countries temporarily relax immigration requirements, allowing migrants whose country of origin has been affected by a crisis to remain in the destination country beyond the usual time limit. In other cases, assistance is provided de facto to all migrants irrespective of their migration status. Only 15 per cent of the countries assessed have specific measures to assist migrants, but several mention that assistance is given on an ad hoc basis.

Conversely, 60 per cent of the countries offer assistance to their nationals abroad in times of crisis. Most of these countries provide emergency travel documents and repatriation possibilities, but only for broadly defined "humanitarian crises". 38 per cent of the countries that participated in the MGI assessment offer assistance on a case-by-case basis and only where a migrant's country of origin is represented through consular bodies. In most cases, assistance from the country of origin is limited or even not possible when there are no consulates in the receiving country.

In 2% of the assessed MGI countries, there are no specific measures to assist nationals living abroad in times of crisis. Similar to the MGI assessments, the UN Inquiry found that 68 per cent of governments have specific measures to provide assistance to citizens residing abroad in countries in crisis or post-crisis situations.

Ireland carried out a rapid policy survey based on the MGI COVID-19 module in May 2020 to assess the extent to which COVID-19 response policies - whether it be migration, crisis response, health, socioeconomic recovery or other policies - recognize and address the special needs and vulnerabilities of migrants in the country as well as nationals abroad and promote their contributions to the COVID-19 response and the country's economy. The report highlights access to COVID-19 public medical testing and treatment for all people residing in Ireland, irrespective of their migratory status, among other key findings.
The figures on new cases face inconsistencies across countries and may underreport the real extent of case data as official figures are based on tested cases only and as such capacities to test and testing itself varies by country. The same applies to recorded deaths caused by COVID-19 as different criteria for counting deaths as COVID-19 related/based or not are used in different countries.
Inclusion of migrants in COVID-19 vaccination campaigns

Though some countries report including migrants in their official National Deployment and Vaccination Plans (NDVPs), IOM has observed that these plans are not always enacted in practice. As of 17 May 2021, 33 per cent of 152 countries reported including irregular migrants in their NDVPs whereas only 28 per cent of the observed 168 countries actually included them in practice. Similarly, 56 per cent of 152 countries reported including refugees and asylum seekers in their NDVPs whereas only 45 per cent of the observed 168 countries actually included them in the roll-out of those campaigns on the ground ( IOM, 2021b). Despite a continued lack of clarity on NDVPs regarding migrants' access to vaccines, more recent data from 10 September 2021 show that 46 per cent of 153 countries included irregular migrants in their NDVPs whereas 38 per cent of the observed 177 countries actually included them in practice. In the case of refugees and asylum seekers, 71 per cent of 153 countries officially included them in their NDVPs, and nearly 69 per cent of the observed 177 countries included them in practice (IOM, 2021c).

Data strengths & limitations

For detailed analyses of the strengths and limitations of the highlighted data sources, please visit the thematic pages on:

For the detailed methodology on IOM's mobility restrictions tracking, please visit https://migration.iom.int/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Migration data relevant for the COVID-19 pandemic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Changes in flows and migrant stocks COVID-related restrictions have an impact on the mobility of migrants and the role of humanitarian organizations. Between 10 March 2020, a day before the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and 4 October 2021, 109,591 movement restrictions were implemented around the world ( IOM, 2021a).

# data[].attributes.headline
Growth of international migration slowed by 27%, or 2 million migrants, due to COVID-19, says UN

# data[].attributes.subject
Growth of international migration slowed by 27%, or 2 million migrants, due to COVID-19, says UN

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.un.org/en/desa/growth-international-migration-slowed-27-or-2-million-migrants-due-covid-19-says-un

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Growth of international migration slowed by 27%, or 2 million migrants, due to COVID-19, says UN | United Nations

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
COVID-19 has disrupted all forms of human mobility through the closing of national borders and halting of travel worldwide. Preliminary estimates suggest that the pandemic may have slowed the growth in the stock of international migrants by around two million by mid-2020, 27 per cent less than the growth expected since mid-2019, according to a report by the United Nations released today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
American Music Timeline (AMT)

Part Two: 1820 - 1920

Compiled by Roger Lee Hall, musicologist

This timeline covers the century between the first American popular songs to music at the end of World War I and the beginning of the Roaring Twenties.

Part One features music composed and published in America between 1620 and 1818.

It is a selective listing and makes no claim to be comprehensive and the emphasis is on vocal music.

They are highlights of key historical events and music composed during these centuries.

Your comments or questions are welcome about the AMT.

Send them to:

American Music History Timeline

Click on these links to read the entries for the...

Please help support this archive... Order your music items from the CAMP Store
19th century

1822 The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of sacred choruses was first published. It would go on to have 22 editions up until 1858.

1827 First popular American song hit: "The Minstrel's Return from the War," by John Hill Hewitt, called "Father of the American Ballad." This song was believed to have been written in 1825 and published two years later by his brother.

1831 "My Country 'Tis of Thee" (also known as: "America") was first sung at Park Street Church in Boston. The words were written by Samuel Francis Smith and set to the tune of "God Save the King."

1835 "Amazing Grace" published to the tune of "New Britain" in William Walker's The Southern Harmony. This is the version most often sung today. It was printed in other tune collections, for example: The Sacred Harp. Also written this year a Shaker dance song was composed by Elder Issachar Bates, "Come Life, Shaker Life" which has become popular in the 20th century.

1838 First music in public schools, begun in Boston and led by music educator, Lowell Mason, who was best known for his many hymns and anthems, including "Nearer My God To Thee" and "Jerusalem, My Glorious Home."

1840 "The Old Arm Chair, A Ballad" a song by Henry Russell, was published in Boston [sheet music cover signed by Russell is shown at left].

1842 The New York Philharmonic founded and is now the oldest orchestra in the U.S.

1845 First American grand opera, Leonora, by William Henry Fry.

1848 Shaker dance song, "Simple Gifts," (also known by its first line: "Tis the gift to be simple") was composed by Elder Joseph Brackett in Alfred, Maine. Later made world famous in several arrangements by Aaron Copland (1900-1990).

1851 Stephen Foster's biggest hit, "Old Folks at Home," was published as sheet music.

1853 Debut of piano virtuoso and composer from New Orleans, Louis Moreau Gottschalk. One of his popular piano pieces was "The Last Hope" which was later arranged in several different hymns, including one composed in the 20th century: "They Who Seek The Throne Of Grace" (Op. 9, No. 9)

1855 "Song of the Old Folks" (tune: Auld Lang Syne)-- new words adapted by Albert Laighton, written for an Old Folks Concert in Reading, Massachusetts and published in Father Kemp's Old Folks Concert Tunes.

1859 Biggest hit song of the era, "Dixie,"written by Daniel Decatur Emmett, a Northerner from Ohio. This became enormously popular in the South during the Civil War and was also one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite songs.

1860 First edition of Father Kemp's Old Folks Concert Tunes, one of the most popular collections of this late 19th century, with additional expanded editions in 1874 and 1889 (reprinted in 1934). One of the tunes was "Song of the Old Folks" (tune: Auld Lang Syne).

1862 "Battle Hymn of the Republic" published with words by Julia Ward Howe and set to the tune: "Glory, Hallelujah." One year earlier, the same tune had been used for "John Brown," a song written in jest about Sgt. John Brown at Fort Warren in Boston. Both tunes were reportedly based on an old camp meeting hymn, "Say, Brothers Will You Meet Us?," usually credited to William Steffe, but no proof of his authorship has been located.

Also this year a Shaker pacifist hymn was received in a dream by Sister Cecilia DeVere. This hymn, "A Prayer for the Captive," was reportedly sung at Shaker communities on the day of President Abraham Lincoln's funeral.

1863 Due to his need for money while living in New York, songwriter Stephen Foster composer a series of Sunday School hymns. One of the most effective was Foster's own paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer, "Give Us This Day."

1867 Mass in D by John Knowles Paine (1839-1906) was the first major work by an American to be performed in Europe. This Mass had been published in 1866 in a piano-vocal score by Beer & Schirmer in New York.

1869 "Hymn of Peace" -- with words by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and set to a hymn tune by Matthais Keller was performed at the National Peace Jubilee in Boston, organized by bandleader Patrick S. Gilmore, to commemorate the end of the Civil War and with thousands of musicians performing.

1872 "Festival Hymn" composed by Dudley Buck for the World's Peace Jubilee and International Music Festival held in Boston [music cover shown above]. There were several thousand musicians performing during the week of concerts and Johann Strauss II from Vienna was a special guest of honor and conducted several of his waltzes, including one he wrote especially for the occasion and titled, "Jubilee Waltz" which ends with a quote of "The Star Spangled Banner."

1873 John Knowles Paine named Assistant Professor Music at Harvard University -- the first such position at any American university.

1876 "Centennial Meditation of Columbia" --the official cantata, with a poem by Sidney Lanier and music by Dudley Buck [shown at left] was performed at the U.S. Centennial celebration.

Also, John Knowles Paine's Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 23 was premiered in Boston, conducted by Theodore Thomas, and set the standard for the symphonic tradition in 19th century America. His Symphony No. 2 in A, Op.
34was premiered in 1880.

1881 Song of Our Saviour -- a majestic cantata for soloists, chorus, organ and orchestra by Edwin Arthur Jones (1853-1911) is completed. It had been submitted in an abridged version for a composition competition sponsored by the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. The main judge was America's most distinguished conductor of that era, Theodore Thomas. Jones received an Honorable Mention. This cantata was never performed during the lifetime of E.A. Jones. Discovered in 1980 by musicologist, Roger Hall, the World Premiere performance of this cantata took place in 1992 by the Old Stoughton Musical Society Chorus and Orchestra.

1886 The centennial celebration of The Stoughton Musical Society took place in June with a full day of activities, culminating with a performance of Haydn's oratorio, The Creation.

Also that year another major symphony by a composer from the Second New England School, Symphony No. 2 in B flat, Op. 21 by George W. Chadwick (1854-1931), was premiered in Boston in December.

1890 An oratorio titled, Easter Concert, by Edwin Arthur Jones, was published in a piano-vocal score by White & Smith in Boston. This oratorio was modeled after Handel's Messiah and is in three parts. It contains instrumental preludes for each section, a series of tuneful solo arias and quartets, and many majestic choruses, including "The Lord is King."The oratorio received its first modern day performance in Stoughton, Massachusetts, conducted by Roger Hall, with the Old Stoughton Musical Society Solists and Chorus in 1981. It was performed from the piano-vocal score since the orchestral parts are lost.

Charles E. Ives began his career composing shorter instrumental pieces and sacred choruses, one of them a poignant chorus titled, "Turn Ye, Turn Ye."

1892 "After the Ball" words and music by Charles K. Harris becomes one of the biggest hits of the 1890s.

1895 "America the Beautiful" is a poem by Katharine Lee Bates and later set to music by Samuel A. Ward from 1882.

1899 Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" is published and becomes the first major Ragtime hit.

20th century

1900 "Lift Every Voice and Sing", an Afro-American song with words by James W. Johnson and music by J. Rosamond Johnson is composed and is still popular today.

1904 "Give My Regards To Broadway" with words and music by George M. Cohan becomes the best known song in tribute to Broadway theaters in New York City.

1908 "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" - the best known song about baseball has words by Jack Norworth and music by Albert Von Tilzer

1911 "Alexander's Ragtime Band" - Irving Berlin's first major song hit.

1914 "St. Louis Blues" - words and music by W.C. Handy becomes the first major blues hit song.

1917 Original Dixieland Jass (or Jazz) Band makes the first jazz recordings. Their first record was "Livery Stable Blues."

George M. Cohan's "Over There"becomes the most popular song during World War I.

1918 Land of Our Hearts - a patriotic chorus with words by John Hall Ingham and music by George Whitefield Chadwick was first performed during World War I.

1919 George Gershwin's first and biggest song hit, "Swanee," published with words by Irving Caesar. The song was introduced by singer, Al Jolson.

1920 Death of Charles Tomlinson Griffes, one of the most important American Impressionist composers. One of his most impressive instrumental works was "Two Sketches on American Indian Themes" for string quartet.

This is also the beginning of a new era, known as "The Roaring Twenties."One of the popular songs from this year was "Whispering" (words by Malvin Schonberger/ music by John Schonberger) recorded by Paul Whiteman and his Ambassador Orchestra with over two million copies sold of that record. Since that year there have been over 700 versions of the song produced.

SOURCES:

Harry Dichter & Elliott Shapiro. Handbook of Early American Sheet Music, 1768-1889. R.R. Bowker Co., reprint by Dover Publications, 1969 and 1977. 287 pages.

W. Thomas Marrocco and Harold Gleason. Music in America: An Anthology from the Landing of the Pilgrims to the Close of the Civil War, 1620-1865. W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1964. 371 pages.
American Music Recordings Archive
Additional Links
American Music Recordings Collection (AMRC)American Song History Survey (ASHS)Center for American Music Preservation (CAMP)Essential American Recordings Survey [EARS] Preserving American Music Series (PAMS)

Return to top of this page

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
American Music Timeline (AMT) Part Two: 1820 - 1920 Compiled by Roger Lee Hall, musicologist This timeline covers the century between the first American popular songs to music at the end of World War I and the beginning of the Roaring Twenties. Part One features music composed and published in America between 1620 and 1818.

# data[].attributes.headline
Five Ways COVID-19 Is Changing Global Migration

# data[].attributes.subject
Five Ways COVID-19 Is Changing Global Migration

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.csis.org/analysis/five-ways-covid-19-changing-global-migration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
March 25, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed human mobility for those of us washing our hands vigorously and avoiding social contact. But in addition to these disruptions to daily life, the pandemic could be fundamentally changing the face of global migration in at least five key ways.

As I write this from a corner of my daughter's room which has been converted into a makeshift home office, odds are you are also reading this from your home-if you are fortunate enough to have access to the internet at home and the option to work remotely. Schools and restaurants are closed. Airports and bus terminals are next. Only when people have stopped moving do we realize how much freedom of movement-the ability to visit a neighbor, to catch the train to work, to see a movie in the theater, or to fly across the world to see family-is a fundamental part of the human experience.

COVID-19 has brought most of the world to a halt. It has ushered in an entirely new human experience full of hand soap and Zoom. But it has also fundamentally altered global human mobility. After 9/11, the Federal Aviation Administration shutdown airspace across the United States, and within hours almost all aircraft were grounded. Iconic time-lapse maps appeared soon thereafter showing once crowded skies becoming almost instantaneously empty. This is akin to what is happening to human mobility across the globe.

Much has been made of the important health and economic implications of COVID-19 that could linger well after workers return to work and travelers start traveling again. But the current global cessation of movement is unprecedented in modern times. Some are comparing the current pandemic to the so-called "Spanish Flu" of 1918, but from one important perspective the two pandemics differ greatly: the face of global migration was much different in the wake of WWI than in 2020. Thus, COVID-19 is likely to have lasting migration implications long after people, health systems, and the economy bounce back.

Human mobility has historically come in many forms. As planes, trains, and automobiles became safer, more efficient, and more accessible over the past century, short-term movements to and from places of work and schooling, between towns and cities, and even across the globe have become commonplace. Accelerated by the advent of the internet and the subsequent social media revolution, the desire and ability to move accelerated to the point that it has permeated even the furthest reaches of the planet.

Not everyone wants to leave home, of course, but many (and many more than in 1918) see migration as at least one future pathway, whether it be permanently or temporarily with the hopes to one day return home. In many ways, the global economy relies on people making decisions to migrate: Central American tomato pickers in Florida, Bangladeshi construction workers in Abu Dhabi, and Indian entrepreneurs in Melbourne. Global migration has proven to be an integral and necessary part of our globalized economy, though its face has looked different in every region, country, and city, as well as to each family.

Until COVID-19 brought it all to a screeching halt.

Today, unprecedented travel and mobility restrictions have potential short- and longer-term repercussions. In the short term, as of March 23, at least 174 countries, territories, or areas have issued new or changed existing COVID-19 related travel restrictions," according to the UN Migration Agency. The most common types of restrictions are for those with medical issues, those traveling from "restricted countries," and those with nationalities that happen to overlap with restricted countries. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is essentially tracking the day-by-day shutdown of global mobility pathways. Each day, countries get more restrictive, requiring more people from more places to be quarantined for longer upon arrival. These restrictions are likely to continue for months, at least until the curve has been flattened. In the meantime, separated families will stay separated, global summits (and the Olympics) will be delayed or cancelled, and family reunions will be postponed.

More importantly, COVID-19-related disruptions are likely to have longer-term impacts on migration. Here are five possible ways that could happen.

1. Migrant labor-the engine of a globalized economy-stops moving. While exemptions might be made for key professions (e.g., scientists, doctors, journalists, government leaders), those who travel to work and travel for work may not be able to do so for the foreseeable future. This will have family, economic, and potentially food security implications. Migrant workers currently overseas may not be able to get home, and families already dealing with complicated immigration and visa regimes may experience prolonged separation for an entirely new reason. It is conceivable that, in response to current and future quarantines or "stay at home" orders, businesses will also accelerate development of automation capabilities, thereby removing some jobs often filled by migrants more quickly.

If migrant workers are unable to travel to agricultural fields and these restrictions are paired with broader disruptions to the global food supply chain, it is worth considering longer-term impacts on global food security. As pointed out by CSIS's Caitlin Welsh, for the time being, countries such as the United States have plenty of food. But prolonged disruptions to migration could reorient agricultural production and value chains to the detriment of food security, especially in the developing world.

In most industries, inevitable COVID-19-related layoffs will undoubtedly target migrant workers, many of whom are on temporary visas. For example, New Zealand has around 190,000 people living on temporary visas, many of whom will face impossible choices upon being laid off: try to find another job suitable under their visa in a tanking economy before being deported, try to get a different type of visa, or try to get on one of the very restricted flights back to a home country that is likely dealing with even greater economic hardship. And when jobs do become available, the governments of New Zealand, the United States, and many other countries will undoubtedly encourage businesses to hire citizens over migrants. Such decisions will have lasting effects on migrant workers, their families, and their communities.

Whether it is Turkish guest workers to Germany in the 1960s, Vietnamese refugees across the globe in the 1970s, or rural farmers flocking to Chinese megacities in the 1980s, migrants have been the engine of the last century's globalized economy. The inability of labor to move efficiently-or at all-will impact future global output while putting migrant families themselves under greater financial strain. This will, in turn, increase global inequality.

2. Global inequality increases. Global inequality was already at its highest levels in history when COVID-19 hit. As of January 2020, 2,153 people hold more wealth than the world's poorest 4.6 billion people. The world's 22 richest men have more wealth than all the women in Africa. While stock market losses will undoubtedly impact the near-term prospects of some wealthy individuals, recent history suggests that they will be just fine. In fact, global inequality is likely to increase in the medium-to-long term, in part because of the pandemic's lasting impact on migration. Countries such as the Philippines, Bangladesh, Ghana, and Honduras rely heavily on remittances from citizens abroad. In 2018, the developing world as a whole received $529 billion in remittances, 75 percent of total foreign direct investment inflows received in the same year. If migrant labor abroad is significantly disrupted by the economic shocks detailed above, those sources of income for families across the developing world will be impacted, creating ripple effects throughout their economies and, in turn, further widening the gap between the richer and poorer countries. Governments do have options, and the way they respond will matter, especially since the full economic impacts of COVID-19 have not been felt in much of the developing world.

Some of us are fortunate enough to work from home during this time, benefiting from not only the requisite physical and digital infrastructure but also the types of jobs that can be taken online. Many labor migrants-especially of the low-skilled variety-do not have the option to work from home. Like many lower-income people, they must physically go to work, putting them at greater risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 and putting them in further jeopardy because many do not have access to appropriate, financially-accessible health care. According to the United Nations, "[migrants] and their families are often part of marginalized and vulnerable groups that are already experiencing economic hardship as a result of containment measures." In an extreme case, that could become more the norm as the pandemic worsens. For example, Iranian hospitals are refusing to treat Afghan migrants, resulting in many returning home to a country with a health infrastructure all but destroyed after decades of conflict.

Seeing unequal responses and increased xenophobic reactions to migrants, the United Nations Network on Migration has called for more uniform, non-discriminatory approaches in line with international law. A recent press release states that "[migrants] and people on the move face the same health threats from COVID-19 as host populations but may face particular vulnerabilities due to the circumstances of their journey and the poor living and working conditions in which they can find themselves."

3. Faucets turn off more easily than they turn on. With few anecdotes to the contrary, politicians with skeptical or outright hostile views of migration have experienced electoral success around the world in recent years. COVID-19 has ushered in a new era of travel restrictions and required medical testing of migrants. While most of these regulations are designed to be temporary, it is not hard to imagine President Victor Orbán, or others, manufacturing crisis after crisis to keep Hungary's borders de facto permanently closed to migrants. A fear of a second or third wave of COVID-19. A subsequent disease. A crisis originating in sub-Saharan Africa or the Middle East that forces millions to seek refuge in Europe. An entirely manufactured crisis playing to fears and a current lack of trust in institutions. Such never-ending emergency extensions are not unprecedented nor are they unrealistic in a post COVID-19 world. As Yuval Noah Hariri points out, "temporary measures have a nasty habit of outlasting emergencies."

Though many migration pathways will reopen after the threat of COVID-19 disappears, some political leaders such as Orbán will see current migration restrictions as an opportunity to reinforce broader, longer-term agendas built around xenophobia and the "othering" of migrants. As deaths inevitably increase in the days and weeks ahead, these leaders will have increasing public support for tighter short-term migration restrictions. What the public does not realize is that it may not be as easy to turn the flow of migration back on after it has been turned off.

4. Forced migrants are unable to move, keeping vulnerable people in harm's way. Though this commentary focuses heavily on the potential longer-term implications of restrictions to labor migration, already vulnerable forced migrants will also suffer from fewer movement options. Already at risk of COVID-19, the forcibly displaced-refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons-and other forced migrants are also faced with diminished institutional capacity offering them support. In Italy, this means that recently arriving asylum seekers face mandatory two-week quarantines and vastly fewer or no integration services even after the 14 days due to mandatory country-wide restrictions on workers going to work. If forced migrants-such as those coming to Italy via Libya-are seen as bringing COVID-19 with them, public opinion from Sicily to Sweden will undoubtedly harden in ways that will not soon go away.

Some movement pathways will reopen as quickly as possible, but their closing at all may have longer-term repercussions. Colombia has halved its Venezuela response services despite ever increasing needs. Even though they consider it a " vital lifeline" for the forcibly displaced, the United Nation's migration and refugee agencies halted refugee resettlement globally over COVID-19 concerns. These and other necessary short-term restrictions, however, mean that vulnerable forced migrants often living in overcrowded camps and in dense urban areas with poor access to quality health care will be at increased risk. According to Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development who was a central player in the U.S. response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak, "[You] would have a hard time designing a more dangerous setting for the spread of this disease than an informal IDP settlement. You have a crowded population, very poor sanitation . . . very poor disease surveillance, very poor health services. This could be extraordinarily dangerous." Much of this risk will be concentrated in the developing world, where 84 percent of refugees and 99 percent of internally displaced persons currently reside and to where COVID-19 is only recently arriving. For example, Italy had more COVID-19 related deaths in one day ( 602) than all of South Africa's confirmed cases to date ( 402) as of March 23. When the virus inevitably spreads across sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the developing world, forced migrants will almost certainly be at greater risk.

But these risks are not all far from the United States. In northern Mexico, asylum seekers denied entry into the United States bide time in makeshift, overcrowded camps with poor access to sanitation, watching as COVID-19 spreads among their already vulnerable population. Even so, as pointed out by CSIS's Jake Kurtzer, there are relatively few known cases of COVID-19 in displaced communities, but this is "more likely a result of a lack of testing and awareness than the absence of the virus." Given the risks and the nature and spread of COVID-19, it is only a matter of time before a significant outbreak spreads throughout more displaced communities.

Additionally, the majority of forced migrants are internally displaced, so blocked movement pathways also mean that these people will be stuck in or near the dangerous places that forced them from home in the first place. This could create opportunities for non-state actors to exploit grievances against governments. It could also force desperate people escaping harm to do so via shadowy irregular pathways.

5. Global migration goes increasingly into the shadows. There is growing evidence that limits on safe, orderly, and regular migration push vulnerable people-as many as 100 million globally -into shadowy irregular pathways. As I wrote recently, "[irregular] migration exists because there are not enough opportunities for safety and prosperity at home and too few regular means through which to remedy that lack of opportunities." COVID-19 means that there are fewer regular means for migration than there were a couple months ago. When combined, the economic, inequality, political, and displacement-related implications discussed above will only increase desperation at a time when fewer migration pathways exist. In such a scenario, those feeling compelled to move will do so increasingly using smugglers, traffickers, and other illicit groups. Migration will be increasing in and among developing countries with weaker health systems and rule of law. Irregular migrants will travel in close quarters with other people. They will cross international boundaries without documentation or health checks. In the age of COVID-19, they will also put themselves, their fellow travelers, and anyone in their extended path at grave risk.

Conclusion

The above list of five longer-term impacts on migration is by no means comprehensive, nor do any of these challenges come with easy solutions. However, it is important to consider longer-term repercussions when designing short-term human mobility restrictions, akin to efforts to make sure that people unable to work right now do not lose their jobs permanently. Not doing so could result in more economic stress, greater levels of global inequality, more vulnerability to forced migrant populations, and increases in irregular migration.
Erol Yayboke is deputy director and senior fellow with the Project on Prosperity and Development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C.
Commentary is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).
© 2020 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Five Ways COVID-19 Is Changing Global Migration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed human mobility for those of us washing our hands vigorously and avoiding social contact. But in addition to these disruptions to daily life, the pandemic could be fundamentally changing the face of global migration in at least five key ways.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The sounds of America - evolution of today's most celebrated music genres

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From the birth of blues to the rise of rock 'n' roll, uncover America's rich musical history and the visionaries who blazed the trail.

# data[].attributes.headline
South Texas authorities frustrated at growing number of migrant deaths with no solution in sight, Kens 5 news (youtube)

# data[].attributes.subject
South Texas authorities frustrated at growing number of migrant deaths with no solution in sight, Kens 5 news (youtube)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
South Texas authorities frustrated at growing number of migrant deaths with no solution in sight

# data[].attributes.headline
More migrants are dying along the US-Mexico border, but it’s hard to say how big the problem actually is

# data[].attributes.subject
More migrants are dying along the US-Mexico border, but it’s hard to say how big the problem actually is

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At least 650 migrants died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021, according to the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency that monitors migration.

The figure marks an all-time annual high since the U.S. government began reporting U.S.-Mexico border deaths in 1998.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which estimates migrant deaths over a slightly different time frame, reported that 557 migrants died along the border from October 2020 through September 2021.

But there is one important caveat to the new estimates.

The International Organization for Migration has noted that "all (migrant death) figures remain undercounts."

Families left behind to ask questions

Currently a researcher and doctoral student in public health, I am also a licensed clinical social worker who works with immigrants, and I have spent years listening to people's migration experiences. I understand the fear and desperation that drives people across the border and why it is difficult to know how many migrants actually die trying to reach the U.S.

Migration trends along the U.S.-Mexico border have recently shifted. A majority of people crossing the border are not from Mexico, having traveled instead from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

People migrate and attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border for complicated reasons, including violence and lack of work opportunities in their home countries.

But the journey across Central America and Mexico - or farther away, in some cases - is also rife with the potential of violence, including sexual assault and abduction.

Correctly counting migrant deaths matters. It can inform U.S. immigration and foreign policy, by determining whether the U.S. should send more aid to Central America to help stem migration flows, for example.

When migrants die crossing the border, it is often families who are left behind to ask questions and to tell their missing relatives' stories. But sometimes immigrants' fear of detention and deportation prevents them from talking to migration officials altogether.

'An unprecedented militarization'

Over the past three decades, legislators have steadily increased the federal budget for border patrol enforcement activities along the nearly 2,000-mile stretch of arid land that makes up the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. border enforcement funding has increased from $1.935 billion in 1997 to $21.1 billion in 2018.

Working with Dr. Elizabeth Vaquera, sociologist and director of the GW Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute, we identified research showing that in 1997 there were 6,321 agents assigned to patrol the southwestern border. By 2011, more than 21,000 border patrol agents were stationed there. The number remained at nearly 17,000 from October 2019 through September 2020.

As border patrol presence has increased along the U.S.-Mexico border, migrants have adopted new travel routes, pushing them into more remote, treacherous parts of the desert. If border patrol agents apprehend migrants, they will detain and potentially deport them.

Once migrants stray deep into the Sonoran Desert or attempt to forge the Rio Grande River, though, they are much more likely to die than if they take more frequented routes. Exposure to extreme heat, cold, dehydration, venomous spiders or snakes, exhaustion and injury are all common risks.

Undercounting migrant deaths

Undercounting is not a new problem. But the likelihood of migrants' bodies being recovered, and counted, has dropped as migrants travel along more desolate paths. Migrant bodies have been discovered in increasingly remote areas, farther from roads, towns and cellphone service, since 1990.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks deaths in the U.S. But there is no U.S. government agency devoted to tracking migrant deaths, even if they happen on U.S. soil.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reports border crossing deaths, but only if border patrol agents recover the bodies.

This leaves bodies recovered by other law enforcement agencies, humanitarian groups, or private citizens unaccounted for, and often unidentified.

A rise in migrant deaths

While the number of migrants apprehended along the U.S.-Mexico border has continued to decrease since the mid-2000s, the number of recorded deaths has continued to rise.

Although Customs and Border Protection acknowledges an increase in migrant deaths over the past few years, investigative findings by USA Today in 2017 suggested that the problem may be much worse.

The number of migrant deaths along the U.S.-Mexico border may have been anywhere from 25% to 300% higher than official totals from 2012-2016, the USA Today investigation found.

Nonprofit humanitarian organizations like the South Texas Human Rights Center and Humane Borders provide information on search and rescue operations for missing migrants and use data to map deceased migrants.

But these groups' staffing and funding are not sufficient to comprehensively track migrant deaths and cannot replace the work of a government agency responsible for tracking this ongoing problem.

[ Understand what's going on in Washington. Sign up for The Conversation's Politics Weekly.]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
More migrants are dying along the US-Mexico border, but it's hard to say how big the problem actually is

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At least 650 migrants died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021, according to the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency that monitors migration. The figure marks an all-time annual high since the U.S. government began reporting U.S.-Mexico border deaths in 1998. U.S.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Since 2014, more than 250,000 unaccompanied children have arrived at the southwestern border of the United States and the influx has risen in recent months.

As the Biden administration struggles to accommodate the burgeoning numbers, the amount of time these children spend in U.S. care lengthens, raising questions about what is happening with their education status.

Under the Biden administration, unaccompanied children who cross the border are being let into the country instead of turned away as they were during the Trump administration. While federal authorities are more quickly transferring children out of U.S. Customs and Protection agency detention centers that lack beds, showers or educational programs, overcrowding at longer-term shelters run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could mean lower quality education.

As of May 2, there were about 22,264 unaccompanied children in the custody of HHS, which is charged with their care. Seventy-two percent of the children are over 14, 68 percent are boys, and most come from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.

Here are answers to some basic questions about the educational status of the children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border without legal documents. Some of these children will eventually find their way to public school systems around the country.

How long are children staying in U.S.-run detention facilities?

The Biden administration has decreased the amount of time children spend in border patrol custody, which is supposed to transfer minors from facilities that do not provide education services to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement within 72 hours.

More than 5,000 children were in border patrol custody in March, the majority staying over the 72-hour legal limit. As of May 13, that number had fallen to 455 children in border patrol custody, and none stayed longer than 72 hours, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas's testimony last month to senators.

But the alleviated overcrowding in the CBP facilities has meant that more children are in HHS care, where they are provided with educational programs. As of May 24, there were more than 18,000 children in the agency's care.

Who is responsible for providing education services to unaccompanied children?

While in HHS custody, unaccompanied children are not enrolled in local schools, but they can get on-site educational services.

Under the law, unaccompanied children apprehended by CBP officers are required to be turned over within 72 hours to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is charged with caring for minors who arrive at the border without a parent or guardian. The children are then placed in emergency intake shelters across the country where they can be processed and either released to a sponsor or transferred to an appropriate state-licensed facility for longer-term care. At these sites intended for temporary stays, educational services are encouraged but not required.

When children are moved to state-licensed facilities for longer-term stays, however, the Office of Refugee Resettlement is required to offer them on-site educational services. Health and Human Services operates approximately 200 state-licensed facilities in 22 states where children stay until they are released to sponsors, on average within 35 days.

Unaccompanied children are later released from HHS custody to a sponsor-usually a parent, relative, or family friend-who cares for them while their immigration cases proceed through the system. While living with a sponsor, the children have a right under federal law to enroll in public elementary and secondary schools in their local communities, joining the more than 840,000 immigrant students already enrolled in U.S. schools.
But sponsors or relatives often find it hard to negotiate the public school system, said Felicia Rangel-Samponaro, director of the Sidewalk School, which offers schooling to children at a border refugee camp.

"Once you cross [the border], there's no support, you're kind of just left to figure things out on your own," she said.

What are the learning requirements for the children while they are in U.S. care?

According to ORR guidance, the state-licensed facilities must provide:

an initial educational assessment within 72 hours of admission to determine the child's level of academic development, literacy, and linguistic abilities;

six hours of instruction per day, Monday through Friday, in a structured classroom environment, throughout the calendar year;

teaching in basic subject areas, including science, social studies, mathematics, reading, writing, physical education, and English-language development;

academic reports and progress notes for every student; educational and classroom materials that reflect the children's cultural background and are sensitive to cultural differences;

materials in all native languages represented at the facility;

curricula that include remedial education, after-school tutoring, and opportunities for academic advancement, such as special projects, independent studies, and preparation for the General Educational Development (GED) test, which provides certification equivalent to the high school diploma.

While the shelters must comply with these standards, the quality of educational services they provide has often been inadequate because of the facility's size, staff expertise, a lack of standardized curricula, or the degree of support from the local school district and federal government resources, according to studies and advocates.
Some shelters navigate lack of physical spaces or learning due to overcrowding by organizing schooling into shifts or increasing student-teacher ratios.

Educational services in HHS shelters typically do not receive state or local funding because they are contracted to nonprofits and private organizations and are not legally required to adhere to state educational standards and guidelines and the state is not involved in monitoring them. In some cases, they are contracted to the local government, meaning the school board will be involved. Students don't take state standardized assessments.

"Many shelters struggle to find the time and resources that are required to adequately develop curricula and implement creative educational services," according to a 2019 report by the publication Forced Migration Review.

HHS in 2019 temporarily stopped reimbursing shelters across the country for teachers' pay, leaving it up to the various nonprofit and private organizations that the agency contracts for the shelters to cover the cost of teachers and supplies. Advocates and contractors said that move violates a legal settlement stemming from the 1997 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reno v. Flores, which requires the federal government to provide education to migrant children in its care.

What educational challenges do unaccompanied children face?

Children who cross the border are often already behind in their education due to factors such as being on the move, not being able to afford education, not having legal status or having to work, so they require specialized attention, according to Estefania Rebellon, a co-founder of Yes We Can World Foundation, the first independent bilingual school program for migrant children at the border.

"You can't just sit this kid into a regular classroom and expect them to do well or want to participate or even want to engage in the class," Rebellon said. "You need to start from a human perspective and work with them to just stabilize them before going into an academic setting."

Another challenge is providing safe spaces that meet the social-emotional needs of the unaccompanied children, who have experienced significant trauma and instability.

"A lot of these children have seen events such as murder, domestic violence, kidnapping," Rebellon said. "These are children who left their homes, who know they're not going back, and who are now in spaces with strangers that they don't know."

How do shelter educators try to meet children's individual educational needs?

The required educational assessment conducted by shelter staff determines the academic level of the child and any particular needs he or she may have.

Also, "care providers must have the cultural awareness and systems in place to support the cultural identity and needs of each" unaccompanied child, according to an ORR email sent in response to Education Week's questions. "Additionally, care providers must make every effort possible to provide comprehensive services and literature in the native language of each child; provide on-site staff or interpreters as needed; and allow [these children] to communicate in their preferred language when they choose."

Developing curricula to meet the diverse educational needs of unaccompanied children in shelters, however, is a challenge. Classrooms host students of varying ages, languages, educational backgrounds, trauma responses, behavioral issues and interest in education staying for varying periods of time.

Staff at the state-licensed shelters modify local educational standards to develop curricula based on the average length of stay for an unaccompanied child at the facility. Children are separated into class groups based on their academic development, level of literacy, and linguistic ability rather than by chronological age. They provide remedial education and after-school tutoring as needed. To assess children's progress, academic reports and progress notes are included in the child's case file which is either sent to another facility if they're transferred or released to the child when they're discharged.

Where do teachers for unaccompanied children come from?

Teachers are recruited by the nonprofits, local school districts, or private organizations that HHS contracts to run the shelters.

A qualified teacher may not always be available to complete the initial educational assessment, according to the publication Forced Migration Review, meaning that a lesser-trained staff member would complete it. Another challenge is that candidates who do not meet all the ideal criteria, such as being bilingual, certified to teach English-language learners, and knowledgeable about unaccompanied children, may be offered positions to prevent a gap in educational services to children, especially in often-overcrowded facilities.

That can be problematic, said Rebellon."Without having the experience of working with this demographic, I think it's very difficult for somebody to just use a previous curriculum to teach to someone that is in an entirely different situation," she said.

Sometimes, the teachers hired come from the local public school system. In a recent example, HHS designated the San Diego Convention Center an emergency intake site for unaccompanied children on March 27, and Juvenile Court and Community Schools as well as San Diego County Office of Education teachers have been recruited to work at the site.

The San Diego County office now provides an educational program for the 879 children ages 5-12 at the facility, who are expected to stay between 14 and 30 days. The county office created a printed curriculum in English and Spanish that was delivered to the convention center. The center's program doesn't have traditional hours, so teachers are able to work outside regular hours.

"All children in California, regardless of immigration status, have a constitutional right to education," San Diego County Superintendent of Schools Paul Gothold said in a press release announcing the teacher recruitment initiative. "We also have a moral obligation to ensure a bright future for our children."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Who's Teaching the Children Crossing the U.S. Border? Answers to 6 Questions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Since 2014, more than 250,000 unaccompanied children have arrived at the southwestern border of the United States and the influx has risen in recent months. As the Biden administration struggles to accommodate the burgeoning numbers, the amount of time these children spend in U.S. care lengthens, raising questions about what is happening with their education status.

# data[].attributes.headline
Biden's 1st-year record on immigration: tough challenges, harsh criticism

# data[].attributes.subject
Biden's 1st-year record on immigration: tough challenges, harsh criticism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
President Joe Biden has faced persistent challenges as his administration worked to reform U.S. immigration policy during his first year in office.

Some efforts over the past 12 months have succeeded in reversing hardline measures from the Trump era while other promises have stalled, generating harsh criticism from immigrant advocates.

Despite setbacks, Biden in sheer numbers has made more changes than Trump to federal immigrationpolicy with many reversals to the way the U.S. enforces immigration law.

Biden issued 296 executive actions during his first year compared to 86 in Trump's first year and 472 over his four-year term, according to analysts from the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute.

Perhaps the most sweeping impact of the Biden presidency in immigration policy can be seen in the new approaches to interior immigration enforcement or the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement makes arrests.

Last September, ICE leadership moved to implement enforcement guidelines that once again made violent criminal offenders a top priority for deportation.

"This is a huge change in the way we approach enforcement writ large," MPI Senior Fellow Muzaffar Chishti said during a policy conference this week.

While the prior administration openly justified an enforcement crackdown as a necessary means of deterrence, Biden's security officials have ended long-term family detention and discontinued workplace raids.

Advocates decry the continued use of private ICE facilities and many have called for the end of civil immigration detention altogether.

"In the United States everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect," Detention Watch Network Executive Director Silky Shah said Friday. "ICE enforcement and detention is inhumane, morally and financially costly, and completely unnecessary."

Nonetheless, ICE arrests have been cut in half compared to the final year of the Trump presidency and the detained immigrant population is the lowest since 1999, according to MPI.

But at the border, it's how the administration has handled new waves of unauthorized migration where the administration has faced immense challenges and criticism from a wide range of political perspectives.

Left-leaning advocacy groups point to the continued use of the rapid deportation protocols known as "Title 42," which limits access to U.S. legal resources for unauthorized immigrants. The administration has engaged in legal battles to preserve the policy and, as recently as this week, continued the argument originally from Trump officials that the protocols are strictly a public health measure necessary to curb the global pandemic.

"It has been frustrating to all of us inside and personally to me I wish we there was more that we we -- there's more that -- much more than we need to be doing and could be doing and -- building blocks for that are also underway," outgoing White House Deputy Director for Immigration Esther Olavarria said this week.

From the right, Biden faced strong opposition this year to his attempts at rolling back Trump-era practices including the "Remain in Mexico" policy which forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait for their U.S. immigration court hearings in Mexico. After the states of Texas and Missouri launched a lawsuit against the repeal of "Remain in Mexico," the Biden administration was forced to reinstate the practice while it continues an appeal.

"He completely dismantled the successful policies of the previous administration," Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said at a press conference Thursday.

The year was marked with a historic level of unauthorized border crossing attempts which hit a peak of 213,000 in the month of July, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. More than a quarter of those encounters with immigration authorities involved repeat offenders.

The easing of enforcement measures against immigrants in the country without legal documentation, Republicans say, has signaled to prospective migrants that attempting an illegitimate asylum claim might succeed.

The need to strengthen the immigration legal process is another spoke in the wheel of challenges for Biden's immigration agenda. For migrants who avoid the "Title 42" rapid expulsion process and are directed to the typical "Title 8" route, cases are brought before an administrative judge and can take months or years to resolve. This past year, the immigration court case backlog surpassed 1.5 million for the first time, according to researchers at Syracuse University.

For those on the pathway to obtaining a green card, also known as legal permanent residency, the administration made a significant change with with reversal of the Trump administration "public charge" rule, which imposed new income and education requirements on immigrant applicants.

Biden has also sought to boost refugee admissions as well as preserve DACA -- the Obama-era policy that shields from deportation those brought to the country illegally as children. The administration was forced to draft a new rule implementing the program after a federal judge ordered all new applications halted.

On the legislative front, Biden's promise to provide a pathway to citizenship for about 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants has faced major headwinds in the Senate. Multiple attempts to get some version of the proposal included in the "Build Back Better" spending package were shot down by the Senate parliamentarian last year. And this week, Biden said the agenda items in the Build Back Better Act may need to be split up anyway to get enough support.

Politically, views of Biden's approach to immigration have dragged down his overall approval ratings over the past year. A Gallup poll released last November found just 31 percent of Americans approve of his handling of immigration issues.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Biden's 1st-year record on immigration: tough challenges, harsh criticism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
President Joe Biden has faced persistent challenges as his administration worked to reform U.S. immigration policy during his first year in office. Some efforts over the past 12 months have succeeded in reversing hardline measures from the Trump era while other promises have stalled, generating harsh criticism from immigrant advocates.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The land border crossing between Tijuana, Mexico and San Ysidro, Calif. is one of the busiest in the world. Every day 25,000 people cross the border on foot. Among the crowd are students whose families live in Tijuana. Each morning their families commute many hours to bring the children to school in the U.S.

Juan and his mom, Maria, wake up at 5:30 a.m. each day to make the trek from their home in Tijuana to Juan's high school in San Ysidro. Some mornings, crossing the border can take up to an hour and half.

"It's been kind of, it's been a lot," Juan says. "Every day crossing it's like, the time management, it's finishing homework on time. It's a lot."

But Juan's mom says it's worth the sacrifice.

"He has more of a future here in the United States," Maria says. "The school is much better here than in Tijuana. It's a lot of work. A lot for him and for me. We wake up very early, wait in line, but it's worth it."

Juan and Maria asked not to be identified by their last name because families caught living outside the district can be fined the cost of their education.

Teachers in San Ysidro say as many as 1,000 students cross the border every morning to go to school.

By 5:30 a.m. on a typical day at the border crossing, a steady stream of cars continues to pull up to the Mexico side of the border and drop off kids. They all make their way through the fence and up the ramp to cross the border into the U.S. to go to school. The kids are of all ages. High school students come in groups of three, four and five, and younger kids walk with their parents.

On the other side of the border, some students get on the bus, and others take off on skateboards and bikes.

Many of the younger children will walk just a few blocks to Willow Elementary School where Nancy Alvarado has taught 5th grade since 2000.

"In many cases, those are the kids who are here every day with their little backpacks on, their hair done, their breakfast eaten, and they get up at the crack of dawn," Alvarado says. "Any parent who makes that sacrifice obviously wants their children in school."

Alvarado says there are two primary reasons families move to Tijuana.

One is the cost of living in southern California. The San Ysidro School District has a staggering 33 percent student homelessness rate, the highest in the country.

In other cases, if parents of kids who are U.S. citizens find themselves forcibly removed from the U.S., many parents still want their children to have a U.S. education.

"We have kids arrive mid-year because someone got deported, and that's every year," Alvarado says. "We have kids who arrive in, like, April."

She says they ask the students questions like, " 'Where were you before? Bakersfield. And what brings you here? Ah, my dad was deported.' That's every year."

All but one of Alvarado's 30 students are Hispanic and many commute from Mexico. She says she can see that her students are visibly stressed by having to cross the border every day, especially now with the heightened rhetoric about illegal immigration.

"They hear the rhetoric of 'build the wall' and imagine the Berlin Wall," Alvarado says. "My kids are very aware of it."

Public school budgets are determined by attendance and funded through property taxes. In order to enroll, families must prove residency.

No one from the school district responded to a request for comment on whether families or kids traveling daily from Tijuana were skirting the rules. But Jason Wells, the executive director of the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce says the community has faith in its system.

"As a community we trust in our school district and what they do as far as their handling of residency confirmation," Wells says. "I wouldn't say that the community sees children coming from Mexico as a tax burden. This community is very supportive of people regardless of their immigration status."

When Maria registered Juan for school last year, the two still lived in the district.

"We lived here in San Diego, but here the rent is very expensive," she says. "So, I decided to go to Tijuana."

But before next school year, they will have to find another way to prove residency.

"I'm scared. Next year, they'll ask for a lot of papers," Maria says. "I'll ask for an address from one of my family members. I'll ask for a favor and maybe he'll stay here with them. It will be harder for me because we're used to being together, but, well, he has to."

Alvarado is quick to point out that most of the families who cross the border would likely be homeless if they stayed in San Ysidro, and wouldn't be paying property taxes anyway.

"Those kids are American citizens," she says. "They have a right to live here. That they don't live here now doesn't mean they won't live here someday."

With that being the case, she says it's in the community's and the country's best interest to see that these students get an education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
For Some Students, Getting An Education Means Crossing The Border

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The land border crossing between Tijuana, Mexico and San Ysidro, Calif. is one of the busiest in the world. Every day 25,000 people cross the border on foot. Among the crowd are students whose families live in Tijuana. Each morning their families commute many hours to bring the children to school in the U.S.

# data[].attributes.body
Peoples mental health of the process.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Dallas Morning News: Families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border suffer PTSD, anxiety and depression, study finds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
New research on the forcible separation of families at the U.S.-Mexico border, shows that many parents and children showed long-term, serious mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression. In a story on the study, the Dallas Morning News interviewed se…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How does migration shape economic and social development?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Migration has a profound impact on the lives of the migrant households, but also their societies are shaped by the cumulative effects of labor mobility and consequently remittances. Literature provides interesting insights into the true development impact of migration. Dilip was asked to provide a background document assessing the state ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Commission on Population and Development

Thirty-ninth Session

2nd Meeting* (AM)
Migration Benefits Both Sending, Receiving Countries, Speakers Say
Given the migration-development nexus, the time was ripe for a sober, frank and constructive discussion on international migration and its contribution to development, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Jose Antonio Ocampo, said today as the annual session of the United Nations Population Commission got under way at Headquarters.

The 47-member organ of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) assesses implementation of the 1994 Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), and advises the Council thereon. With the number of international migrants at nearly 200 million, the week-long session will be devoted to international migration and development. Members hope to contribute to the High-Level Dialogue on the topic, to be held in New York just ahead of the General Assembly, on 14 and 15 September.

The world needed to understand what everyone here knew to be true: in general, international migrants were enterprising individuals with much to contribute, both to their host countries and to their countries of origin, Mr. Ocampo said. If managed properly, international migration had been and would continue to be advantageous for both sending and receiving countries, and, from a global perspective, international migration had an overall positive impact on development. He pointed to the contribution of enterprising migrants in countries of destination, growing importance of workers' remittances to countries of origin, and the social and cultural enrichment of both sending and receiving countries.

Perhaps more than any other issue, migration put into stark relief the enormous social, political, economic and cultural transformations occurring in a world divided by excess and need, said Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The international migration landscape had changed dramatically over the last decade. Growing gaps between rich and poor, an expanded global economy, geopolitical transformations, wars, and ecological disasters had profoundly impacted people and their desire to leave their homeland. Migration was a development issue. For industrialized countries, immigration helped to ease the pressure brought by a declining population and a dwindling tax base; and for developing nations, migration relieved unemployment and population pressures.

Although demography was not destiny, it certainly shaped it, the Director of the Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Hania Zlotnik, said. For example, for at least a decade now, high-income countries had been experiencing labour shortages in certain sectors of their economies, particularly in those where jobs could not be exported. Consequently, as overall employment rose during the boom years of the 1990s, so did migration. Whether authorized or not, workers from developing countries were taking the jobs that did not find takers in developed countries at going wages. Some low-income countries, particularly small island States and African countries, were having difficulties delivering basic services because of the high emigration of their skilled workers.

In the exchange of views that followed the opening remarks, South Africa's representative, on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, said that the relationships between international migration and development were numerous and extremely complex. The current era of increased global economic integration, quicker and cheaper transport, high mobility of people, and information and communication technology provided a new context, and, if well-managed, migration had the potential to be "an enabler" of improved and integrated global, regional and national development strategies. Steps should be taken to, among other things, reduce transfer costs of the migrant remittances to developing countries and train unskilled workers to offset the loss of skilled persons from developing countries.

When managed effectively, the links between migration and development could have a substantial positive impact, both for the host country and the country of origin, Austria's speaker on behalf of the European Union said. For more than 10 years, the Union had been developing a common migration policy framework and increasingly moving towards a comprehensive approach to migration and development. It sought an approach that addressed regional and Pan-African dimensions of migration so as to facilitate cooperation between countries of origin and transit and the Union. Also important were combating illegal migration, protecting migrants' human rights, and ensuring their equal access to health and education and equal treatment before the law as first steps towards their successful integration.

In other business today, Torres Salmeron ( Mexico) was elected by acclamation to serve as Vice-Chairperson for the thirty-ninth session. He joined the following Vice-Chairpersons elected on 8 April 2005: Majdi Ramadan ( Lebanon); Albert Graf ( Germany); and Ewa Fratczak ( Poland), who will also serve as Rapporteur for the session.

For the members of the Commission and additional background information, please see the Background Press Release POP/942 of 30 March.

Introductions of reports of the Secretary-General were by: Bela Hovy, Chief, Migration Section, Population Division; Francois Farah, Chief, Population and Development Branch, Technical Support Division of the UNFPA; and Ann Pawliczko, Population and Development Branch, Technical Support Division, UNFPA.

Additional statements in the general discussion were also made by the representatives of Bangladesh, Iran and the Russian Federation.

Representatives of the following United Nations Commissions also spoke: Economic Commission for Africa (ECA); Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The Population Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow to continue its general discussion.
Background
The United Nations Commission on Population and Development opened its one-week session at Headquarters this morning. The 47-member subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was devoting its thirty-ninth annual session to follow-up actions to the recommendations of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. With its focus this session on international migration, it was seeking to contribute to the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, to be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 14 and 15 September.
Opening Statements
JOSE ANTONIO OCAMPO, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said that, over the years, the Commission had built a strong record of addressing difficult issues on the basis of solid factual analysis. Given the development challenges facing the world, it was perhaps more important than ever to ensure that policies and programmes to address them were firmly rooted in reliable evidence and objective analysis. The Commission was meeting at a time of wide-ranging United Nations reform, with the efforts on Economic and Social Council reform and United Nations coherence having a direct bearing on the Commission's work. A reinvigorated ECOSOC could enable an effective integration of the work of the subsidiary bodies so as to guide and monitor the implementation of strategies to attain the development goals set by the United Nations conferences and summits.

With the Commission's special theme this session of migration, he said it was excellently placed to make a major contribution to the General Assembly's High-Level Dialogue in September. The Commission's deliberations could build, not only on the documents prepared for the session, but also on the report of the Global Commission on International Migration released last October, as well as on the recommendations on international migration and development made by the United Nations conferences and summits. It was up to the Commission to set out the substantive foundation for the Dialogue, to ensure that the analysis presented made the best possible use of the evidence available and to continue to dispel the many commonly held myths about international migration.

The Commission also had a special capacity to raise awareness about the existing -- and significant -- information gaps, he said. Overcoming those gaps needed to be a top priority, for everyone knew that, without sound information, policy responses would most likely remain inadequate.

He said that, in considering the migration-development nexus, it must be recalled that migration was an integral part of the ongoing development of both sending and receiving countries, regardless of their current development level. So the real subject here was international migration and global development, not only of economies, but of societies, bearing in mind that the implications of international migration played out differently, depending on a country's stage of development and also other factors, such as size and location relative to the more dynamic economies.

From a global perspective, international migration had an overall positive impact on development, he noted. In theory, efficiencies flowing from a less restricted global exchange of labour should contribute to higher rates of world economic growth. Other positive, and not exclusively economic, consequences could be observed. Look, for example, at the enormous contribution of enterprising migrants of countries of destination, the growing importance of workers' remittances to countries of origin, and the social and cultural enrichment of both sending and receiving countries.

He said that the economic, social and cultural benefits of migration depended crucially on safeguarding and ensuring respect for the rights of migrants and their families. Indeed, to the extent that migrants could be exploited or abused with impunity, everyone lost: the migrants; the native workers that could not compete with those who were paid exploitive wages; and the society that was tarnished by such exploitation and must confront the problems of marginalized populations. The success of migration hinged on respect by States and by migrants of their respective obligations and of the rule of law. It relied on the mutual adaptation of migrants and the receiving society. And it required the unequivocal commitment of Governments to defend every person from the scourges of racism, ethnocentrism and xenophobia.

There was much to gain from collaboration of countries of origin and destination to forge partnerships that fostered effects of migration and promoted migration through legal channels, he said. That collaboration was all the more urgent because migration took place today in a context of enormous demographic and economic disparities. The best estimates indicated that migration from developing to high-income countries had been growing fast, and he expected that trend to continue over the medium term.

He said that one widely recognized strategy for ensuring that migration contributed to the development of communities of origin was to leverage the impact of remittances by, for instance, providing access to financial services so that the families of migrants could secure credit to invest. Another was reducing the costs of remittance transfers, which was fortunately under way in a growing number of remittance corridors. Experimentation should continue with ways to promote the engagement of migrants abroad in the development of their home communities and countries. A variety of strategies were being tried, including direct and financial investment by migrants in their countries of origin and support by migrant association to their communities of origin, as well as knowledge transfers to countries of origin.

Indeed, he continued, a major challenge of migration today was the high mobility of the highly educated or skilled. The more countries developed, the more they needed skilled workers. Yet, developing countries also needed persons with skills, particularly those involved in providing basic services, such as health and education, as well as in new dynamic activities associated with the spread of information and communication technology. To address the needs of developing countries in that respect would probably require a global approach to the formation of human capital based on the principle of solidarity. Collaborative arrangements and partnerships to train required skilled personnel and to improve working conditions in home countries were urgently needed. Otherwise, the "brain drain" might continue to have an adverse effect on development in several developing countries in the coming decade.

In conclusion, he said that migration was an integral part of development, and the need for migrant workers would continue, if not increase, in the coming years, particularly in light of high-income countries. The world needed to understand what everyone here knew to be true: in general, international migrants were enterprising individuals with much to contribute, both to their host countries and to their countries of origin. If managed properly, international migration had been, was and would continue to be, advantageous for both sending and receiving countries. Clearly, the time was ripe for a sober, frank and constructive discussion on international migration and its contribution to development for all. In fostering and guiding the direction of the greater collaboration among the parties involved, the Commission on Population and Development had an important and indispensable role to play. He wished its members every success in its deliberations and looked forward to a most productive outcome.

THORAYA OBAID, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said international migration brought to the surface the need for greater understanding and dialogue and for vision and leadership that rose above fear and focused on common humanity. Perhaps more than any other issue, migration put into stark relief the enormous social, political, economic and cultural transformations now occurring in a world divided by excess and need. The international migration landscape had changed dramatically over the last decade. Growing gaps between rich and poor, an expanded global economy, geopolitical transformations, wars, ecological disasters and other occurrences had profoundly impacted people and their desire to leave their homeland.

The issue of international migration was critically important to the United Nations system and to multilateralism as a whole, she said. It represented a test of the world's response to globalization, a world where borders were increasingly open for the flow of capital, goods and information and closed to the free flow of people. Yet, despite the obstacles, people continued to move. Most of the time their motivation was simple -- they wanted a better a better life for themselves and their families. During the last 50 years, the number of international migrants had more than doubled to some 200 million. Today, more people lived outside their home country than at any other time in history.

Migration was a development issue, and there was a need to build and strengthen capacity to meet the many challenges it posed, she said. Migration could contribute to the important global agenda of reducing poverty and bringing people closer together. Policy options were available to maximize the benefits of immigration and minimize the risks. For industrialized countries, immigration offered a source of labour to ease the pressure brought by a declining population and a dwindling tax base. For developing nations, migration relieved unemployment and population pressures. It was becoming increasingly clear that remittances sent back home played a big role in reducing poverty. But transaction costs were still too high, and remitters were at the mercy of predatory institutions and individuals. Governments could do much to maximize the proportion of remittances that got through and ensure the speed and security of the process.

Women comprised almost half of the world's international migrants today, she said. While some found increased autonomy and freedom, others were found in gender-segregated and unregulated sectors of the economy, at risk of gender discrimination, violence and abuse. In the worst cases, they became the victims of ruthless traffickers. There was an urgent need to integrate gender and human rights into migration policies and for nations to work together to curb trafficking and bring traffickers to justice. Another area of migration was the brain drain of health workers to industrialized nations. Many countries, particularly in Africa, were suffering from a sever shortage of doctors, nurses and other health workers who had migrated. The brain drain of health workers was an urgent issue that deserved an urgent response.

On the issue of financial flows for the implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action, she said the good news was that the flow of resources for population assistance was on the rise. Donor assistance had doubled in the past five years, and domestic expenditures had also risen. Current funding levels, however, were not sufficient to meet current needs. The majority of resources were mobilized by a few major donors, and there had been a pronounced shift towards funding for HIV/AIDS at the expense of other vital population activities. During the past decade, funding for international family planning had dropped more than half of all spending on population assistance to less than 10 per cent, with real implications for women and their ability to exercise their human rights and plan their families. It was a serious problem that needed to be urgently addressed, as there were some 200 million women in the developing world with unmet contraception need.

The highest unmet need for family planning was in sub-Saharan Africa, where one in four married women wanted to use family planning but had no access to those services, she added. It was vitally important that adequate resources were allocated to all areas of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)-costed population package because they were all interlinked and reinforced each other. The challenge was to continue to mobilize the resources required to implement the ICPD agenda to meet current human needs and promote human rights. That was particularly important to achieve the Cairo goal of universal access to reproductive health by 2015. Given the importance of reproductive health to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, the issue of financial flows to implement the ICPD Programme of Action should figure prominently on the Commission's agenda.

HANIA ZLOTNIK, Director, Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), said there were an estimated 190 million migrants in the world, and about half of those were women. There was no typical migrant, but they contributed much to the global economy, through hard work, courage and a willingness to take risks to succeed. The World Bank estimated that the addition of 14 million migrants over 10 years would increase the labour force of high-income countries by three per cent and raise incomes for all -- the natives of high-income countries, developing countries and the migrants, themselves. But, migration not only improved economic outcomes -- it was also "part of the glue" and tied "us" together with "them". Although the process of mutual adaptation between host societies and migrants might not always proceed smoothly, in the end, there was no doubt that migration enriched the social and cultural fabric of receiving societies.

Nevertheless, she said, most of today's migration was the result of disparities -- economic, social and demographic. Average incomes in high-income countries were 15 times higher than in middle-income countries and 60 times higher than those of low-income countries. So, the potential gains from migration were very large. In addition, because developed countries were farther along the path to population ageing than the rest of the world, they were poised to see their working age populations decline. Today, developed countries still had 14 persons ready to enter the labour force for every 10 persons likely to leave it, but in just 10 years, there would be only nine young persons aged 20 to 24 for every 10 persons aged 60 to 64. Without migration, the expected deficit of young people in developed countries would be even greater.

At the same time, developing countries today had 34 persons aged 20 to 24 for every 10 people aged 60 to 64, and an excess of young people relative to the old would persist well into the century, she said. Faced with a growing labour force, most developing countries were having trouble creating a sufficient number of decent jobs for the large number of young people entering the labour market every year. Although demography was not destiny, it certainly shaped it. For at least a decade now, high-income countries had been experiencing labour shortages in certain sectors of their economies, particularly in those where jobs could not be exported. Consequently, as overall employment rose during the boom years of the 1990s, so did migration. Whether authorized or not, workers from developing countries had been taking the jobs that did not find takers in developed countries at going wages. In a number of developed countries, sectors such as agriculture or the hotel and restaurant business depended on migrant labour.

Furthermore, she said, as more women in developed countries joined the work force, they could no longer fulfil the unpaid occupations that they used to control. There was growing demand, therefore, for migrant women to assist with domestic work or child and elderly care. Shortages in the nursing and teaching professions were also related to the improving work status of younger generations of women. Today, young women in developed countries often chose to become doctors, lawyers, business managers or university professors in their own right, instead of opting for the traditional female occupations of their mothers' and grandmothers' time.

In fact, owing to globalization, part of the international division of labour was playing itself out within national boundaries, she said. As the populations of developed countries became more and more educated, they were unlikely to find fulfilling those physically demanding jobs that did not require much creativity or initiative. Today, 56 per cent of persons aged 20 to 24 in developed countries were enrolled in tertiary education. So, not only would the work force of the future in those countries be smaller, it would also be far more highly trained than their parents. Developed economies, therefore, needed to promote the continued expansion of the knowledge economy that was to provide the high-quality jobs for that qualified labour force.

She said that developing countries were also realizing the importance that tertiary education had for maintaining and enhancing the long-term viability of their economies. Over the past two decades, there had been an upsurge in the number of students from developing countries getting an education abroad. Furthermore, realizing that it was better to train students at home, developing countries were encouraging, or even underwriting, the establishment of "branch campuses" of developed-country universities in their territories. China, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates were among the countries hosting those international campuses. The trend towards "internationalizing" education was accelerating as Governments, universities and corporations recognized that there was a global shortage of highly trained workers and were taking steps to expand their numbers.

The growing demand for skilled personnel led to yet another facet of international migration: its role in redistributing skills worldwide, she said. Between 1990 and 2000, the developed countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had gained nearly 8 million migrants with tertiary education. That group accounted for 46 per cent of the increment in the number of migrants aged 25 years or older in those countries. Although a higher proportion of those highly skilled migrants originated in other developed countries or received their tertiary training in the developed world, many of those both originated and were trained in developing countries.

She said that economists pointed out that the countries where skilled migrants originated not only lost their investment in the education of those migrants, but were also more likely to see their development prospects compromised by the scarcity of the professional and technical personnel needed to spur productivity and generate economic growth. Although the evidence on the long-term effectiveness of the emigration of skilled persons was mixed, there was no doubt that some low-income countries, particularly small island States and countries in Africa, were experiencing difficulties in delivering basic services, such as health and education, because of the high emigration of their skilled workers. International cooperation was needed to address that problem.

Initiatives could include the cessation of the active recruitment of skilled workers from poor countries, the development of strategies to train skilled workers in the countries or regions that needed them, and the provision of training and tools appropriate to the environments in which skilled personnel would work, she said. In the health sector, for instance, there was a need to improve the availability of basic equipment and supplies in the clinics of poor countries and to ameliorate the working conditions of health personnel.

She said that, for the first time, the populations of major areas of the world would decline as a result of low fertility, rather than because of epidemics or war. Eventually, all populations around the globe would move along the same path, but over the next few decades, developed countries would experience rapid population ageing that, together with increased education, would produce unprecedented social and economic change. The articulation of that change with the opportunities opening up as development accelerated in a growing number of developing countries would be an important determinant of future migration. The international community had wisely acknowledged the key role that international migration could play in facilitating development and improving economic outcomes. The current Commission session was the first opportunity for Governments to consider the various aspects of the migration and development nexus, with a view to setting the stage for the High-Level Dialogue in September.

BELA HOVY, Chief, Migration Section, Population Division, introduced the Secretary-General's report on the world population monitoring, focusing on international migration and development (document E/CN.9/2006/3). International migrants had increased by 36 million over the past 15 years to reach 191 million by 2005. Concluding that migration was spiralling out of control would be unjustified, however. Between 1990 and 2005, the global migrant population had increased by 23 per cent, about the same as the world population as a whole. In fact, the growth of the migrant population had slowed down: the increase in the global number of migrants between 1990 and 2005 was five million lower than between 1975 and 1990.

The majority of international migrants were located in only a few countries, he said. In 2005, three quarters of all migrants were hosted by the 28 largest receiving countries. In contrast, international migrants constituted less than 10 per cent of the total population in two thirds of all countries. A growing share of the world's migrants was hosted by the more developed regions. Many countries had actually experienced a reduction in the number of migrants. Available data suggested that the proportion of migrants from developing countries in developed countries had risen rapidly since 1990. In Canada and the United States, more than 80 per cent of all recent immigrants originated in developing countries. The proportion of women and girls in global migration was high and increasing.

Following the resolution of some long-standing conflicts, fewer people had been forced to cross international borders, and millions of refugees had been able to return home, he said. Although asylum had dominated much of the migration debate in recent years, particularly in Europe, family reunification continued to be the cornerstone of immigrant admissions, accounting for more than half of the total intake. A number of countries, however, had imposed stricter rules for family reunification leading to a reduction in the family migration stream. In parallel with the decline in admissions on the basis of humanitarian and family considerations, there had been a steady rise in labour migration, both of highly-skilled, as well as of low-skilled workers.

Turning to the demographic impact of international migration, he said the report highlighted some important differences in regional experiences. Europe's population, for instance, would have declined since 1995 had it not been for migration. In developing regions, migration levels were difficult to establish with accuracy. Regarding key destination countries in the less developed regions, one of the largest concentrations of migrants was found in the oil-producing countries in the Middle East. By 2005, those countries had hosted some 13 million migrants, most of whom were temporary workers. The number of international migrants in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, a more recent region of destination, had risen sharply, to over 3 million by 2001.

Remittances were one of the clearest expressions of the impact of migrants on development, he said. In 2004, migrants had remitted some $226 billion through formal channels, 64 per cent of which were received by developing countries. For migrating countries, the net economic impact of international migration was generally positive. Although the presence of international migrants might have a small adverse effect on the wages of non-immigrants or may raise unemployment when wages were rigid, such effects were small at the national level. Over the medium and long term, migration could generate employment and produce net fiscal gains. Yet, international migration could also have less positive outcomes. One was the loss of skilled personnel through emigration. Particularly in smaller developing countries, the delivery of essential public services was at risk due to the emigration of skilled workers.

Governments had increased their efforts to address irregular migration, he said. Since 2000, at least 14 regularization programmes had been carried out, regularizing the status of over 2 million migrants. By some estimates, half of all migrants who entered countries clandestinely did so through smuggling and trafficking. To harness the power to produce positive outcomes and to mitigate negative impacts, countries had concluded many bilateral agreements in recent years, ranging from regulating the flow of migrant workers to readmitting migrants in an irregular situation.

As international migration was fostering a growing interdependence between more developed and less developed countries, there was need to explore common interests and policies that worked, he concluded. Unfortunately, the lack of reliable data severely limited the effective monitoring and evaluation of migration policies.

FRANÇOIS FARAH, Chief, Population and Development Branch, Technical Support Division of the UNFPA, introduced the Secretary-General's report on Monitoring of Population Programmes, Focusing on International Migration and Development (document E/CN.9/2006/4). The report looked at international migration in the broader context of development and poverty eradication. It sought to ascertain the extent to which migration could facilitate or impede development processes in both sending and receiving countries on the individual migrants, including female and young migrants. It also put forward policy considerations to facilitate mutually beneficial outcomes for all parties concerned, including countries of origin, transit countries and destination countries.

International migration had become a global issue and must be a central part of the global development agenda, he said. Today, migration affected almost every country in the world, either as point of origin, transit or destination, and often, all three at once. With the decline of fertility in some parts of the world, the sustained ageing process, and the significant change of population structure, migration had taken on increased significance, becoming an important component of population growth, in many countries. In addition, increasing migration flows had resulted in growing international attention to such complex issues of xenophobia, discrimination, racism, human trafficking, human rights of migrants and most recently, terrorism and national security.

Of particular significance was the increased number of female migrants, he said. While women were playing an increasing role in international migration, many women migrants were concentrated in gender-segregated and unregulated sectors of the economy. The report focused in particular on the impact of a range of migration issues on development such as brain drain, remittances, the Diaspora and return migration.

On the issue of remittances, he said they represented a significant amount of capital sent from developed to developing countries on a regular basis. In many recipient countries, migrant remittances increasingly played an important role in sustaining national and local economies. If transfers that went through informal channels were added to the official statistics, remittances could be as high as $300 billion. They were larger than official development assistance (ODA) and more than foreign direct investment (FDI). In addition to financial remittances, migration had been a critical vehicle for transmitting "social remittances", including new ideas, products, technology and information.

The report highlighted many policies and programmes that could positively contribute to the development of countries of origin and maximize the benefits and minimize the negative consequences of migration. The gender dimension and gender equality, however, should be an integral part of any policy formulation, planning, programme delivery and monitoring. Sound migration policies and effective programmes required adequate and reliable migration data and country capacity to respond to the challenges of migration.

Concluding, he noted that international migration, notwithstanding its complexities, was a manageable human phenomenon and was a drive that had considerable potential to enhance human dignity, contribute to social and economic development and promote dialogue among nations.

ANN PAWLICZKO, Population and Development Branch, Technical Support Division, UNFPA, introduced the Secretary-General's report entitled "Flow of Financial Resources for Assisting in the Implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development" (document E/CN.9/2006/5). The report analysed international and domestic financial flows that were part of the "costed population package" as described in the ICPD action plan. It included funding in the following initially established categories: family planning services; basic reproductive health services; sexually transmitted disease activities; and basic research, data and population and development policy analysis.

She said that the action programme estimated that the cost of implementing the package in developing countries and countries with economies in transition would be $18.5 billion annually by the year 2005. Approximately two thirds of the cost was expected to come from developing countries, and one third, or $6.1 billion, from the international donor community. There had been a positive increase in funding for population activities. Donor funding for 2004 stood at almost $5.3 billion, and domestic expenditures amounted to $14.5 billion. Together, donor funding and domestic expenditures for population activities yielded a global estimate of $19.8 billion. Estimates for 2005 showed that donor funding had increased to $6.1 billion, and domestic resources stood at $14.9 billion, for a total of $21 billion.

If those estimates proved to be correct, however, and if the goals were met, "we will definitely not meet our needs", she said. That was because the targets had been fixed based on experiences as of 1993. Since then, both costs and needs had "skyrocketed". The population and health situation in the world was very different today. Costs had risen astronomically, and the value of the dollar was far lower. The sad reality was that the ICPD targets were out of date and not sufficient to meet today's evolving needs. She needed only to take the example of costs and needs related to HIV/AIDS. It was estimated that in 1994, 14 million people were living with HIV/AIDS, whereas that number had increased to almost 40 million in 2004. The ICPD target for the prevention of STDs and HIV/AIDS had been $1.4 billion in 2005; last year the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that $8.4 billion was required for prevention in 2006.

She stressed that the ICPD goals were essential for meeting the Millennium Development Goals, but there must be adequate resources to do so. That would only come about when donor countries, international agencies and developing countries strengthened political will, re-examined priorities and increased allocations for population activities. That would also come about when everyone intensified collaboration between donors and recipients to avoid duplication, identify funding gaps and ensure that resources were used as efficiently as possible. "We can, and we must, rise to the challenge."
Exchange of Views
V. MADONSELA, Director-General of the Department of Social Development of South Africa, speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, reaffirmed the Group's commitment to the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action and the key actions for its further implementation. He noted with concern that resource mobilization for the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action remained inadequate for addressing current needs, especially in the areas of mother and child health. The relationships between international migration and development were numerous and extremely complex. The current era of increased global economic integration, quicker and cheaper transport, high mobility of people, and information and communication technology provided a new context within which the movement of people between countries should be understood.

There was no question, he said, regarding the primary responsibility of the State for the welfare of its people. The Group remained committed to taking bold steps in the fight against poverty and hunger. The ability of developing countries to do so was hampered by other imperatives. Speedier and deeper debt relief, along with increased ODA flows and fairer terms of trade would further enable developing countries to make greater progress in meeting their needs and hopes for a better future.

Today's world offered great opportunity for human resource development, skills and knowledge transfer, trade, and enhanced income distribution between countries, he said. Those opportunities would only translate into development if all people could gain reasonable access to them. Inequality within and between countries continued to create differential access to the opportunity for people to develop to their full potential. In that regard, migration could place many people in a position of better access to resources for development. Indeed, well-managed migration had the potential to be an enabler of improved and integrated global, regional and national development strategies.

Historically, migrants had often been deprived of their rights and subjected to discriminatory and racist actions and policies, including exploitation and persecution, he added. At the 2005 World Summit, Governments had reaffirmed their resolve to take measures to ensure respect for and protection of the human rights of migrants, migrant workers and members of their families. A further concern was women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, which was greatly increased in an environment of social exclusion and exploitation. Specific attention should be paid to understanding the relationship of migration to the Millennium Development Goals.

He emphasized the need to adopt policies and undertake measures to reduce the cost of the transfer of migrant remittances to developing countries and welcomed the efforts of Governments and stakeholders in that regard. The migration of skilled persons from developing countries deprived their populations of much-needed human resources. It was for that reason that it was necessary to seek ways to encourage the circulation of expertise through the Diasporas by creating better knowledge through the use and transfer of information, knowledge and skills.

Noting that resources directed to the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action had been consistently below target, he appealed to donors, United Nations organizations and other international organizations to enhance their financial and technical support to developing countries, including the field of capacity-building. It was for that reason that the Group supported the principle of a multi-year work programme with a two-year planning horizon, as it would add further value to the Commission's work and would improve its focus on meeting the internationally agreed development goals.

THOMAS NADER, Director, Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Austria, on behalf of the European Union, said that, for more than 10 years, the Union had been developing a common migration policy framework and was increasingly moving towards a comprehensive approach to migration and development. Its conclusions on migration and external relations, adopted in November 2005, recognized that migration could be an essential part of the development agenda. The links between migration and development were complex, but migration, when managed effectively, could have a substantial positive impact both for the host country and the country of origin. The Union was developing ideas on, among other things, temporary and circular migration and return. There was a need for an approach to address regional and Pan-African dimensions of migration so as to facilitate dialogue and cooperation between countries of origin and transit and the Union.

Also important in the context, he said, was to focus on preventing and combating illegal migration. Information campaigns targeted at countries of origin could also be considered with the aim of helping people understand the rules for admission into the various European member countries. At the same time, priority should be given to the integration of legal migrants for the benefits of migrants and their hosting societies alike. Another important aspect of migration and development was the need for regional solutions. That was the basis for the dialogue with the Union's Mediterranean partner countries and the African Union. According to recent statistics, 60 per cent of all recorded migrants were found in the world's more prosperous countries, with the other 40 per cent in developing countries. Despite that trend, large numbers continued to engage in South-South migration moving from one developing country to another. Nearly half of all international migrants were women, and those outnumbered men in developing countries.

He said that immigration constituted a major part of population growth in more developed countries, particularly in Europe. Between 1990 and 2000, immigration accounted for 89 per cent of the population growth in Europe. Considering the declining and ageing population of the European Union countries, managed migration might contribute to countering that trend. Meanwhile, the human rights of migrants must be protected, and development could not be achieved at the expense of human rights. The specific needs of women and children must be considered since more than half of global migrants were women, and many were children. Migrants were especially vulnerable to human rights violations. Access to health, education, and equal treatment before the law and the protection of migrants' rights and safety were a first step towards a successful integration of the migrant population.

Steps being taken by the Union to improve the contribution of migration to development fell into the following main areas, he said: dialogue between States and regions; capacity-building in support of partner Governments' efforts to develop national legislation and institutional capacity; ensuring that the high levels of remittances did not cause a decline in ODA; avoiding the brain drain, or shortages of trained personnel in key sectors, especially the health sector; and deepening mutual understanding of the Diaspora.

IFTEKHAR AHMED CHOWDHURY ( Bangladesh) said that migrants were seen, more and more, as agents of development. They could strengthen cooperation between home and host societies and contribute to development, not only through remittances, investment and entrepreneurial activities, but also through transfer of newly developed skills, knowledge and technologies. Contemporary views on migration departed from the traditional neoclassical premise of "push-pull" factors. The new theory considered that, like most other economic flows, migration operated as an equilibrating mechanism at national and international levels. Liberalization of policies could generate significant welfare gains. That led to superior development outcomes and to "win-win" for both sets of countries and for the individuals involved.

He said that many developed countries were now trending towards rapid increases in dependency ratios. Labour surplus economies, on the other hand, were fraught with the huge burden of unemployment. That asymmetry was the mainstreaming determinant of labour migration. The net economic impact of international migration was generally positive for receiving countries and contributed substantially to relieving the fiscal burden on future generations. At the same time, the movement of skilled personnel from poorer to richer nations created a "paradox of reverse" development in sending countries. Their markets were depleted by the departure of their most productive and qualified members, which warranted remedial measures.

Multilateral negotiations offered a framework to address migration, he said. Receiving countries could take advantage of the benefits by addressing temporary and long-term labour shortages, alleviating demographic challenges caused by the ageing population, and reducing the pressure of illegal immigration by providing an alternative through temporary movement. Short-term movement could also mitigate the negative effects of the brain drain by encouraging the return of qualified nationals. Migrant workers bore the high economic, social, and political costs of their migration and were often vulnerable to exploitation. Women migrant workers were often stereotyped into low-paid work. Efforts were needed to reduce that vulnerability and ensure that migrant's human rights and legal status were fully protected.

Facilitating remittance flows had potentially high payoffs, he said. Host countries must ensure unhindered transfer of funds to the countries of origin with minimal transaction costs. Sending countries should also help migrants use remittances properly, invest back home, and reintegrate upon return. The various schemes introduced by Bangladesh, such as the Wage Earners' Development Bond, Non-Resident Foreign Currency Deposit Account and National Savings Scheme, had attracted more remittances. Those made a significant contribution to the gross national product (GNP) and helped offset negative balance of payment in the current account. Better results could be achieved by considering the close inter-relationship between migration and development. Also necessary was to promote dialogue and cooperation at the national and international levels.

NIKOLAY V. CHULKOV ( Russian Federation) commended the Secretary-General's report, which provided a good basis for further discussion of the various aspects of international migration. Given the significance of migration for the development of society within the context of globalization, a priority should be mitigating its negative impact, while bolstering its positive effects. There was a clear link between the problem of international migration and the follow-up to implement the decisions of the Cairo conference. It was important to define the list of issues on which the Commission should focus within the context of its mandate. The Commission had a leading role in properly assessing the situation and developing decisions and recommendations that targeted the demographic aspects of migration. He supported clear, concrete and non-politicized recommendations that could be useful at the High-Level Dialogue in September.

He said the Russian Federation had advocated support for implementing the Cairo objectives within national priorities in the area of population. An important element of reviewing progress achieved was high-quality analysis of the problems of international migration. He agreed with the core idea of the Secretary-General's report on the link between migration and development, and supported the need to combine the efforts of sending, transit and receiving countries. He also noted the role of immigration in slowing down population decline, creating new jobs and alleviating the financial burden for future generations in receiving countries. Of particular importance was the analysis of the link between migration and the changing age profile of countries. He looked forward to a productive review of the issue during the Commission's session.

The trend towards depopulation in many developed countries, along with population ageing, had led to a drop in the number of people of working age in those countries, he said. The flow of migrants towards labour markets could compensate for population loss and overcome its negative economic consequences. One of the most important issues was that of brain drain for sending countries. The surge in international migration and its complex structure required an in-depth analysis of the reasons for migration. In that regard, there was a clear need for further study and joint efforts by the United Nations on the issue of simplifying and reducing the transaction costs for remittances.

One of the preconditions for a successful migration policy was reliable statistical data on international migration, he said. One of the major requirements was the need to address the basic methodological issue of developing comparable statistics on migration. A consistent system of information collection on the number of migrants and their movements was also needed, as was the need to improve the quality of statistical data and understanding of trends between migration and development. The success of the September meeting would depend on how the Commission would focus on the aspects of migration that rested within its mandate.

HOSSEIN GHARIBI ( Iran) said the theme of this year's session was opportune for his delegation, as Iran fell within all categories concerning migration -- as a receiving country, country of origin and transit country. It was crystal clear that dealing with the multidimensional theme fell beyond the current geographical or political groupings of States and required a global comprehensive policy with the participation of all stakeholders. The international community urgently needed a global normative approach to the entire issue of international migration in all its aspects regardless of biased political orientation. To that end, the General Assembly's High-Level Dialogue in September provided an opportunity to create global consensus on the issue.

Such consensus, he added, should fully and clearly recognize the effective potential of migrants to the development of receiving countries with regard to the services they provided as a prelude to respecting their human rights in accordance with international legal instruments and domestic law where applicable. Any discrimination as to race, religion and nationality was unacceptable. The gap between developed and developing nations and the imbalances in population growth rates had fostered illegal migration, resulting in, among other things, trafficking in women and young girls and drug trafficking. He supported measures to curb such phenomena with a long-term vision to address its root causes. In that regard, he welcomed bilateral and multilateral arrangements among States in a regional context.

ISRAEL SEMBAJWE, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), presented details of ECA's activities and African perspectives on international migration. The 2005 World Summit had highlighted issues of migration and development, as well as issues of refugees and internally displaced persons. Those topics directly affected peace, security and development in Africa, yet in the past, they had received less programmatic support and attention by the ECA.

Despite financial and other constraints, the ECA continued to be proactive and vigilant in promoting activities on international migration, he said. He called attention to future plans, including a major policy event in Brussels, Belgium, in April with African regional partners and European partners, and a second interregional exchange between project stakeholders from Maghreb and West Africa, planned for later in the month in Rabat, Morocco. The Commission would also play an active role at a meeting on international migration organized by the International Organization for Migration for the Southern African countries, to be held from 21 to 23 April in Windhoek, Namibia.

DIRK JASPERS-FAIJER, Director of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Demographic Centre (CELADE)-Population Division, noted that during ECLAC's thirty-first session in Montevideo, Uruguay, the Demographic Centre-Population Division had presented documentation on international migration, including a working document entitled, "International migration, human rights and development in Latin America and the Caribbean: summary and conclusions". The Centre had sought to strengthen countries' capacity to address issues relating to international migration. To that end, it had used various mechanisms, including technical assistance missions to countries in the region. International migration, already a crucial issue in the region, would become even more compelling in the future.

The document presented at the session sought to provide guidelines to the Governments of the region to enable them to face up to the most important challenges and opportunities for development arising from migration, and to outline a cross-cutting approach to the human rights of migrants and their families. The first part of the study presented an overview of the current context in which migratory movements were taking place, with particular attention to the forces of globalization, the upsurge in transnationalism and initiatives launched with a view to achieving migration governance. The document's central message was that international migration was a question of development and of rights. That required the promotion of comprehensive measures that would ensure that international migration was managed from a Latin American and Caribbean perspective. A resolution adopted at the session, among other things, called for the creation of an inter-agency group on migration to be coordinated by ECLAC.

KEIKO OSAKI, Chief, Population and Social Integration Section, Emerging Social Issues Division, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said that international migration was an important concern for ESCAP, as 58 million of the 191 million people living outside their home countries, or more than one third of all international migrants, lived in Asia and the Pacific. While a few countries in the region could be characterized as either key countries of origin and destination, a growing number had become both receiving and sending countries. Given the widening disparity between countries in terms of their economies and labour supply and demand, coupled with economic interdependence, mobility of people in the region was growing both in scope and complexity. International migration had now become part of the region's economic, social and political fabric.

She said that temporary labour migration was the predominant form of migration within Asia. Most migrants who were allowed into countries within the region were brought in to fulfil some specific tasks and then were expected to return upon the completion of their work. The oil-producing countries in Western Asia and the newly industrialized economies of East and South-Eastern Asia continued to be the hubs of temporary labour migration. By contrast, permanent settlement was the main feature of international migration in Pacific Island countries and territories. Out-migration to Australia, New Zealand and North America had resulted in the low population growth or population declines in many Pacific countries.

With a view to improving the understanding of the linkages between international migration, development and poverty, ESCAP had carried out a wide range of activities in the field of international migration and development, she said, drawing members' attention to several of them. Among those, ESCAP, in collaboration with the UNFPA, the IOM, and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, had organized a regional seminar on the social implications of international migration, held in Bangkok, Thailand, in August 2005. Through its recommendations, participants urged Governments and international organizations in the region to expand regional cooperation to address the issues of regular and irregular labour migration. There was an urgent need to further develop measures to counter trafficking, especially in women and children. It was also recommended that greater attention be given to the situation of children migrants and to unaccompanied minors. Hopefully, those and other regional issues and concerns would be properly addressed at September's High-Level Dialogue.
* *** *
__________

* The 1st Meeting of the thirty-ninth session was held on 14 April 2005.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CONTRIBUTION OF MIGRATION TO DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTED, AS POPULATION COMMISSION OPENS CURRENT SESSION

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Commission on Population and Development Thirty-ninth Session 2nd Meeting* (AM) Migration Benefits Both Sending, Receiving Countries, Speakers Say Given the migration-development nexus, the time was ripe for a sober, frank and constructive discussion on international migration and its contribution to development, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Jose Antonio Ocampo, said today as the annual session of the United Nations Population Commission got under way at Headquarters.

# data[].attributes.headline
Teen who migrated to U.S. border to escape gangs hopes to join his mom newsela

# data[].attributes.subject
Teen who migrated to U.S. border to escape gangs hopes to join his mom newsela

# data[].attributes.headline
Border Children Tell Their Stories: Why We Came to the US by News

# data[].attributes.subject
Border Children Tell Their Stories: Why We Came to the US by News

# data[].attributes.body
Migration system and its works.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
U.S. immigration law is based on the following principles: the reunification of families, admitting immigrants with skills that are valuable to the U.S. economy, protecting refugees, and promoting diversity. This fact sheet provides basic information about how the U.S. legal immigration system is designed and functions.

The body of law governing U.S. immigration policy is called the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The INA allows the United States to grant up to 675,000 permanent immigrant visas each year across various visa categories. On top of those 675,000 visas, the INA sets no limit on the annual admission of U.S. citizens' spouses, parents, and children under the age of 21. In addition, each year the president is required to consult with Congress and set an annual number of refugees to be admitted to the United States through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

Once a person obtains an immigrant visa and comes to the United States, they become a lawful permanent resident (LPR). In some circumstances, noncitizens already inside the United States can obtain LPR status through a process known as "adjustment of status."

LPRs are eligible to apply for nearly all jobs (i.e., jobs not legitimately restricted to U.S. citizens) and can remain in the country permanently, even if they are unemployed. After residing in the United States for five years (or three years in some circumstances), LPRs are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship. It is impossible to apply for citizenship through the normal process without first becoming an LPR.

Each year the United States also admits a variety of noncitizens on a temporary basis. Such "non-immigrant" visas are granted to everyone from tourists to foreign students to temporary workers permitted to remain in the country for years. While certain employment-based visas are subject to annual caps, other non-immigrant visas (including tourist and student visas) have no numerical limits.

I. Family-Based Immigration

Family unification is an important principle governing U.S. immigration policy. The family-based immigration system allows U.S. citizens and LPRs to bring certain family members to the United States. Family-based immigrants are admitted either as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or through the family preference system.

An unlimited number of visas are available every year for the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. Prospective immigrants in this category must meet standard eligibility criteria, and petitioners must meet certain age and financial requirements. Immediate relatives are:

spouses of U.S. citizens;

unmarried minor children of U.S. citizens (under 21 years old); and

parents of U.S. citizens (petitioner must be at least 21 years old to petition for a parent).

A limited number of visas are available every year under the family preference system. Prospective immigrants in the family preference system must meet standard eligibility criteria, and petitioners must meet certain age and financial requirements. The family preference system includes:

adult children (married and unmarried) and brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens (petitioner must be at least 21 years old to petition for a sibling); and

spouses and unmarried children (minor and adult) of LPRs.

In order to balance the overall number of immigrants arriving based on family relationships, Congress established a complicated system for calculating the available number of family preference visas for any given year. The number is determined by starting with 480,000 (the maximum number in principle allocated for all family-based immigrants) and then subtracting the number of immediate relative visas issued during the previous year and the number of aliens "paroled" into the United States during the previous year. Any unused employment preference immigrant numbers from the preceding year are then added to this total to establish the number of visas that are available for allocation through the family preference system. However, by law, the number of family-based visas allocated through the preference system may not be lower than 226,000. The number of immediate relatives often exceeds 250,000 in a given year and triggers the 226,000 minimum for preference visas. As a result, the total number of family-based visas often exceeds 480,000. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, family-based immigrants comprised 68.8 percent of all new LPRs in the United States.

The family-based immigration system is summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Family-Based Immigration System

Immediate Relatives

U.S. Citizen adults

Spouses, unmarried minor children, and parents

* Plus any unused visas from the 4th preference.

** Plus any unused visas from 1st and 2nd preference.

***Plus any unused visas from the all other family-based preferences.

Worldwide level of family preference allocation: 480,000 minus visas issued to immediate relatives and parolees, plus unused employment-visas from previous fiscal year. Floor for preference categories: 226,000.

Source: William A. Kandel, Permanent Legal Migration to the United States, (CRS Report No. R42866) (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2014), https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R42866.pdf.

In order to be admitted through the family-based immigration system, a U.S. citizen or LPR sponsor must petition for an individual relative, establish the legitimacy of the relationship, meet minimum income requirements, and sign an affidavit of support stating that the sponsor will be financially responsible for the family member(s) upon arrival in the United States or adjustment to LPR status within the United States. The individual relative also must meet certain eligibility requirements that include submitting to a medical exam and obtaining required vaccinations (including a COVID-19 vaccination), an analysis of any immigration or criminal history, as well as demonstrating that they will not become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence.

The spouses and children who accompany or follow the principal immigrant (the one sponsored by the U.S. citizen or LPR under the family-preference category) are referred to as derivative immigrants. Derivative immigrants also count toward the numerical caps for the categories in Table 1. That means that many of the visa slots allotted for members of these categories are often actually used by the spouses and children of the members. For example, in FY 2019, 61,031 people were admitted in the category "brothers and sisters" of U.S. citizens, but only 22,179 of them were actual brothers or sisters of U.S. citizens. The rest were spouses (14,956) and children (23,896) of the siblings of U.S. citizens.

II. Employment-Based Immigration

The United States provides various ways for immigrants with valuable skills to come to the country on either a permanent or a temporary basis.

Temporary Visa Classifications

Temporary employment-based visa classifications permit employers to hire and petition for foreign nationals for specific jobs for limited periods. Most temporary workers must work for the employer that petitioned for them and have limited ability to change jobs. There are more than 20 types of visas for temporary nonimmigrant workers. These include L-1 visas for intracompany transfers; various P visas for athletes, entertainers, and skilled performers; R-1 visas for religious workers; various A visas for diplomatic employees; O-1 visas for workers of extraordinary ability; and various H visas for both highly skilled and lesser-skilled workers. The visa classifications vary in terms of their eligibility requirements, duration, whether they permit workers to bring dependents, and other factors. In most cases, these workers must leave the United States if their status expires or if their employment is terminated. It may be possible, depending on the type of job and the foreign national's qualifications, for an employer to sponsor the worker for permanent employment. A foreign national does not have to be working for the employer in order to be sponsored. However, depending on the permanent immigration category sought and the foreign national's current nonimmigrant category, he or she may be able to complete the steps to become an LPR while continuing to live and work in the United States.

Permanent Immigration

The overall numerical limit for permanent employment-based immigrants is 140,000 per year. This number includes the immigrants plus their eligible spouses and minor unmarried children, meaning the actual number of employment-based immigrants is less than 140,000 each year. Any unused family preference immigrant numbers from the preceding year are added to this cap to establish the number of visas that are available for allocation through the employment-based system. The total number of available visas is then divided into five preference categories. For some categories, the sponsor must first test the U.S. labor market under terms and conditions established by the Department of Labor, and the Secretary of Labor must certify that the petitioner's application meets certain requirements before the sponsor may file a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). For some categories, the sponsor's first step is to file a petition with USCIS or the foreign national may self-petition. The final step is the foreign national's application for an immigrant visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad or an application to adjust status to LPR if in lawful status in the United States. For consular processing, the immigrant visa application cannot be filed until after USCIS approves the immigrant petition. For adjustment of status, the time to file the application depends on whether a visa number is considered to be immediately available.

The employment-based immigration system is summarized in Table 2.
Table 2: Permanent Employment-Based Preference System

Skilled workers with at least two years of training or experience, professionals with college degrees, or "other" workers for unskilled labor that is not temporary or seasonal.

40,040***

"Other" unskilled laborers restricted to 5,000

*Plus any unused visas from the 4th and 5th preferences.

**Plus any unused visas from the 1st preference.

***Plus any unused visas from the 1st and 2nd preference.

Worldwide level of employment-based immigrants: 140,000 for principal applicants and their dependents.

Source: Ruth Ellen Wasem, U.S. Immigration Policy on Permanent Admissions, (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, March 13, 2012), 4, https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL32235.pdf.

In FY 2019, immigrants admitted through the employment preferences made up 13.5 percent of all new LPRs in the United States.

III. Per-Country Ceilings

In addition to the numerical limits placed on the various immigration preference categories, the INA also places a limit on how many immigrants can come to the United States from any one country. Currently, no group of permanent immigrants (family-based and employment-based combined) from a single country can exceed seven percent of the total number of people immigrating to the United States in a single fiscal year. This is not a quota to ensure that certain nationalities make up seven percent of immigrants, but rather a limit that is set to prevent any immigrant group from dominating immigration flows to the United States.

IV. Refugees and Asylees

Refugees are admitted to the United States based upon an inability to return to their home countries because of a "well-founded fear of persecution" due to their race, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin. Refugees apply for admission from outside of the United States, generally from a "transition country" that is outside their home country. The admission of refugees turns on numerous factors, such as the degree of risk they face, membership in a group that is of special concern to the United States (designated yearly by the president and Congress), and whether or not they have family members in the United States.

Each year, the president, in consultation with Congress, determines the numerical ceiling for refugee admissions. The overall cap is broken down into limits for each region of the world. After September 11, 2001, the number of refugees admitted into the United States fell drastically. After the Bush administration put new security checks in place, annual refugee admissions returned to their previous levels and rose during the Obama administration. During the Trump administration, the refugee ceiling fell sharply, from 110,000 in FY 2017 to 45,000 in FY 2018 and 30,000 in FY 2019. For FY 2020, the ceiling was set at an all-time low of 18,000-although only 11,814 were actually admitted (the lowest number of admitted refugees since the system was created in 1980.) The FY 2021 ceiling was set at 15,000 by the Trump administration, but was subsequently raised to 62,500 by the Biden administration. However, as of August 31, 2021, only 7,637 refugees had been admitted with just one month remaining in the current fiscal year.

Of the 62,500 admissions determined by the president for FY 2021, the regional allocations are shown in Table 3 below. Given the slow pace of admissions, it is unlikely that any of these allocations will be met.
Table 3: Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions, FY 2021
Asylum is available to persons already in the United States who are seeking protection based on the same five protected grounds upon which refugees rely. They may apply at a port of entry at the time they seek admission or within one year of arriving in the United States. There is no limit on the number of individuals who may be granted asylum each year, nor are there specific categories for determining who may seek asylum. In FY 2019, 46,508 individuals were granted asylum.

Refugees and asylees are eligible to become LPRs one year after admission to the United States as a refugee or one year after receiving asylum.

V. The Diversity Visa Program

The Diversity Visa Program was created by the Immigration Act of 1990 as a dedicated channel for immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Each year, 55,000 visas are allocated randomly through a computer-generated lottery to nationals from countries that have sent fewer than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years. Of the 55,000, up to 5,000 are made available for use under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act program, created in 1997 to provide relief to certain asylum seekers who applied for asylum before a specific date. This results in a reduction of the actual annual diversity visa limit to 50,000. The program was originally intended to favor immigration from Ireland (during the first three years of the program at least 40 percent of the visas were exclusively allocated to Irish immigrants). Diversity visas are now distributed on a regional basis and benefit Africans and Eastern Europeans in particular.

To be eligible for a diversity visa, potential applicants from qualifying countries must have a high-school education (or its equivalent) or have, within the past five years, a minimum of two years working in a profession requiring at least two years of training or experience. Spouses and minor unmarried children of the principal applicant may also enter as derivatives.

Immigration bans implemented by the Trump administration effectively shut down the Diversity Visa Program in 2020 and left roughly 43,000 of that year's lottery winners without their visas. Those 2020 lottery winners who did not receive visas by the end of the fiscal year lost their chance to immigrate to the United States, prompting some of them to file lawsuits against the federal government in an effort to obtain their visas. Although the Biden administration subsequently lifted the immigration bans, the Diversity Visa Program has resumed at a very slow pace. By the end of June 2021, the State Department had issued only 3,094 diversity visas for FY 2021. Some FY 2021 lottery winners have filed lawsuits demanding that the State Department issue their visas before the end of the fiscal year.

VI. Other Forms of Humanitarian Relief

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is is granted to people who are in the United States but cannot return to their home country because of "natural disaster," "extraordinary temporary conditions," or "ongoing armed conflict." TPS is granted to a country for six, twelve, or eighteen months and can be extended beyond that if unsafe conditions in the country persist. TPS does not necessarily lead to LPR status or confer any other immigration status.

Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) provides protection from deportation for individuals whose home countries are unstable, therefore making return dangerous. Unlike TPS, which is authorized by statute, DED is at the discretion of the executive branch. DED does not necessarily lead to LPR status or confer any other immigration status.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a program established in 2012 which permits certain individuals who were brought to the United States while under the age of 16 and who have resided continuously in the United States since June 15, 2007, to remain in the United States and work lawfully for at least two years, so long as they have no significant criminal record and have graduated high school or college or received a degree equivalent. It does not confer any path to permanent legal status and requires renewal every two years. In 2017, the Trump administration attempted to end DACA, but this action was challenged in court. In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration's attempt to terminate the program was unlawful. The Trump administration subsequently tried to impose new limits on DACA, but this action was also challenged in court and a federal judge in New York ordered the administration to set aside the newly imposed limits. Separately, a federal judge in Texas ruled that DACA was unlawful and that no new, first-time applications should be accepted. In January 2021, President Biden issued a memorandum reaffirming the federal government's commitment to DACA and pledging to appeal the Texas ruling.

Humanitarian parole allows certain individuals to enter the United States, even though they may not meet the definition of a refugee and may not be eligible to immigrate through other channels. Parolees may be admitted temporarily for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

VII. U.S. Citizenship

In order to qualify for U.S. citizenship through naturalization, an individual must have had LPR status (a green card) for at least five years (or three years if he or she obtained the green card through a U.S.-citizen spouse or through the Violence Against Women Act, VAWA). There are other exceptions including, but not limited to, members of the U.S. military who serve in a time of war or declared hostilities. Applicants for U.S. citizenship must be at least 18 years old, demonstrate continuous residency, demonstrate "good moral character," pass English and U.S. history and civics exams (with certain exceptions), and pay an application fee, among other requirements.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How the United States Immigration System Works

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
U.S. immigration law is very complex, and there is much confusion as to how it works. This fact sheet provides basic information about how the U.S. legal immigration system is designed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Feds plan to make housing assistance harder for undocumented immigrants. Few in Texas are even getting it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Undocumented immigrants don’t qualify for federal housing assistance. But a new U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule barring such residents from subsidized homes could prompt evictions of families.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hurley Riley

Master's Student in Health Behavior and Health Education
September 7, 2018
According to US Customs and Border Protection, more than 2,300 children were separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border between May and June 2018 as part of the Trump Administration's zero-tolerance border policy. Under this policy, when parents illegally enter the country with their children, the children are placed in shelters while the parents are held separately for prosecution.

"We know very young children who are exposed to this type of trauma go on to not develop their speech, not develop their language, not develop their gross and fine motor skills, and wind up with developmental delays," says Dr. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The trauma that children experience when undergoing long-term separation from their parents is extremely detrimental to the child's development, according to a new University of Michigan report that highlights the implications of family separation on young children.

Migrant Family Experience Compared to Military Family Experience

In the report, Dr. Katherine Rosenblum, a clinical and developmental psychologist at the University of Michigan, compares the separation of migrant families to the separation in which military families experience during deployment. Military families receive extensive support throughout the deployment process. However, children of deployed parents often struggle with anxiety and behavioral issues. Unlike military families, when migrant children are separated from their parents, they are placed in shelters where they are unable to make contact with their parents. The children are not provided with emotional support in the shelters, which leads them to experience extreme stress. Migrant children remain in shelters for an average of 57 days before being placed in foster care or with relatives.

Early Trauma and the Developing Brain

Dr. Jacek Debiec, assistant professor of psychiatry at Michigan Medicine, discussed research about the effects of early trauma on the brain, stating that separation "may program a child for life, increasing their risk of depression, anxiety, and psychotic disorder." Parents help children cope with traumatic experiences. However, when a child's caregiver is not present, the child undergoes prolonged stress. Children's stress levels remain high during separation, which may lead to inflammation, genetic changes, and abnormal physiological functioning. Alterations in the brain caused by trauma may be irreparable, placing children at an increased risk for anxiety, depression, and substance abuse during adulthood.

Reuniting Families Also Poses Challenges

On June 20, 2018, President Trump signed an executive order to keep families together while awaiting court proceedings. Several days later, a federal judge ordered the government to reunite children who were separated from their parents at the southern border. The government was ordered to reunite all children with their parents within 30 days.

When children are reunited with parents, the reintegration process is sometimes difficult. Widespread videos of families being reunified have shown emotionless children, some even avoiding their parent's embrace. A number of children do not even recognize their parents upon return, which speaks to the intense trauma that these children have experienced. "We think that we've made the family whole again by simply bringing them back together and letting them go on with their lives, when the reality is that there's a lot of work that still needs to be done," said Vivek Sankaran, a clinical professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School. After becoming reunited, the families affected by separation need continuing support in order to reestablish their relationships and routines.

It has been over two months since the government has been ordered to reunite children with their parents, and still nearly 500 children remain away from their families. The majority of the parents who are still separated from their children are outside of the US, as the government struggles to locate and contact them. As Sankaran says: "This nation has always served as a moral beacon for the rest of the world. But our treatment of these children-who have done nothing wrong other than accompany their parents seeking a better life-is a disgrace that reflects on all of us."

About the Author

Hurley Riley is a second year MPH student in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Riley graduated from the University of Michigan in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in biopsychology, cognition, and neuroscience. He is a research assistant in Alison Miller's Lab, a research lab focused on child health and development. Riley is the co-fundraising and social chair for the Health Behavior and Health Education Student Association, serves as a health ambassador for Project Healthy Schools, and is a member of the Public Health Action Support Team. He is also a recipient of the Marshall H. Becker Scholarship.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Impact of Parent-Child Separation at the Border

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
September 7, 2018 According to US Customs and Border Protection, more than 2,300 children were separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border between May and June 2018 as part of the Trump Administration's zero-tolerance border policy. Under this policy, when parents illegally enter the country with their children, the children are placed in shelters while the parents are held separately for prosecution.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Separation of migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border has caused severe psychological harm, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a U.S. government report released today. The findings reflect what Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and medical experts have long known and communicated to the U.S. administration: family separation causes lasting and profound psychological trauma.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report is the first significant acknowledgment by the government about how the Trump administration's punitive and inhumane immigration policies have affected the mental health of children. OIG conducted site visits at 45 facilities that care for migrant children and interviewed approximately 100 mental health clinicians who worked with children in these facilities. A related OIG report also released today found that the facilities were understaffed with qualified mental health professionals and that mental health workers were overwhelmed and ill-equipped, resulting in deficient care for children.

Medical evidence clearly shows that family separation can cause severe and long-term psychological harm to children. Separation from parents is linked with higher rates of PTSD and chronic mental health conditions like depression among children. The negative impact on the cognitive and emotional functioning of children can continue into adulthood, and contribute to lower academic achievement, attachment difficulties, and poor mental health. Extreme and repetitive stress is also correlated with increased risk of physical health conditions such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.

"We have known all along that the government's elective decision to traumatize children would have profound and devastating consequences for childhood development and mental health," said Kathryn Hampton, PHR Asylum Network program officer.

"The special bond between parent and child is imperative to healthy cognitive and mental development. Parents help buffer children from extremely stressful and dangerous situations. Without this vital resource, children are at risk of devastating short- and long-term mental and physical harm.

"Family unity is recognized as a civil right under the U.S. constitution and under international law. Children should only be separated from parents in cases where it is in the child's best interest to keep them safe. Under no circumstances should it be U.S. policy to traumatize children and their families.

"Physicians for Human Rights research has shown that many of the children arriving at the border have already endured unthinkable persecution and violence in their countries of origin and while in transit to the United States. Cruel policies like family separation only compound trauma for an already traumatized group.

"Disturbingly, family separations are still taking place, despite a nationwide injunction prohibiting the practice. The government must immediately stop separating children from their parents, and from other adults who are responsible by law and custom to care for them. The government must also reunify families and provide reparations for the harms caused. Given the stark findings of this OIG report, the provision of mental health services must be an integral part of the government's response to right this wrong.

"No child belongs in immigration detention, even if they are detained alongside their parents. This administration should immediately adopt community-based alternatives to detention, which are humane and effective, and which lessen trauma experienced by children and families."

In June 2018, PHR issued a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice which outlined the "profoundly harmful" impacts of family separation. More than 20,000 experts across the health and child development fields signed on to the letter. Since July 2018, PHR clinicians have provided forensic evaluations for 44 separated parents and children to document the trauma they suffered in their countries of origin and the compounded trauma they experienced when they were separated by the U.S. government to support their asylum applications and claims for monetary damages.

Additional Background on PHR's Work:
As the humanitarian crisis at the U.S. southern border has become increasingly severe, PHR has sent teams of medical and mental health clinicians to interview children, families, and other asylum seekers as part of its Asylum Network's effort to evaluate the medical and psychological conditions of asylum seekers. PHR's findings make clear that it is time for the U.S. administration to end all policies that lead to the detention of children and separation of families.

In June, PHR released two groundbreaking reports on: 1) the medical and mental health impacts of exposure to trauma in children seeking asylum; and 2) how U.S. immigration enforcement in health facilities is harming patients across the United States. Both reports speak to the severity of the health consequences and the urgent need for policy solutions, and include detailed recommendations for the U.S. government and other parties.

PHR partnered with the Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights to produce its report "There is No One Here to Protect You: Trauma Among Children Fleeing Violence in Central America," which presents the first case series of child and adolescent asylum seekers arriving in the United States. The report documents the physical and psychological harm caused by gang and domestic violence against children in their home countries, as well as compounding trauma experienced by children in transit to the United States and in U.S. immigration detention.

PHR's policy brief "Not in My Exam Room" documents discriminatory practices by U.S. immigration enforcement that have led to egregious health care violations, including impeding patient care and neglect of medical advice. The brief details harsh immigration enforcement actions within the militarized border zone which are violating patient rights and creating widening racial and ethnic health disparities as well as putting the health care of patients and the ethical obligations of medical professionals at risk.

PHR has repeatedly called on the U.S. administration to guarantee the basic health of individuals in its custody and to provide adequate medical treatment of children affected by trauma in regard to both physical and mental health.

PHR Resources on Asylum and the U.S. Border

Press Release: "Trump's New Indefinite Family Detention Rule is Dangerous, Inhumane, and Unlawful," August 23, 2019

Mobilization/Photos: "Doctor's Orders: Close the Camps" - a protest by medical professionals in front of the White House after aPHR-organized letter to the Trump administration signed by almost 25,000 people was delivered to the Department of Homeland Security, July 16, 2019

Report: "There is No One Here to Protect You," June 10, 2019
Press Release: "Asylum-Seeking Children from Northern Triangle Suffer Multi-Dimensional, Recurrent, Sustained Trauma," June 10, 2019

Policy Brief: "Not in My Exam Room," June 10, 2019
Press Release: "U.S. Immigration Enforcement Practices Violate Patient Rights and Medical Ethics," June 10, 2019

Fact Sheet: "Establishing Sanctuary Hospitals: Protecting the Right to Access Health Care," June 10, 2019

Fact Sheet: "Health Risks of Customs and Border Protection Detention," July 2019
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
U.S. Government Confirms Migrant Children Experienced Severe Mental Health Issues Following "Family Separation" - Physicians for Human Rights

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Separation of migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border has caused severe psychological harm, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a U.S. government report released today. The findings reflect what Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and medical experts have long known and communicated to the U.S.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The federal policy of separating children and parents caught illegally crossing the southern border of the United States, an approach that has faced intense criticism over the past several days, could have profound and long-lasting effects on the mental health of the children in involved, Johns Hopkins University expert Paul Spiegel said in a Q+A published by Newsweek on Wednesday.

Spiegel, a physician by training, directs the Center for Humanitarian Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is internationally recognized for his research on preventing and responding to complex humanitarian emergencies. Prior to joining Hopkins in 2016, he spent 14 years at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where served as chief of public health.

An estimated 2,300 children have been separated from their parents as a result of a recent policy shift designed to deter illegal border crossings, though an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday afternoon appeared to put an end the practice. Spiegel told Newsweek that for these immigrant children, some under the age of 1, separation from their parents and detention is a trauma that can have "very negative effects."

From Newsweek:

What do we know about how this kind of separation impacts mental health?

There are a tremendous amount of data on this, stemming primarily from the Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACE, study, conducted by the CDC from 1995 to 1998. This study found that traumatic events such as divorce, separation from parents, being put into foster homes or sexual or physical abuse have very negative effects on children. These effects are cumulative; more than one trauma-and particularly more than four-have increasing consequences. At the time, the results were surprising.

When children are forcibly separated from their parents without being given any information and without being able to communicate with their parents, that's a traumatic event. And it's unlikely that this is their first traumatic event, given the violence in many of the countries they're coming from. So this separation is adding to the trauma they have already experienced.

Prolonged trauma in children can affect the architecture of their brain because it's not yet fully formed. The toxic stress puts the brain into continuous flight-or-fight mode. Our flight or fight response is very important for dealing with immediate danger. But usually we stay in that mode for a very short period of time. You don't want to be in that state 24 hours a day for weeks on end.

How does this prolonged state change the brain architecture?

The pathways and mechanisms are complex, involving changes to the responsiveness of neurotransmitters coming out from the brain. The simplest way to understand it is to think about how we respond when we are under a great deal of stress-and then imagine that continuing day after day, never turning off. Studies have shown that exposure to chronic stress in children can affect the brain.

What are the visible consequences of these changes?

For many children, the trauma will exacerbate learning difficulties. Some children may be more prone to substance abuse. Increased depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are also issues. If a child has a genetic predisposition to a mental health condition, an event like this could help bring that out.

The ACE study followed children for many years and found an increase in diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even earlier death among children who experienced repeated trauma versus those who did not.

Read more from Newsweek

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The mental health impact of separating immigrant children from their parents

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The federal policy of separating children and parents caught illegally crossing the southern border of the United States, an approach that has faced intense criticism over the past several days, could have profound and long-lasting effects on the mental health of the children in involved, Johns Hopkins University expert Paul Spiegel said in a Q+A published by Newsweek on Wednesday.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Psychologists Respond to a Mental Health Crisis at the Border

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Clinicians, researchers and advocates support families who are suffering in the wake of the family separation policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
US Border Patrol recorded more migrant deaths on the US southern border in fiscal year 2021 than in any prior year on record, according to data shared by the agency Thursday.

There were 557 Southwest border deaths during the fiscal year, which ended September 30. That's up from 254 deaths in fiscal year 2020 and 300 deaths in 2019, marking a significant increase amid a 30-record year for border crossings. The agency data on deaths dates to 1998.

A majority of migrant border deaths have been related to heat exposure, according to the agency. Migrants often face dangerous terrain and can get lost as they try to make their way to the US.

Several factors led to the increase in recorded deaths, including more people crossing the border and an increased effort by the agency to work with our law enforcement partners to identify and document cases.

Border Patrol reports data on deaths where agents find the body or are involved in an emergency response. The agency tracks border deaths to better understand the dangers of unlawfully crossing into the US.

The figures, however, are not representative of all migrant border deaths, as other state and local agencies may recover bodies without Border Patrol involvement, meaning the number of deaths is likely higher.

The Biden administration has grappled with the unprecedented number of migrants crossing into the US, struggling at times to provide adequate care and housing to migrants and faced with the dangers of the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Joe Biden, when asked during a recent CNN town hall why he hasn't visited the southern border, said, "Well, I guess I should go down."

US Border Patrol made nearly 1.66 million arrests for unlawful crossings on the US-Mexico border during fiscal year 2021, the highest annual number of apprehensions on record, according to year-end data released by the agency last week.

CNN's Rosa Flores reported on the increase in deaths on the border in June, when 2021 was already shaping up to be deadlier than previous years.

"By and large, what ends up happening is people getting lost, people not understanding the harshness of the environment and how dangerous it is and how quickly somebody can get dehydrated, how quickly somebody can get lost," said a former Customs and Border Protection official.

As the volume of migrant crossings increases, the number of criminals "abandoning and abusing" people also goes up, the official said.

Rescues along the border also skyrocketed in the 2021 fiscal year, more than doubling from the prior year, a sign that Border Patrolis expending more resources and managing a tenuous situation.

There were 12,854 Border Patrol rescues this past fiscal year, far surpassing the previous four years, which is as far back as the agency has tracked this data. The previous high was in 2019, with 5,335 rescues.

In June, when rescues were already spiking, Customs and Border Protection said smuggling organizations were abandoning migrants in remote and dangerous areas, leading to a dramatic rise in the number of rescues.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
international relations and national security

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Border Patrol tallies record 557 migrant deaths on US-Mexico border in 2021 fiscal year | CNN Politics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
US Border Patrol recorded more migrant deaths on the US southern border in fiscal year 2021 than in any prior year on record, according to data shared by the agency Thursday. There were 557 Southwest border deaths during the fiscal year, which ended September 30.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Impacts of Family Separation, Yet Resilience and Hope for the Future

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During the most recent policy of immigrant family separation, more than 2,500 migrant children have been separated from their parents as they entered the United States - parents being referred to prosecution and children being turned over to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abstract

Many major medical organizations have asserted that family separation is a traumatic childhood experience due to critical disruptions in attachment and the child's environment. In this commentary, we aim to provide physicians with a growing body of recent data that examines the particular effects of separation on migrant families. Of note, there are myriad scenarios by which vulnerable youths who are fleeing torture and persecution may be separated from a primary attachment figure. Causes of premigration separation include diaspora of family members to avoid violence or persecution, as well as the separation that results from family members being kidnapped, trafficked, or murdered. During migration, family members may travel separate routes based on the physical abilities of travelers. This Commentary will examine the mental health impacts of postmigration separation: separation that occurs at the border upon arrival or that is experienced by resettled refugees separated from family members who continue to reside in refugee camps or the country of origin. This Commentary may allow psychiatrists a more nuanced perspective regarding the mental health of migrant families, while also enabling more effective advocacy through emerging data.

Similar articles

Mechanisms underlying the mental health impact of family separation on resettled refugees.

Liddell BJ, Byrow Y, O'Donnell M, Mau V, Batch N, McMahon T, Bryant R, Nickerson A. Liddell BJ, et al. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2021 Jul;55(7):699-710. doi: 10.1177/0004867420967427. Epub 2020 Oct 28. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2021. PMID: 33111540

Family Separation and the Impact of Digital Technology on the Mental Health of Refugee Families in the United States: Qualitative Study.

Shah SFA, Hess JM, Goodkind JR. Shah SFA, et al. J Med Internet Res. 2019 Sep 3;21(9):e14171. doi: 10.2196/14171. J Med Internet Res. 2019. PMID: 31482853 Free PMC article.

Mental Health of Refugees and Migrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Experienced Discrimination and Daily Stressors.

Spiritus-Beerden E, Verelst A, Devlieger I, Langer Primdahl N, Botelho Guedes F, Chiarenza A, De Maesschalck S, Durbeej N, Garrido R, Gaspar de Matos M, Ioannidi E, Murphy R, Oulahal R, Osman F, Padilla B, Paloma V, Shehadeh A, Sturm G, van den Muijsenbergh M, Vasilikou K, Watters C, Willems S, Skovdal M, Derluyn I. Spiritus-Beerden E, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jun 11;18(12):6354. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18126354. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021. PMID: 34208243 Free PMC article.

A review of the literature on sexual and reproductive health of African migrant and refugee children.

Kwankye SO, Richter S, Okeke-Ihejirika P, Gomma H, Obegu P, Salami B. Kwankye SO, et al. Reprod Health. 2021 Apr 17;18(1):81. doi: 10.1186/s12978-021-01138-3. Reprod Health. 2021. PMID: 33865417 Free PMC article. Review.

ISSOP position statement on migrant child health.

ISSOP Migration Working Group. ISSOP Migration Working Group. Child Care Health Dev. 2018 Jan;44(1):161-170. doi: 10.1111/cch.12485. Epub 2017 Jul 23. Child Care Health Dev. 2018. PMID: 28736840 Review.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
national center for biotechnology information

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Mental Health Effects of Migrant Family Separation - PubMed

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many major medical organizations have asserted that family separation is a traumatic childhood experience due to critical disruptions in attachment and the child's environment. In this commentary, we aim to provide physicians with a growing body of recent data that examines the particular effects of ...

# data[].attributes.headline
Four Ways Climate Change is Impacting Key Species in Texas

# data[].attributes.subject
Four Ways Climate Change is Impacting Key Species in Texas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You haven't truly seen a whooping crane until you've wandered onto the wetlands where they winter. The horizon is just a bit bigger there. Saltmarshes and ribbons of water unfurl endlessly in front of you, breathing easy behind the comfort of a seemingly impregnable line of barrier islands in the distance.

This-the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Mid-Coast of Texas-is the only winter home of the only wild flock of whooping cranes on the continent. Perhaps it's no accident the flock chose Texas. Everything about the crane is larger-than-life and stubbornly unique. Its elongated legs and neck make it the tallest bird in North America; it tops its bright white torso with a flamboyant, deep red cap; its call is a cowboy-esque howl that's more than a tinge mournful.

The Texas Mid-Coast is an ecologically unique transition zone, vital to many wildlife species. Credit: Kaila Drayton, NWF.

The flock feasts off of blue crab, fish, clams, insects, and many other forms of life teeming in the productive waters of the Mid-Coast. The region is an ecologically unique transition zone with a combination of fresh and salt wetlands, estuaries, and bay systems. To protect these natural features and the many benefits they provide, key stretches of the Mid-Coast have been set aside as National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) and Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs).

Yet while everything from the protective islands on the horizon to official park signage suggests this stretch is indeed a refuge-new analysis indicates climate change could bring significant disruption to the whooping crane and other key species on the coast.

The report from the National Wildlife Federation's Texas Coast and Water Program argues decisive action can and should be taken to better protect the ecosystems of the Mid-Coast from accelerating climate threats. Here we take a look at four key species to illustrate the challenges facing wildlife and their habitats on the shores of a unique, yet changing, coast:

Whooping cranes and sea level rise

Coastal prairies in the Aransas NWR provide habitat for federally listed species such as whooping cranes. From fewer than 20 birds in 1941, the 2019-2020 winter marked more than 500 whooping cranes at Aransas NWR. Projections indicate a higher than global average increase in the relative sea level rise in the Mid-Coast region due to land compaction caused by oil, gas and groundwater extractions.

Climate change is significantly disrupting the habitat of the whooping crane and other key species on the coast. Credit: Kaila Drayton, NWF.

Rising sea levels and subsequent saltwater intrusion will convert more than 50% of the freshwater wetlands to open water in the region by 2100. In addition, increasing temperatures and decreasing salinity in Mid-Coast estuaries is a threat to young blue crabs-the primary food source for whooping cranes. These combined findings suggest the whooping crane could lose its only wintering home before the end of the century.

Migratory waterfowl and storm surge

Waterfowl like the yellow-crowned night heron are at increased risk from severe storms. Credit: Kaila Drayton, NWF.

Migratory waterfowl in the Mid-Coast are dependent on the marshes of Big Boggy NWR, Guadalupe WMA, and Mad Island WMA. Storm surge will intensify due to the projected increase in sea level rise by the end of the century. Research also suggests that severe storms such as Harvey will become more frequent in the future leading to flooding and erosion of the birding and nesting sites for these waterfowl. Climate change will also lead to new areas becoming susceptible to storm surge including Mad Island WMA, a crucial wetland habitat for wintering waterfowl.

Kemp's Ridley sea turtles and increasing temperatures

The beach and dune system of Matagorda barrier islands in the Mid-Coast provide nesting grounds for Kemp's Ridley sea turtles-the smallest sea turtle in the world and an endangered species. Surface temperature plays an important role in determining the sex of hatchlings for Kemp's Ridley sea turtles. NWF's analysis indicates the number of days above 95 degrees Farenheit in the region will almost double by the end of this century. Higher temperatures can lead to a low nest success and affect sex ratios with producing only females for these endangered sea turtles.

Mid-coast beaches and dunes provide nesting grounds for endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtles. Credit: Kaila Drayton, NWF.

Southern Flounder and increasing salinity

Southern Flounder is among several commercial and recreational fisheries found in the Mid-Coast's Guadalupe Bay and Matagorda Bay. Increasing temperatures and declining freshwater inflows from the Guadalupe-San Antonio River basin and Colorado-Lavaca River basin is leading to a decline in salinity for Mid-Coast estuaries and bays with negative consequences for their fish population. A study analyzing the distribution of 150 species across the coast of Texas found a decrease in occupancy probability of Southern Flounder with salinity and sea level rise as primary drivers.

NWF's study offers a range of policy recommendations that could help combat emerging threats and build resilience across the region. To protect the key species discussed above, the report suggests decision-makers:

Invest in strategic coastal land acquisitions, expansion, and ecosystem restoration priorities for critical NWRs and WMAs.

Work with conservation planners, wildlife biologists, and resource managers to protect winter habitat for whooping cranes. This includes creating incentives for private landowners to provide habitat for the protection of vulnerable and endangered species on their land.

Implement living shoreline techniques and other nature-based solutions to reduce the intrusion of saltwater along the bay and protect wetlands, refuge systems, protected areas, defend against future storms as well as improve water quality.

Ensure enough freshwater reaches Texas' bays and estuaries to maintain (or improve) the ecological health of these important ecosystems and the species that thrive in them.

The threats facing these four species illustrate the scale and complexity of climate-related change on the Texas Mid-Coast. To conserve wildlife and habitat in this changing context it is critical that we invest in these treasured ecosystems this decade. Many of us, whooping cranes included, have found a refuge in this big corner of the world-let's fight to keep it that way for our children.

READ THE REPORT
Help Texas wildlife by supporting NWF's regional programs like our Texas Coast and Water program.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Four Ways Climate Change is Impacting Key Species in Texas-and Four Ways to Combat It

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You haven't truly seen a whooping crane until you've wandered onto the wetlands where they winter. The horizon is just a bit bigger there. Saltmarshes and ribbons of water unfurl endlessly in front of you, breathing easy behind the comfort of a seemingly impregnable line of barrier islands in the distance.

# data[].attributes.body
How do Immigrants deal with the struggles of deportation?

# data[].attributes.headline
Climate Change Has Whooping Cranes Starting Their Spring Migration Earlier

# data[].attributes.subject
Climate Change Has Whooping Cranes Starting Their Spring Migration Earlier

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Climate Change Has Whooping Cranes Starting Their Spring Migration Earlier

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Warmer temperatures mean Whooping Cranes migrate north earlier, and south later, between the Gulf Coast and Canadian breeding grounds.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Economy of Syrian Refugees - The New Yorker - John Cassidy

# data[].attributes.subject
The Economy of Syrian Refugees - The New Yorker - John Cassidy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In the wake of last Friday's attacks on Paris, much has been written about Syrian refugees, and the (remote) possibility that ISIS-affiliated jihadis might slip into the United States among the ten thousand displaced people (many of them children) that the Obama Administration has committed to taking in during the next year. In contrast with discussions about immigration generally, there has been less comment about the economics of the issue. There are many arguments in favor of settling refugees here-not least what President Obama, responding to the announcement by some state governors that they would not accept Syrians fleeing their country's civil war, called "our values"-but from a financial perspective, too, there is little doubt that the U.S. has the capacity to absorb many more Syrian refugees, and that the long-term impact of such a policy would be positive.

Let's start with an obvious point: With up to seven million Syrians having been displaced by the civil war, many countries much smaller than the United States have already allowed in a lot more than ten thousand refugees. Since 2012 the European Union has received about 1.9 million requests for asylum, and even that number is dwarfed by the number of people who have sought refuge in countries adjacent to Syria. According to the United Nations, Turkey has taken in an estimated 2.2 million, Lebanon 1.1 million, and Jordan six hundred and thirty thousand.

Based purely upon these figures, you might think that the economies of these countries would be sagging under the burden, but they aren't. According to a new report from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, the Turkish economy will expand by three per cent this year and by four per cent next year. Lebanon's economy is also growing, at a rate of about two per cent this year, which will expand to more than three per cent next year, the World Bank reckons. Despite an influx of refugees that now amounts to more than ten per cent of its population, Jordan, too, is bearing up. Its gross domestic product will rise by about three per cent this year, the International Monetary Fund says.

These figures make the point that, even in countries facing huge influxes of refugees, the impact on the economy as a whole is usually not very large. The biggest challenges in accommodating refugees are social and political, rather than economic. To be sure, there is a cost to screening, housing, and feeding the entrants, but even in Turkey, which has received more Syrian refugees than any other country, this cost has proved manageable. In a blog post in September, Massimiliano Calì and Samia Sekkarie, two economists at the World Bank, noted, "The Turkish government has spent nearly 5.37 billion euros since the refugees first began arriving, entirely funded through its own fiscal resources. While this is undoubtedly a lot of money, there is no indication that this spending has jeopardized the country's fiscal sustainability." If you think about it, that's not surprising. Turkey's annual G.D.P. is about eight hundred billion dollars. At about one and a half billion dollars a year, the cost of resettling the Syrian refugees has been less than 0.2 per cent of the G.D.P.

In Lebanon, which is much smaller than Turkey, the cost of dealing with the refugee crisis has been greater relative to the G.D.P., but much of it has been met using money provided by international donors. Indeed, a recent study carried out under the auspices of the U.N. concluded that the refugee-aid packages actually boosted Lebanon's G.D.P. by more than one per cent. (At the same time, though, the spillover from the carnage in Syria has hit tourism, one of Lebanon's biggest industries, hard. Overall, the U.N. study estimated, the crisis in Syria has lowered Lebanon's G.D.P. by about 0.3 per cent.)

Another concern that has been voiced frequently about refugees, especially in Europe over the past few months, in response to the influx of refugees there, has been that refugees take jobs from native workers and reduce wages. The evidence from the Syrian experience suggests that this can happen, but that the effects aren't very large. In many cases, refugees take jobs that natives don't want. They also set up businesses of their own and provide more customers for domestic enterprises.

Since so many of the refugees in Lebanon and Jordan are in temporary camps, the most relevant example for this pattern is Turkey. Earlier this year, the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies, in Ankara, published a detailed study of what impact Syrian refugees are having on Turkey. The report did find that the influx is causing economic tensions in the south, where many Syrians are working illegally in the informal economy. The cost of home rentals has increased, making it harder to find affordable housing, and inflation has risen. "There is unfair competition between businesses that hire illegal workers and companies that do not employ illegal workers," the report said. "Locals believe that job opportunities have been taken away from them." However, when the authors of the report investigated these claims, they found that "Syrians are generally employed in areas that locals are not willing to work in. Thus, Syrians meet the demand in unskilled labor."

Not all the migrants are unskilled workers, however. Another study, by Soner Çağaptay, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, pointed out that many Syrian traders from places like Aleppo, which has been devastated by the civil war, have moved their operations across the border to cities in southern Turkey, boosting business there. In general, Çağaptay wrote, "Turkish business, and the country's trademark export market, has registered remarkable success in dealing with the fallout of the Syrian crisis."

If the United States were to take in more Syrian refugees, the numbers would be tiny compared to what is happening in the Middle East and Europe. At the top end of the range, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley have called for sixty-five thousand migrants to be admitted over the next five years. As O'Malley pointed out during last week's Democratic debate, "Accommodating sixty-five thousand refugees in our country . . . of three hundred and twenty million is akin to making room for six and a half more people in a baseball stadium with thirty-two thousand."

There is also a relatively recent precedent for the country admitting and successfully assimilating far more refugees than even sixty-five thousand. In 1975 and 1976, after the fall of the pro-Western regime in Saigon, about a hundred and fifty thousand Vietnamese were admitted to refugee centers in Arkansas, California, Florida, and Pennsylvania. During the late seventies and early eighties, as flotillas of desperate "boat people" set sail from Vietnam, the U.S. admitted hundreds of thousands more refugees. (By 1995, the total number was close to half a million.)

At the time, the policy of admitting large numbers of Vietnamese encountered a great deal of opposition. (In a 1975 poll, only thirty-six per cent of Americans were in favor of admitting them.) There were the usual self-contradictory worries that the refugees, few of whom spoke English, would take jobs and prove to be a permanent burden on the country. Several decades later, however, these concerns have proved largely unfounded.

Today, there are almost 1.9 million Vietnamese-Americans, more than half of whom live in California or Texas. Although the data shows that Vietnamese-Americans haven't done as well economically as some other Asian immigrants and their descendants, such as those of Korean and Chinese origin, they are generally earning a fair amount. Indeed, a statistical portrait put together by the Washington-based Center for American Progress shows that they're doing better than the typical American household. The median income among Vietnamese-American households is about fifty-nine thousand dollars, compared to a national average of about fifty-three thousand. The participation rate of Vietnamese-Americans in the labor force is a bit higher than the national average as well: 64.9 per cent in 2014, compared to 64.3 per cent for U.S. households as whole. And the unemployment rate among Vietnamese-Americans is lower than the national average.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the wake of last Friday's attacks on Paris, much has been written about Syrian refugees, and the (remote) possibility that ISIS-affiliated jihadis might slip into the United States among the ten thousand displaced people (many of them children) that the Obama Administration has committed to taking in during the next year.

# data[].attributes.headline
the story of the migrants crossing the border and what family's go through when they died  

# data[].attributes.subject
the story of the migrants crossing the border and what family's go through when they died  

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Border crossers, and the desert that claims them

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Thousands who try to traverse southern Arizona never make it. Someone, somewhere, still wonders about each one.

# data[].attributes.headline
Family Consequences of Detention/Deportation: Effects on Finances, Health, and Well-Being 

# data[].attributes.subject
Family Consequences of Detention/Deportation: Effects on Finances, Health, and Well-Being 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Today, an array of Trump Administration policies are affecting immigrant families. A previous Kaiser Family Foundation report showed that the current immigration policy environment significantly increased fear and uncertainty among immigrant families and had wide-ranging negative impacts on their health and well-being. This report builds on that work by exploring the direct impacts of detention and deportation on family finances, health, and well-being. The findings are based on interviews with 20 families that recently had a family member detained or deported and 12 legal services providers, health centers, educators, and community organizations serving immigrant families conducted in California, Texas, and Washington, DC during Summer 2018. Most family respondents were Hispanic women with children in the household; immigrants in the families primarily came to the U.S. from Mexico and Central America.

When a family member is detained or deported, #immigrant families often face financial hardship, physical and emotional health consequences and new fears of engaging with public programs.

Sudden and Severe Financial Hardship

Families were left struggling to pay their bills, and many are having trouble putting food on the table. Many families reported problems affording enough food due to the loss of their family member's income, and some adults were going hungry so their children could eat. A number also faced unstable housing situations and were worried about how they were going to pay the next month's rent. Although remaining adults sought to increase work hours to fill in lost income, many did not have childcare to cover increased hours. Some families also faced gaps in support and care for older parents. Stakeholders said that, in some cases, individuals returned to an abusive relationship or suffered poor working conditions or exploitation by an employer because their income needs were so urgent and they had no other options.

Disruption to Children's Routines and Relationships

Children are spending more time inside and participating in fewer activities because remaining adults are working all the time and/or more fearful of spending time outside. Some families reported that children became angry or resentful about remaining adults working all the time. Families and stakeholders also noted that some parents have less patience with their children because of increased work and stress. In some families, older children took on jobs or increased roles caring for siblings. Stakeholders also noted that older children often take on challenging roles advocating and translating for their parents. A number of families noted that older children changed their plans for the future, for example, getting a job instead of joining the armed forces or declining acceptance to a university.

Extreme Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

Nearly all respondents appeared to be experiencing symptoms of depression, with the majority having a positive score on a clinical depression-screening tool. They described feeling extreme sadness and, in some cases, desperation. A few said they have had suicidal thoughts. Many reported problems eating and sleeping as well as stomachaches and headaches. Several said that chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension have gotten worse due to increased stress and anxiety. The emotional trauma of being separated from their family member sometimes compounded previous trauma individuals experienced in their home countries or during their journey to the U.S.

Children also had increased mental health issues and behavioral changes that stakeholders stressed will have long-term negative impacts on their health. Children became sad and anxious, crying and frequently asking for the missing family member. They developed problems eating and sleeping, experienced developmental regressions, and became more isolated and withdrawn. Stakeholders expressed major concerns about the long-term impacts for children, referencing research showing that stress and trauma in children lead to poor long-term mental and physical health outcomes.

Abrupt Declines in School Performance

Families and stakeholders said that children had more difficulty paying attention in school due to stress and worries as well as problems sleeping. One educator noted that, physiologically, it is more difficult for children to learn because they cannot access the correct area of their brain when they are in a state of stress and experiencing trauma. Stakeholders noted that teachers are spending more time focused on reassuring and calming students, which takes away time spent on academics. Stakeholders also had concerns about the negative impacts on children's long-term educational attainment and future success as adults.

"...it just creates a very bleak future for some of our young people...we're creating such...an environment of hostility and discouragement for our students that's basically going to affect generations to come, I mean we're going to have students that perhaps are not interested in going to college, are not interested in furthering their education..." Educator, CA

Fear of Accessing Public Programs

Families have growing fears about participating in health, nutrition, and other programs. Families were scared that accessing services could jeopardize the chances of having their detained or deported family member released or allowed to return to the U.S. They also feared it could prevent themselves from obtaining legal status or citizenship in the future and/or put others at risk for deportation. As such, many were not participating in food assistance or other programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Free or Reduced Price Lunch, even though they were having problems affording food and their U.S.-born children would likely qualify. Stakeholders also reported declines in public program participation as well as use of other services. They noted that potential changes to public charge policies are escalating fears, even among legal permanent residents and citizens.

"I used to get Medicaid and the food stamps, but as I wanted to get my legal status, they even say that if you ask for help from the government, you'll be denied legal status." Mother of Detained/Deported Individual, Houston, TX

"Even clients that I am now giving them their work permits or their green cards and they are eligible for public benefits, they're very hesitant to get anything." Legal Services Provider, CA

Gaps in Support and Resources

Despite significant mental health needs, most families were not receiving mental health care. Families and stakeholders pointed to lack of coverage among adults, limited availability of providers, stigma associated with mental health care within the Latino community, and fear of sharing information with others as barriers to care. Teachers and schools served as an important link to counseling for some families. However, stakeholders noted that schools do not have the resources to meet the growing needs.

"[My granddaughter] has a good doctor, but we don't want to say much to doctors because then they start to do some kind of investigations." Mother of Detained/Deported Individual, Sunnyvale, CA

Families face major gaps in legal help and other assistance. Due to lack of sufficient legal services, many families are going without representation or going into debt for thousands of dollars to pay private attorneys. Stakeholders said that the lack of legal services makes families susceptible to fraud and limits their chances for successful outcomes with their cases. Stakeholders stressed that expanding legal resources is a crucial priority. Further, although some families received help from charities, churches, and community organizations, families and stakeholders pointed to gaps in financial, food, and housing assistance for families, particularly as they are increasingly fearful of enrolling in public programs.

"...families need lawyers. I think that representation is the most urgent need to fill...." Legal Services Provider, CA

Fear and Uncertainty for the Future

Many families felt trapped without any good options and apprehensive about their future. Many were uncertain about their future and did not know if they would remain in the U.S. For some, returning to their country of origin is not an option because it would be too dangerous. Families and stakeholders reported growing concerns among DACA recipients and individuals losing TPS status, who are fearful that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will target them when they lose status because the government has their information. They fear having to return to a country to which they have no connection since they have lived in the U.S. for decades and established their lives and families here.

"So a lot of my TPS clients...are just devastated. They just feel that the country has turned their backs on them, that they have been in this community for some of them 25 years." Legal Services Provider, TX

Stakeholders highlighted the resilience of families amid their challenging circumstances. They underscored families' continued focus on working toward a better future for themselves and their children despite the challenges they face. They also stressed that many families have made huge sacrifices and overcome major obstacles to get to the U.S. with the hope of providing a better future for their children.

"...they're really resilient... they're still prioritizing their children, their children's education, even their own education...it's amazing everything that's happening and how resilient they continue to be." Health Center, CA

These findings show that detention or deportation has major multigenerational effects across families and the broader community. Families face severe financial hardship while at the same time they are dealing with the emotional trauma of being separated from their loved one. Loss of the family member from the home significantly disrupts children's lives and has major negative impacts on their mental and emotional health that compromise their ability to learn and perform in school and research suggests will lead to poor long-term physical and mental health outcomes. See Box 1, next page, for one family's story.

"T" came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2001. As a domestic violence survivor, she obtained a U visa and eventually legal permanent residency (a "green card") in 2014. After arriving in the U.S., she met her current husband, who also is from Mexico. "T" has five children ranging from age 2 to 17. Four were born in the U.S., and the oldest is a legal permanent resident. In 2017, "T's" husband went to Mexico for an appointment as part of his process to apply for residency. Immigration officials denied him re-entry into the U.S. due to gaps in his paperwork, and he must wait 10 years before he may be able to return.

After being separated from her husband, "T" could not get by on only her income, especially without any help to watch her children. Left with no good options, she sent the youngest children to live with their father in Mexico and began working two jobs. She starts her day in a chicken packing factory from 5:00am-4:15pm and then cleans a church from 5:00 to 10:00pm. Her husband cannot work because he is caring for the children, so she took out a loan to support him and the children in Mexico. She owes between $10,000-$15,000 on her loan.

Even working two jobs, "T" struggles to keep up with her bills. She is at risk for having her water and electricity cut off and does not know how she will pay the next month's rent for the small one-bedroom apartment she lives in with her three older children. She sometimes eats less and goes hungry because she does not have enough money for food.

"T" is very depressed and agonizes over being separated from her husband and her children. She is in a state of desperation and, at times, wonders how she can continue to live. "T" fears sharing her feelings with her doctor at the clinic, because she worries it will result in having her children taken away.

The children do not want to go to school and have lost all motivation to get ahead. All three who are still in the U.S. have had their grades go down. The children are stressed and depressed, and the 9 year old has begun wetting the bed. They accuse "T" of wanting to work instead of spending time with them. The older children have become more rebellious and withdrawn. Her eldest daughter always dreamed of going into the armed forces, but now feels she needs to get a job to help support the family.

The family lost their health coverage that they used to have through her husband's work. The children now have Medicaid, but "T" became uninsured. Despite her major financial challenges, she has not enrolled in any other programs. She fears that use of some programs could affect her ability to obtain citizenship and that she would have to pay the government back for services used in the future.

"T" prays that her husband will obtain a pardon and be able to return without waiting 10 years. She fears for the safety of her husband and children in Mexico due to the drugs and violence in the area. She is working with an attorney that she found through a priest at the church she cleans. The church has also provided her financial support and help with food, which has helped get her through her toughest times.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Family Consequences of Detention/Deportation: Effects on Finances, Health, and Well-Being

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This report examines the direct consequences to family finances, health, and well-being when a member of the household is detained or deported. It is based on 20 in-person interviews with families who recently had a family member detained or deported and 12 telephone interviews with health centers, legal services providers, educators, and community organizations serving immigrant families in California, Texas, and the Washington, DC area.

# data[].attributes.headline
Whooping Cranes Could Be Wiped Out by Climate Change

# data[].attributes.subject
Whooping Cranes Could Be Wiped Out by Climate Change

# data[].attributes.headline
do people know the difference of tex-mex or mexican food 

# data[].attributes.subject
do people know the difference of tex-mex or mexican food 

# data[].attributes.headline
some reasons why migrants have passed away while crossing the border 

# data[].attributes.subject
some reasons why migrants have passed away while crossing the border 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
MOSCOW, Idaho - Dec. 16, 2021 - Rates of water loss experienced by migrants attempting to cross the desert from Mexico into the U.S. are sufficient to cause severe dehydration and to explain patterns of migrant mortality, according to a University of Idaho study.

The extreme weather of desert environments can impose significant challenges to human survival, and migrants who attempt to enter the U.S. through the Sonoran Desert likely experience severe dehydration and associated conditions such as disorientation and organ failure that can lead to death, according to the study published in the journal Science. Scientists from the University of Idaho, Princeton University, the University of California and the University of Wisconsin sought to quantify the costs, in terms of water lost through respiration and sweating, of the migrant journey, and how variation in those costs corresponded to patterns of migrant mortality.

"Over the past several decades, thousands of men, women and children have died attempting to circumvent border protection efforts and cross from Mexico into the United States," said Ryan Long, associate professor of wildlife sciences at U of I and senior author of the study. "Because official ports of entry are heavily fortified, many migrants attempt to enter the U.S. by crossing remote desert regions."

Using a detailed model of human physiology and heat transfer, scientists predicted rates of water loss experienced by each using the common border crossing between Nogales, Mexico, and Three Points, Arizona, during the summer months, and related those costs to the distribution of migrant deaths in the desert.

The researchers also explored how rates of water loss among migrants attempting to make the crossing are predicted to change as the climate warms.

"We find that migrants' journey will become significantly more dangerous over the next 30 years," said Reena Walker, graduate student at U of I and co-lead author of the study. "By 2050, the already severe costs of traversing the desert will likely increase by over 30%."

"We provide the first empirical evidence that the physiological stresses experienced by humans attempting to cross the Sonoran Desert into the U.S. are sufficient to cause severe dehydration and associated conditions that can lead to death," Long said. "Our study provides strong evidence that patterns of migrant mortality in the desert can be explained by spatiotemporal variation in the physiological costs experienced during the journey; a disproportionately large percentage of migrant deaths occur in areas where the predicted rates of water loss are highest."

The study shows the amount of drinking water carried by a typical migrant is likely not sufficient to prevent severe dehydration, and this deficit will only increase as the climate warms, Long said.

"Access to sufficient amounts of drinking water to support the high rates of water loss experienced during the journey likely makes the difference between life and death for many migrants," he said.

-

Media Contact

Ryan Long
Associate Professor
Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences
University of Idaho
208-885-7225
ralong@uidaho.edu

Ralph Bartholdt
Communications Manager
University of Idaho Communication and Marketing
208-790-7731
rbartholdt@uidaho.edu

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Migrants Crossing U.S.-Mexico Border Subject to Dehydration, Death

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
MOSCOW, Idaho - Dec. 16, 2021 - Rates of water loss experienced by migrants attempting to cross the desert from Mexico into the U.S. are sufficient to cause severe dehydration and to explain patterns of migrant mortality, according to a University of Idaho study.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As Europeans colonized North America, beginning with the Spanish and French in the 1500s and the British and Dutch in the early 1600s, colonists brought their cultural entertainments along with them. Songs brought to colonial America continued to be sung in their early forms, so that later scholars of songs and ballads, such as the British ethnomusicologist Cecil Sharp and American ballad scholar Francis James Child, looked to North America to find early versions of songs, and songs no longer sung in their country of origin. Ethnomusicologist Juan Rael documented folk dramas and passion plays -- sung performances -- that preserved early versions of Spanish religious songs in what had been the relatively isolated colony of New Mexico (modern New Mexico and western Colorado). With the development of sound recording, scholars attempted to record the earliest versions of songs that they could find, such as the ballads Child had identified. An example of a rare pre-industrial work song in this presentation is a Scottish song that women used when fulling cloth, called a "waulking" song. See " Fhillie duhinn s'tu ga m'dhi," sung by Mary MacPhee in 1939.

Playlist for Immigration, Migration and American Expansion

Five recordings from Library of Congress collections provide contrasting impressions of America's expanding populace and geography.

How Columbus discovered America
A humorous monologue and song by Murry K. Hill about Columbus' travails.

Honolulu, America loves you
The American Quartet, a male vocal quartet, accompanied by orchestra, expresses American citizens' excitement about Hawaii coming on board as a member of the Union.

My homeland
Soprano Ema Destinnova and baritone Dinh Gilly sing a duet full of longing about their beautiful Russian homeland.

Mein Schweizerland
Sadly echoing yodels remind soprano Marcelle Grandville and tenor Fritz Zimmerman of Switzerland in this patriotic duet.

Passage-birds' farewell
Soprano and contralto duet composed by Eugen Hildach about saying goodbye.

African Americans in Early America

Africans were brought to North America as Europeans first began to create settlements. The Spanish attempted to enslave American Indians in many of their efforts to establish trading ports and colonies, and brought slaves from Africa in a failed attempt to establish a colony on the southeastern coast in 1526, abandoning the slaves when they left. They also brought slaves to the colony of San Agustin in present day Florida in 1565. The British first brought Africans to the colonies in Virginia in 1619. In the early colonial period, Europeans paying for their passage by becoming indentured servants for a period of years provided much of the menial labor. As this source of labor diminished, more Africans were brought to the colonies, often imported from the Caribbean. The practice of slavery was not codified in the early colonial period. Africans in the Chesapeake region in the 1600s, for example, were often treated as indentured servants who could earn their freedom. Some slave owners in the South allowed slaves to own a small amount of property and cultivate their own gardens. By the latter part of the eighteenth century, more slaves were brought directly from Africa, and the institution had evolved into enslavement for life. The French imported slaves to work in Louisiana and Indiana territory beginning in 1719. Bahamian African Americans regularly visited the coast of Florida beginning in the 1700s and some eventually settled there.

Two boys perform on diddley bows (single stringed instruments) that they made themselves and play using a soda bottle as a slide. Often the string is mounted on a wall instead of a board. Photo taken at the Fort Valley Music Festival in Georgia in 1943 and published in The Peachite, Vol. II, No. 2, March 1944, p 8. .

Slaves brought with them songs from their own cultures and knowledge of musical instruments. African drums, gourd rattles, and the banjo were among the instruments African Americans made in the new world that are most recognizable today. The African banjo, with a body of wood or gourd, evolved into its present form and had a profound impact on the music of European American as well as African American music. West African cordophones, which consist of a bow with a single plucked string, sometimes attached to a gourd resonator, evolved into the American "diddley bow," a wire string attached to a wall or a board whose tone is both amplified and changed by sliding a bottle along its length as the string is plucked. This instrument is still used in African American blues music in the South today.

During the Colonial period and the early years of the Union, slave owners did not usually introduce their slaves to Christianity, and many discouraged religious gatherings of slaves. Slaves devised their own "camp" or "bush" meetings for worship. These combined ideas of Christianity with the religions brought from Africa. Early shouts and spirituals often drew on Old Testament stories as a source. "Ring shouts," a style of singing to a drum beat accompanied by a shuffling movement in a circle, became a common form of worship in the southeastern tidewater. After Nat Turner's rebellion, in 1831, slave owners decided to convert slaves to Christianity, hiring white ministers to preach to them on such topics as obedience. This practice introduced slaves to white styles of hymns and psalm-singing that they then blended with their own styles of religious songs.

Since African American songs and music were not well documented until after the Civil War, the content of songs during slavery days is largely based on that later documentation. During the 1930s, elderly slaves were sought out by scholars for their oral histories and some of these interviews included songs. Several of these are available in this collection. This presentation includes spirituals and work songs sung in styles that evolved during slavery. These include songs from the tidewater of South Carolina and Georgia where a dialect of English and West African languages called "Gullah" or "Sea Islands Creole Dialect" developed. This dialect is not spoken much today, but was documented by folksong collectors. For example, listen to H. Wyle sing " Come by Here," the song that came to be known as "Kumbayah." The word "yah" is Gullah for "here." Although Gorden's notes do not provide the location where this was recorded, census records of the era show that African Americans with the last name Wylie lived in South Carolina.

The songs and instrumentation developed during the slavery era not only became important in later African American musical forms, but were developed and used by many different American groups over time. The banjo developed into a uniquely American instrument used in many musical styles. African American religious and secular songs and the musical genres that they developed from them widely influenced the development of American music across ethnic groups and includes genres such as folk music, country music, blues, boogie woogie, ragtime, bluegrass, rockabilly, rock and roll, rythmn and blues, and jazz.

Songs of the Colonial Period

Settlers in the new colonies of Great Britain brought ballads and hymns with them, but new songs were also created to describe the experiences, hopes, and disappointments of the settlers. The ballad, "Springfield Mountain," describes the tragic death of Thomas Mirick in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, August 1761. A nineteenth century history of that period reprinted in The History of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, published in 1913, describes his death from a rattlesnake bite shortly before he married. It also records the lyrics of a ballad and the song in this presentation, " Young Johnny," a later version that is still recognizable, though it has simplified verses and gives the victim's name as Johnny.

The settlers of the Russian colony in Alaska also sang ballads of their adventures. " Alaskan Promyshlenniki," sung by John Pannamarkoff, is a chronicle of the experience of the settlers' journey from Arkhangel'sk to western Alaska in 1808.

A number of Spanish colonies north of what is now Mexico were attempted by the Spanish before 1600, but, among the settlements that succeeded to the present day, was a colony in what is now southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, settled in about 1600. These settlers were relatively isolated from both the settlements in Mexico and from other European pioneers moving westward. This resulted in a distinctive culture. In 1940 folklorist Juan Bautista Rael documented the songs and sung folk dramas of the descendants of these settlers, who had preserved examples of early songs and singing styles over many generations.

Early settlers of what came to be the United States came mainly from Spain, France, England, Scotland, Ulster (Scottish settlers in Ireland who later left for the colonies), the Netherlands, Germany, Wales, Poland, Sweden, and Russia. Both Christian and Jewish settlers from Europe immigrated, in many cases to find greater religious freedom. By the time of the American Revolution, twenty percent of the population of the colonies was of African descent. In some southern areas, such as the Chesapeake region, about half the population was Black. The census of 1790 records that about eight percent of the African American population was free.

Early colonies often kept particular ethnic and language groups together in one place. But as colonial populations came into contact with each other over time, the various songs and musical styles often influenced each other, sometimes developing into entirely new genres of song. Yet many song traditions of various ethnic groups were also preserved intact. When we hear folk or popular songs that sound "American" to us, it helps to remember the many traditions that contributed to the "Americanness" of our songs and music.

American Indians, Native Alaskans and Hawaiians During the Colonial Period

The settlement of North America had a profound impact on the indigenous peoples. American Indians and Native Alaskans were displaced, removed, and often brutally killed by European explorers and settlers. Many died of diseases brought by the Europeans and spread among the Indians through trade. Many tribes were decimated long before they had any contact with the Europeans who brought the illnesses, and so did not connect the illnesses with their source. For a variety of reasons, including western contact, some tribes, along with their languages and cultures, died out. " Konomihu lullaby," sung by Ellen Brazill in 1926, documents one of the last speakers of the Konomihu language (related to the Shasta languages of northern California).

European explorers and settlers were often seen as dangerous enemies, but also as opportunities for trade and a source of wonder. A Yup'ik song about a vision of a sailing ship in 1777, describes a Yup'ik holy man's vision of a large sailing ship one year before its arrival off the coast of western Alaska. The ship that would have been visible to the Yup'ik in summer of 1778 was Captain James Cook's Resolution, on an expedition to map the coast of Alaska. The Yup'ik had little further contact with Europeans until the latter part of the nineteeth century.

Hawaiian history was also being profoundly influenced by western contact by the late 1700s. Captain Cook's arrival in 1778 meant the introduction of diseases that Hawaiians had no resistance to, causing epidemics similar to those that affected American Indians. It was partly because of Western European influence, and the availability of Western weapons, that King Kamehameha I was able to unify the islands under one rule in 1810.

United States Expansion in the Early 1800s

As setters in the east moved westward, they entered into lands claimed by France and Spain, and inhabited by various Indian tribes. In 1803 the United States bought a large territory of the Mississippi watershed from France, the Louisiana Purchase. This included some land claimed by, but not settled by Spain. It also included French settlers in what is now Louisiana. Some of these were the Acadians, who were forced out of Canada by the British. A concert presented by Marce LaCoutoure, David Greely, and Kirsti Guillroy showcases some of the earliest songs of this ethnic group that are still sung today. The Louisiana Purchase also included the traditional lands of many Indian tribes. Some of these tribes are represented in this online presentation: The Omaha, the Sioux, the Blackfoot, the Kiowa.

Florida

The United States gradually moved into Florida, ignoring Spain's claims on the peninsula. Parts of west Florida had been claimed as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1810. American settlers resented Spanish rule and also claimed west Florida at this time. U.S. military forces invaded Florida frequently as a result of Seminole raids on Georgia, and to attempt to recapture runaway slaves who fled the United States. The Seminole assisted runaway slaves and allowed them to live near their villages, protecting them from being recaptured. This caused the first conflicts between the Seminole and the United States Army, led by General Andrew Jackson, even though the territory was claimed by Spain at the time. As the Seminole and the runaway slaves not only fought effectively, but also could retreat into the Florida Everglades, these incursions on their territory were largely unsuccessful. Florida was finally established as a United States territory in 1822.

The Kingdom of Hawai'i

The 1800s brought more Europeans to the Kingdom of Hawai'i. In 1815 Russia claimed the Island of Kaua'i, to establish a port of trade. A wave of Protestant missionaries to Hawai'i from Britain and the United States arrived as King Kamehameha II made changes to the existing religious system, abolishing the kapu system of taboos. French priests also arrived to bring Catholicism to the islands, but as a result of conflicts with the Protestant missionaries and native Hawaiians, they were seized and imprisoned, leading to a conflict with France. The British also attempted to claim the islands, overthrowing the Hawaiian monarchy for a short period in 1843. The Hawaiians continued to assert their independence, but under increasing pressures from the countries who used their ports for trade.

Indian Tribes

As the United States grew and more settlers came, treaties formed with American Indians were broken and their lands taken. The Indian Removal Act signed by President Andrew Jackson in 1830 began the largest removal of tribes from the Southeast to locations west of the Mississippi. Tribes were removed during the years from 1831 to 1837 and included the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. The Seminoles of Florida were the only tribe to successfully resist, as they once again retreated into the Everglades where the army was not equipped to fight them. Even so, many Seminoles were captured and removed to Indian Territory (what is now Oklahoma) in 1837. A song sung about the removal of the Seminole sung in Seminole by Katie Smith and Courtney Parker and was recorded by Carlita Doggett Corse and Robert Cornwall in 1940. Unfortunately the sound quality is poor, but the tune can be heard. The Cherokee removal in 1835 was especially devastating to the tribe as over four thousand died on the forced march westward. This tragic event came to be called "the trail of tears."

The Fugitive's Song. Cover for sheet music depicting Frederick Douglass escaping from slavery. Prints and Photographs LOT 10615-59. Select the link for more information and a larger image.

A consequence of European contact with American Indians was the first generation of children of European and Indian heritage. Many were children of French trappers, who became citizens of the United States at the time of the Louisiana Purchase. In many cases these children did not have a home in either of their parent's cultures. In the 1820s, the Omaha negotiated with the United States government for a special reservation to be set aside for "half breed" descendants of Europeans and the Iowa, Omaha, Oto, Santee Sioux and Yankton Sioux tribes. In 1830, the United States created the Nemaha Half-Breed Reservation in Indian Territory -- now Nebraska. A song sung by Omaha descendants of these "half breeds" was recorded at the 1983 Omaha Powwow. The song is attributed attributed to Louis Saunsoci, who was of Omaha and French ancestry. An interesting part of this reservation's history is that it became a safe haven on the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad

While slaves were sometimes able to escape and run to Spanish Florida or other safe havens from the time slaves were brought to North America, it was in the early nineteenth century that a network of escape routes and safe houses organized by Abolitionists, some of whom were former slaves, developed. The routes now known collectively as the Underground Railroad assisted slaves escaping north and west. While there were "conductors" who led slaves to freedom, such as Harriet Tubman, most runaway slaves found their way alone along these routes. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made it illegal to harbor runaway slaves even in states that outlawed slavery. At this time the traffic on the Underground Railroad was at its peak, and rather than stopping the effort, the Abolitionists helped slaves escape to Canada, where they could not be forced back into slavery. Canada had already become a destination for some slaves by 1835, as slavery had been abolished there in 1833. After 1850 a significant population of runaway slaves formed in areas of Ontario and British Columbia. After emancipation many returned to the United States, usually settling in northern cities. Though the migration of runaway slaves was relatively small, they helped to pave the way for later migrations of African Americans to the North and West.

There is great deal of debate about which African American spirituals may have been used as coded information related to the Underground Railroad. The organizers did use railroad terminology as a code for talking about the escape routes. Safe houses were "stations" and runaway slaves were "passengers" or "cargo," for example. So it has been speculated that spirituals about trains may have been used as part of this code. Because the Underground Railroad was secret and illegal, documentation of the use of songs as coded messages is sparse. Harriet Tubman, in her interviews with biographer Sarah H. Bradford, said that she would stand in a field adjacent to where slaves were working and sing the spiritual " Go Down, Moses" or a version of the hymn "Thorny Desert" as a way of signaling to slaves that she was in the area to help slaves flee to freedom.

American Indian tribes also participated in the Underground Railroad, providing safe havens first among the lands set aside for them by treaty, and later on reservations. These particularly involved tribes in the southeast, Florida, and tribes on the western shore of the Mississippi. In fact, this participation in the protection of runaway slaves was one of the reasons that President Jackson particularly targeted the southeastern tribes for removal to the west. In a webcast of Choctaw music and storytelling, Tim Tingle tells why there is a version of the spiritual "Bound for the Promised Land," in Choctaw, singing the song while telling of members of the Choctaw Nation asisting a fleeing family of slaves. The story may be somewhat fictionalized, but the background is based on historical fact, both of Choctaw assistance to fugitive slaves, and of the existence of this song.

Immigration in the Mid-1800s

As a consequence of the Industrial Revolution and changes in the economies of countries in Europe, many young Europeans could no longer support themselves. The prospect of owning land in new developing countries such as the United States made immigration a solution for many. The 1820s marked the beginning of a period of increased immigration from Europe that grew throughout the nineteenth century.

Amuma Says No. Traditional and contemporary Basque music, songs, and dance from Idaho. Recorded at the Library of Congress, July 14, 2010. A wave of Basque settlers immigrated to the northest when the United States acquired Oregon Territory in 1848. Photo by Megan Halsband. Select the link for more information and to view the webcast.

The immigrations of Irish to the United States were a result of the failure of potato crops leading to mass starvation in 1845. This period lasted until 1852. While some Irish settlers had come to the United States beginning in the colonial period, most settled in rural areas. This large migration in the mid nineteenth century brought many settlers to urban areas.

In 1847, pressured by persecution for their religious beliefs, Mormon pioneers began a western migration from a settlement in Nauvoo, Illinois, as well as other states, with smaller numbers from Iceland and some European countries. Their goal was to create a Mormon enclave on lands near the Great Salt Lake in what is now Utah. At the time this was an unsettled region of Mexican territory. The area had been chosen by an advance party in 1846, followed by pioneers, many of whom set out on foot without horses or mules, pulling handcarts filled with their belongings. A song from that journey, " The Handcart Song," is still remembered by descendants of these pioneers today. These settlers of Utah later participated in the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, building the last portion of the railroad thorough Utah. The song " Echo Canyon" is an example of the song sung by the workers building the railroad.

A large wave of German immigrants came to the United States in 1848, resulting from revolutions and conflicts of the various German states. These included political refugees, many of whom were well educated. They settled in cities, mainly Baltimore, Hoboken, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York, Omaha, and St. Louis, as well as several cities in Iowa. These immigrants brought skilled labor. They also opposed slavery and many fought for the Union during the Civil War. Another wave of German-speaking immigrants came from Russia. Under the reign of Catherine the Great, who was Prussian, Germans immigrated to western Russia. But in the 1800s, life for these immigrants became increasingly difficult. In the mid- 1800s the first wave of German Russians, came to the United States, many wishing to escape forced conscription in the Russian army. Songs of immigrants from Germany and of ethnicly German immigrants from Russia are available in this presentation.

In 1848 several major events took place leading to both increased migration and immigration. In January, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. In February the war between Mexico and the United States was settled, adding southwestern territories, including all of California, and confirming the addition of the Republic of Texas to the United Sates, which included present day Colorado, Wyoming, and parts of New Mexico. In August, what had been known as "Oregon Country" was divided between the United States and British Canada, including the present states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and parts of western Montana and Wyoming. The addition of the territories coupled with the discovery of gold sent many Americans pioneering westward, with a wave of migrants arriving in California in 1849, so that they were called the Forty-Niners. Examples of songs of the California gold rush era are available in this presentation, such as " The Days of Forty-Nine." Some newly-arrived immigrants set out west in search of land that they could homestead, following in the footsteps of smaller numbers of migrants who had pioneered the territories before they were added to the US. For example, a wave of Basques immigrated to the northwestern territories, many working as sheep ranchers.

As the United States now spanned the continent, railroads were needed to connect distant cities for both travel and the transportation of goods. Chinese workers immigrated in order to build railroads and to work in service trades that supported the western gold and silver mines. As railroads were built and the mines required labor, many also went to work in the mines. Most of these were Cantonese speakers from southern China, often leaving China via the British port of Hong Kong, as the Chinese government restricted emigration. The vast majority were men, many of whom hoped to return to China or to earn enough money to bring their families to America at a later time. This presentation also includes some recordings of Cantonese songs made in the early 1900s by Victor, for the American Chinese market. The titles of these have not been translated, but select this link for the earliest of these, recorded in 1902. The Chinese immigrant's look, culture, and language led to fears, ridicule, and prejudice among European American pioneers and the development of many misconceptions about them. An example of this is found in the impersonation of the Chinese accent and misadventures in the song " Hop Sing."

Alaska Purchase

When the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, Russian settlers were treated as new citizens, but Native Alaskans were not. The agreement with Russia included language that the inhabitants of Alaska" with the exception of uncivilized native tribes, shall be admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States."

In 1875, a major eruption of the Askja volcano in Iceland hit a population already suffering from a series of cold winters and an economic depression. Farms and farmland in eastern Iceland were destroyed, causing widespread famine. The consequenses of this downturn affected Iceland for much of the latter nineteenth century. One group of prospective immigrants petitioned the United States government to settle in Alaska. An advance group was allowed to consider a possible site in Alaska, however the United States did not follow through with this plan. Some refugees of the volcanic eruption settled in Washington State and Michigan, where some of their countrymen had already settled. Many other emmigrated to Canada. Some of the Canadian Icelanders and their descendants later immigrated to the Northwestern United States.

Indian Reservations and Assimilation

Following policies of earlier reservations set up in states just west of the Mississippi, during the latter part of the 1800s, American Indians of the Plains and the West were forced onto reservations as well in order to open these lands to settlement by pioneers. The United States had prior treaties with the tribes, but broke those treaties. The slaughter of bison for their hides created starvation of the Plains tribes dependent on the buffalo for food, as well as shelter and clothing. Much of this was done by companies that sold hides to markets in Europe and the Eastern United States for industrial machine belts, as well as for souvenirs of America for railroad companies, western pioneers and tourists. The United States Army also was a major particiapant in this slaughter, as many felt that they were cutting the supply line of Plains tribes they saw as enemies. These circumstances brought about a period of wars with Indian tribes. The Sioux and Cheyenne fought efforts to force them onto reservations, leading up to an intervention led by George Armstrong Custer, who was defeated by a larger force of Indians in 1876. Warde Ford sings a popular ballad about this battle, " Custer's Last Charge," that casts Custer as a hero, the common European-American view at the time. This victory was short-lived and ultimately disastrous for many tribes, as efforts were redoubled to forcibly remove Indians to reservations.

Immigrant Mario Olmeda sang "La Piave," a song about a major Italian victory during World War I, for ethomusicologist Sidney Robertson Cowell, February 13, 1939. Select the link to listen to the song.

Under the Dawes Act of 1887, Indians could become citizens if they broke all ties with their tribe and "adopted the habits of civilized life." Literacy tests were used to create barriers for Indians to become citizens and to vote. Beginning in 1879, boarding schools were set up to forcibly indoctrinate Indian children into western customs. In many of the schools the children were punished if they spoke their own languages, and were kept from seeing their parents for long periods. Indian customs on the reservations were also curtailed, with dances and drumming commonly outlawed. It was commonly assumed that Indian culture would naturally disappear. Ethnomusicologists, such as Frances Densmore, Alice Cunningham Fletcher, and Omaha tribal member Francis LaFlesche, recorded Indian songs, stories, and ceremonies for the Smithsonian Institution in order to preserve these for scholastic research. A selection of Omaha recordings and an example of a Menominee song, " Manabus Tells the Ducks to Shut Their Eyes," from this period, are available in this presentation.

Assimilation policies towards American Indians and Native Alaskans were less than successful, although some tribes did lose their languages as a result. Indians generally rebelled against efforts to destroy their culture. Also, the reality was that Indians, regardless of how well they spoke English and adopted European-American customs, were not accepted into White society. While in some areas some version of Indian boarding schools continued until the 1970s, some states began enrolling Indians in public school beginning in the early 1900s.

Growing out of the reservation system and the "civilizing" forces at work in the West, were the Wild West Shows, such as the one run by Buffalo Bill, that included cowboy stunts, music and songs, and "wild Indians" performing for audiences across the country. These continued into the early 1900s. A popular and romantic view of all things western were spread by such shows, along with confused popular ideas about Indians. Some of the more widely known versions of cowboy songs became known to easterners through popular cowboy performers.

Immigration 1880-1918

From the 1880s to about 1918 the United States saw the largest immigration of Europeans in its history. These included many European groups who had not immigrated to the United States in large numbers before this period. Immigrants came from Poland, Slavic countries, Italy, Greece, Hungary, and Finland, among others. Due to persecution of Jews in Russia, many immigrated first to western Europe, then to North America. Some of these new immigrants created city neighborhoods or whole towns of people who spoke the same language. An example is Tarpon Springs, Florida, settled by Greeks during this period. It remains today the city with the largest proportion of Greek inhabitants in the United States. Examples of songs and music of immigrants to Tarpon Springs are included in this presentation. This influx of people bringing cultures and languages different from previous settlers was not wholly welcomed by all Americans, leading eventually to strict immigration quotas after World War I.

Mary and Hartop Goshtigian performed Armenian and Armeno-Turkish music for Sidney Robertson Cowell on April 17, 1939. In this photograph Mrs. Gostigian is playing an oud. The WPA California Folk Music Project Collection. Select the photo for a larger image.

For the music industry, this wave of new immigrants brought diverse cultures to cities, contributing an array of talent. Immigrants brought talent to collaboration to the vaudeville stage as well as songwriters and publishers to the developing popular music called Tin Pan Alley. Irish and Jewish immigrants were key players in this mix, often collaborating. As sound recording technology developed from rare curiosity to a fixture in American homes, the voices of performers reached a wider audience. Along with this ethnic mix, comic impersonations of ethnic groups also became part of the entertainment. Some artists of these ethnic groups participated, exaggerating their own accents for comic effect. A webcast of a lecture by folklorist Mick Molony, " If it Wasn't for the Irish and the Jews: Irish and Jewish Influences on the Music of Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley," is available in this presentation.

Fears about Chinese immigrants and resulting cultural conflicts in the West prompted the Chinese Exclusion Act signed by Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, which banned new immigration from China. Most of the Chinese immigrants were men, and they were forbidden by law from seeking European American wives, so this placed a great hardship on the immigrants already in the United States. A few exceptions were made for family members who were "non-laborers," that is wives, "mail order brides," and dependent children. However, the enforcement of the regulations made it extremely difficult even for wives and children to be allowed into the country. For example, "non-laborers" had to show that they had the permission of the Chinese government to immigrate, which was extremely difficult to obtain. The " Drum Song of Fenyang" is an example of a Chinese folk song that was widely known, and, though sung in Mandarin, would have been known to Cantonese-speaking immigrants.

In the interest of sugar and rice plantations that had been set up in Hawai'i, an agreement with the Hawaiian government had given the United States the port of Pearl Harbor in 1875. But after a period of political unrest in Hawai'i, the economic desire to exploit Hawai'i as a port of trade among other business interests overcame more prudent efforts to respect Hawai'i's monarchy. In 1893, business interests from Britain and the United States pressed for a military intervention. The United States Army deposed Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani, and Hawai'i became a United States territory. Hawaiians petitioned against this action, and many Americans protested, most famously writer Mark Twain. One hundred years after the overthrow of the monarchy, President Clinton signed an official apology from the United States to the people of Hawai'i.

Japanese began immigrating to Hawai'i in 1885, initially to work in sugar cane fields and pineapple plantations. Earlier the government of Japan had opposed workers emigrating to Hawai'i, but the government of Hawai'i made efforts to assure the Japanese that workers would be well treated, and a positive diplomatic relationship between the two nations was fostered. By the 1920s the Japanese population would grow to make them the second largest ethnic group in Hawai'i.

Music from the new territory of Hawai'i had a great impact on American culture, thanks in part to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 coupled with the advent of commercial sound recordings. The ukulele became a popular instrument in American parlors. An Hawaiian innovation dating from about 1885 based on the western guitar was the Hawiian lap slide guitar, played with a slide of metal or glass. This new sound spread rapidly in America and influenced many later musical styles such as bluegrass, "sacred steel" Gospel, and rock and roll. Hawaiians also began migrating to the western United States, often working as entertainers playing these new instruments, particularly in Nevada and California. An example of Hawaiian performers from Nevada are Gary Haleamau and his band, recorded at the Library of Congress in 2008.

At the conclusion of the Spanish American War in 1898, the United States gained the territories of the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans entered the United States in larger numbers after this, migrating to cities such as New York, and bringing with them a style of music and song different from the Mexican style most familiar to Americans. In the 1930s Sidney Robertson Cowell recorded Puerto Rican Americans who had settled in California. Puerto Rican songs are available in this presentation.

Alaska in the late 1800s saw two waves of fortune seekers. The Klondike gold rush led prospectors and entrepreneurs who hoped to make money selling them goods and services to the Yukon River through Alaska to the gold fields in Canada in 1897 and 1899. After that, the Nome Gold Rush of 1899-1909 brought more prospectors to Alaska. Unlike the California Gold Rush, most of these prospectors returned to the lower United States when they made their fortunes, or, more commonly, when their luck ran out. But some did stay to settle in Alaska. " Lament of the Old Sourdough" and " Buffalo Gals at Nome" are examples of songs related to the Nome Gold Rush.

The United States gradually secured islands in Samoa and, in 1911, these were organized into the territory of American Samoa. The United States also purchased the Virgin Islands from the Danish in 1917.

Immigration and Immigrants During and after World War I

During World War I, immigration from Europe was severely curtailed. After the war, the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, followed by the Immigration Act of 1924 continued to regulate immigration using strict quotas. The quotas were based on the percentage of the population of various ethnic groups in the United States, proportionately favoring western Europeans, but allowed immigration at far lower levels than prior to 1900. Asian immigration was reduced to nearly zero.

" Everybody's Crazy 'Bout the Doggone Blues But I'm Happy" is an example of a song by African Americans Turner Layton (composer) and Henry Creamer (lyricist) both of whom traveled to New York to pursue their musical careers during what came to be called the "Great Migration" of African Americans to the North and West. Creamer was born in Richmond, Virginia, and Turner was from Washington, D.C. Select the title link to view the sheet music, listen to a recording of this song performed by Marion Harris in 1917.

Because of the low level of European immigration during the war, there was a demand for inexpensive labor that prompted greater immigration from Mexico and other parts of Latin America to southwestern states. During the war, the government actively sought Latin American laborers as this work force helped to free Americans to join the military. Following the war, the United States attempted to curtail this flow of workers from its southern borders, while still severely restricting immigration from Europe. So the demand for unskilled labor caused by these policies led many Mexicans to continue to seek work in the United States despite the restrictions. Mexican Americans brought with them songs about Mexican history and Mexican life. An example is " Corrido villésta de la toma de Matamoros," a song concerning taking of the city Matamoros, Mexico (which is just across the Rio Grande river from Brownsville, Texas) by the revolutionaries in 1913 during the Mexican revolution.

Armenians were able to enter the United States despite the strict quotas, due to American sympathies with these refugees. Turkey had expelled and actively killed Armenians during World War I, taking the opportunity of war to persecute its own citizens. In some cases deportees were hunted down outside Turkey's borders, the fiction of deportation used to conceal the slaughter. Armenians were marched or taken by train into the Syrian desert Deir ez-Zor and left to die. United States newspapers condemned this as a "holocaust" and printed daily reports on the situation. There were efforts mounted to rescue the Armenians, but, for the most part, help arrived too late. Sidney Robertson Cowell recorded Armenian songs in California in the 1930s, including the song " Derzor chollerenda" about the deaths in the Syrian desert; " De le Yaman," a traditional love song of longing that, since World War I, has taken the meaning of longing for the homeland; and " Andouni," a song whose title translates as "homeless" that has come to be associated with the deportees and was arranged by the folksong collector and composer Komitas Vardapet.

Greeks living in Turkey faced on a similar fate to the Armenians. Many were killed outright, forced on death marches, or deported. While some of these refugees made their way to Greece and Macedonia, some immigrated to the United States before the strict quotas of the 1920s took effect. In many cases Greek men came in search of work, expecting to return home. The pending new immigration laws forced some to make the decision to send for their families and settle in America.

Ethnomusicologist Sidney Robertson Cowell realized that the greatly reduced level of immigration after the first World War impacted American ethnomusicologists' ability to study the music of first generation immigrants who could perform the music and songs learned in their native countries on instruments that they had brought with them. This was part of her motivation to record many different ethnic groups in central California during the 1930s as part of a project funded under the Works Progress Administration. She was able to record some groups, such as Armenians and Italians, who had immigrated during the war. In addition to first generation immigrants, she recorded second generation immigrants, Mexican Americans, singers of English-language ballads and songs, and surviving participants in the California Gold Rush. These recordings are available in this presentation.

Migration of African Americans After Reconstruction

After the Civil War, many African Americans migrated from southern states to the North, Midwest, and West, seeking a better life. Though northern and western states were certainly not free from discrimination, they provided far better opportunities for education and advancement than under the Jim Crow laws of southern states. Though this began in the late1860s, there was a steady increase in the number of migrants until well after the first World War. During World War I, immigration from Europe ceased, causing a shortage of inexpensive industrial labor and a demand for workers. Consequently many African Americans settled in cities, creating neighborhoods such as New York's Harlem and Chicago's South Side. Some of these migrants were aided by former slaves who had already settled in northern cities or who had recently returned to the United States after fleeing to Canada. Rural agricultural workers became urban dwellers, fashioning a very different life for themselves. What came to be called the "Great Migration" peaked in the 1920s when hundreds of thousands of African Americans left the South. The migration caused conflicts and a demand for civil rights. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded was founded in 1909, partly as a response to the consequences of the Great Migration.

From a musical point of view, this migration brought Gospel and blues music to a wider audience, and northern and western cities became a place for African American musical innovation. The search for a better life also led to changes in the way performers chose to present themselves. For example, singer Noble Sissle refused to perform in black face, which, at the time, was still common for African Americans. Marian Anderson, whose grandfather had migrated to Philadelphia shortly after emancipation, studied opera and, when she performed traditional spirituals, she did so in a trained vocal style. Composer Spencer Williams is an example of an African American who migrated from New Orleans to perform and live in Chicago and later New York during the Great Migration. Listen to his song, " I Ain't Got Nobody" performed by Hattie Ellis. Another wave of African Americans to the north and west occurred after World War II. An example is blues great Honeyboy Edwards, who left the Missisippi Delta to live and perform in Chicago in 1950. Listen to him sing " Sweet Home Chicago," a song believed to have been written by Robert Johnson.

The Dust Bowl Migrants

During the Great Depression, a series of droughts combined with non-sustainable agricultural practices led to devastating dust storms, famine, diseases, and deaths related to breathing dust. This caused the largest migration in American history. The Dust Bowl era lasted from 1930 to the early 1940s and impacted the Midwest, Southwest, and Mexico directly, but also had an impact on the states that affected populations migrated to--principally California and the Northwest. Migrants, most of whom had been farmers, went to pick crops in those states where crops would still grow. Displaced immigrants from Mexico competed with migrants from the United States for jobs. A federal study found that the migrants were spending all they earned on gasoline and housing, with nothing left to feed themselves or their children. The Roosevelt administration answered this by setting up camps to house migrants. The large number of workers resulted in low wages, which led to a series of strikes such as the 1939 Madera Cotton Strike (songs from this strike are included in the presentation). In 1941 ethnographers Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin documented the lives of migrant workers in California, recording songs, stories, poetry and camp meetings. Songs recorded in California by Todd and Sonkin are available in this presentation. Although the drought abated in the early 1940s, the loss of topsoil in the Midwest continued to have an impact on usable farmland through 1950, meaning that many people displaced by the Dust Bowl were never able to return to their farms.

Mexicans fleeing the consequences of drought in this era emigrated to the United States in large numbers. Displaced Mexican workers competed with Dust Bowl migrants in California. Mexicans were often blamed for the joblessness during the Depression. The United States enacted legislation aimed first at assisting their return with the Mexican Repatriation Act, then actively barred their entry and deported Mexicans in great numbers.

Immigration During and Following WWII

During World War II the United States began making some changes to its policy of immigration quotas, but generally on a case-by-case basis. In 1939 a well-publicized plight of Jewish refugees from Europe aboard the S.S. St. Louis first were refused permission to disembark in Cuba, then denied permission to emigrate to the United States. Because of strict immigration quotas in force at the time, Roosevelt had no choice but to refuse to accept these refugees and the ship was turned back to Europe. In 1944 President Franklin Roosevelt, under pressure from Congress and Jewish Americans, relaxed the quotas on Eastern European immigration to allow more Jews to immigrate and escape Nazi persecution. He also created a War Refugee Board to admit more refugees. Jewish immigrants after 1944 settled largely in cities, joining immigrants from the late nineteeth and early twentieth centuries. The musician, folk song collector, and singer Flory Jagoda came to the United States as a "war bride" after World War II. In a webcast recorded at the Library of Congress in 2007, she performs music and songs of the Sephardic diaspora.

As had happened during World War I, a demand for Mexican labor to replace U.S. laborers lost to the war effort brought about a new immigration of workers. Pressure from growers to maintain this inexpensive unskilled work force kept the policy of importing Mexican Labor in place even following the war. The United States government instituted the "Bracero Program" in 1942, which allowed workers to come into the country provided that they had a work contract and returned when the contract was up. At that point they could be hired on a new contract and return. But when legal immigrants came in insufficient numbers, growers actively sought illegal immigrants to harvest crops. So the United States began "Operation Wetback" in 1954, deporting approximately one million illegal immigrants. During the 1960s Chicano workers in the west, whether citizens or illegal workers, became frustrated with the push-pull of United States policy towards Mexican immigration. They united to launch a civil rights battle to raise awareness and to gain better treatment for themselves and their children.

In 1941, Russia began deporting Germans who had settled in parts of western Russia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Some of these displaced German-speaking people immigrate to the United States to settle in the Midwest, joining a smaller wave of Russian-Germans who arrived in the 1870s.

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, enacted under the Roosevelt administration, was a law designed to return self-governance to Indian tribes and reduce losses of reservation and tribal lands. The law included Native Alaskans, but because of increased settlement of Alaska at this time and an economic desire to free land for settlers, some lawmakers continued to press for confinement of more Native Alaskan tribes on reservations. Native Alaskans fought these efforts in the courts, successfully delaying and ultimately preventing the loss of most of their tribal lands as had happened to Indians in the lower forty-eight states.

Immigration after 1965

Immigration up to 1965 had largely favored white Western Europeans. Due to pressures of the war in Southeast Asia, the United States needed to provide a safe haven for refugees of that war. On October 3, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, removing the previous national origins formula. Instead, the new law favored people with skills and education regardless of their race or country of origin. This has allowed more immigrants from Asia, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Africa to enter the United States. Some examples of performers who took advantage of this new immigration policy to come to the US are available as webcasts in this presentation: Sreevidya Chandramouli, Balla Kouyate and World Vision, and the Lao Natasinh Dance Troupe of Iowa.

In the 1970s, Iranian students in the United States begin refusing to return to live under the repressive government of the Shah. Many protested, drawing attention to problems in Iran and the U.S. support of the Shah. Many of these protesters sought American citizenship, and in some cases asked for asylum, as they feared reprisal for their protests if forced to return to their country. An example of musical expressions of these Persian Americans available in this presentation as a webcast is The Sama Ensemble, a Sufi musical group that includes refugees and their relatives. Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam that advocates peace through the love of God.

In 1983 The People's Republic of China removed restrictions on emigration. This led to a new wave of immigration from China, particularly scholars, artists, and musicians.

See more articles about Ethnic Song in America.

Notes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Songs of Immigration and Migration | Historical Topics | Articles and Essays | The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America | Digital Collections | Library of Congress

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As Europeans colonized North America, beginning with the Spanish and French in the 1500s and the British and Dutch in the early 1600s, colonists brought their cultural entertainments along with them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
American popular music has had a profound effect on music across the world. The country has seen the rise of popular styles that have had a significant influence on global culture, including ragtime, blues, jazz, swing, rock, bluegrass, country, R&B, doo wop, gospel, soul, funk, punk, disco, house, techno, salsa, grunge and hip hop. In addition, the American music industry is quite diverse, supporting a number of regional styles such as zydeco, klezmer and slack-key.

Distinctive styles of American popular music emerged early in the 19th century, and in the 20th century the American music industry developed a series of new forms of music, using elements of blues and other genres of American folk music. These popular styles included country, R&B, jazz and rock. The 1960s and 1970s saw a number of important changes in American popular music, including the development of a number of new styles, such as heavy metal, punk, soul, and hip hop. Though these styles were not in the sense of mainstream, they were commercially recorded and are thus examples of popular music as opposed to folk or classical music.

Early "popular" music

The earliest songs that could be considered American popular music, as opposed to the popular music of a particular region or ethnicity, were sentimental parlor songs by Stephen Foster and his peers, and songs meant for use in minstrel shows, theatrical productions that featured singing, dancing and comic performances. Minstrel shows generally used African instruments and dance, and featured performers with their faces blackened, a technique called blackface. By the middle of the 19th century, touring companies had taken this music not only to every part of the United States, but also to the UK, Western Europe, and even to Africa and Asia. Minstrel shows were generally advertised as though the music of the shows was in an African American style, though this was often not true. According to the historian of music, Larry Birnbaum, the music in minstrel shows was of mainly European origin, and was based on English, Irish, and Scottish folk music. Similarly the author Richard Carlin states that while minstrel shows used the banjo, an instrument of African origin, and popularized black culture, minstrel music was largely an amalgamation of European dance tunes. Andrew Stott states that many of the songs that initiated the "craze for blackface" were of European origin.

Black people had taken part in American popular culture prior to the Civil War era, at least dating back to the African Grove Theatre in New York in the 1820s and the publication of the first music by a black composer, Francis Johnson, in 1818. However, these important milestones still occurred entirely within the conventions of European music. The first extremely popular minstrel song was " Jump Jim Crow" by Thomas "Daddy" Rice, which was first performed in 1832 and was a sensation in London when Rice performed it there in 1836. Rice used a dance that he copied from a stable boy with a tune adopted from an Irish jig. Popular white performers of minstrel music included George Washington Dixon and Joel Sweeney whose tunes followed Scottish and Irish melodies. The African elements included the use of the banjo, believed to derive from West African string instruments, and accented and additive rhythms. Beginning in 1843 the Virginia Minstrels became the first group to popularize the minstrel show format, and by 1850 minstrel shows had spread across the entire United States.

Many of the songs of the minstrel shows are still remembered today, especially those by Daniel Emmett and Stephen Foster, the latter being, according to David Ewen, "America's first major composer, and one of the world's outstanding writers of songs". Foster's songs were typical of the minstrel era in their unabashed sentimentality, and in their acceptance of slavery. Nevertheless, Foster did more than most songwriters of the period to humanize the blacks he composed about, such as in "Nelly Was a Lady", a plaintive, melancholy song about a black man mourning the loss of his wife. In 1851 Foster's song " Old Folks at Home" would become a runaway national hit.

The minstrel show marked the beginning of a long tradition of African American music being appropriated for popular audiences, and was the first distinctly American form of music to find international acclaim, in the mid-19th century. As Donald Clarke has noted, minstrel shows contained "essentially black music, while the most successful acts were white, so that songs and dances of black origin were imitated by white performers and then taken up by black performers, who thus to some extent ended up imitating themselves". Clarke attributes the use of blackface to a desire for white Americans to glorify the brutal existence of both free and slave blacks by depicting them as happy and carefree individuals, best suited to plantation life and the performance of simple, joyous songs that easily appealed to white audiences. It was only during the Civil War that white audiences first began to be exposed to genuine African American music, first with the slave spirituals Go Down, Moses in 1861 and then through spiritual performances by the a capella group, the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1871. After the Civil War minstrel shows performed by actual black troupes spread through the country and black composers such as James A. Bland had national success in the 1870s with songs such as Carry Me Back to Old Virginny and Oh, Dem Golden Slippers.

Blackface minstrel shows remained popular throughout the last part of the 19th century, only gradually dying out near the beginning of the 20th century. During that time, a form of lavish and elaborate theater called the extravaganza arose, beginning with Charles M. Barras' The Black Crook. Extravaganzas were criticized by the newspapers and churches of the day because the shows were considered sexually titillating, with women singing bawdy songs dressed in nearly transparent clothing. David Ewen described this as the beginning of the "long and active careers in sex exploitation" of American musical theater and popular song. Later, extravaganzas took elements of burlesque performances, which were satiric and parodic productions that were very popular at the end of the 19th century.

Like the extravaganza and the burlesque, the variety show was a comic and ribald production, popular from the middle to the end of the 19th century, at which time it had evolved into vaudeville. This form was innovated by producers like Tony Pastor who tried to encourage women and children to attend his shows; they were hesitant because the theater had long been the domain of a rough and disorderly crowd. By the early 20th century, vaudeville was a respected entertainment for women and children, and songwriters like Gus Edwards wrote songs that were popular across the country. The most popular vaudeville shows were, like the Ziegfeld Follies, a series of songs and skits that had a profound effect on the subsequent development of Broadway musical theater and the songs of Tin Pan Alley.

Tin Pan Alley was an area on and surrounding West 28th Street. in New York City, which became the major center for music publishing by the mid-1890s. The songwriters of this era wrote formulaic songs, many of them sentimental ballads. During this era, a sense of national consciousness was developing, as the United States became a formidable world power, especially after the Spanish-American War. The increased availability and efficiency of railroads and the postal service helped disseminate ideas, including popular songs.

Some of the most notable publishers of Tin Pan Alley included Willis Woodward, M. Witmark & Sons, Charles K. Harris, and Edward B. Marks and Joseph W. Stern. Stern and Marks were among the more well-known Tin Pan Alley songwriters; they began writing together as amateurs in 1894.

In addition to the popular, mainstream ballads and other clean-cut songs, some Tin Pan Alley publishers focused on rough and risqué. Coon songs were another important part of Tin Pan Alley, derived from the watered-down songs of the minstrel show with the "verve and electricity" brought by the "assimilation of the ragtime rhythm". The first popular coon songs were "The Dandy Coon's Parade" by Joseph P. Skelly in 1880 and "New Coon in Town", introduced in 1883 by J.S. Putnam, and these were followed by a wave of coon shouters like Ernest Hogan and May Irwin. Famous black composers of coon songs included Bert Williams and George W. Johnson. Additionally the first time the word " rag" appears in sheet music is in reference to the instrumental accompaniment in Ernest Hogan's 1896 song "All Coons Look Alike to Me", showing a connection of the two genres.

The early 20th century also saw the growth of Broadway, a group of theaters specializing in musicals. Broadway became one of the preeminent locations for musical theater in the world, and produced a body of songs that led Donald Clarke to call the era, the golden age of songwriting. The need to adapt enjoyable songs to the constraints of a theater and a plot enabled and encouraged a growth in songwriting and the rise of composers like George Gershwin, Vincent Youmans, Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern. These songwriters wrote songs that have remained popular and are today known as the Great American Songbook.

Foreign operas were popular among the upper-class throughout the 19th century, while other styles of musical theater included operettas, ballad operas and the opera pouffe. The English operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan were particularly popular, while American compositions had trouble finding an audience. George M. Cohan was the first notable American composer of musical theater, and the first to move away from the operetta, and is also notable for using the language of the vernacular in his work. By the beginning of the 20th century, however, black playwrights, composers and musicians were having a profound effect on musical theater, beginning with the works of Will Marion Cook, James Reese Europe and James P. Johnson; the first major hit black musical was Shuffle Along in 1921.

Imported operettas and domestic productions by both whites like Cohan and blacks like Cook, Europe and Johnson all had a formative influence on Broadway. Composers like Gershwin, Porter and Kern made comedic musical theater into a national pastime, with a feel that was distinctly American and not dependent on European models. Most of these individuals were Jewish, with Cole Porter the only major exception; they were the descendants of 19th century immigrants fleeing persecution in the Russian Empire, settled most influentially in various neighborhoods in New York City. Many of the early musicals were influenced by black music, showing elements of early jazz, such as ; the Jewish composers of these works may have seen connections between the traditional African American blue notes and their own folk Jewish music.

Broadway songs were recorded around the turn of the century, but did not become widely popular outside their theatrical context until much later. Jerome Kern's " They Didn't Believe Me" was an early song that became popular nationwide. Kern's later innovations included a more believable plot than the rather shapeless stories built around songs of earlier works, beginning with in 1927. George Gershwin was perhaps the most influential composer on Broadway, beginning with "Swanee" in 1919 and later works for jazz and orchestras. His most enduring composition may be the opera Porgy and Bess, a story about two blacks, which Gershwin intended as a sort of "folk opera", a creation of a new style of American musical theater based on American idioms.

Ragtime was a style of dance music based around the piano, using syncopated rhythms and chromaticisms; the genre's most well-known performer and composer was undoubtedly Scott Joplin. Donald Clarke considers ragtime the culmination of coon songs, used first in minstrel shows and then vaudeville, and the result of the rhythms of minstrelsy percolating into the mainstream; he also suggests that ragtime's distinctive sound may have come from an attempt to imitate the African American banjo using the keyboard. According to musical historian, Elijah Wald, ragtime constitutes the first true pop genre in America, as earlier American music such as minstrel show music was distinguished by its association with blackface and comedy, rather than by having any unique style or sound.

Due to the essentially African American nature of ragtime, it is most commonly considered the first style of American popular music to be truly black music; ragtime brought syncopation and a more authentic black sound to popular music. Popular ragtime songs were notated and sold as sheet music, but the general style was played more informally across the nation; these amateur performers played a more free-flowing form of ragtime that eventually became a major formative influence on jazz.

Thomas Edison's invention of the phonograph cylinder kicked off the birth of recorded music. The first cylinder to be released was " Semper Fidelis" by the U.S. Marine Band. At first, cylinders were released sparingly, but as their sales grew more profitable, distribution increased. These early recorded songs were a mix of vaudeville, barbershop quartets, marches, opera, novelty songs, and other popular tunes. Many popular standards, such as "The Good Old Summertime", " Shine On Harvest Moon", and "Over There" come from this time. There were also a few early hits in the field of jazz, beginning with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band's 1917 recordings, and followed by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, who played in a more authentic New Orleans jazz style.

Blues had been around a long time before it became a part of the first explosion of recorded popular music in American history. This came in the 1920s, when classic female blues singers like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Mamie Smith grew very popular; the first hit of this field was Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues". These urban blues singers changed the idea of popular music from being simple songs that could be easily performed by anyone to works primarily associated with an individual singer. Performers like Sophie Tucker, known for "Some of These Days", became closely associated with their hits, making their individualized interpretations just as important as the song itself.

At the same time, record companies like Paramount Records and OKeh Records launched the field of race music, which was mostly blues targeted at African American audiences. The most famous of these acts went on to inspire much of the later popular development of the blues and blues-derived genres, including Charley Patton, Lonnie Johnson and Robert Johnson.

Popular jazz (1920-1935) and swing (1935-1947)

Jazz is a kind of music characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. Though originally a kind of dance music, jazz has now been "long considered a kind of popular or vernacular music (and has also) become a sophisticated art form that has interacted in significant ways with the music of the concert hall". Jazz's development occurred at around the same time as modern ragtime, blues, gospel and country music, all of which can be seen as part of a continuum with no clear demarcation between them; jazz specifically was most closely related to ragtime, with which it could be distinguished by the use of more intricate rhythmic improvisation, often placing notes far from the implied beat. The earliest jazz bands adopted much of the vocabulary of the blues, including bent and blue notes and instrumental "growls" and smears.

Paul Whiteman was the most popular bandleader of the 1920s, and claimed for himself the title "The King of Jazz." Despite his hiring many of the other best white jazz musicians of the era, later generations of jazz lovers have often judged Whiteman's music to have little to do with real jazz. Nonetheless, his notion of combining jazz with elaborate orchestrations has been returned to repeatedly by composers and arrangers of later decades.

Whiteman commissioned Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", which was debuted by Whiteman's Orchestra. Ted Lewis's band was second only to the Paul Whiteman in popularity during the 1920s, and arguably played more real jazz with less pretension than Whiteman, especially in his recordings of the late 1920s. Some of the other "jazz" bands of the decade included those of: Harry Reser, Leo Reisman, Abe Lyman, Nat Shilkret, George Olsen, Ben Bernie, Bob Haring, Ben Selvin, Earl Burtnett, Gus Arnheim, Rudy Vallee, Jean Goldkette, Isham Jones, Roger Wolfe Kahn, Sam Lanin, Vincent Lopez, Ben Pollack and Fred Waring.

In the 1920s, the music performed by these artists was extremely popular with the public and was typically labeled as jazz. Today, however, this music is disparaged and labeled as "sweet music" by jazz purists. The music that people consider today as "jazz" tended to be played by minorities. In the 1920s and early 1930s, however, the majority of people listened to what we would call today "sweet music" and hardcore jazz was categorized as "hot music" or "race music."

The largest and most influential recording label of the time, The Victor Talking Machine (RCA Victor after 1928) was a restraining influence on the development of "sweet jazz" until the departure of Eddie King in October 1926. King was well known as an authoritarian who would not permit drinking on the job or severe departure from the written music, unless within solos acceptable by popular music standards of the time. This irritated many Victor jazz artists, including famed trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke. Sudhalter, in Lost Chords, cites an example of a 1927 recording by the Goldkette Orchestra in which musicians were allowed considerable freedom, and remarks "What, one wonders, would this performance have been if Eddie King had been in charge, and not the more liberal Nat Shilkret. Since the Victor ledgers show no less than five recording sessions in January and February 1926, when King actually conducted Goldkette's Orchestra, comparison between the approach of Goldkette and King is readily available.

In 1935, swing music became popular with the public and quickly replaced jazz as the most popular type of music (although there was some resistance to it at first). Swing music is characterized by a strong rhythm section, usually consisting of a double bass and drums, playing in a medium to fast tempo, and rhythmic devices like the swung note. Swing is primarily a kind of 1930s jazz fused with elements of the blues and the pop sensibility of Tin Pan Alley. Swing used bigger bands than other kinds of jazz had and was headed by bandleaders that tightly arranged the material, discouraging the improvisation that had been an integral part of jazz. David Clarke called swing the first "jazz-oriented style (to be) at the center of popular music ... as opposed to merely giving it backbone". By the end of the 1930s, vocalists became more and more prominent, eventually taking center stage following the American Federation of Musicians strike, which made recording with a large band prohibitively expensive. Swing came to be accompanied by a popular dance called the swing dance, which was very popular across the United States, among both white and black audiences, especially youth.

In addition to the popular jazz and swing music listened to by mainstream America, there were a number of other genres that were popular among certain groups of people-e.g., minorities or rural audiences. Beginning in the 1920s and accelerating greatly in the 1940s, the blues began rapidly diversifying into a broad spectrum of new styles. These included an uptempo, energetic style called rhythm and blues (R&B), a merger of blues and Anglo-Celtic song called country music and the fusion of hymns and spirituals with blues structures called gospel music. Later than these other styles, in the 1940s, a blues, R&B and country fusion eventually called rock and roll developed, eventually coming to dominate American popular music by the beginning of the 1960s.

Country music is primarily a fusion of African American blues and spirituals with Appalachian folk music, adapted for pop audiences and popularized beginning in the 1920s. Of particular importance was Irish and Scottish tunes, dance music, balladry and vocal styles, as well as Native American, Spanish, German, French and Mexican music. The instrumentation of early country revolved around the European-derived fiddle and the African-derived banjo, with the guitar added later. Country music instrumentation used African elements like a call-and-response format, improvised music and syncopated rhythms. Later still, string instruments like the ukulele and steel guitar became commonplace due to the popularity of Hawaiian music in the early 20th century and the influence of musicians such as Sol Hoʻopiʻi and Lani McIntyre. The roots of modern country music are generally traced to 1927, when music talent scout Ralph Peer recorded Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family. Their recordings are considered the foundation for modern country music. There had been popular music prior to 1927 that could be considered country, but, as Ace Collins points out, these recordings had "only marginal and very inconsistent" effects on the national music markets, and were only superficially similar to what was then known as hillbilly music. In addition to Rodgers and the Carters, a musician named Bob Wills was an influential early performer known for a style called Western swing, which was very popular in the 1920s and 30s, and was responsible for bringing a prominent jazz influence to country music.

Rhythm and blues (R&B) is a style that arose in the 1930s and 1940s, a rhythmic and uptempo form of blues with more complex instrumentation. Author Amiri Baraka described early R&B as "huge rhythm units smashing away behind screaming blues singers (who) had to shout to be heard above the clanging and strumming of the various electrified instruments and the churning rhythm sections.. R&B was recorded during this period, but not extensively, and it was not widely promoted by record companies that felt it was not suited for most audiences, especially middle-class whites, because of the suggestive lyrics and driving rhythms. Bandleaders like Louis Jordan innovated the sound of early R&B. Jordan's band featured a small horn section and prominent rhythm instrumentation and used songs with bluesy lyrical themes. By the end of the 1940s, he had produced nineteen major hits, and helped pave the way for contemporaries like Wynonie Harris, John Lee Hooker and Roy Milton.

Christian spirituals and rural blues music were the origin of what is now known as gospel music. Beginning in about the 1920s, African American churches featured early gospel in the form of worshipers proclaiming their religious devotion ( testifying) in an improvised, often musical manner. Modern gospel began with the work of composers, most importantly Thomas A. Dorsey, who "(composed) songs based on familiar spirituals and hymns, fused to blues and jazz rhythms". From these early 20th-century churches, gospel music spread across the country. It remained associated almost entirely with African American churches, and usually featured a choir along with one or more virtuoso soloists.

Rock and roll is a kind of popular music, developed primarily out of country, blues and R&B. Easily the single most popular style of music worldwide, rock's exact origins and early development have been hotly debated. Music historian Robert Palmer has noted that the style's influences are quite diverse, and include the Afro-Caribbean " Bo Diddley beat", elements of "big band swing" and Latin music like the Cuban son and " Mexican rhythms". Another author, George Lipsitz claims that rock arose in America's urban areas, where there formed a "polyglot, working-class culture (where the) social meanings previously conveyed in isolation by blues, country, polka, zydeco and Latin musics found new expression as they blended in an urban environment".

The middle of the 20th century saw a number of very important changes in American popular music. The field of pop music developed tremendously during this period, as the increasingly low price of recorded music stimulated demand and greater profits for the record industry. As a result, music marketing became more and more prominent, resulting in a number of mainstream pop stars whose popularity was previously unheard of. Many of the first such stars were Italian-American crooners like Dean Martin, Rudy Vallee, Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Frankie Laine and, most famously, the "first pop vocalist to engender hysteria among his fans" Frank Sinatra. The era of the modern teen pop star, however, began in the 1960s. Bubblegum pop groups like The Monkees were chosen entirely for their appearance and ability to sell records, with no regard to musical ability. The same period, however, also saw the rise of new forms of pop music that achieved a more permanent presence in the field of American popular music, including rock, soul and pop-folk. By the end of the 1960s, two developments had completely changed popular music: the birth of a counterculture, which explicitly opposed mainstream music, often in tandem with political and social activism, and the shift from professional composers to performers who were both singers and songwriters.

Rock and roll first entered mainstream popular music through a style called rockabilly, which fused the nascent rock sound with elements of country music. Black-performed rock and roll previously had limited mainstream success, and some observers at the time believed that a white performer who could credibly sing in an R&B and country style would be a success. Sam Phillips, of Memphis, Tennessee's Sun Records, found such a performer in Elvis Presley, who became one of the best-selling musicians in history, and brought rock and roll to audiences across the world. Presley's success was preceded by Bill Haley, a white performer whose " Rock Around the Clock" is sometimes pointed to as the start of the rock era. However, Haley's music was "more arranged" and "more calculated" than the "looser rhythms" of rockabilly, which also, unlike Haley, did not use saxophones or chorus singing.

R&B remained extremely popular during the 1950s among black audiences, but the style was not considered appropriate for whites, or respectable middle-class blacks, because of its suggestive nature. Many popular R&B songs instead were performed by white musicians like Pat Boone, in a more palatable, mainstream style, and turned into pop hits. By the end of the 1950s, however, there was a wave of popular black blues-rock and country-influenced R&B performers gaining unprecedented fame among white listeners; these included Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. Over time, producers in the R&B field gradually turned to more rock-based acts like Little Richard and Fats Domino.

Doo wop is a kind of vocal harmony music performed by groups who became popular in the 1950s. Though sometimes considered a kind of rock, doo wop is more precisely a fusion of vocal R&B, gospel and jazz with the blues and pop structures, though until the 1960s, the lines separating rock from doo wop, R&B and other related styles were very blurry. Doo wop became the first style of R&B-derived music "to take shape, to define itself as something people recognized as new, different, strange, theirs" (emphasis in original). As doo wop grew more popular, more innovations were added, including the use of a bass lead vocalist, a practice that began with Jimmy Ricks of The Ravens. Doo wop performers were originally almost all black, but a few white and integrated groups soon became popular. These included a number of Italian-American groups such as Dion & the Belmonts, while others added female vocalists and even formed all-female groups in the nearly universally male field; these included The Queens and The Chantels.

The 1950s saw a number of brief fads that went on to have a great impact on future styles of music. Performers like Pete Seeger and The Weavers popularized a form of old-time revival of Anglo-American music. This field eventually became associated with the political left-wing and Communism, leading to a decline in acceptability as artists were increasingly blacklisted and criticized. Nevertheless, this form of pop-folk exerted a profound influence in the form of 1950s folk-rock and related styles. Alongside the rather sporadic success of popularized Anglo folk music came a series of Latin dance fads, including mambo, rumba, chachachá and boogaloo. Though their success was again sporadic and brief, Latin music continued to exert a continuous influence on rock, soul and other styles, as well as eventually evolving into salsa music in the 1970s.

Beginning in the late 1920s, a distinctive style first called "old-timey" or "hillbilly" music began to be broadcast and recorded in the rural South and Midwest; early artists included the Carter Family, Charlie Poole and his North Carolina Ramblers, and Jimmie Rodgers. The performance and dissemination of this music was regional at first, but the population shifts caused by World War II spread it more widely. After the war, there was increased interest in specialty styles, including what had been known as race and hillbilly music; these styles were renamed to rhythm and blues and country and western, respectively. Major labels had some success promoting two kinds of country acts: Southern novelty performers like Tex Williams and singers like Frankie Laine, who mixed pop and country in a conventionally sentimental style. This period also saw the rise of Hank Williams, a white country singer who had learned the blues from a black street musician named Tee-Tot, in northwest Alabama. Before his death in 1953, Hank Williams recorded eleven singles that sold at least a million copies each and pioneered the Nashville sound.

The Nashville sound was a popular kind of country music that arose in the 1950s, a fusion of popular big band jazz and swing with the lyricism of honky-tonk country. The popular success of Hank Williams' recordings had convinced record labels that country music could find mainstream audiences. Record companies then tried to strip the rough, honky-tonk elements from country music, removing the unapologetically rural sound that had made Williams famous. Nashville's industry was reacting to the rise of rockabilly performer Elvis Presley by marketing performers that crossed the divide between country and pop. Chet Atkins, head of RCA's country music division, did the most to innovate the Nashville sound by abandoning the rougher elements of country, while Owen Bradley used sophisticated production techniques and smooth instrumentation that eventually became standard in the Nashville Sound, which also grew to incorporate strings and vocal choirs. By the early part of the 1960s, the Nashville sound was perceived as watered-down by many more traditionalist performers and fans, resulting in a number of local scenes like the Lubbock sound and, most influentially, the Bakersfield sound.

Throughout the 1950s, the most popular kind of country music was the Nashville Sound, which was a slick and pop-oriented style. Many musicians preferred a rougher sound, leading to the development of the Lubbock Sound and Bakersfield Sound. The Bakersfield Sound was innovated in Bakersfield, California in the mid to late 1950s, by performers like Wynn Stewart, who used elements of Western swing and rock, such as the breakbeat, along with a honky tonk vocal style. He was followed by a wave of performers like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, who popularized the style.

Soul music is a combination of R&B and gospel that began in the late 1950s in the United States. Soul music is characterized by its use of gospel techniques with a greater emphasis on vocalists, and the use of secular themes. The 1950s recordings of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and James Brown are commonly considered the beginnings of soul music. Solomon Burke's early recordings for Atlantic Records codified the style, and as Peter Guralnick writes, "it was only with the coming together of Burke and Atlantic Records that you could see anything resembling a movement".

The Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan became successful with a string of heavily pop-influenced soul records, which were palatable enough to white listeners so as to allow R&B and soul to crossover to mainstream audiences. An important center of soul music recording was Florence, Alabama, where the FAME Studios operated. Jimmy Hughes, Percy Sledge and Arthur Alexander recorded at Fame; later in the 1960s, Aretha Franklin would also record in the area. Fame Studios, often referred to as Muscle Shoals, after a town neighboring Florence, enjoyed a close relationship with Stax, and many of the musicians and producers who worked in Memphis also contributed to recordings done in Alabama.

In Memphis, Stax Records produced recordings by soul pioneers Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Don Covay. Other Stax artists such as Eddie Floyd and Johnnie Taylor also made significant contributions to soul music. By 1968, the soul music movement had begun to splinter, as James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone began to expand upon and abstract both soul and rhythm and blues into other forms. Guralnick wrote that more "than anything else ... what seems to me to have brought the era of soul to a grinding, unsettling halt was the death of Martin Luther King in April 1968".

Among the first of the major new rock genres of the 1960s was surf, pioneered by Californian Dick Dale. Surf was largely instrumental and guitar-based rock with a distorted and twanging sound, and was associated with the Southern California surfing-based youth culture. Dale had worked with Leo Fender, developing the " Showman amplifier and... the reverberation unit that would give surf music its distinctively fuzzy sound".

Inspired by the lyrical focus of surf, if not the musical basis, The Beach Boys began their career in 1961 with a string of hits like " Surfin' U.S.A.". Their sound was not instrumental, nor guitar-based, but was full of "rich, dense and unquestionably special" "floating vocals (with) Four Freshman-ish harmonies riding over a droned, propulsive burden". The Beach Boys' songwriter Brian Wilson grew gradually more eccentric, experimenting with new studio techniques as he became associated with the burgeoning counterculture.

The counterculture was a youth movement that included political activism, especially in opposition to the Vietnam War, and the promotion of various hippie ideals. The hippies were associated primarily with two kinds of music: the folk-rock and country rock of people like Bob Dylan and Gram Parsons, and the psychedelic rock of bands like Jefferson Airplane and The Doors. This movement was very closely connected to the British Invasion, a wave of bands from the United Kingdom who became popular throughout much of the 1960s. The British Invasion initially included bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and The Zombies who were later joined by bands like the Moody Blues and The Who. The sound of these bands was hard-edged rock, with the Beatles originally known for songs that resembled classic black rock songs by Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Smokey Robinson, The Shirelles and the Isley Brothers. Later, as the counterculture developed, The Beatles began using more advanced techniques and unusual instruments, such as the sitar, as well as more original lyrics.

Folk-rock drew on the sporadic mainstream success of groups like the Kingston Trio and the Almanac Singers, while Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger helped to politically radicalize rural white folk music. The popular musician Bob Dylan rose to prominence in the middle of the 1960s, fusing folk with rock and making the nascent scene closely connected to the Civil Rights Movement. He was followed by a number of country-rock bands like The Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers and folk-oriented singer-songwriters like Joan Baez and the Canadian Joni Mitchell. However, by the end of the decade, there was little political or social awareness evident in the lyrics of pop- singer-songwriters like James Taylor and Carole King, whose self-penned songs were deeply personal and emotional.

Psychedelic rock was a hard, driving kind of guitar-based rock, closely associated with the city of San Francisco, California. Though Jefferson Airplane was the only psychedelic San Francisco band to have a major national hit, with 1967's "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", the Grateful Dead, a folk, country and bluegrass-flavored jam band, "embodied all the elements of the San Francisco scene and came... to represent the counterculture to the rest of the country"; the Grateful Dead also became known for introducing the counterculture, and the rest of the country, to the ideas of people like Timothy Leary, especially the use of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD for spiritual and philosophical purposes.

Following the turbulent political, social and musical changes of the 1960s and early 1970s, rock music diversified. What was formerly known as rock and roll, a reasonably discrete style of music, had evolved into a catchall category called simply , an umbrella term which would eventually include diverse styles like heavy metal music, punk rock and, sometimes even hip hop music. During the 1970s, however, most of these styles were not part of mainstream music, and were evolving in the underground music scene.

The early 1970s saw a wave of singer-songwriters who drew on the introspective, deeply emotional and personal lyrics of 1960s folk-rock. They included James Taylor, Carole King and others, all known just as much for their lyric ability as for their performances. The same period saw the rise of bluesy Southern rock and country rock groups like the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In the 1970s, soft rock developed, a kind of simple, unobtrusive and mellow form of pop-rock, exemplified by a number of bands like America and Bread, most of whom are little remembered today; many were one-hit wonders. In addition, harder arena rock bands like Chicago and Styx also saw some major success.

The early 1970s saw the rise of a new style of country music that was as rough and hard-edged, and which quickly became the most popular form of country. This was outlaw country, a style that included such mainstream stars as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Outlaw country was very rock-oriented, and had lyrics that focused on the criminal, especially drug and alcohol-related, antics of its performers, who grew their hair long, wore denim and leather and looked like hippies in contrast to the clean-cut country singers that were pushing the Nashville sound.

By the mid-1970s, disco, a form of dance music, was becoming popular, evolving from underground dance clubs to mainstream America. Disco reached its zenith following the release of Saturday Night Fever and the phenomenon surrounding the movie and the soundtrack by The Bee Gees. Disco's time was short, however, and by 1980 was soon replaced with a number of genres that evolved out of the punk rock scene, like new wave. Bruce Springsteen became a major star, first in the mid to late 1970s and then throughout the 1980s, with dense, inscrutable lyrics and anthemic songs that resonated with the middle and lower classes.

In the early 1970s, soul music was influenced by psychedelic rock and other styles. The social and political ferment of the times inspired artists like Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield to release album-length statements with hard-hitting social commentary. Artists like James Brown led soul towards more dance-oriented music, which eventually evolved into funk. Funk was typified by 1970s bands like Parliament-Funkadelic, The Meters, and James Brown himself, while more versatile groups like War, The Commodores and Earth, Wind and Fire also became popular. During the 1970s, some highly slick and commercial blue-eyed soul acts like Philadelphia's Hall & Oates achieved mainstream success, as well as a new generation of street-corner harmony or city-soul groups like The Delfonics and Howard University's Unifics.

By the end of the 1970s, Philly soul, funk, rock and most other genres were dominated by disco-inflected tracks. During this period, funk bands like The O'Jays and The Spinners continued to turn out hits. After the death of disco in 1980, soul music survived for a short time before going through yet another metamorphosis. With the introduction of influences from electro music and funk, soul music became less raw and more slickly produced, resulting in a genre of music that was again called R&B, usually distinguished from the earlier rhythm and blues by identifying it as contemporary R&B.

By the 1960s, the term rhythm and blues had no longer been in wide use; instead, terms like soul music were used to describe popular music by black artists. In the 1980s, however, rhythm and blues came back into use, most often in the form of R&B, a usage that has continued to the present. Contemporary R&B arose when sultry funk singers like Prince became very popular, alongside dance-oriented pop stars like Michael Jackson and Madonna.

By the end of the 1980s, pop-rock largely consisted of the radio-friendly glam metal bands, who used images derived from the British glam movement with macho lyrics and attitudes, accompanied by hard rock music and heavy metal virtuosic soloing. Bands from this era included many British groups like Def Leppard, as well as heavy metal-influenced American bands Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi and Van Halen.

The mid-1980s also saw Gospel music see its popularity peak. A new form of gospel had evolved, called Contemporary Christian music (CCM). CCM had been around since the late 1960s, and consisted of a pop/rock sound with slight religious lyrics. CCM had become the most popular form of gospel by the mid-1980s, especially with artists like Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and Kathy Troccoli. Amy Grant was the most popular CCM, and gospel, singer of the 1980s, and after experiencing unprecedented success in CCM, crossed over into mainstream pop in the 1980s and 1990s. Michael W. Smith also had considerable success in CCM before crossing over to a successful career in pop music as well. Grant would later produce CCM's first #1 pop hit ("Baby Baby"), and CCM's best-selling album (Heart In Motion).

In the 1980s, the country music charts were dominated by pop singers with only tangential influences from country music, a trend that has continued since. The 1980s saw a revival of honky-tonk-style country with the rise of people like Dwight Yoakam and the new traditionalists Emmylou Harris and Ricky Skaggs, as well as the development of alternative country performers like Uncle Tupelo. Later alternative country performers, like Whiskeytown's Ryan Adams and Wilco, found some mainstream success.

During the 1970s, a number of diverse styles emerged in stark contrast to mainstream American popular music. Though these genres were not largely popular in the sense of selling many records to mainstream audiences, they were examples of popular music, as opposed to folk or classical music. In the early 1970s, African Americans and Puerto Ricans in New York City developed hip hop culture, which produced a style of music also called . At roughly the same time, Latinos, especially Cubans and Puerto Ricans, in New York also innovated salsa music, which combined many forms of Latin music with R&B and rock. The genres of punk rock and heavy metal were most closely associated with the United Kingdom in the 1970s, while various American derivatives evolved later in the decade and into the 1980s. Meanwhile, Detroit slowly evolved a series of electronic music genres like house and techno that later became a major part of popular music worldwide.

Hip hop is a cultural movement, of which music is a part, along with graffiti and breakdancing. The music is composed of two parts, rapping, the delivery of swift, highly rhythmic and lyrical vocals, and DJing, the production of instrumentation either through sampling, instrumentation, turntablism or beatboxing. Hip hop arose in the early 1970s in The Bronx, New York City. Jamaican immigrant DJ Kool Herc is widely regarded as the progenitor of hip hop; he brought with him the practice of toasting over the rhythms of popular songs. In New York, DJs like Kool Herc played records of popular funk, disco and rock songs. Emcees originally arose to introduce the songs and keep the crowd excited and dancing; over time, the DJs began isolating the percussion breaks (the rhythmic climax of songs), thus producing a repeated beat that the emcees rapped over.

Rapping included greetings to friends and enemies, exhortations to dance and colorful, often humorous boasts. By the beginning of the 1980s, there had been popular hip hop songs like " Rappers Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang and a few major celebrities of the scene, like LL Cool J and Kurtis Blow. Other performers experimented with politicized lyrics and social awareness, while others performed fusions with jazz, heavy metal, techno, funk and soul. Hip hop began to diversify in the latter part of the 1980s. New styles appeared, like alternative hip hop and the closely related jazz rap fusion, pioneered by rappers like De La Soul and Guru. The crews Public Enemy and N.W.A did the most during this era to bring hip hop to national attention; the former did so with incendiary and politically charged lyrics, while the latter became the first prominent example of gangsta rap.

Salsa music is a diverse and predominantly Caribbean rhythm that is popular in many Latin American countries. Salsa incorporates multiple styles and variations; the term can be used to describe most any form of the popular Cuban-derived musical genres (like chachachá and mambo). Most specifically however, salsa refers to a particular style was developed by mid-1970s groups of New York City-area Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants to the United States, and stylistic descendants like 1980s salsa romantica.

Salsa music always has a 4/4 meter. The music is phrased in groups of two bars, using recurring rhythmic patterns, and the beginning of phrases in the song text and instruments. Typically, the rhythmic patterns played on the percussion are rather complicated, often with several different patterns played simultaneously. The clave rhythm is an important element that forms the basis of salsa. Apart from percussion, a variety of melodic instruments are commonly used as accompaniment, such as a guitar, trumpets, trombones, the piano, and many others, all depending on the performing artists. Bands are typically divided into horn and rhythm sections, led by one or more singers ( soneros or salseros) .

Punk was a kind of rebellious rock music that began in the 1970s as a reaction against the popular music of the day - especially disco, which was seen as insipid and uninspired. Punk drew on American bands including the Velvet Underground, The Stooges and the New York Dolls. Punk was loud, aggressive and usually very simple, requiring little musical training to play. Later in the decade, British bands like the Sex Pistols and The Clash found short-lived fame at home and, to a lesser degree, in the United States. American bands in the field included most famously The Ramones, as well as groups like the Talking Heads that played a more artsy kind of music that was closely associated with punk before eventually evolving into pop- new wave. Other major acts include Blondie, Patti Smith and Television. Most of these bands got their start at what is considered "ground zero" of punk rock, a club named CBGB. The small club in New York threw a festival in 1975 that showed off the "top 40 unrecorded rock bands". Among these bands were the previously mentioned The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Blondie and the like.

Hardcore punk was the response of American youths to the worldwide punk rock explosion of the late 1970s. Hardcore stripped punk rock and New Wave of its sometimes elitist and artsy tendencies, resulting in short, fast, and intense songs that spoke to disaffected youth. Hardcore exploded in the American metropolises of Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York and Boston and most American cities had their own local scenes by the end of the 1980s.

Alternative rock is a diverse grouping of rock bands that in America developed largely from the hardcore scene in the 1980s in stark opposition to the mainstream music scene. Alternative rock subgenres that developed during the decade include indie rock, Gothic rock, noise rock, grunge, and college rock. Most alternative bands were unified by their collective debt to punk, which laid the groundwork for underground and alternative music in the 1970s. Though the genre is considered to be rock, some styles were influenced by American folk, reggae and jazz. Like punk and hardcore, alternative rock had little mainstream success in America in the 1980s, but via the grassroots establishment of an indie scene through touring, college radio, fanzines, and word-of-mouth, alternative bands laid the groundwork for the breakthrough of the genre in the American public consciousness in the next decade.

Heavy metal is a form of music characterized by aggressive, driving rhythms and highly amplified distorted guitars, generally with grandiose lyrics and virtuosic instrumentation. Heavy metal is a development of blues, blues rock, rock and prog rock. Its origins lie in the British hard rock bands who between 1967 and 1974 took blues and rock and created a hybrid with a heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound. Most of the pioneers in the field, like Black Sabbath, were English, though many were inspired by American performers like Blue Cheer and Jimi Hendrix.

In the early 1970s, the first major American bands began appearing, like Blue Öyster Cult and Aerosmith, and musicians like Eddie Van Halen began their career. Heavy metal remained, however, a largely underground phenomenon. During the 1980s, a pop-based form of hard rock, with a party-hearty spirit and a glam-influenced visual aesthetic (sometimes referred to as "hair metal") dominated the music charts, led by superstars like Poison, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, and Ratt. The 1987 debut of Guns N' Roses, a hard rock band whose image reflected the grittier underbelly of the Sunset Strip, was at least in part a reaction against the overly polished image of hair metal, but that band's wild success was in many ways the last gasp of the hard-rock and metal scene. By the mid-1980s, as the term "heavy metal" became the subject of much contestation, the style had branched out in so many different directions that new classifications were created by fans, record companies, and fanzines, although sometimes the differences between various subgenres were unclear, even to the artists purportedly belonging to a given style. The most notable of the 1980s metal subgenres in the United States was the swift and aggressive thrash metal style, pioneered by bands like Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer.

Perhaps the most important change in the 1990s in American popular music was the rise of alternative rock through the popularity of grunge. This was previously an explicitly anti-mainstream grouping of genres that rose to great fame beginning in the early 1990s. The genre in its early stages was largely situated on Sub Pop Records, a company founded by Bruce Pavitt and John Poneman. Significant grunge bands signed to the label were Green River (half of the members from this band would later become founding members of Pearl Jam), Sonic Youth (although not a grunge band they were influential on grunge bands and in fact it was upon the insistence of Kim Gordon that the David Geffen Company signed Nirvana) and Nirvana. Grunge is an alternative rock subgenre with a "dark, brooding guitar-based sludge" sound, drawing on heavy metal, punk, and elements of bands like Sonic Youth and their use of "unconventional tunings to bend otherwise standard pop songs completely out of shape." With the addition of a "melodic, Beatlesque element" to the sound of bands like Nirvana, grunge became wildly popular across the United States. Grunge became commercially successful in the early 1990s, peaking between 1991 and 1994. Bands from cities in the U.S. Pacific Northwest especially Seattle, Washington, were responsible for creating grunge and later made it popular with mainstream audiences. The supposed Generation X, who had just reached adulthood as grunge's popularity peaked, were closely associated with grunge, the sound which helped "define the desperation of (that) generation." Bands such as Foo Fighters and Creed became a form of alternative rock known as post-grunge, popular because it was radio friendly unlike the grunge bands by which they were musically influenced. Pop punk bands like Green Day and Blink 182 also gained popularity. In the second half of the 1990s nu metal arose with bands such as Linkin Park, Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot. The independent culture slumbered in the underground scenes with new genres such as lo-fi ( Beck, Sparklehorse, Guided By Voices), math rock ( Slint, Shellac) and post-rock ( Explosions in the Sky, Tortoise). Emocore and Post-hardcore became more known with bands such as At the Drive-In and Fugazi.

Gangsta rap is a kind of hip hop, most importantly characterized by a lyrical focus on macho sexuality, physicality and a dangerous, criminal image. Though the origins of gangsta rap can be traced back to the mid-1980s raps of Philadelphia's Schoolly D and the West Coast's Ice-T, the style is usually said to have begun in the Los Angeles and Oakland area, where Too Short, N.W.A and others found their fame. This West Coast rap scene spawned the early 1990s G-funk sound, which paired gangsta rap lyrics with a thick and hazy tone, often relying on samples from 1970s P-funk; the best-known proponents of this sound were the breakthrough rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg.

By the end of the 1990s and into the early 2000s pop music consisted mostly of a combination of pop-hip hop and R&B-tinged pop, including a number of boy bands. Notable female singers also cemented their status in American and worldwide popular music, such as Beyoncé (with her solo career and as lead singer of Destiny's Child), Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. Also notable was the influence of hip-hop producers on popular music in the mid-late 2000s, who made the sounds first heard on Usher's Confessions and Nelly Furtado's imitated throughout popular radio with artists Madonna, Akon and Lady Gaga. In the late 2000s into the early 2010s, pop music began to move towards being heavily influenced by the European electronic dance music scene, taking root in the college crowd through producers like David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia and Skrillex.

Hip hop/pop combination had also begun to dominate 2000s and early 2010s. In the early 2010s, prominent artists like Bruno Mars, Drake, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Kendrick Lamar, Machine Gun Kelly, and Macklemore began to dominate the mainstream music scene.

The predominant sound in 1990s country music was pop with only very limited elements of country. This includes many of the best-selling artists of the 1990s, like Clint Black, Shania Twain, Faith Hill and the first of these crossover stars, Garth Brooks.

On the other hand a guitar revival took place and raised a new generation of alternative guitar bands often described as post-punk revival or garage rock revival. Prominent US bands of this generation are White Stripes, The Strokes, and The Killers. New Weird America or sometimes called Freak Folk is a new movement emphasizing the artistic individuality of genre crossing artists such as Antony and the Johnsons, Joanna Newsom, The Dodos, Animal Collective and Cat Power.

American popular music has become extremely popular internationally. Rock, hip hop, jazz, country and other styles have fans across the globe. The combination of parts of international and American popular music has been attempted between the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. However, the results of synthesis were for the most part unsuccessful. BBC Radio DJ Andy Kershaw, for example, has noted that country music is popular across virtually the entire world. Indeed, out of "all the contributions made by Americans to world culture ... (American popular music) has been taken (most) to heart by the entire world". Other styles of American popular music have also had a formative effect internationally, including funk, the basis for West African Afrobeat, R&B, a major source for Jamaican reggae, and rock, which has profoundly influenced most every genre of popular music worldwide. Rock, country, jazz and hip hop have become an entrenched part of many countries, leading to local varieties like Australian country music, Tanzanian Bongo Flava and Russian rock.

Rock has had a formative influence on popular music, which had the effect of transforming "the very concept of what popular music" is. while Charlie Gillett has argued that rock and roll "was the first popular genre to incorporate the relentless pulse and sheer volume of urban life into the music itself".

The social impacts of American popular music have been felt both within the United States and abroad. Beginning as early as the extravaganzas of the late 19th century, American popular music has been criticized for being too sexually titillating and for encouraging violence, drug abuse and generally immoral behavior.

1. ^ Garofalo is an example of starting with Tin Pan Alley, in a chapter that also contains the coverage of ragtime

2. ^ Ewen is an example, covering national ballads and patriotic songs, folk music, songs of the Negro, minstrel show and its songs and extravaganza to vaudeville

3. ^ Ewen, pg. 81 When Milly Cavendish stepped lightly in front of the footlights, wagged a provocative finger at the men in her audience, and sang in her high-pitched baby voice, "You Naughty, Naughty Men" - by T. Kennick and G. Bicknell-the American musical theater and the American popular song both started their long and active careers in sex exploitation.

4. ^ Ewen, pg. 94 Ewen claims New York was the music publishing center of the country by the 1890s, and says the ''publishers devised formulas by which songs could be produced with speed and dispatch... Songs were now to be produced from a serviceable matrix, and issued in large quantities: stereotypes for foreign songs, Negro songs, humorous ditties, and, most important of all, sentimental ballads.

5. ^ Ewen, pg. 101 Ewen is the source for both "Drill Ye Tarriers" and the nature of coon songs

6. ^ Ewen, pg. 101 and Clarke, pg. 62Ewen attributes "New Coon in Town" to Paul Allen, though Clarke attributes it to J. S. Putnam - both agree on the year, 1883

7. ^ Clarke, pgs. 56-57 Coon songs came out of minstrelsy, and were already established in vaudeville, when all this culminated in ragtime... ragtime may have begun with attempts to imitate the banjo on the keyboard.

8. ^ Broughton, Viv and James Attlee. "Devil Stole the Beat" in the Rough Guide to World Music, Volume 2, pg. 569 Its seminal figure was a piano player and ex-blues musician by the name of Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993), who began composing songs based on familiar spirituals and hymns fused to blues and jazz rhythms. (emphasis in original)

9. ^ Rolling Stone, pg. 251 Though the Beach Boys' instrumental sound was often painfully thin, the floating vocals, with the Four Freshman-ish harmonies riding over a droned, propulsive burden ("inside outside, U.S.A." in "Surfin' U.S.A."; "rah, rah, rah, rah, sis boom bah" in "Be True to Your School") were rich, dense and unquestionably special.

10. ^ Garofalo, pg. 201 Garofalo specifically lists "Roll Over Beethoven" by Chuck Berry, "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard, "Twist and Shout" by the Isley Brothers, "Money" by Barrett Strong, "Boys" and Baby It's You" by The Shirelles, "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and "Chains" by The Cookies.

11. ^ Garofalo, pg. 448 Garofalo describes a sampler called as an early anthology of the dark, brooding guitar-based sludge that came to be known as grunge.

12. ^ Garofalo, pg. 451 From (Glenn Branca's) group they learned to use unconventional tunings to bend otherwise standard pop songs completely out of shape, a trademark of Sonic Youth that, in Seattle, resonated as well as the dark side of their musical vision.

1. ^ Larry Birnbaum (2013). Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock 'n' Roll. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 24-25. ISBN 978-0-8108-8638-4. OCLC 1058131066.

2. ^ Kip Lornell (29 May 2012). Exploring American Folk Music: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 44-45. ISBN 978-1-61703-264-6.

3. ^ Wald, Elijah (2011). How The Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-19-975697-1. OCLC 751794817.

4. ^ Diehl, Matt; Edwards, Gavin; Eliscu, Jenny; Fricke, David; Cave, Damien (24 June 2004). "'Rolling Stone': The 50th Anniversary of Rock - The Moments: 1973/1975 - The Ramones Reign at CBGB". Rolling Stone. pp. 130-131. ProQuest 1194587.

5. ^ Plasketes, George (October 1995). Cross Cultural Sessions: World Music Missionaries in American Popular Music. Popular Culture Association in the South. pp. 49-50.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
American popular music has had a profound effect on music across the world. The country has seen the rise of popular styles that have had a significant influence on global culture, including ragtime, blues, jazz, swing, rock, bluegrass, country, R&B, doo wop, gospel, soul, funk, punk, disco, house, techno, salsa, grunge and hip hop.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Effects of Deportation on Families and Communities 

# data[].attributes.subject
The Effects of Deportation on Families and Communities 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Community Psychology: Social Justice Through Collaborative Research and Action

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A Policy Statement by the Society for Community Research and Action: Division 27 of the American Psychological Association[1]
Prepared by: Regina Day Langhout, University of California at Santa Cruz, Sara L. Buckingham, University of Alaska at Anchorage, Ashmeet Kaur Oberoi, University of Miami, Noé Rubén Chávez, City of Hope Medical Center, Dana Rusch, University of Illinois at Chicago, Francesca Esposito, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada - Instituto Universitário, & Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar, University of Illinois at Chicago

The final version of this statement, which includes some additional recommendations from the authors, has been published in the American Journal of Community Psychology.

Thanks to the generous donations of the authors' institutions, the final version of this article is available through open access at this link https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajcp.12256.
Spanish Version - Brief on Consequences of Deportation
For an infographic of this material, please see: https://www.communitypsychology.com/infograph-effects-of-deportation/

Recommendations related to this section are available for: Higher Education, K-12 Schools, Federal Policy, Local Government, and Health Care Providers.
Spanish Version - Brief on Consequences of Deportation
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Deportation has numerous detrimental impacts on individuals who are deported, and on the families and communities they are forced to leave behind. This policy statement reviews the empirical literature to describe the effects of deportation on the individual, families, and the broader community, in order to inform policy and practice recommendations.

Deportations have markedly increased in the US in the past three decades, with 340,056 people being deported from the country in 2017 (US Department of Homeland Security, 2017). Most people who are deported have lived in the country for over a decade and many are parents or caregivers of US citizens (Brabeck, Lykes & Hershberg, 2012; Brabeck & Xu, 2010; Dreby, 2012; TRAC Immigration, 2006). Approximately 5.9 million US citizen children have at least one caregiver who does not have authorization to reside in the United States (Mathema, 2017). Immigration policies have moved away from the goal of family reunification, and have the potential to harm US citizen children. For example, the hardship exemption of the Immigration and Nationality Act limits exemptions of deportation to parents, children, and spouses. Consequently, extended family caregivers, such as grandparents, are ineligible for the exemption in spite of any undue hardship caused to their US citizen family members from their deportation (Zug, 2009).

The effects of deportation are felt by individuals, families, and communities. Nearly 4 in 5 families screened in family detention centers have a "credible fear" of persecution should they be forced to return to the countries from which they migrated (US Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2016). Many of those deported are forced to return to dangerous, turbulent environments, and deportations have resulted in kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder (Stillman, 2018). Deported individuals often find it challenging to support their families, and coupled with the trauma and stigma of the deportation, may find it difficult to maintain contact with family members; this often leads to severed relationships (Dreby, 2012; Hagan, Castro, & Rodriguez, 2010; Zayas & Bradlee, 2014).

Family members left behind suffer multiple psychosocial consequences. Separation of a child from a parent due to deportation is associated with economic hardship, housing instability, and food insecurity (Capps et al., 2015; Chaudhary et al., 2010; Dreby, 2012). Family members are often forced to take on new roles to make ends meet: the remaining caregiver(s) must often work longer hours, leaving little time for contact with children; older children often become primary caregivers of younger siblings and/or must work to support the family, impacting school performance and retention (Chaudhary et al., 2010; Dreby, 2012). Following deportation of a family member, children demonstrate numerous emotional and behavioral challenges, such as eating and sleeping changes, anxiety, sadness, anger, and withdrawal. Even if the family is ultimately reunited, the consequences of their forced family separation often remain (Brabeck et al, 2012; Dreby, 2012; Hagan et al. 2010).

Moreover, the broader community suffers negative consequences of deportation regardless of first-hand experience. Following immigration raids and deportations, community members are often more fearful and mistrustful of public institutions, and less likely to participate in churches, schools, health clinics, cultural activities, and social services (Capps, Rosenblum, Chishti, & Rodríguez, 2011; Hagan et al., 2010; Hagan, Rodriguez, & Castro, 2011; Vargas, 2015). Studies have also demonstrated that immigrant adults are emotionally taxed following deportations and the threat of deportations in their communities; associated anxiety and psychological stress has been linked to cardiovascular risk factors (Brabeck et al, 2012; Martinez, Ruelas, & Granger, 2017; Torres et al., 2018). Immigrant children living in communities where immigration raids have taken place feel abandoned, isolated, fearful, traumatized, and depressed (Capps, Castañeda, Chaudry, & Santos, 2007). Moreover, children - regardless of immigration status - experience fear and shame regarding deportation, which impacts their sense of self and wellbeing (Dreby, 2012).

In order to assuage the myriad devastating consequences of deportation on individuals, families, and communities, the US should make policy and practice changes. Federal immigration policies should keep families together through comprehensive immigration reform that ends the threat of deportation and bolsters hardship exemptions for all family members. Local communities should prioritize safety and inclusion for all families, regardless of immigration status, by developing programs to foster support networks, sense of belonging, mental health/healing, building community, and collective political action, as these types of programs foster hope and wellness for children and families.

INTRODUCTION

This brief first describes specific aspects of current US immigration policies. It then reviews the empirical literature to describe the effects of deportation on the individual, families, and the broader community. The literature focuses primarily on deportations of Mexican and Central American immigrants, which are the largest groups of immigrants to the US at this time. Findings from these studies form the foundation for policy and practice recommendations, which comprises the last section of this policy statement, but there is no reason to expect that these findings are not also applicable to other immigrant groups.

POLICY BACKGROUND

Changes in US policies around immigration and deportation affect individuals, families, and communities in which deportations occur. Over the past three decades, US policies and procedures have changed markedly twice. In 1996, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (ADEPA) and the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) were passed into law. These laws expanded the types of offenses for deportation, enabled retroactive deportation, and weakened judicial review over deportations (Brabeck et al., 2011; Hagan et al., 2010). The second change came after the 2001 passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, which also increased administrative authority over deportations. With these changes came a massive increase in deportations. From 1900 to 1990, approximately 20,000 people were deported each year. In the mid-1990s, the deportation rate increased by 800 percent to 180,000 a year, but has since more than doubled to 340,056 deportations in 2017 (US Department of Homeland Security, 2017, Table 39). Of those deported, approximately 40% in 2016 had a prior criminal conviction (US Department of Homeland Security, 2017, Table 41), meaning that most enforcement policy is aimed at those who do not have criminal convictions (Brabeck et al., 2011; Dreby, 2012; Hagan et al., 2010, 2011; US Government Accounting Office, 2009). The majority of those deported have lived in the US for over a decade, with the median length of residence being 14 years (Brabeck & Xu, 2010; TRAC Immigration, 2006). Further, a growing number are parents whose children are US citizens (Braback et al., 2011; Dreby, 2012). These changes in immigration policy have moved the US away from the explicit goal of post-World War II immigration policy: family reunification (Hagan et al., 2010). Moreover, although the hardship exemption to the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes the cancellation of deportation if such deportation would cause undue hardship to a US citizen, it limits deportation stays to the person's spouse, parent, or child. Consequently, grandparents, who are often primary caregivers of US citizen children, are ineligible for this exemption (Zug, 2009).

PSYCHOSOCIAL EFFECTS OF DEPORTATION ON THE INDIVIDUAL

In addition to the trauma, violence or abuse experienced prior to migration or during detention, many immigrants who are deported return to extremely dangerous and often turbulent environments in their countries of origin. Some even face torture, abuse, rape, or murder. Researchers at the Global Migration Project developed a database recording people who had been deported and then faced death or other harms (Stillman, 2018). The researchers contacted more than two hundred local legal-aid organizations, domestic violence shelters, immigrants' rights-groups nationwide, as well as migrant shelters, humanitarian operations, law offices, and mortuaries across Central America, and also interviewed several families (Stillman, 2018). Their database includes numerous cases where deportations resulted in harm, including kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder (Stillman, 2018). This is especially important to consider given 79% of families screened in family detention centers have a "credible fear" of persecution if they returned to the countries from which they migrated (US Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2016).

PSYCHOSOCIAL EFFECTS OF DEPORTATION ON FAMILY MEMBERS

Nearly 10% of US families with children have at least one member without citizenship, and 5.9 million US citizen children have at least one caregiver who does not have authorization to reside in the United States (Mathema, 2017; Romero, 2003). Therefore, deportation policies and procedures affect many U.S. citizens. Several studies provide evidence that the forcible separation of a family is associated with negative psychosocial effects for children and other family members (Capps et al., 2015; Chaudhary et al., 2010; Dreby, 2012; Hagan et al, 2011; National Council of La Raza, 2007). Indeed, we would expect the effects to be severe for these families since separation is not by choice and often occurs suddenly and unexpectedly, with little preparation or planning (Brabeck et al., 2012; Dreby, 2012). In this section, we discuss effects on children and the family unit.

The effects of sudden and forcible separation of a parent due to deportation on children are considerable. In a study of 190 children in 85 immigrant families across six US cities or towns spanning from the west coast to the south, Chaudhary and colleagues (2010) concluded that children faced serious challenges due to deportation of a parent, including economic hardship, housing instability, food insecurity, and separation from parents. Children experienced behavioral changes in eating and sleeping habits, and emotional changes such as increased crying, anxiety, anger, aggression, withdrawal, and a heightened sense of fear. These outcomes were still present six months later. In another study of 91 parents and 110 children in 80 households in Ohio and New Jersey, results were similar (Dreby, 2012). A third study conducted in three cities after immigration raids also showed consistent results, with children feeling abandoned, isolated, fearful, traumatized, and depressed (Capps, Castañeda, Chaudry, & Santos, 2007). In fact, in a comprehensive review of the literature that ranged from 2009-2013, Capps and colleagues (2015) discerned that children experienced psychological trauma, material hardship, residential instability, academic withdrawal, and family dissolution after the deportation of a family member. Children who were present at the moment a parent was detained tended to have greater emotional, cognitive, and behavioral effects (Chaudhary et al., 2010). Furthermore, after a deportation, older children often needed to take on jobs to help support the family, which impacted school performance, persistence, and retention.

The family unit is also greatly affected by deportation. The majority of those deported are men (TRAC Immigration, 2014). When this person is a father, frequently mothers become single parents, often with no or little income, and sometimes facing large legal bills (Dreby, 2012). Indeed, a study of immigration enforcement in six US locations between 2006 and 2009 found that families lost 40 to 90% of their income, or an average of 70%, within six months of a parent's immigration related arrest, detention, or deportation (Capps et al., 2016). Given this context, mothers often work long hours, frequently at more than one job, which results in reduced contact with their children. Older children often become primary caregivers to younger siblings due to lack of affordable child care options. Moreover, parents fear losing custody of their children because of their new circumstances or threats made by immigration officials (Brabeck et al., 2012; Dreby, 2012). Furthermore, deported parents find it difficult to find work that would enable them to help support their families who are still in the US, which is demoralizing. This new circumstance, coupled with the trauma and stigma of the deportation, may make it difficult to maintain contact with children. A diminished emotional connection, combined with attachment-related issues brought on by a sudden separation, can effectively sever father-child and husband-wife relationships (Dreby, 2012; Hagan et al., 2010; Zayas & Bradlee, 2014). Because of these dynamics, it is often mothers who bear the largest burdens after a deportation. Even if the family is reunited, effects of the forced separation on all family members often remain (Brabeck et al, 2012; Dreby, 2012; Hagan et al. 2010). The effects of potential parental deportation on U.S. citizen children are arguably complex; however, in one study, children who accompanied their deported parents back to Mexico described profound adjustment difficulties, including a sense of loss regarding their future and the resources available to them (Gulbas & Zayas, 2017).

These impacts extend beyond the nuclear family to grandparents and other relatives. Three of four Latinx grandparents co-parent with their grandchild's parent(s) (Fuller-Thompson & Minkler, 2007). Moreover, more than 4.4 million children live in grandparent-headed households, thousands of whom are US citizen grandchildren of unauthorized grandparents. With the number of grandchildren being raised by grandparents on the rise and higher than it has ever been in this country, grandparent deportation is of great concern. Zug (2009) estimates that thousands of grandparents who are primary caregivers to US citizen grandchildren are at at risk for deportation. Grandparent-headed households already face more challenges than parent-headed households, including higher rates of poverty and stressful life events with fewer resources (Fuller-Thompson & Minkler, 2007). Although grandparent caregivers experience these challenges, their grandchildren do much better than those placed into foster care, and grandparent caregiving is associated with more positive grandchild psychological wellbeing and healthy development across the lifespan (Copen, 2006). When grandparents face deportation, their grandchildren may not only lack a primary caregiver (if their grandparent is co-parenting), but may lose their only caregiver and be placed in foster care, putting them at risk for multiple placements and poorer outcomes.

The effects on children and other family members when another family member is deported are exacerbated by limited mental health services. Furthermore, when they are available, there are still barriers to accessing resources (Capps et al., 2015). These barriers range from a lack of therapists who are able to provide culturally-informed services, to a lack of insurance coverage, to unfamiliarity with therapy and mistrust of local services due to the deportation that has occurred (Brabeck & Xu, 2010; Hagan et al., 2011).

PSYCHOSOCIAL EFFECTS OF DEPORTATION ON COMMUNITIES

When someone is deported in the broader community, research indicates that others in that community become fearful and mistrustful of public institutions, reducing adult and child attendance and participation in churches, schools, health clinics, cultural activities, and other vital social services designed with public health in mind (Capps et al., 2011; Hagan et al., 2010, 2011; Vargas, 2015). For example, a national study of mothers found that an increase in risk of deportation is associated with a decrease in Medicaid use, which has negative consequences for children's health and wellbeing in the short- and long-term (Vargas, 2015). Moreover, immigrants reduce their participation in the life of the community, including reducing visits to parks, libraries, restaurants, and other community events (Hagan et al., 2011). This lack of social integration likely has significant negative effects on immigrants and their communities. Indeed,social integration promotes a sense of wellbeing and purpose in individuals' lives and is associated with lower risk of overall cancer and mortality, lower rates of cardiovascular disease, less functional decline and distress, and lower psychological distress and suicide risk (Berkman, Glass, Brissette, & Seeman, 2000; Dalgard & Thapa, 2007; Ungar, 1999).

When deporations occur, fearfulness and mistrust extends to public safety officials. Specifically, trust has broken down between Latinx communities - particularly Latinx immigrant communities - and local law enforcement. The breakdown is acute when local officials are involved in immigration actions through 287(g) agreements or other policies (Hagan et al., 2010, 2011; Theodore, 2013). These agreements expect local law enforcement to act as federal immigration agents, which makes entire immigrant communities mistrustful of local authorities, which has implications for community safety. Specifically, families report being unwilling to call police for any reason after a deportation (Dreby, 2012; Sládková, Mangado, & Quinteros, 2012). Indeed, results from a telephone survey in four cities indicate that unwillingness to call the police is strongest for those who are unauthorized, with 70% surveyed reporting that they would not call police even if they were victims of crimes (compared to 44% of Latinx people who were documented immigrants or US citizens; Theodore, 2013). In other studies, families and children reported fear of all police due to their role in deportation and forced family separation (Brabeck et al., 2012; Dreby, 2012). The proliferation of ICE activity has also disrupted the notion of "safety" that once characterized neighborhood schools (Crawford, 2017) and other city/municipal resources, such as hospitals (Martinez et al., 2015), that were safeguarded from federal immigration enforcement. In fact, one survey of primary care and emergency care providers found that 48% reported that ICE activity negatively impacted patient access, further attesting to how ICE activity should be considered a social determinant to health (Hacker, Chu, Arsenault, & Marlin, 2012).

In addition to affecting public life, individual wellbeing for others in the community where the deportation occurred is also affected. The threat of deportation could come from many different places, including simply hearing about the deportation of another person in the broader community, the news, or the internet. For example, 18 immigrant adults from Guatemala and Honduras who were living in Massachusetts and Rhode Island were interviewed one year after an immigration raid in the region (Brabeck et al., 2012). These adults reported that they were emotionally affected by deportations and threat of deportations in the broader community. They discussed sadness, fatigue, feeling hopeless, anxious, fearful, mistrustful, worried, and hypervigilant. They also experienced nightmares and weight fluctuations (Brabeck et al, 2012). In fact, the majority of those interviewed (67%) described fears that occurred on a daily basis. The constant anxiety and psychological stress associated with fear of deportation for oneself, family members, or others in the community is also related to cardiovascular risk factors (Martinez et al., 2017; Torres et al., 2018). For example, a study in California with 545 Mexican-origin women found a significant link between fear of deportation and cardiovascular risk factors, such as greater body mass index, greater risk of obesity, larger waist circumference, and higher pulse pressure (Torres et al., 2018).

Parents also report negative effects for their children. In a study where 132 Latinx immigrant adults living in the northeastern US were surveyed two years after an immigration raid, those who had a greater level of deportation vulnerability (i.e., were unauthorized and had been detained or deported in the past, or had a family member who had been deported) noted more negative outcomes for their children, such as poorer school performance and emotional wellbeing for fear of deportation (Braback & Xu, 2010). These results are consistent with the aforementioned study with immigrants from Guatemala and Honduras. Many of these parents (44%) discussed the threat of deportation of a family member being related to their children's poorer academic grades, depression and anxiety symptoms, and behavioral distress.

It is not only parents who have noted negative effects for children after community raids. Indeed, children's fear and shame have been documented in ethnographic research (Dreby, 2012). Often, community narratives around deportation are vague and abstract, potentially leading children to think that anyone who is an immigrant can be easily deported. Indeed, of the 110 children interviewed in this study, 29 were unauthorized but almost all 110 talked about the possibility of deportation for themselves or a family member (Dreby, 2012). These fears of deportation transcended legal status, and if the child knew someone who had been deported or not. For many, this fear was connected to shame and secrecy; children were ashamed to be or to have family members who were immigrants due to social stigma and fear of deportation. These outcomes, widespread for the children interviewed regardless of contact with the Department of Homeland Security or deportation processes, were "devastating for children's identity and sense of self," as well as their overall wellbeing (Dreby, 2012, p. 841).

ALTERNATIVES TO DEPORTATION, AND RECOMMENDED POLICIES AND PRACTICES
National laws and judicial review

Immigration reform should take into account what is in the best interests of US born children. Consistent with the position of the American Psychological Association, immigration policies should keep families together and discourage deportation. SCRA calls on the US Congress to pass, and the president to sign, comprehensive immigration reform that would offer permanent protections to all 11 million people who are unauthorized to reside in the US currently and end the threat of deportation. This would secure the human rights of many individuals who have lived in this country for some years.

Do not separate families given the demonstrated negative impact on children, other family members, and the broader community. As shown in the literature, the psychological consequences of separating families are long-term and devastating to all involved. Therefore, policymakers should consider the human rights aspects of family unity (Brabeck et al, 2012). The 1969 American Convention on Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provide a foundation for these positions.

Modify the hardship exemption to deportation statute in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to include other family members in order to reflect the reality of kinship care in this country, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Narrow the scope of enforcement and removal activities and take into account parental and caregiving status.

Consider the burden placed on the larger community when someone is deported Specifically, policymakers should take into account the public health aspects of deportation (Dreby, 2012).

Increase judicial review and discretionary authority of judges over deportation cases, as was the case prior to the passage of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (ADEPA) and the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) in 1996. Processes that have such detrimental effects for families and communities deserve oversight by another governmental body, in this case, the judiciary. Weakened judicial review also removed legal constraints that protected families and immigrants (Hagan et al., 2010, 2011; Kanstroom, 2007).

Ratify the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families, which would create a human rights framework in US immigration policy.

Ensure that there are no deportation quotas, in policy or practice. Previous quotas have resulted in the expansion of detention to those who were detained and deported simply due to immigration status (Hagan et al., 2010).

Local jurisdictions

Local jurisdictions should declare themselves as sanctuary cities to enhance the protection of undocumented immigrants and their families.

Local jurisdictions should not detain or deport people solely for immigration violations in local and state law enforcement.

Local school districts should be encouraged to build communications with their communities that prioritize safety and inclusion for all immigrant families, regardless of status. This would include a protocol for responding to ICE activity near schools and educating school personnel on the effects of immigration enforcement (i.e., threat of detention and possible deportation) on families and students. Moreover, the community's level of engagement with schools should increase to offer additional supports, just as the school should engage the community to offer community-level support.

Cities and other local jurisdictions should end their 287(g) agreements, which have been controversial from the start. Specifically, communities are afraid to call local public safety officials, who are perceived as potentially deporting individuals with whom they come into contact, regardless of the behavior of the individual.

Local efforts are critical during post-deportation, in order to foster supportive social networks and create a sense of belonging among families. For example, schools, places of worship, and community organizations can provide important resources, both tangible and emotional. Programmatic efforts should be intentional with supporting mental health/healing, building community, and collective political action, as these types of programs foster hope and wellness for children and families (Ginwright, 2015).

References
Berkman, L. F., Glass, T., Brissette, I., & Seeman, T. E. (2000). From social integration to health: Durkheim in the new millennium. Social Science & Medicine, 51(6), 843-857.

Brabeck. K.M., Lykes, M.B., & Hershberg, R. (2012). Framing immigration to and deportation from the United States: Guatemalan and Salvadoran families make meaning of their experience. Community, Work & Family, 14, 275-296.

Brabeck, K., & Xu, Q. (2010). The impact of detention and deportation on Latino immigrant children and families: A quantitative exploration. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 32(3), 341-361.

Capps, R., Castañeda, R.M., Chaudry, A., & Santos, R. (2007). Paying the price: The impact of immigration raids on America's children. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute and National Council of La Raza. Retrieved from https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/46811/411566-Paying-the-Price-The-
Impact-of-Immigration-Raids-on-America-s-Children.PDF

Capps, R., Koball, H., Bachmeier, J.D., Ruiz Soto, A.G., Zong, J., & Gelatt, J. (2016). Deferred action for unauthorized immigrant parents: Analysis of DAPA's potential effects on families and children. Washington DC: The Urban Institute and Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/deferred-action-unauthorized-immigrant-parents-analysis-dapas-potential-effects-families

Capps, R., Koball, H., Campetella, A., Perreira, K., Hooker, S. & Pedroza, J.M. (2015). Implications of immigration enforcement activities for the well-being of children in immigrant families: A review of the literature. Washington DC: The Urban Institute and Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/implications-immigration-enforcement-activities-well-being-children-immigrant-families

Capps, R., Rosenblum, M.R., Chishti, M., & Rodríguez, C. (2011). Delegation and divergence: A study of 287(g) state and local immigration enforcement. Washington DC: Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/delegation-and-divergence-287g-state-and-local-immigration-enforcement

Chaudhary, A., Capps, R., Pedrosa, J.M., Castañeda, R.M., Santos, R, & Scott, M. M. (2010). Facing our future: Children in the aftermath of immigration enforcement. The Urban Institute. Retrieved from https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/28331/412020-Facing-Our-Future.PDF

Copen, C. (2006). Welfare reform: Challenges for grandparents raising grandchildren. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 18, 193-208. doi:10.1300/J038v18n03_13

Crawford, E.R. (2017). The ethic of community incorporating undocumented immigrant concerns into ethical school leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 53(2), 147-179. Doi: 10.1177/0013161X16687005

Dalgard, O. S., & Thapa, S. B. (2007). Immigration, social integration and mental health in Norway, with focus on gender differences. Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health: CP & EMH, 3(24). http://doi.org/10.1186/1745-0179-3-24

Dreby, J. (2012). The burden of deportation on children in Mexican immigrant families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74, 829-845.

Fuller-Thomson, E., & Minkler, M. (2007). Central American grandparents raising grandchildren. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 29, 5-18. doi:10.1177/0739986306293680

Ginwright, S. (2015). Hope and healing in urban education: How urban activists and teachers are reclaiming matters of the heart. New York: Routledge.

Gulbas, L.E., & Zayas, L.H. (2017). Exploring the effects of U.S. immigration enforcement on the well-being of citizen children in Mexican immigrant families. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 3(4), 53-69. Doi: 10.7758/RSF.2017.3.4.04

Hacker, K., Chu, J., Arsenault, L., & Marlin, R.P., (2012). Provider's perspectives on the impact of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity on immigrant health. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 23, 651-665.

Hagan, J.M., Castro, B., & Rodriguez, N. (2010). The effects of U.S. deportation policies on immigrant families and communities: Cross-border perspectives. North Carolina Law Review, 88, 1799-1824.

Hagan, J.M., Rodriguez, N., & Castro, B. (2011). Social effects of mass deportations by the United States government, 2000-10. Racial and Ethnic Studies, 34, 1374-1391.

Kanstroom, D. (2007). Post deportation human rights law: Aspiration, oxymoron or necessity? Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, 3(2), 195-231.

Lichtenstein, M. (2007). An examination of guest worker immigration reform policies in the United States. Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal, 5, 689-727.

Mathema, S. (2017, March 16). Keeping families together: Why all Americans should care about what happens to unauthorized immigrants. University of Southern California's Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) and Center for American Progress. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2017/03/16/428335/keeping-families-together/

Martinez, A. D., Ruelas, L., & Granger, D. A. (2017). Household fear of deportation in Mexican-origin families: Relation to body mass index percentiles and salivary uric acid. American Journal of Human Biology, 29: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23044.

Martinez, O., Wu, E., Sandfort, T., Dodge, B., Carballo-Dieguez, A., Pinto, R., ...et al. (2015). Evaluating the impact of immigration policies on health status among undocumented immigrants: A systematic review. Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health, 17(3), 947-970. doi:10.1007/s10903-013-9968-4

National Council of La Raza (2007). A stronger America together: 2007 annual report. Retrieved from http://publications.unidosus.org/bitstream/handle/123456789/614/Annual_Report_2007.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Romero, V. C. (2003). The child citizenship act and the family reunification act: Valuing the citizen child as well as the citizen parent. Florida Law Review, 55, 489-509.

Sládková, J., Mangado, S.M.G., & Quinteros, J.R. (2012). Lowell immigrant communities in the climate of deportations. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 12(1), 78-95.

Stillman, S. (2018, January 15). When deportation is a death sentence. New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/15/when-deportation-is-a-death-sentence.

Theodore, N. (2013). Insecure communities: Latino perceptions of police involvement in immigration enforcement. Retrieved from https://www.policylink.org/sites/default/files/INSECURE_COMMUNITIES_REPORT_FINAL.PDF

Torres, J. M., Deardorff, J., Gunier, R. B., Harley, K. G., Alkon, A., Kogut, K., et al. (2018). Worry about deportation and cardiovascular disease risk factors among adult women: The center for the health assessment of mothers and children of Salinas study. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. XX: 1-8. Doi: 10.1093/abm/kax007.

TRAC Immigration. (2006). How often is the aggravated felony status used? Retrieved from http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/158/

TRAC Immigration. (2014). ICE deportations: Gender, age, and country of citizenship. Retrieved from http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/350/

Unger, D. (1999). Workplace supports: A view from employees who have hired supported employees. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 14(3), 167-179.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services. (2016). Credible fear workload report. Retrieved from https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Outreach/Upcoming%20National%20
Engagements/PED_CredibleFearReasonableFearStatisticsNationalityReport.pdf

US Department of Homeland Security (2017). 2017 yearbook of immigration statistics. Washington DC: US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics.

US Government Accounting Office (2009). Immigration enforcement: Better controls needed over program authorizing state and local enforcement of federal immigration laws. Washington DC: Government Accounting Office. Retrieved from https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-109

Vargas, E.D. (2015). Immigration enforcement and mixed-status families: The effects of risk of deportation on medicaid use. Child and Youth Services Review, 57, 83-39.

Zayas, L.H., & Bradlee, M.H. (2012). Exiling children, creating orphans: When immigration policy hurts citizens. Social Work, 59, 167-175.

Zug, M. (2009). Deporting grandma: Why grandparent deportation may be the next big immigration crisis and how to solve it. U.C. Davis Law Review, 43, 193-252.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Effects of Deportation on Families and Communities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Deportation has numerous detrimental impacts on individuals who are deported, and on the families and communities they are forced to leave behind. This policy statement reviews the empirical literature to describe the effects of deportation on the individual, families, and the broader community, in order to inform policy and practice recommendations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
U.S. authorities accelerate removal of Haitian asylum-seekers from Texas-Mexico border

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.borderpartnership.org/covid-19.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
U.S. - MEXICO BORDER PHILANTHROPY PARTNERSHIP

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Travel to Mexico during Covid-19: What you need to know before you go. E ditor's note: Coronavirus cases remain high across the globe. Health officials caution that travel increases your chances of getting and spreading the virus, especially if you're not fully vaccinated. Staying home is the best way to stem transmission. Below is information on what to know if you still plan to travel, last updated on February 11. If you're planning to travel to Mexico, here's what you'll need to know and expect if you want to visit during the Covid-19 pandemic. The latest: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently moved Mexico's travel advisory rating from Level 3 ("high" risk for Covid) to Level 4 ("very high" risk). When a destination reaches Level 4, the CDC advises... (read more)

COVID-19 test sites popping up along the California-Mexico border. Seemingly overnight, three COVID-19 tests sites set up shop within a quarter mile of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. All three are testing people from either side of the border, offering both standard and rapid tests. At one site, the staff charged just under $20 for the rapid test, but the other two told Border Report they were not. Workers at one site said they have been told the U.S. government has agreed to pay for the tests. "It's pretty convenient, it's kind of on the way as you're getting back from Mexico," said Jesus Marquez. "They're pretty busy right now." Marquez got a test on the way north from Tijuana because his employer in the U.S....
See also: Travel to Mexico during Covid-19: What you need to know before you go

'It's no surprise': South Texas border cities named 'fattest' in U.S. struggle to curb COVID-19 surge. The factors that contributed to three South Texas border cities being named the "Fattest Cities" in the nation are also exacerbating the COVID-19 crisis, the county's health authority told Border Report. "We're number one for diabetes, hypertension, lack of access to health care, least level of education and awareness, and poverty," said Dr. Ivan Melendez, Hidalgo County Health Authority. "It's a five or six-horned problem and, yeah, we're aware of it and we're not surprised." A WalletHub study ranked McAllen, Edinburg and...
See also: COVID-19 cases jump to highest yet at San Diego detention center, following other border centers

Border cities continue to bury loved ones as COVID-19 claims more lives. El Paso and Juarez have now combined for more than 7,300 pandemic-related deaths. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to claim lives on both sides of the border. On Monday, El Paso health authorities disclosed 26 previously unreported fatalities, all involving patients with underlying health conditions who had died after testing positive for COVID-19 in previous weeks. That's an increase of 98 deaths since the Jan. 3 report. Nine of the 26 deaths involved breakthrough cases (the individuals were fully vaccinated) but the other 17 were not fully vaccinated. El Paso's... (read more)
Inside an overwhelmed ICU along the U.S.-Mexico border

Can I travel to Mexico from the U.S.? For the most part, yes, but there are some things you need to know. Mexico has been the go-to vacation spot during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic due to its loose rules and restrictions on travel. But with the Omicron variant slowly creeping its way into society, many countries are adding tighter border control measures in hopes to keep the mutated strain at bay. Here is what you need to know in order to be able to travel to Mexico. Mexico has kept its borders open to North Americans for a good portion of the pandemic. Even with the new Omicron variant, Mexico is ultimately allowing travel and not adding more restrictions as of this date. Before you enter Mexico, you will need to... (read more)

Unvaccinated Texans make up vast majority of COVID-19 cases and deaths this year, new state data shows. The new state survey is the first time Texas health officials have been able to statistically measure the vaccine's true impact on the pandemic. New data from the Texas health department released Monday proves what health officials have been trying to tell vaccine-hesitant Texans for months: The COVID-19 vaccine dramatically prevents death and is the best tool to prevent transmission of the deadly virus. Out of nearly 29,000 Texans who have died from COVID-related illnesses since mid-January, only 8% of them were... (read more)

'Proud': Hispanics with key roles in Covid vaccine approved for kids stress safety. Vaccines are among the tools that most guarantee not just health, but also equity across communities, say top Latino doctors and vaccine development leaders at Pfizer. For Dr. Alejandro Cané, his role in helping make Covid-19 vaccinations a reality - most recently for children - is not only a professional capstone, but also personal. "As a father of four with different ages 11 to 18, I can tell you that my youngest one is still wondering why he's not vaccinated," he told NBC News recently, "and now he will be vaccinated soon." Cané is the chief medical and scientific affairs officer for North America in Pfizer's vaccines division, one of a group of Latinos who have played key roles at... (read more)

DHS extends non-essential travel restrictions through January 21 for unvaccinated travelers. Roll back of travel ban for fully vaccinated Mexicans still on for November 8. The U.S. government has extended non-essential travel restrictions, which were set to expire Thursday night, through Jan. 21, 2022. However, the announcement published Thursday afternoon in the Federal Register makes it clear that the Secretary of Homeland Security intends to exempt individuals who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The notice doesn't address the date for the fully vaccinated to be exempted, but the White House told reporters earlier it would be on Nov. 8. "This notification announces the decision of the Secretary to continue to temporarily limit the non-essential travel of individuals from Mexico into the United States at... (read more)
​

Starr County leaders: Allow Mexican visitors to get their Covid vaccines at our land ports of entry. Governmental bodies in Starr County have given their support for a plan devised by the Starr-Camargo Bridge Company for Mexican nationals to get their Covid-19 vaccinations at the Rio Grande City bridge. The bridge company, Starr County, the City of Roma, and the City of Rio Grande City have each written to U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar asking for his support. The congressman's job is to persuade the White House to allow a pilot program to be carried out at the Starr-Camargo International Bridge. Cuellar said on a recent webinar that he supported the initiative, along with similar pilot programs in Laredo and Brownsville. The project would be beneficial to border communities because... (read more)

Concern over border reopening and COVID-19 surge. The US-Mexico border is set to reopen, which means more people will come in and out of the Valley. Health experts believe the recently lifted indoor mask mandate could be a recipe for disaster. On November 1, the Imperial County Public Health Department (ICPHD) lifted its indoor mask requirement for those who are fully vaccinated. District one supervisor Jesus Escobar raised his concerns at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday morning. He told attendees that he supported the public health department's efforts to prevent the further spread of the pandemic. "From an economic development this is going to be great for our economy, the problem... (read more)

Shane Crotty and his team at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology have been studying viruses for a long time. We at VOSD wanted to get his input again, as a local expert and national leader on vaccines. He first joined our podcast in March when vaccines were first becoming available and we knew a lot less. Now, after a few months and a few major variants of the virus, we have new questions. Like, why is Delta so much worse? Is it OK to go to concerts and ball games? What's the deal with booster shots? Bonus podcast: 'You're either vaccinated or you're going to catch Delta.' As the county recovers from the surge of Delta cases, Shane Crotty at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology joined VOSD's Scott Lewis for a discussion on vaccines.
​

Patience of border residents is tested as coronavirus closure keeps getting extended. Land border crossings have been closed to most Mexicans since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted travel restrictions along the 2,000-mile border. Rogelio Martinez is fully vaccinated and eagerly waiting for the border to reopen so he can return to work hundreds of miles away in Midland, where he toils in oil fields. "Texas is reopening its economy, but I have not been able to get back," said Martinez, 35, outside his ranch in this mining town nestled outside Chihuahua City. "I'm ready to get back to work." But despite a massive vaccination campaign underway, Martinez and other Mexican residents will have to wait at least another month, maybe longer, before they can resume their normal lives of... (read more)
See also: Extension of travel restrictions gives border cities chance to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates

Workers in factories that produce goods for the U.S. are getting American vaccines. Officials in both countries hope the program will help reopen the border and restore their economies. They labor in factories in Mexico producing goods U.S. consumers enjoy. But where American communities are awash in unused coronavirus vaccines, Mexican workers are often hard-pressed to find a single shot. On one recent morning, however, hundreds of workers from the factories known as maquiladoras were waved across the border into San Diego, without visas or passports, and rolled up their sleeves to be vaccinated. An hour later, they were back on production lines in Tijuana. The goal was to protect not just the workers, but also the closely intertwined American and Mexican economies. "If the maquiladoras can't operate, then we don't... See also: US should fully reopen Mexican border, vaccinate people on both sides, says expert

S outh Texas officials concerned about rising COVID-19 cases across the border in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Laredo mayor asking White House to allow Mexicans to cross land bridges to get vaccine . The mayor of Laredo is worried about his South Texas town. Across the border in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, coronavirus cases are on the rise, prompting officials to reinstate stricter safety measures. So, Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz is calling for Mexican nationals to be allowed to cross to get COVID-19 vaccines. Saenz told Border Report on Friday he has reached out to Republican U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, as well as U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo, expressing concerns about COVID-19 cases south of the border. This came after Nuevo Laredo this week returned to Phase I restrictions, which reduces occupancy at bars and businesses to 50% and requires the use of face masks. At least 16 other cities...

Mexican cities bordering Texas lag in vaccinations, which is keeping travel restrictions in place. U.S. officials are asking that border cities reach at least a 70% vaccination rate before land border can be reopened. While Mexico wants to reopen the U.S.-Mexico border soon, the facts on the ground show that border cities face a monumental task in vaccinating more than half their populations in just a few weeks. Although the intention was to reopen the border in late July, the border, U.S. officials are asking that border cities reach at least a 70% vaccination rate. The date could be delayed by a few weeks or months if vaccination does not progress. Some municipalities are just at 25%. Data show Mexican...

Why COVID-19 killed Texas border residents in shocking numbers. Alfredo "Freddy" Valles was an accomplished trumpeter and a beloved music teacher for nearly four decades at one of the city's poorest middle schools. He was known for buying his students shoes and bow ties for their band concerts, his effortlessly positive demeanor and for a suave personal style - "he looked like he stepped out of a different era, the 1950s," said his niece Ruby Montana. While Valles was singular in life, his death at age 60 in February was part of a devastating statistic: He was one of thousands of deaths in Texas border counties - where coronavirus mortality rates far outpaced state and national averages. In the state's border communities, including...

'The world's haves and have-nots': Global vaccine disparities on display at El Paso-Juárez border. Army Maj. Carlos Gutierrez popped into an El Paso airport gift shop on his way to catch a flight for his second trip to California since getting vaccinated against COVID-19 - the surest sign for him that, in the United States, the pandemic is finally receding. "I had stayed away from traveling because of the high risk. But with the vaccines, things are opening up," said Gutierrez, 43, traveling to visit his grandmother, who he hadn't seen since the pandemic began. A few miles south in Mexico, Juárez residents for the second weekend in a row were preparing for another "mega closure," where shopping malls, big box stores and restaurants shut down to slow a surge in...
See also: Two cities, separated by US-Mexico border, are in completely different stages of pandemic

Tourism from Texas to Florida gets a boost as tens of thousands from Mexico and elsewhere arrive for jabs. Even before New York City announced plans to offer visitors free vaccines, tourism from Texas to Florida has received a boost as tens of thousands from Mexico and other countries fly to the U.S. for a shot in the arm. "Enjoy Dallas, Includes Covid Vaccine," said a Mexico travel agency ad. Thai tour companies are selling vaccine packages to California. Northern states in the U.S. are supplying their Canadian neighbors with doses. Most of the travel appears to be between Mexico and Texas. Mexican airlines have added routes to South Texas and stepped up frequency. Flights to Houston, Dallas and San Antonio are booked for weeks, and prices are rising. Cindy Mijares, a 31-year-old jewelry designer from Monterrey, Mexico, said she booked a... Covid-19 vaccines in U.S. beckon foreigners seeking shots and shops. (read more)
See also: During pandemic, visitors from India topped overseas arrivals in the U.S.

Cross-border romance disrupted, but not defeated by pandemic restrictions on travel. The cities of El Paso, Texas, and Juarez Mexico are side by side, but to some Borderland couples it seems like they are worlds apart since the pandemic closed the border to all but essential travel. The U.S. imposed limits on border travel in March 2020 in response to the rising COVID-19 crisis. Only U.S. citizens, permanent residents and those designated as essential travelers can cross. That means no crossing for recreation and tourism to go shopping or visit family and friends. Love is not considered essential under the travel ban, which makes it hard for cross-border couples like Briana Martinez and her boyfriend, Oswaldo Cuevas, who once freely traveled between cities to stay connected. "It's been tough definitely, because the borders are... (read more)

Time to rethink America's relationship with the Latino community - all of it. As we look at a year of dealing with the greatest public health crisis of our lifetimes, what has been proven true is the impact of COVID-19 spared no one and that we are all in this together, whether we acknowledge that or not. But what was also proven true is how indispensable the Latino community, including immigrants, has been in this pandemic. The pandemic has hit communities of color disproportionately hard and for the Latino community it has been especially devastating. We are twice as likely as to get COVID-19, four times as likely to be hospitalized for it, and three times as likely as to die from it. There is a simple reason for that... (read more)

See also: The Story Behind Your Salad: Farmworkers, Covid-19, and a Dangerous Commute

Will pandemic-related measures fall at the U.S.-Mexico border? Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday that a controversial Trump-era public health measure known as Title 42 would stay in place. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday that the controversial use of a public health measure known as Title 42 to rapidly expel migrants would continue.TThe measure has been used more than 637,000 times to expel migrants since the Trump administration invoked it in March 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic took hold. Under the measure, the asylum process has ground almost to a halt, and crime by smuggling groups has increased. The measure has been used more than 637,000 times to expel migrants since the Trump administration... (read more)
See also: Mexico says no to border plants' offer to pay for COVID-19 vaccines for workers
What's behind rural Presidio County's vaccine success story? Presidio County in Far West Texas is hours away from major hospitals and lacks some basic health care services, but the county's vaccination rate has far outpaced most of Texas. On a recent night in the tiny West Texas town of Marfa, the pandemic felt almost like a memory. Locals and tourists gathered around picnic tables outside a hip hotel, sipping Lone Star as a singer's quiet melodies and guitar strumming wafted through the cool desert air. Refreshing as it was, the scene was in some ways a mirage, as health workers across the nation are still rushing to get people vaccinated in their race against new COVID-19 variants. Though more than half of U.S. adults have now received at least one shot of a vaccine, experts and the Biden administration are raising concerns about not enough rural Americans... (read more)

See also: The Integration of Immigrant Health Professionals: Looking beyond the COVID-19 Crisis (new policy brief)

​La familia es todo. COVID-19 has hit the Latinx community near the U.S. border hard. From KPBS and PRX, "Port of Entry" followed one border family's battle with COVID-19. It's a Mexican-American family who's hoping their story might be able to help other families like theirs rebuild trust in their families and in the public health system that's now trying to reach them with the vaccine.The episode, "La Familia Es Todo," aired on April 14. Listen to it online at or find "Port of Entry" wherever you listen to podcasts.

Hispanic Texans are still struggling to get vaccines. Here's how Dallas is trying to change that. Stay up-to-date on our COVID-19 coverage by signing up for our evening coronavirus newsletter here. It wasn't that she didn't try to get the vaccine. María Gilberta Reyna had attempted to register through a Dallas hospital's online application, but she never managed to make it work. "I would put my information but the site would throw me back to the initial page," Reyna, who is a Mexican immigrant, said in Spanish. But on Friday, she got lucky. After parking her car in a Savers Cost Plus in Irving, she saw a group of people with notepads, registering customers for vaccinations outside the... (read more)

​Texas doctor creates cartoons to explain science behind COVID-19. Dr. Valentina Hoyos Velez didn't realize she was an artist until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Hoyos Velez, a breast oncologist and assistant professor at the Baylor College of Medicine, typically treats cancer patients and is a researcher who focuses on immunotherapies in her laboratory. "I always thought we need to get better treatments, treatments that don't have so much toxicities, that are better tolerated, and that actually can cure cancer," Hoyos Velez said. "The more I learned about it, the more I, in my opinion, thought that immunotherapy is the way of the future for that." Trying to simplify explanations about immunotherapies to patients, paired with spending more time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hoyos Velez tried to get creative- with cartoons. "I realized that many people were refusing to get the vaccine because they didn't really understand how it worked, and there was a lot of misconceptions about it that I found online, and my patients would ask me things that really just made no sense," Hoyos Velez said. "So I said, 'Well, maybe I'll just put a pause on the explaining... (read more)

"Scheduling Angels" are scouring the internet to book vaccine appointments for strangers. Volunteers across Texas have stepped up to help seniors, non-English speakers, and others in need navigate an opaque system. Shanti Shahani de Venegas was one of millions of Texans who struggled to stay warm through last week's winter storm. On the night of February 15, the Plano resident kept logs burning in the fireplace as her family slept. Between poking at the embers, she stayed busy in her fight against the other ongoing crisis: the pandemic that has killed more than 40,000 Texans. Using the wireless hotspot from her phone and an external battery to keep it charged, she scoured the web for vaccine appointments. By the time her battery died at 4 a.m., she'd been able to sign up more than thirty people to get their shots. Shahani de Venegas said her decision to work through the night was twofold: The first reason was that she simply needed... (read more)

Updated: February 17, 2021

Updated: February 3, 2021

The 'Dr. Fauci' of the Texas border is counting the dead. Laredo, Texas, is enduring the country's worst outbreak at the end of the pandemic's deadliest month. A crusading cardiologist, leading the fight, is begging the state to close down his city. Each day at around 6 p.m., Dr. Ricardo Cigarroa goes through the same grim ritual. He sits at his desk and counts the dead. "Five to seven death certificates, that's how many I'm signing every single day," Dr. Cigarroa, a 62-year-old cardiologist, said as he stared at the paperwork piling up one afternoon last week. "It only gets worse." At the end of the pandemic's deadliest month, Laredo held the bleak distinction of having one of the most severe outbreaks of any city in the United States. As cases soar, the death toll in the overwhelmingly Latino city of 277,000 now stands at more than 630 - including at least 126 in January alone. When the virus made its way to the borderlands almost a year ago, the bespectacled Dr. Cigarroa could have just hunkered down. He could have focused on his profitable cardiology practice, which has... (read more)

Updated: January 22, 2021

​ The place hit hardest by the virus. The coronavirus has disfigured Gallup, a small New Mexico town near Native American reservations that is now one of the hardest hit places in the country. Hospitals in Gallup are nearly full. Most stores are empty. The unemployment rate in the county where the city sits is one and a half times the national average. Earlier this month, it had the most cases per capita of any metro area in the United States, according to a New York Times database. As the pandemic has steadily marched across the country in recent months, places like Gallup have been among the hardest hit. Perched between the Navajo Nation to the north and Zuni Nation to the south, almost half of Gallup's residents are Native American, according to census data. Native American communities have been particularly vulnerable to the virus, at one point accounting for nearly 40 percent of all cases in New Mexico, even though those communities make up less than a tenth of the state's population. And some who have so far been spared by the virus are nonetheless reeling from the consequences of the... (read more)

Once a model, California now struggles to tame COVID-19. Ambulances waited hours for openings to offload coronavirus patients. Overflow patients were moved to hospital hallways and gift shops, even a cafeteria. Refrigerated trucks were on standby, ready to store the dead. For months, California did many of the right things to avoid a catastrophic surge from the pandemic. But by the time Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Dec. 15 that 5,000 body bags were being distributed, it was clear that the nation's most populous state had entered a new phase of the COVID-19 crisis. Now infections have been racing out of control for weeks, and California remains at or near the top of the list of states with the most new cases per capita. It has routinely set new marks for infections and deaths, and began the new year reporting a record 585 deaths in a single day. Experts say a variety of factors combined to wipe out the past efforts, which for much of the year held the virus to manageable levels. Cramped... (read more)

​

Updated: December 16, 2020

For a border funeral home that survived the cartels, the coronavirus crisis is worse. Perches Funeral Homes has been burying bodies for more than half a century, through wars, cartel violence, epidemics and mass shootings, but nothing has filled its crematoriums, chapels and cemeteries like the coronavirus. "The soonest I could do it is in two weeks," funeral director Richard Villa told Brissa Leony, who had come to make arrangements for her grandfather last week. Villa looked at her. He knew. He had almost lost his 87-year-old mother to the virus this year. "Was it COVID?" he asked. Leony nodded. Villa made a note in the family's paperwork. The latest surge in deaths has overwhelmed even a funeral director who has spent four decades laying people to rest. Perches has had to cancel overnight velorios, or wakes, and delay burials and cremations. El Paso County this week had more COVID-19 cases per capita - 91,150 - than any other large metro area in Texas, with 1,282 deaths. Even more have died of COVID-19 across the border in Ciudad Juarez: 2,262. Heavyset and in a dark suit, Villa, 59, has the air of a man long past exhaustion. He sees... (read more)

Travel restrictions at the US-Mexico border extended through the holidays. Just weeks ago, officials in the United States and Mexico extended travel restrictions at the border until Dec. 21. Now, they've been extended again - this time until late January. Restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border first implemented in March to help slow the spread of the coronavirus are now set to remain in place until at least Jan. 21. They're meant to prevent travel the U.S. State Department has defined as nonessential, like tourism, shopping and recreational activities. Travel for medical purposes, work or school is considered essential. U.S. citizens and permanent residents are not prevented from returning home under the restrictions. And because there is minimal southbound enforcement, many people in the U.S. have continued crossing the border with little difficulty, while most of their neighbors in Mexico have been unable to cross for nearly... (read more)

Updated: December 3, 2020

US borders with Canada, Mexico will stay closed through December: 'These measures are with us for a while.' If you were hoping that the United States' borders would reopen for holiday travel, don't get your hopes up. The land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed through Dec. 21, Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday. "In order to continue to prevent the spread of COVID, the US, Mexico, & Canada will extend the restrictions on non-essential travel through Dec 21," he wrote on Twitter. "We are working closely with Mexico & Canada to keep essential trade & travel open while also protecting our citizens from the virus. Canada's Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair, wrote on Twitter that border-closure decisions"will continue to be based on the best public health advice available to keep Canadians safe." Though these travel restrictions have been extended in monthly increments throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the borders are not expected to open anytime soon. The U.S.... (read more)

Updated: November 19, 2020

Updated: November 5, 2020

Mexican border state of Chihuahua returns to lockdown. Mexico's northern border state of Chihuahua has returned to the highest level of alert and lockdown after coronavirus cases jumped there and hospitals began to fill up. Mexico's northern border state of Chihuahua returned to the highest level of alert and lockdown Friday after coronavirus cases jumped there and hospitals began to fill up. The Chihuahua state government declared the return to the "red" level of alert Friday, which closes down most non-essential services and encourages people to stay at home. The Health Department said the state's hospital beds were now 69% occupied, and that only about 23% of intensive care beds were open. The department said steps were being taken to expand hospital facilities. The department also said that three other northern states - Durango, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon - were at risk of returning to maximum alert unless infections were brought under control. Nationwide, 19 of Mexico's 32 states will be at high alert starting Monday, 11 will be at medium alert and one state was considered at moderate risk level. Mexico as a whole has seen.. (read more)

Cities on both sides of U.S.-Mexico border strain under coronavirus surge. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Angela Kocherga, news director at KTEP radio station, about the coronavirus surge along the U.S.-Mexico border. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, are effectively one community that crosses a border, and they're being hit hard by a surge of coronavirus cases. On the U.S. side, El Paso County health officials have reported more than 1,400 newly infected people, a record. More than 800 people are now hospitalized. High school football is on hold, and county leaders are recommending people stay home. They've enacted a nighttime curfew in hopes of keeping people inside. For more on the situation, let's bring in Angela Kocherga, who joins us from El Paso. Hi, Angela. ANGELA KOCHERGA, BYLINE: Hi, Ari. SHAPIRO: So what are officials saying there in El Paso? KOCHERGA: Well, they're bracing for another bad week, as they try to contain rampant community spread. And, of course, a big concern are hospitals that reached capacity this past weekend. And there's a mobilization to increase critical care hospital beds, and there have been some tents set up outside of... (

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country will keep the border closed until the U.S. gets control of the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 - and USA TODAY's analysis of the... Immigrants, border families face difficulties amid COVID-19 travel restrictions. Travel restrictions have affected Americans and international travelers alike, but perhaps no one feels border-crossing conundrums more acutely than immigrants and their loved ones. And with the COVID-19 pandemic surging in several countries, their situations are likely to worsen before they improve. The U.S. borders to both Mexico and Canada are closed through at least Nov. 21, according to a tweet from Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf earlier this month. "To continue to limit the spread of COVID, the US, Mexico, & Canada will extend the restrictions on non-essential travel through Nov 21," the tweet reads. "We are working closely with Mexico & Canada to identify safe criteria to ease the restrictions in the future & support our border communities." (read more)

Updated: October 21, 2020

COVID-19 relief funds across Borderlands grow to over US$120,700,000. Generosity knows no borders and that is certainly true in the U.S.-Mexico Border region. Community, public, and private foundations from San Diego to San Antonio on the U.S. side of the Border, and from Tijuana to Matamoros on the Mexico side of the Border have responded to the health pandemic with incredible speed and generosity. As of today, more than US$120 million has been secured to help families and communities in need. This is due to the incredible generosity of thousands of donors that believe in their community and want to help those in need. Funds have been disbursed to: help nonprofits deliver food to the hungry; provide economic relief to the unemployed; medical equipment to first responders; daycare for essential workers; grants to small businesses in jeopardy of closure; and many other needs identified by organizations along and across the region. Click to see how foundations, corporations, community development programs, and local governments are collaborating in your community. You may also wish to consider a donation to the foundation nearest you.

​What does the state of COVID-19 look like in other US-Mexico border cities? As El Paso battles through another wave of COVID-19 cases, KFOX14 went digging into how other cities with a similar dynamic are handling the virus. "We are not different than any other community," the Medical Authority for Hidalgo County, Dr. Ivan Melendez, said. In the world we live in now, there is one unsettling factor every state, county and city have in common: the coronavirus. "People just don't get it," Melendez said. On Sunday, 684 new COVID-19 cases were reported in El Paso, bringing the total number of active cases to over 8,000. "We still have the highest mortality rate in Texas," Melendez said. Hidalgo County is leading the fight against COVID-19 in the Rio Grande Valley. "Our numbers dropped to about 20 percent of what they were at the highest point," Melendez said. Just a few months back, Hidalgo County faced a second wave of COVID-19, seeing a surge in cases similar to what El Paso is seeing now. "Not helpful at all," Melendez said. Melendez said that... (read more)
​

​
​Experts project increase in migrants at US-Mexico border as pandemic devastates Latin America. Immigration experts are expecting an increase in the number of migrants journeying to the US-Mexico border in the coming months following the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Latin America. As countries put lock downs in place earlier this year, the number of Central Americans migrating north dropped. From March to April, arrests on the US-Mexico border plummeted from 30,389 to just over 16,000, before gradually ticking up again, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. Ebbs and flows in migration are common, but after a pandemic that's taken the lives of thousands in Latin America, border experts expect that upward trend to continue as restrictions in Central America are eased. "We interviewed dozens of government and NGO leaders in Central America and Mexico, and there was a broad... (read more)
​

​Worked to death: Latino farmworkers have long been denied basic rights . COVID-19 showed how deadly racism could be. Latinos were denied fair pay, leaving them vulnerable to COVID-19. In this six-part series, USA TODAY investigates how racism killed people of color. José Alfredo Reyes' wife and son pulled on personal protective gear and entered his San Diego hospital room. "Can you hear us?" Margarita Reyes said. Her husband's eyes remained shut, but his body twitched. She leaned in low to his ear and told him that his elderly mother, his children and his grandchildren would all be OK. She told him she loved him. Ten minutes later, José Alfredo Reyes, 59, was dead. José Alfredo Reyes, a longtime farmworker in this agricultural county of 181,000, is one of thousands in Imperial County to be sickened or killed by COVID-19, the disease spawned by the coronavirus. Imperial County, which is 85% Hispanic, has consistently had one of the highest death rates in the United States, at a time when... (read more)

Medical tourism was booming in Mexican border towns. then came the coronavirus. Americans and Canadians are reluctant to visit "Molar City" and other Mexican destinations due to confusion about COVID-19 travel restrictions. From Tijuana to Nuevo Progreso, Mexican towns near the U.S. made a big bet that the high cost of health care in the United States would bring patients and money south of the border for surgeries, dental care and prescription medicines. Yet amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, that bet has looked like less of a sure thing as travel ground to a halt, businesses shuttered and jobs disappeared. In Los Algodones, a small town bordered by California to the north and Arizona to the east, dentistry dominates the local economy. The town has just 5,000 residents, but it's home to hundreds of dental clinics, drugstores and other medical facilities meant not for locals but for foreigners. During the busy winter season, thousands of Americans and Canadians flock to Los Algodones for dental work that's 40% to 50% less expensive than in their home countries. That's why the town has earned the... (read more)
​

Updated: September 23, 2020

Updated: September 10, 2020

COVID-19 relief funds across Borderlands grow to over US$120,700,000. Generosity knows no borders and that is certainly true in the U.S.-Mexico Border region. Community, public, and private foundations from San Diego to San Antonio on the U.S. side of the Border, and from Tijuana to Matamoros on the Mexico side of the Border have responded to the health pandemic with incredible speed and generosity. As of today, more than US$120 million has been secured to help families and communities in need. This is due to the incredible generosity of thousands of donors that believe in their community and want to help those in need. Funds have been disbursed to: help nonprofits deliver food to the hungry; provide economic relief to the unemployed; medical equipment to first responders; daycare for essential workers; grants to small businesses in jeopardy of closure; and many other needs identified by organizations along and across the region. Click to see how foundations, corporations, community development programs, and local governments are collaborating in your community. You may also wish to consider a donation to the foundation nearest you. here

Coyotes are now smuggling migrants back home after they've given up on America. Travel restrictions around COVID-19 across Latin America mean some of those who want to get back home have to do it illegally. Hazel Lazo was lucky. She made it to the United States from El Salvador with legal permission. That meant she didn't have to risk the epic journey via land from Central America that some don't survive. But within months, because of the pandemic, she ran out of money and options in the U.S and decided to go home. And she needed a people smuggler to do it. "I thought about all the people who want to be there, in the U.S, and they risk their lives to get there. We risked ours again, but in reverse this time, to get back to El Salvador," she said. Regional border closures in response to the threat of the coronavirus have generated a new migration phenomenon: migrants from Central American nations such as Honduras and El Salvador having to... (read more) ​

Borderlands Foundations secure over US$89,920,000 in COVID-19 relief for families and communities. Foundations across the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands have established COVID-19 response funds to help families and communities in need. From San Diego to San Antonio philanthropic organizations have nearly US$90 million to support relief programs where they are most needed. Click here to see how foundations, corporations, community development programs, and local governments are collaborating in your community. You may also wish to consider a donation to the foundation nearest you.

The world needs to reopen borders before it's too late. Even as they struggle to control the pandemic, governments should move quickly to reopen borders instead of giving in to xenophobia, nationalism, and illusions of autarky. Right now, it is hard to imagine a greater threat to the world's well-being than the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 23 million people have tested positive for the virus-likely just a fraction of the actual spread-and more than 800,000 have died. The pandemic has battered the global economy, with the World Bank predicting global GDP to drop by more than 5 percent this year, a true worldwide depression far worse than the downturn in 2008 and 2009. But COVID-19 is not the biggest threat the world faces. An even greater danger today is rising nationalism, which threatens to undermine international cooperation on vital issues including not only global public health but climate change and trade. And government responses to the pandemic, which have focused on border closings, travel bans, and reshoring the production of medical and other goods, are fueling the narrative that foreign people and foreign goods are a source of danger and... (read more)

Click You may also wish to consider a donation to the foundation nearest you. Borderlands Foundations secure over US$60,300,000 in COVID-19 relief for families and communities. Foundations across the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands have established COVID-19 response funds to help families and communities in need. From San Diego to San Antonio philanthropic organizations have raised over US$60 million to support relief programs where they are most needed. here to see how foundations, corporations, community development programs, and local governments are collaborating in your community.

San Diego to offer coronavirus tests at US-Mexico border. Essential workers coming into the United States from Mexico and returning U.S. citizens will be offered the tests at the appointment-free, walk-up site. San Diego County plans to set up its first testing site for the coronavirus at one of the world's busiest pedestrian international border crossings, officials said Wednesday. County Supervisor Greg Cox said that the county will begin tests in about two weeks at the San Ysidro port of entry's PedWest crossing, which is exclusively pedestrian and connects Tijuana, Mexico to San Diego. An estimated 20,000 pedestrians enter the United States at the crossing daily, though that number has dropped with the pandemic and the shuttering of businesses. Essential workers coming into the United States from Mexico and returning U.S. citizens will be offered the tests at the appointment-free, walk-up site, Cox said. County officials expect to do... (read more) ​

​Ending 'asylum as we know it': Using pandemic to expel migrants, children at border. When a Salvadoran woman grabbed her 4-year-old daughter and fled their home country in February, the coronavirus wasn't yet a global pandemic. By the time they reached the U.S.-Mexico border a month later, that had changed. She crossed the Rio Grande, planning to ask for asylum. But Border Patrol agents took her and her daughter right back to Mexico, despite her pleas. "They told me they didn't care," the woman said in Spanish, asking us not to use her name, out of fear for her safety. "They didn't care what happened to my life. That I had to go - whether to Mexico, to El Salvador, to wherever I wanted, but I wasn't getting into the U.S." Since March, immigration officials have turned away tens of thousands of migrants like this woman and her daughter. They carried out more than 105,000 rapid expulsions through the end of July, under a public health order that... (read more) ​

Published: July 23, 2020

Vulnerable border community battles virus on 'a straight up trajectory.' In the Rio Grande Valley, poverty and chronic illness are aggravating the coronavirus outbreak. Ambulances stack up outside emergency rooms, where patients wait for beds. On a sweltering day last week near the southern tip of Texas, where high rates of poverty and chronic illness have heightened the ferocity of the coronavirus, Dr. Renzo Arauco Brown made his rounds, checking on patients who were facing severe complications from the virus and barely hanging on to life. The now-chaotic special infectious disease unit where he works has been clobbered with new admissions in recent weeks. Clinicians sweat under layers of protective gear and yell over constantly blaring alarms. Standing over a 63-year-old man whose lungs were taking in dangerous amounts of oxygen from a ventilator, Dr. Brown ordered medication to paralyze the man in hopes it would fix the problem. But it was one of many. The man had also suffered a severe stroke and blood clots because of the virus.

InIn In In Borderland Foundations secure over US$58 million ​to support families and communities impacted by COVID 19. Since our last newsletter, community foundations from San Diego to San Antonio have secured an additional US$11 million dollars to support COVID 19 relief programs. The generous spirit of Individual donors, small businesses, large corporations, donor advised funds, as well as local, regional, and state governments has responded forcefully to this pandemic. As of today, US$58 million dollars has been donated to support families, communities, nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and more. Click on the links below to see how these BPP member agencies are responding locally to help those most in need. Want to make a contribution? Select the organization nearest you and support their efforts. Need help for your nonprofit organization? Contact the foundation in your area to see how you may qualify for a grant or nonprofit loan.

California, The San Diego Foundation, San Diego Gas & Electric, Alliance Healthcare Foundation, and Arizona, the Arizona Community Foundation and their affiliate network established an emergency fund to support nonprofits responding to the Coronavirus and are raising and disbursing funds across the State. They also launched a new fund to support Latino-owned businesses. The New Mexico, the Santa Fe Community Foundation launched the COVID-19 Response Fund to address critical gaps in food security and income during this unprecedented time. The Texas, the El Paso Community Foundation created the Coronavirus Fund to help people, and nonprofits in the local community deal with the financial pressures brought on by the pandemic. El Paso Community Foundation, Please consider supporting one of these local funds established to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Your gift joins thousands of others working to build a safe and resilient community in the Borderlands. FECHAC, and Desarrollo Económico also recently partnered on the UNIDOS Fund to secure additional PPE for hospital workers in Cd. Juarez. The Paso del Norte Health Foundation created the El Paso COVID-19 information hub, and the Paso del Norte Community Foundation is partnering with United Way of El Paso to support the El Paso COVID -19 Response Fund to support nonprofit organizations serving the most vulnerable in the community including the homeless and elderly. The San Antonio Area Foundation, United Way of San Antonio and Bexar Counties, and multiple partners have unveiled the COVID-19 Response Fund to support local nonprofits serving the economically vulnerable. Con Alma Health Foundation continues to be engaged and is providing key information resources as well as health related grants to agencies across the State. The Community Foundation for Southern New Mexico has opened an emergency fund to support nonprofits. Community Foundation for Southern Arizona crafted a community resource guide that is updated daily and has opened a new fund to provide grants and loans to support nonprofit organizations serving the local community. United Way of San Diego County joined forces to support families in need and the local nonprofit sector with donations from local partners and donors to create the San Diego COVID-19 Community Response Fund. The International Community Foundation has established a new fund to support outreach activities in Mexico. San Diego Grantmakers is working with the City of San Diego to design and implement the City's Small Business Relief and Support Grant Program with a unique equity lens. The US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership is able to assist you with fiscal agency support and can receive and distribute charitable donations on your behalf, as well as support in-kind gifts to the other side of the border.

Between borders. From a doctor stranded in Ciudad Juárez to a shelter closed after an outbreak, COVID-19 is hitting hard along the Texas-Mexico border. Leer en español. This is Part 1 of COVID-19 in the Immigration Pipeline-a series supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, published by the Texas Observer in collaboration with the Border Center for Journalists and Bloggers. When news of the pandemic arrived, D.T. found herself locked in a cell on the U.S. side of the Paso del Norte bridge more than 1,700 miles from home, pregnant and desperate. The 26-year-old had fled Havana, Cuba in July 2019 to seek asylum after being labeled a dissident and beaten by police. Inside the cell, she began suffering abdominal pains. Perhaps they came from injuries suffered in the most violent of two attacks she'd endured during long months waiting in Ciudad Juárez for her asylum claim to be considered by a U.S. immigration judge. Two other pregnant women shared her cell in March-one looked like she could give birth any minute. D.T., a physician as well as an asylum-seeker, examined their bulging bellies and worried: "Can you imagine... (read more) ​
COVID's controversial "washing tunnels" for those crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
U.S. returned at least 1,000 unaccompanied migrant children despite corona risks.
​ People with coronavirus are crossing the US-Mexico border for medical care. Chris Van Gorder says he's seeing a telling trend in the hospitals he runs. Coronavirus patients are showing up in emergency rooms after calling 911 from the US-Mexico border. "They'll literally come to the border and call an ambulance," says Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps Health, a hospital system in southern California. The rise in ambulance traffic from the border, which several officials described to CNN, is a symptom of the pandemic's spread in the region -- and a sign of the many connections between communities in both countries. "There just is not a wall for viruses at the border," says Josiah Heyman, director of the Center for Inter-American and Border Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. "The wall is an illusion, because the two sides are really woven together." An increase in cross-border coronavirus cases, which... (read more)

​C oronavirus cases surge in Arizona's border counties. Arizona is seeing more COVID-19 cases statewide, but two small counties along the US-Mexico border are seeing particularly troubling trends. In the last month, Santa Cruz county has reported over 1,500 new cases and Yuma County has reported more than 3,000. That's a stark change from numbers those areas have seen in the past - Santa Cruz County had just 69 cases when Gov. Ducey lifted the stay at home order on May 15. Yuma County had 310. Gary Nabhan, an agricultural ecologist and a research social scientist at the University of Arizona, said these are agricultural hubs for the state and the country. Produce is harvested in farmland near Yuma and it's packed and delivered through the border in Nogales. Nabhan said both areas are staffed with essential workers who don't have the chance to stay home when sick. "Whether they're packing the produce in Nogales or... (read more)

Coronavirus cases jump along California-Mexico border.
U.S. suspends protections for migrant kids at border, expelling hundreds amid pandemic. Border Report: 'Tijuana is facing a different kind of crisis'.
The United States has returned at least 1,000 unaccompanied migrant children to Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras since early March despite risks of violence and discrimination that have worsened because of the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations children's agency UNICEF said on Thursday. Mexico has also returned at least 447 migrant children to Guatemala and Honduras over the same period, UNICEF said. It warned that children returned by the United States and Mexico faced added protection risks because of the perception they are infected with the coronavirus. "COVID-19 is making a bad situation even worse. Discrimination and attacks are now added to existing threats like gang violence that drove these children to leave in the first place," UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said. "This means many returned children are now... (read more)
​

San Diego to donate face shields to Tijuana as border command group works to address COVID-19.

Americans waiting out coronavirus in Canadian and Mexican border cities reflect on time away.

The COVID-19 effect on U.S.-Mexico border cities.

Published: April 30, 2020

Texas farmworkers struggle without government aid and coronavirus protection.

"Exporting the virus": Migrants deported by U.S. make up 20% of Guatemala's coronavirus cases. ​
Coronavirus on the border: Why Mexico has so few cases compared with the U.S.

​When it unveiled an unprecedented order last month to swiftly expel virtually all unauthorized migrants from the U.S. southern border, the Trump administration said potentially infected foreigners could spread the coronavirus in the U.S., prompt outbreaks in immigration jails and strain public health resources along border communities. But in a paradoxical twist, Guatemala, the largest source of migration to the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, fears the U.S. is exporting the virus there through deportation flights. At least 99 migrants recently deported to Guatemala by the U.S. have tested positive for coronavirus as of Sunday, according to the nation's public health ministry. Deportees from the U.S. make up nearly 20% of the... (read more)

Some border area U.S. citizens will not be getting stimulus checks.
Border families express concern over border COVID-19 restrictions.
Published: April 16, 2020
Coronavirus border travel restrictions start to impact daily life.
​ Scenes from the U.S.-Mexico border during coronavirus pandemic.

Members of an asylum-seeker family remain in a tent at the Juventud 2000 migrant shelter in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, on April 3, 2020 during the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic. Thousands of migrants overcrowding shelters or begging in the streets in Mexican cities along the US border are living in fear as the novel coronavirus spreads in the population and screening interviews for asylum seekers are being suspended. (Photo by Guillermo ARIAS / AFP). See complete gallery here.

Published on: March 26, 2020

Mexican residents with legal visas began to be turned away from the U.S. Saturday morning. Martin Arce, a Tijuana factory worker, spent the past week manufacturing respirators that are being shipped throughout the U.S. to fight to coronavirus pandemic. Work was so hectic, that Arce didn't have time to pay his phone bill. Because unlimited plans are cheaper in San Diego than they are in Tijuana, Arce has a plan from Cricket Wireless. And because his phone is now shut off and he doesn't have a computer, Arce has to cross the border to pay his bill in person. But when he tried to cross through the San Ysidro Port of Entry Saturday morning, Arce was turned away because of new restrictions prohibiting "non-essential" cross-border travel. The restrictions, announced Friday by President Donald Trump, went into effect just after midnight Eastern time Saturday - 9 p.m. Friday here. The goal is to stem the spread of the coronavirus by limiting cross-border travel while still protecting trade and commerce. A similar deal is...(read more)​
​
A closed border, dashed hopes and a looming disaster.
South Texas COVID-19 cases spike on border with Mexico.

Fears the virus will infect a Mexican border tent encampment where thousands of asylum-seekers live. The number of cases of COVID-19 in two South Texas border counties dramatically spiked on Saturday night totaling five cases with the announcement of the first confirmed case in Hidalgo County and several in Cameron County, health officials said. Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez on Saturday night announced that a coronavirus case was confirmed in McAllen, which is the largest city in the border county. That triggered the county to order the Hidalgo County Division of Emergency Management to go into a Level 1 Operational status, the county's highest. "We knew this day was coming and we are prepared," Cortez said in a statement. "This is a highly contagious disease and residents should not be surprised - or alarmed - that others in Hidalgo County will likely contract the virus." The news..(read more)​
​

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Travel to Mexico during Covid-19: What you need to know before you go. E ditor's note: Coronavirus cases remain high across the globe. Health officials caution that travel increases your chances of getting and spreading the virus, especially if you're not fully vaccinated. Staying home is the best way to stem transmission.

# data[].attributes.headline
What’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border in 7 charts

# data[].attributes.subject
What’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border in 7 charts

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/11/09/whats-happening-at-the-u-s-mexico-border-in-7-charts/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border in 7 charts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The U.S. Border Patrol reported more than 1.6 million encounters with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the 2021 fiscal year.

# data[].attributes.headline
Before COVID-19, more Mexicans came to the U.S. than left for Mexico for the first time in years

# data[].attributes.subject
Before COVID-19, more Mexicans came to the U.S. than left for Mexico for the first time in years

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/07/09/before-covid-19-more-mexicans-came-to-the-u-s-than-left-for-mexico-for-the-first-time-in-years/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
More Mexican migrants came to the United States than left the U.S. for Mexico between 2013 and 2018 - a reversal of the trend in much of the prior decade, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of the most recently available data capturing migration flows from both countries.

An estimated 870,000 Mexican migrants came to the U.S. between 2013 and 2018, while an estimated 710,000 left the U.S. for Mexico during that period. That translates to net migration of about 160,000 people from Mexico to the U.S., according to government data from both countries.

In the period from 2009 to 2014, by contrast, about a million people left the U.S. for Mexico while 870,000 Mexicans made the reverse trip, for net migration of about 130,000 people from the U.S. to Mexico. A similar trend from 2005 to 2010 resulted in effectively zero net migration between the two countries. (Due to the way the Mexican government sources report data, this analysis uses several overlapping time periods: 2005-2010, for example, and 2009-2014. In addition, migration from Mexico in this analysis includes only those who were born there, while migration to Mexico includes those born in Mexico, the U.S., and elsewhere.)

Measuring migration flows between Mexico and the U.S. is challenging because there are no official counts of how many Mexican immigrants enter and leave the U.S. each year. This analysis uses the best available government data from both countries to estimate the size of these flows. For this analysis, migration from the U.S. to Mexico includes persons born in Mexico, the U.S., and elsewhere, while migration from Mexico to the U.S. includes Mexican-born persons only.

To estimate how many people have left the U.S. for Mexico, this analysis uses data from the 2018 and 2014 Mexican National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (or ENADID) and the 2020, 2010 and 2000 Mexican decennial censuses. Respondents are asked where they had been living five years prior to the date when the survey or census was taken. The answers to this question provide an estimate of the number of people who moved from the U.S. to Mexico during the five years prior to the survey date. A separate question focuses on those who have recently left Mexico. It asks whether anyone from the household had left for another country during the previous five years; if so, additional questions are asked about whether and when that person or people came back and their reasons for returning to Mexico.

To estimate how many Mexicans left Mexico for the U.S., this analysis uses the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (2005-2019) and the Current Population Survey (1990-2019), which ask immigrants living in the U.S. about their country of birth and the year of their arrival in the U.S. Both sources are adjusted for undercount.

Other sources of information include detailed tables released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics, the U.S. Department of State, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The main change in net flow between the two countries in the most recent period comes from the decreased return flow from the U.S. to Mexico - 1.0 million from 2009 to 2014 down to 710,000 from 2013 to 2018 - rather than an increase in the number of Mexican immigrants coming to the U.S. The number of Mexican immigrants going from Mexico to the U.S. stood unchanged at 870,000 for both 2009 to 2014 and 2013 to 2018.

There are several potential reasons for the changing patterns of migration flows between the two nations. In the U.S., job losses during the Great Recession of 2007-2009 in industries in which immigrants tend to be heavily represented may have pushed a large number of Mexicans to migrate back to Mexico, which in the aftermath of the recession also made the U.S. less attractive to potential Mexican migrants. In addition, stricter enforcement of U.S. immigration laws both at the southwest border and within the interior of the U.S. may have contributed to the reduction in Mexican immigrants coming to the U.S. in the years leading up to 2013.

Some changing patterns in Mexico could also be behind the reduction in the number of immigrants coming to the U.S. since the Great Recession. First, growth in the working-age population of Mexicans has slowed due to a decades-long decline in the average number of births among women in Mexico. Lower fertility rates also mean smaller family sizes, which reduces the need for migration as a means of family financial support. Coupled with this, the Mexican economy over the past two decades has been more stable than in the 1980s and 1990s, when the country was hit with a number of profound economic crises.

While net migration from Mexico to the U.S. turned positive from 2013 to 2018 for the first time in more than a decade, it remained far below the levels seen in earlier decades when migration from Mexico to the U.S. was at its peak. In the five-year period between 1995 and 2000, for example, nearly 3 million immigrants came to the U.S. from Mexico, while only around 670,000 made the reverse trip, for net migration of nearly 2.3 million people from Mexico to the U.S.

Mexico is the largest country of birth among the estimated 47 million immigrants living in the U.S., according to preliminary estimates based on the 2019 American Community Survey. About 24% of all U.S. immigrants were born in Mexico.

Total number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. declined between 2007 and 2019

After peaking at 12.8 million in 2007, the number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. has declined in recent years. Preliminary estimates show that in 2019, the overall population of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. was 11.4 million, or about 1.4 million below the number at the onset of the Great Recession.

The decline in Mexican immigrants in the U.S. has been due mostly to a decrease of about 2 million unauthorized Mexican immigrants, from a peak of 6.9 million in 2007 to an estimated 4.9 million in 2017, according to Pew Research Center's latest estimate of the unauthorized population in the U.S.

Mexican immigrants have been at the center of one of the largest mass migrations in modern history. Between 1965 and 2015, more than 16 million Mexican immigrants migrated to the U.S. - more than from any other country.

In 1970, fewer than 1 million Mexican immigrants lived in the U.S. By 2000, that number had grown to 9.4 million, and by 2007 it peaked at 12.8 million.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. and Mexican governments shut down their land borders to all non-essential travel, and the U.S. has yet to reopen them after more than a year. Travel in most of the world was disrupted during the pandemic and migration flows seemed to dwindle. However, it is still unclear how the coronavirus pandemic has affected migration flows from Mexico to the U.S. and vice versa. The two main sources for this kind of information, the U.S. Census Bureau's surveys and the Mexican government's INEGI data, are not yet available for the period covering the pandemic, while other data sources only offer a partial view. These secondary sources, however, do hint at some of the changes that might be underway since the coronavirus outbreak started.

One of these data points is the number of immigrants who entered the U.S. in fiscal 2020 through permanent legal residency, also known as a "green card." In fiscal 2020, about 30,500 Mexican immigrants entered the U.S. this way, down 45% from the prior year. The reduction during the fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 2020, was particularly notable in the months after the coronavirus outbreak began: Between April and September 2020, the number of Mexican green card recipients dropped by 90% compared with the same period in the prior year.

Another available data point is the number of Mexican immigrants who entered the U.S. through a temporary work visa, such as the H-2A visa for farmworkers, or the TN or H-1B visas for high-skilled immigrants. In fiscal 2020, Mexican farmworkers obtained about 198,000 temporary permits to come work in the U.S., up 5% from the prior fiscal year - an annual increase far lower than those seen in most years leading up to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the number of high-skilled Mexican workers who obtained a TN or H-1B visa dropped 36% in the same period, from about 24,000 to 15,000.

Another snapshot of Mexican immigration flows relates to unauthorized immigrants, including those who come to the U.S. temporarily on a visa and overstay their permit and those who cross the border without inspection and reside in the U.S. as unauthorized immigrants.

While data on visa overstays during the pandemic is not available, the number of people traveling into the U.S. during the pandemic went down and the number of non-immigrant visas issued in Mexico also declined. In fiscal 2020, the total number of non-immigrant visas processed in Mexico by the U.S. Department of State dropped 35% compared with the prior year, from about 1.5 million in 2019 to about 960,000 in 2020. Most of these temporary visas were processed for tourism, business or for crossing the border and do not include a work authorization.

By contrast, apprehensions of unauthorized Mexican immigrants - a statistic that is often used as a proxy for measuring illegal immigration - increased considerably after the pandemic started in 2020, even as apprehensions of non-Mexicans dropped sharply. In fiscal 2020, the number of encounters or apprehensions of Mexican adults at the U.S.-Mexican border reached levels not seen since 2013. There were 253,118 such encounters, up 52% from 166,458 the year before.

It is important to note that apprehensions at the border were handled differently in fiscal 2020 than in years immediately prior due to an executive order called Title 42, authorized by former President Donald Trump. Under the order, Border Patrol agents did not always conduct a formal apprehension and removal, but instead sent immigrants directly back to Mexico without those steps.

Some analysts say that the new procedures have increased the number of immigrants from Mexico and elsewhere who try to enter the U.S. illegally multiple times. The number of immigrants with a prior encounter with a Border Patrol agent increased considerably in fiscal year 2020, according U.S. Customs and Enforcement data.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Before COVID-19, more Mexicans came to the U.S. than left for Mexico for the first time in years

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
More Mexican migrants came to the United States than left the U.S. for Mexico between 2013 and 2018 - a reversal of the trend in much of the prior decade, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of the most recently available data capturing migration flows from both countries.

# data[].attributes.headline
The ecological disaster that is Trump’s border wall: a visual guide

# data[].attributes.subject
The ecological disaster that is Trump’s border wall: a visual guide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
During the campaign, it was easy to scoff at President Donald Trump's promise to build a "big, beautiful" concrete wall along the US-Mexico border. It sounded, well, preposterous.

But now the prospect of a border wall is quite real. Trump has requested $1.6 billion for fiscal year 2018 to build three segments totaling 74 miles. The Department of Homeland Security is planning to test the eight prototypes it built this summer in San Diego over the next 30 to 60 days.

There's a long debate over whether physical barriers on the border actually curb the illicit flow of people and drugs. The Border Patrol, which is backing Trump's plan, says they're a "vital tool." Migration experts say they're more symbolic than effective.

But what is undeniable is that the 654 miles of walls and fences already on the US-Mexico border have made a mess out of the environment there. They've cut off, isolated, and reduced populations of some of the rarest and most amazing animals in North America, like the jaguar and ocelot (also known as the dwarf jaguar). They've led to the creation of miles of roads through pristine wilderness areas. They've even exacerbated flooding, becoming dams when rivers have overflowed.

Now, DHS is eyeing unfenced areas in two Texas wildlife refuges that conservationists consider some of the most ecologically valuable areas on the border - home to armadillos and bobcats. If a wall were to slice through these ecosystems, it could cause irreversible damage to plants and animals already under serious threat.

"We've been dealing with all these negative environmental impacts of fences on the border for more than a decade," says Dan Millis of the Sierra Club Borderlands project. "And Trump's proposal would make it worse."

The border region is ecologically rich because a lot of it has been federally protected

The political boundary between the US and Mexico stretches 2,000 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, there are three mountain chains, the two largest deserts in North America, vast cattle ranches, a handful of cities and their sprawling suburbs, and the Southern section of the mighty Rio Grande river.

Much of the region has never been heavily populated, and over the years, several large swaths of land have been designated as protected areas. Today there are 25 million acres of protected US public lands within 100 miles of the line. That includes six wildlife refuges, six national parks, tribal lands, wilderness areas, and conservation areas - all of them managed by various federal agencies and tribal governments.

On the Mexican side, meanwhile, sit protected areas like El Pinacate y Gran Desierto Altar, which abuts the US Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and parts of the Organ Pipe National Monument and Barry M. Goldwater Range in Arizona.

These protected areas have been established, in part, to protect wildlife and plants that span both countries. In the case of the El Pinacate and Cabeza Prieta, desert species like the Sonoran pronghorn (an antelope relative) have been able to migrate back and forth. But in recent years, that's gotten harder with the construction of long sections of vehicle barriers and fences, as you can see from the map.

"People think of deserts as barren lands and flat sand dunes with nothing there," Sergio Avila, a conservation scientist at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, says. "But deserts are very diverse and rich in life."

The protected areas on the border harbor an incredible array of wildlife and plants

When you trace the border from west to east (as this Story Map project by Krista Schlyer did), you find shrinking pockets of remarkable biological abundance. At the far west is the Tijuana Estuary, a key salt marsh habitat for some 400 species of migrating birds. At the far east, birds and butterflies stop through the Lower Rio Grande Valley, which is also a permanent home for colorful mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.

"There are tropical animal species in some of these canyons that are not found anywhere else," says Jesse Lasky, a biologist at Penn State who has studied the impact of border fences on border species. "They inhabit these little slices of tropical ecosystem that creep up into the US near the Gulf coast."

Not many scientists have measured the border's biodiversity in its totality - or the full impact of fences. One of the few studies to tackle these questions was written by Lasky and co-authors in 2011. They estimated that 134 mammal, 178 reptile, and 57 amphibian species live within about 30 miles of the line. Of those, 50 species and three subspecies are globally or federally threatened in Mexico or the United States. And they survive only because people on both sides have worked hard to conserve them.

Probably the most biologically impressive region on the border, according to Avila, is the sky islands, a range of mountain "islands" that extend from Arizona and New Mexico into Mexico and host a greater variety of life than almost anywhere else in North America. Most are part of the Coronado National Forest, the most ecologically diverse national forest in the country. The Coronado also hosts the greatest number of threatened and endangered species of any national forest in the US.

Living in those sky islands are spotted owls, jaguars, thick-billed parrots, barred tiger salamanders, Mount Graham red squirrels, and many more unusual species. But as with all of the protected areas on the border, these populations are dwindling fast. Climate change and urbanization are factors. But the biggest threat of all, according to Lasky, Avila, and other conservationists in the border region, are the fences that have been built along the border in the past couple of decades.

Border fences have been terrible for wildlife and plants

Since 1994, the US government has been erecting barriers to keep people and drugs from Mexico and beyond out. By 2010, about one-third of the border had been fenced with materials ranging from barbed wire to steel, bollard to wire mesh, and chain link. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security has built hundreds of miles of roads to allow the Border Patrol to access remote regions, both fenced and unfenced.

All of this construction has sliced and diced a lot of protected land along the border. And ever since the passage of the Real ID Act of 2005, DHS has had the power to waive most environmental reviews in the name of national security.

So, unlike most federal infrastructure projects, these fences have received little or no input from the public, land managers, conservation groups, or other agencies. Experts had no chance to assess beforehand what impact the fence might have on wildlife, plants, and rivers. Only after the fact have researchers documented instances where fences have interrupted wildlife corridors, and caused erosion and other damage to fragile ecosystems, as well as flooding.

But what evidence we do have is alarming. For instance, Lasky and his co-authors found that the biggest risk comes when fences bisect the range of a small population of a species with a specialized habitat, leaving the majority of the population on one side and the others adrift. His paper found 45 species and three subspecies that the current fence has affected this way.

Cutting off animal populations in this fashion leads to reduced gene flow and inbreeding -leading to a greater risk of extinction. Conservation groups are particularly worried about the Mexican gray wolf; in 2016, there were just 113 in the US and about three dozen south of the border. A wall between them could make the recovery of the population unsurmountable.

Fences also can also restrict animals' access to water sources - particularly problematic in the drought-prone Southwest. And they can make it harder for animals to adapt to climate change. "A lot of species do best in Northern Mexico, but with changes in precipitation patterns, they would need to disperse across the border," says Lasky. "This is something we should be thinking about a lot more - how fast organisms are responding to climate change."

The wall structures hurt animals and insects in other ways too. Some sections have lights that attract and zap pollinators, like the monarch butterfly, that migrate across the border. And the taller the fence, the more impassable it is for some bats and birds, like the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl.

Based on this research, leading groups like the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Defenders of Wildlife have strongly recommended against any further construction of fences on the border.

Trump's proposed wall could have a big impact on still-pristine areas

About two-thirds, or 1,350 miles, of the border remains unfenced. Trump said on July 13 that he intends to build a total 700 to 900 miles of new wall, which will be exceedingly difficult to do. (Cost estimates for walling off the entire border range from $21 billion to $40 billion, and 700 miles would cost at least $12 billion.)

But it's plausible that Congress will give US Customs and Border Patrol, the division of DHS in charge of border security, at least some of the $1.6 billion that Trump requested to build three segments totaling 74 miles for fiscal year 2018. That would reportedly include "28 miles of new levee wall system in Rio Grande Valley, 32 new miles of border wall system in the Rio Grande Valley, and 14 miles of replacement secondary barrier in San Diego," according to a DHS spokesperson.

San Diego is a sprawling urban center, but just south of it is the Tijuana Estuary, where the Tijuana River meets the Pacific Ocean. It's one of the most biodiverse areas in the entire state of California, according to Millis of the Sierra Club, and has already been impacted by fences. Replacing the fences there could mean more habitat destruction in the estuary.

Activists in Texas who've been tracking fence construction over the years say they think part of the new levee walls CPB would build if Congress allocates the money for them will bisect the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge - a collection of dozens of tracts of habitat stretching from Brownsville by the Gulf of Mexico to Rio Grande City, about 100 miles west.

This area is a refuge for 19 federally threatened and endangered species and 57 state protected species, including the ocelot and other species in the illustration below. And a wall could have a serious, in some cases deadly, impact on these species:

Walls and levee walls in this region could also pose a serious flooding hazard, says Millis. "They are particularly problematic because they would be the first walls built inside the Rio Grande floodplain, and thus are likely to cause floods in the populated areas where they are planned," he says.

Building fence where there is a flood risk has already caused chaos on other parts of the border: Flash floods in Nogales and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona have caused millions of dollars in damage and two deaths because of floodwaters that built up along the fence.

"Flood water always has debris in it," Millis says. "That's how you got these damming events that blew out chunks of wall. Damming also causes erosion - it creates the situation we saw in Arizona where debris backs up the water and then the sediment building upstream created a waterfall that causes more erosion. This is liable to happen in Texas."

Current walls in Texas are not in the floodplain - in part because a binational commission that oversees the Rio Grande River has refused to allow CPB to build there, fearing flooding in towns on both sides. But Scott Nicol, with the Sierra Club in McAllen, Texas, says he's worried that CPB intends to act unilaterally and will build new fence in the floodplain of the Rio Grande, despite Mexico's objections.

Another region of concern is the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in south Texas. According to a July 14 report in the Texas Observer, CPB officials have been quietly planning to build nearly three miles of 18-foot levee walls through it, which could ruin the habitat there for 400 bird species, rare plants, and the ocelot. Reuters also confirmed that CPB does not intend to do an environmental impact study (which would take several years) before beginning construction in the Santa Ana refuge, invoking its exemption under the Real ID Act.

One unfenced section of the border is precious jaguar habitat

The Trump administration is focused on building new fence in Texas and San Diego for the moment.But one day it could turn its sights on other unfenced sections - and one of the most troubling possibilities would be the miles of protected areas in Arizona and New Mexico where jaguars occasionally roam.

Jaguars are critically endangered in North America; the populations that once prowled New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Southern California were essentially hunted to extinction in the 20th century. The northernmost breeding population in the Americas - some 80 to 120 individuals - is in the Northern Jaguar Reserve in the Mexican state of Sonora.

Like wolves, jaguars like to ramble widely, with ranges anywhere from 10 to 50 square miles. And since 1996, seven males have been spotted in the US, giving conservation groups hope that they may be trying to reestablish a population on this side of the border. The Fish and Wildlife Service, along with several conservation groups, have tried to encourage them by establishing six critical habitat areas under the Endangered Species Act to allow the jaguars to enter the US.

"The only hope for natural re-colonization in the U.S., however remote, hinges on maintaining this core population to the south, and its connectivity," said Alan Rabinowitz, CEO of Panthera, in a statement. And a fence through the unfenced areas in the illustration above would clearly destroy that connectivity.

Conservationists say the threat of Trump's wall also puts a strain on binational relationships. "We have a lot of successful conservation partnerships working together with Mexico (monarch butterfly and jaguar, for example)," says Avila. "But these policies are putting a dent on those partnerships and pitting people against each other. They could sour the relationships." For instance, he says, changes in immigration policies are making it harder for him to bring Mexican officials to meetings in the US.

When it comes to protecting jaguars and other big cats threatened on the border, he says the solution is pretty simple: Just don't build a wall.

"We don't have to do that much. We have to leave them alone and allow them to move freely and their populations would move freely," he says. "If we create a wall for these species north or south of the border, it doesn't matter; they're blocked."

Will Trump ultimately get to build the border wall he's promised his supporters? We don't know if Congress will give him the money. But DHS's record of building fences whenever it can - with the anachronistic but still powerful argument that walls work for national security - suggests it will fight hard for it. And the tragedy for conservationists is that they have next to no legal leverage - when it comes to the border, security trumps just about every other law of the land.
Existing US-How Donald Trump could actually build the wall - and who would pay the price Donald Trump's plan to build a solar border wall, explained with math Mexico border fence data featured in the maps is from Reveal and How Trump's border policy may already be impacting migration to the US. t he C enter for Investigative Reporting and OpenStreetMap contributors.
Further reading:

Here's all the land (and water) Trump's border wall would have to cover.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The ecological disaster that is Trump's border wall: a visual guide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During the campaign, it was easy to scoff at President Donald Trump's promise to build a "big, beautiful" concrete wall along the US-Mexico border. It sounded, well, preposterous. But now the prospect of a border wall is quite real. Trump has requested $1.6 billion for fiscal year 2018 to build three segments totaling 74 miles.

# data[].attributes.headline
"The U.S. Government’s 2018 Border Data Clearly Shows Why the Trump Administration is on the Wrong Track"

# data[].attributes.subject
"The U.S. Government’s 2018 Border Data Clearly Shows Why the Trump Administration is on the Wrong Track"

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.wola.org/analysis/us-government-2018-border-data-trump-immigration-asylum-policy/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The president's midterm-campaign rhetoric of "invasions" and "national emergencies" is distracting us from a vastly different reality at the border. This reality bears no resemblance to what the president describes in his rallies. But we do face a historic humanitarian crisis, and the U.S. government urgently needs to change what it's doing in order to deal with it.

This "hidden" reality is in full view in U.S. border authorities' own security and immigration statistics, most of them produced in the past few months. (Source documents are listed and linked at the end of this analysis.)

The data about migration, and about what crosses the U.S.-Mexico border illicitly, point to problems at the border. But they're not the problems that the president is talking about. Instead, they point to a need to adapt our asylum system to a very different profile of U.S.-bound migration, and to build up our official border crossings-our ports of entry- instead of our walls and barriers.

Here is what the data is really telling us.

1. There is no migrant crisis. In fact, the flow is near its lowest point in half a century.

The number of migrants apprehended by Border Patrol at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018-396,579 people-was the fifth lowest total since 1973. The number of adult migrants traveling without families (239,331) was almost certainly the second-lowest total since 1970.

2. The profile of a typical migrant has changed dramatically over the past five years. Two in five are now children and family members. That has never happened before.

40 percent of apprehended migrants were children and family members. That's a new record, and was unthinkable as recently as 2012, when this proportion reached 10 percent for the first time.

For generations before then, the typical profile of an undocumented migrant crossing into the United States from Mexico was a man, traveling without family. This man wasn't fleeing threats or violence: he was looking for work or to start a new life in the United States. That profile is changing with dizzying speed. Children and entire families are now fleeing El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras: three countries with some of the world's highest levels of violent crime, where they face direct threats from unrestrained gangs, an utter lack of protection from their own governments, and economies that have collapsed for the poorest.

3. The number of people apprehended by Border Patrol has dramatically decreased over the years, because less people are attempting to cross.

In 2018, the average Border Patrol agent apprehended 23 migrants all year long, even as his or her agency was assisted by a deployment of 2,400 National Guard soldiers. And since 40 percent of those were families and children-most of whom sought the agents out to request asylum-the average Border Patrol agent, in fact, apprehended 14 single adult migrants during all of 2018. One every 26 days.

This points clearly to a need for more personnel to process asylum claims. It does not, however, point to any need to hire more Border Patrol personnel or erect more physical barriers.

4. Tough talk, threats, and "zero tolerance" won't dissuade kids and families from fleeing.

The administration's anti-immigrant speech and chaotic, traumatic, painful policies have failed to stop Central American kids and families from fleeing their homelands. We are now in the midst of the third big wave of protection-seeking migration from Central America since 2014. The first wave ended when Mexico, with strong U.S. urging, cracked down on migration in its southern border zone. A second wave built up again, only to end with the January 2017 inauguration of a U.S. president promising an internal crackdown. But even as this crackdown gained force-climaxing, for now, with the horror of family separation during May-June 2018-a third wave of child and family migration has gained momentum. The 21,018 unaccompanied children and families apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol in September, plus the 3,921 who showed up at ports of entry, dwarf the small number of "migrant caravan" participants-1,000, perhaps?-who are likely to make it all the way through Mexico to the U.S. border.

The conditions spurring these waves-violence, poverty, poor governance-are not ebbing, other than a modest decline in homicide rates. The most that crackdowns and tough talk have done is put Central American children's and families' flight "on pause" for a few months before, out of necessity, it resumes again.

5. Access to asylum is being throttled at the official border crossings.

Jeff Sessions' "zero tolerance" policy sought to arrest and criminally prosecute every migrant who crosses the border "improperly"-that is, at any point between the 44 official land border crossings, or ports of entry-even if that migrant is asking for asylum. The result would be to force asylum-seekers to avoid arrest by crossing at official ports of entry. "You are not breaking the law by seeking asylum at a port of entry," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen tweeted in mid-June.

But at the same time as the flow was being diverted to them, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at the ports of entry notably slowed their reception of asylum-seekers. During March, April, and May 2018, more than 6,000 children and families reported to ports of entry as what CBP calls "inadmissibles." Every month since June, however, the number of children and families at the ports has held mysteriously steady at 4,000 per month, even as "zero tolerance" was encouraging them to approach the official crossings.

The numbers point to a deliberate effort to throttle asylum-seekers' access to the ports of entry ( see WOLA's report on this, published earlier this year). Reports from sectors all along the border point to the same thing. Starting in May or June, most ports of entry began stationing CBP officers directly on the borderline, checking documentation and preventing asylum seekers from setting foot on U.S. soil, which would give them the right to ask for protection. Instead, the officers most often tell them to "come back later," and accept only a very limited number of asylum applicants per day.

At most crossings, this is probably not nefarious: it is more of a factor of the ports' limited capacity to process and hold asylum applicants. The result, though, is that many asylum-seeking families who seek to enter the "proper" way are forced to spend days or weeks in Mexican border towns, some of them with high violent-crime rates and criminal groups that prey on migrants. The slowdown in the reception of asylum seekers at the ports of entry points to the urgent need to adjust to the border's new reality of a new migrant profile, spurred by the unlivable conditions now reigning in Central America.

6. Mexico apprehends nearly as many Central American migrants as the United States does. Sometimes, Mexico apprehends more.

Mexico routinely apprehends 100,000 or more Central American citizens on its own soil, and deports most. Just as in the United States, a sharply increased number are seeking asylum in Mexico as well. Asylum requests made to Mexican authorities increased seven fold from 2014 to 2017, and are likely to hit 20,000 for the first time in 2018. Already, nearly 2,000 participants in the October 2018 "migrant caravan" have already asked for asylum in Mexico.

7. It is extremely, vanishingly rare to find suspected gang members mixed in with families and unaccompanied children.

Mid-2017 testimony from Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost explains that of about 260,000 children who arrived unaccompanied during the previous nearly six years, only 159 were even suspected of gang affiliation. Of this 0.06 percent of unaccompanied kids, about 56 were suspected of MS-13 membership. (See also WOLA's fact sheet on the MS-13). The key word here being suspected.

8. It is extremely rare to find migrants at the border from countries whose citizens the president wishes to bar from entering the United States "until we can figure out what is going on."

It is very unusual to find migrants at the U.S.-Mexico or Mexico-Guatemala borders who are from "special interest" countries like the "Middle Easterners" that President Trump, offering no proof, speculated were embedded in the Honduran "migrant caravan."

The U.S. government does not share its current list of "special interest" countries whose citizens, due to potential terrorism concerns, are given particular scrutiny when they arrive here. In an August 2018 report, though, the Center for Immigration Studies-an immigration-restrictionist think-tank-provides a very expansive array of mostly Middle Eastern countries that might possibly be on this list.

Crossing this with Border Patrol data shows that, of all 303,916 migrants whom the agency apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2017, only 1,010-0.3 percent-came from the countries that CIS would consider to be of "special interest." Of those, all but 222-0.07 percent-were from two countries, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Most of them were probably asking for asylum here.

While we can't ever discard the possibility that terrorists from outside our region might try to do harm by crossing the border from Mexico, there are simpler ways to them to get here, like overstaying visas. Talk of terrorists mixed in with children, families, and "migrant caravans" is irresponsible scaremongering that trivializes the threat of international terrorism.

Instead, these are the countries whose citizens are most often apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico and Mexico-Guatemala borders:

9. Look for solutions in our asylum process and in our ports of entry. Both are in urgent need of help.

Large-scale child and family migration, from Central America and perhaps from elsewhere, is going to be a constant in the unstable world of the 2010s and 2020s. Instead of raging against it, we must start adapting to it. Much of the solution to all of this lies in two neglected U.S. institutions: the immigration courts and the border ports of entry.

The backlog of cases in the immigration court system is untenable. Even asylum cases that result in a removal order are now taking more than 500 days to process. More judges are badly needed to reduce caseloads and wait times.

The ports of entry-the 44 official land border crossings-are where the vast majority of illicit drugs cross the border (with the exception of cannabis, which is seeing sharply reduced transshipment due to states' legalizations). But the ports have a severe staffing shortage of about 4,000 CBP officers, and unmet infrastructure needs totaling nearly US$5 billion. Building walls and hiring more Border Patrol officers would do nothing for ports of entry.

The following charts, using CBP data through July 2018, strikingly show the importance of focusing on ports of entry for interdicting drug flows at the border. Building a border wall, hiring more Border Patrol agents, or sending more National Guard troops between the ports of entry would only affect the green parts of these charts. The necessity is at the ports of entry, the blue parts.

Official Source Documents Consulted For This Commentary:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
2018 Border Data Clearly Shows Why the Trump Administration is on the Wrong Track

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The president's midterm-campaign rhetoric of "invasions" and "national emergencies" is distracting us from a vastly different reality at the border. This reality bears no resemblance to what the president describes in his rallies. But we do face a historic humanitarian crisis, and the U.S.

# data[].attributes.headline
Threats to Wildlife Persist Even as US Halts Border Wall Construction

# data[].attributes.subject
Threats to Wildlife Persist Even as US Halts Border Wall Construction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Threats to Wildlife Persist Even as US Halts Border Wall Construction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Threats to Wildlife Persist Even as US Halts Border Wall Construction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Scientists say border wall’s ‘first-century technology is not the solution for a 21st-century problem’

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Oh my God. Did you see this backpack?" a humanitarian volunteer from our group asked as we walked along a migrant trail in the wilderness of southern Arizona. It was a small backpack, decorated with a cartoon figure, left behind and fading alongside the remote trail. A child had probably been here, in this dangerous place. The woman who spoke had been walking along such trails for years as a humanitarian volunteer with the Tucson Samaritans, commonly seeing things like this. But the signs of migrants-particularly vulnerable children-still provoked a response.

Our group of six was walking along a trail in the Tumacácori Mountains for a dark purpose: to leave water jugs for the undocumented migrants making this perilous journey. We knew that there had been multiple migrant deaths in the area due to dehydration-related complications and that the water might help a future migrant, even if we could not see them now or personally hand them the jugs.

I started researching left behind migrant belongings in 2010 when I conducted fieldwork for my master's thesis. Since that initial research period, the Tucson Samaritans have provided access and insight for me. I worked with them intensively in 2016 and 2017 while doing dissertation research. And I heard the phrase "Oh my God" over and over again as we came upon migrant belongings. We found blankets, used clothing, shoes with holes in the soles, religious objects, children's toys, votive candles, jewelry, photos, and love letters. People have even come across high heels, makeup, and strollers, as if some migrants were unaware of the difficulty of their journey when they set out. Literally tons of backpacks, water bottles, and food containers get left behind. The accumulations are striking: Sometimes they look like a small village has been struck by a natural disaster.

The Samaritans talked a lot about these lost belongings-things our group encountered along the wilderness trail corridors much more frequently than migrants themselves. We spoke about the prosaic facts of these objects: their age and wear-and-tear, which helped us to determine which paths had been used recently and which ones were now abandoned. More than this, we spoke about the power of these objects-everyday things made into something "more" by their presence in such massive quantities in extremely harsh landscapes. Many times, these things seemed recently abandoned, as if the owner was just around the corner. It provoked a kind of ghostly feeling to be both clearly removed and so intimately connected to the objects' absent owners, and to never know for sure what had happened.

Since about the year 2000, undocumented border crossings shifted away from less-challenging but more highly patrolled regions and into this remote wilderness. Spaces like the Sonoran Desert-a region encompassing the Tumacácori Mountain range where we walked, stretching across most of southern Arizona to eastern California and deep into northern Mexico-are now sites of concentrated migration, not by chance but by geopolitical design.

The U.S. Border Patrol strategy called " prevention through deterrence," implemented in the early 1990s, explicitly relied on the physical ruggedness and remoteness of southern Arizona to deter undocumented border crossings as agents mobilized human resources and infrastructure, such as the existing border walls, in urban areas where historic crossings took place. This led to a dramatic decrease in border crossings in these enclosed zones but drastic increases in migration traffic into more remote areas. A push and pull followed as the U.S. Border Patrol continually maneuvered to restrain these new inroads, only to trigger the creation of new ones-a response named the "funnel effect." Flows of migration gradually funneled from urban zones like San Diego and El Paso into the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. Since the early 2000s, southern Arizona has seen some of the highest numbers of migrant deaths along the border. Migrants apparently are not deterred after all. But they are risking their lives in hazardous terrain.

The landscape here is physically marked by these migrants' clandestine journeys-by hundreds of miles of networks of newly made trails, by the bodies of those who perished along the way, and by belongings dropped by accident or because they were too heavy or inessential for the journey.

The conversation about the child's backpack continued as another member of our group responded, "Yeah, but all of this stuff is old." Looking around, the other backpacks, water bottles, and clothing items strewn along this wilderness trail were visibly faded. They looked like they had been there for some time, not as if they were just dropped. Some people in our group were impatient to carry on, to find more active trails where our water could do some good.

While members of the Samaritans and other humanitarian groups "read" the materials left behind on the landscape to help fulfill their missions of preventing deaths, the left-behind objects are also being systematically removed. Government land managers receive congressional funding to conduct widespread cleanup missions of the "environmental damage" and "landscape degradation" created by undocumented migration throughout this region. Between 2002 and 2015, over 350,000 pounds (175 tons) of migrant belongings were collected and disposed of.

I spoke with many of the people who were involved in this process, and they, too, were often struck by specific objects-compelled to save certain things or moved to let them be. This tension is rarely reflected in the annual reports about these "trash" cleanups, which stick to the aseptic language of weights and measures. But it is there. These objects are variously seen as trash, mementos, and heritage, and they might be all these things at once. I am not sure what we should do about that, whether archaeologists like myself should preserve these materials for posterity by collecting or photographing them. The answers are complicated.

A few miles farther on, our humanitarian group reached the planned waypoint where we intended to leave water. There, we found a number of 1-gallon water jugs from a previous Samaritans' trip-some full, others empty. We used our best judgment to tally which ones had probably been opened and used by people, and which had been bitten by animals. We counted how many were missing. Some could have been taken by a migrant. Others may have broken open and blown away. Sometimes containers are found slashed, deliberately vandalized to prevent migrants from receiving potentially lifesaving relief on their long journeys. Luckily, that category did not apply this day.

Making our way back to the car, one member of our group pointed out a small cross, a grave marker, in the distance. Another volunteer from the Samaritans had left crosses like this one to mark places where migrant bodies had been found, to help make the extent of the death that occurs here more visible. The crosses incorporated some of the found, left-behind belongings of migrants-mostly food tins-as accent pieces. The marker reminded us that even though it couldn't be seen, death was around us. The traces left behind, and especially crosses such as the one we stumbled upon, allow us to negotiate the "constant presence of absence," as the artist and cross-maker Alvaro Enciso describes it, that pervades this migration landscape.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Oh my God. Did you see this backpack?" a humanitarian volunteer from our group asked as we walked along a migrant trail in the wilderness of southern Arizona. It was a small backpack, decorated with a cartoon figure, left behind and fading alongside the remote trail.

# data[].attributes.headline
Unauthorized Border Crossings and Migrant Deaths:Arizona, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, 2002–2003

# data[].attributes.subject
Unauthorized Border Crossings and Migrant Deaths:Arizona, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, 2002–2003

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Page not found | National Immigrant Justice Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Indiana and Chicago immigration lawyers provide legal aid for immigrants and asylum seekers, fight for fair immigration reform and an end to inhumane immigration detention.

# data[].attributes.headline
Some Ecological Damage from Trump’s Rushed Border Wall Could Be Repaired

# data[].attributes.subject
Some Ecological Damage from Trump’s Rushed Border Wall Could Be Repaired

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The jagged granite peaks of Arizona's Tinajas Altas Mountains, reminiscent of the Iron Throne in the television series Game of Thrones, are almost insurmountable to humans. But bighorn sheep have long climbed through them with ease-until their path was blocked by a 30-foot-high steel fence built atop a blasted-out right-of-way on the U.S.-Mexico border last spring.

Just to the east, federal contractors have built more border fencing through the habitat of the endangered Sonoran pronghorn in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. And in South Texas, sections of wall continued to rise in protected areas of the Lower Rio Grande Valley in recent months, increasing flooding risks and bisecting the subtropical woodland habitat of endangered ocelots and jaguarundis and other imperiled species.

These barriers are the climax of a three-year building spree designed to make good on former president Donald Trump's promise to keep undocumented immigrants from crossing the southern U.S. border. In early January Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced it had achieved Trump's goal of completing a total of 450 miles of fence. Construction continued across parts of the four southern border states in the final week of his administration, however. These stretches, which Trump touted in a visit to southern Texas on January 12, are in addition to the 654 miles of both low and tall barriers built during previous administrations.

Hours after his inauguration last Wednesday, incoming president Joe Biden issued an executive order calling for a "pause" to border wall construction within seven days. But some environmental groups and scientists want the new administration to go a step further and tear down parts of the fence that cut through some of North America's most biodiverse landscapes-including the Otay Mountain Wilderness Area in California, the Sonoran Desert and the Sky Islands in Arizona, New Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas-and restore those key habitats. "We have the wall running through wildlife habitat, through refuges and reserves intended to be protected," says Scott Nicol, a conservationist who has long fought border walls in South Texas.

Determining which fence segments should come down and how to fix the damage they have caused would likely require some tough decisions, however. With hundreds of species affected and several rivers and washes now blocked or flanked by the structures, far more sites need restoration than funding would allow, wall critics say. Also, with little baseline data on the preconstruction state of the lands and waters of the border, it may be hard to say what successful restoration would look like in some areas. Laiken Jordahl, borderlands campaigner at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, says tearing down the wall might be a hard sell. But "we have an obligation to the wildlife and the communities to repair the damage caused by the Trump administration and restore this place to its original beauty," adds Jordahl, who lives in southern Arizona. "Giving up is not an option."

The Damage Done

Though the wall may look like just a thin line on a map or drone image, each segment requires a major construction project whose ecological consequences extend far beyond its physical footprint. Building a 30-foot-high steel bollard fence-the design of most new wall segments, with wide bars and narrow gaps between-requires stripping away vegetation to create a 150-foot-wide "enforcement zone" that includes a parallel access road and surveillance cameras used by Border Patrol to monitor border activity. Workers remove any old structures (typically low-slung vehicle barriers), dig a trench several feet deep, and fill it with concrete and rebars, steel rods used for reinforcement. They then use heavy machinery to sink the fence into the concrete base.

The full extent of the damage from these fence projects-the barriers themselves, the vegetation scraped away to make way for patrol roads, the light pollution from floodlights-is unknown. Under a 2005 law that lets the Department of Homeland Security waive federal requirements to expedite border fence construction, the environmental impact studies typically required for federal projects were never conducted for many wall projects.* "This thing went in so fast, and all the mitigation and study measures that you'd normally do never got done," says Aaron Flesch, a biologist and ecologist at the University of Arizona. "We really don't have much [data]." But what data there are, combined with observations and images, reveal a picture of ecosystems interrupted: blocked migration corridors for species, including jaguars and ocelots; fragmented habitat; and eroded and flood-damaged washes and rivers. In a 2018 letter in BioScience, Flesch and other scientists warned that "already-built sections of the wall are reducing the area, quality, and connectivity of plant and animal habitats and are compromising more than a century of binational investment in conservation."

One of the few investigations to track the impacts on multiple species in the same area, before and after fence construction, is the Border Wildlife Study conducted by the Sky Islands Alliance, a Tuscon, Ariz.-based conservation nonprofit. Using camera traps placed along more than 30 miles of border in the Huachuca and Patagonia mountains before construction began, the study has collected 12,000 images documenting more than 100 species since March 2020, including mountain lion, pronghorn, elf owl, black bear, porcupine and a Mexican subspecies of Virginia opossum. Construction in the area began last summer and continued through the winter. Conservationists hope to use the before-and-after data of the animal sightings to track how the new structure has affected them-insights that could help inform future fence removal efforts. "Our goal is to use this information to help us figure out how to protect and conserve these species during this remarkable period of unprecedented habitat fragmentation," says Emily Burns, an ecologist at the Sky Islands Alliance.

Some of the most consequential damage, and likely some of the most difficult to fix, occurred late in Trump's presidency as his administration raced to build more wall before Biden was sworn in last week. Most of the newest work is on remote, rugged federal lands that previous administrations bypassed for fence construction. "They're blasting in these crazy places that are just totally impassable by people but are really important habitat," Flesch says. He has studied the border fence's consequences for the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, a palm-sized bird under consideration for Endangered Species Act protection.

Taking stock of what has been lost is crucial to figuring out which areas to prioritize for fence removal, Jordahl says. "It's impossible to assess the damage until we send the construction teams packing and send scientists down to these sites where the environmental laws have been waived," he says.

What to Fix First

The environmental coalition opposing the wall recognizes it is politically unfeasible to push for toppling the entire fence, so it has compiled a list of places where tearing down the barriers would do the most environmental good. The groups (which include the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Southwest Environmental Center and others) plan to use the report to convince the Biden administration to remove what they view as the most problematic sections, including a migratory wildlife corridor in New Mexico that is important for jaguars and an international bison herd; the San Pedro River in Arizona, the last free-flowing river in the state until a wall was built across it last year; and the Quitobaquito Springs in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, home to the endangered Quitobaquito pupfish and an important cultural site to a dozen Native American groups.

Kurt Vaughn, director of the Borderlands Restoration Network (a nonprofit collaboration of environmental organizations that restores degraded landscapes in southeastern Arizona), says springs, riparian areas and wetlands-all crucial to desert ecosystems-would be priorities for him. "I would focus first on water resources, working as quickly as possible and being careful not to worsen the damage that's already been done," he says. "Then I'd work on wildlife corridors."

Once parts of the wall come down, Burns says, "there's a lot we can do to help the biological communities come back," such as replacing roads with native plants. "Where water has been depleted, we're going to have to work extra hard," she adds. "We can help stop erosion, and hopefully we'll get some rainfall" to replenish streams and ponds.

Simply removing the fence may be enough to improve some binational species' prospects, Flesch says. "For species that are able to cross an open area, like jaguars, [they] can go right over that 60-meter [197-foot] swath of destruction," he says. "For those species, removing the wall is going to very rapidly restore connectivity." But for other border species, such as the tiny owl he studies-which has lost federal habitat to fence projects dating back more than a decade-the remedy "could be more complicated," he adds. "Everybody thinks birds just fly over, but they're understory woodland birds. They're not migratory." Flesch says the vegetation they rely on for cover would need to be replanted.

Restoration might be even more challenging in Texas. There, sections of the wall cut through mature subtropical woodlands, as well as former farmland that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) purchased and replanted over 30 years to restore habitat in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Nicol thinks restoration is possible in those areas. But he says, "It won't be cheap, and it won't be quick" because of the sheer amount of work to be done and how long it takes for replanted vegetation to mature into good woodland habitat.Waterways present their own special challenge. "It's going to be harder when you're talking about areas like Starr County, where you have [washes] that led toward the river, and they put in barriers and roads," he says. "Getting to a natural drainage regime will be a lot more difficult." Nicol would prioritize taking down the wall in a tract of the refuge in Starr County, where the barrier has created major flooding and erosion risks.

Scientific American 's calls and e-mails to federal land managers who work in some of the protected areas where new wall has gone up were referred to the FWS's national press office, which declined to answer questions about fence removal and restoration of damaged habitat.

What Restoration Might Cost

With fence construction halted, CBP and the Army Corp of Engineers, which jointly oversee fence construction, could end up turning right around to deconstruct projects now in progress. "For example, we could have already dug a trench and put rebar in it," said Mark Morgan, then acting CBP commissioner under Trump, in a conference call with reporters on December 14. "We're going to have to pay a contractor to go back in and remove the rebar and fill in the trench."

Because billions of dollars' worth of wall-building contracts have already been awarded, Morgan added, the government agencies involved would need to go through a lengthy process to reach a settlement over canceled projects-costing taxpayers more money. Even so, Jordahl says, "the cost to tear it down will pale in comparison to what it cost to build it." The money saved from walls left unbuilt could be used to help pay for restoration, he adds. Under a deal with the Department of the Interior in 2009, DHS allocated $50 million for remediation of fence damage, but that amount was later cut in half, and little work has been done, Nicol says. At the time, the agencies discussed the possibility of a long-term environmental monitoring program, which never materialized.

Former senator Tom Udall of New Mexico, a longtime critic of the fence who retired from Congress in December, says he is glad to see Biden pledge to stop the wall construction. In 2019 he and Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, both Democrats, introduced legislation to prohibit fence construction in refuges and wilderness areas and to require DHS to conduct environmental reviews. Neither bill gained traction in the Senate. "The Trump administration just seemed to have thrown out any idea of balance when they were thinking about what to construct," Udall says. "Trump's border wall has been hugely destructive to the environment, to wildlife, to habitat connectivity."

Now Biden needs to act quickly, Nicol says. "If he takes his time with tearing down walls, then that damage compounds," he explains. "You want to tear down the wall at San Pedro or Arroyo Ramirez [a Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife tract in South Texas] before a big flood tears it apart. You want to tear down walls before ocelots go extinct." Even if the new administration does make removing the wall and fixing the damage a priority, some places can never be restored, Burns says. "The face of the Huachuca Mountains-on national public lands-has been blasted, and that's not reparable," she says. "That scar will always be there."

* Editor's Note (1/25/21): This sentence was edited after posting to clarify the use of environmental review waivers for border fence construction.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Some Ecological Damage from Trump’s Rushed Border Wall Could Be Repaired

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The jagged granite peaks of Arizona's Tinajas Altas Mountains, reminiscent of the Iron Throne in the television series Game of Thrones, are almost insurmountable to humans. But bighorn sheep have long climbed through them with ease-until their path was blocked by a 30-foot-high steel fence built atop a blasted-out right-of-way on the U.S.-Mexico border last spring.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Missing Migrants Project data are estimates from IOM, national authorities and media sources. The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on maps do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by IOM.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Introduction

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to facilitate a speedy, whole-of-government response in confronting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), keeping everyone safe, and helping detect and slow the spread of the virus. To keep the public, media and family members of those in custody and other stakeholders informed, we will update this site frequently during this extremely fluid situation.

GENERAL

What is ICE doing to safeguard its employees/personnel during this crisis?

The ICE Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Unit continues to work diligently to ensure employees are operating under the safest and most practical conditions to reduce the risk of exposure and prevent further spreading of COVID-19 during the course of ongoing daily operations. The OSH Unit regularly provides guidance regarding integrating administrative controls such as social distancing in law enforcement settings, and the appropriate choice and use of personal protective equipment when administrative controls cannot be implemented. Besides providing information through an employee website, OSH officials have held conference calls, responded to emails, and spoken personally with employees who have safety questions. At all levels, ICE employees have access to the most current CDC and DHS guidance and assistance in this rapidly changing environment.

ICE is reviewing CDC guidance daily and will continue to update protocols to remain consistent with CDC guidance.

Updated 03/18/2020 4:28pm

What is ICE doing in response to the COVID-19 virus?

Law enforcement agencies across the country, to include ICE, are paying close attention to this pandemic. While our law enforcement officers and agents continue daily enforcement operations to make criminal and civil arrests, prioritizing individuals who threaten our national security and public safety, we remain committed to the health and safety of our employees and the general public. It is important for the public to know that ICE does not conduct operations at medical facilities, except under extraordinary circumstances. ICE policy directs our officers to avoid making arrests at sensitive locations - to include schools, places of worship, and health care facilities, such as hospitals, doctors' offices, accredited health clinics, and emergent or urgent care facilities - without prior approval for an exemption, or in exigent circumstances. See our FAQ for more.

Consistent with federal partners, ICE is taking important steps to further safeguard those in our care. As a precautionary measure, ICE has temporarily suspended social visitation in all detention facilities.

The health, welfare and safety of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees is one of the agency's highest priorities. Since the onset of reports of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), ICE epidemiologists have been tracking the outbreak, regularly updating infection prevention and control protocols, and issuing guidance to ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) staff for the screening and management of potential exposure among detainees.

ICE continues to incorporate CDC's COVID-19 guidance, which is built upon the already established infectious disease monitoring and management protocols currently in use by the agency. In addition, ICE is actively working with state and local health partners to determine if any detainee requires additional testing or monitoring to combat the spread of the virus.

Updated 03/15/2020 2:38pm

IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT and CHECK-INS

Has ICE modified enforcement efforts during COVID-19?

To ensure the welfare and safety of the general public as well as officers and agents in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will temporarily adjust its enforcement posture beginning today, March 18, 2020. ICE's highest priorities are to promote life-saving and public-safety activities.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) will focus enforcement on public-safety risks and individuals subject to mandatory detention based on criminal grounds. For those individuals who do not fall into those categories, ERO will exercise discretion to delay enforcement actions until after the crisis or use alternatives to detention, as appropriate.

Homeland Security Investigations will continue to carry out mission critical criminal investigations and enforcement operations as determined necessary to maintain public-safety and national security. Examples include investigations into child exploitation, gangs, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, human smuggling, and continued participation on the Joint Terrorism Task Force. This work will be conducted based on ability to coordinate and work with prosecutors from the Department of Justice and intake at both the U.S. Marshals Service and Bureau of Prisons.

Consistent with its sensitive locations policy, during the COVID-19 crisis, ICE will not carry out enforcement operations at or near health care facilities, such as hospitals, doctors' offices, accredited health clinics, and emergent or urgent care facilities, except in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Individuals should not avoid seeking medical care because they fear civil immigration enforcement.
Translations
Updated 05/27/2020 12:00pm

Has ICE suspended in-person reporting requirements for ATD participants?

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in an effort to reduce the risk to participants, ICE has temporarily suspended the requirement for ATD participants to report in-person for office visits, and home visits have been temporarily suspended as well. In the interim, ICE will continue to leverage telephonic and electronic reporting between participants and case specialists. ICE will maintain this posture until either stay-at-home orders are lifted or ICE, in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, determines that the risk to resume face-to-face contact has been mitigated.

Updated 04/17/2020 12:12pm

I have a scheduled ICE check-in and tried calling my local field office but no one answered, what should I do?

Contact the local ICE field office by phone for further instructions. If you missed your scheduled ICE check-in, you need to ensure that you make contact with ICE.

Updated 04/17/2020 12:12pm

I tried calling ICE but they did not answer the phone. What should I do?

Leave a message for ICE with your name, A-number, and phone number. Due to the unfolding situation with COVID-19 and a higher than expected number of phone calls, ICE will be contacting you soon to provide you with updated information on how to proceed with your check-ins.

Updated 04/17/2020 12:12pm

I'm unable to attend an ICE check-in because of COVID-19, what should I do?

Contact your local ICE field office. If they do not answer, leave a message with your name, A-number, and phone number. Due to the unfolding situation with COVID-19 and a higher than expected number of phone calls, ICE will contact you with updated information on how to proceed with your scheduled check-in.

Updated 04/17/2020 12:12pm

I have a scheduled ISAP appointment, what should I do?

Due to COVID-19, ICE has temporarily suspended in-person reporting, regardless of whether you were scheduled at an office or at your home. In the interim, your case specialist will be contacting you telephonically to conduct your check-in over the phone. If you are scheduled for in-person reporting with your ISAP case specialist and have not yet heard from them, please call them before in advance of your appointment.

Updated 04/17/2020 12:12pm

I'm unable to attend a scheduled ISAP check-in because of COVID-19, what should I do?

Contact your case specialist. Please keep a record of the date and time you contacted your case specialist for reference purposes.

Updated 04/17/2020 12:12pm

I tried calling my case specialist, but they did not answer the phone. What should I do?

Leave a message for your case specialist with your name, A-number, and phone number. Due to the unfolding situation with COVID-19 and a higher than expected number of phone calls, your case specialist will be contacting you soon to provide you with updated information on how to proceed with your check-ins. Please keep a record of the date and time for reference purposes that you contacted your case specialist.

Updated 04/17/2020 12:12pm

I have a scheduled check-in, what should I do?

Individuals should contact their local field office for additional guidance prior to their scheduled appointment.

Updated 03/17/2020 5:00pm

Is ICE making arrests at hospitals?

ICE does not conduct enforcement operations at medical facilities, except under extraordinary circumstances. Claims to the contrary are false and create unnecessary fear within communities. Individuals should continue to seek medical care.

Updated 03/15/2020 2:38pm

Has ICE revised the process for filing the Form I-246, "Application for Stay of Deportation of Removal?"

ICE will temporarily permit the filing of Form I-246, "Application for Stay of Deportation or Removal," through the mail accompanied by money orders, certified funds, or requests for fee waivers only.

Updated 03/18/2020 5:18pm

Has ICE revised the timeline for aliens to report for their initial check-in with a local field office?

Aliens released from the Southwest Border will now be scheduled for initial reporting to a local field office 60 days after release, versus the current practice of scheduling such reporting in 30 days or less. Individuals should contact their local field office for additional guidance prior to their scheduled appointment.

Updated 03/18/2020 10:39am

BONDS

I need to pay a bond, has ICE made any adjustments to its payment process?

ICE will limit the acceptance of bonds to locations with "bond windows" or other appropriate barriers that will limit exposure to staff. Generally, only the individual appearing to post the bonds will be permitted to enter the office. Anyone accompanying such individuals, including children accompanied by another adult, will be asked by security not to enter the building.

If a prospective bond obligor contacts an office that is not currently physically accepting bonds, the office will provide contact information for ICE offices that are currently physically posting bonds, as well as contact information for surety agencies that are currently posting surety bonds with ICE.

Updated 04/24/2020 7:52am

DETENTION

What has ICE done to protect detainees in ICE custody?

In March, ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) convened a working group between medical professionals, disease control specialists, detention experts, and field operators to identify additional enhanced steps to minimize the spread of the virus. ICE has since evaluated its detained population based upon the CDC's guidance for people who might be at higher risk for severe illness as a result of COVID-19 to determine whether continued detention was appropriate. Of this medical risk population, ICE has released over 900 individuals after evaluating their immigration history, criminal record, potential threat to public safety, flight risk, and national security concerns. This same methodology is currently being applied to other potentially vulnerable populations currently in custody and while making custody determinations for all new arrestees. Additionally, ERO has had reduced intake of new detainees being introduced into the ICE detention system coming from CBP, due to reduced numbers of apprehensions by CBP under immigration authorities. ICE's detained population has steadily dropped by more than 7,000 individuals since March 1, 2020 as a result of the decrease in book-ins when compared to this time last year, combined with continued repatriations of illegal aliens.

Updated 05/04/2020 05:20pm

What is ICE doing to ensure detainees in custody are well-cared for during this crisis?

Currently, the CDC advises self-monitoring at home for people in the community who meet epidemiologic risk criteria, and who do not have fever or symptoms of respiratory illness. In detention settings, cohorting serves as an alternative to self-monitoring at home.

Comprehensive protocols are in place for the protection of staff and patients, including the appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE), in accordance with CDC guidance. ICE has maintained a pandemic workforce protection plan since February 2014, which was last updated in May 2017. This plan provides specific guidance for biological threats such as COVID-19. ICE instituted applicable parts of the plan in January 2020 upon the discovery of the potential threat of COVID-19. The ICE Occupational Safety and Health Office is in contact with relevant offices within the Department of Homeland Security, and in January 2020, the DHS Workforce Safety and Health Division provided DHS components additional guidance to address assumed risks and interim workplace controls. This includes the use of N95 masks, available respirators, and additional personal protective equipment.

ICE testing for COVID-19 complies with CDC guidance. IHSC updates and shares its COVID-19 guidance with field units on a real-time basis. Subjects selected for testing follow CDC's definition of a person under investigation.

Updated 04/29/2020 7:30pm

How does ICE screen new detainees for COVID-19?

ICE instituted screening guidance for new detainees who arrive at facilities to identify those who meet CDC's criteria for epidemiologic risk of exposure to COVID-19. IHSC isolates detainees with fever and/or respiratory symptoms who meet these criteria and observe them for a specified time period. IHSC staff consult with the local health department, as appropriate, to assess the need for testing. Detainees without fever or respiratory symptoms who meet epidemiologic risk criteria are monitored for 14 days. ERO has also encouraged facilities to isolate new admissions into the detention network for 14 days before placing them into general population.

Updated 04/06/2020 1:27pm

Is ICE testing detainees for COVID-19 at ICE detention centers, or sending detainees somewhere for testing?

Detainees are being tested for COVID-19 in line with CDC guidance. In some cases, medical staff at ICE detention facilities are collecting specimens from ICE detainees for processing at a commercial or public health lab. In other cases,including when a detainee requires a higher level of care, they are sent to a local hospital and may be tested at the discretion of the treating provider at the hospital.

Updated 03/24/2020 2:15pm

Can detainees attend medical appointments?

Asymptomatic detainees in isolation can attend all appointments. Symptomatic detainees in isolation must wear a tight-fitting surgical mask to attend essential medical appointments. ICE also notifies the medical provider about the detainee's status ahead of the appointment to coordinate care and protect staff and other patients.

Updated 03/15/2020 2:38pm

How does ICE mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within its detention facilities?

Detainees who meet CDC criteria for epidemiologic risk of exposure to COVID-19 are housed separately from the general population. ICE places detainees with fever and/or respiratory symptoms in a single medical housing room, or in a medical airborne infection isolation room specifically designed to contain biological agents, such as COVID-19. This prevents the spread of the agent to other individuals and the general public. ICE transports individuals with moderate to severe symptoms, or those who require higher levels of care or monitoring, to appropriate hospitals with expertise in high-risk care. Detainees who do not have fever or symptoms, but meet CDC criteria for epidemiologic risk, are housed separately in a single cell, or as a group, depending on available space.

ICE reviews CDC guidance daily and continues to update protocols to remain consistent with CDC guidance.

Updated 03/15/2020 2:38pm

Will someone who presents symptoms or tests positive for COVID-19 be released from immigration custody?

ICE only has authority to detain individuals for immigration purposes. ICE cannot hold any detainee ordered released by a judge. If ICE must release an ill or isolated detainee, health staff immediately notify the local public health agencies to coordinate further monitoring, if required.

Updated 04/06/2020 1:27pm

Do ICE facilities have necessary sanitary products to help guard against the virus?

In addition to providing detainees with soap for the shower and hand soap for sink handwashing, ICE provides alcohol-based sanitizer in visitor entrances, exits, waiting areas and to staff and detainees in the secure setting whenever possible. ICE also provides soap and paper towels that are present in bathrooms and work areas within the facilities. Everyday cleaning supplies such as soap dispensers and paper towels are routinely checked and are available for use. Detainees are encouraged to communicate with local staff when additional hygiene supplies or products are needed.

Performance-Based National Detention Standards (PBNDS) 2008 and PBNDS 2011, require that facilities operating under these respective standards have written plans that address the management of communicable diseases, which should include isolation and management of detainees exposed to communicable diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) remains the definitive source for information about how to protect individuals and reduce exposure to the virus, so ICE continues to encourage facilities to follow CDC guidelines as well as those of their state and local health departments.

Updated 04/02/2020 6:05pm

How are ICE detention facilities engaging in social distancing?

In March, ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) convened a working group between medical professionals, disease control specialists, detention experts, and field operators to identify additional enhanced steps to minimize the spread of the virus. As a result of the working group, ERO decided to reduce the population of all detention facilities to 70 percent or less to increase social distancing. Detention facilities may also increase social distancing by having staggered meals and recreation times in order to limit the number of detainees gathered together. All community service projects are suspended until further notice.

Updated 04/06/2020 1:27pm

How will detainees communicate with family members and others?

ICE recognizes the substantial impact of curtailing personal visitation and limiting in-person legal visitation during the pandemic, and continues to facilitate communication with families and attorneys through extended access to telephones, video visitation and with extended hours where possible. ICE began providing 520 minutes of free domestic or international phone or video calls per month to detainees on April 22 at all facilities served by Talton Communications (serving approximately 57% of the ICE population), and has been negotiating with all other facilities to provide 500 minutes or more.

In addition to the toll-free Detention Reporting and Information Line (DRIL), which provides a direct channel for detainees and agency stakeholders to communicate with ICE for questions and concerns, all ICE detainees are able to make free calls to legal service providers on the ICE pro bono network to contact legal representatives, consular officials, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General, the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility Joint Intake Center, as well as other authorized government agencies and nongovernment organizations.

Updated 05/27/2020 11:20am

Are detainees able to make outside phone calls?

All detainees are afforded telephone access and can make calls to the ICE-provided list of free legal service providers and consulates at no charge to the detainee or the receiving party. Additionally, detainees who cannot afford to call family members may request a call to immediate family or others in personal or family emergencies or on an as-needed basis to maintain community ties.

Updated 04/02/2020 6:05pm

VISITATION AT DETENTION FACILITIES

My family member or friend is currently in ICE custody, will visitation to the facility still be allowed?

ICE has temporarily suspended social visitation in all of its detention facilities. ICE recognizes the considerable impact of suspending personal visitation and has requested wardens and facility administrators maximize detainee use of teleconferencing, video visitation (e.g., Skype, FaceTime), email, and/or tablets, with extended hours where possible. ICE will continue to collaborate with the CDC, IHSC, and its network of health care providers to provide updates and revise procedures as necessary.

Updated 04/02/2020 6:05pm

How will detainees communicate with family members and others?

ICE recognizes the substantial impact of curtailing personal visitation and limiting in-person legal visitation during the pandemic, and continues to facilitate communication with families and attorneys through extended access to telephones, video visitation and with extended hours where possible. ICE began providing 520 minutes of free domestic or international phone or video calls per month to detainees on April 22 at all facilities served by Talton Communications (serving approximately 57% of the ICE population), and has been negotiating with all other facilities to provide 500 minutes or more.

In addition to the toll-free Detention Reporting and Information Line (DRIL), which provides a direct channel for detainees and agency stakeholders to communicate with ICE for questions and concerns, all ICE detainees are able to make free calls to legal service providers on the ICE pro bono network to contact legal representatives, consular officials, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General, the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility Joint Intake Center, as well as other authorized government agencies and nongovernment organizations.

Updated 05/27/2020 11:20am

Will individuals in ICE custody be able to meet with their legal representatives?

Detainee access to legal representatives remains a paramount requirement and should be accommodated to the maximum extent practicable. Legal visitation must continue unless determined to pose a risk to the safety and security of the facility.

Non-contact legal visitation (e.g., Skype or teleconference) should be offered first to limit exposure to ICE detainees, but in person contact should be permitted if determined essential by the legal representative. Prior to the in-person visit, the legal representative must undergo the same screening required for staff entry into the facility. The ultimate legal visit approving authority lies with the Warden or Facility Administrator; however, the facility should notify its local Field Office Director as soon as possible of any denied legal visits.

Updated 04/02/2020 6:05pm

Are Legal Orientation Programs continuing in ICE detention facilities?

Government-sponsored Legal Orientation Programs (LOPs), carried out by the Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and authorized by congressional appropriations, currently operate at a limited number of detention sites, and may continue to conduct detainee presentations. No more than four LOP presenters may be allowed in the facility at any time and must undergo the same screening required for staff entry into the facility. Non-LOP legal rights group presentations offered by volunteers are suspended until further notice.

Updated 04/02/2020 6:05pm

Will members of Congress be able to visit ICE detention facilities?

Facility tours are suspended until further notice, excluding Members of Congress, Congressional Member Delegations (CODELs), and Congressional Staff Delegations (STAFFDELs) who will not be prevented from accessing facilities for the purpose of conducting oversight. To safeguard visitors, detainees, ICE and facility staff, congressional visitors may be subject to special screening procedures congruent with staff facility entry screening. Congressional visitors should be advised of standard hygiene practices to help prevent the spread of disease (i.e., washing hands, avoiding close contact) and should be made aware of available hand washing stations within the facility.

Updated 04/02/2020 6:05pm

IMMIGRATION COURT

Is immigration court still taking place in-person at ICE detention facilities?

Individuals attending immigration court in-person are encouraged to contact the Executive Office for Immigration Review for any additional requirements or changes to procedures.

Updated 04/02/2020 6:05pm

REMOVALS

Does ICE medically screen detainees before they board a removal flight to their home country?

The ICE Air flight medical provider conducts a visual screening consistent with current ICE policy and procedures on those detainees lacking medical summary information (new apprehensions) who are delivered to the aircraft. Those detainees who are not "new apprehensions" are brought to the aircraft with medical clearance. Any ICE detainee who fails to pass screening by a flight medical provider and/or is suspected of having a health-risk condition potentially contagious to other detainees, staff and/or third parties, will be denied boarding and referred to an ICE approved facility for screening.

In addition to recently issued IHSC guidance, for ICE Air charter removals, there will be a temperature screening at the flight line, prior to boarding. As of April 17, in accordance with updated IHSC guidance, any detainee with a temperature of 99 degrees or higher will be immediately referred to a medical provider for further evaluation and observation.

Updated 04/17/2020 1:50pm

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Is ICE continuing to hold in-person stakeholder meetings?

ICE will eliminate non-mission critical meetings with the public and use video-teleconferencing and other technology to conduct stakeholder meetings, to the extent practicable. ERO case officers will notify attorneys and those with upcoming scheduled appointments of the temporary change in procedures.

Updated 03/18/2020 10:39am

EMPLOYMENT VERIFICATION (I-9)

If I am hiring and onboarding workers to work remotely at this time, do I need to verify their identity and employment authorization documents in person?

If there are no employees present at a work location and a new employee is working remotely due to COVID-19, employers will not be required to review the employee's identity and employment authorization documents in the employee's physical presence. However, employers must inspect the Section 2 documents remotely (e.g., over video link, fax or email, etc.) and obtain, inspect, and retain copies of the documents, within three business days for purposes of completing Section 2. Employers also should enter "COVID-19" as the reason for the physical inspection delay in the Section 2 Additional Information field once physical inspection takes place after normal operations resume. Once the documents have been physically inspected, the employer should add "documents physically examined" with the date of inspection to the Section 2 additional information field on the Form I-9, or to section 3, as appropriate. These provisions may be implemented by employers for a period of 60 days from the date of this notice OR within 3 business days after the termination of the national emergency, whichever comes first. Click here to read the full guidance and requirements.

Updated 04/08/2020 2:15pm

NONIMMIGRANT STUDENTS AND SEVP-CERTIFIED SCHOOLS

Guidance Documents

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) has issued the following guidance to stakeholders:

Updated 03/20/2020 5:45pm

Frequently Asked Questions

SEVP continues to receive COVID-19-related stakeholder questions about SEVP-certified schools and nonimmigrant students. Download this PDF to read answers to Frequently Asked Questions about COVID-19. This list is regularly updated - please note the timestamp of the most recent document update.

Updated 06/04/2020 5:15pm

DONATIONS OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

Is ICE accepting donations of personal protective equipment?

ICE is committed to the safety, health and wellbeing of those in its custody. The agency will continue providing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to individuals in ICE custody and is thankful to outside organizations for offers to donate additional PPE. At this time, the agency is not accepting donated PPE, but will continue to evaluate its need to do so in the future.

Updated 05/01/2020 11:03am

ICE EMPLOYEES AT DETENTION CENTERS

There have been 45 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among ICE employees working in ICE detention facilities.

1 at Adelanto ICE Processing Center (Adelanto, CA)

15 at Alexandria Staging Facility (Alexandria, LA)

2 at Aurora Contract Detention Facility (Aurora, CO)

1 in Bergen County Jail (Hackensack, NJ)

1 at Butler County Jail (Hamilton, OH)

1 at El Paso Processing Center (El Paso, TX)

2 at Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility (Elizabeth, NJ)

1 at Eloy Detention Center (Eloy, AZ)

1 at Essex County Correctional Facility (Newark, NJ)

1 at Florence Correctional Center (Florence, AZ)

2 at Houston Contract Detention Facility (Houston, TX)

1 at Hudson County Jail (Kearny, NJ)

2 at La Salle ICE Processing Center (Jena, AL)

11 at Otay Mesa Detention Center (San Diego, CA)

2 at Stewart Detention Center (Lumpkin, GA)

1 at T. Don Hutto Residential Center (Taylor, TX)

Updated 06/18/2020 4:55pm

There have been 153 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among ICE employees not assigned to detention facilities.

Updated 06/18/2020 4:55pm

Page information is recorded from a live database; data may change as the agency receives updated case information.

There is a growing number of individuals who have been released as a result of judicial orders. These are non-discretionary releases on the part of ICE, and as a result, they do not necessarily undergo the same public safety, flight risk, and/or medical analysis. ICE, working with DHS and DOJ, is actively litigating many of these court decisions. However, many of the individuals ordered released by federal courts have extensive criminal histories and pose a potential public safety threat. ICE is providing this information in this forum to ensure complete transparency. ICE has also provided this information to Congress.
* Criminal charges or convictions included represent the most egregious crimes. Some individuals have more than one conviction or pending charge.
Updated 06/25/2020 2:45pm

Latest Statement

As of April 6, six additional individuals in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody have tested positive for COVID-19:

a 24-year-old Guatemalan national at La Palma Correctional Center in Arizona

a 25-year-old Indian national at LaSalle Correctional Center in Louisiana

a 67-year-old Cuban national at St. Clair County Jail in Michigan

a 29-year-old Brazilian national at Essex County Jail in New Jersey and

a 29-year-old Bangladeshi national at Pike County Correctional Center in Pennsylvania.

Additionally, a 29-year-old Mexican national in ICE custody at a Miami-area hospital has tested positive for COVID-19. The individual was transferred from the Krome Detention Center to a local hospital March 9 for a medical issue unrelated to COVID-19. Approximately three weeks after being admitted to the hospital, he started showing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and was tested for the virus at the hospital. Consistent with CDC guidelines, those who have come in contact with the individuals have been cohorted or are self-isolating and being monitored for symptoms.

April 4th Statement

As of April 3, there are four individuals in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at Pike County Correctional Facility in Hawley, Pennsylvania, who have tested positive for COVID-19. Those individuals include 31-year-old and 37-year-old Mexican nationals, a 41-year-old Dominican national and a 28-year-old Guatemalan national. Additionally, a 37-year-old Mexican national in ICE custody at the York County Prison, in York, Pennsylvania and a 54-year-old Mexican national in ICE custody at Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, California have tested positive for COVID-19. The individuals have been quarantined and are receiving care. Consistent with CDC guidelines, those who have come in contact with these individuals have been cohorted and are being monitored for symptoms.

April 3rd Statement

A 31-year-old Mexican national in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at Pike County Correctional Facility in Hawley, Pennsylvania, and a 52-year-old Mexican national in ICE custody at the Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center in Pine Prairie, Louisiana, have tested positive for COVID-19. The individuals have been quarantined and are receiving care. Consistent with CDC guidelines, those who have come in contact with the individuals have been cohorted and are being monitored for symptoms.

April 1st Statement

A 33-year-old Dominican national in ICE custody at the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny, New Jersey, and a 45 year-old Guatemalan national in ICE custody at the at the La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona, have tested positive for COVID-19. Consistent with CDC guidelines, those who have come in contact with the individual have been cohorted and are being monitored for symptoms.

March 30th Statement

A 40-year-old Salvadoran national in ICE custody at the Bergen County Jail and a 22-year-old Salvadoran national in ICE custody at the Hudson County Correctional Center have tested positive for COVID-19. Consistent with CDC guidelines, those who have come in contact with the individuals have been cohorted and are being monitored for symptoms.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
IntroductionU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to facilitate a speedy, whole-of-government response in confronting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), keeping everyone safe, and helping detect and slow the spread of the virus.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Migrants wait in an informal encampment outside the El Chaparral crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, this week for U.S. authorities to allow them to start their migration process. (Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images)

MEXICO CITY - Omliver doesn't know who Joe Biden is. Nor does he know anything about the president's immigration policies. But as the 17-year-old Guatemalan migrant heads north through Mexico, he clings to an idea he heard from friends: It's now easier to cross the U.S. border.

"They say it's because President Trump is gone," he said.

A rising number of migrants are streaming to the U.S. southern border - more than 100,000 were detained in February alone. U.S. officials expected the influx to hit a 20-year high this year, posing a major challenge to Biden and his promise to adopt more humane immigration policies.

Hundreds of minors are crossing the border each day without their parents. Who are they?

Why are migrants trying at this moment? The economies of countries such as Honduras and Guatemala have been battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Two hurricanes pummeled Central America in November. Latin America already suffered from poverty and violence.

Now there's another factor, according to migrant assistance groups: the change in the White House.

"Migration is like the stock market - it reacts to any sign, positive or negative," said the Rev. Alejandro Solalinde, a migrant advocate based in the southern city of Oaxaca. "Since Biden was a candidate, he gave hope to migrants, although he never said the United States was going to open its doors to all migrants."

Republicans accuse Biden of causing a migration crisis by halting construction of President Donald Trump's border wall and scrapping a policy that required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico or apply from other countries.

Biden denies the claims. Migration also ebbed and flowed under Trump, in part due to perceptions of how difficult it was to cross the border in a given moment.

To Americans, the most obvious sign of the crescendoing migrant influx is children. The Biden administration is continuing a Trump-era policy of expelling most unauthorized adult migrants. But officials have decided to accept unaccompanied children. More than 9,000 were in the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, according to Reuters - the most in two years.

Biden will send Mexico surplus vaccine, as U.S. seeks help on immigration enforcement

The surge is even more evident in parts of Mexico.

Around 3,000 migrants arrived at the 72 shelter in the southern city of Tenosique in all of 2020. This year, that number has already doubled. "With the change of government and Biden's arrival, many people have begun to leave their countries," said the Rev. Gabriel Romero, the shelter's director.

Around 1,000 people have poured into an impromptu tent camp near the U.S. border in Tijuana, said the Rev. Pat Murphy, director of the Casa del Migrante there. They came after the Biden administration jettisoned Trump's Migration Protection Protocols, or MPP, which required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their U.S. court dates. But while MPP applicants are now being allowed into the United States, most in the tent city don't qualify.

"Nobody knows what to do with them," Murphy said. "It rained here for five days, but they kept multiplying."

In many cases, advocates for migrants say, the Biden policies are just one more factor in a complex decision by people to leave their countries.

"The situation in El Salvador is not good right now," said Mayra Machado, immigration coordinator at Adelante CIMITRA, a civic organization in San Salvador. "It's expensive. There's no employment."

The pandemic has exacerbated long-standing problems of poverty. "A lot of teens and children are leaving right now because during the pandemic all schools are closed," she said, and many have no access to the Internet.

Meanwhile, countries are removing coronavirus restrictions that had stymied travel, releasing pent-up demand.

"Once they relaxed the measures, people returned to migrating, and there were people who were even more desperate to leave," said Victor Castro, coordinator of the migration team at the San Salvador office of Caritas.

Human smugglers are telling migrants Biden's directives will mean an easy trip across the border, shelter directors say.

Funerals of slain migrants bring an explosion of grief to Guatemalan village

Castro emphasized that the main drivers of migration from El Salvador are problems such as domestic violence and gang intimidation. He said the Biden policies could be the final push for those who had been considering migrating.

"People leave because they need to leave to survive," he said. "They've been thinking about it for a while."

Omliver, the 17-year-old Guatemalan, said he'd decided to go to the United States because he wanted to help his grandfather and aunt, with whom he'd been living in the western municipality of Huehuetenango. The shelter where he was staying in Oaxaca allowed him to speak on the condition his last name was not used.

Like many migrants, Omliver has family in the United States: an uncle in Florida who has agreed to take him in. His friends told him it's easier to enter the United States now. But he said the timing also reflects the fact his relatives have finally accumulated enough money for him to make the trip.

"I'm not worried" about being detained, he said. "I know I'm going to reach my uncle, and I'm going to be able to work."

Victor Cartagena, a 25-year-old call-center worker in San Salvador, said he's weighing whether to set out for the United States. He has a 10-year-old daughter there, and it's difficult to find work in El Salvador that pays well. But he's been deported by U.S. authorities once, in 2019, and is wary of being detained.

Some friends and family have urged him to make the trip, saying it has become less difficult to cross the border.

"I don't really keep on top of" U.S. politics, Cartagena said. "But every time something good happens, it gets to your ears."

In fact, the Biden administration has not eased entry for most irregular migrants. It's continuing to expel thousands under Title 42, a measure used by the Trump administration to inhibit the spread of the coronavirus.

U.S. authorities say they've allowed more migrant families to stay because Mexico is unable to hold them. A new Mexican law bars the government from housing children and families in adult detention centers.

Mexico is holding hundreds of unaccompanied children detained before they reach the U.S. border

Biden and his top officials have appealed to migrants not to rush to the border. "Don't come over," Biden said in an interview with ABC News this week. "Don't leave your town or city or community."

But many migrants are unlikely to hear the message. And when they do, it's likely to fall on deaf ears.

"People now have inflated expectations - even though we don't believe that they are grounded in fact - because of the change of government and in the face of an increasingly worse situation in their home country," said Juan José Hurtado Paz y Paz, the director of Asociación Pop No'j, a community organization in Huehuetenango.

In the Mexican border town of Reynosa, a group of would-be migrants gathered one recent day near the bridge into Texas. Several said relatives or smugglers or Facebook commenters had suggested they would be able to cross the border without problems now that Biden was in office. But they had been returned to Mexico, left to search for a place to sleep outside with their children in a city haunted by drug cartels.

Near them sat a distraught Guatemalan father and his 7-year-old son. They had just been expelled by the U.S. Border Patrol.

"The American president said we could come in," the man said, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to security concerns. "But they sent us back here."

Brigida reported from San Salvador. Sieff reported from Reynosa, Mexico.

What the increase in migration at the US border looks like

The U.S. sent Central American asylum seekers to Guatemala to seek refuge. None were granted asylum.

Migrants are not overrunning US border towns, despite the rhetoric

Updated January 3, 2021

Losing Control: How criminal groups are transforming Mexico
The search for the disappeared points to Mexico's darkest secrets The sniper rifles flowing to Mexican cartels show a decade of U.S. failure With its leader in jail, this city cowered to his will Violent criminal groups are eroding Mexico's authority and claiming more territory As Mexico's security deteriorates, the power of the military grows Show More Show Less
Today's Headlines

The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What's causing the migrant surge at the U.S. border? Poverty, violence and new hope under Biden.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
MEXICO CITY - Omliver doesn't know who Joe Biden is. Nor does he know anything about the president's immigration policies. But as the 17-year-old Guatemalan migrant heads north through Mexico, he clings to an idea he heard from friends: It's now easier to cross the U.S. border.

# data[].attributes.headline
6 ways the border wall could disrupt the environment

# data[].attributes.subject
6 ways the border wall could disrupt the environment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 ways the border wall could disrupt the environment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Trump’s plan to build a wall from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific could come with unintended consequences for wildlife and people.

# data[].attributes.body
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zISmCLVy2fqMacSvGXtrLAOAxr98hj0F/view?usp=sharing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tom Kiefer was a Customs and Border Protection janitor for almost four years before he took a good look inside the trash. Every day at work-at the C.B.P. processing center in Ajo, Arizona, less than fifty miles from the border with Mexico-he would throw away bags full of items confiscated from undocumented migrants apprehended in the desert. One day in 2007, he was rummaging through these bags looking for packaged food, which he'd received permission to donate to a local pantry. In the process, he also noticed toothbrushes, rosaries, pocket Bibles, water bottles, keys, shoelaces, razors, mix CDs, condoms, contraceptive pills, sunglasses, keys: a vibrant, startling testament to the lives of those who had been detained or deported. Without telling anyone, Kiefer began collecting the items, stashing them in sorted piles in the garages of friends. "I didn't know what I was going to do," he told me recently. "But I knew there was something to be done."

Kiefer, who is now fifty-eight, had moved to Ajo from Los Angeles, in 2001, hoping to simplify his life, purchase a home, and focus on his passion: taking pictures. (Previously, he'd been a collector and dealer of antique cast-iron bed frames, and, before that, a graphic designer.) He took the C.B.P. job, in 2003, for purely practical reasons: it paid ten dollars and forty-two cents an hour, and it seemed unlikely to steal mental space away from his photography projects. Now he began photographing his C.B.P. collection in his studio, arranging and rearranging items, sometimes putting a single stuffed animal or T-shirt in the frame, more often capturing like with like: dozens of roll-on deodorant sticks, hundreds of nail clippers. Today, he has taken hundreds of photographs of objects he brought home from the processing center. Together they make up "El Sueño Americano" ("The American Dream"), an ongoing project that, thanks to its unconventional perspective on U.S. migrant policies, has launched Kiefer into a photography career he's dreamed of for decades.

Spending time with the confiscated items-collecting them, curating them, looking at them, photographing them-changed Kiefer's relationship to his job. Before, he'd been punching the clock so that he could get back to photography; now he felt awakened to hundreds of human dramas playing out around him during each shift. He'd always known, technically, about the C.B.P.'s strict confiscation policies, which were posted on bilingual signs and applied to all items classified as either "non-essential" or "potentially lethal." But he hadn't spent much time thinking about these policies, and he hadn't realized how broadly they were applied, or just how many of the confiscated items-including cell phones and wallets, many still containing I.D.s, prepaid debit cards, and cash-were ending up in the trash, never to be returned. Increasingly, Kiefer felt uncomfortable at work: angry at the system that employed him, sad for the people being "processed," and afraid that he would be caught making off with government property. But he kept sneaking out what he could, kept building his piles, and kept taking pictures, which at first he showed to no one.

Many of the photographs that make up "El Sueño Americano" are clean and bright, even exuberant: a radiant sea of toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes, all pointed in the same direction, like a swarming Pop-art school of fish; a plastic quilt of condoms, their multi-hued wrappers advertising a cornucopia of brands, flavors, and designs. These lively objects can seem incongruent with the gravity of their backstories. "I have been criticized-by some art-world people-for making pictures about the migrant experience that don't speak directly to the grimy extremities of risking your life to cross the border," Kiefer said. A striking contrast to "El Sueño Americano" is the work of John Moore, who has also photographed the everyday property carried by migrants-items not confiscated but found on their dead bodies and encased in plastic bags held at a forensics lab in Arizona. But Kiefer sees his project as a counterweight to C.B.P.'s dehumanizing practices, which yank everyday objects from the contexts that imbued them with meaning. He hopes not just to draw people's attention to those practices but also to evoke the value the objects must have once had to their owners. "I'm doing something different," he told me. "I'm presenting these deeply personal objects in a way that is reverential and respectful."

In 2014-after more than a decade working with C.B.P., and after seven years of sneaking out the trash-Kiefer quit his job to work on "El Sueño Americano" full-time. One day in Ajo, he ran into a secretary from his old job: the C.B.P. agents, she told him, were "furious" that he'd spent his on-the-clock time "stealing" government property for a private project. Working in his studio today-picking the next set of objects to photograph, arranging them just so-he thinks about his old colleagues at the border. Some were nice people, as far as he could tell; others, he felt sure, would be taking Trump's anti-immigrant invective as license for new cruelties. Kiefer, for his part, has thrown away none of the possessions he collected. Maybe, he says, they could someday be housed in some sort of Arizonan Museum of Migration. Barring that, he plans to keep them.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Janitor Preserves the Seized Belongings of Migrants

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tom Kiefer was a Customs and Border Protection janitor for almost four years before he took a good look inside the trash. Every day at work-at the C.B.P. processing center in Ajo, Arizona, less than fifty miles from the border with Mexico-he would throw away bags full of items confiscated from undocumented migrants apprehended in the desert.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
International asylum law first emerged following the Holocaust and other atrocities during World War II. The world bore witness to the genocide of millions at the hands of brutal dictatorships, while powerful nations showed callous disregard for people seeking asylum, turning them straight back to harm's way. The United States participated in this practice, refusing safety to tens of thousands of Jewish children and adult refugees under the pretext of national security.

From these push-backs emerged two international treaties, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Refugee Protocol, which created the framework for asylum law at a global level. Key to this framework is the principle of non-refoulement, which prevents countries from returning asylum seekers to places where they may face persecution or torture. Most nations, including affluent countries such as the United States, Australia, and European Union Member States, ratified these treaties, incorporating the core principle of non-refoulement into their domestic laws. However, in recent decades, with the goal of preventing asylum seekers and migrants from reaching their borders, these nations have chipped away at the principle, claiming compliance with legal obligations while in practice rendering safety elusive for refugees fleeing harm. These policies have caused unimaginable human suffering and loss, particularly for Black, Brown, and Indigenous asylum seekers.
Read the text of the full report here.
As discussed in Chapter 1 of this report, affluent nations turned to two mechanisms to achieve their goals: offshoring or transferring asylum seekers to other nations for processing or detention under tenuous bilateral agreements; and/or externalization or interfering with the journey of asylum seekers and seeking to halt their arrival through pushbacks by public or private proxy entities. In either case, these nations exert significant influence-reminiscent of their colonial history-on less powerful countries in order to evade their international obligations.

Chapter 2 delves into the European Union (EU) and its Member States' incessant efforts to halt the arrival of asylum seekers. As far right parties gained political power in Europe, migration policy among the EU and its Member States has become more restrictive and cruel. Politicians frame asylum seekers as an existential threat and their repression a priority. Agreements with Turkey and Libya have resulted in the push-back of asylum seekers to unsafe conditions, including indefinite detention, sexual violence, torture and death. Within the EU, push-backs and other repressive policies persist as well, exemplified by the brutal demolition of camps set up by asylum seekers in France. These policies have been deadly both for those abandoned at sea and those pushed back to danger on land.

Chapter 3 turns to Australia's so-called "Pacific Solution," i.e., its categorical bar on asylum seekers arriving by boat over the past two decades. In 2001, less than 500 asylum seekers fled Afghanistan for Australia; despite their modest numbers, they were met with hostility, as Australian authorities took extreme measures to halt their arrival onshore. Australia changed its maritime policy to permit systematic push-backs from Australian and international waters-a policy that endures today. Although detention was already mandatory, Australia further refused to accept asylum seekers onto its land, trapping them instead on islands for years or decades.

Chapter 4 delves into the long history of offshoring and externalization in the United States. First, we detail the U.S.' experimentation in the late 19th and early 20th century, using Ellis Island and Angel Island to block so-called "undesirable" migrants from reaching the mainland via practices like invasive health screenings and summary deportations. These practices served as the precursor to U.S. push-back and detention policies toward Haitian asylum seekers at Guantanamo Bay in the 1980s and 1990s. Rather than offer them refuge, the U.S. intercepted and pushed back countless Haitian asylum seekers fleeing a brutal dictatorship, while trapping tens of thousands more on a naval base in Cuba. The Supreme Court sanctioned this practice, despite its conflict with the principle of non-refoulement which the U.S. codified in the Refugee Act of 1980.

Emboldened by this lack of accountability, the U.S. entered a new phase of externalization. Under President Trump, the U.S. implemented the "Remain-in-Mexico" Program, the Asylum Cooperative Agreements, and summary expulsions under a specious public health rationale, while continuing to pressure its southern neighbors to thwart asylum seekers.

Chapter 5 explores those recent policies, some of which persist today under the Biden administration. Far from leading the world in protecting the right to asylum, the U.S. has consistently championed offloading its responsibilities towards asylum seekers onto other nations and halting asylum seekers from arriving at its borders.

Our report shows that the United States, Australia, and Europe follow a shared blueprint to externalize their asylum obligations. In its incipient months, the Biden administration has maintained the infrastructure for externalization, through agreements with Mexico and Central American nations as well as its continued policy of summary expulsions. Changing this course would have a reverberating impact on the rest of the world-not only keeping asylum seekers safe but promoting meaningful compliance with the non-refoulement principle.

Recommendations
Ending these policies which deny asylum seekers their legal rights is within reach. To do so requires exposing underlying assumptions that inform externalization policies. Brick by brick, the United States, Australia, and European Union Member States have walled off asylum seekers and returned them to harm. This report calls on the United States government to dismantle these policies and uphold the right to asylum by incorporating the following recommendations:

1. Harsh deterrence policies do not work, because asylum seekers do not leave their homes voluntarily. Abandoning these measures is key to ending offshoring and border externalization once and for all.

2. Third country agreements with less powerful nations are not the solution either. Rather than investing in costly externalization or offshoring agreements, the U.S. should ensure that it does not offload its obligations onto ill-equipped nations with limited capacity or no capacity at all to process asylum seekers.

3. There is no "right way" to seek asylum. The U.S. cannot abide by the principle of non-refoulement by ascribing fault to asylum seekers depending on their mode of entry.

4. Closing legal loopholes that skirt non-refoulement obligations is key to enforcing asylum protections. Restoring the broad scope of non-refoulement obligations is key to fulfilling U.S. obligations under international law.

5. Proxy border control, where the U.S. seeks to halt the arrival of asylum seekers through agreements with governments or with private carrier companies, breeds trafficking and deadly journeys. The U.S. should end proxy migrant control regimes and expand safe pathways for asylum seekers to come to the United States.

6. Asylum offshoring thrives on the presumption of detention; we cannot end one without ending the other. Instead of incarcerating asylum seekers, the U.S. can unlearn its instinct to detain, and shift resources toward community-based civil society organizations to support asylum seekers-hundreds of which are waiting at the ready.

7. Managing asylum policy through a lens of political crisis management endangers the right to asylum and the U.S. asylum system and permits government leaders to perpetuate thinly veiled racism. Divesting from a crisis-management response and investing in domestic asylum processing systems will shield asylum seekers and the United States from short-term politically motivated policies, which are dangerous and ineffective.

Read the text of the full report here. This report was co-authored by the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) and FWD.us.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
executive orders & administrative rulemaking

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pushing Back Protection: How Offshoring and Externalization Imperil the Right to Asylum

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
International asylum law first emerged following the Holocaust and other atrocities during World War II. The world bore witness to the genocide of millions at the hands of brutal dictatorships, while powerful nations showed callous disregard for people seeking asylum, turning them straight back to harm's way.

# data[].attributes.headline
"Borders and Walls: Do Barriers Deter Unauthorized Migration?"

# data[].attributes.subject
"Borders and Walls: Do Barriers Deter Unauthorized Migration?"

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/borders-and-walls-do-barriers-deter-unauthorized-migration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In 2015, borders and walls seemed to burst onto the global agenda in the context of migration and halting spontaneous movement. Countries as diverse as Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia announced or began work on new border barriers. This trend has continued apace in 2016, with Bulgaria, Hungary, and Austria expanding their fences, Norway building a fence on its Russian border, the United Kingdom funding a wall in Calais, France, and Pakistan building a fence on its border with Afghanistan.

Border walls also became a central issue in the U.S. presidential race, with Republican Donald Trump emerging from a crowded field of rivals in large part because of his promise to build a "beautiful wall" on the remaining 1,300 unfenced miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. Meanwhile, deaths of would-be asylum seekers and migrants in transit have been on the rise worldwide, reaching 5,604 in 2015 alone, according the International Organization for Migration.

The surge in interest in border walls and fences is not simply a media creation but rather represents a very recent historical trend, arising in response to the growth in spontaneous international migration. Although we often imagine that there was a past era in which most borders were secured with physical barriers, in fact the construction of border barriers is a relatively new phenomenon. At the end of World War II there were fewer than five border walls in the world, according to Élisabeth Vallet, a professor of geography at the University of Québec at Montréal. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, there were 15. Today, there are nearly 70 (see Figure 1).

This rush to build new walls raises several questions: Why now? Did border walls work in the past? Do they work today? This article examines the history of border fortifications around the world, discusses the evolution of the meaning and purpose of borders, and assesses the extent to which such walls have been effective in achieving their goals.
Border Walls: A Brief History
For many people, the Great Wall of China represents proof that humans have built border walls for thousands of years and that they are an effective means to protect the population from an outside threat. Reports about border walls today often reference the Great Wall accompanied by an image and a description of the barrier emphasizing its superlative age and length: 2,000 years old and thousands of miles long.

However, the true history of the Great Wall is less great than we remember it to be today.

The reality is that various Chinese kingdoms built multiple walls-many of which have been lost to history-over a 1,500-year period to prevent Mongol raids. The evidence of the oldest walls, said to have been built in 220 BCE, is thin: a single vague mention of fortifications in a historical text written more than 100 years after the fact. If a wall was built 2,000 years ago, no evidence of it remains today. In the ensuing centuries other walls were built out of tamped earth, but these were often seen as failures and left to erode. In a few places, archaeologists have found a faint line remaining in the landscape, but little more remains of them today.

Contrary to popular belief, the famous sections of stone walls in the mountains near Beijing were not built during the time of the Roman Empire, but rather in the late 16th century during the Ming Dynasty. These walls also failed and were overrun within a few decades of their construction. As late as the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, Chinese peasants were encouraged to dismantle the wall to use the stones for a more productive purpose. The remaining sections were otherwise largely ignored until discovered by Western travelers, who marveled at them and coined the term "Great Wall" (the Chinese simply called them "long walls"). Only in the past few decades, as the myth of a Great Wall grew, have a few sections been rebuilt to serve as tourist attractions.

The walls built by Chinese emperors are remarkable today because they were historical anomalies in several ways. First, in the ancient past countries did not have fixed territorial borders, both because accurate maps had not yet been invented and the idea of a system of mutually recognized countries did not exist. Instead, most city-states and empires had frontier zones at their edges where their power diminished in relation to the distance from the seat of power. Secondly, in the past most rulers did not have the manpower or technical ability to build and guard a long wall. Walls were a common technology of defense, but usually existed on a much smaller scale around a densely inhabited city. While there are a few other historical examples of long walls, Hadrian's Wall in Northern England being the most prominent, they served a similar purpose to the Chinese fortifications: They marked an area of defense and provided infrastructure to prevent the movement of raiders while also furthering the collection of taxes from traders.
Borders Today: More Movement, More Walls
In the 21st century, the purpose of borders has changed, leading to a surge in construction of border barriers. Unlike in the past, countries now control territories with fixed borders on maps that most other governments in the world have agreed to respect, rendering the use of walls to mark territorial control obsolete. While the Mongols and the Chinese did not recognize each other's legitimate authority over a territory, today most countries are members of the United Nations and as part of the UN Charter agree to respect the borders and territorial sovereignty of all other members. By the middle of the 20th century, most countries had stabilized their borders and generally did not expect a territorial invasion by a neighboring army. For example, the United States is not worried that Mexico or Canada is going to invade it to take territory for itself. Instead, borders became the invisible lines that marked different economic, political, and cultural systems, embodied in the nation-state.
Figure 1. Number of Border Walls Globally, 1945-2015
Source: Update by Élisabeth Vallet, Zoé Barry, and Josselyn Guillarmou of statistics included in Élisabeth Vallet, ed., Borders, Fences and Walls: State of Insecurity? (Farnham, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2014).

Over the past 30 years, during what has come to be known as the era of globalization, the purpose of borders shifted to preventing the movement of unauthorized civilians. In the second half of the 20th century, global populations grew rapidly, from 3 billion in 1960 to more than 7 billion today. At the same time, very large economic gaps emerged between the wealthiest and poorest places on earth, driving many people to move from rural areas to cities and eventually across borders to look for better opportunities. Meanwhile, a number of wars, most prominently in Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Sudan, and now Syria, have caused millions to flee beyond their country's borders in search of safety or prompted internal displacement. In ten years alone, the number of people forcibly displaced grew by 71 percent-reaching 65 million in 2015, up from an estimated 38 million in 2005.

In light of concerns over spontaneous migration of large numbers of asylum seekers and migrants, and the effects that their arrival could have on public budgets, employment, and social cohesion, border walls suddenly became appealing to leaders in key destination or transit countries. For some, barriers represent a tangible solution to clamp down on unauthorized entries and show they are taking action to enforce the border. This view can be summed up by an oft-repeated Trump mantra on why borders matter: "We either have a country, or we don't have a country."

In addition, the fear of terrorism has played a significant role in removing the stigma previously associated with building border walls. The fall of the Berlin Wall was hailed as a triumph of freedom over totalitarianism. During the 1990s, with memories of the Cold War still fresh, countries were hesitant to begin border wall projects because they were seen as anachronistic and not befitting of liberal democracies. However, in the post-9/11 world, any actions that attempt to make the population more secure became justifiable and obligatory for governments around the world. Along with additional screening at airports, increased police presence at public events, enhanced surveillance of phone and Internet communications, the use of biometric identity documents, and the externalization of border checkpoints through vetting flight manifests and collaborating with neighboring countries to identify potential threats, border walls became part of the suite of security measures a country could reasonably take to protect its citizens from terrorism.
Do Walls Work? Examining the Evidence
The evidence is clear that the construction of border fortifications is a new phenomenon that has rapidly emerged on a global scale in the 21st century. As movement of civilians across borders has increased, a number of countries have turned to walls and other security infrastructure to control access to their territory. What is less clear is whether such walls are effective, the answer to which depends on what they are meant to do. Walls are not effective at stopping a modern military because planes and missiles go over them and tanks can smash right through. Nor is a border barrier necessary to mark the territorial extent of the country. Walls are expensive and maps, boundary stones, and GPS data work just as well for this purpose.

But what about their use as a way to keep out unauthorized migrants? While advanced as a popular solution, the evidence is mixed on whether walls are effective at preventing large movements of people across borders. Of course, there is little doubt that walls short in length and heavily guarded with troops or law enforcement officers can be very effective at stopping movement. This is the logic behind medieval city walls and prisons today. Indeed, short sections of walls have also proved effective at decreasing movement across international borders. This was demonstrated in the 1990s on the U.S.-Mexico border when the first sections of fencing were built in El Paso and near San Diego, supported by large deployments of Border Patrol agents. In the weeks that followed, crossings in those sectors dropped to almost zero. Similarly, the construction of Hungary's border fence in 2015 was backed up with border guards, and consequently, crossings dropped substantially.

However, in both cases fortified walls did not prevent crossings into the United States and European Union entirely, but instead shifted flows to other locations that were more remote or less fortified. In the U.S. case, as high-traffic urban routes were closed, migrants and smugglers began to cross in the remote and dangerous deserts of western Arizona. Child migration from Central America to the United States, which surged in 2014, has also been undeterred by enforcement (in fact most unaccompanied minors turn themselves in to border agents), as tens of thousands of children from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala spontaneously arrive at the U.S. border with Mexico to claim asylum, many knowing they would be admitted into the U.S. pending removal hearings. In the European migration crisis in 2016, once land routes through the Balkans were closed, migrants adjusted by shifting their routes to board boats across the Mediterranean, frequently from Libya.

The funneling of migrants to alternative routes points to one statistic that correlates closely with the construction of more walls: an increase in the number of deaths. As easier routes are closed, migrants choose ever more dangerous paths to reach their destination. At the U.S.-Mexico border this was evident in the decline in deaths in California which coincided with a rapid rise in Arizona. The Tucson, Arizona coroner's office saw a substantial increase in the number of migrant deaths in the years after the hardening of the border, as migration routes shifted to the more dangerous deserts. The Tucson morgue recorded an average of 18 migration-related deaths per year in the 1990s, while in the 2000s it saw almost 200 per year. In 2010 the Border Patrol found more than 250 bodies in the Tucson sector, despite a decline in the total number of border apprehensions. Similarly, when the European Union and Member States fortified borders in 2015, there were a record 3,771 reported deaths at the edges of the European Union. In 2016, with the easier land route through the Balkans and Eastern Europe closed, the rate of deaths has increased further, with more than 3,000 deaths recorded through July-a 50 percent increase from the previous year. By comparison, there were just a handful of deaths recorded annually at the edges of Europe in the 1990s, and never more than 800 deaths prior to 2006.

Despite these clear material impacts on the lives of migrants, millions of people globally continue to cross borders without authorization-meaning walls are relatively ineffective. The first reason is that on longer borders, it is extremely difficult to fence the entire length and adequately guard it. Building fencing or a wall also entails acquiring the necessary land, building and maintaining roads, and supplying the necessary manpower to guard the barrier. The U.S.-Mexico border only has fencing over one-third of its 1,969-mile length. Even the heavily fortified Israeli wall in the West Bank is only two-thirds finished. A second reason that walls are not effective is that many unauthorized movements, particularly those of terrorists or smugglers, do not happen between crossing points. A significant share of unauthorized immigrants in the United States entered with a valid visa and then simply never left, overstaying the terms of their visa. Additionally, many smuggled goods come through ports of entry or through tunnels built under the walls. The United States has found 150 tunnels under the U.S.-Mexico border since the 1990s, some of which are quite sophisticated with ventilation systems and even rails to quickly move carts. Israel has begun construction on a subterranean wall on its border with Gaza in order to address the dozens of tunnels it has discovered.
Figure 2. A Section of Wall on the U.S.-Mexico Border, South of Fort Hancock, Texas
Source: Photo taken by author.
A Powerful But Expensive Symbol
If walls did not work in the past and today only work to divert, not prevent, migrant flows-while simultaneously having a grave human cost-why have so many gone up in the past 30 years? They are effective as symbols that demonstrate that politicians are doing something to address the perceived threats brought by unauthorized movement. These perceived threats can be economic in the form of smugglers or workers taking revenue and jobs from citizens. They can be cultural in the sense that migrants bring different traditions, languages, and ways of life that might not match with the local culture.

While these underlying issues are complex and very rarely solved by whether or not a border is secured, "build a wall" is an evocative slogan and the barrier itself is a powerful visual symbol of action. Consequently, despite the expense and questionable effectiveness, it seems likely that in the short term there will be many more walls going up around the world. What remains to be seen, however, is how long they will stay up.
Sources
Anderson, Bruce, and Bruce Parks. 2008. Symposium on Border Crossing Deaths: Introduction. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 53: 6-7.

Dear, Michael. 2013. Why Walls Won't Work: Repairing the U.S.-Mexico Divide. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Di Cintio, Marcello. 2013. Walls: Travels along the Barricades. Berkeley, CA: Soft Skull Press.

International Organization for Migration. N.d. Missing Migrants Project. Accessed September 20, 2016. Available Online.

Jones, Reece. 2012. Border Walls: Security and the War on Terror in the United States, India, and Israel. London: Zed Books.

---. 2016. Violent Borders: Refugees and the Right to Move. New York: Verso.

Lovell, Julia. 2006. The Great Wall: China against the World, 1000 BC - 2000 AD. New York: Grove Press.

Mountz, Alison. 2010. Seeking Asylum. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Nevins, Joseph. 2010. Operation Gatekeeper and Beyond: The War on "Illegals" and the Remaking of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary. New York: Routledge.

Slack, Jeremy, Daniel Martínez, Alison Lee, and Scott Whiteford. 2016. The Geography of Border Militarization: Violence, Death, and Health in Mexico and the United States. Journal of Latin American Geography, 15 (1): 7-32.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. N.d. Figures at a Glance. Accessed September 20, 2016. Available Online.

Urrea, Luis. 2004. The Devil's Highway: A True Story. New York: Little, Brown.

Vallet, Élisabeth, ed. 2014. Borders, Fences and Walls: State of Insecurity? Farnham, UK: Ashgate Publishing.

Waldron, Arthur. 1989. The Great Wall: From History to Myth. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Walia, Harsha. 2013. Undoing Border Imperialism. Oakland, CA: AK Press.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Borders and Walls: Do Barriers Deter Unauthorized Migration?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Over the past several decades, in response to the uptick in spontaneous migration flows, there has been a surge in construction of border walls and fences. This trend begs several questions: Why now? Did border walls work in the past? Do they work today?

# data[].attributes.body
seems french or something

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In our cultural series, Culinary Tales in Exile, we explore the sentiments behind food with recipes and reflections from ten members of the Guiti News community from migratory backgrounds spanning across Iran, Palestine, Bolivia, India, Chad, Portugal, Pakistan, Syria, Brazil and Lebanon.

In this opinion piece, two of the contributors, Guest Writer Diva Garg and Guiti News journalist Mana Shamshiri delve deeper into the contributions and the historical, political, cultural and psychological significance of food practices for themselves and other people of migrant backgrounds.

We understand that food is complex for all people groups, both exiled and non-exiled. In this article, we explore a particular migrant experience informed by our own personal insights, that of the Guiti News community, and academics and psychologists in the field.
Guiti News is challenging the conversation surrounding migration. Guiti brings a unique perspective to these narratives: every piece is created in collaboration of European and exiled journalists and artists. Text: Diva Garg and Mana Shamshiri | Images: Mana Shamshiri, Leslie Gonzales, Sahil Kotwani, Haitham Karachay, Hussein Dirani, Juliana da Penha, Elias Mattar.
Cuisine is an expression of culture as much as literature, poetry, folktales, art and history. As migrants, exiled people and children of diaspora, food goes beyond mere sustenance. Whether we have decided to migrate, or forces beyond our powers have pushed us into other geographies, the rituals of sourcing ingredients, preparing, cooking, and eating are ways that migrants tie their heritage to the sense of 'home' (the physical space as well as the abstract emotional concept). Certain practices, flavours, tastes, and smells can be therapeutic, comforting, identity-affirming, political, signifiers of belonging and community, or can make us feel closer to the land and the ones we love but can no longer reach.

Foodways: the importance of using traditional ingredients of our homelands

From cultivation to sourcing, the acquiring of traditional ingredients is a crucial aspect to creating a sense of 'home' through food. While it may be difficult, often people from migratory backgrounds go through significant lengths to retain the traditional ingredients that go into preparing their 'home food'.

We spoke to Food Studies scholar Sally Baho, whose work focuses on the role of food in Syrian migrants' integration and 'homing process' after relocating to the US. The term, 'homing process', means the potential to attach a sense of home to life situations.

She told us about the importance of foodways: the act of sourcing, preparing and consuming food, which includes attitudes, customs, traditions, and rituals and is part of the homing process. Baho said, "food preparation starts at picking the produce."

Baho related her research to her own personal experience of being taught the food preparation process by the women in her family. Describing it as a "pilgrimage", Baho's family would go to lengths to travel far to the few Middle Eastern markets in the US to buy traditional and "authentic" ingredients.

Traditionally, markets are a reflection of the people's culture, what they popularly buy, what is in season, the terroir of the produce (the particular environment in which produce is grown, which gives it a special character) - and the spirit of the local people, found through conversations and interactions. When asked to speak about her chosen dish, Majao de ch'arki, Leslie Gonzales, our contributor from Bolivia, casted her memories back to the markets of sunny La Paz with her mother: "We would walk through the amazing smells of the flower market on the way, and talk to people in the beautiful, colourful markets full of fresh vegetables."

Ingredients for Majao d'Charki reminiscent of those found at sunny La Paz market, © Leslie Gonzales.

While it's not always possible for people from migratory backgrounds to access the same markets and ingredients away from their home countries, it is true that in an increasingly globalised world acquiring such ingredients has become more accessible. Baho expressed that for the Syrian families she interviewed, although the ingredients sourced were sometimes not perfect, "the intent is to create home" and thus the use of substitutions were effective and "equally as important [in re-creating home], especially in the migrants' situation".

In the same way, our contributor from Palestine, Elias Mattar, who shared his recipe for Fatayer, explained: "In my village Ibillin in the Galilee, farmers and families collect the main ingredient for these chard pies, Seleq, a wild type of chard... I could not find Seleq in London but one day I experimented using rainbow chard and normal chard that looked similar to the wild Seleq and it worked. Sometimes close enough smells and flavours are all you need to bring home closer."

While traditional ingredients play a central role in re-creating home within a dish, there is something more to it than the merely physical.

Beyond the physical: into the spiritual...

Nafas. نفس. Literally, it translates to 'breath' in Arabic, but as Sally Baho tells us, it's a term used to describe "your spirit... your soul, love and energy" which makes some people's food extraordinarily delicious. The concept of nafas highlights that cooking goes beyond the physical and is susceptible to individual energy.

Diva shared similar sentiments in her contribution: when she makes her khichdi, it's different from when her grandmother or mother make it. The magic that she has always found is that it will never taste the same as her mother's cooking, because of the effect of their individual nafas.

The magic of Diva Garg's own rendition of khichdi, © Sahil Kotwani.

Our contributor from Pakistan, Guiti News journalist Mateullah, who shared his biryani recipe expressed, "making biryani can be anyone's hobby but the hand-made biryani of the family cannot be made by just anyone". He explained that only his mother can make biryani in a particular special way, even if someone else uses the same ingredients.

The act of cooking can also be a therapeutic and emotional process to nourish our minds and souls, not just our bellies. Elias Mattar agreed, "[Cooking] always makes me slow down and be mindful and gives me space to reflect while connecting with my heritage."

...and the psychological

In collaboration with Freedom From Torture, therapists Saba Stefanos and Shamsi Mahdavi set up weekly group therapy sessions in the form of bread-making workshops for asylum seekers and victims of torture which ran for 11 years. They told us about the therapeutic aspect of the process of preparing bread. Mahdavi explained, "The act of kneading is very relaxing, because you physically let out the pressure and stress".

Stefanos continued, " for refugees seeking asylum in this country, it was incredibly empowering to create their bread, where they could experience a small amount of freedom and control in a system which renders them poor and unable to afford food, or be provided food they would like to eat during the immigration process."

Mahdavi added, "That sense of being able to create something in a situation where you are helpless, as a refugee, has a big impact on your psychological well-being."

A safe space was created where the sense of happiness, safety and security reminiscent of flavours and memories of home created through cooking assisted the asylum seekers to open up and process their trauma.

Diva Garg carefully sets out the ingredients to make her personal khichdi recipe, © Sahil Kotwani.

The Mother, The Motherland, The Matriarch

Another common thread we saw in the contributions in our Culinary Tales in Exile series was the constant connection of food to the mother.
"I have chosen to share Muhammara because it is one of my favorite recipes passed down to me by my late mother. She taught me everything I needed to know about food and life." - "One of the greatest gifts I inherited from my mother was knowing how to cook without any worries or trouble. When I cook, I am overjoyed as I remember that I have not forgotten our culture... Happiness is right there, within my reach." - "I remember whenever my mother starts to cook it and the delicious smell fills the entire kitchen... This is one of my mother's most favourite dishes, and I chose this dish because it reminds so much of her." -

Hussein Dirani shares his mother's favourite recipe, Lebanese Makloube, © Hussein Dirani. / Haitham Karachay presents his homemade Muhammara recipe passed down from his late mother, © Haitham Karachay.

Hussein Dirani, Lebanon (Makloube) Adam Jibril, Chad (Shorba and Zalabyas) Haitham Karachay, Syria (Muhammara)
We often find that metaphors used to describe 'home' are related to the symbol of the mother. The archetype of the 'mother' represents life-giving, nourishment and a sense of security and comfort. For many of us, our mothers and ideas of the motherland create a cradling sense of security and belonging which we recognise from the womb.

Dr Nazee Akbari, psychologist, explained: "Biologically, our existence is dependent on our mother's existence, they are the primary care-giver. This can also be a grandmother or father if there is no mother present. Mothers give children a feeling of safety, of reassurance and shelter. To function, as humans, we need to feel secure and wanted and accepted. The person who usually maintains this for us are our mothers. Our second instinct, after breathing, is to eat - our mothers have maintained this for most of our lives."

She continued, "When people think about home, they automatically think about the 'mother'. Because the safety, shelter and home reminds us of the mother. It's not that you remember your mother as a person, you remember the feeling of security and safety"

So, the endeavour to reconnect with the mother and the motherland through engaging with cooking food from one's home, may have at its root an ongoing longing to cast our memories back to the sense of safety and security, and to heal from our first exile from the bodies of our mothers.

For a lot of us, especially those living far away from our mothers or primary care-givers, the way they have transported their nurturing, love and affection is through the alchemical secrets of their food. We carry these tokens with us, a thread of connection to our mother figures and to the motherland, held together by memory.

Breaking bread: belonging to a sense of community

"Sharing food becomes a vessel to share love. In many cultures, like Persian culture, food is a symbol of affection. We show our care and love and compassion to our guests in this way", Dr Nazee Akbari explains.

"While cooking, I feel the connection with my roots, with my family, with my place", Juliana da Penha prepares Cuzcuz Paulista of her hometown of São Paulo, Brazil, © Juliana da Penha.

The act of sitting down and breaking bread with one's community is an important ritual. For this reason, food symbolises relationships and becomes an important expression and aspect of community life. Rituals of cooking and eating blend families from different communities together, often through festive events and celebrations. This establishes a shared experience, shared joy, collective memory and thus a shared group identity.

Duha, from Syria, who shared with us her recipe for Kebbe, noted her chosen dish as a meal of celebration; one that is made with the involvement of the family, and always with busy surroundings. She reflected, "Currently, I live alone. Therefore, I make the kebbe in small quantities and I eat alone. The taste is there, but the atmosphere is not".

Saba Stefanos and Shamsi Mahdavi also affirmed how the community aspect of the bread-making workshop and creating a sense of "home" away from home was crucial in the psychological healing and integration processes.

"Sharing food is significant for migrants", Dr Nazee Akbari continued. "Migrants come from collectivist societies, where sharing is central. This includes food. It means you confirm your identity by sharing food. When migrants come to individualist societies like the UK, Europe and the US, people have a culture shock. Psychologically, there is a large amount of bonding, safety and connection when sharing a meal together." Individualistic cultures are oriented around the self, being independent, instead of identifying with a group mentality, whilst collectivist societies emphasise the needs and goals of the group rather than the individual.

Palestinian Fatayer by Elias Mattar, a celebration of his identity and resistance against its erasure, © Elias Mattar.

Dr Nazee Akbari commented, "The purpose of sharing food becomes even more significant when migrants come from impoverished areas where food is rare, then sharing meals becomes all the more special and bonding."

An act of sustaining culture against cultural erasure

People from migrant backgrounds also often may engage with the rituals of creating and consuming food as a symbol and expression of resistance against cultural erasure. There exists a fear of forgetting age-old traditions when acclimating to a land which is so different to one's original. This can often be compounded by feelings of loss of identity.

Elias Mattar told us, " Growing up being a Palestinian minority in Israel, I was forced to hang on to anything that might be a manifestation of my identity. When you are not allowed to learn your own history in the education system you probably will turn to your aunts' and grandmas' handwritten recipes. By cooking and serving those dishes I am learning my history, sharing it and... I am allowed to remember it."

Vegan Khoresht-e-Gheymeh, a heritage continued despite changing food habits and cultures by Mana Shamshiri, © Mana Shamshiri.

He added, "Those dishes are much older than the same country that is trying to claim ownership of them... [Cooking such dishes] becomes the tangible manifestation of the past. In this way our heritage will be never lost, it is alive and bubbling in our pots and no one can take this full sensory experience from me and from my collective... Our heritage will never be forgotten, even if my grandma's dish is culturally erased and her kitchen and home was destroyed by the colonisers. Each time I cook Palestinian food I feel a triumphant and indeed empowering feeling."

Creating a hybrid migrant food culture
Find the full list of our contributors and their recipes:
It is also incredible to recognise the transformation and evolution that migrant people go through in finding their own identities, tastes, and flavours in new geographies, and creating a hybrid food culture influenced by their past and present.

Mana's exploration of vegan alternatives of Iranian cuisine is an example of this kind of adaptation. Her belief is that her heritage does not have to be abandoned because of sustainable and ethical choices that she chooses to subscribe to. For Mana, cooking and eating the way her ancestors did, such as in her alternative vegan recipe for Khoresht-e-Gheymeh, affirms her identity and ties her to Iran, her family and culture, even though she is far from Iran in distance.
Support our work and independent journalism with a donation to Guiti News.
Engaging in the entire food experience, for us, and for other migrants, can be an expression of creativity and a tool for cultural integration and communication. It is layered with people, memories, emotions, metaphors, nostalgia, and allows us to carry a morsel of 'home' with us wherever our journeys may take us in the world.

1. Mana Shamshiri, Iran, Khoresht-e-Gheymeh.

2. Elias Mattar, Palestine, Fatayer.

3. Leslie Gonzales, Bolivia, Majao d'Charki.

4. Haitham Karachay, Syria, Muhammara.

5. Diva Garg, India, Khichdi.

6. Adam Djibril, Chad, Shorba and Zalabyas.

7. Hussein Dirani, Lebanon, Makloube.

8. Mateullah, Pakistan, Biryani.

9. Gonçalo de Cunha, Portugal, Peixinhos Da Horta.

10. Juliana da Penha, Brazil, Cuzcuz de Paulista.

Every week we share stories from around the world in English. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to stay connected.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Culinary Tales in Exile: Food as More Than Sustenance - Guiti News

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In our series, Culinary Tales in Exile, we explore the sentiments behind food with recipes and reflections from members of the Guiti News community from migratory backgrounds spanning across Iran, Palestine, Bolivia, India, Chad, Portugal, Pakistan, Syria, Brazil and Lebanon.

# data[].attributes.body
German i think

# data[].attributes.headline
Supreme Court struggles for a solution to Biden’s handling of immigration ‘Public Charge’ rules

# data[].attributes.subject
Supreme Court struggles for a solution to Biden’s handling of immigration ‘Public Charge’ rules

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Supreme Court cast doubt Wednesday on the way the Biden administration nixed a Trump-era rule pushing legal immigrants to be self-sufficient, suggesting during oral arguments Wednesday that the government was using subterfuge to try to get its way.

"I'm not aware of a precedent where an incoming administration has done anything quite like this," Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said.

The high court's members also wondered whether the specific case before them, brought by Arizona, was the right way to challenge the Biden administration 's sneaky moves.

The battlefield underlying the oral argument is a 2019 "Public Charge" rule that punishes legal immigrants for signing up for welfare benefits like Medicaid and food stamps. The Biden administration is trying to erase that rule and replace it with a more permissive one that would permit immigrants to collect welfare without worrying about being punished in future applications.

The fight before the justices Wednesday was wasn't over the rule or even the legal maneuvers the Biden team has made - but whether Arizona should be allowed to mount a defense of the 2019 policy, now that the Biden team won't do so.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich told the justices that even tacit approval of what the Biden administration did would set a precedent future presidents would abuse, using the courts to get rid of previous administration policies without going through the usual regulatory process.

"At least allow the states to step in and defend a federal law when the federal government wouldn't," argued Mr. Brnovich, who supports the Trump-era rule.

The actual legal moves involved that generated the case are complicated.

The Trump administration released new strict rules on immigrants' use of welfare in 2019 and faced a barrage of lawsuits. It was defending the policy, and the Supreme Court had even agreed to hear one of the cases.

But after the election, the Biden team reversed course, droppings the defense of the Trump rule in nearly every courtroom and accepting a ruling from one court in Illinois that had imposed a nationwide blockade on the policy.

The Biden team used that nationwide blockade as a justification to repeal the 2019 Trump policy and start over with a new rule-making process.

Mr. Brnovich moved to intervene in one of the lower court cases, arguing someone should be allowed to defend the rule, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused that request. Mr. Brnovich then brought that dispute to the high court.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett said Wednesday the government is always free to change its minds on policy or legal strategy, particularly when there's a change in administration.

She said it's a different question to try to block a state from stepping in to mount the defense.

Justice Elena Kagan said she wasn't so worried about the policy change decisions, but said the Biden administration did seem to be trying to evade the usual rule-making process to repeal the 2019 policy.

"The real issue to me is the evasion of notice and comment. Basically, the government bought itself a bunch of time where the rule was not in effect," she said. "It would have taken months to change it, and the administration didn't have to do that."

She said she worried about "green-lighting that behavior" for future administrations.

But justices struggled to find an answer.

Several court members suggested the states, or other parties, should challenge the Biden administration 's decision-making in federal court in Washington, under the Administrative Procedure Act. Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the court might wait for an already-ongoing case dealing with the 2019 rule to reach the justices.

"My God, I don't know what the answer is," Justice Breyer said. "We don't have to get into any of this mess if we can only get the Illinois case here before us."

Federal law has allowed the government to block immigrants likely to become a public charge as far back as 1882. But what constitutes a public charge has been debated.

The Trump administration said the law demanded a strict approach and released a formal regulation in August 2019 that covered non-cash welfare, such as food stamps, Medicaid benefits and housing assistance. Those found to be using those programs could be penalized in future applications to become lawful permanent residents - the key stop on the path to citizenship.

Brian Fletcher, the federal government's deputy solicitor general, said the 2019 rule, while it was in effect, didn't end up doing very much. Out of more than 47,000 decisions on adjustment of status, just five were flagged because of Trump-era rule.

Yet millions of people, including many for whom the public charge rule never applied, avoided collecting benefits because they feared being snared by the rule, he said.

The Biden administration concluded those collateral effects were too large to justify the rule, Mr. Fletcher said.

Click to Read More and View Comments

Click to Hide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Supreme Court struggles for a solution to Biden's handling of immigration 'Public Charge' rules

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Supreme Court cast doubt Wednesday on the way the Biden administration nixed a Trump-era rule pushing legal immigrants to be self-sufficient, suggesting during oral arguments Wednesday that the government was using subterfuge to try to get its way. "I'm not aware of a precedent where an incoming administration has done anything quite like this," Justice Samuel A.