Page 3 - Migrants

Over 8,500 migrants died worldwide last year, hits record high: UN

A total of 8,565 migrants died on land and sea routes worldwide last year, the UN migration agency said Wednesday, a record high since it began tallying deaths a decade ago. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said the biggest increase in deaths last year was on the treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing, to 3,129 from 2,411 in 2022. However, that was well below the record 5,136 deaths recorded on the Mediterranean in 2016 as huge numbers of Syrians, Afghans and others fled conflicts toward Europe. IOM said the total number of deaths among migrants in 2023 was nearly 20 per cent more than in 2022. It said most of the deaths last year, about 3,700, came from drowning. The Geneva-based migration agency cautioned that the figures likely underestimate the real toll, and factors such as improved data collection methods play a part in its calculations. "Every single one of them is a terrible human tragedy that reverberates through families and communities for years to com

NYC imposes curfew at more migrant shelters due to recent violent attacks

New York is expanding a curfew to additional migrant shelters after violent incidents attributed to migrant shelter residents gained national attention in recent weeks. Mayor Eric Adams' administration will impose an 11 pm to 6 am curfew at 20 migrant shelters starting Monday, after initially placing the restrictions at four other locations, The Daily News reports. The curfew impacts about 3,600 migrants, with the largest of the emergency centres housing roughly 1,000 migrants in Long Island City, Queens. City officials initially placed a curfew on four shelters last month in response to neighbourhood complaints. The additional curfews come after a spate of migrant-related violence and crime has prompted increasingly dire rhetoric from city and police officials. A 15-year-old teen from Venezuela was arrested on Friday for opening fire in Times Square while fleeing from police after being stopped by security for suspected shoplifting. The shooting injured a tourist from Brazil. A v

New York weighs rule changes to hire thousands amid migrant crisis

To make these jobs more accessible, the state is proposing to create "transitional" titles with requirements more in line with the candidates' qualifications

Govt plans to terminate FMR with Myanmar to curb migrant influx: Officials

The plan is part of consideration to end a point of contention as local residents complain that the FMR policy has become a major subject of contention as it is often misused

Over 60 drown in migrant vessel off Libya while trying to reach Europe: UN

A boat carrying dozens of Europe-bound migrants capsized off the coast of Libya, leaving more than 60 people including women and children dead, the U.N. migration agency said. Saturday's shipwreck was the latest tragedy in this part of the Mediterranean Sea, a key dangerous route for migrants seeking a better life in Europe, where, according to officials, thousands have died. The U.N.'s International Organization for Migration said in a statement the boat was carrying 86 migrants when strong waves swamped it off the town of Zuwara on Libya's western coast and that 61 migrants drowned, citing survivors of the dramatic shipwreck. The central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world's most dangerous migration routes, the agency wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The North African nation has plunged into chaos following a

Australia commits another $168 mn to monitor migrants freed from detention

The Australian government on Monday committed an additional 255 million Australian dollars (USD 168 million) in funding for police and other law enforcement officials to monitor 141 migrants freed when a court ruled their indefinite detention was unconstitutional. The new funding over two years reflects an increase in the workload of law enforcement officials due to government concerns of a heightened community risk posed by those released following a landmark High Court decision on November 8. That ruling said the government could no longer detain indefinitely foreigners who had been refused Australian visas, but could not be deported to their homelands and no third country would accept them. The migrants released due to the High Court ruling were mostly people with criminal records. The group also include people who failed visa character tests on other grounds and some who were challenging visas refusals through the courts. They include refugees and stateless people. Home Affairs

UP, Bihar replace Kerala as top contributor of workforce to GCC countries

The top five labour-sending states so far this year have been Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu, according to a study by Huntr

Australia mulls jail term for high-risk migrants who breach visa conditions

Migrants with criminal records in Australia will face up to five years in prison for breaching their visa conditions under emergency legislation introduced Thursday in response to a High Court ruling that foreigners can't be detained indefinitely. The government said it has released 84 foreigners most of whom have convictions for crimes including murder and rape since the court ruled last week that indefinite detention of migrants is unconstitutional. The decision reversed a High Court ruling from 2004 that had allowed stateless people to be held in migrant centers for any length of time in cases where there were no prospects of deporting them from Australia. The legislation introduced in Parliament by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles would let the government order certain migrants to wear electronic tracking bracelets and to comply with curfews. Failure to comply with those visa conditions could be a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison. The released migran

Migrant labourer from UP shot dead by terrorists in J-K's Pulwama district

According to the Jammu and Kashmir police, the deceased has been identified as Mukesh who hailed from Uttar Pradesh

Pak sets up deportation centers to hold illegal migrants starting next week

Pakistan is setting up deportation centers for migrants in the country illegally, including an estimated 1.7 million Afghans, officials said on Thursday. It's the latest development in a government crackdown to expel foreigners without registration or documents. Anyone found staying in the country illegally from next Wednesday will be arrested and sent to the deportation centers. Jan Achakzai, a spokesman for the southwestern Baluchistan government, said three deportation centers are being set up. One will be in Quetta, the provincial capital. Azam Khan, the caretaker chief minister for the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the region will have three deportation centers. More than 60,000 Afghans have returned home since the crackdown was announced, he said. He said migrants who are living in the country illegally should leave before the Tuesday deadline to avoid arrest. Pakistan's caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti has said there will be no deadline extension. Th

Migrant boat sinking off Greek island leaves 3 dead, 2 missing, 8 rescued

A search and rescue operation was underway Monday after a dinghy carrying migrants sank overnight off the coast of the small eastern Greek island of Symi, leaving at least three people dead, the coast guard said. Eight people were rescued, with two of them transported to a hospital on the nearby island of Rhodes and the rest transferred to the main port in Symi, according to the coast guard. Authorities said they recovered the bodies of two men and one woman from the sea. Survivors said two more people in the dinghy were believed to have managed to reach the shore on their own. Two coast guard vessels, four private boats and an air force helicopter were searching the area for the two missing people. The nationalities of those on board the dinghy were not immediately known. Greece lies along one of the most popular smuggling routes for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and trying to get into the European Union. Many use small dinghies to head f

Pakistan to go ahead with eviction of illegal immigrants, says report

The Pakistan government has decided to go ahead with its controversial plan to evict all illegal immigrants -- including around 1.7 million Afghan refugees-- from the country by October 31, saying that the decision was in line with international practices, according to a media report. The move came as law enforcement agencies continued their crackdown on people they call illegal aliens', a sizeable number of families have been crossing the border into Afghanistan over the past week. No country allows illegal people to live in their country whether it is Europe, whether it is countries in Asia, in our neighbourhood. So, accordingly, this is in line with the international practice that we have taken this decision, caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani was quoted as saying to Hong Kong's Phoenix TV in an interview on the sidelines of a forum in Tibet. Pakistan's decision to ask illegal immigrants to leave by October 31 or face forcible expulsion from November 1 has drawn ...

18 migrants killed, and 29 injured in a bus crash in southern Mexico

At least 18 migrants from Venezuela and Peru died early Friday in a bus crash in southern Mexico, authorities said. Mexico's National Immigration Institute said the dead include two women and three children, and that 29 people were injured. There was no immediate information on their condition. Photos distributed by the institute showed the bus rolled over onto its side on a curvy section of highway in the southern state of Oaxaca. The cause of the crash on the town of San Pablo Huitzo, near the border with the neighbouring state of Puebla, is under investigation. The institute said a total of 55 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, were aboard the vehicle. It was the latest in a series of migrant deaths in Mexico amid a surge in migrants travelling toward the US border. Because migration agents often raid regular buses, migrants and smugglers often seek out risky forms of transportation, like unregulated buses, trains or freight trucks. Last week, 10 Cuban migrants died and 17 others

Biden govt waives 26 laws to allow border wall construction in South Texas

The Biden administration announced they waived 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow border wall construction, marking the administration's first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during the Trump presidency. The Department of Homeland Security posted the announcement on the US Federal Registry with few details outlining the construction in Starr County, Texas, which is part of a busy Border Patrol sector seeing high illegal entry. According to government data, about 2,45,000 illegal entries have been recorded in this region during the current fiscal year. There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas, Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS secretary, stated in the notice. The Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act were some of the federal laws waived by DHS to make way for ...

10,000 migrants heading to US border daily; blames sanctions: Mexico prez

Mexico's president has said that about 10,000 migrants per day are heading to the US border, and he blamed US economic sanctions on countries like Cuba and Venezuela for the influx. President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador said the number of migrants reaching Mexico's northern border with the United States was partly due to about 6,000 migrants per day crossing into Mexico from Guatemala over the past week. He said many of those migrants are traveling on a route through Central America that includes the jungle-clad Darien Gap region between Panama and Colombia. Lpez Obrador seemed to join Colombian President Gustavo Petro in blaming the situation on US sanctions on countries like Venezuela and Cuba, whose citizens make up a large part of the migrant flow. Experts say economic mismanagement and political repression are largely to blame for the tide of migrants leaving those countries. The United States has sanctioned both governments over what it considers the suppression of democracy.

Private sector desperate to take migrants despite negative narrative: UN

The new head of the UN's migration agency said on Monday that the private sector is desperate for their countries to take in migrants to mop up labour shortages, especially in the West endeavouring to steer a narrative away from reticence and suspicion about migrants in many parts of the world. Amy Pope, the first woman to head the International Organisation for Migration, sought to play up the economic benefits of migration for rich nations with aging populations and declining workforces in the face of build-the-wall rhetoric in the United States to block migrants from Latin America and right-wing movements in Europe that want to keep foreigners out. We hear from ... the private sector globally, but especially in Europe and in North America, that they are desperate for migration in order to meet their own labour market needs and in order to continue to fuel innovation within their own companies, Pope, who is American, told reporters. She said the evidence was fairly overwhelming

Chicago keeps hundreds of migrants at airports while waiting on shelters

Hidden behind a heavy black curtain in one of the nation's busiest airports is Chicago's unsettling response to a growing population of asylum-seekers arriving by plane. Hundreds of migrants, from babies to the elderly, live inside a shuttle bus centre at O'Hare International Airport's Terminal 1. They sleep on cardboard pads on the floor and share airport bathrooms. A private firm monitors their movements. Like New York and other cities, Chicago has struggled to house asylum-seekers, slowly moving people out of temporary spaces and into shelters and, in the near future, tents. But Chicago's use of airports is unusual, having been rejected elsewhere, and highlights the city's haphazard response to the crisis. The practice also has raised concerns about safety and the treatment of people fleeing violence and poverty. It was supposed to be a stop-and-go place, said Vianney Marzullo, one of the few volunteers at O'Hare. It's very concerning. It is not just a safety matter, but a pub

Rescue op underway off southwestern Greece for around 90 migrants on yacht

A rescue operation was underway Wednesday morning for dozens of migrants on board a yacht reported to be in difficulty off the southwestern coast of Greece, authorities said. The coast guard said the yacht, believed to be carrying around 90 people, was spotted about 40 nautical miles (74 kilometres) west of the small town of Pylos. Six of the people on board were picked up by another yacht sailing in the area and transported to Pylos, where one woman was transferred to a hospital in the southern city of Kalamata. Another 25 people were picked up by a passing tanker ship and were being transported to Kalamata, while the remaining passengers were being transferred to another passing cargo ship, the coast guard said. A coast guard lifeboat was on the scene, and another coast guard vessel was on the way. There were no reports of any missing passengers. The area is near where a deadly migrant shipwreck in June left hundreds of people dead and missing and led to allegations that Greek .

Loudspeaker message outside NYC migrant shelter warns new arrivals

A New Yorker upset that the city has been housing homeless migrants on his block has set up a loudspeaker to deliver an unwelcoming message to his new neighbours: "Immigrants are not safe here. The message, recorded in six languages, blares all day from a loudspeaker on Scott Herkert's well-groomed front lawn on Staten Island, exhorting migrants to go back to another part of the city because the community doesn't want them. It urges people brought to a temporary shelter inside a long-vacant Roman Catholic high school not to get off the bus. The message also claims the building has rats and cockroaches. It is one of several ways some people have let shelter residents know they are not welcome. Hundreds of protesters have also held a large rally outside the former school, urging the city to house migrants elsewhere. The women and families placed by the city inside the former Saint John Villa Academy have heard the message loud and clear. We have to close our eyes and close our ears,

Migrant boat sinking off Greek island leaves 4 dead, 18 rescued: Officials

Greek authorities said that four people died and 18 were rescued Monday after a boat carrying migrants apparently sank northeast of the Greek island of Lesbos, which lies near the Turkish coast. The coast guard said one of its vessels collected the 18 survivors and four people found unconscious and transported them to the island's main port of Mytilene. Over the weekend, the coast guard has said it has picked up dozens of people from boats near eastern Aegean Sea islands, part of an increase in new arrivals over the past two months. For decades Greece has been one of the preferred entry points into the European Union for people fleeing conflict or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and hoping for a better life in Europe. More than 14,000 people have reached Greece by land and sea so far this year, according to United Nations figures. That's about a tenth of the total successful Mediterranean crossings, most of which about 104,000 were to Italy. Arrivals in Greece for the