Top 10 Migration Issues of '06

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Multiculturalism is losing ground to an upsurge in support for immigrants to learn the language, values and history as well as play by the rules of their host countries, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) in it 2nd annual ranking of the year’s top global migration issues.

Released to coincide with International Migrants’ Day on December 18, the Top 10 list is part of a year-in-review issue of The Source, MPI's online resource for data and analysis on migration.

Here are MPI's Top 10 Migration Issues for 2006:

1. Good-bye Multiculturalism — Hello Assimilation? Multiculturalism was supposed to be the ideal middle ground where immigrants could adapt to a country's norms and values while maintaining their culture and traditions. Today, different countries are trying to find the right "mode" of conversation with immigrants and where within the society to have that conversation.

2. UN High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development For the first time in its history, the United Nations this year hosted a major multilateral discussion devoted exclusively to global migration — a subject that, for years, was considered taboo in international diplomacy.

3. US Immigration Reform: Better Luck Next Year The United States has not come much closer to President Bush's vision of immigration reform although events in 2006 may have changed the political climate in which immigration will be debated next year.

4. Darfur Situation Worsens, Violence Spreads to Chad Since 2003, at least 200,000 people by UN estimates have been killed in Sudan's Darfur region, and more than two million have been displaced. Unfortunately, 2006 brought the crisis to new depths.

5. All About the Border The border between the US and Mexico and the water dividing Europe and North Africa continue to be the world's main fronts in the fight against illegal immigration.

6. Growing Competition for the "Right" Skilled Workers It seems the most palatable migrant to the world's developed nations is still the one in the medical, scientific, IT, or business and finance fields. The question some countries grappled with this year, though, was how to attract the highly skilled who will actually do well in the labor market.

7. Crisis in Lebanon Displaces Lebanese, Foreign Workers, and Refugees Although this summer's fighting between Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and Israel lasted just over a month, the conflict displaced an estimated one million Lebanese.

8. US State and Local Governments Respond to Federal Inaction on Immigration The mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania became a hero to frustrated citizens nationwide this summer as his city took the lead in a new trend: local governments passing ordinances intended to discourage the employment and settlement of unauthorized immigrants.

9. Regional Migration in the Limelight Not every migrant crosses a vast ocean or flies halfway around the world to reach safety or a land of opportunity. In fact, regional migration has been the major form of migration for centuries, and was noteworthy in North America, Europe, and Asia in 2006.

10. How to Fight Homegrown Terrorism: Surveillance, Outreach, or Both? In the five years since the September 11 attacks, a number of Western governments have become convinced that some legal immigrants and children of Muslim immigrants, although the number may be small, can become radicalized and turn on their home country.

Posted by USTaino