- The UNHCR released an updated fact sheet this week assessing the situation of refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island, with physical security remaining a primary concern.
- In further news from Manus Island, a second group of refugees has left for the US as part of the resettlement deal, and a stand-off has been reported over the use of local labour for the detention centre security contracts. The Guardian has reported that Peter Dutton is refusing a Senate order to release details of the the contracts.
- Following reports last week that Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed on a two-year return process for Rohingya refugees, the UNHCR has warned that conditions in Myanmar are not yet suitable for their return.
- Writing for The New Yorker, Jonathan Blitzer has outlined the extent to which this week’s government shutdown in the US was driven by disagreement over immigration policies. The New Yorker has also released a podcast with Blitzer in which he comments on immigration in the Trump era.
- Following a compromise deal to end the government shutdown, an interesting conversation piece in The New York Times discusses why a process of shutdowns and stopgap solutions is not the way to deal with immigration policy. The resulting compromise – which agreed to end the shutdown in exchange for a promised vote on the DREAM Act, among other things – enraged many on the left, as it seems to bring the US no closer to a resolution on the issue.
- A new issue of the Journal of Migration and Human Security has been released. Although the issue focuses on US immigration policies, an article by Patrisia Macías-Rojas about how law and order politics has seen immigration come to be viewed through a ‘lens of criminality’ is particularly relevant to current Australian immigration discourse.
- The Center for Migration Studies has published a useful breakdown of all the issues at play in this year’s Global Compact on Migration. Alternatively, on the Oxford Human Rights Hub, an article by Chelsea Purvis discusses issues the global compacts will not address; namely, the root causes of displacement, IDPs, and those forced to move by climate change.
Migration and border policy links: US government shutdown, the Global Compact, and more
Links and updates from across the migration and border policy field.
Activists In New York Protest Government Shutdown (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Published 25 Jan 2018
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