By Daniel Thambar, an intern with the Lowy Institute's Migration and Border Policy Project.
- US President Donald Trump signed an executive order which imposes a 90-day visa ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations, suspends all refugee admissions for 120 days and indefinitely bans all refugees from Syria. See the commentary from the Migration Policy Institute and the Cato Institute. The UNHCR and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) issued a joint statement on the order.
- EU leaders will meet in Malta to discuss how to deal with migration pressures from Libya, focussing on the need to increase cooperation with the Libyan authorities. However, Human Rights Watch warns that outsourcing responsibility to Libya is fraught with risks.
- IOM reports that 5,483 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in the first 29 days of 2017. This was a substantial decrease from the 67,375 migrants and refugees that entered in the same period in 2016.
- The Transatlantic Council on Migration examines whether there are viable alternatives to territorial asylum, and explores how they might be implemented.
- Was Barack Obama a 'deporter-in-chief' or was he soft on unauthorised immigrants? Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce and Jessica Bolter examine the former US President's record on deportations.
- Celia Rooney, writing for the University of Oxford's immigration blog, outlines the key cases in the Calais camp saga and examines the role of litigation in protecting unaccompanied migrant children.
- IOM reports that over 600,000 refugees and undocumented Afghans have returned home from Pakistan, and that a further 1 million are expected to return in 2017. In response to this, a new displacement tracking system will be launched by IOM to better understand population movements and needs. Learn more about the system here.
- The Migration Policy Institute hosts a panel discussion focussing on the long-term interventions which the European Union may pursue to find solutions for asylum-seekers.
