Friday, 29 March 2024 08:58

In a country ravaged by five years of war and a determined president to crush the revolt, Dr. Zouhair Lahna was brought to the bedside of Syrian survivors. Whether in Sarmada or Al-Dana, this Moroccan gynecologist of 48 years old residing in France has invested repeatedly in humanitarian missions and provided medical training.

The majority of US voters think their government should be more aggressive about deporting illegal immigrants, dislike automatic citizenship, and oppose President Obama’s amnesty plan, a new survey shows.

Labour has found common cause with big business in opposing a referendum on membership of the European Union, but both exaggerate the economic risks of such a vote

Advanced industrialized societies are slowly dying because of low fertility rates. The rates reflect the perceptions of women in these societies of how their lifestyles will be affected by having children.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to escalate, with rising military, economic and social costs. In the last year, thousands of people have been killed in the fighting in Eastern Ukraine, with over ten thousand injured and almost one million Ukrainians displaced. Indeed, the conflict marked its one year anniversary with reports of more Ukrainian soldiers being killed.

SACRAMENTO -- Slamming the Republican Congress for dropping the ball on immigration reform, Democratic legislative leaders on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping package of bills that would dramatically expand protections for illegal immigrants far beyond what's offered by any other state.

Several Peruvian clubs could face stiff penalties for fielding foreign players without obtaining work permits, immigration and tax officials said on Tuesday.

The report supports the Obama administration’s plans to shield undocumented immigrants from deportation

Almost half a million undocumented immigrants in California applied for driver’s licenses since a state law took effect at the beginning of the year. The number of applications was double what the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) had projected by this point in the year, according to a DMV announcement.

Starting in May, the spouses of some immigrant tech workers, whose visas haven’t allowed them to work in the U.S., may be able to apply for work permits under President Obama’s executive order on immigration.

A federal judge in Texas denied a Justice Department request Tuesday to lift his temporary hold on President Obama's executive action shielding potentially millions of illegal immigrants from deportation.

Moroccan cultural week in Germany, which will be held from April 20 to 26 in three German cities, i.e Berlin, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt is an opportunity to promote the cultural diversity of Morocco abroad and Germany in particular, said Tuesday in Casablanca, the minister responsible for Moroccans living abroad and migration affairs, Anis Birou.

Malta is “positively considering” an Italian proposal for the establishment of asylum processing centres outside the European Union, the home affairs minister has told MaltaToday.

The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs is set to improve its immigrant visa process with a new pilot program and improved communication, which could particularly impact the tech sector.

As of January 1, 2015 migrant workers in Russia were required to pass a history and civics exam, in addition to a Russian language test mandated by a 2012 law, in order to obtain a work permit. This summer, however, the exam is getting tougher with an expanded vocabulary list and five new history questions, tinged with politics.

The Russian government has introduced new bureaucratic barriers that make it both harder and more expensive to receive a Russian work permit.

Greece needs a long-term ‘ national strategy’ to deal with the influx of undocumented migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday following a meeting in Athens with European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Federal authorities are holding fewer immigrants in detention, a reversal in a decade-long upward trend of locking people up who are in the deportation process. The detainees are facing deportation for various reasons, including committing a crime or being in the U.S. illegally.

The cities of Tampa and North Miami have signed onto a friend-of-the-court petition asking for "immediate implementation of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration."

Tuesday, 07 April 2015 13:01

UK introduces Health Surcharge

From 6 April, all nationals from outside of Europe, including South Korean nationals, coming to live in the UK for longer than six months will be required to pay a ‘health surcharge’ in order to gain access to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

Moving to Russia? Get ready to answer some questions about Soviet dictator Josef Stalin first. And beef up on your knowledge of Crimea while you are at it.

It's "well and good" that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says the U.S. is keeping tabs on some 40 Americans who have re-entered the country after traveling to Iraq and Syria to fight with terrorists, but more must be done to keep illegals from crossing the borders, former INS special agent Michael Cutler said Monday on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV.

The second wave of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children has begun, with more than 3,000 of them surging across the Mexican border into the U.S. last month — the highest rate since the peak of last summer’s crisis and a warning that another rough season could be ahead.

The Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME) is set to organize on  May 8, 2015 in the " London School of Economics and political science " ( LSE) , a debate in the memory of Moroccans expelled from Algeria in 1975.

The small Moroccan community of Yemen is requesting emergency repatriation. The government has yet to respond to these calls.

About 3,500 detainees who will be released from the camps if Greece’s new anti-austerity rulers make good on their promises – to the consternation of both Greeks and the EU

After a 10-day trek over 150km, Sandrine Koffi’s dream of a new life in Europe ended and her nightmare of losing her infant daughter in the Macedonian night began.

According to official figures, more than 3,000 migrants perished attempting the perilous voyage across the Mediterranean last year. Italian navy and coastguard ships rescued more than 1,500 migrants, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, from the southern Mediterranean in a 24 hour span, officials reported.

LESOVO, Bulgaria — Less than two decades after the painstaking removal of a massive border fence designed to keep people in, Bulgarian authorities are just as painstakingly building a new fence along the rugged Turkish border, this time to keep people out.

In its 2015 immigration levels plan, the Citizenship and Immigration ministry pledged to accept 260,000 to 285,000 new permanent residents, about two-thirds of them economic migrants. To meet that target, the government needs to admit about 22,500 immigrants a month, about 10 times the number that are admitted through Express Entry at present. Most new immigrants this year will have to be selected through the old system, which was criticized because it was slow and operated on first-come, first-served basis.

Enforcement squads swoop on Indian and Chinese restaurants, petrol stations and car washes, boosting number of arrests

Millions of migrants have successfully crossed the Rio Grande to enter Texas from Mexico, but this year drownings are on the rise. After 16 deaths in six months, the U.S. Border Patrol has expanded search-and-rescue teams to monitor the area, especially weed-choked irrigation canals where many of the bodies are being found.

A poll has suggested 50% of voters agree with Ukip's call for a ban on immediate free NHS treatment for immigrants.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — From a distance, the small group of Haitian immigrants at the public library looks like a prayer meeting or political gathering. Dressed colorfully but comfortably, the women speak in heavily accented English and sit every day for hours around a small wooden table studying to be nurses.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has blamed immigration for a lack of children playing out on city streets.

She was little known outside her City Council district a mere fifteen months ago, but New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has briskly taken her first steps onto the national stage and out of the mayor's shadow.

H OMER, N.Y. — When Mike McMahon’s Latino employees need to go to the bank, the pharmacy or the grocery store, he makes sure someone drives them to town, waits while they run errands, and then brings them safely back to his dairy farm.

With the push for a broad immigration bill now dead in Congress, business advocates are ramping up their calls for Republicans who run both chambers to at least consider updating the nation’s guest-worker programs to help boost the economy.

The Muslim and Christian populations could be nearly equal by 2050, with Islam expected to be the fastest-growing faith on the planet, according to projections released Thursday. 

Islam is growing more rapidly than any other religion in the world, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center that says the religion will nearly equal Christianity by 2050 before eclipsing it around 2070, if current trends continue.

LONDON, April 3 — British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday promised he’d deliver a “controlled and fair” immigration policy if re-elected on May 7, seeking to neutralise attacks from the anti-EU UK Independence Party which threatens to split his vote.

London– The United Kingdom has limited control over its borders because it is a member of the European Union, which is causing significant immigration problems in the county, UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage announced during live TV debates.

The Obama administration in recent months has quietly rolled out a new a program that allows Central American immigrants who reside legally in the United States to bring family members to the country.

According to the Refugee Processing Center, the State Department documents that the most common spoken language among refugees in America is Arabic.

Out of the 11,300 refugees admitted to the U.S. this fiscal year, 4,430 speak Arabic .

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced a new joint task force Thursday to target individuals who defraud immigrants and their families and make it easier for victims of fraud to come forward.

Currently, there are more than 1 million undocumented Asian Pacific Islander (API) immigrants living in the US. In California, where I reside, there are nearly a half million undocumented API immigrants.

A new analysis from the Center for Immigration Studies finds that more than 2,000 illegal immigrant minors have been apprehended each month since the beginning of this fiscal year in October — the second highest level of illegal minor arrests, behind last year’s record breaking border surge.

The Muslim Students Association at ASU held an event to offer the community henna tattoos while explaining the religion and culture behind it.

Stockholm, Sweden – Swedish writer Fredrik Ekman is gratified to see a book he co-wrote about the Yezidis reprinted after a decade, signifying renewed interest about the religiouis minority that is suffering under atrocities by ISIS in Iraq.

The UK's party leaders have clashed in the first TV election debate on a range of issues including the NHS, immigration and the deficit.

The French National Assembly hosted Wednesday night's the opening ceremony of the exhibition "Homage to Hassane Naftaouaih" dedicated to the memory of the Franco-Moroccan artist, who passed away last year and was a symbol of the cultural ties between Morocco and France.

The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Logistics, Aziz Rabbah, called Tuesday in Dubai, Moroccan skills, residing in the UAE, to contribute to the development process of Morocco.

The Moroccan –Australian champion Hassan Bouchajra has won the Asian bodybuilding championship under 80 kg in the Arnold Schwarzenegger Prize, recently played in Sydney.

Seventy-eight women being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Texas are demanding their release, and around 40 have launched a Holy Week hunger and work strike. The women are mostly Central American and are seeking asylum in the United States. They are being held in detention with their children. At least two women on hunger strike have reportedly been placed in isolation, along with their children.

Daniel Jimenez’s job at the United Farm Workers Foundation is to promote the biggest reprieve for undocumented immigrants in a generation to as many as possible. On a recent day, after waiting an hour past the appointed 6 p.m. start, he began speaking to eight tomato-pickers and pistachio-tree planters and a dozen empty chairs.

Suzanne Evans, the party’s vice chairman, said that there would be no immigration target when the manifesto is formally published in a fortnight’s time.

Thursday, 02 April 2015 12:22

The Scrambled States of Immigration

A country that has abandoned all efforts at creating a saner immigration policy has gotten the result it deserves: not one policy but lots of little ones, acting at cross purposes and nullifying one another. Not unity but cacophony, a national incoherence — one well illustrated in a recent report in The Times on the various ways the states, forsaken by Congress, are adjusting to the millions of unauthorized immigrants living outside the law.

The Department of Immigration has responded to embarrassing revelations it leaked personal information of G20 officials including Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, announcing a bolstered security regime and new task force.

Britons are so ill at ease with levels of immigration in their towns that their children do not play football with their neighbours in the streets, Nigel Farage has said.

A post-election deal between Labour and the SNP would “destroy” Britain’s immigration controls, creating a "back door" for foreigners, according to a new report.

Winner of the Reuters award for best picture of the year 2014, Youssef Boudlal, 49, juggles the glamor of Chanel and horror of war zones. Portrait of a man who navigates between heaven and hell.

Today, a college degree is one of the surest ways to economic opportunity, but it has also never been more expensive. Earlier this year, President Obama announced "America's College Promise", a proposal that would make two years of community college free for anyone who's willing to work for it. On the heels of that announcement, the president recently called for a new "Student Aid Bill of Rights" to ensure that all students have access to a high-quality and affordable education.

Tertiary education institutions should look to emerging markets in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East in order to keep Australia in the top five destination countries for foreign students, a new government report said.

BRUSSELS — Africa's envoy to the European Union says EU plans to process migrants in the countries they leave or transit on their way to Europe is "a dangerous approach."

Wednesday, 01 April 2015 12:46

Israel to Begin Deporting African Refugees

Ma'an News Agency reports that, up until now, asylum seekers officially had to sign a document indicating voluntary departure from Israel, as it is a signatory to the Refugee Convention which restricts a state to deport individuals whose lives are in danger in their home countries.

Incoming visitors often face a sombre reception at passport control in the United States.

The largest labor organization in the United States on Tuesday launched a national immigration training plan called "We Rise!" to help Hispanics take advantage of the immigration relief measures announced by President Barack Obama last November.

The long process of revamping the province’s immigration policies got off to a sobering start Wednesday when provincial human rights officials said racism and discrimination persist in Quebec’s workplaces.

Wednesday, 01 April 2015 12:43

British UKIP leader vows 90% immigration cut

The head of the right-wing UKIP has promised to slash net migration into Britain by 90 per cent.

An Adelaide visual artist will put up 1,000 posters in Australia's capital cities in an attempt to make residents rethink their stance on immigration.

With more than 100 Cuban migrants either being housed in or currently passing through Cayman Islands waters, the Cayman Islands Immigration Department is standing by to activate its “mass migration” plan.“ 

A big fight is brewing in Washington over immigration reform, but many are unhappy with President Obama’s plan.

LAWRENCE, Kan. -The University of Kansas has hired two sociologists to plan a center for migration and immigration studies.

Among the myriad laws and regulations that govern the nation’s immigration system is a special program, created 25 years ago, that allows immigrant youths who have been abused, neglected or abandoned to apply for a green card.

The European Commission has made progress in the implementation of the Partnership for mobility, signed with Morocco in June 2013, said the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Despite the problems associated with a kind of latent xenophobia, Germany is now the second country of immigration, after the United States. It is ahead of Australia and Canada.

The Laboratory for Research in Management, Economics and Social Sciences (largess) of the Polydisciplinary Faculty of El Jadida (FPJ) organized the March 25 to 26, 2015 a national Symposium on "South-North-South migration »

Of a total of more than 1.8 Muslims living in Spain, 771,427 are Moroccans, as recently reported the Union study of Muslim communities in Spain and Andaloussi Observatory.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that immigration will become the “primary driver of U.S. population growth” between 2027 and 2038.

A one-day change in a prison term for a minor crime involving an undocumented immigrant could result in sending that person to federal authorities for deportation, activists said at a legislative hearing Monday.

Nigel Farage declared immigration has left towns and cities in Britain almost unrecognisable for many people over the last decade, as he unveiled the UK Independence party’s (Ukip) first general election poster, an image of the white cliffs of Dover with three escalators running up them.

Boston is a typical English town — ancient church, traditional shops, Polish supermarkets, Baltic bakeries. Amid the bargain-hunting crowds on market day, eastern European languages are almost as common as the local Lincolnshire accent.

 The Justice Department urged a federal appeals court Monday to reverse a hold a judge placed on President Barack Obama's immigration executive action.

Tuesday, 31 March 2015 17:46

Rabat hosts the Annual Immigration Forum

The Ministry in charge of Moroccans residing abroad and Migration Affairs organizes this Tuesday, March 31, 2015, from 09:00 pm in the National Library in Rabat, the Annual Immigration Forum under the theme: "Challenges of multiculturalism and integration."

Tuesday, 31 March 2015 17:45

Newly crowned Miss New York is Moroccan

Oubou Iman, a young 26 year old woman originally from Agadir won this Sunday, March 29, 2015 the contest of Miss New York. She will represent the State in the contest of Miss USA to be held in July in Washington DC.

Fifty French imams will be trained annually in Morocco, announced Friday, March 27, 2015, the Union of mosques in France (UMF).

The Forum of Moroccan skills "Careers in Morocco", which was held this past weekend in London, has drawn a large crowd of young Moroccan graduates and professionals residing in Britain.

The 10th edition of Panorama festival cinemas Maghreb and the Middle East (PCMMO), which will run from March 31 to April 15 at Saint-Denis (Paris) and Paris will dedicate a focus on Moroccan cinema marked by the projection of several films.

An information and awareness day on the international commitments of Morocco on migration and asylum was held Friday in Oujda, with the participation of researchers, civil society actors, representatives of government departments and local authorities.

15 House Republicans urge House to block funds for Obama's immigration orders Fifteen House Republicans are urging House appropriators to block funds for President Obama's executive actions on immigration in the next spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The initiative comes just a few weeks after the House GOP relented on doing just that for the rest of this year after a grueling, months-long impasse. In a letter released Friday, the lawmakers requested that the DHS spending bill for the next fiscal year starting in October prohibit funding for Obama's most recent executive actions in November, as well as the programs to shield immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and the parents of legal citizens from deportation. Those programs are known respectively as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). "Our constituents sent us to Washington to put a stop to this nonsense," the lawmakers wrote to Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the DHS, and Rep. Lucille Roybal Allard (D-Calif.), the panel's top Democrat. The House Republicans maintained that the president's unilateral actions amounted to executive overreach. "The executive actions on immigration not only disregard the separation of powers, they are a slap in the face to millions seeking opportunity and yearning to be free but are unwilling to make their first actions toward that goal criminal," they said. The letter's signatories were GOP Reps. Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Jeff Miller (Fla.), Lou Barletta (Pa.), Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.), Jim Bridenstine (Okla.), Steve King (Iowa), Bob Gibbs (Ohio), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Leonard Lance (N.J.), Tim Huelskamp (Kan.), Tom McClintock (Calif.), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Brian Babin (Texas), Rod Blum (Iowa) and Glenn Grothman (Wis.). The group is mostly comprised of prominent immigration hardliners like King, Gohmert, Huelskamp and Brooks. But it also includes one committee chairman: Miller, who chairs the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. Source: The Hill

The number of people of working age in Germany will fall by around a third by 2050 if Europe's biggest economy does not increase immigration from countries outside the European Union, a study published on Friday said.

Houston — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Saturday emphatically denied he recently changed his position on illegal immigration, emphasizing that solving the problem does not involve a pathway to citizenship.

Washington has long allowed immigrants without legal status to get driver’s licenses. So Ofelia Rosas Ramos, a Mexican living illegally in Seattle, has had her license since 2008.

Prior to its election victory, Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) had promised to close Greek deportation detention centres and provide more humane treatment for immigrants.

Anti-trafficking programmes give a humanitarian gloss to national anti-immigration controls, but the citizenship and immigration policies of nation-states are still the biggest danger facing many migrants today.

David Cameron's 'cast-iron' pledge to lower immigration to the 'tens of thousands' was left in tatters after the figure reached 298,000 in 2014.

The personal details of all 20 leaders at the recent G20 summit in Australia have been accidentally leaked by the Australian immigration department. Despite being notified of the high-profile breach four months ago, it neglected to inform anyone.

The Jewish Agency on Sunday harshly criticized the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews over its decision to facilitate Ukrainian immigration to Israel by itself, saying the move ultimately hurts olim.

In “A Way Out on Immigration Reform” (Op-Ed, March 18), Alan K. Simpson and Bruce A. Morrison proffered a way to jump-start immigration reform.

WASHINGTON -- Last Friday, immigration advocates met with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldaña and brought up some concerns, including a surprising statement she made the day before that seemed wholly at odds with the administration's policies.

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