#immigration-policy

#immigration-policy

Western governments, the U.S. under Donald Trump leading the pack, are caught in the grip of an anti-immigration fervor, enforcing cruel and degrading laws that violate human rights and undermine public safety. This entire approach toward immigrants is not only immoral but also rests on false economic claims, argues Daniel Mendiola, assistant professor of history and migration studies at Vassar College, in the interview that follows.

The main requirements for obtaining status as a naturalized citizen are as follows: Typical applicants will need to have been residents in Sweden for at least 8 years, up from 5 previously A monthly income of at least 20,000 Swedish crowns (roughly 1,900 or $2,200) Passing a basic language and culture test People with a criminal record, in Sweden or abroad, will have to reside in Sweden longer before they can apply The rules are planned to come into force on June 6

Japan's firebrand prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, and her Liberal Democratic Party were on track for a big victory in snap elections Sunday, according to exit polls, probably securing a robust parliamentary majority and broader public mandate for her conservative agenda. The election was driven by enthusiasm about Takaichi, Japan's first female prime minister, and early exit polls appeared to affirm a strong appetite for her "Japan First" approach.

The Associated Builders and Contractors trade group estimated in a report last month the industry will need to bring in 456,000 new workers in 2027, up 30.7% from the 349,000 needed this year. "Failing to do so will worsen labor shortages, especially in certain occupations and regions, placing further upward pressure on labor costs," ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu warned in a statement.

Oh, my word. I am a registered Republican. My dad was the president of American Pipeliners Association, so I came by it rather naturally. Voted for the president, supported him. But I really want to apologize. I mean, I'm looking at this awful picture of the Obamas. What an embarrassment to our country, the caller continued, adding: All this man does is tell lies. He is not worthy of the presidency.

A BBC Question Time audience member's criticism of Reform UK's policies resulted in applause from the crowd. On Thursday (5 February), Zia Yusuf was challenged by a young audience member on his assertion that Gen Z are not patriotic. I think your party especially isn't giving me much to be proud of, the guest told Mr Yusuf. "I was reading your party's policies just before we came in, and the first four listed are all about immigration,

Shabana Mahmood said a "very large number of people" arriving in the UK in an "unprecedented way" in recent years does "demand an answer" from the government. Ministers want to double the time it takes most migrant workers to qualify for permanent residence from five years to 10 years. But around 40 Labour MPs have raised concerns about the impact of the proposals on migrants already living here, describing the retrospective approach as "un-British" and "moving the goalposts".

You don't need a degree in political science to understand why so many supposedly centrist European leaders have begun talking about immigration in terms that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. Far-right parties across the continent have fuelled their rise by seizing on the issue as a political cosh with which to beat their more mainstream and established rivals, whom they accuse of complacency, inaction and a failure to defend borders.

During the previous government shutdown, President Trump reveled in the chance to fire federal workers, expand his executive authority, and steer taxpayer dollars toward his allies and away from his perceived political enemies. After a record-setting 43 days of gridlock-during which Trump pursued those goals with varying degrees of success-several Democrats abandoned their quest to force Republicans to negotiate a health-care deal, and voted to end the shutdown.

I have been very vocal about the fact that I'm scared of what I'm seeing in this country. I've been living here for decades. This is not the place that I grew up in. We need to all stand up.

The cause isn't an abnormal number of deaths or a plummeting birthrate - though that's slipping too, exacerbating the trend - but instead a collapse in the rate of migration from 2.7 million people in July, 2024 down to just 1.3 million in 2025 as the White House does everything in its power to make the country hostile to immigrants.

Under my bill, Governor [Tim] Walz (D) and the mayor of Minneapolis, who are openly defying the laws on the books that have been there for 30 years, would be subject to prosecution, Graham said. He then recounted his speech on the Senate floor that ended his opposition to the spending bill. I stood up and said, We are not going forward until we get a vote where we can stop sanctuary city policy, make it a crime to defy federal law

With this legislation, all of these existing agreements would be void. The legislation would also prohibit federal agents from using local detention centers for civil immigration enforcement, mass raids or the transportation of detainees, and authorizes New Yorkers to bring state-level civil actions against federal officers who violate their U.S. constitutional rights. Hochul has also proposed legislation to ensure sensitive locations, such as homes, schools and doctors' offices, are protected from civil immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant.

Meth. We're On It.

For a generation, the smartest people I knew dreamed of moving to America. They took uninspiring jobs, learned to wait through endless paperwork, and believed that one visa stamp could change their lives. That belief built an empire of talent that powered some of the world's most iconic companies. And now, that same empire is dying, or at the very least, dreaming of moving elsewhere. Talent is now voting with its feet.

The Trump administration is removing Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino from Minnesota, after federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old VA ICU nurse, Saturday morning. Bovino has been the face of Trump's roving paramilitary-style immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and other Democratic-led cities. Shortly after Pretti was killed, Bovino had claimed Pretti intended to "massacre law enforcement," a statement unsubstantiated by video and witness testimony from the scene. According to The Atlantic magazine, Bovino will return to his previous post in El Centro, California,

Over the weekend, the basketball star Breanna Stewart didn't have her normal bounce during player introductions. As soon as the announcer shouted her name, Stewart walked out holding a white sign with a message: Abolish ICE. "I think that when human lives are at stake, it's bigger than anything else," Stewart said at a press conference following the game with Unrivaled, a three-on-three professional basketball league she co-founded in 2024.

Let me be emphatic; all undocumented immigrants have committed a crime. They have all broken immigration law. All of the undocumented immigrants I spoke to frankly admitted this. And almost all of them also expressed a real desire for immigration reform. That surprised me-at first. Although, on second thought, they would almost certainly benefit from any rationalized system-which would necessarily recognize their indispensable importance to the U.S. economy.

Is this a pullback? Cain asked Trump. I don't think it's a pullback. It's a little bit of a change. Everybody in this room that has a business, you know, you make little changes. You know, Bovino is very good, but he's a pretty out there kind of a guy. And in some cases that's good. Maybe it wasn't good here, Trump said.

In a social media post on Monday about federal officers' killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, Rep. Delia C. Ramirez, a Democrat representing part of Chicago, pointed out that DHS's purpose since its inception in 2002 has been to oppress those in the U.S. "The officer who shot Alex worked for DHS for 8 years. The officer who shot Renee worked for DHS for over 10 years.

Judge Indira Talwani of the Boston District Court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the termination of the legal status of more than 8,400 immigrants living in the country under family reunification parole, a measure announced by the Department of Homeland Security in late 2025. The decision was issued on Saturday night and prevents the government from ending the humanitarian parole granted to relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent residents from Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

That was the case for Mailan Pacios, a 28-year-old Cuban immigrant living in Tennessee, who was scheduled to take her citizenship exam on January 8, only to receive a notice on January 3 that her appointment had been canceled. It was like a bucket of cold water. It's very painful when you come with the hope of moving forward and this happens, says Pacios, who has two children, owns an air-conditioning business, and insists she has never had legal problems nor been a public burden.

All Florida public universities would be banned from hiring foreign workers on H-1B visas under a policy change that the Florida Board of Governors will consider next week. Next Thursday, the board's Nomination and Governance Committee will consider adding to a policy a line saying the universities can't "utilize the H-1B program in its personnel program to hire any new employees through January 5, 2027." If the committee and full Board of Governors approve the addition, there will be a 14-day public comment period.

But the message of welcome contrasts sharply with the broader policy landscape in Trump's second term. Immigration restrictions, intensified enforcement, and deportation raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have become defining elements of his administration. "This is a difficult time in this country because a lot of things that are happening are extremely unusual," says Daniel Kanstroom, professor of Boston College Law School. "We are seeing examples of ICE agents who appear to be overstepping their authority in some cases."

The response to the 2024 riots in England and Northern Ireland failed to address its root causes and delinked the violence from racism, a thinktank has claimed. A paper by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) reported that an obfuscation of the causes and consequences of the riots risks legitimising further far-right mobilisation and vigilante violence. It said that what happened has often been reduced to mindless thuggery or violence.

No country in the European Union has stricter immigration laws than Hungary. Nowhere in the bloc is it more difficult to attain refugee or protection status: EU statistics show exactly 10 people received either in 2025. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is proud to claim that there are "zero" refugees, or as he generally refers to them, "illegal migrants," in his country. That was how he framed his immigration policies and their impact during a November 2025 White House meeting with US President Donald Trump.