USA: The Right-Wing Dream of ‘Self-Deportation’

2024/07/29 Leave a comment

Of interest:

In his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has doubled down on bashing migrants crossing the southern border. They are criminals who are “poisoning the blood of our country,” he says. The Republican National Convention was full of talk of surging “migrant crime,” even though such a rise does not exist. 

The number of Americans who think the immigration level is too high has sharply risen since the last presidential contest in 2020, and as Americans move to the right on the issue, Trump plans to go much further than President Biden’s executive order in June, which closes the border when crossings surge. Trump has said he would build “vast holding facilities” — detention camps — to lock people up as their cases progress; end birthright citizenship, even though the Constitution protects it; and bring back a version of the travel ban from his first term, which barred visitors from several mostly Muslim countries. Another Trump promise, mass deportations, hasn’t been tried since the 1950s; now, polls show majority support for it, including among Latinos.

But there is one anti-immigration proposal on the right that Trump doesn’t talk about publicly. It’s a spin on “self-deportation.” The term — for provoking immigrants to leave of their own volition — has gone out of fashion but the idea continues to lurk. This time, instead of directly pressuring undocumented adults to flee, some immigration opponents are threatening access to school for their children. It’s a nuclear option — requiring the reversal of a Supreme Court ruling that has been a linchpin of educational rights for four decades — that some of Trump’s allies on the right are quietly building support for.

In February, the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing Washington think tank that’s become central to mapping out policy objectives for the next Republican administration, recommended requiring public schools to collect data on immigration status when students enroll. Heritage also said schools should charge tuition for children who are undocumented or who have a parent who lacks legal status.

About 600,000 undocumented children live in the country, and another 4.5 million have a parent who is here illegally. To ensure that parents can send their children to school without fear of immigration agents, the Biden administration declared in 2021 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could take no actions of any kind at schools and other locations where young people gather, like universities and day care centers. It’s easy to see why schools are such a sensitive site of immigration enforcement. Barring children from the classroom punishes them for their parents’ decisions and disrupts families’ daily rhythm. Most searingly, perhaps, it undermines the hope of bettering the lives of the next generation — a reason for coming to the United States in the first place.

It has always been difficult to deter people from migrating to the United States, given instability in their home countries and the lure of economic opportunity at American businesses that depend on cheap labor. But there is a grim logic to the strategy of keeping children out of school in the United States — that if you go so far as to take away a right fundamental to the American dream, people will leave.

The Long Shadow of Prop. 187

During the 2012 presidential campaign, the Republican Mitt Romney was roundly mocked for saying that the solution for illegal immigration was to encourage people to “self-deport” rather than for the government to remove them. Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, called the idea a “fantasy.” Trump, then the host of “The Apprentice,” called the notion “crazy” and claimed it cost Romney the Latino vote — and the election.

But the concept is an old one, dating back to at least the 19th century. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first law to bar the entry of workers based on their nationality. For decades afterward, people in segregated Chinatowns lived in the shadows, shuttering businesses, ducking corrupt immigration officers and hiding from mobs. “From 1890 to 1920, a period of mass migration from all over the world, the Chinese population in the United States declined by more than 40 percent,” the historian Adam Goodman wrote in his journal article “The Long History of Self-Deportation.”

A century later, states introduced policies designed to motivate immigrants to move elsewhere. Proposition 187, a proposal to bar undocumented people from using social services, including public health care and education, went on the ballot in California in 1994. A satirical group, Hispanics Against Liberal Take Over, started calling for the self-deportation of all undocumented immigrants in joke ads during the campaign.

Within days after Prop. 187 passed, a federal judge found the law unconstitutional and prevented it from going into effect. Nonetheless, researchers saw immediate, measurable impacts. One study showed that undocumented patients in California with tuberculosis were far more likely to delay seeking care. “Life as an undocumented immigrant is so delicate when it comes to interacting with public institutions,” said Tom K. Wong, a political science professor and founding director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California, San Diego. “The chilling effects are broad.”

The results of Prop. 187 drew the interest of Kris Kobach, then a law professor who pushed for states to play a greater role in immigration enforcement. In 2008, Kobach published an influentialarticle titled “Attrition Through Enforcement” that praised a new Arizona law requiring employers to verify the legal status of workers. He argued that while most “garden-variety illegal aliens” could easily live and work in the United States, they began “self-deporting by the thousands” from Arizona. As a result, Kobach noted, costs dropped for Arizona public schools. He acknowledged that some people were moving to neighboring states but claimed that many returned to Mexico.

In 2011, Kobach became Kansas’ secretary of state. Because of his legal expertise, he was tapped to help write an Alabama bill with the harshest set of immigration restrictions in the country at the time. The law included a mandate that schools collect data on citizenship and immigration status when students enroll, as Heritage now proposes. The Monday after the Alabama bill passed, school officials reported, thousands of students didn’t attend school. Absentee rates remained high. Families fled the state. “It was like a disease,” the owner of a grocery store in Albertville toldNBC News. “Everyone was panicking and leaving.”

Kobach celebrated. “It’s self-deportation at no cost to the taxpayer,” he said.

Though other parts of Alabama’s law were enforced for a time, after only a few weeks, a federal appeals court blocked the provision that required schools to ask about students’ immigration status. This ruling rested on a Supreme Court decision from 1982, Plyler v. Doe, a high-water mark for judicial protection of civil rights. Plyler isn’t nearly as famous as Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case that called for the desegregation of public schools. But in the current political landscape, Plyler is both increasingly significant and increasingly vulnerable.

The case began in 1977, when Tyler Independent School District in Texas expelled dozens of undocumented children after the state cut funding for those students. Alfredo Lopez, who was 10 at the time, was one of the students sent home. His family joined four others who sued the state. They went to their first court hearing with their car packed, ready to flee if immigration agents forced them to do so.

But the families won in the lower courts. Texas appealed to the Supreme Court. At oral arguments, the state’s lawyer argued that by blocking funds for their education, Texas “prevents a substantial number of these children from coming in,” which would in turn save the state more money. In other words, the state could refuse to pay for school to create the conditions for self-deportation.

In a 5-to-4 decision, the court rejected Texas’ appeal based on the promise of equal protection in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. “Directing the onus of a parent’s misconduct against his children does not comport with fundamental conceptions of justice,” Justice William Brennan wrote for the majority. “Education has a fundamental role in maintaining the fabric of our society.”

‘The Times Are Different’

Today, there’s a clear path for challenging the precedents of a previous, more liberal era of the Supreme Court. Heritage spelled it out in February: If a state were to require schools to collect data on students’ immigration status or to charge tuition to immigrant families, “such legislation would draw a lawsuit from the left, which would likely lead the Supreme Court to reconsider its ill-considered Plyler v. Doe decision,” the Heritage document said.

The same tactic led to the end of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority could follow the script in Chief Justice Warren Burger’s dissent in Plyler in 1982: “Were it our business to set the nation’s social policy, I would agree without hesitation that it is senseless for an enlightened society to deprive any children — including illegal aliens — of an elementary education,” Chief Justice Burger wrote. “However, the Constitution does not constitute us as ‘Platonic guardians,’ nor does it vest in this court the authority to strike down laws because they do not meet our standards of desirable social policy, ‘wisdom’ or ‘common sense.’”

If the Supreme Court were to overturn Plyler and allow states to revoke access to public school for undocumented children, it would fall to legislatures to enact such policies. Many states have constitutions or laws that grant a right to public education, and some would not block children from going to school simply because it is cruel. That makes it far more likely that immigrants would move to one of those states rather than leave the country altogether. But that may be sufficient for some politicians.

When he ran for re-election two years ago, Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, talked about mounting a challenge to Plyler v. Doe. “I think we will resurrect that case and challenge this issue again, because the expenses are extraordinary and the times are different,” he said on a conservative radio program, according to The Austin American-Statesman. A bill along those lines died in the Texas Legislature in 2023. But a proposal to end paying for the enrollment of undocumented children in public schools, posed to voters on the ballot for the Republican primary in Texas in March, had more than 87 percent support.

Heritage is trying to build support for its proposals by focusing on the cost of educating immigrant children. The organization says that enrolling the minors who crossed the border without authorization in 2023 would cost $2 billion a year. (Some of those minors work, despite child labor laws, and may not attend school.) Repeating that number at a House subcommittee hearing in June, Representative Aaron Bean, Republican of Florida, said that educating undocumented children was “wreaking havoc on our school systems across America.”

If such attacks succeed in a second Trump term, it will be a measure of how the political climate has shifted. In 2017, Stephen Miller, a hard-right immigration opponent and Trump adviser, pushed for the Education Department to issue a guidance memo telling states that in spite of Plyler, they could block immigrant children from attending public school, according to Bloomberg News.

Betsy DeVos, then the secretary of education, “would never consider” issuing such a memo, a spokesperson for the department said at the time. So Miller’s plan died. But DeVos, who resigned citing Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, has little chance of serving in a second Trump term. Miller, however, is poised to play a prominent role. Last fall, the Trump campaign referred reporters’ questions about Trump’s second-term immigration agenda to Miller. He promised a “blitz” of restrictions that he expected to be challenged in court — the route to challenging Plyler.

Will the argument for self-deportation have more success in 2024 than it did when Mitt Romney suggested it? Alabama wound up watering down its 2011 restrictions in part because of an outcry from businesses about the loss of workers. Crops rotted in the field. Investment in the state stalled. Depriving children of education would unleash real effects, on them and their families, and over time perhaps on economic prosperity. It’s the kind of policy that all but the harshest immigration opponents might come to regret.

Source: The Right-Wing Dream of ‘Self-Deportation’

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Le Devoir Éditorial | Une foi en la laïcité

2024/07/29 Leave a comment

Of note:

Dans les années 1960, Dieu en a mangé toute une au Québec. Les hippies et leur révolution contre-culturelle basée sur une réinvention du concept de la Sainte Trinité autour des figures du sexe, de la drogue et du rock’n’roll ne furent pas les seuls responsables de ces bouleversements annoncés par la prophétie de Refus global.

Dans le tome V d’Histoire populaire du Québec, l’historien Jacques Lacoursière décrit avec acuité le contraste entre l’omniprésence de l’Église et son inexorable déclin. L’Église qui « semble partout est en fait nulle part », écrit-il en citant le professeur de l’Université de Montréal et membre du clergé Jacques Grand’Maison.

Le concile Vatican II ne ralentira pas la sécularisation du Québec. Pendant que les curés débattaient encore en 1970 afin de permettre la messe dominicale le samedi soir — ô révolution ! —, la société laïque attaquait par les voies législative et judiciaire l’édifice croulant du contrôle social par soutanes interposées.

Au diable les prescriptions sur le divorce, sur l’union libre, sur la contraception ou sur l’avortement ! Elles voleront toutes en éclats au cours des deux décennies suivantes. Le recul nous permet de constater que les premières lueurs de la laïcité furent indissociables des combats féministes pour se libérer d’un carcan social qui régentait la vie des femmes, de l’habillement jusqu’à la procréation.

Bien sûr, des intellectuels catholiques participèrent aux premières initiatives visant à rattacher Dieu à la modernité, sans parvenir à freiner un mouvement qui fera passer le religieux de la sphère publique à la vie privée. La transformation fut plus longue et moins radicale qu’il ne le semble à première vue. En effet, il faudra quand même attendre jusqu’en 2005 pour achever le projet de déconfessionnalisation des écoles et jusqu’en 2008 pour voir la création du cours Éthique et culture religieuse.

Dans Genèse de la société québécoise, paru en 1993, le sociologue Fernand Dumont constate, dans un bilan du siècle, l’érosion définitive de l’Église comme « organisme politique et instance de régulation des moeurs ». C’est l’un des plus merveilleux accomplissements de la marche permanente vers la laïcité. Ce n’est pas tant un legs de la Révolution tranquille qu’un long parcours d’affranchissement face aux dogmes et aux gardiens de la parole sacrée, qui ne cesseront jamais d’aspirer à la « revanche de Dieu », pour paraphraser le sublime essai de Gilles Kepel.

Pour en revenir à Dumont, celui-ci soulignait aussi dans son essai « le flottement de la culture collective » qui accompagne la laïcité. Dans une nation en constante recherche de ses repères, c’est sans doute la raison pour laquelle l’attachement nostalgique au catholicisme et à ses rituels (baptême, mariage) a persisté bien au-delà de la Révolution tranquille. Il en est de même pour l’adhésion à une « catho-laïcité », qui s’est plu à casser du sucre sur le dos des femmes voilées tout en se portant à la défense de la symbolique du crucifix à l’Assemblée nationale. Dieu merci, ce dernier a été remisé lors de la dernière offensive législative du gouvernement Legault.

Aujourd’hui, les Québécois se déclarent parmi les moins croyants et les moins pratiquants de tout le Canada, mais la ferveur religieuse suit également une tendance baissière dans les autres provinces. La ligne de fracture s’observe plutôt entre l’appui à la Loi sur la laïcité de l’État au Québec et sa diabolisation ailleurs au Canada.

Dans La laïcité du Québec au miroir de sa religiosité, les codirecteurs de l’ouvrage collectif, Jean-François Laniel et Jean-Philippe Perreault, soulignent les défis de penser le fait religieux au Québec alors qu’il semble en voie de glisser vers le statut de « corps étranger ou anachronique, en marge de la culture et de la société ». « La laïcité, dans sa volonté de neutraliser la religion, n’est pas neutre », formulent-ils.

C’est une autre façon d’envisager la Loi sur la laïcité. Celle-ci avait son utilité pour parachever l’oeuvre du rapport Bouchard-Taylor sur la crise des accommodements raisonnables, même si elle embrasse trop large en incluant le personnel enseignant. Avouons-le franchement, cette loi a autant à voir avec la marche vers la sécularisation que l’affirmation identitaire d’un groupe majoritaire entretenant une relation historique d’amour-haine avec le catholicisme. Un groupe qui projette désormais cette relation sur d’autres confessions qui n’avancent pas au même pas dans leur rapport évolutif au fait religieux.

Par l’un de ces paradoxes dont le Québec ne détient pas le monopole parmi les sociétés modernes, nous avons tué Dieu, mais nous ne sommes pas venus à bout de l’irrépressible besoin de croire, comme en atteste la montée en force de la spiritualité à base de tarots, de sorcellerie, de chakras ou de roches magiques. Nous aurions tort de penser que nous pourrons légiférer les croyances jusqu’à leur extinction, surtout pas dans une ère numérique où s’effacent les distinctions entre le public et le privé.

Source: Éditorial | Une foi en la laïcité

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Siavash Shekarian: Canada’s immigration system seems to be in peril

2024/07/29 Leave a comment

Another critique of current immigration policy which offers a national conversation as the solution. May be part of a solution but a conversation among stakeholders may not result in the politically hard choices and trade-offs necessary.

And of course, a business immigration lawyer favours business immigration, where most such targeted programs show mixed results at best:

It’s no secret that Canada’s immigration system is broken. From selection to integration, every aspect seems to be in peril. Yet, while headlines abound about Canada’s population trap, productivity emergency, housing crisis, and the mass exodus of talent leaving our country, discussions about the root causes and solutions remain notably scarce.

First, let’s clarify what’s “broken” about Canada’s immigration system. If the goal were to merely increase the number of people coming to Canada, then our system would be succeeding by every metric. But that’s not, and has never been, the objective. The objective of our immigration system is to grow the economy for everyone, not just increase Canada’s GDP. We want productivity — making the pie bigger for every Canadian, not just in total. Therefore, our selection policy should accordingly prioritize human capital, innovation, and entrepreneurship — the biggest contributors to boosting productivity. If that were the case, the temporary resident unemployment rate wouldn’t be nearly double the national average, the Bank of Canada wouldn’t be sounding the alarm about our productivity crisis and we wouldn’t be the only G7 country with business investment lagging behind residential real estate.

The misguided nature of our selection policy for attracting innovation and entrepreneurship is glaringly obvious. At the federal level, we have only two programs: the Federal Self-Employed program and the Start-Up Visa program. The first program was paused on April 30, while the second program was reactively curtailed on the same date.

Such clear disregard for innovation and entrepreneurship in our selection policy becomes a lot more alarming when put into context. According to the Business Development Bank of Canada: “Entrepreneurs are the backbone of Canada’s economy: They spearhead innovations. They’re responsible for virtually all net new job creation. They drive growth and transformation. Yet fewer people are venturing into business ownership each year, and nearly one-third of those who do will close their business within five years.”

On the other hand, Canada’s aging population and the ongoing retirement of baby boomers have caused a “succession tsunami” that will, in the near future, cause unprecedented damage to our economy. One therefore wonders why attracting entrepreneurs is being ignored by our policymakers.

The performance of our selection policy in choosing candidates with high human capital to enter our labour market is no better. The Express Entry system, designed to select the sharpest and brightest minds, uses a scoring grid based on potential economic output. However, flaws are prevalent both in design and use.

For instance, the system awards points for education without distinguishing between institutions. A University of Toronto engineering graduate is seen as having the same economic potential as a Conestoga college graduate. Points are awarded for work experience without considering where it was acquired. Additionally, the system completely ignores past earnings, which a highly regarded Statistics Canada report found to be the best predictor of future earnings and higher economic potential. Remarkably, despite its own policy report concluding that previous Canadian work experience is the largest unique contributing factor for predicting post-landing earnings, Canadian work experience remains among the lowest ranking in our Express Entry point system.

What does all of this tell us about the root cause of the problem? It reveals that our immigration system is driven by ambiguous and misguided party politics rather than transparent, reason-based national interest. With reactive and confused leaders shifting immigration policy on a whim and without consultation, it’s no surprise that an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada commissioned report bluntly concludes, “the current organizational model at IRCC is broken.”

So what is the solution?

Firstly, we must recognize that immigration is an incredibly complex issue requiring a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. Currently, a single broken department, notorious for its lack of transparency and accountability, has overshadowed all others. Our ultimate decision-makers must revamp this department and task it with uniting all levels of government and meaningfully engage society — civil society, academia, private sector, diaspora and local communities, and media. Together, we must redefine the goals and objectives of immigration, identify shortcomings, and collaboratively create sustainable solutions.

We need a national conversation about these issues. It’s time to move beyond the rhetoric and address the fundamental flaws in our system with transparency, accountability, and a commitment to the national interest. Only through collective effort can we transform our immigration policy into one that truly benefits all Canadians — old, new, and future.

Siavash Shekarian is CEO of Shekarian Law PC, chair of the business immigration committee of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association, and public affairs liaison of the citizenship and immigration section of the Ontario Bar Association.

Source: Siavash Shekarian: Canada’s immigration system seems to be in peril

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Not Everything is about Anti-Semitism: Bella Hadid and Adidas Shoes

2024/07/27 Leave a comment

Of note:

Nostalgia is lamenting over the job you never got, missing the girl you never dated, and holding memories for the trip you never took – or at least never completed. In marketing, it usually leads to inferior products that are sold for skyrocketing prices. I am probably the last candidate to purchase the retro sneakers that Adidas have recently issued for the upcoming Olympics in Parism which are an exact replica of the shoes they have issued in 1972 for the Olympic games in Munich. In am not a sprinter, but even if I were one  – I would have probably preferred modern shoes that come with airbag cushions which boost the performance and add to the comfort at a cheaper price (the nostalgic pair is sold for over 100 Euro!).

However, the story is not about me, not about running shoes consumption, and not even about nostalgia – but about the ongoing attempt to mark even the most indirect criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism. According to the very loud Israeli propaganda, the retro Adidas shoes are a disgrace not because they are outdated or too expensive, but since they brutally manifest anti-Semitism. Why? Because they are promoted by Bella Hadid. Let’s examine the proposed connection: The shoes were first introduced for the 1972 Olympic Games, where 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by a Palestinian terrorist organization, Black September. This organization no longer exists for over 40 years. Most of its commanders were killed by Israel. The remaining, like Amin al-Hindi, surprisingly or not, became collaborators during the golden age of the Oslo Accords.

What does it say about our perception of terrorists? Let’s leave it for another article and go back to the anti-Semitic shoes legend. None of the Israeli athletes who were murdered in the 1972 Olympics wore these shoes. None of them was a sprinter. Nothing connects Adidas to the massacre. As for Bella Hadid – while the famous model is the daughter of an even more famous objectionable real estate mogul and reality TV star Mohammed Hadid, who is a 1948 Palestinian refugee, has always maintained (just like her dad) a critical tone toward Israel – nothing in the family’s history relates to Black September or to any other terror organization. In fact, a cold blooded analysis would determine that the Hadids are in fact victims of Israel because they lost their house in Safed, lost their citizenship, and lost their chances to live in the country where the family has been residing for centuries. No matter how much you slice it and dice it – at the age of two weeks, baby Mohammed Hadid when expelled in 1948 was not a terrorist. It is true that he and his daughter never praise Israel, but do you really expect them to sing hymns to the country that expelled them and confiscated their property?

It is easy to find models with a better fit to Adidas retro running shoes. The world is full of athletes and former athletes who model, but anti-Semitism is the last ground to disqualify Bella Hadid.

Amir Hetsroni was a faculty member at Ariel University in the West Bank. He is emigrating from Israel in order to miss the next war, earn higher wages, enjoy cooler summers, and obtain a living package that is cost-effective. He has three passports and does not feel particularly worried about anti-Semitism.

Source: Not Everything is about Anti-Semitism: Bella Hadid and Adidas Shoes

Filed under Antisemitism, Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

Deborah Lyons: Courageous leadership is needed to combat antisemitism in Canada

2024/07/27 Leave a comment

Reasonable recommendations, highlighting the benefits of appointing a former public servant compared to a former activist as is the case with the representative on combatting Islamophobia:

…Lean into a proactive rather than reactive approach:

Leaders often wait for antisemitic incidents to take place before responding. To shift from a reactive to a proactive approach, leaders can establish a relationship underpinned by trust with Jewish individuals in their organizations. This could be a network, an adviser position, or a recurring meeting with a group representing the Jewish community. Combatting antisemitism works best when it is continuous, and not only when a problem arises. Nurturing relationships built in trust with Jewish individuals, actively listening to them and proactively engaging on issues is helpful in preventing antisemitism.

Encourage interfaith and inter-community dialogue:

I have seen a lot of pain in the eyes of Jewish Canadians, particularly after October 7. Much of this pain has come from the loss of friends and allies, and the silence and lack of support they’ve received from other Canadians, including from other faith communities. Community and faith leaders should understand that empathy and understanding for one group should not preclude empathy and understanding for others. Faith and community groups should extend their hands in support, as the Jewish community has so often done for others in past crises. Leaders should remember that we can be pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian at the same time. Leaders should encourage interfaith and inter-community dialogue, by creating spaces for these difficult but important conversations to happen. If done with mutual respect, compassion, and rooted in our shared values as Canadians, these spaces can help bring us back together rather than continuing the divisive dialogue and binary thinking that is destroying our civility.

Advocate for Jewish Canadians through allyship:

As a non-Jewish person, what I have learned most clearly is that antisemitism cannot be solved by the Jewish community alone. Jews did not create antisemitism and as with any other marginalized group, it is not on them to fight it alone. Being an ally means being present, an active listener, and a support system. Most importantly, it means believing Jewish Canadians when they speak. And taking action. A simple way for leaders to demonstrate their allyship is to ask Jewish neighbours, friends or individuals in their organizations: “What does support look like for you” and “How can I help?”

Discover modern day manifestations of antisemitism:

To address antisemitism, we must first define and understand it. In 2019, the Government of Canada formally adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of antisemitism as part of Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy. The IHRA Definition is the product of a 16-year-long democratic, iterative process, and as of the date of publication, has been adopted by 42 other countries and multiple international organizations. It is a tool for recognizing antisemitic expression, behaviour, intention and impact. The IHRA working definition — particularly through its 11 examples — serves as a helpful tool for leaders to understand the many forms of antisemitism and how to meaningfully address them.

Much work remains to be done. If this vacuum from faith, political and business leaders continues it may become too difficult to find our way back. It is our role as Canadians to stand now with our Canadian Jewish family across our country. It is what our Jewish family deserves. It is what Canada needs, now.

Deborah Lyons is Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. She previously served as Ambassador of Canada to Israel, Ambassador of Canada to Afghanistan, and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

Source: Deborah Lyons: Courageous leadership is needed to combat antisemitism in Canada

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France’s ban on athletes in hijabs makes a mockery of the Olympic charter

2024/07/27 Leave a comment

Of note (I am generally cynical about the IOC stated values, ethics and behaviour, but not the athletes):

The International Olympic Committee touts the 2024 Olympic Games as the first to nearly achieve gender parity. While six countries have no female athletes who qualified, gone are the days when the IOC repeatedly acquiesced to Saudi Arabia’s insistence on excluding women from its Olympic team. In advance of the 2012 Olympic Games, Saudi Arabia relented to prolonged international pressure and included female athletes for the first time. Since then, the country’s female participation rate has tripled, from roughly 10 per cent in 2012, to 30 per cent this year, including its first-ever female swimmer, 17-year-old Mashael Al-Ayed.

Heading into the Paris Olympics, IOC President Thomas Bach has effusively declared the Games as “the youngest, most inclusive, most urban and most sustainable.” But he didn’t mention the situation some athletes from France are facing.

You see, Olympians from across the world are welcome in Paris. Except French athletes who are Jewish, Sikh or Muslim and choose to wear religious apparel as part of their faith. These women and men are banned from the French Olympic team, in accordance with the French interpretation of laïcité (secularism). While Olympic athletes from other countries are permitted to wear religious apparel in Paris, French athletes cannot because of the religious “neutrality” of the state, which dictates that civil servants are forbidden from all religious expression. According to the French government, Olympic athletes are technically civil servants.

Not surprisingly, this ban disproportionately affects Muslim women. This was made clear last September when France’s Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra announced that French Olympic athletes “will not wear the head scarf,” thus ensuring “the prohibition of any type of proselytizing and the absolute neutrality of the public service.”

Compare the French position to the Olympic Charter, which states: “the practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have access to the practice of sport, without discrimination of any kind in respect of internationally recognized human rights within the remit of the Olympic Movement.”

And here we are: France has unequivocally banned its Muslim female hijabi athletes, while hosting the Olympic Games under the auspices of the IOC, whose very charter bars such discrimination.

The IOC’s response to the French position – “freedom of religion is interpreted in many different ways by different states” – is like the waters of the Seine: murky at best. By justifying discrimination, the IOC has rendered basic human rights meaningless. No Mr. Bach, you shouldn’t be boasting about how inclusive the games are. With its “move along, there’s nothing to see here” attitude, the IOC has shamefully abandoned French Muslim hijabi athletes who aspire toward the Olympics. It has made a mockery of its own charter.

Let’s not forget the role of France’s sports organizations, whose intransigence against hijabs has expanded over the years. As Anna Błuś, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Gender Justice in Europe writes: “Even at amateur levels and in regional competitions, several sports federations have banned sports hijabs. So, after training for years, excelling in their sport, coaching young girls and considering sports as a professional career, young Muslim women athletes are told to remove their hijabs or give up on their dreams.” A Muslim cannot play organized soccer, basketball or volleyball anywhere in France – even at a recreational level – if she wears a hijab. This, even though FIFA, FIBA and FIVB have authorized sports hijabs. No other European country has such draconian bans.

The ban extends to the opening ceremony. Sprinter Sounkamba Sylla was initially barred owing to her hijab, but worked out a deal with the French Olympic Committee to wear a cap instead of a head scarf as a compromise.

Les Hijabeuses, a group of soccer players, has challenged the French ban before the European Court of Human Rights. In June, they organized an “alternate Olympics,” which was more inclusive than the IOC’s version. Co-founder Founé Diawara captured its essence: “Our fight is not political or religious but centred on our human right to participate in sports.”

As Ms. Błuś states, “the Olympics should be for all women, including Muslim women.” This should be obvious in 2024, but it’s not. In the past, such challenges have sparked women to mobilize in solidarity with their sisters. In 2012, we raised our voices demanding the IOC sanction Saudi Arabia for excluding women on its Olympic team.

Today, only two countries immediately come to mind where I cannot play amateur sports, nor swim in my burkini: France and Afghanistan. France is not Afghanistan. But it is a G7 nation that is a signatory to international human rights treaties. It purports to be a champion of women’s rights. We must raise our voices again to demand the inclusion of all women in sports.

Sheema Khan is the author of Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman.

Source: France’s ban on athletes in hijabs makes a mockery of the Olympic charter

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , , , ,

This international student with mental disorders took 9 years to get a degree and was refused a work permit. Here’s why he’s challenging Canada’s rules

2024/07/27 Leave a comment

While I feel for the person and his family, hard to see how he would be likely to contribute economically. Perhaps on H&C grounds. Immigration essentially is about discrimination, who gets in, who does not, and this strikes me as legitimate with respect to the PGWP:

Growing up in Nigeria, Izaka Jefferson Eugene-Akhere was bullied and called “fat kid,” “Michelin man” and “Big Show.”

Even his father and uncles would make fun of him and joked his breasts were so big that he needed a bra. People just thought he was lazy and attributed that to his binge-eating and binge-watching TV; no one recognized his mental disorders.

Eugene-Akhere would hide in his bedroom and skip classes, letting his grades slip, so he wouldn’t stand out any more than he had to due to his size.

In 2012, the then 18-year-old was hoping to start fresh in Canada when his parents enrolled him in Columbia International College, a private school in Hamilton, to continue his education. After finishing one year of high school here, he started his undergraduate study in business at York University, also as an international student.

But his anxiety and depression continued to haunt him. After twice having his studies suspended by York due to his poor attendance and grades, Eugene-Akhere finally graduated in June 2022. He subsequently applied for a postgraduation work permit, which was refused last November.

Despite his reluctance to attract attention, Eugene-Akhere has put himself in the spotlight by challenging the eligibility criteria of the postgraduation work permit. He claims that requiring an applicant to have studied full time discriminates against disabled students and violates their equality rights under the Charter.

To qualify for a postgraduation work permit, an international student must complete a study program from an authorized institution and maintain full-time student status during each semester, except for the final term, or unless they had taken an approved leave by the school of no more than 150 days.

Post-secondary international students with mental health challenges and disabilities are supposed to be accommodated by colleges and universities, which generally allow the students to go part-time to reduce their workload. 

In the past, individual immigration officials would consider the evidence to grant exemptions when assessing postgraduation work permit applications. Sometimes, a student would challenge a refusal in court and win.

However, in 2022, the landscape changed after the Federal Court ruled in two separate cases, those of a graduate from Jamaica who studied at George Brown College and another from India at St. Lawrence College. The court set precedents that immigration officers do not have the discretionary power to modify or waive any of the eligibility requirements for work permits.

“What makes this case different is rather than challenging the officer’s discretion to issue a (postgraduate work permit), we’re challenging the constitutionality of the policy itself,” said Andrew Koltun, co-counsel for Eugene-Akhere with Lou Janssen Dangzalan. They are helping him on a pro bono basis.

“If the policy is ironclad and the policy excludes students with disabilities unintentionally but still in effect, then the policy itself is unconstitutional. No other applicant at Federal Court has challenged the constitutionality of this policy.”

The Immigration Department said it cannot comment on this case because the matter is before the Federal Court.

Born and raised in Lagos, Eugene-Akhere had a middle-class upbringing; both his parents are bankers. His mother and father were barely home and he was cared for by his teenage aunts, a household steward and driver.

“Television and food were my true primary companions during my childhood,” recalled Eugene-Akhere, now 30, who asked not to be photographed for this story as he’s still struggling with mental illnesses related to his appearance.

He started getting ridiculed and bullied about his weight. It got worse after he finished Grade 6 and moved to a boarding school as he drifted further from his busy parents and three younger siblings.

“I felt unloved and that my parents probably thought of me as a failure and did not want to have anything to do with me,” said Eugene-Akhere, whose waist size reached 46 inches. He stands about five-foot-nine.

After spending a year in high school in Hamilton, he enrolled in York University’s business and society undergrad program. He says he would hear people murmuring about his weight and feel like an outcast. Soon, he stopped going to classes and struggled to meet assignment deadlines.

In 2014, York issued a one-year mandatory withdrawal for his poor grades and attendance. He returned a year later but relapsed and was “debarred” in 2017 for two years after his GPA fell below 4.0 out of 9.

In 2019, he reapplied and resumed his studies. He met an academic counsellor and was advised to take a part-time course load. When he finished his degree in 2022, he had had a part-time load in five of his 17 semesters attending the school.

“She would say, ‘You should take your courses little by little so you don’t overwhelm yourself,” said Eugene-Akhere, who didn’t know about the eligibility for the postgraduation work permit at that time.

“There’s always the apprehension for me to be in a crowd. So there was less of that for me.”

A York University spokesperson declined to comment on this case but said the school offers a range of supports and services to international students, including immigration advising through licensed professionals. Accommodations include a modified course load, support with note-taking or peer assistance. 

It may also include a reduced course load while still maintaining full-time enrolment status to avoid negative impacts on the international student’s present and future immigration matters.

Upon his graduation, Eugene-Akhere said York referred him to his lawyers, who helped submit his postgraduation work permit application in September 2022 and recommended he get diagnosed, given the learning difficulties he described to them. 

A psychological assessment by the Bhatia Psychology Group concluded Eugene-Akhere suffered body dysmorphic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and dysthymia or persistent depressive disorder. Dysmorphic disorder is a mental health condition where a person is constantly anxious about flaws in their appearance.

The associated dysregulation, anxious distress, depressive mood and low self-esteem, it said, could contribute to his struggles with procrastination, worries about making a mistake, attending class and speaking in class, making eye contact with professors and peers, and concentration.

Despite the diagnosis, Eugene-Akhere’s postgraduation work permit application was refused in October and he appealed to the Federal Court.

“Mental health is invisible as a disability,” said Dangzalan. “It’s not in your face, so it’s very hard to spot.

“The postgraduation work permit program offers no accommodation. It’s structured in such a way that it only accepts the healthiest students with no conditions that interfere with their ability to study.”

Meanwhile, Eugene-Akhere is out of status in Canada and must rely on the financial support of his parents, who are struggling back home as the Nigerian currency has fallen to record lows amid surging inflation.

“My parents have invested over $200,000 in me, in Canada,” said Eugene-Akhere, who has been exercising in his free time and cut his waist size to 32 inches.

“I feel like I’m being punished because of my disabilities and my mental health issues. I would like to help my mom, my dad and siblings with bills.”

Source: This international student with mental disorders took 9 years to get a degree and was refused a work permit. Here’s why he’s challenging Canada’s rules

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , ,

Trudeau minister shoots down ‘false’ claims from Republican senators about Canada’s immigration program for Palestinians

2024/07/27 Leave a comment

Usual political posturing. But any terrorist incident of an immigrant or visitor to Canada in the USA would provoke stronger calls to tighten the border as the 2001 Ressam case showed:

U.S. Republican senators are making “categorically false” claims about Canada’s immigration program for Palestinians fleeing Gaza, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Thursday as he pushed back on claims from the senators that the measure puts American security at risk. 

They urged Mayorkas to take greater precautions at the Canada-U. S. border because of the program, which they allege would allow people with “potential” ties to Hamas — which the U.S. and Canada consider a terrorist group — easier access to the U.S. The senators did not provide any evidence of Gazans coming to Canada under the program and then entering the U.S.

The senators claim those coming into Canada on the temporary resident visa (TRV) program are given a “refugee travel document” which replaces their passport, and can be used to travel outside of Canada and into the U.S., while they wait to apply for Canadian citizenship.

That is “categorically false,” Miller said in a statement to the Star.

Those kind of documents are only provided to people assessed as refugees through a separate program, and people coming through the program for Palestinians receive temporary visas or temporary permits only valid for transit within Canada, he said.

“It is equally false to suggest that applicants are eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship,” Miller said. 

And — if those who come to Canada want to go to the U.S., it’s up to the U.S. whether they are let in, Miller pointed out. 

“Like all temporary residents, extended family members from Gaza would be subject to entry requirements and documentation when entering the United States as per their legislation and policies,” he said.

The detailed statement debunking the senators’ claims also noted that the security screening involved draws on all of Canada’s security partners — including the U.S.

“Security screenings are tailored to the reality of the location from which the applicant seeking entry to Canada is applying, including enhanced screening as warranted,” Miller said.

“Canada will continue to work with local authorities — at every level — to facilitate and advocate for the safe exit of extended family members while ensuring the safety of Canadians.”

To date, 189 people have arrived in Canada under the temporary special measures public policy put in place after the current war between Hamas and Israel began in October.

American worries about border security normally focus on that country’s southern boundary with Mexico and the immigration patterns there, but concerns over the Canada-U. S. line have bubbled up with increasing frequency in recent years. 

So far this year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has “encountered” more than 233 people on their terrorist watchlist at the U.S.-Canada border, saying that’s higher than in previous years. In 2023, according to U.S. data, there were 484 encounters, and in all of 2022, 313.

The numbers are significantly lower at the U.S.-Mexican border.

In the very early moments of this year’s Republican race for the presidential nominee, one candidate suggested there could be the need for a wall between Canada and the U.S., citing those same statistics. 

During Donald Trump’s first term as president, there was acute tension between the White House and Canada over refugee policy. Though Trump once said he wished his country’s immigration system functioned more like Canada’s in terms of process, his broader anti-immigration rhetoric and policy changes — like travel bans from some countries — were seen as factors behind a surge of asylum seekers at the Canada-U.S. border, largely through unofficial border crossings. 

When asked whether there were concerns this could happen again, Miller’s office said they can’t speculate on future policies, nor comment during the campaign. 

Source: Trudeau minister shoots down ‘false’ claims from Republican senators about Canada’s immigration program for Palestinians

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Canada might struggle to rein in surge of temporary residents, Bank of Canada projects

2024/07/26 Leave a comment

Sobering. See Ivison’s commentary after this article:

The Bank of Canada is projecting that the federal government could fall short of its goal to shrink temporary residents’ share of Canada’s population over the next three years.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced in March that Ottawa would attempt to reduce their share of the population from 6.2 per cent to five per cent by 2027.

But on Wednesday, the Bank of Canada predicted that the government would miss that target. The bank’s monetary policy report — released as part of its announcement to reduce interest rates — said that non-permanent residents’ (NPRs) share of the population has actually grown since the goal was set in March.

“NPRs represented 6.8% of the population at the beginning of April — much higher than at the time of the March announcement — and the share is expected to continue rising over the near term,” the report said.

“This suggests that it will take longer for planned policies to reduce NPR inflows to achieve the 5% target.”

The central bank report does note that there is “considerable uncertainty” about its projections.

“Details on how most temporary resident permit programs will be adjusted are not expected until later this year,” it says, adding that their scenario “will be revised as further measures are announced and more details on program changes become available.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said in a statement that the department will be including measures to address the influx of temporary residents in Canada in the upcoming immigration levels plan.

“The levels plan is expanding to include both temporary resident arrivals and permanent resident arrivals. It will be tabled in the fall following consultations with provincial and territorial counterparts and others as part of Canada’s annual levels planning,” the statement said.

Targets expected to be ironed out over summer

Miller met with his provincial and territorial counterparts earlier this spring, and the targets are expected to be ironed out over the summer.

The bank’s report comes as the government has been taking measures to temper the massive rise in people who migrate to Canada on a temporary basis to work or study.

Miller had also announced plans to scale back the number of international students by putting a two-year cap on new admissions in January.

Recent data from IRCC shows that there has been an increase in the number of student permits approved this year compared to 2023, which itself was a record year.

The government approved 216,620 student permits in the first five months of 2024, compared to 200,505 permits over the same period in 2023.

But the numbers for the cap on student visas wasn’t finalized until April, and the IRCC numbers may not yet reflect those changes.

Source: Canada might struggle to rein in surge of temporary residents, Bank of Canada projects

John Ivison: Trust the Liberals to fix immigration? The Bank of Canada doesn’t

…It is apparent that the Bank of Canada feels like it has to step in to clean up the federal government’s mess.

In its Monetary Policy Report, the bank said that NPRs will continue to rise in the near term and it will take longer than predicted to reduce inflows to achieve the five-per-cent target.

“Considerable uncertainty continues to surround the future path of net NPR flows,” it said.

If NPRs continue to leave Canada or become permanent residents at the rate observed since 2021, achieving the target would require reducing average annual gross NPR inflows by around 70 to 80 per cent across the temporary foreign worker program, the International Mobility Program and the asylum-seeker program, in addition to imposing a cap on the number of international students.

Mike Moffatt, an economist and senior director at the Smart Prosperity Institute, said the bank is clearly questioning the credibility of the federal commitment to the five-per-cent target.

“I think it’s fair. They’re basically saying the government isn’t going to do what they claim they’ll do. I don’t remember the last time I saw that from them,” he said.

It is a sign of how undisciplined immigration policy has become that the central bank feels it has to step out of its lane to admonish the government.

Source: John Ivison: Trust the Liberals to fix immigration? The Bank of Canada doesn’t

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Staff warned immigration minister about setting ‘significant precedent’ with Ukraine visa program

2024/07/26 Leave a comment

Public service doing its job, providing “fearless advice” while loyally implementing questionable policy:

Federal immigration officials warned the government it risked undermining the temporary immigration system with the design of the emergency visa program for war-displaced Ukrainians, newly released court documents show.

Immigration Department staff raised the concern in a memo to Sean Fraser, immigration minister at the time, shortly after the program was announced.

The memos outline the design of the Ukraine visa program, which allowed an unlimited number of Ukrainians and their family members to come to Canada to wait out the war.

The policy also waived the requirement for fleeing Ukrainians to promise to leave when their visa expires, against the advice of department staff.

“Waiving the need for a client to establish temporary intent would set a significant precedent that is not recommended, given that it would undermine a foundational component of the (temporary resident) legal framework,” staff said in the memo to Fraser, which was signed March 14, 2022.

Staff cautioned that waiving the requirement — the foundation of the temporary resident program — would set an “expectation that it could be done for other populations, not only those affected by conflict.”

The documents were disclosed as part of a proposed lawsuit against the federal government by three Afghan Canadians, who allege Canada discriminated against Afghan refugees by treating them differently than it did Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.

The lawsuit hasn’t yet been certified by the court.

“The government knew that what they were doing was unfair,” said Nicholas Pope, one of the lawyers representing the Afghan Canadians.

“That’s just what we’re arguing in this case. That it’s unfair, it’s discriminatory, and there’s not a good reason why protections shouldn’t be applied to people who aren’t from Europe.”

Warnings over ‘second class’ permanent residents

The lawsuit was filed by Canadians who served as language and culture advisers to the Canadian government and NATO during the war in Afghanistan, but haven’t been allowed to bring family members in Afghanistan to safety.

Canada has approved some 962,600 emergency visas for Ukrainians since the 2022 Russian invasion, which allow people fleeing the conflict to work and study while the war rages.

The program was generally well received in Canada, where people opened their homes to Ukrainians and donated clothes, furniture and other essentials to help them settle during their stay.

Roughly 298,000 actually made the trip to Canada, though it’s unclear how many have stayed and how many have since applied for permanent residency.

The documents also warn the design of the program could disadvantage Ukrainians by effectively creating “second class” permanent residents, without access to settlement supports or equivalent status under the law.

The government has argued the emergency program for Ukrainians can’t be compared to the program for Afghan refugees, because people from Afghanistan are unlikely to be able to return home.

In the memo, though, staff say the key distinction between temporary programs and permanent ones is the requirement that visa holders declare their intention to leave.

The department officials described the Ukraine emergency visa program as “exceptional in nature.”

“It underscores Canada’s unique relationship with Ukraine, the extensive diaspora and family links, as well as the unique nature of the conflict as a significant land invasion adjacent to EU countries with generous immigration measures,” the memo reads.

“However, it risks setting a significant precedent, one which may result in future pressures on the government to take similar action for other emergencies.”

Two full pages of legal considerations outlined by the department were blacked out in the documents provided to the court.

Fraser ultimately agreed with the department’s recommendation not to publish the policy publicly, given the “unprecedented and exceptional nature” of the approach.

Pope seized on that point Tuesday.

“Why would you not publish a policy if you’re proud of it, and you think that it’s fair, and you think that it’s just and you think that it’s Charter compliant?” he asked.

“I think they really understood the problematic nature of this.”

The offices of Fraser, now housing minister, and the current immigration minister, Marc Miller, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The government has emphasized that the Ukrainian program is intended to be temporary, and has encouraged those without family ties to Canada to apply for permanent residency through traditional means if they hope to stay.

Since Fraser announced the visa program, the government has faced accusations of unfairly limiting temporary refuge to people attempting to flee conflicts in Sudan and the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

In February, the Canadian Council for Refugees pointed out the disparity between the program for Ukrainians and the temporary refuge programs for Sudanese people.

“The crisis in Sudan is of catastrophic proportions,” the group wrote to Miller earlier this year.

“Given the scale of the crisis, the limit of 3,250 applications in the family-based humanitarian pathway is inadequate to the need. In contrast, Canada admitted an unlimited number of Ukrainians on temporary visas, and the pathway to permanent residence for Ukrainians is similarly without a cap.”

Source: Staff warned immigration minister about setting ‘significant precedent’ with Ukraine visa program

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , ,

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