Fact Check And Review Of Trump Immigration Policy

2020/08/27 Leave a comment

Good summary:

At the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump and his supporters have given the impression that Trump administration policy, while tough on illegal immigration, has been welcoming to legal immigrants, people trying to become American citizens and refugees fleeing government persecution. Below is a review of Trump administration policies on legal immigration from 2017 to the present.

Legal Immigration Cut in Half, Most Categories Blocked: By 2021, Donald Trump will have reduced legal immigration by 49% since becoming president – without any change in U.S. immigration law, according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis. An April presidential proclamation blocked the entry of legal immigrants to the United States in almost all categories.

Reducing legal immigration most harms refugees, employers and Americans who want to live with their spouses, parents or children, but it also affects the country’s future labor force and economic growth: “Average annual labor force growth, a key component of the nation’s economic growth, will be approximately 59% lower as a result of the administration’s immigration policies, if the policies continue,” according to the National Foundation for American Policy.

The Most Highly Skilled Foreign-Born Blocked or Denied at High Rates: The denial rate on new H-1B petitions for high-skilled foreign nationals has increased from 6% in FY 2015 to 30% in FY 2020. A June 2020 presidential proclamation suspended the entry of foreign nationals on H-1B and L-1 (intracompany transferees) visas.

As reported in August, “Today, even the most highly skilled individuals in the world cannot enter America under the Trump administration’s immigration policy. Reports from attorneys and a statement from the State Department confirm that U.S. consular officers in Europe are denying O-1 visas for individuals with ‘extraordinary ability’ based on a health pretext.”

Refugees and Asylum Seekers, including from Venezuela, Denied:At least one speaker at the convention discussed the protection Americans once offered Cuban refugees and spoke sympathetically about the victims of Venezuela’s socialist government. For FY 2020, the Trump administration established an annual ceiling for refugees 84% lower than the final year of the Obama administration (from 110,000 down to 18,000). As of July 17, 2020, only 7,848 refugees have arrived in the United States in FY 2020.

As of December 2019, 24,451 Venezuelans were in U.S. immigration court facing removal, an increase of 277%, from 6,492 in September 2018, reports the Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). “Rather than make things easier for fleeing Venezuelans, the Trump administration has tightened asylum standards,” according to Miami New Times reporter Manuel Madrid, who writes that many Venezuelans consider being deported to Venezuela to be a death sentence.

Despite pleas from religious leaders, the administration has not designated Venezuelans for Temporary Protected Status and has continued to deport people back to Venezuela. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)removed more than 900 people to Venezuela between 2017 and 2019. In FY 2016, the last full year of the Obama administration, 182 Venezuelans were removed, compared to 327 in FY 2019 under the Trump administration, an 80% increase.

Asylum seekers from Cuba and Venezuela (and Central America) who try to enter the United States and apply for asylum would be unlikely to obtain a hearing under current administration policies at the U.S. border. New asylum regulations also make it difficult for those fleeing persecution to be approved if they receive a hearing.

A Significant Increase in Denials for Military Naturalizations: The denial rate for military naturalizations increased from 7% in FY 2016 to 17% in FY 2019, a 143% increase in the denial rate, according to a National Foundation for American Policy analysis. Due to policy decisions, between FY 2016 and FY 2019 the number of immigrants in the military who naturalized dropped by 54%, from 8,606 in FY 2016 to 3,987 in FY 2019.

On August 25, 2020, the same day a naturalization ceremony was held at the White House, a federal court ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to make it more difficult for active-duty service members to become American citizens. “A federal court today ruled that the Trump administration’s policy of depriving military service members of an expedited path to citizenship is unlawful,” reported the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “The ruling comes in a lawsuit, Samma v. U.S. Department of Defense, filed by the ACLU on behalf of eight non-citizen U.S. service members who represent a class of thousands in uniform.”

Naturalization Slowed and Ceremonies Stopped for Many Applicants: The five people who received naturalization at the White House on August 25, 2020, were fortunate. Over 100,000 immigrants have been waiting to become U.S. citizens due to administration policies. In March, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) closed offices and for months would not provide alternative methods for completing the citizenship process, such as administering oaths virtually or incorporating social distancing in naturalization ceremonies.

While naturalization ceremonies slowly came back, it is likely many immigrants will not be citizens in time to vote in the November election, due, in part, to long delays in processing. (See also this report from Boundless, which has estimated as many as 300,000 immigrants may not gain citizenship before November.)

On August 3, 2020, the administration significantly increased the fees for immigrants to become American citizens, increasing the cost of the application (N-400) to become a U.S. citizen by more than 80%, from $640 to $1,160 (for online filings, although a separate $85 biometrics fee would be eliminated).

Some have wondered about the Trump campaign’s motivations for presenting a picture of its immigration policies that differs from the policies the administration implemented over the past three and a half years. The Washington Post’s Fact Checker Glenn Kessler asked, “Hmm, wouldn’t a speech by Stephen Miller at this point better reflect the president’s immigration policies in the past three years than this naturalization ceremony?” Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell replied, “Exactly. If Trump’s (anti-)immigration agenda is so great, why not defend it on the merits? Why misrepresent what it actually does, by pretending Trump welcomes political refugees and newly-naturalized immigrants?”

Source: Fact Check And Review Of Trump Immigration Policy

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Nesrine Malik: British hypocrisy is to blame for the deadly plight of migrants

2020/08/25 Leave a comment

Of note:

It is often argued that once it became clear that the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting wasn’t going to tip the United States towards adopting national gun control laws, that was the moment the gun control argument was lost for good. The equivalent moment, as far as British and European attitudes towards refugees and asylum seekers is concerned, was when the body of Alan Kurdi washed up on the shores of Turkey, almost five years ago.

Despite the global grief, the front pages, the renderings of Kurdi’s little body in paintings, his elevation into a symbol of a world that had lost its way, nothing happened. In fact, EU migration policies became even harsher. Last week, the British public was again moved when the body of a Sudanese migrant, Abdulfatah Hamdallah, was found on French shores, drowned after trying to make it to Britain. In the same time frame, another more fortunate migrant made it safely to Kent, and was immediately assaulted.

This duality lies at the heart of our attitudes towards migrants, asylum seekers and refugees: an outpouring of grief one minute, a political pummelling the next. We like to think of ourselves as kind, and touched by the tragedy of specific cases, but we do nothing beyond expressing sympathy. We are horrified by the treatment of Windrush victims, but not the hostile environment and the policies that led to the scandal. We are haunted by the desperation of people who take treacherous and fatal journeys to the UK, but many of us are complicit in their fate by voting for politicians who pledge to make those routes “unviable”.

Source: British hypocrisy is to blame for the deadly plight of migrants

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Immigration fraud in Canada, foreign workers should be cautious

2020/08/24 Leave a comment

Yet another instance:

When the video call ended, Rami Al-Americani felt confident he would get the job.

The four people who had interviewed him for a position at a Montreal-based construction company had asked him detailed questions, but Al-Americani owned and operated an engineering consulting firm in Lebanon. He knew he could do the work.

The address for Montreal Construction Group corresponds to a non-existent lot that would be in the middle of René-Lévesque Blvd., near Place Ville Marie. Workers in the area say they have never heard of the company. It isn’t real.A Montreal Gazette investigation has confirmed that the firm is part of a network of ghost companies concealing an elaborate immigration scam. Those who orchestrate the network use the prospect of living and working in Montreal, and in Canada, as a lure to target educated workers in the Middle East, gaining their trust with a lengthy application period before requesting money to pay for the immigration process.

The scam is convincing. The network operates under the guise of three interlinked companies: a recruitment agency, a construction firm and an immigration consultant firm. Multiple people act out different roles, from human resource representatives to hiring managers. The jobs they offer and the companies they purport to run are not real. They have websites that mimic those of real firms and use the stolen identities of real immigration consultants to assure victims of their legitimacy.

Those who fall victim to the scam have little recourse. The network exists largely in a jurisdictional vacuum online. Even when regulators do catch on, the network just shuts down and restarts under a new name.

“It’s a big network,” Al-Americani said. “It’s amazing that they took the time to do a fake website and some of them act as the recruitment, the other ones act as the company people, operations, HR. Another part acts as the immigration consultants.”

A chance for a job in Canada

For Al-Americani, it began in October 2019, when a woman who said her name was Mellissa Luke called him. She worked for a company called Nova Recruiters, based in Ottawa, she said, and wondered if he was interested in an opportunity to work in Canada. She sent along forms and arranged an interview with Montreal Construction Group.

The application process was thorough, Al-Americani recalled. He did several interviews, including one video call with four people.

“The people who interviewed me are people who understand construction,” he said. “I was interviewed by a so-called senior guy in operations and people who understand the terminology that we used in construction, who understand projects, so they prepared for it and they seemed professional.”

Between the initial phone call and the time Al-Americani was hired, a few weeks had passed. He filled out human-resources forms and Montreal Construction Group transferred him to Canada Immigration Hub, their approved immigration consultant, ostensibly based in Alberta. A man reached out. He said his name was Craig Jackson and that he was a certified immigration consultant. He sent along forms and asked for payment.

It worked. Al-Americani was hopeful about the move to Canada. He had researched the country and was tempted by the prospect of a good education for his children. The process was going to be expensive — Al-Americani knew that. He paid.

The money, $1,000 as an initial fee, was wired to a U.S. bank, which bothered Al-Americani. When he caught on to the scam, he seethed at the thought that someone could go to such lengths to prey on his family’s hopes of moving to Canada.

Others who have fallen — or nearly fallen — for the scam report noticing red flags, but sometimes ignoring them, blinded by the prospect of a new life abroad.

Eslam Emara, a Saudi man with 10 years of experience in transportation and logistics, caught on to the fraudsters. He was skeptical at every turn. He asked for proof of identity, scrutinized the companies’ websites, asked around on online forums and noticed holes in the Montreal Construction Group facade.

When the man calling himself Jackson asked for money, Emara said no. “That’s the time I had to say to them, ‘That’s bulls—. I’m not buying.’ ”

But it hurt him. A little part of him had been holding out hope, despite the red flags.

“It seems ridiculous, because I knew that it’s a fraud, but I was just dreaming on,” he said in a recent interview from Riyadh, uttering a laugh, then a sigh. He had hoped to immigrate to Canada with his wife and child. “It was one of our dreams to do something like this, so they gave us much disappointment.”

A convincing online network

The fake companies’ websites present a facade that at first is convincing to those targeted by the scammers.

But the slick sites don’t stand up to scrutiny. The Nova Recruiters site lists jobs that don’t exist. The Montreal Construction Group site is an exact imitation of a site belonging to a New Zealand company. It lists projects ostensibly completed by Montreal Construction Group that were completed by other firms. And the Canada Immigration Hub website features testimonials from satisfied clients — who aren’t real.

Raghib, from Saudi Arabia, says on the site: “No matter how easy or straightforward Canadian immigration process might look like, it isn’t easy at all. … After getting in touch with CIH, things were different and much better.”Surender, from Bangalore, says: “These people explained to me how studying in Canada can help me with my career and eventually getting a permanent residency.”

But the photo for Surender is really a stock image, available online, titled “Portrait of a middle-aged Indian with folded hands.” The photo of Raghib is another stock image: “Horizontal portrait of young smiling Arab man.”

Perhaps the most convincing tactic used by Canada Immigration Hub is the name of the person they use to contact their potential victims: Craig Jackson.

An identity stolen with impunity

Craig Jackson is a real immigration consultant, registered with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), a non-profit organization that has been mandated by the federal government to regulate immigration advising services. But he does not work for Canada Immigration Hub. The fraudsters used his identity to gain their victims’ trust.

The real Craig Jackson said he began receiving emails in late 2019 and early 2020 from people who were being strung along by Montreal Construction Group, signalling that his name was being used as part of an elaborate fraud.

“My initial reaction was of outrage and anger, followed by wonder,” Jackson said. “(I) was curious as to why they targeted my identity.”

The ICCRC had advised him to report the fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) — so he did.Al-Americani also reported the fraud. He emailed the Canadian embassy in Beirut, but received a generic response. Emara said he was considering reporting the scam to Saudi police.

But the international nature of the scam hinders law enforcement efforts.

Jeff Thomson, a senior RCMP intelligence analyst at the CAFC, said well-trained, resourceful groups are likely behind the Montreal Construction Group fraud.

“People ask, ‘Who’s behind this stuff?’ It’s organized crime at the end of the day,” Thomson said. “When you look at the level of organization involved — the multiple countries where the money is going, the websites — the sophistication, the steps they set up to run the scams.”

The CAFC has received multiple complaints about Montreal Construction Group, but Canadian authorities lack the ability to investigate and prosecute those behind the fraud, in part because there is little connecting the perpetrators to Canada.

“What we see with a lot of these things is oftentimes the fraudsters use Canadian government entities or business names … but none of the money ends up coming here,” Thomson said. “They’re just using Canadian entities because people want to come to Canada for our reputation.”

Though the Montreal Construction Group fraudsters — and others like them — often avoid prosecution, Canadian authorities can make it more expensive for them to do business by targeting their websites and bank accounts.

But immigration fraud is rampant. It keeps the authorities busy, and shutting down websites and bank accounts only delays the scammers. They tend to crop back up.An Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson said in a statement that the government had earmarked $51 million to improve enforcement and public awareness of immigration fraud and establish systems to better crack down on fraudulent immigration consultants.

“The government of Canada takes any kind of citizenship or immigration fraud seriously,” the statement reads. “Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada urges clients to use the official departmental website to obtain information about its programs in order to avoid becoming victims of fraud.”

An ICCRC spokesperson said the agency could not investigate the activity of those who had impersonated Jackson, because the perpetrators were not real immigration consultants. But he said the organization was aware of the situation: “We’ve been looking into the matter and are working with enforcement authorities to combat these schemes.” He also said criminal fraud of the kind displayed by the Montreal Construction Group scams is rare, but that the ICCRC is slated to soon become a new body that would have more power to prevent such fraud.

A hidden network

It is unclear who is behind the fraud, but banking information from an account associated with the fraud points to a man named Nabeel Ahmed, ostensibly living in Wichita, Kan. Phone records also link the listed number for Montreal Construction Group — a Montreal landline — to a man named Nabeel Ahmed.

In 2012, Windsor police arrested a man they said was a prolific fraudster named Nabeel Ahmed, who had a criminal history of committing identity and credit card fraud. He was convicted on fraud-related charges and was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
The Montreal Gazette could not confirm that the Nabeel Ahmed convicted in Windsor is the same person linked to the fraud-connected bank account and the Montreal landline. Attempts to reach Nabeel Ahmed were unsuccessful.

One of the fake company websites — the Nova Recruiters site — is listed as registered to someone in Ontario, suggesting the fraudsters may have some physical connection to Canada, but besides that, little is known about their physical location.

A game of whack-a-mole

Even if authorities succeed in shutting down Montreal Construction Group’s website, or if enough people catch on to the scam, those behind it may well restart the scam under a new company.

A Montreal Gazette analysis has found that an eerily similar fraud network operated in the spring of 2019 — before the Montreal Construction Group scam. The earlier scam offered victims employment on Canada’s West Coast instead of in Montreal, but the similarities between the operations suggest that those who run the Montreal Construction Group scheme have experience rebuilding their network when officials begin to catch on to them.

The earlier scam used the same methods as Montreal Construction Group, and much of the language the fraudsters use in emails from both the old and the new scam is identical.

Instead of Montreal Construction Group, the earlier scam used Richmond Construction Group. Instead of Nova Recruiters, the earlier scam used Oakville Recruiters. Instead of Canada Immigration Hub, the earlier scam used Canada Shores.
Instead of Craig Jackson, the fraudsters impersonated Gregory Batt, another registered immigration consultant.

The real Gregory Batt said he began receiving emails and phone calls in late April 2019 from people asking him when they would receive their permanent residence. “All the guys who contacted me were well educated and articulate, mostly engineers,” he said. “I told all the folks who contacted me that they had been cheated, that Canada Shores was a fake company.”

Ahmed Rashed, an experienced purchase manager from Saudi Arabia who nearly fell for the Richmond Construction Group scam, said the organization and co-ordination astounded him. He was close to paying an initial $1,000 fee to immigrate to Canada, but had a friend in Vancouver check the address of Richmond Construction Group. There was no company.

“I deal with the internet all the time and I was about to fall for this,” Rashed said. “You know why they chose Canada? They chose Canada because they know everybody likes Canada. … That will help them to fool more people. This is because Canada has a good reputation.”

Dreaming of Canada

While wrapped up in the scam, victims spend weeks — sometimes more than a month — planning to move their families, their lives, to a new country.

For Al-Americani, the loss of the $1,000 he paid is secondary to the pain of having his immigration hopes dashed.

“For a month and a half we were living this dream of going to Montreal and having this new life,” he said, “and having our kids become Canadians and ourselves becoming Canadians.”

When he came to the realization that the company was a lie — that there was no job offer, no prospect of working in Canada — Al-Americani was crushed. “We felt really bad about it,” he said. “For like two, three weeks we were depressed.”

The scam also tends to leave its victims distrustful of immigration processes. But Al-Americani is still holding out hope. He said his family has recently begun once more to mull over the idea of coming to Canada.

“You know, it’s been a few days since it’s passed through my head to do the process a second time,” he said. “I think we’re going to do it.”

No one answers the phones at any of the fake companies and, as of publication, their websites are still active.

Source:  Immigration fraud in Canada, foreign workers should be cautious

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WES Survey: Are Intentions to Immigrate to Canada Changing in the Face of COVID-19?

2020/08/22 Leave a comment

The second survey, showing increased interest in immigrating to Canada. Like all surveys, it is a snapshot, and interest doesn’t necessarily translate into action. The chart above highlights the year-over-year change in study permit holders for the 10 top source countries. As this quarter – July to September – is the historic peak, August numbers will be particularly important to assessing the impact:

What impact will COVID-19 and the resulting global economic recession have on prospective immigrants’ interest in moving to Canada? Recent research from World Education Services (WES) shows how these twin crises have affected the intentions of aspiring immigrants, shedding some light on this question.

Fully 45 percent of respondents to a June 2020 survey reported that COVID-19 had increased their interest in immigrating to Canada, up from 38 percent in a similar survey in April. The survey will be sent out again in late August.

As a designated provider of the educational credential assessments required for those invited to apply to immigrate to Canada under one of the country’s economic immigration categories, WES is uniquely positioned to gauge the intentions and motivations of aspiring immigrants. Each week, WES interacts with thousands of prospective immigrants who apply for an educational credential assessment. This work gives us ready access to a pool of prospective immigrants who, by completing our surveys, can provide insight into their aspirations. What we’ve learned in these surveys may prove helpful to Canada’s immigration advocates, policy makers, and employers as they plan for a successful economic recovery.

INTEREST IN IMMIGRATING TO CANADA IS INCREASING AS A RESULT OF THE PANDEMIC

Despite COVID-19’s severe disruptions to international mobility and the global economy, both surveys reveal that the pandemic has increased interest in immigrating to Canada among a high and rising percentage of immigrant hopefuls, as noted above. Far fewer—just 5 percent in April and 6 percent in June—reported that the pandemic had decreased their interest in immigrating to Canada.

Are Intentions to Immigrate to Canada Changing in the Face of COVID-19? Image 1: Bar chart showing the impact of COVID-19 on the interest of prospective immigrants in immigrating to Canada

Image 1: Prospective Immigrants: Impact of COVID-19 on Interest in Immigrating to Canada

Respondents also reported that they were reconsidering their immigration plans and timelines in response to the pandemic. In June, around a third (32 percent) reported that they were considering delaying their immigration to Canada, a slight decline from the percentage in April (35 percent). A smaller proportion—11 percent of respondents in June, up from 7 percent in April—said they would consider immigrating to a country other than Canada.

Are Intentions to Immigrate to Canada Changing in the Face of COVID-19? Image 2: Bar chart showing the likelihood of prospective immigrants to consider certain immigration-related actions

Image 2: Likelihood of Considering the Following Actions Related to Immigration

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN CANADA AND ABROAD MAY BE DRIVING INTEREST

The relative resilience of Canada’s economy may be driving some of the interest in immigrating. While the surveys found that COVID-19-related economic concerns were widespread among immigrant hopefuls, our research also revealed that many respondents expected the economic impact in Canada to be less extreme than in their home country. The difference in expectations has grown greater over time. In April, 81 percent expected a negative impact on economic conditions in their home country, while fewer, 68 percent, expected a negative impact on conditions in Canada. In June, that expectation remained roughly the same for the respondents’ home country (80 percent), but by then only 58 percent expected a negative impact in Canada.

Similarly, by June, 57 percent of respondents expected a negative impact on jobs in their occupation or sector in their home country, up considerably from 47 percent in April. Far fewer—43 percent in June, up from 41 percent in April—expected a negative impact on jobs in their sector in Canada. This overall expectation of a less negative impact in Canada in terms of both overall economic conditions and the availability of sector-specific jobs may help to explain why by June nearly half of the respondents were more interested in immigrating to Canada as a result of COVID-19.

Are Intentions to Immigrate to Canada Changing in the Face of COVID-19? Image 3: Bar chart showing the prospective immigrants' expectations of the negative impact of COVID-19 on economic conditions in Canada and their home countries

Image 3: Negative Impact Expected

IMMIGRANTS WILL PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN CANADA’S RECOVERY

Canada’s continued attractiveness to those looking to settle there is good news for the country. Newcomers will play a critical role in the nation’s recovery. Despite high unemployment rates brought on by the pandemic, Canada still faces long-term talent shortages due to high rates of retirement and a shrinking pool of individuals entering the workforce each year. In the coming years, studies projecting workforce composition and growth estimate that immigrants will make up 100 percent of the net growth of the country’s labour force. Newcomers will be vitalboth to reenergizing and sustaining Canada’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

APPENDIX

Are Intentions to Immigrate to Canada Changing in the Face of COVID-19? Image 4: Table displaying survey metrics

Image 4: Survey Metrics

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RBC report says immigration slowdown due to COVID-19 threatens Canadian economy

2020/08/22 Leave a comment

Not much new, but still a reckoning for Canada. The charts below show the year over year for immigrants (economic, family and refugees) as well as the subset coming under the various Provincial Nominee Programs, along with the top 10 countries:

A slowdown of immigration to Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to derail a major source of economic and labour force growth, according to a report from the Royal Bank of Canada.

The shortfall jeopardizes the ability of the country to find employees needed in sectors such as health and elder care as the baby boom generation moves into retirement over the next few years, the report says.

It calls on the federal government to find new ways to encourage more immigrants to move to Canada.

“Canada does rely on having large numbers of people coming to the country to fuel growth and, if we see these large declines, one concern could be that people may decide maybe they don’t want to come to Canada anymore,” said report author Andrew Agopsowicz, a senior economist for RBC who studies labour trends.

“I think it’s really important for Canada to ensure the process is clear and that we still put out this attitude that we are open and we want people from the rest of the world to come to our country.”

Canada added 34,000 permanent residents in the second quarter, down 67 per cent from the same period last year, the RBC study said.

Meanwhile, new permanent residency applications to Canada were down 80 per cent and just over 10,000 new study permits were processed, down from 107,000 a year earlier.

Despite a recent recovery in the pace of immigration, the bank expects to see only 70 per cent of the originally targeted 341,000 new permanent residents at the end of the year, a decline of about 100,000 people.

The shortfall is particularly bad news for elder care as labour shortages have gotten worse in the wake of the pandemic’s deadly sweep through the country’s nursing homes, said Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the National Institute on Ageing at Ryerson University and director of geriatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital.

“We’ve been having a huge struggle finding workers and retaining workers in this sector for years … and we were only keeping it afloat by often recruiting immigrants who are willing to take on these jobs that we as Canadians didn’t want to do,” he said.

“The fact it’s low paid and not valued also speaks to one of the reasons it’s been incredibly hard retaining (staff).”

Sinha said higher wages are needed not only to recruit Canadian-born workers but also to keep ambitious immigrants on the job longer.

Canada’s ability to attract immigrants with meaningful work as the economy struggles to rebound from the pandemic may be difficult.

A Statistics Canada report published Thursday finds that recent immigrants were harder hit by pandemic-related job losses, with 17 per cent becoming unemployed from March to April compared with 13.5 per cent of workers who are Canadian-born or immigrants who have been in Canada more than 10 years.

The percentage was higher, almost 20 per cent, for recent female immigrants.

The difference is significant, said Statistics Canada analyst Feng Hou, adding it is attributed mostly to recent immigrants having less work experience and earning lower wages.

“From past experience, when immigrants come during hard times, they tend to have a hard time finding jobs,” he said, adding there’s no data as yet to tell if that will happen in the current environment.

Travel restrictions that began in March and continue today make it difficult for people to physically come to Canada, Agopsowicz said.

At the same time, the lockdowns in the early days of the pandemic slowed processing of applications in Canada and prevented potential immigrants from accessing programs to ease application in their home countries.

An unknown is whether the COVID-19 virus, which hits senior citizens hardest, will have a dampening affect on the desire of foreigners to come to Canada and leave behind their vulnerable elderly relatives, Agopsowicz said.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty, I think, when people arrive already during normal times, so I think people are starting to work through what that means,” he said.

“This may be somewhat of a lost year (but) is this going to be easy to recover from next year in terms of bringing increased numbers back?”

Only about 20 per cent of new permanent residents are former students or temporary workers, he pointed out, suggesting Ottawa could do more to try to convince those people to permanently reside in Canada to bolster numbers.

Source: RBC report says immigration slowdown due to COVID-19 threatens Canadian economy

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How Netflix’s Immigration Nation shows the true horror of Ice agents

2020/08/20 Leave a comment

One of the better articles on the Netflix series, a must see:

The initial main draw of Immigration Nation, the six-part documentary series on immigration enforcement under Trump released on Netflix this month, was that US authorities did not want you to see it. After viewing a final cut, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), which had allowed the film-makers, Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz, to embed with agents for over two years, attempted to intimidate the production team into delaying the release. The agency threatened Clusiau and Schwarz with lawsuits, according to a New York Times report, and to use the “full weight” of the federal government to block publication of certain Ice scenes usually invisible to the American public.

It didn’t work, and watching the six-hour series, it is clear why the agency did not want the footage to become public. Immigration Nation, more than any other documentary of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, allows Ice agents and officials to explain their perspective. And thus more than any other documentary, Immigration Nation reveals how a government agency upholds and perpetuates evil. Two-plus years of Cops-style embedment doesn’t glorify Ice agents, but instead reveals the agency to be populated by, in some cases, callous people who gloat over arrests; more often, affable people fulfilling their small part of the contract as directed, with the compartmentalization it requires.

Source: How Netflix’s Immigration Nation shows the true horror of Ice agents

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StatCan/IRCC Study: Selecting economic immigrants from among temporary foreign workers and labour market outcomes by admission programs

2020/08/20 Leave a comment

Another insightful data-based analysis by StatCan and IRCC, showing the importance of Canadian work experience from being former temporary foreign workers:

Canada selects economic immigrants through various programs, including the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Previous research has shown that the last two groups fare better in the labour market than the first one, at least in the initial years after immigration. The difference stems largely from the fact that proportionately more economic immigrants selected from the PNP and the CEC were former temporary foreign workers, according to the first study released today.

The study, titled ‘Two-step immigration selection: Why did immigrant labour market outcomes vary by admission programs?,’ shows that from 2009 to 2016, about two-thirds of immigrants selected from the PNP and essentially all immigrants selected from the CEC were former temporary foreign workers, i.e. had employment earnings in Canada before obtaining their permanent residence.

In contrast, about one-quarter of their counterparts selected from the FSWP were former temporary foreign workers.

Since having worked in Canada before obtaining one’s permanent residence is associated with higher employment incidences and earnings, the fact that a relatively high proportion of immigrants selected from the PNP and the CEC worked in Canada in the past explains to a large extent their better labour market outcomes.

For example, 93% of immigrants selected from the PNP and 95% of immigrants selected from the CEC found employment in the first full year after obtaining permanent residency. The corresponding percentage for their FSWP counterparts was substantially lower, at 80%.

The study shows that the greater propensity to have worked in Canada in the past accounts for about 40% of the 13-percentage-point difference observed between immigrants selected from the PNP and the FSWP. It also accounts for about two-thirds of the 15-percentage-point difference observed between immigrants selected from the CEC and the FSWP.

The relatively high proportion of PNP and CEC immigrants who had previous work experience in Canada also explains why these groups earn more than their FSWP counterparts. It accounts for at least 94% of the earnings differences observed between these groups, on the one hand, and immigrants selected from the FSWP, on the other hand, during the first year after immigration.

Likewise, the greater propensity to have worked in Canada in the past accounts to a large extent for the differences in employment incidences and earnings observed between the three groups, five years after immigration.

The second study, titled ‘Two-step immigration selection: Skilled work experience vs. pre-arranged jobs,’ focuses on the economic immigrants who were selected under Canada’s Express Entry system in 2015 and 2016. It compares the degree to which Canadian work experience before immigration and pre-arranged employment at the time of application predict the initial labour market outcomes of these economic immigrants.

Both Canadian work experience and pre-arranged employment are key criteria underlying Canada’s Express Entry system of economic immigration selection.

The study shows that Canadian work experience appears to be a better predictor of initial labour market outcomes than pre-arranged employment.

Economic immigrants who had pre-arranged employment displayed, in the first two years after immigration, employment incidences that were similar to those of other economic immigrants selected under the Express Entry system.

In contrast, economic immigrants who had worked in Canada before immigrating and who had received relatively high annual earnings while doing so (over $50,000 in 2017 dollars) had employment incidences that were 8 percentage points higher than those of other economic immigrants without Canadian work experience.

Canadian work experience was also a stronger predictor of initial earnings after immigration than pre-arranged employment.

Even after controlling for education, among other factors, immigrants with a pre-arranged job earned 15% more than those without a pre-arranged job in the first two years after immigration. However, immigrants who had received high earnings in Canada before immigrating earned almost twice as much as those who had no Canadian work experience.”

View or download the full reports:

Two-step Immigration Selection: Why Did Immigrant Labour Market Outcomes Vary by Admission Programs?

Two-step Immigration Selection: Skilled Work Experience vs. Pre-arranged Jobs

 

 

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Wealthy turn anti-immigrant when their riches are threatened

2020/08/19 Leave a comment

Interesting psychological study, with the fear of loss (absolute or relative) being the motivator (association/correlation, not necessarily causation):

Anti-immigration sentiment rises when affluent people fear losing their wealth, a psychological study has found.

The University of Queensland’s Professor Jolanda Jetten said harsh attitudes towards immigrants were found in times of economic downturn and relative deprivation—and also in prosperous times.

“Affluent people who fear losing in the short or long term experience collective angst about their group’s future vitality and wealth status,” she said.

“Our research found this fuels negative attitudes toward immigrants and minorities. Even though may have a lot, their fear of falling is associated with opposition to immigration.”

Professor Jetten said the research turned accepted wisdom on its head, showing that society’s most economically vulnerable were not always the most supportive of anti-immigration calls.

“In explaining the rise of right-wing populism, many have pointed to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis as the root cause of rising anti-immigrant sentiments,” she said.

“Experts had long believed that economic downturns triggered perceptions of relative deprivation and chances of civil conflict. Moreover, , so the argument typically goes, increase fear and frustration among poor working-class voters. These dynamics are typically referenced when discussing Trump’s victory in the 2016 US presidential elections, and the success of populist parties like One Nation in Australia. The assumption that economic crises combined with individual relative deprivation provide for populism, dominate many of the discussions on the origins of right-wing populism and anti-immigrant sentiments more generally.”

But the new research highlighted wealthier people who might be attracted to such populist parties, said Professor Jetten from the UQ School of Psychology.

“It seems that if you have a lot of money, you feel you have a lot to lose and the fear of falling makes you feel vulnerable and concerned about the future,” she said.

The research team, including Dr. Frank Mols and Dr. Nik Steffens, found an association between opposition to immigration and fear of losing wealth, individually or collectively, across four studies involving a total of more than 1000 people.

“In the laboratory, when we made people feel wealthy they were more opposed to immigration when they were made to feel that they might lose some of their wealth in the future than the group who felt their wealth was secure,” Professor Jetten said.

“In a study among Australian participants we found the their own financial future, or that of Australia’s, will be worse than the present, was associated with more opposition to immigration. The results may help us to explain why support for political parties with anti-immigrant messages sometimes comes from the wealthiest in society. This is important at a time when populist parties and leaders with strong anti-immigrant stances are a force to be reckoned with in many countries.”

Source: Wealthy turn anti-immigrant when their riches are threatened

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Le PLQ et QS dénoncent un programme de régularisation discriminatoire

2020/08/19 Leave a comment

Appropriate criticism over the narrowness of the program;

Le Parti libéral du Québec et Québec solidairejugent trop sévères les conditions d’admission au Programme spécial visant à faciliter l’octroi de la résidence permanente aux demandeurs d’asile qui, au plus fort de la crise sanitaire, suaient sang et eau dans les résidences pour personnes âgées assaillies par la COVID-19.

« On circonscrit l’accès à la mesure à un secteur [la santé], et à l’intérieur du secteur, même si tout le monde a eu un risque [de contracter le coronavirus], on circonscrit encore plus… Ça, ça ne serait pas discriminatoire ? » a demandé l’élu libéral Gaétan Barrette en commission parlementaire lundi.

Le Programme spécial des demandeurs d’asile en période de COVID-19 (PSDAPC) s’adresse aux « anges gardiens » qui étaient « sur la ligne de front » à prodiguer des « soins directs à la population pendant la pandémie », a expliqué la ministre de l’Immigration, Nadine Girault. « Ceux qui ont pris le plus de risque », a-t-elle résumé.

Le PLQ et QS se sont tour à tour désolés de voir les autres travailleurs du secteur de la santé — les préposés à l’entretien des résidences pour aînés frappés de plein fouet par le coronavirus, par exemple — laissés en plan par le PSDAPC. Un « vrai, vrai, vrai geste d’humanité » serait de « remercier […] tous les gens qui ont pris un risque ». « Que je sois préposé à l’entretien ménager ou gardien de sécurité, quand le virus je l’attrape, puis que je meure, c’est moi qui suis mort, c’est ma famille qui pâtit. C’est ça un risque », a souligné M. Barrette.

On circonscrit l’accès à la mesure à un secteur [la santé], et à l’intérieur du secteur, même si tout le monde a eu un risque [de contracter le coronavirus], on circonscrit encore plus…

— Gaétan Barrette

« On a envoyé au combat […] une armée de gens sans arme », a-t-il ajouté, tout en rappelant l’absence d’équipements de protection individuelle en quantité suffisante dans les milieux de vie pour personnes âgées après l’arrivée de la COVID-19 en sol québécois.

L’ex-ministre de la Santé soupçonne le gouvernement caquiste d’avoir « mis un frein » à la volonté du gouvernement fédéral de régulariser les employés du réseau de la santé en situation de précarité afin de respecter les seuils d’immigrationqu’il s’est fixés.

Le député solidaire Andrés Fontecilla a suggéré lundi d’accroître la portée du Programme spécial afin que les préposés à l’entretien, les agents de sécurité, les travailleurs agricoles, les travailleurs d’abattoirs ou d’entrepôts en situation de précarité puissent aussi s’y inscrire.

La ministre de l’Immigration, Nadine Girault, a dit être en paix avec sa décision de permettre seulement aux demandeurs d’asile ayant prodigué des soins directs à des patients — dont des préposées aux bénéficiaires et des aides-infirmières — de s’inscrire au PSDAPC, ce qui leur permettra de s’établir au Québec. « Ce n’était pas un programme discriminatoire. C’était un programme pour remercier les gens qu’on voulait remercier chez les “anges gardiens” qui ont pris soin de nos gens. C’est tout simplement ça », a-t-elle fait valoir.

Puis, elle a cédé, sans avertissement, la parole au nouveau sous-ministre de l’Immigration, Benoit Dagenais. Béant de surprise, le haut fonctionnaire s’est mis à la tâche d’énumérer les 10 orientations de la Planification pluriannuelle de l’immigration 2020-2022 léguée par l’ex-ministre Simon Jolin-Barrette.

Il a par la suite mentionné que le Plan d’immigration du Québec 2021 sera établi à la lumière de la situation économique du Québec, qui a été fragilisée par l’arrivée du coronavirus en sol québécois le printemps dernier. « La crise sanitaire, évidemment, on va la prendre en considération », a souligné M. Dagenais.

De son côté, Mme Girault a indiqué qu’« il n’y aura pas de baisse des seuils d’immigration ».

Lutte contre le racisme

Le PLQ a aussi jeté le doute sur la volonté du gouvernement de lutter contre le racisme au Québec, lundi, après que Mme Girault eut refusé net de nommer les groupes rencontrés jusqu’à aujourd’hui par le Groupe d’action contre le racisme (GACR), dont elle assure la coprésidence.

Le « groupe des sept » élus de la Coalition avenir Québec, qui a été mis sur pied au lendemain de la mort de l’Afro-Américain George Floyd sous le genou d’un policier de Minneapolis, doit présenter une série d’actions visant à faire reculer le racisme au cours de l’automne.

« C’est malheureux et c’est décevant de ne pas avoir l’information », a dit la députée libérale Jennifer Maccarone, tout en invitant le GACR à solliciter sans délai l’avis de la Ligue des Noirs, du Congrès maghrébin au Québec, de la Ligue des droits et libertés…

Source: Le PLQ et QS dénoncent un programme de régularisation discriminatoire

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Ralentissement économique: Québec ne réduira pas les seuils d’immigration

2020/08/19 Leave a comment

Small step in their overall more restrictive immigration policies in ruling out further decreases to their already announced lower levels:

Le gouvernement Legault poursuivra l’augmentation du nombre d’immigrants admis annuellement, malgré la hausse du taux de chômage et le ralentissement économique causé par la COVID-19.

«Il n’y aura pas de baisse des seuils d’immigration dans les cartons pour les prochaines années», a déclaré la ministre de l’Immigration, Nadine Girault, au premier jour de l’étude des crédits à l’Assemblée nationale lundi.

«C’est évident qu’avec la COVID, on a eu moins d’immigrants qui sont rentrés, les frontières étaient fermées, a souligné Mme Girault. Mais ça n’a pas affecté les seuils d’immigration et ça n’affectera pas les seuils d’immigration pour les prochaines années.»

La ministre répondait aux préoccupations du député solidaire Andrés Fontecilla, qui s’inquiétait d’un retour à la baisse, comme ce fut le cas au début du mandat du gouvernement caquiste. Le nombre d’immigrants admis était alors passé de 51 118 à 40 546 et doit maintenant remonter graduellement au seuil original d’ici 2022.

Le 14 avril dernier, le premier ministre François Legault avait évoqué la possibilité d’accepter moins de nouveaux arrivants si la pandémie devait mener à une hausse importante du taux de chômage. «On n’est pas rendus là, mais effectivement, c’est quelque chose qu’on va regarder, avait-il déclaré dans les premières semaines de la pandémie. Je pense qu’il faut tout revoir puis, entre autres, le nombre d’immigrants avec le taux de chômage élevé qu’on va avoir dans les prochains mois. On pourrait effectivement réduire le nombre.» Au mois de juillet, le taux de chômage atteignait 10,7% au Québec.

Mais la ministre Girualt fait valoir que, même si le Québec ne sera plus en situation de plein emploi, «on va avoir quand même des gros manques au niveau de certains secteurs d’emploi».

D’autres «anges gardiens» à risque

Toutefois, c’est l’entente avec Ottawa pour permettre aux demandeurs d’asile du réseau de la santé de régulariser leur statut qui a surtout retenu l’attention du PLQ et de QS durant l’audience de quatre heures. Les deux partis d’opposition reprochent à Québec d’avoir restreint l’accès au programme uniquement à ceux qui ont donné des soins directement aux patients entre le 13 mars et le 14 août, et ce, sur une période d’au moins 120 heures.

«Je suis persuadé que les gens comprennent que ce qu’on fait, c’est parce qu’on voulait s’occuper et prendre soin de nos anges gardiens qui, eux, ont pris soin de nos gens», a martelé la ministre Girault.

Mais le critique libéral Gaétan Barrette fait valoir que le risque est le même de contracter le virus pour tous les employés d’un établissement de santé. «Que je sois préposé à l’entretien ménager ou gardien de sécurité, quand j’attrape le virus et que je meurs, c’est moi qui suis mort et ma famille qui en pâtit», a-t-il souligné.

Source: https://www.journaldequebec.com/2020/08/17/ralentissement-economique-quebec-ne-reduira-pas-les-seuils-dimmigration

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