Immigration Officials Research Articles

More and Less Deserving Refugees: Shifting Priorities in Swiss Asylum Policy from the Interwar Era to the Hungarian Refugee Crisis of 1956

In 1956, thousands of Hungarian refugees found a warm welcome in Switzerland. Swiss students took to the streets to demonstrate against Soviet repression of the Hungarian uprising. However, the upsurge of public sympathy for the refugees barely covered up recent controversy in Switzerland over asylum policy during the years of fascism and the Second World War. In 1954, only two years before the Hungarian refugee crisis, newly released German foreign policy documents had revealed Swiss involvement in the introduction of the ‘J’-stamp in 1938 to mark the passports of German (and formerly Austrian) Jews, making it easier for Swiss immigration officials to identify Jews as (undesirable) refugees. Those revelations came as a shock to the Swiss public, who had taken pride in the country’s humanitarian achievements during the Second World War and had readily accepted official propaganda aimed to counter Allied criticism of Swiss neutrality policy. International and domestic indignation over those revelations eventually motivated the Swiss government to mandate an official investigation into asylum policy during the pre-war and wartime period. The findings of that examination pointed to concerted efforts by the highest authorities to prevent Jewish refugees from seeking asylum in Switzerland and turn them away at the Swiss border until 1944. This led over the following decades to an ongoing debate on the history of asylum policy. Closely linked to elements of national identity, such as neutrality, the Red Cross and humanitarianism, the specifics of Swiss asylum policy were rarely considered in a wider European context. In situating recent research on Swiss refugee policy during the ‘Forty Years' Crisis' in a wider European context, this article reconsiders Switzerland's situation as one of Nazi Germany democratic neighbours in the 1930s and as the only neutral country within reach for many refugees during the Second World War. Placing special emphasis on the transnational dynamics of refugee policies, it also questions some of the received assumptions guiding the interpretation of the history of asylum in Switzerland.

The African Traveller and the Chinese Customs Official: Ethnic Minority Profiling at Border Check Points in Hong Kong and China?

Stronger government-to-government relations between Africa and China in the first two decades of the twenty-first century have led to an increasing presence of African travellers at Chinese border check points. This is a novel situation involving cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication dynamics that we need to understand from different research perspectives: linguistic, socio-economic, and legal, among others. Academic studies are already detailing some misunderstandings between Chinese customs, immigration and public security officials and African travellers and immigrants, who are clearly a visible minority group, both at border check points and in the wider Chinese communities (Bodomo 2010; Bodomo and Ma 2010; Bodomo 2012). A number of questions may be asked towards understanding the cross-cultural dynamics involved in this novel situation. What are Chinese immigration and customs officials’ experiences with African travellers and how do they see and handle this visible minority ethnic group? What are, in turn, African experiences with Chinese immigration, customs, and public security, officials both at border check points and in the wider Chinese communities in places like mainland China and Hong Kong? To answer these questions, a profile of the most frequent African visitors to Hong Kong and China is constructed, based on research among Africans in China, particularly Guangzhou. An outline is then made of what Africans think of Chinese customs and immigration officials as a whole, what kind of treatment they expect on arrival in China and how they prepare for it. It is then claimed that the most fundamental issue that causes friction, unhappiness and sometimes lack of cooperation from African travellers at immigration and customs check points in Hong Kong and other places in China is not so much due to linguistic and cultural misunderstanding as it is due to stereotyping and, in extreme cases, (un)conscious racial profiling. Finally, it is proposed that the best way for Hong Kong and other Chinese customs personnel to serve African immigrants is to apply immigration rules using systematically fair, just and colour-blind strategies.

Latinos facing racism: discrimination, resistance, and endurance

Feagin and Cobas provide the first in-depth examination of the everyday racism faced by middle-class Latinos. Based on a national survey, we learn how a diverse group of talented Latinos Mexican Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, Cuban Americans, and others respond to and cope with the commonplace white racial framing and discriminatory practices. Drawing on extensive interviewing, the authors address the recurring discrimination of ordinary whites directed against Spanish speakers and individuals with presumed Latino phenotypes. These incidents occur in everyday encounters, such as when male and female Latinos travel or shop. The book also chronicles the mistreatment that Latinos face from immigration officials when they cross US borders and from the police when they are racially profiled outside Latino areas. Critical and conforming Latino responses to recurring white discrimination are also extensively examined, as well as the diverse Latino reactions to remedial programs like affirmative action and to the ideal of assimilation into the proverbial US melting pot.

Language experiences of transnational migrants in the Southern African context

Owing to economic exigencies, civil wars, political instability and natural disasters, many people are forced to abandon their homes, brave ‘fear of the unknown’ and seek refuge in other countries with or without guarantee for their safety, employment opportunities and refugee status. Often economically dominant countries, which normally are viewed as greener pastures, do attract refugees from starving nations. For most of the migrants language poses a further challenge if their home language is not spoken in the host country – which is a normal phenomenon. This seemingly has repercussions on migrants’ employment prospects, as well as their access to information and health services. It is surmised that linguistic challenges may make a person a target of immigration officers’ insults, police brutality and illegal deportations. Hence, this article aims to explore the language experiences of transnational migrants and to suggest strategies to deal with these linguistic challenges and promote the harmonious co-existence of migrants and citizens of their host nations.

Immigration Enforcement, Policing, and Crime

Research SummaryIn 2008, the federal government introduced “Secure Communities,” a program that requires local law enforcement agencies to share arrestee information with federal immigration officials. We employed the staggered activation of Secure Communities to examine whether this program has an effect on crime or the behavior of local police. Supporters of the program argue that it enhances public safety by facilitating the removal of criminal aliens. Critics worry that it will encourage discriminatory policing. We found little evidence for the most ambitious promises of the program or for its critics’ greatest fears.Policy ImplicationsAlthough a large body of evidence reports that municipal police can have an appreciable effect on crime, involving local police in federal immigration enforcement does not seem to offer measurable public safety benefits. Noncitizens removed through Secure Communities either would have been incapacitated even in the absence of the program or do not pose an identifiable risk to community safety.

Australia's Little Known In-Country Programme in Latin America

Through the 1980s the Australian Government ran an in-country programme out of Chile and El Salvador, rescuing and resettling dissidents, trade unionists, and former political prisoners. This programme operated discreetly, and relied on careful negotiation with local authorities. It complicated Australia’s diplomatic relationship with the Reagan administration and caused tensions between the departments of Immigration and Foreign Affairs. As a result, the in-country programme left little documentary evidence and has remained unexamined by immigration historians and refugee scholars. This article provides an original study of the programme, drawing on archival records from the Fraser Government and the first Hawke Government, from 1979 to 1984, as well as oral history interviews with former politicians and Australian and Canadian Immigration officials. The in-country programme was a unique initiative, driven by humanitarian concerns and a desire to diversify the refugee intake. It offers an important contribution to the historical debate about the virtues of Australia’s refugee policy at this time.

Estimating the Effects of Immigration Enforcement on Local Policing and Crime: Evidence from the Secure Communities Program

Recent changes in U.S. immigration enforcement have sought to complement strong border enforcement with a renewed emphasis on enforcement in the country’s interior. In 2008, the federal government introduced “Secure Communities,” a program that requires local law enforcement agencies to share arrestee information with federal immigration officials at the time of booking. Supporters of the program have argued that it will enhance public safety by facilitating the efficient removal of criminal aliens. Critics of the program have expressed concern that it will encourage local law enforcement agencies to engage in discriminatory or arbitrary policing practices, making arrests for the sole purpose of checking an individual’s immigration status. Since its introduction in 2008, the program has expanded to include all U.S. jurisdictions. We employ the staggered activation dates of Secure Communities across counties to examine whether the program has a detectable effect on the crime rates or the arrest behavior of municipal law enforcement agencies across U.S. cities. We do not observe any clear effect of the program on either crime or arrest patterns, suggesting that at least across the nation’s biggest cities, there is little evidence either for the most ambitious promises of the program or the greatest fears behind involving local law enforcement agencies in immigration enforcement.

Everyday violence, structural racism and mistreatment at the US–Mexico border

Immigration laws that militarize communities may exacerbate ethno-racial health disparities. We aimed to document the prevalence of and ways in which immigration enforcement policy and militarization of the US–Mexico border is experienced as everyday violence. Militarization is defined as the saturation of and pervasive encounters with immigration officials including local police enacting immigration and border enforcement policy with military style tactics and weapons. Data were drawn from a random household sample of US citizen and permanent residents of Mexican descent in the Arizona border region (2006–2008). Qualitative and quantitative data documented the frequency and nature of immigration related profiling, mistreatment and resistance to institutionalized victimization. Participants described living and working in a highly militarized environment, wherein immigration-related profiling and mistreatment were common immigration law enforcement practices. Approximately 25% of respondents described an immigration-related mistreatment episode, of which 62% were personally victimized. Nearly 75% of episodes occurred in a community location rather than at a US port of entry. Participant mistreatment narratives suggest the normalization of immigration-related mistreatment among the population. Given border security remains at the core of immigration reform debates, it is imperative that scholars advance the understanding of the public health impact of such enforcement policies on the daily lives of Mexican-origin US permanent residents, and their non-immigrant US citizen co-ethnics. Immigration policy that sanctions institutional practices of discrimination, such as ethno-racial profiling and mistreatment, are forms of structural racism and everyday violence. Metrics and systems for monitoring immigration and border enforcement policies and institutional practices deleterious to the health of US citizens and residents should be established.

The Silent Crisis

“My father went into that house and never came out. Now my mother went into that house. If she doesn’t come out, who will take care of me? Will you take care of me?” 4-year-old Jessie asked a woman she had just met that morning, who had accompanied her mother to an office building. Jessie’s father, Edy, with his request for political asylum from Guatemala denied, was arrested in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Burlington, Massachusetts, in late 2012. He was deported 2 weeks later, after 20 years in the United States. He had worked for the same family business for 15 years, paying taxes, making Social Security and Medicare contributions, and paying a lawyer $15 000 over the years for promises of adjusting his immigration status. Edy had gone to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office with Jessie, believing this was just another step in his process of status adjustment. That day, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers told Edy he was under arrest and would be deported. They told him to call Jessie’s mother, Ana, who was undocumented from Brazil, and have her pick up their daughter, who otherwise would be placed in an institution. They then told Ana they would deport her without Jessie unless she signed a document stating that she was leaving the country voluntarily. Ana signed. Jessie became nervous and aggressive. She thought

Factors Associated with Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Emergency Contraception among Female Clients of Ethiopian Immigration and Nationality Affairs Office

Background: Proper knowledge, attitude and practice of contraceptives prevent occurrence of undesirable outcomes of the unintended conceptions. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the level and factors associated with knowledge, attitude and practice of emergency contraception. Methods: An institution based cross sectional study design was conducted among 416 female clients of Ethiopian immigration and nationality affair office in Addis Ababa in 2013. Study participants were selected by systematic random sampling technique. Face to face interviewer administered structured questionnaire was employed to collect data on their socio-demographic and reproductive health issues. Both binary and multiple logistic regressions were done and statistical significance was considered based on 95% CI of odds ratios and P- Value <0.05. Result: Only 40.1% of the participants had ever heard about emergency contraceptive of whom 47.3% were found to be knowledgeable rated based on multiple knowledge questions. Around 39.4% had positive attitude towards emergency contraceptive. Only 9.3% of the sexually active participants have ever used emergency contraceptive. Lack of knowledge about the method was major barrier for not using emergency contraceptive. Age 20 and above years [AOR=7.20, 95% CI=1.26, 41.08], being married [AOR=12.49, 95%CI=1.81, 86.47] and ever used emergency contraceptive [AOR=5.26, 95%CI=1.05, 26.54] were significant predictors to knowledge of emergency contraceptive while having adequate knowledge about emergency contraceptive [AOR=5.08,95%CI=1.19,21.56] and ever used contraceptive [AOR=13.7, 95% CI=2.66, 70.59] were significant predictor for use of emergency contraceptive. Conclusion: The level of knowledge, attitude and practice towards emergency contraceptive is very low depicting potential of emergency contraceptive to prevent unintended pregnancies and their complications is far from being realized. Hence, awareness creations accompanied by availing necessary supplies are needed to raise knowledge and practice of emergency contraceptive among female adolescents departing to different nations.

Kualitas Layanan Kantor Imigrasi Kelas 1 Yogyakarta dalam Pembuatan Paspor Berbasis E-Government

The porpuse of the research is to determine the quality of servicein the government apparatus based electronic passport, in this study using 5 indicators that Keberwujudan (tangible), Daya Tanggap (Responsiviness), Kehandalan (Realibility), Jaminan (Assurance), and Empathy (Empathy). andalsosee at the factors that influence the quality of service indicators Organizations, Human Resource, and Service System. The methoduse disdescriptive quantitative method using frequency distribution, and the data collection were interviews, observation, documentation andquestionnaires. With research sites at the Immigration Office Class 1 Yogyakarta. Results ofthe research is that thequality of service in thegovernment apparatus based electronic passport given tothe publicis VeryGood”as indicated by the scale 4.21cumulative indexofthe highest value 5.The variables that have the highest value is in the variable Assurance (Warranty) with a score value of 4.60 with the category of “Very Good” and the variable that gets the lowest score by the public is the variable empathy with a score value of 3.97although the category of “Good”. As for the factor of influence in the organization’s services are among the factors, for cesor human resources and service system. Then there commendations givent o the immigration office in Yogyakarta is in grade 1 to further enhancethe quality of His ministry, especially in the Empathy dimension of hospitality, courtesy and discriminatory actions in serving.

The Integration of Lean and Socio-technical Practices in Sweden

Abstract: Though has its origin in the Toyota Production System (TPS), it has become popular across various industries. During this process, a striking situation has occurred in Sweden, particularly in its service industry. This paper aims to discuss the background and context of this phenomenon. In Sweden, work and management styles based on the tradition of socio-technical systems (STS), as embodied in Volvo's Uddevalla plant, used to be competing with as a collection of practices observed in the Japanese automobile industry. However, once was viewed as a management approach that aims to create a smooth flow of value towards the customer, the integration of the two occurred. To illustrate this point, a case of a school is considered. It shows that reflection by autonomous teams of teachers play an important role in problem solving that accompanies the implementation of Such an integrated style draws out workers' intrinsic motivation through involvement in problem solving, and thereby embodies the for the people philosophy in TPS. It is expected to be suitable particularly for the service context.Keywords: socio-technical systems, lean, Toyota Production System, reflection, respect for people1. IntroductionThis paper aims to describe the integration of and practices of socio-technical systems (STS) in Sweden while considering its background and context.Toyota Production System (TPS) was formulated and developed in a high-mix, low-volume environment in post-war Japan, and a quarter century has passed since it was conceptualized in the West as production (Womack, Jones, 8s Roos, 1990). Lean has not only been an important paradigm in manufacturing, but has also been transferred to a wide range of industries (Hines, Holweg, 8s Rich, 2004). For instance, its applicability has been reported in supply chain, banking and insurance, healthcare and other social services, and software services since the latter half of the 1990s.Although the concept has become influential throughout the world, circumstances in Scandinavia, and especially Sweden, deserve particular attention (see Sederblad, 2013). After the initial boom in the early 1990s, there has been a renewed interest in lean at a national level. Particularly, lean has been implemented in the large public sector that is in need of efficiency improvement. As of 2012, 80% of healthcare organizations and 30% of municipalities implemented lean in one form or another. In addition, critical government agencies such as the immigration office, tax agency, and police department are a part of this movement (Hillberg, 2012). Currently, labor unions are also starting to participate in it (Johansson, Abrahamsson, 8s Johansson, 2013).Why has lean been implemented to such an extent in Sweden, particularly in its service industry? Sweden is a country known for specific work and management styles based on principles and practices of STS (Trist 8s Bamforth, 1951) that emphasize the humanization of work and quality of working life. Furthermore, STS and have traditionally been viewed as competing concepts. Therefore, the above circumstances seem paradoxical and confusing to Swedish researchers (see Sederblad, 2013). This paper examines this paradox based on the literature and the author's own observations. Specifically, this paper focuses on conceptualizations of lean. Initially, U.S.-based researchers of the International Motor Vehicle Program (I MVP) viewed characteristics of the in the Japanese automobile industry, typified by TPS, as minimum waste, and labeled it as lean (Womack et al., 1990). Since then, however, there has been no agreed-upon definition, resulting in conceptual confusion (Shah 8s Ward, 2007). In order to deal with this issue, this paper focuses on the flow-management aspect of Japanese manufacturing that is at the heart of minimum waste operations. …

Kualitas Layanan Kantor Imigrasi Kelas 1 Yogyakarta dalam Pembuatan Paspor Berbasis E-Government

The porpuse of the research is to determine the quality of servicein the government apparatus based electronic passport, in this study using 5 indicators that Keberwujudan (tangible), Daya Tanggap (Responsiviness), Kehandalan (Realibility), Jaminan (Assurance), and Empathy (Empathy). andalsosee at the factors that influence the quality of service indicators Organizations, Human Resource, and Service System. The methoduse disdescriptive quantitative method using frequency distribution, and the data collection were interviews, observation, documentation andquestionnaires. With research sites at the Immigration Office Class 1 Yogyakarta. Results ofthe research is that thequality of service in thegovernment apparatus based electronic passport given tothe publicis VeryGood”as indicated by the scale 4.21cumulative indexofthe highest value 5.The variables that have the highest value is in the variable Assurance (Warranty) with a score value of 4.60 with the category of “Very Good” and the variable that gets the lowest score by the public is the variable empathy with a score value of 3.97although the category of “Good”. As for the factor of influence in the organization’s services are among the factors, for cesor human resources and service system. Then there commendations givent o the immigration office in Yogyakarta is in grade 1 to further enhancethe quality of His ministry, especially in the Empathy dimension of hospitality, courtesy and discriminatory actions in serving.

"The Great Entrepot for Mendicants": Foreign Poverty and Immigration Control in New York State to 1882

IN SEPTEMBER 1880, members of the New York State Board of Charities, a state agency supervising issues of poverty and welfare, received a report on an English immigrant family. The report stated that the family— husband, wife, and three children, who were “all feeble-minded, and entirely destitute”—had been deported from New York to Ontario, Canada. They had originally emigrated from London to Quebec with financial assistance from the Ladies’ Emigrant Association in Quebec. The authorities in Quebec then sent the family to New York via London, Ontario. After their arrival in New York, the family members became destitute and entered an almshouse. Their removal was executed not under federal deportation law, which did not yet exist in 1880, but under a newly passed state law. Enacted in June 1880, the law authorized the Board of Charities to return to their places of origin “any crippled, blind, lunatic, or other infirm alien paupers” in charitable institutions in New York whose emigration had been financed by foreign governments, charitable organizations, or landlords. This deportation law was limited in scope, for it did not apply to those who crossed the Atlantic on their own, exempting most foreign inmates from removal. Yet it was a product of the state’s century-long effort to restrict the immigration of people of undesirable character. In particular, it was a response to repeated calls by state immigration officials and citizens in New York since the antebellum period for the deportation of foreign paupers. In American historical scholarship, immigration control has long been discussed on the basis of federal policy that developed from the 1870s onward. Historians have typically located the origins of this policy in legislation that emerged largely as a result of anti-Chinese sentiment in California. In 1875, Congress passed the Page Act, forbidding the entry of foreign convicts and laborers brought involuntarily from “China, Japan, or any Oriental country.” The act also denied admission to women imported “for the purposes of prostitution,” a stricture designed chiefly against Chinese women. In 1882,

“Too Bad I’m Not an Obvious Citizen”: The effects of racialized US immigration enforcement practices on second-generation Mexican youth

Over the last two decades, border residents have come under increased surveillance during stepped-up policing of the US-Mexico border. Second-generation Mexican youth - the US born children of immigrants - should be insulated from mistreatment by immigration officials. However, racialized immigration enforcement practices target these teenagers who are coming of age in this borderland milieu. Drawing from extensive fieldwork conducted with 54 teenagers in San Diego, this article describes how immigration enforcement practices reinforce a racialized form of belonging that has negative effects on youth, but also highlights how these youth deploy strategies of resistance to contest them. Latino Studies (2013) 11, 462-482. doi:10.1057/lst.2013.28

Science is the drug

… in which Howy confesses to some eccentric proclivities.

Assembling a visa requirement against the Mexican ‘wave’: migrant illegalization, policy and affective ‘crises’ in Canada

Using the example of a 2009 visa requirement imposed onto Mexican nationals travelling to Canada, this paper frames migrant illegalization as an assemblage that brings together transnational connections, discursive and affective productions, modes of racialization and migrant negotiations. More specifically, the paper maps the events leading to the crafting of the visa requirement and the ensemble of stakeholders – Canadian immigration officials, politicians and business representatives, the Mexican and American governments and Mexican migrants –who responded to it. Through that analysis, the paper argues that migrant illegalization is not always a consistent or predictable set of practices, processes and actors, but instead an often contradictory assemblage of actions and reactions dependent on the social and political context.

“The Border of Japan” for Chinese Arrivals in Nagasaki, Satsuma, and Ryukyu

When entering a foreign country, one usually fills out an immigration form asking for a set of personal details such as one's name, nationality, date of departure, destination, and the purpose of one's visit. In addition, one needs to answer several questions, for example, whether he has any banned substances or objects like drugs or weapons, whether he have a criminal record, and so on. Furthermore, one has to waive any rights to appeal an immigration officer's decision and finally declare and sign that all answers are true and correct.While many assume that this familiar system is specific to the modern age, historical documents show us that this supposition is not valid. In fact, we can find a similar system in the early modern Ryukyu Kingdom, though little attention has been paid to it. To demonstrate this system, I will begin introducing a document left by a shipwrecked Chinese captain coming to Ryukyu in the late eighteenth century:The captain Li Zhenchun states that: We received a permit for sailing from the government of Min prefecture in Fujian on December 24, 1770, loaded wood under the Nantai bridge on May 13 in the next year, sailed from Min'anzhen for Shandong on May 24, and arrived on June 24. Though we left for Fujian on December 2, after purchasing beans, on the next day, a storm broke our mast and halyards, which made it impossible for us to navigate and caused our ship to drift into Yaeyama Island in your country on the 22nd. Now we are living on board here. There is no Christian missionary, arsenic, Epicanta gorhami [, which is a terribly virulent insect including cantharis], or any other poison with us. None of us are disguised as Chinese people clothed in Chinese clothes. Also we have no weapons. If you find any violation as such, we should be tried by the national laws. There is no lie in this report.

Negotiating the Boundaries of Social Membership: Undocumented Migrant Claims-making in Sweden and Spain

In this article, I address the role organisations and networks play in mobilising for the rights of undocumented migrants and in setting agendas for their inclusion and social membership. I compare two societies with different frameworks of welfare and migration regimes. The empirical material used in this article consists of 44 interviews with actors involved in the processes I define as negotiating social membership in Stockholm and Barcelona: policy-makers, immigration officials, trade unions, NGO activists and the undocumented migrants themselves. In both Sweden and Spain, mobilising groups have been important for the recognition of undocumented migrants. Until recently, undocumented migrants were largely invisible in the Swedish context, often living in extreme marginalisation and precariousness. In Spain, where the informal labour market is more extended and boundaries between the legal and the illegal are less pronounced, migrants have had greater opportunities to settle and to some degree integrate into society. The political opportunities for mobilised actors vary in relation to both the welfare and migration regimes, the structure of the labour market, and more subtle factors as receptiveness for claims-making at a certain time, tolerance for informality in society, and choices of individual actors in crucial positions.

Visa Officers as Gatekeepers of a State's Borders: The Social Determinants of Discretion in Spousal Sponsorship Cases in Canada

Visa officers are one of the gatekeepers of a state's borders. Research on discretion exercised by immigration officials tends to focus on interdiction or the regulation of ports of entry. Though all border control agents are delegated with discretion, decisions about visa issuance are arguably more tightly bound by the rule of law. Based on in-depth interviews with overseas visa officers who work for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, this paper examines the social constitution of discretion in Family Class spousal and sponsorship cases. Debates in Canada suggest that the personal attitudes of visa officers are significant factors in shaping their exercise of discretion. Moreover, discretion is seen as a reflection of racism of individual visa officers. This paper challenges this view by suggesting that broader meso- and macro-level forces play a prominent role in discretionary decision-making. It examines how the demands of efficient client processing, client behaviour, migration contexts and legal constraints in Canada and overseas shape the process of decision-making. Discretionary decisions to dig deeper into some applications and not others do put applicants from some countries or regions at a disadvantage, but it is a technical administrative logic, and not ‘race’ that is the source of discrimination.