MPI's Migration Information Source Newsletter

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January 14, 2021

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Feature
Faith and Mental Health Help Shape the Integration of Muslim Refugees in Germany
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/faith-mental-health-integration-muslim-refugees-germany
Faith plays a significant role in the mental health and social integration of refugees and asylum seekers. Yet in Germany, concerns about Islam and migrants from Muslim-majority countries have complicated social cohesion efforts, particularly in the wake of the 2015-16 refugee and migration crisis.

Spotlight
International Students in the United States
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/international-students-united-states-2020
For the first time in a decade, there were fewer international students in the United States during the 2019-20 school year than the year before. This decline has been aggravated further by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to an additional 16 percent decrease in international students at the start of the fall 2020 academic semester.


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EDITOR'S NOTE

The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in many countries has forced public officials to make uncomfortable decisions about which residents gets priority treatment. In some cases, migrants have been easy to exclude.

Colombian President Iván Duque has pledged not to administer the vaccine to the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in his country who are without residence permits. "Our priority will always be Colombian citizens," Duque said on a radio station in December. The comments echo a sentiment from the governor of the U.S. state of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, who said his state will prioritize citizens and legal residents before unauthorized immigrants.

Showdowns over vaccine rollout remain rare, but could be on the rise in coming months as more doses are manufactured and harder prioritization decisions beyond medical workers and emergency responders need to be made. One challenge is that immigrants, including the unauthorized, are often among the groups that are disproportionately vulnerable to the virus, as many work in frontline industries such as agriculture and food processing.

The calls to deliver vaccinations to migrants and refugees have been widespread, particularly from global institutions and aid groups. "Access to health is a fundamental right, but too often still, those who need it the most--including migrants and forcibly displaced persons--are left out," said António Vitorino, the director general of the International Organization for Migration. Public health experts point out that viruses ignore nationality, and communities are only as immune as their most vulnerable members.

Tragically, the calls come as the virus continues to affect many migrants and asylum seekers on their journeys or at destination. Dozens of shelters for U.S.-bound migrants in Mexico have scaled back operations in response to an uptick of COVID-19 infections, and data from Singapore last month found that nearly half its migrant workers had been infected with the novel coronavirus. Lockdowns and border closures related to the pandemic have had a massive ripple effect that will likely persist for months--if not years.

The global vaccines initiative COVAX has pledged to set aside approximately 5 percent of total available doses for humanitarian efforts, including vaccinating refugees. But the future is uncertain, particularly for refugees, the majority of whom are in low-income countries that have struggled to secure doses of the vaccine.

Best regards,

Julian Hattem

Editor, Migration Information Source

[email protected]


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NEW FROM MPI

Nearly 3 Million U.S. Citizens and Legal Immigrants Initially Excluded under the CARES Act Are Covered under the December 2020 COVID-19 Stimulus
www.migrationpolicy.org/news/cares-act-excluded-citizens-immigrants-now-covered
By Julia Gelatt, Randy Capps and Michael Fix

Anticipated "Chilling Effects" of the Public-Charge Rule Are Real: Census Data Reflect Steep Decline in Benefits Use by Immigrant Families
www.migrationpolicy.org/news/anticipated-chilling-effects-public-charge-rule-are-real
By Randy Capps, Michael Fix and Jeanne Batalova

How Will International Migration Policy and Sustainable Development Affect Future Climate-Related Migration?
www.migrationpolicy.org/research/international-migration-policy-development-climate
By Robert McLeman

New Approaches to Climate Change and Migration: Building the Adaptive Capacity of Mobile Populations
www.migrationpolicy.org/research/climate-change-building-adaptive-capacity
By Carol Farbotko

Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States: Stable Numbers, Changing Origins
www.migrationpolicy.org/research/unauthorized-immigrants-united-states-stable-numbers-changing-origins
By Randy Capps, Julia Gelatt, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto and Jennifer Van Hook


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HAVE YOU READ?

The U.S. Presidential Campaign Cements Political Parties' Deepening Schism on Immigration
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/us-presidential-campaign-cements-political-parties-deepening-schism-immigration

Welcome Wears Thin for Colombians in Ecuador as Venezuelans Become More Visible
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/welcome-wears-thin-for-colombians-ecuador

Sweden: By Turns Welcoming and Restrictive in its Immigration Policy
www.migrationpolicy.org/article/sweden-turns-welcoming-and-restrictive-its-immigration-policy


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MEDIA CORNER

In the latest episode of MPI's Changing Climate, Changing Migration podcast, anthropologist Megan Carney discusses how food insecurity and climate change affect migration.
[link removed]

Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees, by Lamis Elmy Abdelaaty, provides in-depth analysis of asylum policies in Egypt, Kenya, and Turkey.
[link removed]

In Identity in Question: The Study of Tibetan Refugees in the Indian Himalayas, Swati Akshay Sachdeva and Yumnam Surjyajeevan examine diasporic Tibetan communities.
[link removed]

Lisa Roof and Mary B. McVee examine refugee education and identity in The Experiences of Refugee Youth from Burma in an American High School: Countering Deficit-Based Narratives through Student Voice.
www.routledge.com/The-Experiences-of-Refugee-Youth-from-Burma-in-an-American-High-School/Roof-McVee/p/book/9780367561178

Journalist Brendan O'Connor writes about national identity and U.S. politics in Blood Red Lines: How Nativism Fuels the Right.
www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1519-blood-red-lines

Sociologist David Trouille examines immigrants in Los Angeles in Fútbol in the Park: Immigrants, Soccer, and the Creation of Social Ties.
[link removed]

Jane Marchese Robinson's Seeking Sanctuary: A History of Refugees in Britain traces waves of migrants since the 16th century.
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Seeking-Sanctuary-Paperback/p/18515

MPI co-founder and former president Demetrios Papademetriou is featured in the new documentary Me the People, which looks at the rise of populism in the West.
[link removed]


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