IMMIGRATION & HUMAN RIGHTS.   Term Paper ID:26062 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines relationship in global context, legal, ethical & religious issues, politics, anti-immigrant bias & abuse, situation in U.S., examples, refugees & asylum-seekers.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines relationship in global context, legal, ethical & religious issues, politics, anti-immigrant bias & abuse, situation in U.S., examples, refugees & asylum-seekers. Paper Introduction: INTRODUCTION Immigration has been on the American national agenda for some time, with many complaining that immigration is out of hand and that limitations on immigration are needed. One issue is whether too many people are coming from certain regions of the world, or whether those who are coming are sufficiently prepared to take their place in the American economic system. Internationally, the immigration picture is even more difficult, with many immigrants moving from one place to another to escape war, persecution, and economic devastation. Immigration is usually treated as a political issue, certainly a domestic political issue for the country receiving large numbers of refugees or immigrants, but also as an international political issue because it affects how contiguous countries behave toward one another. Immigration Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. "Human Rights and the Cuban Exodus." Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service (March 9, 1994).Flores, Estevan and Lisa Duran. society is much moreimportant than the relationship between governments . foreign policy actually fostersimmigration. The effects of the proposalsseem to be at odds with the Government's rhetoric on human rights, and mostrefugees will be adversely affected by the changes. Immigration is also a human rights issue, for people who arepersecuted, frightened, and poor should be given the opportunity to improvetheir lot if possible. . Most of those making this attempt are young, working-class peoplewho have the primary motivation of fleeing from a totalitarian system theyfind suffocating. However, they were not "real" citizens, and the 1996 law hadstripped them of all rights of judicial review of INS decisions about theirstatus. "Immigration key in U.S.-Guatemalan relations." National Catholic Reporter (April 7, 1995), 1 . Andthen--silence" (Sutcliffe and O'Kane 8). Therelationship between Guatemalan society and U.S. Itappears that the U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King torestrain Attorney General Janet Reno and the Immigration and NaturalizationService from deporting these immigrants without due-process hearings. "Immigration Raids Shatter Families and Human Rights." Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service (November 12, 1998).Gill, Paramjit S., Jane Coker, and David Jones. An analysis shows the way immigration reflectsinternational human rights concerns. Theabsence of these rights in one country thus justifies the right topolitical asylum in another country. In addition, the appointeesincluded a representative of the National Council of Churches, a groupwhich in the past had refused to recognize persecution in China. One issue is whether too many people are comingfrom certain regions of the world, or whether those who are coming aresufficiently prepared to take their place in the American economic system.Internationally, the immigration picture is even more difficult, with manyimmigrants moving from one place to another to escape war, persecution, andeconomic devastation. * The 1996 law further sought to forbid federal judges fromreviewing the status of these individuals. . * These people then settled here, bought homes, started businesses,had U.S.-citizen children, paid taxes, obeyed the law, and helped build thecommunity. This is areason why the current immigration "reforms" are of such concern to othercountries and to people who are concerned about human rights issues. Change is not always progress, however, as in the case of England, wherethe UK Government's 1998 White Paper on immigration control sets out a long-term strategy and proposes fundamental changes to the procedures applied tothose seeking entry to the UK from abroad. They have no right to a lawyer or opportunity tocontact anyone who could help them" (Sutcliffe and O'Kane 8-9). The main reason for this in thepast was repression, but today, impoverishment is the principal cause ofimmigration. circuit court of appeals and not to a trial court,and such a court can only rule on the record presented to it. Immigration is usually treated as a political issue,certainly a domestic political issue for the country receiving largenumbers of refugees or immigrants, but also as an international politicalissue because it affects how contiguous countries behave toward oneanother. In 1994, Cuba was a defendant before the U.N. SITUATION IN THE UNITED STATES The United States has laws with similar consequences and did so evenbefore the recent wave of anti-immigration sentiment. The only appeal from theseBIA rulings is to a U.S. Insome cases, they will have been physically and mentally tortured, may haveseen their families beaten or killed, and have had members of theirfamilies "disappear." Therefore, anxiety and depression are common amongrefugees. Works CitedClark, Juan. Indeed, what has been happening inplaces like Western Europe in recent years is that a distinction is beingmade more and more between "good" migrants who are fleeing politicalpersecution and "bad" migrants who are simply looking for a materiallybetter life. Some countries serve as magnets to those seeking asylumor a better economy, and the United States is one such country. Cubais a case in point. * The majority cold not qualify as political refugees and weregranted work permits, year after year, even when told that they weredeportable. The law said that if the INS had notified them that they weredeportable 12 or 14 years ago, they have been officially in this countryonly before, not since, the issuance of that paper. The report cites "multiple, repeated and persistentviolations" by INS personnel of their role as caretakers for these children(Martinez 1 ). More than 1 million people around the world are livingin countries where they are not citizens, and another 23 million aredisplaced in their own countries. Many human rightsissues are raised in immigration cases, without a satisfactory or long-termsolution. "The Web Delivers All The News That Fits--And Then Some." InternetWeek (October 6, 1997), 31.Martinez, Demetria. In spite of the huge numbers of peopleinvolved, constitutions, laws, and governments restrict the rights of thesepeople to move freely, to speak, and to be heard. At the borders,these immigrants "are stopped at border controls risk interrogation andsearch, a spell in a transit camp with no contact with the rest of theworld, and forcible repatriation, all under conditions of which the generalpublic is seldom aware. Cubans are subject to both direct andindirect repression (Clark). Rather than working to create opportunities for people intheir own countries, it impels them move here as an effect of NAFTA andglobalization, which destroy local economies (Flores and Duran). Each of us has a universal humanright to depart, then, but no right to arrive, for arrival is regarded as aprivilege that each nation-state may withhold or disburse on the grounds ofpolitical or economic expediency or any other criterion unrelated to humanrights. One ofthe first cases for the committee was that of Bob and Heidi Fu, house-church leaders who had fled mainland China for Hong Kong and who had beentrapped there as Chinese rule over the British colony approached. government sought to deport after making them wait for years.These individuals were the victims of the 1996 U.S. Last year, the lead attorney forthe plaintiffs persuaded Senior U.S. "Report Raps INS Detention of Children." National Catholic Reporter (May 9, 1997), 1 .Neff, David. There is no such right of asylumbestowed for the violation of other human rights, such as the right toemployment or adequate nutrition. Most go to the United States for a period of time and thenreturn to their families in Guatemala. Onesuch case is that of Guatemala, and political, military, and human rightsissues have dominated the agenda between the two countries for more thanthree decades, but recently Jesuit Gonzalo de Villa, a sociologist whoheads the progressive think tank AVANCSO in Guatemala City, stated that amore pressing issue linking the lives of the people of Guatemala with thelives of the people of the United States is immigration: "Immigration isthe most important phenomenon in U.S.-Guatemalan relations. may fall intothe black hole of human rights that has developed at the borders of themain receiving countries" (Sutcliffe and O'Kane 8-9). Childrensuffer the most, and a report from the Human Rights Watch on unaccompaniedalien children detained by the INS at camps in Los Angeles County andCoolidge, Arizona charges that the children are not informed of theirrights and may have to stay in the traumatic situation of detention for upto 2 days. These immigrants, "at worst... A recent case in Florida demonstrates the tortuous structure ofAmerican immigration policy and how it also does not recognize the humanrights of many immigrants. The existing human-rights orthodoxyincludes a profound contradiction: "The Universal Declaration of HumanRights concedes the rights to be a citizen of a country, to be free to movewithin that country, not to have a passport of that country withheld, andto leave and reenter that country at will and without restriction. The result is an aura of suspicion on all immigrants, and thedistinction has been used to justify changes in European laws andconstitutions and has been the basis for the forced repatriation ofVietnamese boat people by Hong Kong's British government, something theUnited States has also done with Haitian immigrants. Thereason for the convoluted law is difficult to explain but it derives fromthe following facts: * The United States financed civil wars in Nicaragua and ElSalvador, from which tens of thousands of people fled, many ending up inSouth Florida. However, even this right is now beingseverely curtailed as the number of migrants is growing rapidly. INTRODUCTION Immigration has been on the American national agenda for some time,with many complaining that immigration is out of hand and that limitationson immigration are needed. government concerning theconditions of religious minorities facing persecution around the world."At the time, many had deep doubts about the potential of this committee,since the White House had slipped from a back-channel commitment to appointa special adviser to the President on persecution of Christians to theappointment of a multifaith panel charged with monitoring religiouspersecution: "The lines of authority had shifted from the White House(which had shown concern about persecution) to the State Department (whichhad seemed deaf to the problem)" (Neff 19). Escaping the persecution of an abusive regime isalways a human rights issue, and it affects international immigrationpolicies directly. Inaddition, in some political contexts, migrants are being blamed for allmanner of social ills and even coming under physical attack in somecountries (Sutcliffe and O'Kane 8). "UK Government's Immigration Proposals Disregard Human Rights." The Lancet (October 31, 1998), 1468.Hampton, Jim. What results issecond-class status for immigrants with little recourse to the law:"Immigrants, even if they acquire legal rights to residence, have fewerrights than resident populations. Most refugees require interpreters, health screening, andfacilities for the management of psychiatric, physical, and emotionaltrauma. However, most refugees simply do not receive the specialist healthcare they require. Followinginternational conventions, the UK is required to treat refugees in allrespects the same as British Nationals, but many of the new proposals, suchas restrictions on access to appropriate accommodation, adequate healthcare, and right to representation, are a breach of those obligations. Human rights violations occur in both the target country forimmigrants and often in the country they are emigrating from as well. The one exception is the granting of asylum for bona fidepolitical refugees, a provision which derived from the postwar realizationthat the lack of a right of refuge for Jews and others contributed to Nazigenocide in the 193 s and 194 s. immigration law thatmany lawyers consider unconstitutional. HumanRights Commission in Geneva as a special observer declared that repressionis endemic in Cuba. consulate general there was giving politicaldissidents immigration priority over religious refugees, and the escape ofthe Fus can largely be credited to the new awareness of religiousoppression the committee brought to the State Department, showing that "thecommittee's efforts have resulted in a formal State Department protocoldesigned to give priority to credible, documented cases of religiouspersecution" (Neff 19). While the Universal Declaration of HumanRights recognizes a citizen's right to leave a country, nothing is saidabout rights following the arrival in another country, and often this is agreater problem. This meansthat a BIA ruling saying that an individual is here on a show-cause orderand has been ordered deported leaves the appellate court no real choice(Hampton 6 ). TheUK is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the child, and theremoval of obligations on social-service provision for asylum-seekingfamilies, apart from those with "special needs," is a clear breach of thisagreement. The issue is clearly ofconcern to international bodies such as the United Nations and to countriesaround the world. Often, their presence is conditional ongood behavior, they cannot vote, and they may not receive social benefits"(Sutcliffe and O'Kane 8-9). "Human Rights on Trial--Right Here." Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service (June 4, 1997).Karpinski, Richard. "The tides of humanity: 123 million people on the move." World Press Review (October 1994), 8-1 .Wirpsa, Leslie. The Board of ImmigrationAppeals not long ago affirmed in a 7-5 decision that an immigration judge'sruling that he could not stay a Nicaraguan's deportation because the lawdenied these judges that authority was correct. It has been pointed out that in spite of increasingly antagonisticattitudes toward immigration, U.S. This was closely related to the growing Cuban exodusfrom the island as thousands have escaped in small boats and makeshiftrafts. WORLD SITUATIONIn 1996 the National Association of Evangelicals issued a Statement ofConscience concerning human rights for immigrants, and the Clintonadministration then appointed a panel of 2 religious leaders charged with"increasing the flow of information to the U.S. PATTERNS OF IMMIGRATIONSome two percent of the world's population are migrants or refugees, andmost lack basic human rights. The evidence shows that the escapees' decision to risktheir lives is directly related to Cuba's totalitarian political system andthe resulting living conditions. CONCLUSION Immigration is a human rights issue because immigration is broughtabout by human rights abuses, immigrants often face human rights abusesafter they move from one country to another, and countries on both ends ofthe stream face the need to develop programs and procedures for improvingthe lot of the population and for reducing the need for people to leavehome seeking protection or a better economic life. The case involved Nicaraguans and others whomthe U.S. These tiesstretch far beyond anything that President Clinton or (Newt) Gingrich or(Guatemalan President) Ramiro de Leon Carpio can do or say" (Wirpsa 1 ).As many as one million Guatemalans (an estimated 1 percent of thepopulation) live, with or without documents, at any given time in theUnited States. Certain political rights have become virtually synonymous with humanrights in general, including the right to opposition, to the vote, tofreedom of speech, to freedom from arbitrary detention, and so on. "Progress for the Persecuted." Christianity Today (Oct 6, 1997), 19.Sutcliffe, Bob and Maggie O'Kane. In addition, the presentstructure of recognized human rights provides no framework within which therights of migrants can be discussed. Refugees and asylum seekers have specific health needs. Current housing provisions and the offering ofinterpreting services are already inadequate (Gill, Coker, and Jones 1468). Immigration is a point of contention between the United States andvarious foreign powers in ways showing it to be a human rights issue. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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