Singapore PM: We won't let in too many foreigners

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Singapore's prime minister sought Sunday to ease concerns that the city-state is allowing in too many foreign workers who will undermine national unity.

The surge of foreigners living in Singapore has become a hot topic in the lead-up to the next general election, which the government must call by February 2012. Many of the newcomers are from China, India and other Asian countries.

"We will control the inflow, to ensure that it is not too fast and not too large," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said during a speech ahead of Monday's National Day. "And we will make clear that citizens come first."

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[Posted by Clarissa Arafiles]

How Mexico Treats Its Illegal Aliens

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has accused Arizona of opening the door "to intolerance, hate, discrimination and abuse in law enforcement." But Arizona has nothing on Mexico when it comes to cracking down on illegal aliens. While open-borders activists decry new enforcement measures signed into law in "Nazi-zona" last week, they remain deaf, dumb or willfully blind to the unapologetically restrictionist policies of our neighbors to the south.

The Arizona law bans sanctuary cities that refuse to enforce immigration laws, stiffens penalties against illegal alien day laborers and their employers, makes it a misdemeanor for immigrants to fail to complete and carry an alien registration document, and allows the police to arrest immigrants unable to show documents proving they are in the U.S. legally. If those rules constitute the racist, fascist, xenophobic, inhumane regime that the National Council of La Raza, Al Sharpton, Catholic bishops and their grievance-mongering followers claim, then what about these regulations and restrictions imposed on foreigners?

A conservative perspective on Mexico's immigration laws. Read more here.

[Posted by Clarissa Arafiles]

Thai ship and suspect human cargo nears Canada

A Thai ship involved in human trafficking was reported Thursday to be inside Canadian waters and closing on the shore, with 500 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka aboard.

A tortuous voyage by the Thai-registered Harin Panich 19, under a new name, M/V Sun Sea, was believed organised from Bangkok by operatives of the Tamil Tigers.

The purpose of the voyage is unknown, as are most details, including the recent background of the ship, built and originally owned by the Harin Group, which has its head office in Bangkholeam district along New Road, Bangkok.

The Sri Lankan government has warned that the passengers include terrorists from the Tamil Tigers, and Canada reportedly has taken the warning seriously. Canada lists the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organisation.

The ship was reported to be involved in clandestine operations last May, and the Thai Navy put out an alert across the region, asking other countries to help to locate the Harin Panich 19, aka M/V Sun Sea.

The 30-year-old, 900-tonne vessel was built at the Harin Panich Shipyard on the Chao Phraya River near Bangkok. For most of the time since 1980, the 59-metre vessel carried general cargo between Thailand other countries in the region, especially Malaysian Borneo and Singpore.

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Alberta Wins Battle to Bring in More Foreign Workers

The federal Conservative government has acquiesced to provincial demands -- including from Alberta -- to ease its restrictions on the number of immigrants that can permanently reside in the provinces each year.

Ottawa controls the number of permanent immigrants that can annually settle across Canada through the provincial nominee program, with the current cap at 4,400 in Alberta -- well short of the 5,000 Alberta had requested this year.

Wild Rose Country and other western provinces have been lobbying the Harper government for months to scrap its plans to impose a lower cap on the number of immigrants arriving through the nominee program. Rather, the provinces have been urging Ottawa to ratchet up the number of workers they can nominate to the federal government to bring to their jurisdictions to fill permanent jobs.

Federal officials initially indicated in June the provinces wouldn't receive as many nominees as hoped, but announced Tuesday they will increase the numbers after reviewing their case loads and immigration targets for the year.

The additional nominees are critical to sustaining the short-term economic turnaround as well as long-term growth, said Alberta Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk.

" It would be a move in the right direction," Lukaszuk said about the federal decision. "We will be seeing more and more permanent labour shortages. We have to look to immigration towards solving this problem."

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France's Immigrant Chefs are Fighting for Legal Life

By David Chazan BBC News
Immigrant working in a Paris restaurant Some unions back the campaign by kitchen staff to be legalised.

The French cherish their culinary tradition and it's a big attraction for foreign visitors to France, the world's most popular tourist destination.

But few tourists realise that these days, many chefs and most kitchen staff in Paris and other big cities are immigrants from Africa and Asia.

Trade unions say a lot of these under-chefs of French cuisine are working illegally in France - but many are paying taxes and social charges.

Despite high unemployment and France's difficulties in integrating immigrant communities, the unions are backing a campaign by illegal immigrant workers to gain the right to live in France legally.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

We're not hooligans, we're workers”

End Quote Diaby Gandega Kitchen worker from Mali

"We're doing the jobs the French don't want," says Diaby Gandega, an illegal immigrant from Mali in west Africa who slipped into France four years ago and works as a dishwasher.

Following clashes with police in mainly immigrant suburbs, President Sarkozy has proposed that foreign-born French nationals be stripped of their citizenship if they commit crimes or are found to be polygamists.

But Mr Gandega says he and many like him are paying into the social security system in France without gaining the rights or benefits enjoyed by other workers.
Kitchen worker Diaby Gandega gets advice from a union representative at a protest camp in Paris. Many illegal workers pay taxes but have to put up with low pay and have no job security

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Charities Say Government Fails Trafficking Victims

Charities say government fails trafficking victims
By Dominic Casciani BBC News
Many trafficking victims are forced into prostitution.

Charities have accused the government of failing in their first test to help victims of trafficking.

They have criticised the decision not to adopt an EU directive which they say will give victims better protection and lead to more trafficker prosecutions.

The Home Office says the UK already has ample measures to help victims.

The European directive on preventing and combating trafficking is expected to be approved in the autumn. Denmark and the UK are not signing up to it.

But charities, including Anti-Slavery International, said the trafficking of people throughout Europe demanded a cross-border solution and that the UK should step into line with other EU states.

Supporters of the proposed directive say it is better than the existing European convention which sets out how best to deal with the criminals and to protect the victims.

It aims to establish common standards across member states for the prosecution of traffickers - but it also proposes greater protections for victims who have been involved in crime in the country they are held in.

"Human Trafficking is a brutal form of organised crime and combating it is a key priory of the new government”

This could mean that some people who are trafficked into criminal enterprises in the UK, such as the sex trade or cannabis farming, could not be charged over false immigration papers forced on them by the gang responsible for their move.

Klara Skrivankova, of Anti-Slavery International, said: "Despite significant positive steps, the Government cannot become complacent and say that the UK is already doing enough.

"Without international cooperation the government will lose the battle with the traffickers. By choosing not to opt in to the directive the Government is failing in its efforts to combat this transnational crime."



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