Topical:
President Obama gave an interview to Univision, a Spanish language broadcaster on Wednesday 19th September 2012 and said 'my biggest failure so far is we haven't gotten comprehensive immigration reform done.' However, he said that his failure was largely caused by the Republicans in Congress; particularly the 20 Congressmen who were on the record as supporters of reform but who had refused to cooperate with Democrats to change the law.
The first licences for employers to sponsor migrant workers for visas under the UK's points-based visa system were granted on 26th November 2008. Licences last for four years so those licences will expire on November 26th 2012. The register of sponsors is a list of all those employers, 25,351 of them, who have licences to employ foreign nationals who have leave to remain in the UK under tier 2 and tier 5 of the UK's points-based visa system.
A report issued by the Children's Society has criticised the United Kingdom's treatment of children from overseas who claim asylum. The report says that UK immigration officials have developed 'a culture of disbelief'. Asylum seekers who arrive in the UK find that UK Border Agency (UKBA) staff too often assume that their claims are not genuine. The report recommends that the children should be believed more and be given more support.
On Tuesday 18th September 2012, a US district judge, Judge Susan Bolton, lifted an injunction blocking Arizona police from enforcing a controversial law aimed at illegal immigrants.
The Law, part of Senate Bill 1070, introduced in 2010, provides that police officers who stop anyone in Arizona must ask the person stopped to show proof of his or her right to reside in the US, if the officer believes that the person stopped may be an illegal immigrant.
Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard attended the first Australian Multicultural Council lecture in Canberra on Wednesday 19th September 2012 and gave a speech in which she said that immigrants to Australia have a duty to abide by the law and to learn English. Ms Gillard spoke before the main speaker, Frank Lowy, the founder and chairman of the Westfield shopping mall group.
A survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of the Extremis Project suggests that younger Britons of all political persuasions are less likely to support anti-immigration or anti-Islamic policies than older ones. The Extremis Project describes itself as 'a platform for independent, objective and evidence-based research on extremism and terrorism'