Immigration news

The UK's Tier 4 student visa system has been targeted by organised crime gangs according to immigration minister James Brokenshire. One MP described the fraud on the system as 'criminality on a massive scale'.

Mr Brokenshire delivered a statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday 24th June 2014, outlining the results of an investigation into the system carried out by immigration enforcement staff and the National Crime Agency. He said that so far, 29,000 examples of visa fraud have been uncovered and a further 19,000 suspected cases are being investigated further.

Pope Francis I, has refused to meet migrants who have taken sanctuary in a church in Rome. The pope is said to wish to avoid making a 'political gesture'.

The 120 immigrants are said to come from North Africa and Eastern Europe. They were living in a squat outside Rome but were evicted two weeks ago. They then made their way to the historic Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. They have asked the pope to grant them asylum in the Vatican, according to Roman Catholic newspaper The Tablet.

A new study has found that ethnic minority immigration to the UK may have had a significant effect on the recent European elections.

Analysis of electoral data shows that about 66% of white Britons supported the right-of-centre Conservative Party or the anti-European Union UK Independence Party at the recent elections for seats in the European Parliament.

A detailed poll has found that the UK is deeply divided in its attitudes to immigration. The 2014 British Social Attitudes Survey has found that younger people, Londoners and those with a university education tend to think of immigration as positive whereas the elderly, those living outside London and those with little education tend to see it as negative.

The British Social Attitudes Survey is conducted on behalf of the government every year. Each year, a representative sample of British residents are questioned about their attitudes to a wide range of subjects. Among them is immigration.

To many who have followed our posts on US immigration over the last couple of years, the US political system may resemble a game – a game played by two 'teams' – the Republicans and the Democrats.

A game a bit like football, or, as the Americans call it, soccer. Both are games with rules which the uninitiated cannot understand. They are games which stir mighty passions and games which can move their supporters to violence.

The US World Cup football team (or soccer team as the Americans call it) has been dragged into the seemingly endless debate on US immigration reform.

On Tuesday June 17th, Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democrats in the US House of Representatives, and several other pro-immigration reform campaigners, posted a photograph of members of the US team on Twitter.

Of the eleven men pictured, seven had been whited out. Below the photo, Ms Pelosi said 'immigrants help drive America's success, even in the World Cup! Look at what #USMNT (the US Men's National Team) would be without them'.