Immigration news

The latest UK immigration figures show that there has been no change in the net immigration figure which remains at 212,000 for the year to December 2013. This is over twice the government's target level.

The figures were released by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday 22nd May 2014, the same day as the elections for the European Parliament are taking place in the UK. They will take place throughout the EU between 22nd and 24th May. The figures were thought likely to give a small boost to the anti-immigration UK Independence Party.

Campaigners for immigration reform in the US have met Democratic senators in Washington to discuss tactics.

The Democratic senators have urged the campaigners to spend the summer putting as much pressure as possible on Republican members of the House of Representatives to try to force them to support comprehensive immigration reform before Washington closes for the summer recess.

The Washington system requires new legislation to be passed by both houses of Congress; the Senate and The House of Representatives (known as 'the House') before it can become law.

The well-known rapper Yasiin Bey, better known as Mos Def, has cancelled his US tour because of 'immigration/legal issues'. Yasiin Bey performed as Mos Def from the 1990s and is also an experienced actor who has appeared in numerous films and TV shows.

The news broke on the website of the Together music festival in Boston which stated 'We regret to inform you that due to immigration/legal issues Yasiin Bey is unable to enter back into the United States and his upcoming US tour has been canceled'.

No further details have been revealed about quite what immigration issues these might be.

The latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show that Germany has become the second most popular destination for migrants after the United States.

The OECD published a copy of its information leaflet Migration Policy Debates on 20th May 2014. It says that Germany has risen from the ninth most popular destination for migrants in 2009 to second most popular in 2012. Most of the migrants come from central, eastern and southern Europe.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released figures which suggest that migration has a broadly neutral financial impact on countries which host large immigrant populations.

The OECD has published an edition of its Migration Policy Debates leaflet dealing with the benefits of migration for host countries. It says 'The study suggests the impact of the cumulative waves of migration that arrived over the past 50 years in OECD countries is on average close to zero, rarely exceeding 0.5% of GDP in either positive or negative terms'.

Sajid Javid, the first Muslim man in the UK cabinet, has said that immigrants to the UK should learn English and should 'respect our way of life'.

Interviewed in The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Mr Javid was asked why he believed that many people have said they will vote for the anti-immigration UK Independence Party at the European Parliament elections on May 22nd.