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Pope Francis has travelled to the island of Lampedusa to make a speech calling for an end to the 'globalisation of indifference'. He said that the west has a 'brotherly responsibility' to look after refugees and migrants and asked for forgiveness for the indifference that allowed their suffering.
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has backed a plan to give an amnesty to illegal immigrants who have been in the UK for twelve years or more. Mr Johnson was speaking on London news radio station LBC Radio on Tuesday 2nd July 2013 on his new Ask Boris show.
Mr Johnson was asked by co-presenter Nick Ferrari whether he supported an amnesty for all illegal immigrants. He said that, in fact, the UK already has an effective amnesty for people who have been in the country illegally for twelve years. He asked 'why not be honest about it?'
Comprehensive immigration reform came a step closer in the US on Thursday 28th June 2013 after the US Senate passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act 2013. For the Act to become law, it still needs to be passed by the other house of Congress, the House of Representatives (known as 'the House').
Karl Rove, the controversial advisor to George W Bush has written an article in The Wall Street Journal in which he warns the Republican Party that it will have to 'do better with Hispanics' if it ever wants to regain the presidency. This means, among other things, that Republican Congressmen and women will have to support the comprehensive immigration reform bill which is before Congress at the moment.
The Canadian immigration minister, Jason Kenney, has asked the Canadian public and a number of 'stakeholders' to submit their opinions about immigration in an extensive online consultation. The consultation opened on 21st June 2013 and will continue until 31st August 2013.
The UK's chief inspector of immigration, John Vine, has issued a final damning report into the workings of the UK Border Agency (UKBA) which was abolished in March 2013. He found that, while there had been improvements in the organisation's systems for finding asylum seekers in its final months, it continued to ignore important data right up until the end.