Immigration news

While appearing before the Home Affairs Select Committee on 4th December 2012, John Vine, the UK's chief selector of immigration confirmed that only 104 of 764 asylum seekers who were refused leave to remain in the UK between April 2011 and February 2012 were removed from the country.

Steve McCabe MP asked Mr Vine whether the UKBA had given Mr Vine any explanation for this failure.

Mr Vine said that 'there wasn't any explanation as such' but said that he thought that the organisation was organised in 'silos'

The latest UK census, completed in 2011, has revealed great changes in the ethnic and religious composition of the UK population.

The number of foreign-born people living in England and Wales rose by about two thirds (63%) in the decade to 2011. There were 2.9m more people who were born overseas in the UK in 2011 than there were in 2001, according to the census. The country from which the most people came was India, followed by Poland, then Pakistan, Ireland and Germany.

Human rights campaigners have alleged that Greek border guards have been using illegal tactics to keep refugees out of Greece.

On December 10th 2012, the Canadian immigration minister, Jason Kenney, announced that the new Canadian Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) will be launched on January 2nd 2013.

The FSTP will allow skilled tradespeople from around the world to apply for Canadian permanent resident status if they have a job offer in Canada and fulfil certain other criteria. Mr Kenney said that, in the first year, 3,000 applications will be accepted.

George W Bush speaks out in favour of immigration

The former president George W Bush has stepped into the immigration debate in the US. He has told a Washington event focussed on economic growth that immigrants can help America 'build a better tomorrow'.

Mr Bush, who was the 43rd president of the US, was in the White House between 2000 and 2008. He was a Republican. Since President Obama, a Democrat, became President in 2009, Mr Bush's Republican Party has obstructed any move to reform the US immigration system and is widely seen as having moved to the right on immigration.

Immigration is changing the racial makeup of the United States. 17% of American citizens are of Hispanic descent. Most of these are from Mexico and many are either immigrants or the children of immigrants. Hispanics are also the fastest growing minority and, even if there were to be no further immigration, they would still be expected to account for 30% of the US population by 2030.

A further 5% of citizens, about 15,000,000 people, is of Asian descent and this minority too is growing faster than the general population.