All news items
22 August 2011
BBC: US border patrol officers stopping men to check their identification near the border of Texas and Mexico The US has increased security in recent years along its shared border with Mexico. Illegal immigrants to the US who pose no threat to the public are likely to have deportation proceedings against them shelved, the Obama administration has announced. Reviews will be conducted of about 300,...
22 August 2011
New York Times Editorial: The White House has just taken a large step toward a more sensible and lawful policy on illegal immigration. The administration said that it would stop deporting illegal immigrants who pose no threat to public safety or national security so that it can focus on catching and expelling criminals who do.
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Fewer Youths to Be Deported in New Policy (August 19, 2011)...
18 August 2011
On the 16th August the Constitutional Court heard argument from LHR and the Centre for Child Law on why sections of the Children's Act that allows for the removal of children without any judicial oversight or notice to the parents is unconstitutional. This follows the controversial raid in 2010 when Tshwane metro officials and social workers randomly removed the children of informal traders and...
18 August 2011
LA Times Reporting from Johannesburg, South Africa-- The young mother crossed the surging Limpopo River, the water up to her neck, like cruel hands trying to drag her under. Other women traveling with her were terrified, screaming, "We're going to die!" Ruvarashe Chibura concentrated all her strength on the little bundle she held high in the air: her 15-month-old baby, Cynthia....
17 August 2011
Sowetan : An Act protecting children's rights might be changed to give parents and caregivers more voice before children are removed from their care. The Constitutional Court heard yesterday that the Act infringed on the right of the child to family care or parental care. Ann Skelton, of the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria, said parents and caregivers had to be interviewed...
15 August 2011
IOL In what can be hailed as a landmark judgment for hawkers – who are harassed by municipalities in spite of court orders preventing them from doing so – a judge has ordered that a mayor and her municipality pay hefty fines. The municipality also has to pay each hawker R500 in compensation.
The order was given last week by the Mafikeng High Court against the Rustenburg...
10 August 2011
Two migrants were allegedly killed and several injured at a refugee centre in Pretoria earlier this week during a stampede, according to witnesses. But police and home affairs officials deny a stampede took place or that anyone was killed or hurt. Witnesses at the Marabastad centre on Monday said they saw a woman and child being trampled as people in the queue flooded towards the centre when the...
10 August 2011
Close to 900000 Zimbabweans have applied for asylum in South Africa, official figures show, dashing any hopes that an exercise to issue work and study permits to the immigrants could help to ease the overload on the refugee-handling system.
Department of Home Affairs statistics also show a steady flow of new refuge-seekers from Zimbabwe, with an average of about 5000 a month received since...
10 August 2011
JOHANNESBURG, 2 August 2011 (IRIN) - Increasing numbers of Ethiopians and Somalis fleeing war, drought and poverty in their home countries face arrest, deportation and detention as they try to make their way to the south of the continent.
For most the goal is South Africa - the only country in the region where refugees and asylum-seekers have freedom of movement and the right to work...
10 August 2011
Australia's High Court has stopped the authorities from deporting a boat-load of asylum seekers to Malaysia. A BBC News report notes that lawyers for the group of refugees argued that their transfer to Malaysia would be illegal. Judges ruled there was a ‘sufficiently serious question’, and ordered a halt to such transfers until a full hearing can be held later this month. The ruling...