In The News

The Great Escape

Robert Winder June 22, 2016
In much of Europe, people are a short ride from another country, and the Schengen Agreement, formed in 1985, allows free travel for citizens of 26 nations with “significant effect not just on daily life but on tourism, trade and commerce,” explains Robert Winder for New Statesman. “Those who designed it to liberate movement in Europe did not imagine international migration on today’s scale....

Undocumented, Unafraid: Immigrants Find Power Revealing Themselves Online

Issie Lapowsk June 13, 2016
Children have little choice in a parent’s decision to leave home and work in another country. Once grown, the undocumented immigrants in the United States struggle to attend colleges or find work, yet cannot easily return to their native countries. Caught in the middle, many turn to social media to explain the plight with the help of programs like Define America and Coming Out of the Shadows: “...

Migrants Feared Dead in Mediterranean Sinkings

Patrick Kingsley June 2, 2016
More than 13,000 people crossed the Mediterranean, leaving Libya for Italy during the third week of May. At least 800 have died with the sinking of three vessels, reports the UN refugee agency. “The full details of the disasters emerged slowly because of the chaotic nature of the situation,” reports Patrick Kingsley for the Guardian. “The disasters show that despite attempts to crackdown on...

Out of Africa

Thomas L. Friedman April 14, 2016
Thousands of migrants travel the deserts of North Africa, fleeing poverty and conflict, determined to reach Libya and eventually Europe. Many Africans with large families can no longer find work as drought and high temperatures devastate the agriculture industry, explains Thomas Friedman for the New York Times. Smugglers collect migrants from Senegal, Nigeria Chad and other countries, cramming...

Warming World Promises More Refugees

Richard D. Lamm January 14, 2016
Climate change combined with war and a growing population could pose challenges of unimaginable magnitude. “Last summer’s Mediterranean crisis, a migration of Biblical proportions from Syria to Europe, is likely merely a preview of the dislocation to come,” writes Richard D. Lamm, former governor of Colorado. “It is not too apocalyptic to consider the possibility that ultimately a warming world...

Coalition of the Unwilling: Merkel's Plan B Could Mean End of Schengen

Peter Müller, Ralf Neukirch and Andreas Ulrich December 11, 2015
European leaders are meeting behind closed doors to tighten the continent’s external borders and stem the flow of refugees from areas of conflict in the Middle East. Spiegel Online reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks to finalize a deal that includes Turkey: “Essentially, it calls for Europe to provide billions in aid to Turkey in exchange for Ankara doing all it can to prevent...

Can Modi Harness India’s High-Tech Diaspora?

Rupa Subramanya October 5, 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to use his recent trip to the United States as a platform for encouraging Indian diaspora communities to foster closer economic ties with their home country. With more than 28.5 million Indians living overseas, 4.5 million in the United States alone, the Indian government is trying to make it easier for migrants to send remittances home by treating such...