The priests allege some religious organisations are using RWC visas to bring migrants to New Zealand for ulterior motives.

The allegations are contained in an MBIE report, seen by Newsroom, which deals with the broader issue of the way the RWC is being used.

The report says there is a real possibility that some religious organisations are misusing the RWC to bring migrants to New Zealand.

According to the report, the priests told the Labour Inspectorate that workers were promised weekly wages of $600. However, after arriving in New Zealand, they were informed they would be paid at a lower rate - and would receive the money only at the end of their six-month tenure.

The priests also said the religious organisation which sponsored the workers' visas confiscated their passports and air tickets for a short period.

They were made to perform domestic duties instead of religious work.

Domestic duties like cooking and cleaning are permitted as "secondary roles" under the religious worker visa rules.

Furthermore, the priests alleged the organisation had been engaged in "this behaviour" for at least a decade.

The Labour Inspectorate was unable to pursue the case to prosecution - closing its investigation because an employment agreement could not be found.

Newsroom did not identify individual organisations as some may still be under investigation.

To be granted an initial work visa under the religious worker category, a person needs to have an offer of religious work from a religious organisation as well as their sponsorship.

If the offer of work and sponsorship continues, a person can apply for a second work visa, then after 3 years in New Zealand, for a resident visa.

Source

• newsroom.co.nz
• immigration.govt.nz
• Image: migrationguide.info

About 2,300 undocumented children were taken from their parents in recent weeks by US Border Control. That stopped last Wednesday when US President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending his administration's policy of separating the families of illegal immigrants at the border.

So far only about 500 children have been reunited with their families. Many of them have been moved thousands of miles from the border, while their parents are detained for immigration hearings. Some are very young, still babies.

Dozens of non-profit, religious and other companies and organisations have provided services to the children.

Many have been local mainstays of refugee services for years. One of these, Catholic Extension, has announced it has established a Family Reunification Fund. (Catholic Extension is the leading supporter of missionary work in poor and remote parts of the US.)

They say the fund is "a response to the human tragedy unfolding on the nation's southern border" with Mexico.

It will support ministries that provide direct outreach and advocacy for immigrant families who are "separated as a consequence of our broken immigration system.

"The fund will mainly benefit existing ministries on the southern US border with Mexico, specifically those that are actively sheltering, defending and caring for immigrants and their families," a spokesperson says.

Family separations at the border and policy debates over that policy as well as the nation's immigration system "have exposed the profound misery of those fleeing their countries and coming to the United States," the spokesperson continues.

The fund will help Catholic Extension increase its support to resource-strapped immigrant ministries "at this very critical moment when policy changes are creating even more hardship and uncertainty among immigrant families."

Source

• Crux Now
• Al Jazeera
• USA Today
• Image: The China Post

The policy has seen thousands of children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to end the policy after days of outrage from the public and politicians.

"We're going to have strong — very strong — borders, but we are going to keep the families together," Mr. Trump said.

"I didn't like the sight or the feeling of families being separated," he said when explaining why he ended the policy.

Children will now be able to stay in detention with their parents along with other "alien families … where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources".

However, Trump's changed stance does not address the situation of the 2,300-pluschildren who have already been separated from their parents.

Federal officials initially said those children would not be immediately reunited with their families while the adults remain in federal custody during their immigration proceedings.

However Brian Marriott, the senior director of communications for the Administration for Children and Families division of the Department of Health and Human Services indicated decisions still need to be made.

He said "it is still very early, and we are awaiting further guidance on the matter … reunification is always the goal".

Marriott says the Children and Families division "is working toward that [reunification]" for the children separated from their families because of Mr. Trump's policy.

Meanwhile, Trump has directed US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to go to court to ask for a modification to a 1997 court settlement.

This settlement, known as Flores, prohibits the detention of migrant children for more than 20 days.

If the court agrees to modify it, children could be held in detention until proceedings have been completed.

Trump said he will continue to maintain a tough stance on immigration.

Source

• The Guardian
• The New York Times
• Image: PBS

In a new report titled "Libya's Dark Web of Collusion", Amnesty International says the EU finances the Libyan coastguard and officials running the country's detention camps to carry out torture and exploitation.

At present, the human rights group says about 20,000 people are detained in detention centers in Libya.

The aim is to stem the flow of people across the Mediterranean to Europe "... with little thought, or seeming care for the consequences for those trapped in Libya as a result."

Irregular entry, stay and exit are criminal offences in Libya.

"The lack of any judicial oversight of the detention process and the near total impunity with which officials operate has facilitated the institutionalisation of torture and other ill-treatment in detention [centers]," the Amnesty report says.

The organisation further reports the EU "routinely acts in collusion with militia groups and people traffickers to 'make money from human suffering'".

After ships, training and funding from the EU and Italy were provided to the Libyan coastguard, Amnesty says the number of arrivals in Italy fell by 67% between July and November compared with the same period in 2016.

Deaths at sea have correspondingly reduced.

Furthermore, Amnesty says the coastguard and those to whom they hand over refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, are often acting with criminal gangs and militia.

Amnesty claims the coastguard and smugglers sometimes mark boats to allow vessels to pass through Libyan waters without interception.

At the same time, the coastguard sometimes escorts boats out to international waters.

Refugees and migrants intercepted on their way to Europe are sent to camps run by the Libyan general directorate for combating illegal migration.

They are then routinely tortured for money, Amnesty reports.

Source

• The Guardian
• National Public Radio,Inc
• Aljazeera
• Image: Thomson Reuters Foundation News

President-elect Donald Trump wants to deport all illegal immigrants, especially criminals.

If they're not deported, he says they will be incarcerated.

His election vow to deport an estimated 11 million people has seen illegal immigrants hiding from federal authorities.

Many are looking to churches to help hide them.

Churches are considered "sensitive locations" by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

They avoid going to these places to arrest, search or interview people.

Churches therefore make ideal places for people to seek sanctuary.

Schools and hospitals are also viewed as "sensitive locations".

Over the past few years, 15 people have sought sanctuary. Caring for them has involved 13 churches in nine cities.

The 15 people were in imminent danger of being deported.

The Rev Donna Schaper, who is a senior minister of New York's Judson Memorial Church, says New York City has 11 congregations offering illegal immigrants refuge.

Some illegal immigrants have moved into "sanctuary churches" for indefinite periods.

She thinks the number will increase when Trump is inaugurated.

"The newly elected president is threatening to deport many of them and they want to be safe — churches have a moral mandate to help people in a way that is different than cities in general," she said.

Peter Pedemonti, executive director of the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia says there has been and "outpouring of inquiries and support" from congregations all over America that want to sign up in sanctuary sites.

Pedemonti's New Sanctuary Movement provides spiritual, financial, emotional and legal support to illegal immigrants.

His group includes 17 churches and two synagogues. They have joined together to stop deportations.

They have also offered their sanctuaries as safe havens.

The New Sanctuary Movement provides spiritual, financial, emotional and legal support to illegal immigrants.

Source

• The Christian Century
• Western Journalism
• Image: France 24