Immigration news

Across the US, a small group of businesses is testing a Department of Homeland Security program that can check immigration status with a few clicks on the Internet. The program would help employers determine if a new employee is in the US legally or illegally. The program will likely be at the heart of any federal immigration reform.

"It's not a question of 'can we fix this?' It's 'when and how?'" said Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank who specializes in immigration.

Immigration has boosted the UK's population by over one million since 1997, a new report says.

According to think-tank Migrationwatch UK, net migration had added more than 1.2 million to the UK population in the past seven years, accounting for 81% of the total population growth during that period.

The group says that that amounts to the population of Birmingham and Nottingham added together and is equivalent to an average growth in population due to immigration of 177,000 each year.

Migrationwatch used the government's recently published mid-year population estimates to compile the figures.

Record numbers of illegal immigrants who cross into the US from Mexico have died in the heat of the Arizona desert in the past year. At least 229 immigrants are known to have died since 1 October 2004, the US Border Patrol said.

Many died while wandering through vast desert areas where summer temperatures regularly soar past 40C (104 Farenheit).

In one Arizona county, a refrigerated trailer is being used to store up to 70 extra bodies as the morgue is full.

Immigrants to Britain and other EU member states will have to swear an oath of allegiance to EU laws and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, rather than the Queen, under a proposal announced by Brussels. The European Commission also announced measures to counter illegal immigration across Europe and others to promote integration of legal immigrants.

Franco Frattini, the European Commissioner for justice and security, proposed an "oath of faithfulness" requiring all immigrants to the EU to swear allegiance to the union.

The United States needs to further tighten its immigration laws to reduce both legal and illegal immigration to the country, says a new report released this week."US immigration officials are overwhelmed by the number of people they had to deal with and cannot conduct proper security checks," said Steve Camarota of the Centre for Immigration Studies, which published the study. The centre advocates cutting legal migration to the United States."You can't have this level of immigration and this level of resources and still keep out the bad guys," he said.

A 10-year-old Iranian boy took legal action against the Australian government on 30 August. His lawyers say he was psychologically hurt by living in immigration detention camps. Shayan Badraie is suing the Immigration Department and two detention centre operators.

Shayan's legal team told the New South Wales Supreme Court that the government had failed to provide adequate care to the boy while he was in custody and he had developed post-traumatic stress as a result.