Guadalupan Multicultural Services of the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama, otherwise known as “La Casita,” has provided a range of services to immigrants in northern Alabama for years.
This panel examined trends in international migration and migration-related policies in the context of pandemics of disease, racism, and violence. It examined the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related policies on migrants and refugees, drawing on a growing body of research on how pandemics affect marginalized communities. The intersection of the health pandemic and the pandemics of racism and violence also disproportionately affect persons of color, including migrants and refugees. This panel lifted up promising international, national, and local approaches to the immense challenges facing immigrants, refugees, and their communities of origin and destination. Panelists also discussed the role of immigrants and refugees in economic and social recovery.
MODERATOR
Susan Martin
Donald G. Herzberg Professor Emeritus School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
SPEAKERS
Anne Richard
Former Assistant Secretary
Population, Refugees and Migration
U.S. State Department
Eskinder Negash
President
US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
Former Director
Office of Refugee Resettlement
Paul Spiegel
Professor of the Practice and Director
Center for Humanitarian Health
Johns Hopkins University
Joseph Chamie
Former Research Director
Center for Migration Studies
Former Director
UN Population Division
Philip Martin
Professor Emeritus
University of California, Davis
This plenary panel of leading scholars explored the role, promise, and course of migration research and scholarship at a time of multiple crises. It particularly examined the importance of scholarship that crosses disciplines, competencies, and areas of expertise.
MODERATOR
Jamie Winders
Professor, Geography and the Environment
Director, Autonomous Systems Policy Institute
Syracuse University
Editor
International Migration Review
SPEAKERS
Oliver Bakewell
Senior Lecturer
Global Development Institute
University of Manchester
Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes
Professor of Economics
University of California, Merced
Ali R. Chaudhary
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Faculty Associate, Rutgers Program on South Asian Studies and the Center for Security, Race & Rights
Rutgers University
Brenda S.A. Yeoh
Raffles Professor of Social Sciences, Department of Geography
Director, Humanities and Social Science Research Office of the Deputy President
National University of Singapore
La Casita has shifted many of its regular services to remote platforms and sent food boxes to community members. Sr. Gabriela has also been instrumental in making COVID-19 testing available to immigrants at local parishes.
Venezuelan returnees are turning around and new migrants are joining them to walk to Colombia and other receiving countries in the subregion. The direction of the migration flow is changing, and it seems unstoppable. Meanwhile, the number of returnees entering Venezuelan legal checkpoints seems to be decreasing. Since last September, groups of youths, women, children, and entire families are daily walking back to Colombia using informal border paths.
The mission of the Scalabrinian order is to accompany people on the move. In the COVID-19 era, it is harder than ever to live out that mission.
Two Scalabrini priests located at opposite ends of North America have worked to support vulnerable groups during the COVID pandemic.
Established in 2014, the Fr. Lydio F. Tomasi, C.S. Annual Lecture on International Migration addresses a migration-related topic of pressing concern to faith communities. Fr. Tomasi, a founding member of the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS), directed the institute from 1968 to 2001. Co-sponsored with the University of Notre Dame, the 2020 Fr. Lydio F. Tomasi, C.S. Annual Lecture on International Migration was delivered by His Eminence Cardinal Michael F. Czerny, SJ, Under-Secretary for the Migrants & Refugees Section of the Vatican Dicastery for Human Development.
The 2020 Father Lydio F. Tomasi, C.S. Annual Lecture on International Migration was delivered by His Eminence Cardinal Michael F. Czerny, SJ, Under-Secretary for the Migrants & Refugees Section of the Vatican Dicastery for Human Development.
This article provides detailed estimates of foreign-born (immigrant) workers in the United States who are employed in “essential critical infrastructure” sectors, as defined by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the US Department of Homeland Security. Building on earlier work by the Center for Migration Studies, the article offers exhaustive estimates on essential workers on a national level, by state, for large metropolitan statistical areas, and for smaller communities that heavily rely on immigrant labor. It also reports on these workers by job sector; immigration status; eligibility for tax rebates under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act); and other characteristics.