Migration

• The actions taken by the Trump Administration to stem the flow of refugees and asylum seekers will have two consequences: force people to stay in the dangerous conditions of their home countries, and/or push the humanitarian crisis into Mexico.
• The declines in remittances are threatening food security and increasing poverty levels in many migrant-sending countries, where a significant proportion of their GDP relies on migrant remittances.
• Global remittances will fall by 20% in 2020 due to the economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and migrant workers' loss of income and jobs.
• Some migrant workers from neighboring Myanmar and Cambodia are stuck with no wages from their jobs as hotel cleaners, kitchen hands and food stall operators, and the Thai tourism and sports ministry estimates that 60% of hospitality businesses could close by the end of the year.
• There are up to 4.5 million stranded Bangladeshi migrants across the world and that there could be hundreds of thousands of migrant workers returning to Bangladesh by the end of the year.
• France will start setting quotas for migrant workers from next year as Emmanuel Macron toughens his stance on immigration in an apparent attempt to appeal to rightwing voters.
• Diaspora remittances into global economies will drop by 20% this year and Nigeria, which earned $25 billion in 2019 from the remittances market needs to open up more channels to boost collections.
• COVID-19 is having a severe economic impact, with remittances from the Somali diaspora dwindling and the federal Government projecting an 11% drop in nominal GDP this year.
• South Sudan will remain the continent's largest refugee crisis in 2020, with more than 2.2 million refugees projected: Although refugee returns are not being promoted or facilitated, an increase in spontaneous IDP and refugee returns is anticipated, but not at high levels.
• The number of migrant children taking a dangerous jungle-route through central America in hopes of reaching the United States has rocketed seven-fold in the last year.
• The Trump administration announced that it will set the Presidential Determination - the target for refugee admissions - to only 18,000 in fiscal year 2020, the lowest since the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980.
• By the year 2100: Rising sea levels could force up to 2 billion people inland, creating a refugee crisis among one fifth of the world's population.
• The Unhcr has now taken the unprecedented step of urging EU states to stop returning asylum seekers to Hungary over fears about their security on arrival.
• About 260,000 Venezuelan refugees in other Latin American countries are expected to return this year after having lost their informal jobs as a result of shutdowns.
• The coronavirus crisis brings to an end 20 years of high migration to Australia: On current policy settings, net migration in 2020 and 2021 will be close to zero, if not in negative figures.
• Israel warns that 1.8 billion people could suffer absolute water scarcity by 2025, 800 million people are at risks from rising sea levels, and climate migration could reach 143 million from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia.
• Many temporary Australian visa holders have gone back home after losing their jobs and there is expected to be a dramatic fall in migration over the next few years, with the Government projecting an 85% fall in 2020-21.
• Some shocking migration projections follow: The Brook-ings Institution estimates the number of Venezuelan migrants could double to eight million in the next two years, far more than the six million who fled war-ravaged Syria.
• New Zealand's population growth over the past year will be slower than previously thought, with Statistics New Zealand slashing its estimates for gains from migration.
• The amount of money migrant workers send back to their home countries is expected to decrease by almost $110bn this year as the Covid 19 pandemic increases unemployment across the world.
• UK refugees granted Section 95 support are unlikely to have adequate social support networks to provide protection from the risk of homelessness and rough sleeping once Section 95 support is withdrawn.

Last updated: 30 September 2020