Blog Assignment 5
US vs. UK Immigration Policies
The United States and the United Kingdom are facing different immigration situations as we speak. While the UK is tightening up it's borders and denying refugees, the US is still adhering to the COVID-19 immigration policies that were supposedly to be lifted. In this post, we will compare the two.
Recently, Britain has announced that they will be sending asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing/settlement, reportedly becoming one of the first major powers to turn away refugees without even considering their cases (Castle, et al., 2022). As UK Plans to Send Some Asylum Seekers details, if this is implemented, it would support Boris Johnson's main argument for Brexit, that Britain would "take back control of it's borders (Castle, et al., 2022)." While human right's groups claims that this violates international agreements, and could encourage other countries to do the same, a tactic deemed "offshoring (Castle, et al., 2022). When considering the textbook, though, it is mentioned that political violence, and the need for asylum-seekers has a precursor to border controls (Flint, 210).
In the US, the situation is a little different, and more ongoing. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Trump administration had restricted immigration on "US land borders (Cochrane, 2022)." As Pandemic Aid Bill Stalls describes, this was a policy that was meant to be overturned by the Biden administration, and as the COVID pandemic got "better." This disagreement between the parties in Congress has halted a $10 billion pandemic response bill, as some people want this immigration policy reinforced in said bill (Cochrane, 2022).
It is interesting to compare this issue, something that is affecting other policies for the US domestically, and the UK bill, something that seems mostly focused on outside of the country... If that makes sense. I believe that, at this time, the difference is that the US issue has been ongoing, and the UK issue is something new.
References:
Castle, S., Specia, M., & Dahir, A. L. (2022, April 14). U.K. Plans to Send Some Asylum Seekers to Rwanda. The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/14/world/europe/uk-rwanda-asylum-seekers.html?searchResultPosition=2
Cochrane, E. (2022, April 5). Pandemic Aid Bill Stalls Amid Dispute Over Immigration Restrictions. The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/05/us/politics/coronavirus-pandemic-aid-immigration.html?searchResultPosition=3
Flint, C., & Taylor, P. J. (2018). Political Geography: World-Economy, Nation-State and Locality (7th ed.). Routledge.
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