"According to 1996 figures, foreign workers make up about 10 percent of the workforce in the United States, compared with 3 percent in Britain " One excerpt from the front-page NY Times article [below] which I read underscored the fact that the "booming" service economy NEEDS a vast cheap labor pool --quoting Greenspan and others-- and federal agencies have in effect CHOSEN to permit the "private sector," without legal interference, to use ILLEGAL aliens to fill that need ... US INS Arresting Fewer Illegal Immigrants, NY Times Reports Washington, March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Arrests of illegal immigrants by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service dropped to about 8,600 last year from 22,000 two years earlier, the New York Times reported. At a time of labor shortages and a booming U.S. economy, the INS is concentrating on arresting and deporting illegal aliens who have committed crimes, the newspaper said. ``It is just the market at work, drawing people to jobs, and the INS has chosen to concentrate its actions on aliens who are a danger to the community,'' said Robert L. Bach, INS associate commissioner for policy and planning, the Times said. Presidential contender George W. Bush told supporters Monday that legal immigration is a sign of national success and that the Republican party must be inclusive and have an open door policy. ILO: Migrant Workers May Increase By MARA D. BELLABY .c The Associated Press LONDON (AP) - The number of emigrants seeking work around the world is set to increase as globalization puts added pressure on poor countries and makes working abroad more enticing, the International Labor Organization said. About 130 million people are working as migrants worldwide, up from 75 million in 1965, the U.N. group said Wednesday. Moreover, the number of undocumented migrants is estimated at 10 million to 15 million, said Peter Stalker, who wrote the book ``Workers without Frontiers'' for the organization. The economic migrants are seeking work in roughly 67 countries, up from 39 in 1970, and fleeing 55 countries, compared to 29 previously, Stalker said. But in a sign of the complexity of immigration patterns, 15 countries such as Thailand and Malaysia both receive and send a major number of migrant workers. ``In a world of winners and losers, the losers do not simply disappear. They seek somewhere else to go,'' Stalker said at a news conference launching the book. Even with tight border controls, increased paranoia about foreigners and tougher sanctions on illegal immigrants, migrant workers play a key role in the global economy, Stalker said. ``For many people, the only thing they see is that immigrant taking a job,'' he said. ``The fact is that the immigrants actually create more jobs than they take. They ride on the buses, eat at cafes, shop at the stores.'' The chief reason people keep migrating is the ability to earn more. For example, a Mexican worker would make roughly $31 a week at home, compared to $278 a week in the United States, according to 1996 figures. Wage rates for occupations that are open to immigrants vary considerably from country to country, the report said, although immigrants tend to be highly concentrated in certain sectors. ``In the United States, the sector in which the share of immigrants is highest is agriculture,'' the book says. Jobs are more informal and transitory, making it easier for companies to hire migrants, Stalker said. Additionally, the growth of the service industry has led to an increase of unappealing jobs that natives do not want to fill. Improvements in travel and communication also contribute, Stalker said. The cost of a three-minute phone call between London and New York fell from $300 to $1 between 1930 and 1996, he noted. Initially, Stalker said, many people assumed globalization would lessen the need for migration. But even as markets open, developing countries are more likely to be flooded by foreign goods than to have time to create their own industries, which might help them hold onto workers, he said. While immigration has become an emotional issue recently, Stalker said the largest flow of people actually happened from 1815 to 1915. And a quick survey of booming countries shows immigration played a major part in their success, he said. ``The United States had a population of about 100 million 100 years ago and today it is 230 million,'' Stalker said. ``But this is not a country that has been overwhelmed by immigrants. On the contrary, it has been driven by immigrants.'' The peak year for immigration in the United States was 1915, when 1.2 million immigrants arrived, equivalent to 1.2 percent of the total American population at the time, the book said. In 1996, the United States received 996,000 immigrants, 0.35 percent of the population. According to 1996 figures, foreign workers make up 9.4 percent of the workforce in the United States, compared with 25 percent in Australia, 3.4 percent in Britain and 0.1 percent in Japan. Japan set to relax rules on foreign workers TOKYO, March 7 (Reuters) - In a small but symbolic move, Japan is pushing ahead with plans to relax its tough immigration laws and allow more foreign workers into the country as it prepares to face a shrinking domestic labour force. Japan's ruling coalition is expected to approve this week a Justice Ministry report which will form the basis of Japan's immigration policy for the next five years. According to media, the report recommends allowing foreigners to work in such fields as agriculture, hotels and marine product processing as trainees. Currently, Japan accepts foreign trainees in only 55 business areas. The report also calls on the government to consider accepting foreign workers in the field of nursing care for the elderly, a growth business in Japan's rapidly ageing society, media reports said. Present rules limit foreign workers to those who bring ``expertise'' in specified fields such as journalism, academia and some high-tech fields. But rising demand for workers in jobs which Japanese prefer to avoid has led to an increase in the number of foreigners here, including many without proper visas. A record 1.51 million foreign nationals were registered in Japan at the end of 1998, the latest year for which data were available. About 270,000 more are believed to be here without proper visas. While Japan's prolonged economic slump has put the immediate focus on the nation's rising jobless rate, a greying population and falling birth rate mean the labour force is expected to start shrinking a mere five years from now, government figures show. That daunting prospect prompted a study group in the government's Economic Planning Agency last year to advise the government to consider accepting more foreign workers. In a 10-year economic plan adopted last year, Japan also made clear that it would promote steps to accept more foreign workers to revitalise the economy. At the same time as trying to increase the number of legal foreign workers, Japan has been stepping up efforts to crack down on the massive number of illegal immigrants. Last month, the government imposed tougher laws against workers without a valid visa, abolishing a three-year statute of limitations and banning them from returning to Japan for five years. "In SE Asia, many victims of child trafficking are forced into bonded labor ..." Child trafficking on rise due to weak laws, lax enforcement .c Kyodo News Service BANGKOK, March 9 (Kyodo) - By: Tim Johnson Child trafficking in South and Southeast Asia is rising due to lax enforcement and the inadequacy of laws established to fight it, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said Thursday. ''The increased number of projects and governments involved in combating child trafficking has not stemmed the tide of children who fall prey to traffickers,'' said an ILO report released at a three-day international conference on child labor that began Wednesday in Jakarta. ''In fact, accounts in many South and Southeast Asian nations show the problem is growing,'' it said. In South Asia, the report said, children are being trafficked for forced or bonded labor, as well as for camel jockeying, forced marriages and even the sale of organs. Sexual exploitation is also rife, with recent research suggesting there are about 200,000 Bangladeshi children in the brothels of Pakistan and another 300,000 in the brothels of India, where there are also tens of thousands of Nepalese children working in the commercial sex business. In Southeast Asia, most trafficking victims are forced into prostitution, though others are trafficked for bonded labor, domestic work, forced marriages, adoptions, and more recently to work for begging gangs in Thailand, a phenomenon also seen in Vietnam. The report said an influx of pedophile tourists has increased the demand for child prostitutes in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. It said the age of child prostitutes is dropping, in part due to the misconception that young children will not carry or transmit HIV/AIDS. Moreover, many men believe that having sex with young girls will improve their virility or perhaps even cure a sexually transmitted disease or make them more successful in business. Child prostitutes as young as five are thus in high demand, the report said. While all South or Southeast Asian countries have laws relating to the trafficking of children, those laws are generally incomplete and ineffective when it comes to implementation, the report said. With the possible exception of Thailand's laws, none meet international standards, it said. For example, several countries do not define children as under the age of 18, the guideline set in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nepal defines children as below age 16, while in Pakistan there is no single clear definition of a child. In Cambodia, legal provisions relating to trafficking are so unclear, and judicial processes so cumbersome and time-consuming, that many offenders escape prosecution. In Bangladesh, alleged perpetrators walk free because overwhelmed courts cannot prosecute them within the statute of limitations. Another problem the report cites is that child victims of trafficking are often treated first as illegal aliens and second -- if at all -- as victims of crime. In Pakistan, a girl who has been sexually assaulted can be jailed, whipped or even stoned for what others charge is adultery and premarital sex, which are criminal offenses there, while police often arrest victims of trafficking rather than the traffickers. In Thailand and Cambodia, children trafficked from other countries are generally detained as violators of immigration laws and are deported. The report said that in much of the region, corrupt officials, police or military are involved in child trafficking and prostitution, with some owning brothels themselves or protecting those that they personally frequent. Recruiters also form networks with law enforcement officials in order to get protection. On the bright side, however, the report said governments throughout the region have been revising their trafficking laws, with Nepal and India considering new bills on trafficking, and Laos examining how to bring relevant legislation in line with international standards. Some countries have increased penalties for child trafficking. In Bangladesh, the offense now carries a penalty of life imprisonment or death, while in Sri Lanka and Thailand the maximum penalty has been raised to 20 years.
