Policy Challenges in International Migration

[Excerpt] Immigration is a leading policy concern for many countries around the world, including the United States. Members of Congress have for several years had immigration policy as one of their main legislative issues. Yet, determining an optimal immigration policy has grown increasingly complex as economic, cultural, and security pressures all compete for political consideration. In an effort to tackle some of this complexity, this report serves as a broad overview of the standard theory of international migration and offers a brief synopsis of the major immigration-related policy challenges potentially involved in the legislative debates in Congress. The overview examines several possible issues for Congress as it considers new legislation on immigration reform, including (1) how new immigration legislation might affect migratory behavior and (2) the possible effects of increased or decreased migration on related policy issues. In addressing these issues, this report lays out a basic theoretical foundation for migration, as well as the mitigating role of laws and regulations on migratory behavior. With the exception of certain trafficking circumstances, all migration is based on a decision-making process by the individual migrant (or in some cases by the migrant’s household). The decision-making elements are commonly referred to as “push/pull” factors. Essentially, while some factors appeal to potential migrants to “pull” them toward another country, other circumstances tend to “push” them away from their place of residence. If the perceived benefits of these push/pull factors outweigh the perceived cost, an individual is expected to migrate. Despite there being several possible motivations to migrate, the range of choices available for an individual to migrate are limited. Limitations occur in part because of the constraints placed on human behavior by institutions—or “rules of the game”—such as laws, regulations, or even cultural expectations. Policy makers can actively modify a number of institutions to both deter some forms of migration and facilitate others, thereby mitigating the impact of push/pull factors to the policy maker’s advantage. Consequently, institutional manipulation plays a key role in addressing numerous immigration-related policy challenges, because it can be used to facilitate the migration of some potential migrants and deter the migration of others. The increasingly global migration of individuals has created both challenges and opportunities for advanced industrial countries. Despite the idiosyncrasies and unique policies of certain countries, a string of commonalities underlies the pressures all open economies face. Several of the themes partially mirror debates and efforts occurring in the United States. Perhaps most prominent of these is integration, that is, efforts to peaceably adjust society to accommodate any new demographic dynamics. A second recurring theme is the alleged burden placed by some immigrants on the state, including acts of violence, threats to security, crime, and supposed net non-contributors to the welfare state. A final theme concerns how international migration may provide numerous benefits, including alleviating labor shortages, addressing an aging society, and otherwise providing cultural diversity. This report will not be updated

Immigration-Related Detention: Current Legislative Issues

[Excerpt] As Congress considers reforming the nation’s immigration system, the detention of noncitizens in the United States will likely be an issue. Under the law, there is broad authority to detain aliens while awaiting a determination of whether the noncitizen should be removed from the United States. The law also mandates that certain categories of aliens are subject to mandatory detention (i.e., the aliens must be detained). Aliens subject to mandatory detention include those arriving without documentation or with fraudulent documentation, those who are inadmissable or deportable on criminal grounds, those who are inadmissable or deportable on national security grounds, those certified as terrorist suspects, and those who have final orders of deportation. Aliens not subject to mandatory detention may be detained, paroled, or released on bond. The priorities for detention of these aliens are specified in statute and regulations. In FY2008, on an average day, 31,244 noncitizens were in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody. There are many policy issues surrounding detention of aliens. The Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) increased the number of aliens subject to mandatory detention, and raised concerns about the justness of mandatory detention, especially as it is applied to asylum seekers arriving without proper documentation. Additionally, the increase in the number of mandatory detainees has raised concerns about the amount of detention space available to house DHS detainees. Some contend that decisions on which aliens to release from detention and when to release aliens from detention may be based on the amount of detention space, not on the merits of individual cases. Another issue is the Attorney General’s role in the detention of noncitizens. The creation of DHS moved the administration of detention of noncitizens from the Department of Justice’s Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to DHS’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Nonetheless, it can be argued that the language in the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296; HSA) has left the Attorney General with concurrent authority over immigration law, including the authority to arrest, detain, and release aliens. The 108th Congress passed P.L. 108-458, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, directing the Secretary of DHS to increase the amount of detention bed space by not less than 8,000 beds for each year, FY2006 through FY2010. Although Congress increased the bed space between FY2006 and FY2010, the number of beds has only increased by approximately 12,000. In the 111th Congress, bills have been introduced covering a range of provisions and perspectives concerning the detention of noncitizens. Several bills—including S. 1505, H.R. 994, H.R. 2406, and H.R. 3308—would mandate that DHS increase the amount of detention space. In addition, other bills (e.g., H.R. 1215 and S. 1594) would codify certain policies at detention facilities, such as access to telephones and medical care, and expand the alternatives to detention program. Other bills, such as H.R. 264, would eliminate the mandatory detention of asylum seekers in expedited removal. This report will be updated as legislative action occurs

Optimized mesoscale growth of microalgae: A modelling approach

Photosynthesis is a process that uses water, carbon dioxide and light to create sugar and oxygen. Sugar and oxygen is then used by the cell for maintenance and growth purposes through cellular respiration. We would then expect the growth rate of an algae culture to depend on the amount of radiation available. This thesis explores how the growth of three strains of P. tricornutum, named FITO, M28 and B58, depends on the amount of radiation received in the form of irradiance, as well as the temperature and the pH. The cultures are grown in bags on a rooftop, the irradiance is measured with a cosine irradiance meter, samples are taken from the algae culture to determine the dry weight or biomass, and the temperature and pH are measured automatically several times during the day. We also create a model that describes the biomass as a function of time, and this model is fitted to the data points we have for biomass. The correlations between average growth and average temperature and between average growth and average pH are not similar between the strains, however, the correlation between average growth and average irradiance is almost the same for each strain. We also find that the irradiance used can be either in the form of photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) or photosynthetically usable radiation (PUR); the correlation between average growth and PAR is almost identical to the correlation between average growth and PUR. In our model we have certain parameters, and by fitting the model curve to our different measurement series we get a set of parameter values for each series. We investigate how the maximum growth rate of our model depends on the model parameters, and also how these model parameters depend not only on irradiance, temperature and pH, but on each other. All the correlations between these parameters and between the parameters and irradiance, temperature and pH are weak, the largest ones being between 0.2 and 0.3. We also find that two of the function parameters, the maximum production and the absorption cross section, have a certain value each for every measurement series that maximizes the maximum growth rate of the model function. We then compare the average fitted parameter values with the average optimal parameter values, and find that the average fitted parameter values for the maximum production and the absorption cross section are 0.74 d-1 and 5.7 dm2 g-1, respectively, while the average optimal parameter values for the maximum production and the absorption cross section are 4.5 d-1 and 3.2 dm2 g-1, respectively. That is, the average fitted the maximum production is smaller than the average optimal the maximum production, while the average fitted the absorption cross section is higher than the average optimal the absorption cross section. To optimize growth, then, we should consider finding other strains and maybe species of algae that have different average values of the maximum production and the absorption cross section. Another interesting result is that the growth per area, according to the model, is constant with depth. That means that model-wise there are not any limitations on the depth, at least not for bags that are between 1 cm and 1 m deep. That is, to maximize growth, we should look at other parameters, and look at the depth from a more practical viewpoint.Masteroppgave i fysikkPHYS39

Foreign Students in the United States: Policies and Legislation

[Excerpt] Five years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by foreign nationals — including several terrorists on students visas — the security concerns over foreign student visas are being supplanted by competitiveness concerns. Potential foreign students, as well as all aliens, must satisfy Department of State (DOS) consular officers abroad and immigration inspectors upon entry to the United States that they are not ineligible for visas under the so-called “grounds for inadmissibility” of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which include security and terrorist concerns. The consular officers who process visa applicants are required to check the National Counterterrorism Center’s (NCTC) automated lookout systems before issuing any visa. In part because of these security measures, student visa debates have shifted from security to market-based discussions

Immigration Legislation and Issues in the 111th Congress

[Excerpt] The Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader have pledged to take up comprehensive immigration reform legislation at some point in the 111th Congress. Efforts to enact broad immigration reform in the 109th and 110th Congresses were unsuccessful. It is unclear what the components of any immigration reform proposals that the 111th Congress may consider will be. In the past, comprehensive bills have addressed border security, enforcement of immigration laws within the United States (interior enforcement), employment eligibility verification, temporary worker programs, permanent admissions and, most controversially, unauthorized aliens in the United States. The 111th Congress has considered various immigration issues and has enacted a number of targeted immigration provisions. It has passed legislation (P.L. 111-8, P.L. 111-9, P.L. 111-68) to extend the life of several immigration programs—the E-Verify electronic employment eligibility verification system, the Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program, the Conrad State J-1 Waiver Program, and the special immigrant visa for religious workers—all of which are currently authorized until October 31, 2009. With respect to these programs, the House-passed and Senate-passed versions of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010 (H.R. 2892), include different provisions to further extend E-Verify. The Senate-passed bill also would extend the other three programs. Among the other subjects of legislation enacted by this Congress are refugees (P.L. 111-8) and border security (P.L. 111-5, P.L. 111-32). This report discusses these and other immigration-related issues that have seen legislative action or are of significant congressional interest. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations are addressed in CRS Report R40642, Homeland Security Department: FY2010 Appropriations, and, for the most part, are not covered here. This report will be updated as legislative developments occur

Border Security: The Role of the U.S. Border Patrol

This report includes some issues for Congress to consider which include the slow rate of integration between the United States Border Patrol's (USBP) biometric database of illegal aliens and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) biometric database of criminals and terrorists; the number of unauthorized aliens who die attempting to enter the country each year; the organized human smuggling rings that have proliferated as entering the country has become more difficult; and the threat posed by terrorists along the sparsely defended Northern border as well as the more porous Southwest border

Emojier i det digitale universet. En studie om bruk og tolkning av emojier i to aldersgrupper.

I dette masterprosjektet undersøker jeg forskjeller i bruk og tolkning av emojier i to ulike aldersgrupper. Denne studien er sosiolingvistisk og presenterer den brukerorienterte tradisjonen innenfor forskning på computer-mediated communication (CMC), som tar avstand til at språket på nettet bør studeres som en isolert enhet. Kontekstuelle premisser ses nemlig på som viktige faktorer for at språket brukes og tolkes forskjellig, og i dette tilfellet er alder det sentrale perspektivet. Ved en kombinasjon av kvalitativ og kvantitativ tilnærming forsøker jeg å avdekke hvilke aldersforskjeller som finnes i bruk og tolkning i to respondentgrupper på 18–25 år og 40–50 år. Empirien som ligger til grunn for studien består av 72 svar på en digital spørreskjemaundersøkelse. Undersøkelsen har tatt for seg generell bruk av emojier, men også spørsmål knyttet til fem utvalgte emojier for dette prosjektet. Jeg har vært spesielt opptatt av å se på i hvor stor grad respondentene bruker emojier, av å undersøke ulike funksjoner og i tillegg avdekke meningsinnhold i forhold til alder. Oppgavens teoretiske ramme inkluderer ulike perspektiver fra sosiolingvistikken, CMC–tradisjonen, semiotikk og normdanning. Disse er gjennomgående sentrale perspektiver som belyses i oppgaven. Aldersforskjellene kommer tydeligst fram når det gjelder måter å tolke emojiene på. Tolkningene går ofte i ulike retninger som ser ut til å henge sammen med respondentenes alder. Selv om tolkningsforskjellene ofte tyder på at alder er en viktig faktor, tyder det også på at det eksisterer normer på tvers av aldersgruppene. Det å bruke emojier generelt ser ut til å være populært blant alle respondentene, og det ekspressive nivået fra resultatene mine blir et viktig funn. Dynamikken i bruk og tolkning av emojier er likevel et faktum, og alder kan definitivt sies å spille en rolle for at det finnes forskjeller. Denne studien er derfor med på å si at språket vårt, også det digitale, lever videre som et dynamisk fenomen. Det er begrenset med forskning som er gjort på emojier innenfor språkvitenskapen. Formålet med denne studien er derfor å kunne bidra til å si noe mer om dette velkjente fenomenet

Homeland Security Department: FY2011 Appropriations

This report describes the FY2011 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Administration requested a net appropriation of $45.0 billion in budget authority for FY2011. This amounts to a$1.1 billion, or a 2.4% increase from the $43.9 billion enacted for FY2010. Total budget authority requested by the Administration for DHS for FY2011 amounts to$52.6 billion as compared to $51.7 billion enacted for FY2010

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Immigration Fees and Adjudication Costs: Proposed Adjustments and Historical Context

This report discusses the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service's (USCIS) newly proposed fee schedule for immigration services. Issues for Congress to consider might include how USCIS fees have been computed and justified; whether anticipated revenue from revised fees will cover agency costs; how fiscal shortfalls might be funded; and what impact higher fees might have on the applicant pool