Immigration news

Special, temporary U.S. residency issued to thousands of Central Americans is due to expire in the coming months, and many of the immigrants fear they will be sent home.

The temporary status granted to Nicaraguans and Hondurans after Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and to Salvadorans following a devastating earthquake in 2001 has been renewed repeatedly with little public debate, but opposition is growing.

Critics say the program was never meant to be permanent and that it's time for the more than 300,000 people it protects to return home.

Every month, José Valencia sends between $300 and $400 to his sisters and other relatives in Ecuador from the Delgado Travel office in Queens, N.Y. Diana Ransom of the Christian Science Monitor reports.

"We never cease to do that," says Mr. Valencia, who heads the New York Association for New Americans, an immigrant advocacy group. "We are always going to send money home."

The Philippines embassy in Australia is investigating claims that Filipino guest workers brought to Australia on skilled migration visas are being exploited by employers. The claims say that employers are demanding they work long hours for below-award wages.

The embassy is investigating several claims of abuse of imported Filipino chefs and professional staff working in restaurants and bars.

John Dal Broi pauses to count the nationalities of the 100 workers employed at his family winery in Griffith, southern New South Wales (NSW). "We employ a lot of Indians, a lot of Turks, Afghans. We have some Filipina girls, South African, Dutch, German. We have the lot. I must sit down and work it out one day." Asa Wahlquist of The Australian reports. Griffith, a pretty and prosperous town on the Murrumbidgee River, wears the mantle of the most multicultural country town in NSW.

Two films examining immigrant life in America, the Hispanic teen drama "Quinceanera" and the Sudanese refugee documentary "God Grew Tired of Us," won top honors January 28 at the Sundance Film Festival.

Australia will have to accept tens of thousands of unskilled migrants to save its smaller Pacific island neighbours from economic ruin, a report commissioned by the Federal Government has found.

The report argues that the plight of the island nations has become so dire that urgent remedies are necessary to keep them viable.