Regional Focus: United States - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

*FAQ: Non-citizen Registration Requirement in Trump Day 1 Executive Order (NILC, Feb. 2025) [text]

Harboring undocumented immigrants? You could face decades in prison (The Hill, Feb. 2025) [text]

If TPS Is Cancelled, Could Asylum Be an Option? (The Asylumist Blog, Feb. 2025) [text]

"Justice Department restores funding for programs that provide guidance in immigration courts," AP News, 3 Feb. 2025 [text]

Trump Administration Shouldn’t Designate Drug Cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (CATO At Liberty Blog, Feb. 2025) [text]

"Trump announces withdrawal from UN human rights body and halt to funding for Palestinian refugees," AP News, 4 Feb. 2025 [text]

Trump's Mass Deportation Campaign is Aimed at a Phantom Threat (The Unpopulist, Feb. 2025) [text]

- See also related stories on The Hill and NPR.

The Unauthorized Immigrant Population Expands Amid Record U.S.-Mexico Border Arrivals (Migration Policy Institute, Feb. 2025) [text]

What Americans think about Trump’s immigration actions early in his second term (Pew Research, Feb. 2025) [text]

What Trump Has Done and Imminently Plans to Do on Immigration (CATO At Liberty Blog, Feb. 2025) [text]

- See also related ProPublica article.

Who are immigrants to the US, where do they come from and where do they live? (The Conversation, Feb. 2025) [text]

Reports & journal articles:

2025 Evangelical Views on Immigration Study (Lifeway Research, Feb. 2025) [access]

- See also related World Relief press release.

Explainer: ICE Arrests and Deportations from the U.S. Interior (Migration Policy Institute, Feb. 2025) [access]

- In English and Spanish.

FY2024 Immigration Court Data: Case Outcomes (US Congressional Research Service, Feb. 2025) [text]

A New Path: A Guide to the Challenges & Opportunities after Deportation (Education Justice Project, Feb. 2025) [access]

- In English and Spanish. See also related Documented NY guide.

Recent White House Actions on Immigration (US Congressional Research Service, Feb. 2025) [text]

Understanding INA Section 212(f): The President’s Authority to Suspend the Entry of Noncitizens (American Immigration Council, Feb. 2025) [text]

"Venezuelan Immigrants in the United States," Migration Information Source, 6 Feb. 2025 [access]

- Available in English and Spanish.

Resource:

TRAC: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse [access]

- "Our trac.syr.edu public website has migrated to a new home. We have migrated the main areas, including all of our immigration reports and immigration data tools that were on our public website, but we are still working on migrating some areas which prove to be more challenging."

*UPDATED

Related post:

- Regional Focus: United States (3 Feb. 2025)

Regional Focus: MENA

Opportunity:

Call for proposals: Addressing protracted displacement in the MENA region, Istanbul, 16-17 October 2025 [info]

- Submit abstracts by 1 March 2025.

Short pieces:

Conflict, Climate Change, and Exclusion: Iraqi Gypsy and Bedouin Returnees (RID Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

A Crossroads for Refugee Rights: Examining Egypt’s New Asylum Law (TIMEP, Feb. 2025) [access]

- In English and Arabic.

"Future looks dire for UN Palestinian refugee agency, says UNRWA chief," AP News, 6 Feb. 2025 [text]

"The ‘Gaza-ification’ of the West Bank," Politico Magazine, 9 Feb. 2025 [text]

"USAID freeze risks 'deadly consequences' as work halts in Gaza, agencies warn," NBC News, 8 Feb. 2025 [text]

"Why does Trump want to take over Gaza and could he do it?," BBC News, 6 Feb. 2025 [text]

- See also related news/commentary on Brookings, The Conversation (here & here), and Politico.

Reports & journal articles:

Calls for Aid, Local Resilience and Distrust: The Complex Landscape of Feelings towards the Humanitarian Efforts in Syria (Insecurity Insight, Feb. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

"Dix ans après la nouvelle politique d’immigration marocaine: des sphères d’action distinctes pour une réforme globale?," Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, vol. 40, no. 4 (2024) [open access]

"The Effect of Syrian asylum on the Jordanian national identity from the point of view of Yarmouk University students," Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences, vol. 52, no. 3 (2025) [open access]

"From Open Doors to Closed Minds: The Transformation of Perceptions Toward Syrian Refugees in Turkey," Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, FirstView, 4 Feb. 2025 [open access]

"Overcoming prejudices and stigmatization towards refugees: A novel approach through deliberative citizen dialogues in Turkey," Migration Studies, vol. 13, no. 1 (March 2025) [preprint]

A tip sheet for things to consider by people planning temporary sites in Gaza (Protection Cluster, Shelter Cluster & WASH Cluster, Feb. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

"The Turkish Council of State’s Engagement with International Refugee Law in Cases Involving ‘Non-European’ Refugees," International Journal of Refugee Law, Advance Articles, 31 Jan. 2025 [open access]

Multimedia:

Refuge-Making: Stories from Iraq, 29 Jan. 2025 [access]

Related posts:

- Regional Focus: MENA - Pt. 1 (30 Jan. 2025)

- Regional Focus: MENA - Pt. 2 (30 Jan. 2025)

Thematic Focus: Children & Families

Short pieces:

Family Reunification: An Unmet Human Right in Mexico’s Migration Policy = La reunificación familiar: un derecho humano pendiente en la política migratoria de México (Asylum Access, Jan. 2025) [access]

*"ICE Enforcement Official Tapped to Lead Unaccompanied Migrant Children Office, Triggering Alarms," ProPublica, 31 Jan. 2025 [text]

Lives at risk: Migrant children stranded at the Mexico-United States border and the lack of international protection (Border Criminologies Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

- Also in Spanish.

Reports & book chapters:

The Effects of Early Childhood Development (ECD) Programs on the Socio-emotional Well-being of Children and Caregivers in Refugee and Forced Displacement Settings, Education Working Paper, no. 6 (World Bank, Nov. 2024; posted Feb. 2025) [text]

"Family generational relations in the context of refuge and asylum: Methodological reflections on the investigation of doing and displaying family," Chapter in Practicing the Family: The Doing and Making of Family In, With and Through Social Work and Education (transcript, Jan. 2025) [open access]

- Scroll to p. 245.

Refugee Family Reunion Project: Workshop Report (King's College London, Feb. 2025) [access]

- Focuses on the UK.

Reuniting Families: A Path Forward for Aotearoa New Zealand (Univ. of Auckland & NZ Red Cross, Jan. 2025) [access]

Journal articles:

"Adverse childhood experiences, social networks and help-seeking experiences of African-background refugee children in Australia: Towards a refugee children’s Network-Episode Model," Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 170 (March 2025) [open access]

"Child care use, preferences and access constraints among Native American, immigrant, refugee and Spanish-speaking families in New Mexico," Early Childhood Research Quarterly, vol. 70 (2025) [open access]

"Exploring the Resettling Experiences of Refugee Families in Norway Through the Lens of Children and Their Parents," Child & Family Social Work, Early View, 29 Jan. 2025 [open access]

"Family Ties: Vatican Humanitarianism and Family Reunification at the End of Empire," Contemporary European History, FirstView, 13 Nov. 2024 [free full-text]

"The fraudulent family: US refugee admissions, moral economies of kinship, and DNA testing in Africa," American Ethnologist, vol. 52, no. 1 (Feb. 2025) [open access]

"From waithood to alternative futures: unaccompanied children and young people’s temporalities of care in the UK’s migration regime," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 31 Jan. 2025 [open access]

"'Having children is like rain, as they say in our region': exploring refugees’ reproductive agency," Culture, Health & Sexuality, Latest Articles, 31 Jan. 2025 [open access]

- Focuses on the Netherlands.

"The role of volunteer guardians as a key actor in providing social protection for unaccompanied minors in Italy," International Journal of Social Welfare, vol. 34, no. 1 (Jan. 2025) [open access]

"Under the Watch of the State? Refugee Parents’ Experiences with Surveillance in Norwegian Early Childhood Education Centers," Nordic Journal of Migration Research, vol. 15, no. 3 (2025) [open access]

*UPDATED

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Children & Families (14 Jan. 2024)

Regional Focus: Europe - Pt. 2 (United Kingdom)

Short pieces:

Go Back to Where You Came From: Channel 4’s social experiment makes a spectacle of empathy for refugees (The Conversation, Feb. 2025) [text]

Immigration rules keep changing, and the confusion can cause real problems for migrants (The Conversation, Feb. 2025) [text]

Reports & journal articles:

Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill 2024-25, Research Briefing (UK House of Commons Library, Feb. 2025) [text via EIN]

- See also related blog posts on Border Criminologies and Free Movement. Note: This also bill repeals the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024; see Border Criminologies blog commentary here and here.  

"Caring states? Bureaucratic care, moral ideals and emotional dilemmas in British asylum and policing," Theoretical Criminology, OnlineFirst, 27 Jan. 2025 [open access]

"The experiences of undergoing medico-legal assessments when seeking asylum in the UK: an interpretive phenomenological analysis," Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, Latest Articles, 3 Feb. 2025 [open access]

"Reconsidering the Asylum Lottery: Refugee Determination and the Structure of Luck," Social & Legal Studies, OnlineFirst, 2 Feb. 2025 [open access]

"Rethinking Freedom of Information Research: Selective Flows of Information in Borders and Migration Studies," Political Anthropological Research on International Social Sciences, vol. 5, no. 2 (Jan. 2025) [open access]

UK Public Opinion toward Immigration: Overall Attitudes and Level of Concern (Migration Observatory, Jan. 2025) [text]

Unauthorised migration in the UK (Migration Observatory, Jan. 2025) [text]

Related post:

- Regional Focus: Europe - Pt. 1 (8 Feb. 2025)

Regional Focus: Europe - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

EUAA begins monitoring the operational and technical application of the Common European Asylum System in two Member States (EU Agency for Asylum, Jan. 2025) [text]

"How Europe can escape the migration deterrence trap," The New Humanitarian, 4 Feb. 2025 [text]

The Muslims of Ukraine: Demographics, displacement and faith during the conflict (RID Blog, Feb. 2025) [text]

Rethinking the ‘Safe Third Country’ Concept: Insights from the Court of Rome’s Ruling on Italy’s Transfer of Asylum Seekers to Albania (RLI Blog, Feb. 2025) [text]

- See also related Border Criminologies blog post.

**For much more news and info on the latest developments, check out the ECRE Weekly Bulletin.**

Reports:

ECRE Comments on the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council Introducing the Screening of Third-country Nationals at External Borders (ECRE, Feb. 2025) [text] 

Implementation of the EU pact on migration and asylum (European Parliament, Jan. 2025) [access]

Planned Return Hubs in Third Countries: EU Fundamental Rights Law Issues, FRA Position Paper, no. 1 (EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, Feb. 2025) [text via Refworld]

Journal articles:

EconPol Forum, vol. 26, no. 1 (2025) [full-text]

- Focuses on "A New Common Migration Policy for the EU – Why and How?"

"Migration and Health Policy: Applying the Nexus to Safety Issues of Migrants Crossing the Mediterranean Sea," Public Health Challenges, vol. 4, no. 1 (March 2025) [open access]

"Money, not protection: Assisted return programmes and the timing of future harm in refugee status determination," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 31 Jan. 2025 [open access]

- Focuses on Germany.

"Right-wing authoritarianism and perceptions that minoritized groups pose a threat: The moderating roles of individual- and country-level religiosity and marginalization," British Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 64, no. 1 (Jan. 2025) [open access]

- Focuses on Germany.

"'A security built in the dark': Operazione Strade Sicure and the productivity of ignorance," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 7 Feb. 2025 [open access]

- Focuses on Italy.

"The Turkish Council of State’s Engagement with International Refugee Law in Cases Involving ‘Non-European’ Refugees," International Journal of Refugee Law, Advance Articles, 31 Jan. 2025 [open access]

"Understanding Attitudes Towards Refugees: The Role of Origin and Shared Social Identity," Migration and Ethnic Themes, vol. 40, no. 2 (2024) [open access]

Resource:

What would be a fair distribution of refugees in Europe? (Univ. of Neuchâtel) [access]

- A tool for mapping "the geographical distribution of asylum seekers and beneficiaries of temporary protection in Europe."

Related posts:

- Regional Focus: Europe - Pt. 1 (27 Jan. 2025)

- Regional Focus: Europe - Pt. 2 (27 Jan. 2025)

Thematic Focus: Human Trafficking & Smuggling

Short pieces:

Human Trafficking: In the Czech Republic and Around the World (People in Need, Jan. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

Irregular migration vs. migrant smuggling – what is the difference? (UNODC, Jan. 2025) [text]

"Some migrants turn to pricey smugglers or riskier routes after Trump clampdown," Reuters, 24 Jan. 2025 [text]

Trafficked migrant and refugee women in Latin America: State responses and challenges (Dejusticia Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

What is Labor Trafficking? (USCRI, Jan. 2025) [text]

Reports from the Mixed Migration Centre: 

Gendered smuggler-migrant interactions in the Central Sahel (Jan. 2025) [text]

Migrants’ Perceptions of Smugglers in Port Sudan: Service providers and sometimes criminals (Jan. 2025) [text]

Smugglers’ role in migration journeys to Port Sudan: Eritrean, Ethiopian & South Sudanese migrant experiences (Jan. 2025) [text]

Smuggling dynamics on the Eastern Route through Yemen (Jan. 2025) [text]

Other reports, journal articles & book chapters:

Countering Trafficking in Persons and Migrant Smuggling in Mixed Migration Movements (UNODC, 2024) [text]

"Legitimacy and Rationalization in European Criminal Law: A Critical Analysis of the Criminalization of Migrant Smuggling," Univ. of Bologna Law Review, vol. 9, no. 2 (Jan. 2025) [open access]

"New pathways to trafficking victims’ protection? Intersection and synergies between the European Pact on Migration and Asylum and Directive (EU) 2024/1712 for third-country national victims," Freedom, Security & Justice: European Legal Studies, no. 3 (2024) [open access]

"Las Trayectorias Migratorias de Mujeres Venezolanas en Cúcuta, Colombia: Entre Vulnerabilidades, Explotaciones y Trata de Personas," Chapter in Direitos Humanos e Vulnerabilidade e a Proteção a Pessoas Refugiadas na América Latina (Editora Universitária Leopoldianum, Nov. 2024) [full-text]

- Scroll to p. 386.

Related posts:

- Thematic Focus: Human Trafficking & Smuggling - Pt. 2 (3 Jan. 2025) 

- Thematic Focus: Human Trafficking & Smuggling - Pt. 2 (3 Jan. 2025)

Thematic Focus: Solutions - Pt. 2

Reports & journal articles:

*After the Solidarity Wave: Perspective on Civic Engagement for Ukrainian Refugees in Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Ukraine (Gesis, 2025) [text]

"Beyond the Demands of Integration: African Refugee Resettlement in Contemporary Multicultural Australia," Genealogy, vol. 9, no. 1 (Jan. 2025) [open access]

*Community Sponsorship and Complementary Pathways: global refugee resettlement movements driven by local actors (Journal of International Migration and Integration) [access]

- Special collection of articles that offering "a range of theoretical and methodological lenses with which to analyze Community Sponsorship and Complementary Pathway approaches, and collates cutting-edge research and addresses gaps in existing literature on Community Sponsorship and Complementary Pathways outside of Canada."

"'Homes for Ukraine' and the politics of private humanitarian hospitality," Review of International Studies, FirstView, 4 Nov. 2024 [open access]

- Focuses on the UK.

Influx of Migrants Following Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: Integration and Governance Dynamics in Nordic and Baltic States (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences) [access]

- "The INFLUX project provides policy-relevant research on the governance and integration of refugees and other migrants who have left due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It examines how these migrants are received, settled, and integrated in their Nordic and Baltic host societies." Follow link to view seven policy briefs. 

"Organizing Integration in the Swedish Labor and Housing Markets," Nordic Journal of Migration Research, vol. 15, no. 3 (2025) [open access]

Regional Refugee Response for the Ukraine Situation 2025-2026 (UNHCR, Jan. 2025) [access]

- See also related trio of news stories on the Baltic States' response (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) to Ukrainian refugees.

Reinforcing integration through sponsorship enhancement: Literature study on community sponsorship in Belgium, Italy and Lithuania (IOM, Jan. 2025) [text]

Safe and Legal Routes Inquiry Report (UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees, Feb. 2025) [text via EIN]

"Today’s Refugees: In Crisis Without Hope," USCRI Policy and Advocacy Report, vol. 8., no. 8 (US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Feb. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

UNHCR Operational Framework: Voluntary Return of Syrian Refugees and IDPs 2025 (UNHCR, Feb. 2025) [text]

- See also related documents: "Flash Regional Survey on Syrian Refugees’ Perceptions and Intentions on Return to Syria" and "UNHCR’s Financial Requirements: Voluntary Return of Syrian Refugees and IDPs." 

*UPDATED

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Solutions - Pt. 1 (6 Feb. 2025)

Thematic Focus: Solutions - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

The Administration Suspends Humanitarian Protection Programs (USCRI, Jan. 2025) [text]

- Focuses on the US.

Chad, Nigeria, and UNHCR Sign Tripartite Agreement to Establish a Framework for Voluntary Repatriation (UNHCR, Feb. 2025) [text]

Protection and Assistance to Afghan Refugees in Brazil (UNHCR, Jan. 2025) [text]

Returning Syrians filled with hope despite the challenges ahead (UNHCR, Feb. 2025) [text]

- See also related press release on Turkey.

Suspending private refugee sponsorship will trap refugees in war zones and keep families apart (The Conversation, Jan. 2025) [text]

- Focuses on Canada.

"Today’s Refugees: In Crisis Without Hope," USCRI Policy and Advocacy Report, vol. 8., no. 8 (US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Feb. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

- Focuses on the impact that the suspension of the US refugee program has had on specific groups.

"Turned away by Australia and rejected by Trump, these refugees have been living in limbo for 12 years," SBS News, 6 Feb. 2025 [text]

- Focuses on Indonesia. See also related Barron's news story on Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

Related posts:

- Thematic Focus: Solutions - Pt. 1 (28 Jan. 2025)

- Thematic Focus: Solutions - Pt. 2 (28 Jan. 2025)

Opportunities: Even More Feb. 2025 & New March 2025

Call for registration: 9th Course on Teaching Refugee Law for Academics and Trainers, 3 March–3 April 2025 [info]

- Note: The registration deadline was *extended* to 7 February 2025.

Call for registration: 14th Online Course on Statelessness in English, 3–28 March 2025 [info]

- Register by 10 February 2025.

Call for registration: 18ème Cours en ligne sur le déplacement interne en français, 18 mars–11 avril  2025 [info]

- Register by 11 February 2025.

Seminar: Mental Health among Migrants in Transit in Latin America, Philadelphia, PA/Online, 12 February 2025 [info]

Webinar: Global South Perspectives on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), 13 February 2025 [info]

CFP: "Refugee Law and Forced Migration Studies: Debates, Interactions and Futures," RLI 15th Anniversary Conference, London, 2-4 June 2025 [info]

- Note: The deadline to submit proposals has been *extended* to 14 February 2025.

Call for applications: IMISCOE Standing Committee Forced Migration and Refugees [info]

- Positions available are a co-chair, three coordinators and two PhD representatives. Apply by 23 February 2025.

Call for proposals: Addressing protracted displacement in the MENA region, Istanbul, 16-17 October 2025 [info]

- Submit abstracts by 1 March 2025.

Call for registration: "Refugee Law and Forced Migration Studies: Debates, Interactions and Futures," RLI 15th Anniversary Conference, London, 2-4 June 2025 [info]

- Early bird deadline is 1 March 2025.

Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture 2025: The Politics of Immigration and the Politics of Identity, 5 March 2025 [info]

Call for registration: 42nd Online Course on International Refugee Law, 7 April–9 May 2025 [info]

- Register by 5 March 2025.

Seminar: 'Wicked' Challenges in Migration Management: Weaponization, Politicization, and Hostile Influence Operations, 12 March 2025 [info]

Call for registration: 15th Online Course on Statelessness in Russian, 17 June–10 July 2025 [info]

- Register by 14 March 2025.

Call for registration: 2025 Queer Displacements: Regional challenges, global solidarity, practical solutions, Melbourne, 4-5 September 2025 [info]

- The early bird deadline is 16 March 2025.

Seminar: Afghan resettlement in England: Emerging findings, London, 20 March 2025 [info]

Call for registration: 4th Online Course on Climate Change and Forced Displacement, 28 April–23 May 2025 [info]

- Register by 24 March 2025.

Call for registration: 44º Curso virtual sobre el Derecho internacional de las personas refugiadas, 28 abril–23 mayo 2025 [info]

- Register by 24 March 2025.

Call for registration: 43ème Cours en ligne sur le Droit international des réfugiés en français, 28 April–23 May 2025 [info]

- Register by 26 March 2025.

Call for submissions: CARFMS/LERRN Lived Experiences of Displacement Essay Contest [info]

- Submission deadline is 30 March 2025.

Call for registration: 2nd Online Course on Protection in Mixed Movements, 5–30 May 2025 [info]

- Register by 31 March 2025.

CFP: The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs [info]

- Contributions sought for a special issue on "People on the Move: The Commonwealth and Management of International Migration." Submit abstracts by 31 March 2025.

CFP: Societies [info]

- Contributions sought for a special issue on "Borders, (Im)mobility and the Everyday." Submit manuscripts by 31 March 2025.

CFP: Who is a Refugee in the 21st Century? [info]

- Contributions sought for a special issue that will be submitted as a proposal to the Journal of Refugee Studies. Submit abstracts by 31 March 2025.

Related post:

- Opportunities: Last Minute Jan. & More Feb. 2025

Thematic Focus: ICTs & Other Technologies

Short pieces:

The Connectivity for Refugees initiative, one year in (UNHCR Innovation Service, Jan. 2025) [text]

How leveraging AI and collaboration can strengthen supply chains for humanitarian aid (World Economic Forum, Jan. 2025) [text]

ICE, Spyware, and the Constitution: A Call for Reform in Immigration Enforcement (Immigration and Human Rights Law Review Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

- Focuses on the US. See also related NYT article.

Social Media and its Impact in Amplifying Refugee Voices and Stories (Wilson Center, Dec. 2024) [text]

Reports & journal articles:

"Combining Photovoice and Videovoice for Participatory Research: Visual Storytelling with LGBTQ+ Refugees and Migrants," Journal of Participatory Research Methods, vol. 5, no. 4 (Dec. 2024) [open access]

- Focuses on Brazil.

"Crowdsourcing Platforms for Ukrainian Refugees: Meaning Making in Infrastructures of Problem-Solving," Signs and Society, vol. 12, no. 3 (Fall 2024) [open access]

- Focuses on Ukrainians in Romania.

Digital ecosystems and migration responses to climate extremes: case study from Rahim Yar Khan District, Punjab in Pakistan (CGIAR, Dec. 2024) [text]

"From Crisis to Cure: the Afghan Refugee Dilemma, Security, and Technological Interventions," Asiascape: Digital Asia, vol. 11, no. 3 (Dec. 2024) [open access]

"'Is everyone alive?': Smartphone use by Ukrainian refugee children," New Media & Society, vol. 27, no. 1 (Jan. 2025) [ResearchGate]

"Predicting PTSD with Machine Learning: forecasting refugees’ trauma and tailored intervention," European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, vol. 9, no. 1 (March 2025) [open access]

- Focuses on Portugal.

"A Systematic Review of the Digital Divide Experienced by Migrant Women," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Latest Articles, 4 Jan. 2025 [open access]

"UNHCR and Biometrics: Refugees’ Rights in a Legal No-Man’s Land?," Chapter in Lawless Zones, Rightless Subjects: Migration, Asylum, and Shifting Borders (Cambridge Univ. Press, Jan. 2025) [open access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: ICTs & Other Technologies (2 Jan. 2025)

Thematic Focus: Statelessness & Nationality

Opportunities:

Call for registration: 14th Online Course on Statelessness in English, 3–28 March 2025 [info]

- Register by 10 February 2025.

Webinar: 2025 State of Play Assessment on Statelessness in Europe, 19 February 2025 [info]

Call for registration: 15th Online Course on Statelessness in Russian, 17 June–10 July 2025 [info]

- Register by 14 March 2025.

Short pieces:

"As Trump throws immigration system into uncertainty, parents confront potential statelessness for their children," ABC News, 22 Jan. 2025 [text]

"Judge blocks Trump's birthright citizenship order nationwide," Reuters, 5 Feb. 2025 [text]

- See also earlier related AP News story as well as Just Security's Litigation Tracker for more info and updates on current lawsuits (select "Birthright Citizenship" from "Executive Action" drop-down menu). 

Litigating the Right to a Nationality (ENS Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

- Introduces new resource on "Litigating the Right to a Nationality: A Guide for Practitioners."

The Most Indefensible Aspects of DOJ’s Briefs in the Birthright Citizenship Cases (Just Security Blog, Feb. 2025) [text]

A new right of residence for stateless people in Belgium – does it offer sufficient protection? (ENS Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

‘Passportisation’: ECtHR finds imposition of Russian citizenship in Crimea a breach of article 8 ECHR (EJIL: Talk Blog, Feb. 2025) [text]

"Trump revives push to denaturalize US citizens," USA Today, 27 Jan. 2025 [text]

Reports & book chapters: 

2024 Year in Review (Institute of Statelessness & Inclusion, Jan. 2025) [text]

Stateless People in the UK: At Risk of Legal Limbo, in Need of Protection (Asylum Aid et al., Jan. 2025) [text]

- See also related blog post.

"The Stateless Struggle to Belong in the Postwar Period," Chapter in Reimagining Citizenship in Postwar Europe (Cornell Univ. Press, Feb. 2025) [open access]

"Statelessness and Social Citizenship of Greek Civil War Refugees in Post-1948 Communist Czechoslovakia," Chapter in Reimagining Citizenship in Postwar Europe (Cornell Univ. Press, Feb. 2025) [open access]

Journal articles:

"Fast and slow violence and the survival work of the stateless: The case of the Vietnamese in Cambodia," Political Geography, vol. 117 (March 2025) [open access]

"Perspectives on the implementation gap in citizenship policy," Comparative Migration Studies, 13:6 (Jan. 2025) [open access]

- Editorial for a special collection on "Citizenship Policy: From Paper to Practice - Global Perspectives on the Implementation Gap."

"Refugee return, reintegration, and citizenship practices in post-conflict Syria," International Migration, vol. 63, no. 1 (Jan. 2025) [open access]

"Statelessness: A Radical Rethinking of the Dominant Citizenism Paradigm," Annual Review of Law and Social Science, vol. 20 (2024) [open access]

Statelessness & Citizenship Review, vol. 6, no. 2 (2024) [open access]

- Mix of articles, comments, case notes and book reviews.

Related posts:

- Thematic Focus: Statelessness & Nationality - Pt. 1 (9 Jan. 2025)

- Thematic Focus: Statelessness & Nationality - Pt. 2 (9 Jan. 2025)

Thematic Focus: Law/Policy Items

Opportunities:

Seminar: No Exit: Preventing Exit to Prevent Entry, Oxford, 6 February 2025 [info]

Call for registration: 9th Course on Teaching Refugee Law for Academics and Trainers, 3 March–3 April 2025 [info]

- Note: The registration deadline was extended to 7 February 2025.

Call for participation: Tenth Annual International Refugee Law Student Writing Competition [info]

- Submission deadline is 15 February 2025.

Seminar: Non-signatory States in International Refugee Law, Oxford, 19 February 2025 [info]

Call for registration: "Refugee Law and Forced Migration Studies: Debates, Interactions and Futures," RLI 15th Anniversary Conference, London, 2-4 June 2025 [info]

- Early bird deadline is 1 March 2025.

Call for registration: 42nd Online Course on International Refugee Law, 7 April–9 May 2025 [info]

- Register by 5 March 2025.

Call for registration: 44º Curso virtual sobre el Derecho internacional de las personas refugiadas, 28 abril–23 mayo 2025 [info]

- Register by 24 March 2025.

Call for registration: 43ème Cours en ligne sur le Droit international des réfugiés en français, 28 April–23 May 2025 [info]

- Register by 26 March 2025.

Short pieces:

Risk Management in Humanitarian International Organisations (EJIL: Talk Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

New open access book:

Lawless Zones, Rightless Subjects: Migration, Asylum, and Shifting Borders (Cambridge Univ. Press, Jan. 2025) [open access]

- "Responding to ever-increasing pressures of migration, states, supranational, and subnational actors deploy complex moves and maneuvers to reconfigure borders, rights, and territory, giving rise to a changing legal cartography of international relations and international law. The purpose of this volume is to study this new reconfiguration of rights, territoriality, and jurisdiction at the empirical and normative levels and to examine its implications for the future of democratic governance within and across borders. Written by a diverse and accomplished group of scholars, the chapters in this volume employ legal, historical, philosophical, critical, discursive, and postcolonial perspectives to explore how the territoriality of the modern states – ostensibly, the most stable and unquestionable element undergirding the current international system – has been rewritten and dramatically reimagined."

Reports & journal articles:

Annual Report 2024 (Global Protection Cluster, Jan. 2025) [text]

"Clinical and Legal Considerations When Optimizing Trauma Narratives in Immigration Law Evaluations," Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, vol. 52, no. 4 (Dec. 2024) [full-text]

Cross-Regional Forum on Implementing Laws and Policies on Internal Displacement in Africa, Dakar, 18-20 September 2024: Summary Note (UNHCR et al., Jan. 2025) [access]

- Available in English and French.

"Enough Spurious Distinctions: Refugees are Just People in Need of Refuge," Law and Philosophy, Latest Articles, 7 Jan. 2025 [open access]

"Exit Rights, Seamless Borders and the New Carceral State," International & Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 73, no. 4 (Oct. 2024) [open access]

"Strengthening the medicolegal system: Fulfilling international law obligations during conflicts and disasters to prevent and resolve issues of humanitarian concern," International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 106, no. 926 (Aug. 2024) [full-text]

Resource:

World Refugee and Asylum Policies Dataset (Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement) [access]

- Described as the "first global dataset of de jure asylum and refugee policies. The online platform features data from 193 countries from 1952 to 2022, allowing users to track trends over time and across geographical regions. The data also contains filters for categories such as access to protection, services, livelihoods, movement, and citizenship and participation in political processes." More info is provided in this recording of the launch event.

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Law/Policy Items (21 Dec. 2024)

Thematic Focus: Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity

Opportunity:

Call for registration: 2025 Queer Displacements: Regional challenges, global solidarity, practical solutions, Melbourne, 4-5 September 2025 [info]

- The early bird deadline is 16 March 2025.

Short pieces:

Gender identity and migration in South Africa: A layered experience (Dejusticia Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

How the Nationality and Borders Act is endangering queer asylum in Britain (openDemocracy, Jan. 2025) [text]

"How Trump could impact U.S. LGBTQ+ asylum rules," Context News, 24 Jan. 2025 [text]

Intersections of Vulnerability or Power?: Individual Efforts to Shelter LGBTIQ+ Displaced People in Beirut (Borders and Limitations, Nov. 2024) [text]

Book chapters & journal articles:

"Challenges and support for LGBTQIA+ refugees in Luxembourg and in the DACH countries," Chapter in Jahrbuch Migration und Gesellschaft = Yearbook Migration and Society 2023/2024 (transcript Verlag, Jan. 2025) [open access]

- Note: DACH countries = Germany, Austria & Switzerland. Scroll to p. 79.

"Coloniality in queer asylum: towards theorising ‘colonial surveillance’ and its resistances," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 18 Jan. 2025 [open access]

- Focuses on Denmark & Germany.

"Combining Photovoice and Videovoice for Participatory Research: Visual Storytelling with LGBTQ+ Refugees and Migrants," Journal of Participatory Research Methods, vol. 5, no. 4 (Dec. 2024) [open access]

- Focuses on Brazil.

"Credibility Assessments in Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Asylum Cases: Evidence from a Quantitative Study of Case Law in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Sociology, vol. 50, no. 3 (2024) [open access]

"(In)credibly queer? Assessments of asylum claims based on sexual orientation," Legal and Criminological Psychology, vol. 30, no. 1 (Feb. 2025) [open access]

- Focuses on Finland.

"Queer refugees and human rights: on the limits of recognition," Journal of Refugee Studies, Advance Articles, 24 Dec. 2024 [open access]

"Situation queer migration: displacement and a sense of belonging in Georgian queer migrants," Chapter in Jahrbuch Migration und Gesellschaft = Yearbook Migration and Society 2023/2024 (transcript Verlag, Jan. 2025) [open access]

- Scroll to p. 39.

"Solidarity test: challenges of forced LGBTIQ migration and activism in Central-Eastern European countries in the context of Russia’s war on Ukraine," European Societies, vol. 26, no. 2 (2024) [open access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity (13 Dec. 2024)

News: Dismantling USAID & Impact of Aid Freeze

Aid freeze:

"Inside the Chaos, Confusion, and Heartbreak of Trump’s Foreign-Aid Freeze," Time Magazine, 1 Feb. 2025 [text]

"‘People Will Die’: The Trump Administration Said It Lifted Its Ban on Lifesaving Humanitarian Aid. That’s Not True," Ms. Magazine, 3 Feb. 2025 [text]

Preliminary Findings from ICVA Survey on impact on humanitarian aid, local partners and NGOs (ICVA, Jan. 2025) [text]

- See also ICVA's resource page on the suspension of humanitarian aid.

Preventing Deaths During the 90-Day Assistance Freeze (CGD Blog, Feb. 2025) [text]

Trump Vol. 2 Will Impact Global Development (PRIO Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

Trump’s Pause of U.S. Foreign Assistance to Latin America: An “America Last” Policy (WOLA, Jan. 2025) [text]

"Trump’s ‘America First’ approach is already hurting Americans," MSNBC, 31 Jan. 2025 [text]

"Which countries will Trump’s foreign aid suspension hurt most?," Al Jazeera, 31 Jan. 2025 [text]

USAID:

Can the President Dissolve USAID by Executive Order? (Just Security Blog, Feb. 2025) [text]

[Letter from Members of House & Senate Foreign Relations Committees to Acting USAID Administrator] (31 Jan. 2025) [text]

- Note: One of the signatories, Sen. Schatz, has indicated he will block Trump nominees until USAID is back up and running.

U.S. Agency for International Development: An Overview (US Congressional Research Service, Jan. 2025) [text]

"USAID to be merged into State Department, 3 U.S. officials say," CBS News, 3 Feb. 2025 [text]

- See also related CNN news article.

USAID Under the Trump Administration (US Congressional Research Service, 3 Feb. 2025) [text]

"What is USAID and why is Trump reportedly poised to close it?," BBC News, 3 Feb. 2025 [text]

 Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Humanitarian Assistance (30 Jan. 2025)

Regional Focus: United States

Short pieces:

Are Asylum Seekers Safe from ICE? (The Asylumist Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

Behind the scenes as the ABA reacts to DOJ's order to stop providing legal support to immigrants (ABA Journal, Jan. 2025) [text]

- See also related ABC News article.

Federal threats against local officials who don’t cooperate with immigration orders could be unconstitutional − Justice Antonin Scalia ruled against similar plans (The Conversation, Jan. 2025) [text]

How American Latinos came to embrace Donald Trump’s immigration policy (The Conversation, Jan. 2025) [text]

"How are Trump’s deportation targets reacting to his threats?," Al Jazeera, 28 Jan. 2025 [text]

A Nutshell of Immigration Changes under President Trump, Possible Future Changes (ImmigrationProf Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

- See also related NPR article.

"Protests Against Trump's Immigration Polices Erupt Across the Country," Newsweek, 2 Feb. 2025 [text]

Support for Mass Deportation Drops Well Below Half as People Consider Other Options (Fulcrum, Feb. 2025) [text]

"Trump officials make plans to revoke legal status of migrants welcomed under Biden," CBS News, 1 Feb. 2025 [text]

Trump’s Deportation Machine Targets U.S. Citizens, Military Veterans, and Children in Reckless Raids (Immigration Hub, Jan. 2025) [text]

What Just Happened: The Framing of a Migration “Invasion” and the Use of Military Authorities (Just Security Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

- See also related blog post and podcast.

Why Do Illegal Immigrants Have a Low Crime Rate? 12 Possible Explanations (CATO At Liberty Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

Reports & journal articles:

Memos (Immigration Hub) [access]

- Scroll down to view insights re. immigration & citizenship issues, recent policy actions undertaken by the new administration, and incoming staff members.

"Settlement deservingness perceptions of climate change, economic, and political migrant groups across partisan lines," Frontiers in Sociology, 29 Jan. 2025 [open access]

"The Subfederal in Immigration Polarization," Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality, vol. 42, no. 1 (2024) [full-text]

Resource:

Litigation Tracker (Just Security) [access]

- Select "immigration & citizenship" under the topic drop-down menu to view legal challenges to Trump administration actions.

Related posts:

- Thematic Focus: Detention - Pt. 2 (United States) (3 Feb. 2025)

- Thematic Focus: Humanitarian Assistance (30 Jan. 2025)

- Thematic Focus: Solutions - Pt. 1 (28 Jan. 2025)

- Regional Focus: United States (26 Jan. 2025) 

Thematic Focus: Detention - Pt. 2 (United States)

Short pieces:

Detention Tension (The Asylumist Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

"House passes immigrant detention bill that would be Trump’s first law to sign," AP News, 22 Jan. 2025 [text]

*ICE Concentrates Twenty Percent of Detainees in Five Facilities (TRAC, Jan. 2025) [text]

ICE’s Inadequate Recordkeeping on Treatment of Detained Asylum Seekers Threatens Their Lives (Immigration Impact Blog, Jan. 2025) [text]

"Trump orders opening of migrant detention center at Guantánamo Bay," The Guardian, 29 Jan. 2025 [text]

Reports & journal articles:

"Bridging the Immigration Detention Justice Gap," Oregon Law Review, vol. 103, no. 1 (2024) [full-text]

"Decarceration and COVID-19 infections in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities: a simulation modeling study," The Lancet Regional Health - Americas, 42:100971 (Feb. 2025) [open access]

"Detención de migrantes indocumentados en Estados Unidos: quién es quién en aprehensiones?," Migraciones Internacionales, vol. 15 (2024) [open access]

- Available in both English and Spanish.

"Duration in Immigration Detention and Health Harms," JAMA Network Open, 8(1): e2456164 (Jan. 2025) [open access]

*Featured Issue: Immigration Detention and Alternatives to Detention (AILA, Jan. 2025) [access]

"The health-related experiences of detained immigrants with and without mental illness," Journal of Migration and Health, vol. 11 (2025) [open access]

Jailing Immigrant Families Inflicts Severe Harms and Wastes Resources: Fact Sheet (Human Rights First, Jan. 2025) [text]

- Focuses on the US.

*UPDATED

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Detention (22 Dec. 2024)

Thematic Focus: Detention - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

Deplorable Conditions in Italian Detention Centres Cast Further Doubts on Italy-Albania Migration Protocol (Immigration Detention Monitor, Jan. 2025) [text]

The UN says Australia violated human rights law, but it’s unlikely to change the way we treat refugees (The Conversation, Jan. 2025) [text]

- See also related UNHCR comment.

Reports & journal articles:

Analysing Migrant Detention Legal Frameworks: Perspectives from West and Central Africa (IOM, 2024) [text]

"Attenuated Governance in Australia’s Offshore Immigration Detention Regime: How Financial Mismanagement Can Achieve Government Goals," Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, Latest Articles, 3 Jan. 2025 [open access]

The Detention of Migrant Children: The Risks of the New European Pact on Migration and Asylum, JusGov Research Paper, no. 14 (Univ. of Minho, Dec. 2024)[text]

Guidelines on Alternatives to Detention (EU Agency for Asylum, Dec. 2024) [text]

"It Felt Like Everything in Life Stopped": Legal Capacity Rights Violations Against People with Disabilities in Canada’s Immigration Detention System (Human Rights Watch, Dec. 2024) [access]

"Seeking safety, finding fear: Corpus-assisted discourse analysis of electoral immigration detention discourse in three countries," Discourse & Society, OnlineFirst, 24 Jan. 2025 [open access]

- Focuses on Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

"Vulnerability, Immigration Detention and (Carceral) Reform," British Journal of Criminology, Advance Articles, 23 Dec. 2024 [open access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Detention (22 Dec. 2024)

Regional Focus: Americas - Pt. 2

Book chapters:

"Adapting to Distinct Societies: Québec Policy and Paradiplomacy in Migration," Chapter in The Québec-United States Relationship (Springer, Jan. 2025) [open access]

Direitos Humanos e Vulnerabilidade e a Proteção a Pessoas Refugiadas na América Latina (Editora Universitária Leopoldianum, Nov. 2024) [full-text]

- Chapters are primarily in Portuguese, although there are also three in English (scroll to p. 65, p. 163 and p. 196) and three in Spanish (scroll to p. 20, p. 126 & p. 386).

"The Fantasy of the Québec-U.S. Border," Chapter in The Québec-United States Relationship (Springer, Jan. 2025) [open access]

Journal articles:

Bulletin of Latin American Research, vol. 44, no. 1 (Jan. 2025) [open access]

- Special issue on "Venezuela, Dispersed: Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Participatory Methodologies on and with the Venezuelan Diaspora."

"Facing migration under adverse conditions: challenges and resilience in the Colombo-Venezuelan border area," BMC Public Health, 25:261 (Jan. 2025) [open access]

"The Right to Peace and the Right to Stay: Insights from Approaches to Peace and Migration in Colombia," Journal on Migration and Human Security, OnlineFirst, 26 Jan. 2025 [full-text]

"Using Cross-Survey Imputation to Estimate Poverty for Venezuelan Refugees in Colombia," Social Indicators Research, Latest Articles, 13 Jan 2025 [open access]

Related post:

- Regional Focus: Americas (2 Feb. 2025)

Regional Focus: Americas - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

"Aid in the crosshairs: Why access is growing harder in Haiti," The New Humanitarian, 28 Jan. 2025 [text]

*"Así quiere apoyar América Latina a los deportados por Trump," DW, 29 Jan. 2025 [text]

How the Trump administration may impact mixed migration in the Americas (Mixed Migration Centre, Jan. 2025) [text]

It’s time for Canada to withdraw from the Safe Third Country Agreement: The United States is not a "safe country" for refugee claimants (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Jan. 2025) [text]

"Trump eyes asylum agreement with El Salvador to deport migrants there," CBS News, 27 Jan. 2025 [text]

Trump’s Pause of U.S. Foreign Assistance to Latin America: An “America Last” Policy (WOLA, Jan. 2025) [text]

- See also related IOM statement.

**Visit the weekly Americas Migration Brief for a much more extensive round-up of news and publications.

Reports:

"Ahora no tenemos nada": Estudio sobre vivienda, tierra y propiedad de comunidades indígenas desplazadas en Guatemala (Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

Chile’s Immigration Challenges Heat Up Ahead of 2025 Elections (US Institute of Peace, Jan. 2025) [text]

Forced Displacement, the Perpetuation of Autocratic Leadership, and Development in Origin Countries, Policy Research Working Paper, no. 11049 (World Bank, Jan. 2025) [text]

- Focuses on Venezuela.

Transiting the Americas: Dangerous Journeys to Uncertain Destinations (Georgetown Univ., Jan. 2025) [access]

- Available in English and Spanish.

*UPDATED

Related post:

- Regional Focus: Americas (16 Jan. 2025)

New Book Titles

Please visit my Forced Migration Library blog for references to new books due out in February 2025, as well as additional titles published in January 2025 and new legal and open access texts.