border protections: The White House did not deny his remark but issued a statement saying Trump supports immigration policies that welcome those who can contribute to our society, according to Metro News. Trump's comments came as two senators presented details of a bipartisan compromise that would extend protections against deportation for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants and also strengthen border protections, as Trump has insisted. Trump's contemptuous description of an entire continent startled lawmakers in the meeting and immediately revived charges that the president is racist. The lawmakers had hoped Trump would back their accord, an agreement among six senators evenly split among Republicans and Democrats, ending a months-long, bitter dispute over protecting the Dreamers. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate' s No. 2 Democrat, explained that as part of that deal, a lottery for visas that has benefited people from Africa and other nations would be ended, the sources said, though there could be another way for them to apply. But the White House later rejected it, plunging the issue back into uncertainty just eight days before a deadline that threatens a government shutdown. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

american immigration: It's literally that easy to go down the name-calling path, but while it is tempting to discuss this latest round of Donald Trump's vulgarism through the lens of his character, it serves us better to see it for what it represents the contemptuous attitudes and biases that inform North American immigration policy-making, according to Toronto Star. No amount of name-calling can match Trump's indignity as he plumbs the depths of classlessness and breadth of ignorance, even as he begins a late backtrack of whether he called Haiti, El Salvador and African countries s---holes on Thursday. Back off. In a meeting with Senators and House members on immigration, the President of the United States is reported saying, Why do we want all these people from s---hole countries' coming here Article Continued Below The U.S. should instead bring more people from countries such as Norway, he said. The leader of the country that kidnapped and forced Black people onto its shores wants them out now that their labour isn't free. Asians he would be open to, since they helped the country economically. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

assange asylum: What naturalization does is provide the asylum seeker another layer of protection, Espinosa said, according to CBC. Ecuador gave Assange asylum after he sought refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden for investigation of sex-related claims. Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said officials accepted Assange's request for naturalization in December, and they continue to look for a long-term resolution to a situation that has vexed officials since 2012. Sweden dropped the case, but Assange has remained in the embassy because he is still subject to arrest in Britain for jumping bail. Trump Jr. messaged with Wiki Leaks during 2016 campaign Defiant Assange says 'war is just commencing' after Sweden drops rape case The Australian-born Assange posted a photograph of himself wearing a yellow Ecuadorean national soccer team jersey on Instagram Wednesday and his name now appears in the Andean country's national registry. He also fears a possible U.S. extradition request based on his leaking of classified State Department documents. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

customs enforcement: The Democratic mayor says the resulting chain of events added an unexpected and challenging dynamic to what otherwise might have been a pro-forma expression of civil disobedience, according to Metro News. But he praised officers' overall handling of protests. Bill de Blasio said Friday on WNYC that the federal government's abrupt and provocative decision to detain a highly respected individual caused the man's supporters to react with real passion. Eighteen people, including two councilmen, were arrested Thursday after Ravi Ragbir was removed in handcuffs during his scheduled check-in. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Ragbir has exhausted his petitions and appeals. The citizen of Trinidad has been fighting deportation after a fraud conviction. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

michael bennet: We are now working to build support for that deal in Congress, according to CBC. Details of the plan were not immediately available. The senators, three Democrats and three Republicans, have reached an agreement in principle that addresses border security, the diversity visa lottery, chain migration/family reunification and the Dream Act, they wrote in a statement. The significance of their agreement was initially unclear. Trump meets with key lawmakers to discuss U.S. immigration reform Trump suggests 2-phase immigration deal for 'Dreamers' The six senators are Democrats Dick Durbin, Michael Bennet and Robert Menendez, and Republicans Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake and Cory Gardner. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier Thursday no deal has been reached and said the White House would keep working toward an agreement. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

news reports: Deciding what to do with the remarks and whether to censor them in news reports was tough enough for the press in the United States, according to Toronto Star. It was, after all, a vulgar phrase not usually fit for a newspaper or television. Trump vaguely hinted at a denial early Friday. But imagine trying to make sense of it in a different language. That head-scratching dilemma played out in newsrooms around the world Thursday after the Washington Post first reported that Trump referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as shithole countries while discussing immigrant protections with lawmakers. Every culture has its profanities, to be sure, but they do not always translate well. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

planning committee: Roughly 20 people came to the rally in front of the borough hall during a meeting of the urban planning committee to voice their displeasure with the project, which would be located across from the Parc Metro station, according to CTV. The development has not yet been approved by borough council. The people in Park Ex deserve a lot better than not having their voice heard, said organizer Joshua Singh. The land was purchased by developer BSR Group last year and since then, many of the merchants who were tenants in the building already located there have left. According to a 2013 Centraide study, Park Ex is among the poorest neighbourhoods in Canada but the community advocates said changes are coming. Park Ex is an immigrant district, working class people and we want to keep our people living in Park Ex and not become a new Plateau-Mont-Royal, said Andre Trepanier of the Park Extension Action Committee. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

reception house: But for many refugees, one major challenge remains finding a job, according to CTV. Maissaa Almustafa has a unique perspective on the situation. The newcomers have largely assimilated into the community, even as the public and quiet shows of support from the rest of the community that characterized their early days have disappeared. She's a board member with Reception House a lead agency when it comes to integrating refugees into Waterloo Region. Asked how many of the region's recent arrivals from Syria have found stable employment, she says not a lot have. She's also a political science instructor at Wilfrid Laurier University, and was born and raised in Syria herself. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

trump: Trump spent Thursday evening making a flurry of calls to friends and outside advisers to judge their reaction to the tempest, said the confidant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to disclose a private conversation, according to CBC. Trump wasn't apologetic about his inflammatory remarks and denied he was racist, instead, blaming the media for distorting his meaning, the confidant said. Trump said he was only expressing what many people think but won't say about immigrants from economically depressed countries, according to a person who spoke to the president as criticism of his comments ricocheted around the globe. However, critics of the president, including some in his own Republican Party, spent Friday blasting the vulgar comments he made behind closed doors. The comments revived charges that the president is racist and roiled immigration talks that were already on tenuous footing. In his meeting with a group of senators, he had questioned why the U.S. would accept more immigrants from Haiti and shithole countries in Africa as he rejected a bipartisan immigration deal, according to one participant and people briefed on the remarkable Oval Office conversation. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

s-hole countries: The Washington Post reports Trump asked why are we having all these people from S-hole countries come here, according to CTV. Trump then suggested people from Norway might be more acceptable. Trump's comments were made behind closed doors while discussing immigration from Haiti, El Savador and African nations with lawmakers. Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman tweeted about the controversy Friday morning saying New Canadians from Africa, Central America and elsewhere enrich our diversity. Winnipeg is a city that welcomes people from all over the world and it's incumbent upon me as Mayor to continue to voice the promotion of inclusion. He told CTV News he felt he had to say something. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

source source: But there's no getting around that more people in the media are willing to use that label, according to The Chronicle Herald. The president's reference to African shithole countries and reported resistance to more immigration from Haiti felt like a tipping point in the number of people willing to call HIM a racist, rather than say his words or actions exhibited racism. Donald Trump ignored it when a reporter asked him at the White House on Friday whether he was a racist. The label came from different places Comedy Central's Trevor Noah, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, CNN's Don Lemon and Sunny Hostin of The View. Source Source The Associated Press Trump even got some pushback Friday from Fox News Channel, although no one on the air there labeled him a racist. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

trade restrictions: Beijing has imposed limits on oil sales and cut deeply into the North's foreign revenue by ordering North Korean businesses in China to close, sending home migrant workers and banning purchases of its coal, textiles, seafood and other exports, according to The Chronicle Herald. Imports from the North shrank 81.6 per cent to 54 million in December while exports to the isolated, impoverished country contracted 23.4 per cent to 260 million, said a spokesman for the Chinese customs agency, Huang Songping. China accounts for nearly all of the isolated North's trade and energy supplies. The U.N. Security Council has steadily tightened trade restrictions as leader Kim Jong Un's government pressed ahead with nuclear and missile development in defiance of foreign pressure. Despite the loss of almost all trade, the impoverished North has pressed ahead with weapons development that Kim's regime sees as necessary for its survival in the face of U.S. pressure. Beijing was long Pyongyang's diplomatic protector but has supported the U.N. sanctions out of frustration with what Chinese leaders see as their neighbour's increasingly reckless behaviour. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

trump: Trump spent Thursday evening calling friends and outside advisers to judge their reaction, said the confidant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to disclose a private conversation, according to Toronto Star. Trump wasn't apologetic about the inflammatory remarks and denied he was racist, instead, blaming the media for distorting his meaning, the confidant said. Trump said he was only expressing what many people think but won't say about immigrants from economically depressed countries, according to a person who spoke to the president as criticism of his comments ricocheted around the globe. Critics of the president, including some Republicans, on Friday blasted the vulgar comments made in the Oval Office. The comments revived charges that Trump is racist and roiled already tenuous immigration talks that included discussion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Article Continued Below The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used, Trump insisted in early tweets Friday, pushing back on some depictions of the meeting. react-text 160 Trump suggested that the United States should bring more people from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he met with on Wednesday. /react-text Evan Vucci / Associated Press But Trump and his advisers notably did not dispute the most controversial of his remarks using shithole to describe African nations and saying he would prefer immigrants from countries like Norway instead. In a meeting with a group of senators, Trump had questioned why the U.S. would accept more immigrants from Haiti and shithole countries in Africa as he rejected a bipartisan immigration deal, according to one participant and people briefed on the remarkable conversation. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

canadian press: She also notes that today is the eighth anniversary of a devastating earthquake that struck her native country. ; Trump tweeted this morning that he used tough language at the meeting, but not the reported term, according to National Observer. Still, Jean, 60, who was Canada's governor general from 2005 to 2010, makes no bones about her view. Jean, who was born in the Haitian capital of Port au Prince, calls Trump's reported remarks disturbing and an insult before humanity. It was so disturbing this morning to hear President Trump's comments reported all over the news calling my poor native land and African countries 'shithole' nations, Jean said in the statement to The Canadian Press. For the first representative of the United States of America to speak in such a manner is quite troubling and offensive. It is such an insult before humanity. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

greek: When I told him my ethnicity, he immediately switched to impeccable Greek and we proceeded to have the rest of our conversation in that language, according to National Observer. He told me about working with Greeks in restaurants for years and his upcoming trip to Pakistan in March. Are you Arab Moroccan he inquired. He asked me what I did for a living and if I liked Montreal. It's not an easy language to learn, trust me. All in effortless Greek. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

nazi atrocities: It has since spawned a number of international treaties, covenants and customary laws, of which all United Nations member states have ratified at least one, according to National Observer. That's not to say that there hasn't been controversy. The declaration was ratified back in 1948 in the aftermath of the Second World War and the revelation of Nazi atrocities. To be sure, the assertion that human rights are in fact universal has been hotly contested. That being said with the obvious acknowledgement that some relativity exists between different cultures and belief systems it is reasonable to conclude that freedom from suffering is a transcendent aspiration among people everywhere. Some have contended that the entire notion is born out of the West, and its philosophical emphasis on the individual. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

atlantic canada: The joint federal-provincial program designated 2,000 spaces for the four Atlantic provinces in 2017, and the program will also run this year and the next, according to CBC. Nova Scotia had a quota of 792 spaces in 2017 but only filled 201 of those spots, said Suzanne Ley, the executive director of the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration. The Atlantic Immigration Pilot launched in March 2017 and was designed to bring more skilled workers to Atlantic Canada by quickly identifying employers and reducing applicant processing time to six months or less. It's common in Year 1 for low uptake for immigration programs. MLAs on the standing committee on economic development listen to a presentation on immigration Thursday Robert Short/CBC In New Brunswick, however, the 2017 quota was 646 people and 487 foreign workers received job offers under the pilot. It's important to understand it can often take several years for a new immigration program to fully ramp up, Ley told the Nova Scotia Legislature's standing committee on economic development Thursday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

citizenship fridays: A judge revoked his citizenship Friday, according to the U.S. Justice Department, which announced the ruling Tuesday, according to Metro News. Assistant Attorney General Chad Readler said Singh exploited the U.S. immigration system, which undermines both the nation's security and our lawful immigration system. Baljinder Singh became the first person to be denaturalized under Operation Janus, a Homeland Security Department initiative that revokes citizenship of those who circumvented background checks during the naturalization process. Federal authorities accused the Carteret resident of using an alias to avoid deportation. Singh filed an application for asylum under the name Baljinder the following month, and he married a U.S. citizen, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said Singh, who was born in India, arrived in the U.S. in 1991 with no proof of identity, and gave authorities the name Davinder Singh.A judge ordered him to be deported in January 1992 after he failed to appear in immigration court. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

abdi kwan: During a town hall event in Lower Sackville on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responding to a question from Abdi's sister who attended the event, acknowledged that the care system failed Abdi, according to The Chronicle Herald. Kwan said this acknowledgement of failure should make it clear to government something must be done. Speaking with The Chronicle Herald, Kwan said she is appealing to both the federal ministers of immigration and public safety to intervene and stop the process of seeking his deportation. If the prime minister is saying that the system has failed Abdi then what action will the government do to rectify this she said. On Thursday, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh also voiced concern on Twitter over efforts to deport Abdi. It is within the authority of the minister to take action. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

border protections: The White House did not deny his remark but issued a statement saying Trump supports immigration policies that welcome those who can contribute to our society, according to CTV. Trump's comments came as two senators presented details of a bipartisan compromise that would extend protections against deportation for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants -- and also strengthen border protections as Trump has insisted. Trump's contemptuous description of an entire continent startled lawmakers in the meeting and immediately revived charges that the president is racist. The lawmakers had hoped Trump would back their accord, an agreement among six senators evenly split among Republicans and Democrats, ending a months-long, bitter dispute over protecting the Dreamers. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate' s No. 2 Democrat, explained that as part of that deal, a lottery for visas that has benefited people from Africa and other nations would be ended, the sources said, though there could be another way for them to apply. But the White House later rejected it, plunging the issue back into uncertainty just eight days before a deadline that threatens a government shutdown. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

debbie olfert: It is surreal, according to The Chronicle Herald. I don't want to catch myself living what they must have felt, what they must have gone through, she said Wednesday. Debbie Olfert said she can't believe they are gone. How frightened they must have been. The Jamaica Constabulary Force has identified the couple as 81-year-old Melbourne Flake and 70-year-old Etta Flake. How terrifying. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

executive director: We are seeing incredible results from our hard work, she said, according to The Chronicle Herald. We've seen growth in provincial immigration selection from 2013, where we nominated 600 individuals to come to Nova Scotia. Despite that, immigration numbers are higher than ever, thanks to a suite of programs used to attract newcomers, said Suzanne Ley, executive director of the province's Office of Immigration. In 2017, we supported 1,652 people and their families to make their life in Nova Scotia. As of last November, 4,135 had come to Nova Scotia, Ley said. All told, 2,529 immigrants came to the province under various programs in 2013. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

faith healer: This comes as Canada's federal government is conducting a campaign south of the border aimed at discouraging asylum seekers from undertaking irregular crossings, and amid concerns about a potential new wave of Salvadoran asylum seekers coming from the U.S. We can't forget about that night' 1 year later, refugees recall near-fatal Christmas Eve walk across border I have hope' Most refugees now waiting 16 months to have claims heard Kouevi said he left Togo, his home country, late in 2014 after his family disowned him for converting to Christianity, according to CBC. He says his father was a faith healer who threatened to have him killed for rejecting those traditions. It can kill you, the 36-year-old from West Africa, hands wrapped in thick bandages, said Wednesday of the harsh winter conditions he experienced crossing the U.S.-Canada border on foot in search of refuge last week. That set off a journey that wound through South America and into the U.S. It culminated on Friday in a 700 car ride from someone Kouevi says he didn't know, who drove him from Minnesota to the northern edge of North Dakota. Both had most of their fingers amputated due to frostbite. Razak Iyal, 35, and Seidu Mohammed, 24, crossed into Manitoba on a bitterly cold Christmas Eve in 2016. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

future cases: The unidentified 17-year-old girl says in a court declaration filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington that she has been asking for an abortion for two weeks, according to Metro News. She says she wants one as soon as possible. In three earlier cases, the judge ordered the administration to allow immigrant teens to end their pregnancies. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing the girl and also seeking an order that would apply to future cases. The ACLU describes her as an unaccompanied minor, suggesting she was detained while trying to enter the U.S. It is not known where the teen is from or where she is being held. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

labour shortages: Launched last March, the project is aimed at attracting and retaining skilled immigrants for the workforce, as a way of supporting population growth and addressing labour shortages, according to Metro News. Each of the Atlantic provinces designate employers that want to hire skilled immigrants, while newcomers get a job offer and an individualized settlement plan for them and their families. Provincial Immigration Minister Lena Diab said Thursday she remains optimistic the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Project will be a wonderful tool, and she's confident Nova Scotia is doing the work needed to promote it. Diab's department said 279 Nova Scotia employers were designated and 201 candidates were endorsed in 2017. New Brunswick more than doubled Nova Scotia's output in 2017, prompting questions Thursday from the legislature's economic development committee. However, the province ran fourth regionally in meeting its 2017 targets after being given 792 of the 2,000 slots available under the federal-provincial program. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

michael bennet: We are now working to build support for that deal in Congress, according to CBC. Details of the plan were not immediately available. The senators, three Democrats and three Republicans, have reached an agreement in principle that addresses border security, the diversity visa lottery, chain migration/family reunification and the Dream Act, they wrote in a statement. The significance of their agreement was initially unclear. Trump meets with key lawmakers to discuss U.S. immigration reform Trump suggests 2-phase immigration deal for 'Dreamers' The six senators are Democrats Dick Durbin, Michael Bennet and Robert Menendez, and Republicans Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake and Cory Gardner. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier Thursday no deal has been reached and said the White House would keep working toward an agreement. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.