sun cycle: The project has an estimated 1 million budget, most of which would be used to construct bicycle lanes and equipment on the Ju rez side, and it could open as soon as autumn 2018. ; The system would build on El Paso's existing bikeshare system, Sun Cycle, which began in September 2015, according to National Observer. The ultimate goal a binational system with 30 stations and 300 bicycles, all of which will be available to use on either side of the Rio Grande.A binational border-spanning bikeshare might sound like an unlikely undertaking, given the tone of the current immigration debate, but to Michael Medina, executive director of El Paso's MPO and head of the project, it's also eminently practical for this borderland metropolis, where American corporations have established a network of maquiladoras, or factories, on the Mexican side of the river. The initiative, proposed by El Paso's Metropolitan Planning Organization MPO more than a year ago, was presented at the Transportation Research Board in Washington D.C. on January 7. A lot of people that travel to El Paso from Mexico are dropped off at the border, he says. So we thought, what if they could get directly to their destination using a bicycle Biking across international borders is relatively rare, but not impossible. They walk through the bridge, and then they either get the bus on the other side or someone picks them up. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

adult life: The actor who is known for playing an endearing, hippie stoner is an opinionated activist for cannabis reform, according to CTV. In Chongs's mind, weed has never been illegal, so I never even give it any thought, he says. For most of his adult life, cannabis has been illegal, yet Chong has continued to smoke it openly and publicly. With Canada on the cusp of legalization, Chong's life work as the Grandfather of Pot is almost done. Chong spent the first few years of his life on what he calls a manger, which was a converted chicken coop. He was born on May 24, 1938 in Edmonton, Alberta, to a hard-working Chinese immigrant father and Scottish-Irish mother. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

asylum seekers: Those figures don't include more than 600 additional arrivals who entered the country illegally through Quebec over the Easter weekend, according to CTV. Officials are expecting those numbers to continue to grow as temperatures rise. The RCMP intercepted more than 3,000 irregular border-crossers in January and February, part of a total number of 7,800 asylum seekers processed by the federal immigration department and the Canada Border Services Agency during the same time period. Immigration and CBSA officials have been preparing for the influx after getting caught flat-footed last summer dealing with an unexpected surge in mainly Haitian migrants entering Canada through Ontario and Quebec. Our government is prepared for any future fluctuations, said Mathieu Genest, press secretary for Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen. Canada is an open and welcoming country to those in need of protection, but our government is committed to orderly migration to protect Canadians and our immigration system. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

canadian soil: That's triple the usual numbers of 50 to 60 migrants per day, according to CTV. Police were waiting on Canadian soil to arrest those crossing the border. About 150 people crossed each day. But unlike last year, when thousands of Haitian migrants were housed in a Montreal stadium, the new group is predominantly from Nigeria. On Thursday, more than 114 migrants arrived, according to the Customs and Immigration Union. The crossings weren't limited to the weekend. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

college workforces: The result is faculties that fail to reflect the range of backgrounds and identities of the students they teach, says the study, released Friday by the Canadian Association of University Teachers, according to Toronto Star. Have your say Based on data from the 2016 census, it provides a snapshot of university and college workforces and incomes, and highlights entrenched differences in pay and positions. Yet when it comes to the academic workforce, little has changed in the last decade, with only a handful of Black and Indigenous professors, fewer women with coveted full-time positions than men, and significant wage gaps that penalize female and racialized staff, according to a new report. Article Continued Below The findings are discouraging, says Pat Armstrong, a York University sociology professor and co-chair of the association's equity committee. It's pretty clear there's a big gap between the student body and the faculty that's teaching them. Progress is very slow, she said in an interview. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

confinement linda: California is a state that has a torture law, noted anti-torture crusader Linda Mac Donald in her Facebook post, meaning that if convicted, the Turpin parents face extra penalties beyond those provided for, say, unlawful confinement, according to Rabble. Linda and her campaign partner Jeanne Sarson have been lobbying for recognition of non-state torture NST since 1993, five years after the UN Committee on Torture began its work in 1988. The parents are charged with torture and child endangerment, CNN reported. In March, their paper on NST with Jackie Jones was part of a groundbreaking publication, Gender and Torture. International human rights law, traditionally, has not protected women from the harms they have suffered as a result of being women, wrote the anthology's editor, Macarena S ez, of the Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law at the American University Washington College of Law. With papers by more than 25 experts, the anthology expands on former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Mendez's 2016 report on gender perspectives on torture -- which turned existing law on its head by suggesting states should look at the act committed, rather than who committed the act and why. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigration agents: A federal immigration official declined to confirm whether it was the largest.A statement from immigration officials says 11 people were arrested on criminal charges, 54 others have been placed in detention and 32 have been released from custody.A total of 21 people were arrested after immigration agents raided 7-11 stores nationwide in January, according to Metro News. The National Immigration Law Center says it is believed to be the largest single workforce raid under the Trump administration. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

news conference: That's not good policing, according to The Chronicle Herald. That's not good for building a vibrant society .... When you're stopped in your community for no reason, it makes you feel like you have no worth. People are being stopped because of the colour of their skin, he told an outdoor news conference, held in a park that is in a predominantly black neighbourhood in Halifax's north end. Singh said he was detained by police for no reason multiple times when he was younger, and it continued to happen when he was a law student in Toronto. This is an issue that impacts folks across Canada, he said. The leader, elected to lead the federal NDP last October, has said police have stopped him 11 times over the years, with the first incident of what he describes as racial profiling happening when he was 17. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

ronald vitiello: It is lower than the 6,400 National Guard members that former President George Bush sent to the border between 2006 and 2008, according to The Chronicle Herald. Trump said his administration is looking into the cost of sending the troops to the border and added we'll probably keep them or a large portion of them until the wall is built. Trump's comments to reporters on Air Force One were his first estimate on guard levels he believes are needed for border protection. Earlier Thursday, Ronald Vitiello, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's acting deputy commissioner, cautioned against a rushed deployment. He said that guard members would be placed in jobs that do not require law enforcement work, an apparent reference to undertaking patrols and making arrests. We are going to do it as quickly as we can do it safely, Vitiello told Fox News Channel. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

sierra leonean: The former opposition candidate and military leader now faces the challenge of helping the country of 7 million people recover from the devastating Ebola epidemic of 2014-2016, according to Metro News. The election was the fourth since Sierra Leone's brutal civil war ended in 2002, and concerns about potential divisions along ethnic, political or regional lines remain fresh. Julius Maada Bio spoke the day after winning the West African nation's runoff election. No Sierra Leonean should feel threatened by my ascension to power, Bio said Thursday. National cohesion is very much a part of my program. I am not going to discriminate. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

square kilometres: It was estimated that 1,400 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces, according to Rabble. Schools, hospitals, universities and a major part of Gaza's infrastructure was destroyed. The main purpose of our delegation was to build playgrounds for the children of Gaza after Israel's brutal aerial, naval and ground attack named Operation Cast Lead. The ultimate objective of our delegation was an attempt to break the siege imposed since 2007 by the Israel government on the Gaza strip -- a densely populated 365 square kilometres where 1.8 million people live, many of them in precarious conditions. We were motivated by our quest for justice and our will to see with our own eyes the conditions Palestinians were living in after the devastation caused by the military operation. Our delegation was composed of U.S. human rights activists, mostly women, and a few Canadians. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

land acknowledgement: For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca and, most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River, according to NOW Magazine. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land. If you've been on campus at University of Toronto in the past few years, you've probably noticed at every convocation, ground-breaking or building opening, someone reads a land acknowledgement that goes something like this We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. Many post-secondary schools across Ontario have their own version of the Statement of Acknowledgement of Traditional Land, but it's only a part of the wider push to decolonize campuses in the wake of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation report. But the decolonizing process isn't simple. That has created a hiring boom as schools look to hire Indigenous professors and administrators. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

border wall: The announcement came hours after Trump pledged strong action today on immigration and a day after he said he announced he wanted to use the military to secure the southern border until his long-promised, stalled border wall is erected, according to Toronto Star. Read more Trump says he'll use troops to guard the border with Mexico until his wall is built Article Continued Below Why Trump is so furious over a U.S.-bound caravan' of Central American migrants Trump threatens NAFTA, foreign aid to Honduras over refugee caravan'Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said she had been in discussions with the governors of the southwest border states and has been working with them to develop agreements that will oversee where and how many Guardsmen will be deployed react-empty 144 She suggested some troops could begin arriving as soon as Wednesday night, though other administration officials cautioned that details on troop levels, locations and timing were still being worked out. The lawlessness that continues at our southern border is fundamentally incompatible with the safety, security, and sovereignty of the American people, Trump wrote in a memo authorizing the move, adding that his administration had no choice but to act. Trump has been frustrated by slow action on building his big, beautiful wall along the Mexican border the signature promise of his campaign as well as a recent uptick in illegal border crossings, which had plunged during the early months of his presidency, giving Trump an accomplishment to point to when he had few. But over the past 12 years, presidents have twice sent National Guard troops to the border to bolster security and assist with surveillance and other support. Federal law prohibits the use of active-duty service members for law enforcement inside the U.S., unless specifically authorized by Congress. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

border: In Washington, Marine Lt, according to Toronto Star. Gen. The deployment is in very early planning stages, the National Guard in Texas said in a statement. Kenneth F. McKenzie told reporters at the Pentagon that it has not yet been determined how many, if any, of the troops participating in the border security operation will be armed. Jerry Brown would respond to Trump's call. Read more Trump signs order sending National Guard to U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration Article Continued Below Trump says he'll use troops to guard the border with Mexico until his wall is built Why Trump is so furious over a U.S.-bound caravan' of Central American migrants With troops in all states, the National Guard has been called on by past presidents and governors to help secure U.S. borders, and the Texas contingent said it had firsthand knowledge of the mission and operating area that will allow it to move seamlessly into the new role. react-empty 144 The Republican governors of the border states of Arizona and New Mexico also welcomed deployment of the guard along the southwest border as a matter of public safety, but it was unclear how Democratic California Gov. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

haitian man: The man has been detained since September, when he was held for deportation on the grounds that he had two misdemeanour convictions for trying to ride mass transit for free, the ACLU said, according to Metro News. The ACLU and the Brooklyn organization asked the judge to declare that members of the designate class must receive a hearing before an immigration judge within six months. The ACLU and the Brooklyn Defender Services want to bring class-action status to a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court recently on behalf of a detained 60-year-old Haitian man who became a permanent resident as a child in the 1970s and has lived in the U.S. for 46 years. The immigration judge would then decide whether the individual is a flight risk or a danger to the community before deciding whether freedom is appropriate while the case proceeds.A message sent to a Justice Department spokesman was not immediately returned. The bond hearings previously allowed some immigrants to remain free while their deportation cases proceeded because the government was unable to show they were a risk to flee or a danger to the community. The ACLU and the Brooklyn organization that provides free legal services to some immigrant detainees said in court papers that immigrants are being denied bond hearings because of a February change in federal policy following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a California case. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

hutu extremists: From April to July, 1994, almost a million ethnic Tutsis and their Hutu friends were slaughtered by marauding gangs of Hutu extremists, according to Rabble. In alternative media, there is a long tradition of using radio for peacebuilding, so many community radio workers were horrified to hear that the airwaves in Rwanda were being used to stoke the furnace of ethnic hatred. It began when a plane carrying the president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down. Today we're repodcasting a story by David Kattenburg about how radio in Rwanda is working to promote healing after this sad legacy. And the tradition of radio for peace in Rwanda continues. It's called Ghosts of Hate Radio, originally podcast on rabble in 2006, and repeated this week on The Green Planet Monitor. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigrant populations: In House races across the country, both parties are using the fight over immigration fanned by tweets from President Donald Trump about a crisis on the Mexican border that others say doesn't exist to fire up base voters in midterm elections, according to The Chronicle Herald. Democrats think it can help them reach minorities, young people and suburban moderates repelled by Trump's strident anti-immigrant stances, while Republicans have noted his success in using promises to crack down on immigration to energize disaffected conservatives. Each could be right. As a result, Democrats are using the issue to emphasize inclusivity and are targeting border regions, suburbs and areas with immigrant populations. One diverse Southern California House district centred on the sprawl of Orange County has already become a testing ground for each party's immigration strategy. Republicans, whose districts tend to be less diverse, plan to make immigration a law-and-order issue that appeals to conservatives all around the U.S. The debate is likely to roil races in California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, perhaps New Mexico and Virginia's Washington, D.C., suburbs. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

lacolle border: Many of the people who are crossing right now recently arrived in the U.S. with visitor visas that are now expired and then are crossing illegally over the border into Canada on foot, according to CTV. Some are also coming in through the airport. The majority of the newcomers are from Nigeria, where the situation has been unstable. Jean Pierre Fortin, National President of the Customs and Immigration Union, said illegal crossings through Quebec were manageable over the winter when they were seeing an average of 50 to 60 people crossing every day. He said the average is about 150 per day. It spiked this weekend Canada Border Services Agency confirmed that approximately 600 refugee claimants arrived at the Lacolle border from March 29 to April 2. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

lakefront house: The couple is moving back in with Robyn's parents, according to CTV. Multigenerational households are nothing new. It's a lakefront house in Summerside, Edmonton, and they won't be the only occupants. Nor are they unusual, statistically speaking. Our friends thought it was amazing, and most of them said they'd love to do that with their kids, Wendy Kautz, Robyn's mother and future co-habitant, told CTV Edmonton. According to 2016 Census data, multigenerational living arrangements households that include at least three generations from the same family are increasing in popularity as the fastest growing type of household in the country. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

person votes: Trump was in West Virginia to showcase the benefits of Republican tax cuts, but he took a big and meandering detour to talk about his tough immigration and trade plans, according to Metro News. He linked immigration with the rise of violent gangs like MS-13 and suggested anew that there had been widespread fraud in the 2016 election. Tossing his boring prepared remarks into the air, President Donald Trump on Thursday unleashed a fierce denunciation of the nation's immigration policies, calling for tougher border security while repeating his unsubstantiated claim that millions of people voted illegally in California. In many places, like California, the same person votes many times. They always like to say, 'Oh, that's a conspiracy theory.' Not a conspiracy theory, folks. You probably heard about that, Trump said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

sandvine estimates: Sandvine estimates about seven per cent of the studied Canadian households were using Kodi to access pirated content, compared to six per cent of the U.S. households it looked at separately, according to CTV. Another form of pirated streaming, which requires a monthly subscription to watch thousands of live TV channels from around the world, was estimated by Sandvine to be used by about eight per cent of the Canadian households. The Waterloo, Ont.-based network management company Sandvine analyzed anonymized data from 100,000 Canadian households last year and found about one in 10 had at least one set-top box, computer, smartphone or tablet running the Kodi software, which can be used to access legal content but is more commonly known for offering links to TV shows and movies. Dan Deeth, manager of media and industry relations for Sandvine, says he believes most consumers know what they're buying when they pick up one of the streaming boxes, which often tout a free TV for life offer. The average consumer might not know but they're probably fooling themselves or turning a blind eye, because to get those services legitimately you'd be paying over 100 a month to get 1,000 channels -- all the pay-per-views, all the sports channels, all the premium HBOs -- from a legitimate source. But he says it is possible some may not realize they're accessing pirated content. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

return: None of the global powers showed the slightest interest in stepping in to prevent this, as required under the Responsibility to Protect UN-based international norm, which was developed to deal with crimes against humanity such as this, according to Toronto Star. So now what It seems clear that most of these refugees would like to safely return to their homeland. That may be an unnecessary digression from what we know for sure The state-sponsored ethnic cleansing of about 700,000 Rohingya has happened and, for all and intents and purposes, the international community stood idly by. So will the international community take up its responsibility and create and protect a safe haven inside Burma's borders for these people A rhetorical question it would seem because, sad to say, the international Responsibility to Protect doctrine has little traction in today's world. The international community is largely a failed community. These uncomfortable facts should not be ignored. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

roma minority: Now, at most, a few people a day reach the country's borders, according to The Chronicle Herald. Orban is seeking his third consecutive term and fourth overall since 1998. Since 400,000 people passed through Hungary in 2015 on their way to Western Europe, Orban has made migration the near-exclusive focus of his government. Most polls predict Orban's Fidesz party will get around 50 per cent of the votes, far ahead of Jobbik, a nationalist right-wing party, the Socialist Party or several smaller left-wing or green groups. He claims that domestic and European Union funds meant for Hungarian families or the country's 800,000-strong Roma minority will be diverted to migrants, whose presence will weaken Hungary's security and increase its terror risk. According to Orban and his ministers, Hungary will descend into chaos should it become an immigrant country like France or Belgium. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

u.s.-mexico border: The trip will bring the president face to face with the targets of some of his fiercest ire and follows his announcement that he will direct the deployment of National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Metro News. The deployment has sparked widespread outrage in Mexico, which had already been enraged by Trump's pledge to construct a border wall. The White House said Thursday that Trump is set to attend the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, and will travel to Bogota, Colombia, to promote good governance and democracy in the Western Hemisphere. Trump is also set to face scrutiny over his recently announced tariffs on steel and aluminum though exporters to the U.S. who will be in attendance have been granted temporary waivers. Trump will hold meetings with several regional partners, though the final roster was still being finalized. Administration officials said no news is expected at the summit on the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement or any on new sanctions on the Venezuelan government. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

center: The three facilities at issue are the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, and the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana, according to Metro News. Many people held in detention facilities have claims that may allow them to stay in the United States or, at least, to remain free while their deportation proceedings are pending, the lawsuit says. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and various individual officials. Legal representation can ensure that they're not held unnecessarily for years and frequently determines whether their cases are ultimately successful, the lawsuit says. Remote communication by phone or video link is difficult, and lawyers who do make the trip often face long waits and then have to meet with their clients in inadequate conditions, it says. These detention facilities are all in remote areas, several hours by car from big cities where lawyers, interpreters and other resources are located, the lawsuit says. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

country intent: What I see now is a racist, cruel and destructive country intent on punishing refugees, demonizing Indigenous Palestinians and carrying a messianic zealotry I would ascribe to totalitarian regimes, according to Toronto Star. This is not my Israel. I was raised with the narrative that Israel was a safe haven for persecuted Jews from around the world a sanctuary. Like so many other disillusioned Zionists, I grabbed a piece of hope on Passover and Easter, when Israel announced it had reached a deal to allow its African refugee community to stay or be resettled. This is just another reflection of the heartlessness that is now sewn into the cultural fabric of Israel. A few hours later, the government of Israel suddenly announced it was rescinding this compromise, and would be looking at deporting these refugees forcibly. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.