By Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian, Mar. 4 2011

Libya’s border with Tunisia has seen thousands of migrant workers crossing over – but the number has fallen dramatically. Thousands of migrant workers are feared to be still trapped in Libya, prevented by the authorities from leaving the country via Tunisia. An estimated 180,000 have already fled. The number of people crossing the border fell from 10,000-15,000 a day earlier this week to fewer than 2,000 on Thursday. Andrew Mitchell, the British international development secretary, who visited the border on Friday, said: “It’s an artificial and abrupt stop. We have no idea why, but we’re trying to find out.”

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By Suad Hamada, IPS, Mar.3 2011

MANAMA – Thousands of foreign labourers here are squeezed into houses the government says are uninhabitable, but they are unlikely to get any relief soon, with the non- stop protests in the capital hurting many businesses. After Tunisia and Egypt, it is Bahrain’s turn to witness protests in the centre of the capital. Seven protesters have died, although there has been no clash between demonstrators and security forces since Feb. 17. Protesters have refused to budge from the Pearl Roundabout, a few kilometres from Bahrain’s Financial Harbor and World Trade Center.

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By Aprille Muscara, IPS, Mar. 3 2011

WASHINGTON – As violent unrest continues unabated in Libya, with the potential to descend into what U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called a “protracted civil war” in statements to lawmakers here this week, international rights groups are raising the alarm over the resulting humanitarian crisis and the particularly desperate plight of stranded immigrant labourers. “Thousands upon thousands of foreign workers remain stuck in Benghazi, after being forced from their factories and losing their possessions in last week’s tumultuous events,” said Human Rights Watch’s emergencies director Peter Bouckaert, who is in the opposition-held city.

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By David Bacon, In These Times, Feb. 28 2011

Radio host and author Thom Hartmann has a new book, Rebooting the American Dream. Hartmann has a progressive reputation, and his book supports unions, calls for eliminating tax cuts for the rich and advocates other sensible ideas. But like many liberals, when it comes to immigration his tune changes. In one chapter, Hartmann says he wants to “Put Lou Dobbs Out to Pasture.”  But Hartmann, like Dobbs, criticizes corporate power and then turns his fire on workers and immigrants. Instead of taking Lou Dobbs on, Hartmann repeats many of the stereotypes and falsehoods that gave Dobbs a reputation as one of the most anti-immigrant commentators in U.S. media. Hartmann, like Dobbs, claims to speak for the interests of working people. And his ideas do reflect the thinking of a certain section of the U.S. working class. That makes it important to understand the impact of his recommendations.

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By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO, Associated Press, Feb. 23 2011

MEXICO CITY (AP) — At least 11,333 migrants were kidnapped in Mexico during a six-month span of 2010, the majority of them Central Americans, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission said Tuesday. The governmental rights commission said Mexico’s drug cartels snatched many of the migrants either to extort money from their relatives, or to recruit them to work for the gangs.

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