Anti-Immigrant Vitriol in Arizona

Arizona has become the "clash of civilizations" in the United States between an older non-Hispanic white population and a younger heavily Hispanic population. Census data show that 76 percent of Arizonans aged 45 and older are non-Hispanic white (and only 15 percent are Hispanic in those ages), whereas less than half (48 percent) of Arizonans under the age of 45 are non-Hispanic white (and 37 percent are Hispanic in those ages). Those two groups comprise 88 percent of the population, with the remainder including American Indians (5 percent), African Americans (4 percent), and Asians and others (3 percent). 

These demographic dynamics almost certainly fed into the decision recently by the State of Arizona to declare that the Tucson Unified School District's Mexican-American program was illegal and would be defunded unless it was dramatically altered.

Cholera Causes Backlash Against Haitian Immigrants

It's bad enough that Haiti has been suffering a cholera epidemic, on top of the nearly national ruination brought on by last year's earthquake. Now comes word that because of its fear that cholera will arrive with immigrants from Haiti, its island neighbor, the Dominican Republic, has begun deporting illegal Haitian immigrants.

Relations between the two neighbours have historically been tense, but they improved after a devastating earthquake destroyed much of Haiti in January of last year.

At the time, the Dominican authorities announced they would stop deporting Haitians who entered the country illegally.

But since Monday, soldiers have joined police in setting up new roadblocks, not just on the border but also on key roads leading to Santo Domingo.

The United Nations has estimated that before the earthquake, around 600,000 Haitians lived in the Dominican Republic illegally.

Ethiopian migrants drown in Gulf of Aden

Life is not easy in Ethiopia, one of the world's most rapidly growing and poorest countries. Thus, it is not surprising that many look for a better life elsewhere. A favorite route is through Somalia to Yemen, and from there to to Saudi Arabia or even possibly Europe. But, getting smuggled illegally into other other countries is always a risky business and the BBC has reported that as many as 80 Ethiopians drowned when their over-crowded boats capsized in bad weather before reaching Yemen.

Thousands of people attempt the dangerous journey from Africa across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen every year.

The UN's refugee agency says more than 74,000 Africans arrived in Yemen in 2009, fleeing "desperate situations of civil war, political instability, poverty, famine and drought in the Horn of Africa".