The Global Refugee Wave and Migrant Crisis

Since September, Algerian authorities have been arresting large numbers of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Numerous videos have emerged on social media showing how, after being arrested, the migrants are then transferred to detention camps in Algiers or brought to the southern town of Tamanrasset, where some are then deported to Niger. For our Observers, these new measures are a natural progression from the openly xenophobic declarations made by the Algerian government.

"They are hunting down everyone, even those who have a passport, even those who have a visa,” says one of the people who was arrested by the Algerian police in a video that has been circulating online since October 5.

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In a second video, which was also shared on Facebook last week, a man films dozens of migrants crammed in a bus that he claims is "leaving Zéralda".

"Some are still wearing their work clothes", says the man filming.

Our Observer Armando B. (not his real name), who is a West African migrant living in Algeria, gathered the testimonies of foreigners who had been arrested. He said that this bus was taking the migrants to Tamanrasset, a desert city located about 2,000 kilometres south of the capital. Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported the same information.

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Another video from early October shows men walking through the sand carrying their belongings on their heads. It seems like it was filmed in the same area, near the border with Niger. According to Armando B., it shows deported migrants who have been dropped off “in the desert” by Algerian authorities.

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In the wake of this repressive campaign, unions from multiple countries in sub-Saharan Africa composed an open letter to Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika about the “mass deportations” of sub-Saharan migrants. But for Abdou Semmar, the editor-in-chief of Algérie Part, the government is assuming full responsibility for these arrests.

...Since mid-September, there’s been an uptick in mass deportations. I think that it a publicity stunt by the government. The prime minister has even mentioned just printing more currency.

Sub-Saharan migrants are being used as scapegoats: they are easy targets to explain the problems in the country. Moreover, I just see this as a natural progression from the anti-migrant discourse that we heard all summer. In July, Ahmed Ouyahia, who is now Prime Minister, said that sub-Saharan migrants were synonymous with drugs and criminality.

The Foreign Affairs Minister [Abdelkader Messahel] also accused them of being “a menace to natural security”.

And recently the minister of transportation, ‎Abdelghani Zalene, also stirred up a debate by forbidding bus companies and taxis to transport undocumented people. There were so many problematic interpretations of this ban that he ultimately rescinded it.

Early this summer, we saw the emergence of various xenophobic, anti-immigrant campaigns on social media [Editor’s note: Especially #لا_للافارقه_في_الجزاير , which translates to #No to Africans in Algeria]. In my opinion, politicians are using migrants to distract people from serious financial issues in the country.

The government makes no effort to hide its open xenophobia. Algeria is turning its back on these migrants, but at the same time, there have never been real policies to welcome and integrate migrants. [Editor’s note: For example, Algeria has never had national legislation recognizing refugees or asylum seekers].

As winter approaches, the number of deportations is increasing. One reason for this is that the country doesn’t have adequate shelters for homeless migrants and doesn’t want to deal with the issue.

There's few things I find more frustrating than people who are often the targets of racism, xenophobia, and prejudice, turn right around and treat others in the same way. That's disgusting.

US President Donald Trump will allow refugee admissions to the US to resume while announcing stricter rules for vetting applicants, US media report.

It comes as the 120-day ban on refugees expires on Tuesday. It had been part of Mr Trump's executive orders that came to be known as the "travel ban".

Last month Mr Trump announced the lowest cap on refugee resettlements ever set by a US president.

The decision comes after a diplomatic and intelligence review, officials say.

Under the new rules to be announced on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security will collect more biographical data such as the names of family members and places of employment, officials told US media.

White House officials said they would seek to "enhance procedures for refugee entries" by "raising standards" for vetting.

Those standards would be applied "across the board", they added. Under current policy, men are vetted more stringently than women and children.

Officials also plan to do more to mine social media posts, but it is not clear what measures the White House will put in place.

Eleven unnamed countries will still face additional screening, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The White House announced on 29 September that it had set a cap on refugees at 45,000 - the lowest since the refugee admissions programme began in 1975.

In Barack Obama's last year in office, the US accepted 85,000 refugees.

Pro-immigrant group Human Rights First noted in a statement how US "refugee vetting procedures - which include extensive and comprehensive interviews as well as multiple rounds of security vetting with an array of US and international intelligence and law enforcement agencies - are widely recognised as the most stringent in the world".

But in issuing the ban in January, Mr Trump called refugees a threat to US security.

"Since 2001, hundreds of persons born abroad have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes in the United States," the executive order said.

"They have included not just persons who came here legally on visas but also individuals who first entered the country as refugees."