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When the restaurant where 30-year-old Santosh Kumar worked had to close because of the government-mandated coronavirus lockdown, he had no choice but to make his way back home to the eastern state of Jharkhand. The five-day journey back by bus, from his workplace in the city of Hyderabad, was excruciating.

I survived on tea and biscuits. Sometimes, we would get some rice. Now Im home, and theres still no word, and soon, the grains in my home will also run out, he told VICE.

Rajeev Rai, another migrant worker, travelled four days from Surat, in the eastern state of Gujarat, to reach Jharkhand after the lockdown. Rai talked about the discrimination he and other migrants faced during their journey. We had packed almonds, chappatis and water, even a stove. But once we ran out, we tried to get things from shops on the way, he said. The shopkeepers would shoo us away, or throw items or money at us because they thought we might be the carriers of the virus.

He added, We heard of other migrants, who walked back to Jharkhand, being chased away by people if they tried to sleep in empty buildings at night. There was no facility by the government to fall back on.

Stories like Kumar's and Rais exemplify the neglect and brutal treatment of migrants under one of the worlds strictest and harshest lockdowns. India's nationwide lockdown, announced on March 25, effectively demanded 1.8 billion people to stay at home. The order saw a sudden shutdown of the economy and sealing of the borders in as little as four hours, and brute force being used by the state police against anyone seen outside. Migrants like Kumar and Rai, who were forced out of jobs once businesses and workplaces shut down, were suddenly forced to go home on gruelling journeys that were fatal for many.

Even today, after lockdowns have eased in many states across the country, reports of migrants dying of hunger and exhaustion continue to trickle in. The causes range from walking hundreds of miles, to poorly arranged special trains meant to transport migrants home, to neglected quarantine centres, to joblessness.

But now migrants have had enough.

We want justice for our fellow migrants who died, said Kumar. And answers for those who survived but are still facing a bleak future.

Kumar and Rai are a part of hundreds of protests that have erupted across India. On June 1, migrants in over 700 rural and urban towns and villages staged a peaceful protest to demand justice for the workforce that forms the backbone of the country's most thriving cities. They wore masks, maintained social distancing and carried placards with messages like Why should my child stay hungry? We also voted for you, and Stop this cruelty on migrant labourers. We will remember this.

In other parts of the country, protests turned violent. In Chennai, 500 stranded migrants staged a protest after they reportedly did not get anything to eat for three days, at the construction site they were employed at. In Gujarat, clashes included stone-pelting and violence against paramilitary forces. In Mumbai, migrants who ran out of rent money and food clashed with local police. Similar incidents erupted in other states.

Villagers in Bihar observed a two-minute silence for the migrants who succumbed to hunger and exhaustion during the lockdown. Photo: Right to Food Campaign

The plight of migrants and the hunger problem is not just one states problem right now. It is the same across the country, said Ashrfinand Prasad, an activist in Ranchi, Jharkhand, who works with non-profit Right To Food Campaign, which is focused on food security.

Jharkhand is one of the worst-hit states in terms of poverty and hunger under the lockdown. It is also one of the many battlegrounds for the migrants staging their protests.

India already ranks poorly in the global hunger statistics, so the pre-existing problem of malnourishment has been made worse by the lockdown-induced mass starvation. A study found that 90 percent of workers lost livelihood under the lockdown, while 94 percent dont have access to the central governments compensations such as food relief. Some experts say that theres actually no way of knowing how many died due to starvation, although conservative reports show it is at least a few hundred.

The crisis is now impacting other aspects of migrants lives too. Apart from the hunger and deaths, the migrants are also traumatised. There is a huge mental health crisis in this section of society. Some migrants are committing suicide, Prasad told VICE.

In May, the Indian Psychiatry Society observed that one in five Indians showed signs of mental distress under the lockdown. In rural pockets, this has been caused by reverse migration. Prasad added that hunger and suffering also led to increased cases of conflicts within homes.

Right to Food Campaign, which has been mobilising migrants for work in their native towns and also providing them with relief, notes that the situation is too alarming to ignore. Weve been doing relief work and petitioning since 2001, but this has been going on for too long. The government response has been inadequate, said Dipa Sinha, the organisations convener. We have started campaigns across the country wherein migrants feel safe and comfortable to raise their voices, and not remain passive agents in this scenario.

As a part of this campaign, Right to Food has been posting protest visuals from the ground on Twitter as well as pushing the issue to policy officials and governments. Even though the crisis is unprecedented, it doesnt mean that the authorities stop being accountable, she added.

The Indian government claims it has provided substantial relief distribution, but activists say the majority of migrants slip through the cracks of the social welfare system because they lack adequate identification papers or bank accounts. Rupesh, an activist in Patna, in the east Indian state of Bihar, warned of a looming debt crisis in one of the poorest regions in India.

Here, the state government promised Rs 1,000 ($13 USD) to be deposited into peoples accounts. But we found that 60 percent of people didnt get that because they dont have bank accounts, he said. Theres also another problem. People are taking loans to cover for the loss of livelihoods during the lockdown. Very soon, this will blow up and we will have a debt crisis in the state.

At the beginning of the lockdown, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a relief package for daily wage earners saying, The government does not want anyone to remain hungry. As of writing, government officials have yet to acknowledge the crisis, even going so far as to deny it is happening.

Despite the mass exodus of migrants after the lockdown in March, Solicitor General of the Supreme Court Tushar Mehta claimed, No migrant person was walking on the roads in an attempt to reach his/ her home towns villages. Last month, the highest judicial body also declined a petition to help stranded and hungry migrants, stating, It is impossible for this court to monitor who is walking and who is not.

As the situation worsened, more relief schemes were promised in the form of housing and food for migrants. Yet the crisis remains unchanged.

India is not alone. In Chile, food shortages caused by the pandemic and the lockdown led to social unrest and even violence. The same happened in Venezuela, while in Colombia, impoverished families hung red rags outside their homes as an SOS for the hunger crisis. But in India, theres a unique problem. Here, the starvation is juxtaposed with an unsettling amount of excessive food that are lying in Indias government warehouses. A recent report found 6.5 million tonnes of excess grains, meant for the public, allowed to rot during the lockdownan amount that is said to be more than what was distributed through the government food distribution scheme.

The Food Corporation of India denied allegations of food wastage.

Jayati Ghosh, a professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, emphasises that the government, not the virus, is to blame for the hunger crisis. The first point to note in terms of this hunger crisis is that this is not related to the virus. It is 100 percent policy-driven when the complete and brutal lockdown was imposed without notice, Ghosh told VICE.

We have 95 percent informal workforce, 50 percent are self-employed, and 80 percent of the rest depend on daily wages. These are not new facts. The government knew this, and despite that, the lockdown was imposed and drove people to starvation. Ghosh called the hunger crisis a betrayal under the pandemic. The nature of this betrayal [of the migrants] is unprecedented in Indian history, and unmatched by any other country in the world, she said.

But the worse may be far from over. Sitaram Rai, a 24-year-old migrant worker from Jharkhand, said that the current unemployment and hunger problems may just be the beginning.

Theres definitely more to come over the next three to four months, he said. We will be jobless in our native villages. And our only other option is to return to the cities where we worked. Who knows if we will come back alive, whether due to the virus or not.

Ghosh reiterated the concern. We will realise the extent of this damage only once the lockdown lifts. Many activities will not exist, along with many jobs, and sources of livelihoods. Its a terrifying prospect, and its clear that the government does not have a grip on this basic reality.

Follow Pallavi Pundir on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on VICE IN.

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Indians are Protesting the Hunger Crisis and Migrant Deaths Triggered By the Coronavirus Lockdown - VICE

The migrant crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic is the worst humanitarian tragedy seen in India since Partition. Nothing illustrates that more than the heartbreaking video of a toddler trying to wake up his dead mother on Bihars Muzaffarpur railway platform which has gone viral across the world. The mother and the child had arrived at the station on one of the migrant trains from Ahmedabad. Initial media reports said that the mother, Arvina Khatoon (23), died of heat, thirst and hunger as passengers were not served food or water inside the train.

Railway authorities were quick to deny the reports. East Central Railway tweeted that Arvina had a health issue which was the reason for her death. Their denial, on May 27, was backed by the newly-introduced fact-checking wing of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) which termed the media reports incorrect and imaginary. According to PIB Bihar, Arvina was suffering from an illness before she boarded the train and this was corroborated by her family. In an earlier tweet, the PIB Fact Check section had stated that the cause of the death cannot be determined without an autopsy. PIB did not provide any details on the alleged statement by Arvinas family members or the type of illness she was suffering from.

Indias most credible fact checking platform, Alt News, has put out a report based on investigations by their reporter, Pooja Chaudhuri, which separates fact from obfuscation and makes for fascinating reading. Alt Newss report says that Arvina came from a poor family from Srikol village in Katihar district, Bihar. She is survived by her parents and six sisters, three of whom are yet to be married. Living under the same roof, the family barely managed to make ends meet. To add to the hardship, Arvinas husband divorced her about a year ago. To support her two children, she moved to Ahmedabad, with her children, to work on a construction site where one of her sisters and her brother-in-law were employed. Following the lockdown, Arvina and her family members in Gujarat lost their jobs and were running out of money. On May 23, they were finally able to board a special train from Ahmedabad to Katihar. However, Arvina passed away during the journey on the afternoon of May 25. This was about two hours before the train reached Muzaffarpur station.

After her death made headlines and the video went viral on social media, the authorities were quick to cover up the tragic event. While PIB claimed that Arvina was previously ill, others shared a police complaint allegedly filed by Arvinas brother-in-law, Mohammed Wazir, who was travelling with her on the train. The complaint stated that she was seriously ill, physically and mentally. However, JDUs Rajiv Ranjan Prasad released a video where Wazir can be heard saying that they were given food in the train and denying that Arvina was suffering from any illness. The BBC also quoted Wazir as saying that they were given a meal once during the day and served snacks and water at intervals. He told BBC too that Arvina did not have an existing medical condition.

In order to get at the truth, Alt News contacted various individuals who live in the vicinity of Srikol village where the family comes from. The Vice-President of All India Student Association, Bihar, Kazim Irfani, agreed to pay them a visit and ask a list of questions prepared by Alt News. Speaking with Irfani, Wazir gave a different statement than the one he had given to BBC and claimed that they were not given food and water in the train. However, he maintained that Arvina was not previously ill, consistent with his statement to BBC and the video posted by JDUs Rajiv Ranjan Prasad.

However, the official complaint filed at Muzaffarpur police station states that Arvina was both physically and mentally unwell. When asked if Wazir had written the complaint himself, he said that he cannot read and write but only knows how to sign his name. The police complaint carries his thumb impression. A policeman had written the complaint on his behalf. However, it wasnt read out to him before his thumb impression was taken, said Wazir. He reiterated that Arvina was not psychically or mentally ill. In a phone conversation, Wazir told Alt News that his initial statements were haphazard because he was in a distressed state of mind: She (Arvina) had just died and they were asking questions. I said whatever came to my mind.

However, Wazir was not the only person accompanying Arvina. A video statement was given by Arvinas sister and Wazirs wife, Kohinoor Khatoon, who was also on the Shramik train from Ahmedabad. She said that Arvina did not complain of any illness when they left, adding that she was yearning for water in the train. While Wazir stated that Arvina had eaten before taking the train, Kohinoor said she had not. However, both stood their ground that she was not unwell at the time of boarding.

Kohinoor further said that they had visited a doctor for a check-up before they got on the train and the examination found that Arvina was fine. Wazir made a similar statement in a phone conversation with Alt News. This is an important aspect of the story because as per government guidelines, only people with no Covid-19 related symptoms are allowed to travel on the special trains. Since Arvina was allowed to board the train, it is evident that she did not have any such symptoms.

Even if she was suffering from a long-term disease, PIB does not specify the type of illness serious enough to take her life, neither were any medical records shared. The government did not conduct a post-mortem of the body that wouldve ascertained the cause of death. If media reports that Arvina died of heat, starvation and dehydration are discounted because, according to Railway officials, only an autopsy can determine that, how then can the government assert that she did not die of the above mentioned reasons?

Alt News also spoke to another one of Arvinas sisters, Parveena, who confirmed that she did not have an existing ailment. Her father, Mohammed Nehrul, said the same. His statement says: She wanted to take care of her children and had shifted to Ahmedabad. It had been eight months but in the last two months, she had trouble making ends meet and borrowed about Rs 3,000 for food. He added that they had spoken to her half an hour before she had boarded the train when his daughter told him: We are all okay, dont worry. We are going to get on the train. The family found out that she had died after Kohinoor called and informed them.

Mohammed Nehrul was also contacted by NDTV. He told the channel that Arvina could go to Ahmedabad and work as she was mentally and physically sound. Arvinas mother gave a similar account. She too said that Arvina wasnt sick and wanted to come back home because the lockdown had rendered her jobless. A local journalist from Katihar, Dainik Bhaskars Noor Parvez, had visited the family a day after Wazir and his wife returned with Arvinas children. Parvez told Alt News that the family members informed him that passengers were not given food in the train and Arvina was not suffering from any illness before boarding.

Expert medical opinion

Alt News contacted Dr Sylvia Karpagam for her medical opinion on the death of several migrant workers travelling in Shramik trains. Dr Karpagam is a specialist in community medicine with over 15 years of experience. She has worked in Right to food and Right to health campaigns. She supports lawyers in looking at post-mortem reports in medico-legal cases. She stated: These deaths of migrant workers in trains cannot have a single reason. The post-mortem should include underlying causes and pre-existing conditions as well. Even if some of the 80 people who have died had an existing medical illness that is just one factor. The question is what aggravated the problem which caused them to die on the train. The problem of poor nutrition is already there in the country. This affects the poor migrant workers more than most people and they often do not have reserve stores of energy. During the lockdown, this became worse as we have seen that they have been driven to travel long distances by foot because they had nothing to eat as their incomes were suddenly lost.

Dr Karpagam further added: On top of food deprivation, you have dehydration due to the long journeys in hot weather. If hydration was ensured, this could have prevented many of the deaths. Some already sick and starving patients could still have been saved if they had good access to water. Dehydration is more deadly than starvation. These people clearly suffered both. First the heat exhaustion sets in and given the duration of the journey, this can easily become a heat stroke. Heat stroke is a medical emergency and can only be handled in good hospitals. This could not have been addressed in the train by anyone but easily prevented by ensuring adequate water supply for everyone at the very least.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal recently claimed that all deaths in trains were due to pre-existing conditions. However, Dr Karpagam pointed out that people with chronic conditions fly and travel in trains all the time. Doctors allow their patients to do that with the necessary precautions. They dont just die at the end of long journeys in such large numbers. The people with chronic conditions are usually aware of their issues and would do what they can to take care of themselves on a long journey. But if they have died in such large numbers, we have to consider the effects of starvation, hypoglycemia (low sugar) and dehydration on top of the medical issues and prolonged starvation during the lockdown they were already having.

The tragic incident raises a lot of questions, none of which were cleared by either the Railways or PIB Fact Check.

In conclusion, there was no evidence provided by Railway authorities that Arvina Khatoon died of a pre-existing condition. Furthermore, PIB Fact Check, which has emerged as the latest tool for bullying journalists and media organisations, did not do a thorough fact-check. In fact, PIBs investigation into the death of a migrant worker was barely two sentences. In contrast, it took Alt News almost a week to establish the facts.

By India Legal Bureau

Read more from the original source:
Dying of the Light - India Legal

80 percent of the small and marginal farmers said that their income is reduced after Covid-19 outbreak, says to the rapid research conducted by Caritas India in 18 different states of India. In an online meeting on 06 June 2020, Caritas India shared its two rapid research findings conducted on migrants and small and marginal farmers during COVID -19.

The meeting was attended by President of Catholic Bishops Conference of India, Presidents of Regional Bishops Council and Forum Directors across India. Caritas India took the opportunity to also present the consolidation of the regional meeting discussions on COVID-19 response and the data collection format with the participants.

The pandemic has created an unprecedented situation which has impacted every section of the society, but the migrants and small farmer communities had to pay a lot in this crisis. Livelihood loss was not only seen in the urban areas, but the rural areas also suffered its impact during this lockdown. It has created serious implications on the lives and livelihood of the people.

Caritas India, the social development arm of Catholic Church in India has been proactively reaching out to the most marginalised and, in this regard, organised several webinars with faith leaders, interfaith leaders, experts from varied discipline to understand and plan the action, shared Fr. Paul Moonjely, Executive Director. He also informed that collectively the Catholic Church has reached out to over 1.1 crore people in this COVID-19 with different types of support.

There is a strong need of experience exchange to reflect and communicate because there is a need of good documentation of our work, shared Cardinal Oswald Gracias, President of Catholic Bishops Conference of India. This documentation is important to preserve our work in history and to reflect on our successes and areas of improvements so that other countries, conferences and institutions learn from us. He shared though Catholics are very few in numbers, but we can help so many people in need.

Archbishop Sebastian Kallupura, Chairman of Caritas India congratulated all for reaching out to the most marginalised in the most powerful way. Citing Pope Francis, he shared that though no solution to the real problem is found, all are trying what they can. This gives new hope to the society in general. He suggested to network with local administration and CBCI office for labour to make adequate plans focussing our target group and map the migrant workers in the area. We also need to work with CCBI officer of environment projection to care of our common home and live Laudato si moto. Lastly, he also suggested to organise mass health awareness campaigns along with CBCI Health.

Caritas India presented the rapid research on distress migrants to gauge the extent of severity and to understand the impact of the pandemic on the livelihood of the migrant community. The study focused on basic needs, livelihood, the rights and entitlements, discrimination and exploitation of the migrants. The research was conducted in 10 most impacted states of India including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Assam.

The research revealed that 28.7 percent migrants do not want to come back to the cities, whereas 32.1 percent showed their willingness to return when the situation gets alright, other 31.3 percent are still in a dilemma. There is a huge loss of education recorded for the migrant children, around 46.4 percent had to discontinue their studies. Majority of 95.2 percent migrants has lost their means of livelihood and the around 10.6 per cent have lost their family members in the pandemic. Talking about the employment opportunity under MGNREGA, only 6 percent have received jobs, whereas 37.8 percent could not get the work due to lack of job cards.

In another rapid research, Caritas India has presented the Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on smallholder farming sector. Around 424 farmers were contacted for this research across 18 states through 45 Diocesan partners. The research focused on the impact of the pandemic on agricultural production, distribution, availability of food & nutrition, income generation and expenses.

The research states a shocking revelation that 80.4 percent farmers have reduced income. The Farmers have serious apprehensions on upcoming harvesting season as great financial losses have been incurred in the previous season and hence are fearful to invest in the next season. The research says only 55.4 percent of farmers have received support from both Govt and NGOs whereas 9.4 percent have not accessed any support either from governments or NGOs. The food security is greatly threatened as 49 percent of the surveyed household have limited availability of food stock and around 16.5 percent respondents skipped their meal in the last 10 days due to lack of food availability.

Caritas India has conducted several meetings with the Regional Forum Chairman, and directors of Forum and Diocesan Social Service Society of all the regions to understand the Covid-19 relief response. Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India, Fr. Jolly Puthenpura shared the consolidation of series of consultations to understand and plan the strategies of present and future for short term and long term. He presented various activities and support extended to the vulnerable in terms of the community kitchen, food kits, hygiene kits, PPE kits, Shelter and quarantine support, psychosocial support etc. He presented the new pastoral approach in life after COVID-19 pandemic. He also shared the three-tier social intervention approach at national, regional and diocesan levels.

Focusing on the accountability of each and everyone, Executive Director of Caritas India, Fr. Paul Moonjely emphasised the need for good documentation of the COVID-19 response. Emphasising on documenting the experiences and faith responses, he shared that it is important to share the message that the Catholic Church is vibrantly serving the people inspired by its faith. He presented the framework to collect and collate different pieces of information and converting into qualitative and quantitative results which can be a great expression of our faith in action.

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Caritas India presented research findings of Covid-19 impact on migrants and farming sector - India - ReliefWeb

A migrant carrying a toddler stands in front of the border wall that divides Sunland Park, N.M., with Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Herika Martinez / AFP / Getty Images)

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The decision to flee ones country is never made easily, and leaving is rarely simple. In northern Mexico, along the United States border, weve met Hondurans who spent years saving up the money to make the trip; Salvadorans who walked for months; Haitians who crisscrossed countries to make it to the border. Every year, thousands of asylum seekers from countries like Russia, China, Romania, and India travel tens of thousands of miles to try to cross the border in northern Mexico. One of the most established refugee routes starts further south: Weve met people escaping ethnic violence in Cameroon who flew into Quito, the mountainous capital of Ecuador, and then trekked hundreds of miles north through swamp and jungle to make it to the United States.Ad Policy

For almost all of the people who made this kind of journey but were unlucky enough to complete it in the past two months, their time in this country has lasted less than a few hours before they were summarilyand illegallydeported back into Mexico. Since March 21, the Trump administration has sent over 20,000 people back across the border, thousands of whom would have otherwise sought refugee protection. In that same time, only two people were allowed to stay to seek asylum.

One of the earliest victims of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States was the countrys refugee system. On March 20, the Trump administration announced a sweeping and unprecedented order: Instead of processing new arrivals for asylum, the Border Patrol was encouraged to deport them as rapidly as possible. The United Nations said the decision was illegal under international law; advocacy groups and elected officials called the new policy a travesty. The administration defended the move, claiming it was only a temporary, 30-day measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But the rapid expulsion policy remains in place, almost two months later. It has not yet been challenged in court.

While the administration has justified the end of asylum on the border as a necessary public health measure, its not hard to see the ways in which the pandemic is merely the pretext for the order, not the motivation. From its earliest days, one of the Trump administrations chief objectives has been overturning and circumventing US laws that were designed to protect refugees and people seeking protection, as well as unaccompanied children, says Eleanor Acer, the senior director of refugee protection for Human Rights First. Its now using the pandemic as yet another weapon to try to circumvent US asylum law.Read Next

On May 13, Human Rights First published a detailed report exploring the effects of the new effective asylum ban, with research based on interviews with asylum seekers in Mexico and legal experts on both sides of the border. The report found that the United States has forced over 1,000 unaccompanied children back into Mexico to fend for themselves; it also discovered that many people have been kidnapped, raped, or assaulted once returned to Mexico. The legal analysis was unambiguous: The expulsion policies violate U.S. asylum, immigration, and anti-trafficking laws, due process protections, and binding treaty obligations. U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) legal guidance makes clear that a public health emergency cannot justify blanket measure[s] blocking asylum seekers.

Why, despite its clear illegality, has the total asylum ban remained in place? Scholars of immigration say the administration has capitalized on two things: the current crisis, and over 100 years of anti-immigrant propaganda casting immigrants as diseased.

Organizations that would typically challenge the law, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, are in disarray, as they deal with the shock of multiple emergencies and a pandemic that is impacting their lawyers across the country. However, even after the intensity of the shutdowns and quarantines wear off, advocates worry that fears of diseased outsiders will make Americansincluding those who otherwise support the institution of asylummore willing to give up on refugee law: Foreigners will simply be seen as too dangerous to admit, no matter the circumstances.Current Issue

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Immigration policies have often become more restrictive in the wake of crisis. After the September 11 attacks, refugee resettlement was briefly halted. Less than a year after the attacks, two new militarized agencies were created to apprehend and detain both unauthorized immigrants and asylum seekers: Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Worldwide, the 2008 economic crisis and the 2015 European migrant crisis led to massively increased hostility towards migrants and the abrogation of EU obligations regarding migrants.

Crisis produces an instinct to close the border and keep people out, says Charanya Krishnaswarmi, Amnesty Internationals advocacy director for the Americas.

But the Covid-19 pandemic might create long-term damage to refugee law in ways other crises have not: Sickness provides a convenient pretext to mask xenophobia. Even in the best of times, immigrants are seen by those seeking to limit immigration as a threat to our culture, our economic well-being. Now, the risk of a deadly virus means the outsiders can be presented as an existential threat as well.

Historically, anti-immigration proponents have often used the threat of illness to justify calls to end both refugee protections and immigration. An outbreak of bubonic plague in San Franciscos Chinatown was one of the precipitating events that led to the racially motivated Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which all but barred Chinese immigration. On New Yorks Ellis Island, European immigrants underwent medical exams and those deemed disabled or diseased were summarily deported. Chinese immigrants, when they were able to make it to the United States at all, often fared far worse: In the first half of the 20th century, Angel Island, in the San Francisco Bay, was used to quarantine Chinese and other Asian immigrants, subjecting them to humiliating medical exams that included analyzing a stool sample to prove they were free of parasites and diseases.

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More recently, Stephen Miller, President Donald Trumps chief adviser on immigration, has encouraged the president to play up fears of disease among Central American migrants to restrict asylum. During the 2014 West African Ebola crisis, conservative Republicanswithout any evidenceaccused Mexican and Latin American migrants of bringing the disease over the southern border. When two prominent migrant caravans arrived on the southern border last fall, one Fox News guest fanned fears that the Central American migrants would bring leprosy into the country.

In the last two decades, across the world, political leaders seeking to limit immigration have found success in playing up public health fears, a strategy human rights scholars have studied for years, and which we call medicalized migration. Fears of both migrants and disease have led to the medicalization of borders on six different continents, with the implementation of medical examination, required vaccines, testing, and quarantine.

In the current crisis, these supposedly medical fears havent been equally applied: Even as the United States moved to ban asylum seekers in the early days of the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of Americans were permitted to return from abroad, often through airports with little to no screening measures in place.

It goes without saying that medical measures such as quarantines and inspections are vital tools in the current pandemic, but doctors are clear that the implementation of such measures is useful only when guided by public health science and not politics. As US citizens living abroad have flown home without so much as a temperature check, immigrants and refugees have been subjected to draconian medical measuresa difference that betrays the administrations politicization of medical responses to the pandemic. The administrations hesitance to place the same measures on citizens and noncitizens hampered its handling of the pandemic, wasting precious time that could have been used to help contain the virus. This unequal and punitive application of medical screenings has therefore been just one more way the administration has botched its response to the virus, and may be one with the most lasting effects.

In the initial phase of the pandemic, travel restrictions to and from China became widespread, with some 96 countries instituting travel restrictions. Now, almost 90 percent of the worlds population live in countries with some kind of travel restriction on travelers who are neither citizens nor residents. Widespread testing on arrival and mandated quarantine or self-isolation measures have been implemented from Japan to Australia. Although governments the world over have cited concerns about health and safety when announcing Covid-19 policies, they have clearly prioritized the health and safety of their own citizens over those of other countries. The suspension of asylum hearings in the United States, along with the continued deportation of migrants, and the refusal to shut detention centers, demonstrates a willingness to imperil the health and safety of noncitizens in the name of public health.

On April 21, the president announced plans to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States in a move Democrats have called xenophobic scapegoating. Covid-19 has made tangible the parallels the president himself has drawn between migrants and disease, and given such claims a veneer of legitimacy. Medicalized migration reinforces this connection between immigrant and threat, while simultaneously buttressing the inequalities between citizens and noncitizens.

What does this mean for the future of refugee law? Human Rights Firsts Acer, like other refugee experts we spoke to, suspects that the new, total asylum ban will last long after the coronavirus pandemic ends. I expect they will fight to make it last as long as this administration, however long that is, she says.

The fear is these measures will be in place long after pandemic ends, Krishnaswarmi, of Amnesty International, said.

However, even if asylum is reinstated on the southern border (for instance, under a hypothetical Democratic administration), Acer worries that the pandemic-inspired exclusions policy might have already done significant damage to international refugee protections. What Im worried about now is how countries like Hungary and Turkey will be emboldened to further refuse refugees, she says. The language of public health creates a convenient narrative for anti-immigrant zealots like Hungarian President Viktor Orbn to obscure racist and Islamaphobic rhetoric with the language of medical necessity.

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The Trump administrations cynical use of the pandemic to further its anti-immigrant agenda is not unique: Far-right groups in Italy, Austria, France, and Germany have all drawn links between foreigners and Covid-19 in an attempt to pressure governments into more-discriminatory immigration policies. With dwindling supplies of PPE and no vaccine in sight, such policies are likely to continue as governments and panicked populations face the economic and biological impact of reopening borders. The existential threat of Covid-19 has prompted a swift retreat to the nation-state, at the cost of international human rights, as countries rush to fly their own citizens home while keeping others out.

This has produced a slow-moving crisis in the making: As devastating as the impact of Covid-19 has been on the Global North, its spread into the Global South threatens suffering on a scale not yet seen, and could fuel the next generation of mass movement out of Latin America and Africa. Now, those seeking to escape the economic, social, and medical ravages wrought by Covid-19 are likely to come up against immigration policies unprecedented in their hostility and suspicion of foreigners.

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Could Covid-19 Mean the End of Asylum Law in the United States? - The Nation

Shiv Sena on Monday attacked PM Narendra Modi over migrant crisis.

As NDA completed its first year in power, Shiv Sena on Monday attacked PM Narendra Modi and BJP over the issues of recent migrant crisis and demonetisation of 2016.

Sena said that the imposition of "bungled" lockdown and hardships being faced by migrant workers in the last two months reminded of the plight of the people displaced during the Partition of 1947.

"India is fortunate to have leadership like Narendra Modi! He feels for the country and various issues. He is a strong and capable leader and there is no alternative to him," said the editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece ''Saamana''.

Stating that PM Modi has taken some good decision, the edit also said that like "some mistakes which had happened in the 60 years (preceding 2014 when the Congress had mostly ruled the country), the last six years (of the NDA government) had also seen some mistakes".

The Congress is a ruling constituent in the Sena-led Maharashtra government.

Recently, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said that his party was not a decision-maker in the Maharashtra government, triggering speculation over coordination among three partners, other being the NCP, in the state government.

"The manner in which the lockdown was imposed in the country and hardships the poor migrant labourers had to suffer because of it reminded many of the partition days.

"How to rectify this mistake? India is fortunate to have Modi as the leader, but how can life of those who died during the lockdown and demonetisation (in 2016) be brought back again?" the Sena questioned.

The Sena also took a dig at leaders of the BJP for hailing the last six years of the NDA rule like never before.

"If leaders of the BJP to be believed our country has history of only six years (since Modi came to power in 2014). It seems India did not exist prior to that. Fight for Independence and struggle to become a nation, and the country's growth on fronts of industry, society, science and medicine is just an illusion," the edit said.

The Sena, however, said PM Modi had rectified some past mistakes by "abrogating Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, abolishing triple talaq, and starting the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya".

"In 1971, Indira Gandhi avenged Partition of India by breaking Pakistan and creating Bangladesh. Should this be considered a historic achievement or a blunder? (late PM) Rajiv Gandhi had laid foundation for digital revolution in India. (Former PMs) Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh had improved the country's economy. If all this is wrong, how are you (BJP) going to rectify this?" the Sena asked the BJP.

In the last 70 years, Atal Bihari Vajpayee of BJP had served as the PM for five-and-a-half years while other leaders like VP Singh and Chandrashekar served as PMs for nearly two years, it said.

"Those who say that all this period was a waste and India grew in just six years from 2014, it would be wrong," it said.

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"India Fortunate To Have PM, But..." Sena Jabs BJP On 1-Year Of Government - NDTV