Editor's note: We want you to know what's happening, why and how it could impact your life, family or business, so we created a weekly digest of the top original immigration, migration and refugee reporting from across VOA. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.
Bridge to nowhere?
Migrants are camping out on a bridge between Mexico and Texas, where — if you have papers to cross into the US — it costs just 25 cents to go through. Workers and school children do it every day, in both directions. But for asylum-seekers like Vilma Mendez Morales of Guatemala and Eddy Gonzalez of Cuba, that pocket change isn't enough, as the Trump administration tightens border controls and dispatches military to the frontier with Mexico.
Rohingyas say no to repatriation
Bangladesh wants to send Rohingya Muslim refugees back to Myanmar. But when the time came to carry out that plan, the Rohingya refused to go back. International law bans countries from sending people back to a place where they will be endangered. The U.N. says the repatriation has to be voluntary. But when a refugee official said "We have arranged everything for you," the community said "We won't go!" During a meeting with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi this week, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence questioned where her government was in the process of prosecuting military forces accused of persecuting the Rohingya.
International students ditching US as option
Sure, the United States is still a top spot for foreign college kids who can afford it. But with out-of-control tuition rates and an increasingly tense political atmosphere, there just aren't as many interested in applying.
Taliban vs. Militias vs. Winter
An escalation in the ongoing clashes between the Taliban and pro-government militias this month has displaced at least 1,000 families in Afghanistan. And the humanitarian crisis has the potential to get much worse as winter creeps into central-eastern Afghanistan.
Video: Solar panels are a game-changer for Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp.
