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.
Rohingya deportations
The first deportations of Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar has rattled those who remain in the camps in India's Haryana state. The government in New Delhi plans to repatriate thousands more, raising questions about sending those who fled violence and persecution back to a country that the United Nations recently assessed is not safe enough for them. Some of the refugees in India say they left the first camps in neighboring Bangladesh where they sought safety because of deplorable conditions, and U.N. officials this week agreed that the situation in Cox’s Bazar can be dangerous, especially for women.
Pakistan’s border wall
A wall being built along the country’s border with Afghanistan triggered clashes between security forces on both sides this week. Pakistan says the barrier is to “stop the flow of terrorists,” while Kabul rejects the very premise of the fence, as well as the boundary line where it’s being erected.
DACA and the midterms
Deep divides along party lines across the U.S. will come to a head with the midterm elections next month, and one of the groups paying close attention to the outcome is DACA recipients — those undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children but gained a semi-legal status under former President Barack Obama. A win for Democrats could buy them more time, after President Donald Trump attempted to end the policy and Congress failed to pass any law protecting them. This week, the U.S. Justice Department warned an appellate court handling a lawsuit over the policy’s termination that if there is no decision by the end of October, the federal agency would take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Northward bound
Thousands of migrants are walking together from Honduras, aiming for the U.S. border. But first they have to make it across the Guatemala-Mexico border — and Trump has warned that he will militarize and shut down the southern U.S. frontier if Mexico does not stop the group.
WATCH: Honduran Migrant Caravan Marches Toward Mexico
