OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Border fences and paths to citizenship have become hot-button terms in the lead-up to U.S. Congressional elections, but immigration is no less prominent an issue around the world this year.

© Independent Media CenterSaturday saw many decentralized, coordinated migration-related actions and events across the world. "From Warsaw to London, from Hamburg to Nouakchott, thousands of migrants and their supporters protested against the denial of their rights, against the criminalization and scapegoating of refugees and, above all, against all immigration controls," explains a report from the Independent Media Center.

In the United States, President Bush signed a bill last week that will continue "to support punitive, enforcement-only measures that perpetuate the ongoing vilification of immigrants," according to a statement from the American Friends Service Committee. "Fences, walls, and technology aren't meaningful solutions to this serious problem; we already know that these have not worked in the past," the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group said, calling for a "logical, just, and humane" effort to deal with the root causes of immigration to the United States.

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For more on global migration issues see OneWorld's Topic Guide: Migration.