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After the discovery of inhumane living conditions at a south Texas temporary detention facility made headlines last week, the United States Department of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has moved to relocate upwards of 300 detained migrant children to other sites. The Associated Press reported... View full entry
The Trump Administration has opted to use an Army base in Oklahoma to hold growing numbers of immigrant children in its custody after running out of room at government shelters.
Fort Sill, an 150-year-old installation once used as an internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II, has been selected to detain 1,400 children until they can be given to an adult relative, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
— Time.com
As of April 30, 2019, the department of Health and Human Services has taken 40,900 children seeking asylum into custody along the southern border, a 57% increase from 2018, according to Time. The surge in detainees has overwhelmed existing and new temporary detention facilities in southern... View full entry
Some barriers along the southwestern border, including in Nogales, have been painted white, a color which border officials say makes it easier for them to detect migrants compared to the typical brown color. — CBS News
Members of the United States military will be dispatched to border regions in California over the next month in order to apply new coats of paint to the existing US-Mexico border fence. The effort, according to an email sent to lawmakers by the Department of Homeland Security, is being... View full entry
Once the largest warehouse in the world, the Fenix building and its surrounding riverbanks in Rotterdam saw millions of European migrants leave from its embarkments. Bought this year by the arts organization Droom en Daad Foundation, the building will soon undergo a historic renovation that seeks... View full entry
The Architecture Lobby and Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility have issued a joint statement condemning the Justice Department's widely criticized zero-tolerance immigration enforcement policy that has led to the separation of thousands of children from their parents... View full entry
This post is brought to you by the Vilcek Foundation When Vilcek Prizewinner Teddy Cruz first emigrated from Guatemala, he had no idea that San Diego was a border town. He did not speak English, and his relatives had warned him that going downtown would be risky and dangerous. "It took me almost a... View full entry
Rain continues to fall in Houston, Texas, a city which may see up to 50 inches of precipitation over a span of five days thanks to the aftereffects of Hurricane Harvey. Unfortunately, the continued flooding has been exacerbated due to some decades-long, head-in-the-sand urban planning, the history... View full entry
Seeking to stem migration to Europe, the EU has remained largely silent about the wall's impact on people seeking asylum — Deutsche Welle
Welcome to the age of walls.Turkey has completed more than half of a planned 511-kilometer wall along its border with Syria. The government says it will improve security, but rights groups warn refugees fleeing war will be stuck on the Syrian side.Turkey has erected 290 kilometers (180 miles) of a... View full entry
What would America be without immigrants? More to the point, what would architecture be without the ability for those working within it to freely travel and collaborate with (much more affordable) talent from around the world? In recognition of these facts, the AIA has released an official... View full entry
“We Were Strangers Once Too” by hybrid research group The Office for Creative Research reminds us yet again that immigrants make America great, and that upholding the values of showing love and respect for all is as important as ever...The [public data sculpture serves] as a small yet impactful reminder of the diverse communities that make NYC what it is. — Bustler
Read more about it on Bustler. View full entry
The tiny house is just one example of the lengths to which people will go to create a sense of home even when they lack the means for it. It’s just one symptom of a much wider and intensifying search for belonging, which makes home as important to politics as the idea of class or rights – especially now, when so many people feel displaced, both literally and figuratively, by life in innovation-driven, high-tech, networked capitalism. — Aeon
Related stories in the Archinect news:Humans and other things that nestHow Tadao Ando defines his own "home for the spirit"The downsides of the charming "holdout" houses View full entry
If we imagine one's escape to a refugee camp as fragmentary, provisional and incomplete, the camp must be transformed not only in design but also in its role as a catalyst for promoting the humanity of those living within its barbed-wired walls. [...]
Architecture has become the litmus test of society's capacity for holistic and compassionate security.
— cnn.com
For more on the architectural experience of refugees:Kenya moves to shut down Dadaab, the world's biggest refugee campNew MoMA exhibition explores the architecture of displacementAi Weiwei documents life in Greek refugee camp on social mediaThe vast majority of Syrian refugees are seeking refuge... View full entry
The number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. illegally has declined. In 2014, 5.6 million unauthorized immigrants from Mexico lived in the U.S., down by about 1 million since 2007. [...]
Mexican unauthorized immigrants are more likely than unauthorized immigrants overall to work in the construction industry ... Among Mexican unauthorized immigrants ages 16 and older who were employed in 2012, 19% worked in construction and 13% worked in a wide range of businesses
— pewhispanic.org
The Wall Street Journal previously reported on the trend of declining Mexican-born workers in the U.S. construction industry, leading to a total loss of half a million laborers since 2007. According to a Pew Research Study in "Hispanic Trends" from March of 2015, citing the most recent data... View full entry
Landlords of illegal boarding homes could face $1,000 fines and six months in jail under tougher enforcement regulations adopted this week by the City Council...The city has staffed a volunteer in the code enforcement office and plans to add more of them. The council unanimously voted to update regulations to say it could prosecute landlords of illegal boarding homes with an infraction or misdemeanor charge and shut the 'public nuisance' down. — Pasadena Star News
"These renters said in previous interviews that they try to stay out of the limelight and cannot afford other living arrangements as they work for below minimum wage and send a large chunk of their earnings back to family in China."Related:Honolulu Law Criminalizes HomelessnessAirbnb faces... View full entry
While some remain cynical about homeownership, the U.S.'s foreign-born population still regards it as a symbol of attaining the American Dream. [...]
Last year, immigrant households made up 11.2 percent of owner-occupied housing according to the JCHS—that’s up from only 6.8 percent in 1994.
— theatlantic.com
