Genetic variant linked to lower levels of HIV virus in people of African ancestry

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

An international team of researchers has found a genetic variant that may explain why some people of African ancestry have naturally lower viral loads of HIV, reducing their risk of transmitting the virus and slowing progress of their own illness.

Reported today in Nature, this is the first new genetic variant related to HIV infection discovered in nearly 30 years of research. It could, in the future, help direct the development of new treatments approaches for those living with HIV.

HIV remains a major threat to global health. According to UNAIDS, there were 38.4 million people living with HIV globally in 2021. A combination of pre-exposure drugs and medicines that dramatically reduce viral loads has had a major impact on transmission, yet 1.5 million people were newly infected in 2021. And while treatments have improved dramatically since the virus was first identified, 650,000 people still died from AIDS-related illnesses in that year.

Viral load is the amount of a virus in a patient’s system. Higher levels are known to correlate with faster disease progression and increased risk of transmission. But viral load varies widely among infected individuals, influenced by a number of factors including an individual’s genetic makeup.

Most of what we know about the relationship between our DNA and HIV comes from studies among European populations. But given that HIV disproportionately affects people on the African continent – more than 25 million people who are HIV-positive live on the continent – it’s important to better understand the role of genetics in HIV infection in African populations.

To investigate this question, researchers analysed the DNA of almost 4,000 people of African ancestry living with HIV-1, the most common type of the virus. They identified a variant within a region on chromosome 1 containing the gene CHD1L which associated with reduced viral load in carriers of the variant. Between 4% and 13 % of people of African origin are thought to carry this particular variant.

Paul McLaren from the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory, joint first author, said: “African populations are still drastically underrepresented in human DNA studies, despite experiencing the highest burden of HIV infection. By studying a large sample of people of African ancestry, we’ve been able to identify a new genetic variant that only exists in this population and which is linked to lower HIV viral loads.”

CHD1L is known to play a role in repairing damaged DNA, though it is not clear why the variant should be important in reducing viral load. However, as HIV attacks immune cells, researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Medicine, led by Dr Harriet Groom and Professor Andrew Lever, used stem cells to generate variants of cells that HIV can infect in which CHD1L had either been switched off or its activity turned down.

HIV turned out to replicate better in a type of immune cell known as a macrophage when CHD1L was switched off. In another cell type, the T cell, there was no effect – perhaps surprising since most HIV replication occurs in the latter cell type.

Dr Groom said: “This gene seems to be important to controlling viral load in people of African ancestry. Although we don’t yet know how it’s doing this, every time we discover something new about HIV control, we learn something new about the virus and something new about the cell. The link between HIV replication in macrophages and viral load is particularly interesting and unexpected.”

Co-author Professor Manjinder Sandhu from the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London said: “With more than a million new HIV infections a year, it’s clear that we still have a long way to go in the fight against HIV – we are yet to have a vaccine to prevent infection, have yet to find a cure and still see drug resistance emerging in some individuals. The next step is to fully understand exactly how this genetic variant controls HIV replication.”

The research in Cambridge was largely funded by the Medical Research Council. A full list of funders can be found in the research paper.

Reference
McLaren, PJ; Porreca, I; Iaconis, G; Mok, HP, Mukhopadhyay, Sl; Karakoc, E et al. Africa-specific human genetic variation near CHD1L associates with HIV-1 load. Nature; 2 Aug 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06370-4

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-023-06370-4 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Africa-specific human genetic variation near CHD1L associates with HIV-1 load

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Aug-2023

Learning how to control HIV from African genomes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE

“We searched for human genetic variation that associates with spontaneous control of HIV and identified a novel region in the genome that is only variable in populations of African ancestries,” says Professor Jacques Fellay at EPFL’s School of Life Sciences. “We used a combination of computational and experimental approaches to explore the biological mechanism behind the genetic association and provide evidence that the gene CHD1L acts to limit HIV replication in a subset of white blood cells.”

HIV is still a problem

Despite significant advances in treatment and access to therapy, the human immunodeficiency virus remains a global health challenge with almost 40 million affected individuals, no vaccine and no cure. The virus attacks the person’s immune cells (helper T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells) damaging their ability to mount an immune response. Without treatment, the infected person grows more susceptible to opportunistic infections and cancer, and can develop acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, the well-known AIDS.

Although annual HIV infections have been declining because of widespread antiretroviral therapies, the trend has slowed substantially since 2005, and there are now alarming increases in the number of newly infected adults in some regions.

HIV and studies on the human genome

The way to therapies involves fundamental research, including studies into the relationship between the human genome and the progression of HIV infection, which can reveal possible therapeutic targets.

These Genome-Wide Association Studies, or GWAS, analyze the entire genome of a large number of individuals to identify genetic variants associated with a clinical outcome, such as the ability to naturally control viral replication.

Measuring HIV replication control: not enough in African populations

The degree of viral infection is measured by the virus’ “setpoint viral load” (spVL), which refers to the relatively stable level of HIV replication in the body after the initial, acute phase of infection in untreated individuals.

A critical determinant of HIV infection progression and transmissibility, spVL is expressed as the number of viral copies per milliliter of plasma. The spVL of HIV varies widely in the infected population, depending on the ability of every individual's immune system to control viral replication without antiretroviral drugs.

Although there have been large studies of spVL control in populations of European descent, much less has been done in populations of African ancestries, which are still drastically underrepresented in human genomic studies. This is both a significant problem considering the disproportionate HIV burden in Africa and a missed opportunity given the high genome diversity among people of African descent, which fosters a high probability of genetic discoveries.

A key gene for resistance to HIV replication in people of African ancestries

To address this disparity, a large international collaboration of scientists and clinicians has now performed large-scale GWAS using data from diverse populations of African ancestries. In total, the scientists analyzed the genomes from 3,879 individuals living with HIV-1. Using computational analysis and fine-mapping techniques, they identified a novel region in the genome that shows a strong association with spVL control.

The study was co-led by Jacques Fellay at EPFL, Paul McLaren at the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory, and Manjinder Sandhu at Imperial College London. It is now published in Nature.

This region corresponds to a gene known as CHD1L (for “Chromodomain Helicase DNA Binding Protein 1 Like”), which encodes a protein that helps DNA unwind after it has been damaged, allowing it to be repaired. But in this study, the CHD1L gene showed genetic variation specific to populations of African ancestries, and that was linked to the spontaneous control of the most common and virulent type of HIV, called HIV-1.

Having identified CHD1L as a potential modulator of HIV-1 infection, the researchers explored the biological mechanism behind the genetic association and determined that CHD1L plays a role in limiting HIV replication in a subset of white blood cells.

The discovery of CHD1L's role in limiting HIV replication could lead to improved treatment options for infected individuals. “Our findings provide insights into potential therapeutic targets, which are needed to continue the fight against HIV-1,” says Fellay. “In addition, our results underscore the importance of performing genomic studies in diverse ancestral populations to better address their specific medical needs and global health inequities.”

List of other contributors

• Public Health Agency of Canada
• University of Manitoba
• Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
• University of Cambridge
• King's College London
• Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne
• Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
• The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine
• Stanford University
• Northwestern University
• Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard
• Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
• San Francisco Department of Public Health
• University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
• Siena University Hospital
• University of Siena
• National Institutes of Health
• Columbia University
• Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• University of Washington
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Uganda Virus Research Institute & London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Zambia Emory HIV Research Project
• Johns Hopkins University
• University of Amsterdam
• RTI International
• Université Paris Saclay
• Bicêtre Hospital
• Murdoch University and Pathwest
• IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute
• University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia
• CIBERINFEC, Instituto de Salud Carlos III
• University of Barcelona
• National Health Laboratory Service, South Africa and University of KwaZulu-Natal
• Copenhagen University Hospital
• San Raffaele Scientific Institute
• Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, School of Medicine Milan
• International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
• University of California, San Francisco
• Inselspital – University Hospital Bern
• Hôpital Saint-Louis
• University of Zurich
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• Frederick National Laboratory
• Conservatoire national des arts et métiers
• National University of Singapore
• Queen Mary University of London
• Imperial College London
• Omnigen Biodata

Reference

Paul J. McLaren, Immacolata Porreca, Gennaro Iaconis, Hoi P. Mok, Subhankar Mukhopadhyay, Emre Karakoc, Sara Cristinelli, Cristina Pomilla, István Bartha, Christian W. Thorball, Riley H. Tough, Paolo Angelino, Cher S. Kiar, Tommy Carstensen, Segun Fatumo, Tarryn Porter, Isobel Jarvis, William C Skarnes, Andrew Bassett, Marianne K. DeGorter, Mohana P.S. Moorthy, Jeffrey F. Tuff, Eun-young Kim, Miriam Walter, Lacy M Simons, Arman Bashirova, Susan Buchbinder, Mary Carrington, Andrea Cossarizza, Andrea De Luca, James J. Goedert, David B. Goldstein, David W. Haas, Joshua T. Herbeck, Eric O. Johnson, Pontiano Kaleebu, William Kilembe, Gregory D. Kirk, Neeltje A. Kootstra, Alex H. Kral, Olivier Lambotte, Ma Luo, Simon Mallal, Javier Martinez-Picado, Laurence Meyer, José M. Miro, Pravi Moodley, Ayesha A. Motala, James I. Mullins, Niels Obel, Fraser Pirie, Francis A. Plummer, Guido Poli, Matthew A. Price, Andri Rauch, Ioannis Theodorou, Alexandra Trkola, Bruce D. Walker, Cheryl A. Winkler, Jean-François Zagury, Stephen B. Montgomery, Angela Ciuffi, Judd F. Hultquist, Steven M. Wolinsky, Gordon Dougan, Andrew M.L. Lever, Deepti Gurdasani, Harriet Groom, Manjinder S. Sandhu, Jacques Fellay. Africa-specific human genetic variation near CHD1L associates with HIV-1 load. Nature 02 August 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06370-4

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JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-023-06370-4 

ARTICLE TITLE

Africa-specific human genetic variation near CHD1L associates with HIV-1 load.

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

2-Aug-2023

LGBTQ+ community proud and visible at Women’s World Cup


United States’ Megan Rapinoe looks over the pitch before the Women’s World Cup Group E soccer match between the United States and Vietnam in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 22, 2023.According to a count being kept by Outsports, a website that covers the LGBTQ sports community, there are at least 95 out members of the LGBTQ community competing in this year’s tournament. 

BY MAX RALPH
, July 29, 2023

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand striker Hannah Wilkinson has helped create two milestones at the Women’s World Cup.

With her 48th-minute goal in the tournament opener against Norway, she led the co-host Football Ferns to their first win in six trips to the Women’s World Cup. She’s also one of at least 95 out members of the LGBTQ+ community competing in this year’s tournament, according to a count being kept by Outsports, a website that covers the LGBTQ+ sports.

The Ferns were greeted with a fan-made sign at their next match in Wellington: “Gay for soccer, gay for Wilkie,” it read.

The 95 out participants make up roughly 13% of the 736 total players at the Women’s World Cup, more than doubling the 40 players and coaches Outsports counted in 2019.

The 2023 tournament also is hosting the first openly trans and non-binary player in either a men’s or Women’s World Cup, Quinn of Canada.

“Last World Cup was so big, especially with the visibility of the U.S. women’s national team winning and (Megan Rapinoe) fighting with (Donald) Trump. So I think that was a huge year for LGBTQ+ visibility,” said Lindsey Freeman, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

“It’s just the ad hoc, fun culture of women’s soccer that you’re seeing in this World Cup,” said Freeman, who is in New Zealand conducting research on the topic.

Jim Buzinski, co-founder of Outsports, agreed. “In the Western world, it’s such a non-issue that it really just doesn’t get talked about,” he said. “And I think that’s in a good way.”

VISIBILITY

Prior to the start of the tournament, FIFA designated eight socially conscious armbands team captains could wear throughout the Women’s World Cup. The decision came after “One Love” armbands were denied to men’s teams in Qatar in 2022.

The armbands being used this year include anti-discriminatory sayings and multiple colors, but the rainbow version Germany wanted to use is not allowed. None of the available options explicitly mention LGBTQ+ rights.

The decision has led many players to express their support in more creative ways across Australia and New Zealand.

New Zealand midfielder Ali Riley was interviewed on the official Women’s World Cup broadcast after her team’s upset of Norway. Her painted fingernails, left hand in the colors of the pride flag and right hand as the trans flag, were clearly visible as she held her head and fought back tears.

“She’s such an advocate and she’s definitely someone who uses her platform in such a positive way. We are all so proud of her and the way she represents the LGBTQ+ community,” teammate CJ Bott said. “Good on her. We’re all backing her, and we all back the community as well.”

The Philippines, making its Women’s World Cup debut, took home its own historic win over New Zealand 1-0 thanks to the foot of Sarina Bolden. Bolden’s Instagram bio reads, “i just wanna have fun n b gay.”

Irish star Katie McCabe wowed fans with a goal directly from a corner kick. She’s also made tabloid news for her relationships with other players.

Thembi Kgatlana, who has scored in the tournament for South Africa, has a patch of her hair dyed rainbow colors.

“My personality is very big for me, and my hair has become a part of my personality,” Kgatlana said. “And I did this rainbow because I want to represent all the people that are part of the LGBTQ and cannot talk while in countries where they’re oppressed.”

FAN EXPERIENCE

Kristen Pariseau and her wife started a U.S. women’s national team supporters group on Facebook ahead of traveling to this year’s Women’s World Cup. Aside from some hateful users she blocked, it’s been “super LGBT friendly.”

She and her wife did not go to Qatar for the 2022 men’s World Cup to avoid referencing each other as friends and receiving questions on their sexuality. In New Zealand, she said she’s met many same-sex couples at games and while traveling around the country.

“Everywhere you turn, it’s like, ‘Oh, my wife, my girlfriend.’ It’s been so welcoming and open,” Pariseau said. “In a way, it is kind of cool to be where there’s a lot of other people like you.”

Kelsie Bozart took her own pride flag armband to the United States’ second match in Wellington, along with a pride scarf.

“If you look back a couple years, I feel like it just wasn’t really talked about or there just wasn’t much of a presence,” Bozart said. “But moving forward I feel like, especially for the U.S., they’ve done an amazing job of just incorporating pride and LGBTQ.”

NOT UNIVERSAL

Though this year’s tournament has highlighted vast gains for the LGBTQ+ community in women’s soccer, advocates feel there is still work to be done.

According to Buzinski and Outsports, there were at least 186 LGBTQ+ athletes at the Tokyo Olympics. Women outnumbered men by a 9:1 ratio. There also were no confirmed out players at the 2022 men’s World Cup.

“I think women’s sports have always been open,” Denmark striker Pernille Harder said, adding that there are many role models for women who want to come out.

Freeman said it would be good to see men feel the same level of comfort.

“What can happen in the women’s game, I would love to spill over to the men’s game,” she said. “Because obviously, there’s way more queer players in the men’s game and it’s just not safe for them to come out.

“If you want to say that you’re in an inclusive space, you really have to be an inclusive space,” Freeman added. “And I think that that includes also holding the World Cup in places where it’s fine to be a queer person.”
___

Max Ralph is a student in John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
___

Contributing reporters included Joe Lister in Wellington and Rafaela Pontes in Auckland, students in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State, and Clay Witt in Sydney, Australia, a student at the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
___

AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

AP Photos/Rafaela Pontes

A United States fan holds a flag that combines the Pride flag and the United States flag during the Women’s World Cup Group E soccer match between the United States and Vietnam in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 22, 2023.

A United States fan waves pride flags before the Women’s World Cup Group E soccer match between the United States and the Netherlands in Wellington, New Zealand, Thursday, July 27, 2023.

United States’ Megan Rapinoe gets familiar with the field before the Women’s World Cup Group E soccer match between the United States and Vietnam in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 22, 2023. 
A United States fan wearing a pride flag holds a sign during the Women’s World Cup Group E soccer match between the United States and the Netherlands in Wellington, New Zealand, Thursday, July 27, 2023.

A United States fan holds a rainbow sign during the Women’s World Cup Group E soccer match between the United States and the Netherlands in Wellington, New Zealand, Thursday, July 27, 2023. 

United States’ Megan Rapinoe prepares for a corner kick during the Women’s World Cup Group E soccer match between the United States and Vietnam in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 22, 2023. 

Independent scientist resigns from pesticide regulator over transparency concerns

Story by David Thurton • CBC -  Thursday, July 20,2023

Scientists who have advised Ottawa's pesticide regulator say it could be exposing Canadians to chemicals at unsafe levels — and one has resigned from the agency, citing concerns about transparency.

Both researchers told CBC News they're calling for changes at Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). They say the agency relies on an "obsolete" system that could be allowing pesticides with worrisome impacts on nature and human health to remain in use.

"I am not 100 per cent confident that all the pesticides (that were approved), that they are all safe," said Valerie Langlois, a researcher and professor at the University of Quebec's National Institute of Scientific Research.

Langlois studies the impacts of pesticides and plastics on the health of fish, frogs and birds. She also co-chairs the PMRA's science advisory committee.

The federal government set up the committee in 2022 in response to pressure to reform the PMRA. Environmental groups had argued the agency was relying on outdated science and was being unduly influenced by the pesticide industry and food producers.

Health Canada defended the reputation of its pesticide regulator.

"(The) PMRA has a robust pesticide regulatory system, which is globally recognized. It takes its role as a regulator seriously and the pesticide review process used by the PMRA remains fully rooted in science," spokesman Mark Johnson said.

Regulator's scientific advisor resigns

Bruce Lanphear shares Langlois' views. Until June, Lanphear and Langlois co-chaired the PMRA's science advisory body.

Lanphear, a public health physician who studies fetal and early childhood exposure to environmental toxins at Simon Fraser University, said he became frustrated with how the regulator withheld information from the scientists on the committee. He resigned from the advisory panel in June and his resignation letter was shared widely by the non-profit Centre for Health Science and Law.

"I have little or no confidence that the scientific advisory committee can help PMRA become more transparent or assure that Canadians are protected from toxic pesticides," Lanpher wrote in that letter.

Speaking to CBC News, Lanphear said the regulator's methodology for assessing pesticides is "obsolete" because it relies on old assumptions that are no longer valid.

Among other things, he said, it assumes there are safe levels or thresholds for chemicals that increase the risk of cancer.

"What we now know for some of the most widely studied and widely disseminated chemicals, like lead … like asbestos, is that there aren't safe levels," Lanphear said. "And yet we continue to regulate chemicals as though there are."

"I don't have confidence because PMRA is relying on obsolete methods. They aren't being transparent on how they're regulating chemicals.

"Stuff that should have been banned ten years ago and only were slated for a full ban this year indicates we aren't keeping up the with the science."

Lanphear said studies show that chronic low-level exposure to harmful chemicals increases the risk of children being born premature and developing leukemia, and of autism-related behaviour and ADHD.

"What's at stake here is increased risk of various chronic conditions," he said.

Langlois sais she remains on the committee and is working with the regulator to help it reform.

Is industry controlling the regulator?

Lanphear and others worry the pesticides industry is exerting undue influence on Canada's pesticide regulator.

A group representing Canada's food producers, pesticide makers and plant biotech firms denies that suggestion.

"It's disappointing to see the former co-chair of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency's Scientific Advisory Committee making unfounded allegations about industry influence on the regulation of pesticides in Canada," said Crop Life CEO Pierre Petelle in a statement sent to CBC News.

"As an industry, we hold ourselves to the highest standards when it comes to the integrity of scientific data we provide to regulators around the world."



Bottles of Roundup herbicide, a product of Monsanto

 (Jeff Roberson/Associated Press)

Radio Canada reported in 2021 that Health Canada proposed to increase the permitted amount of glyphosate that can be detected in food after manufacturers Bayer and Syngenta requested it. The outcry that followed prompted the government to bring independent scientists into the agency.

"What we are facing right now is a regulator that is heavily dominated by industry actors, especially chemical companies and pesticide user groups," said Laura Bowman, a lawyer with the environmental law group Ecojustice.

On Wednesday, Health Canada announced it has appointed a new co-chair for its science advisory committee to replace Lanphear.

Eric Liberda, a professor at the School of Occupational and Public Health at the Toronto Metropolitan University, will join Langlois in leading the independent advisory committee.

Despite agreeing with Lanphear's stance, Langlois said she is not leaving the committee because she believes change is still possible at the regulator.

"I would say that PMRA is changing for the good, and we, as the members of the committee, will make sure of it," Langlois said. "And if I am resigning too, it's because there is no action that are being taken."

She said she hopes to see changes at the regulator within the year.

Canada wants US skilled workers - and they are interested

Sam Cabral and Nadine Yousif - BBC News, Washington and Toronto
Wed, July 19, 2023 

Leon Yang says the US needs to update its immigration policies if it wants people like him to stay.

When Leon Yang was 16, he moved by himself from Xi'An, China to the US, to study in a country where he believed that, if he worked hard every day, he could get where he wanted.

Fascinated by airplanes and everything else that flies in the air, he developed a passion for aerospace that took him from high school in Greenville, South Carolina to New York University (NYU).

With a mechanical engineering degree under his belt, he is now responsible for the soil compactor line at a construction equipment company in Atlanta, Georgia.

But nine years on from his life-altering decision, he has lost faith that he is still competing on a level playing field.

"For the past three years, I've had recruiters from major companies reach out to me, 10 to 20 a week," he claims.

As soon as they find out he is on a visa in the H1-B specialty occupation category, however, "most of them walk away", he said.

The H1-B allows foreign-born, US-educated individuals to work in the country for three to six years, but requires sponsorship by an employer and often provides no meaningful path to permanent residency.

This week, Mr Yang, now 25, submitted his application for a new Canadian programme that offers open work permits, for up to three years, to H1-B visa holders and their immediate family members.

The measure, a temporary effort to attract skilled and high-tech US workers to the country, only opened on Monday morning. By Tuesday, it had already reached its initial cap of 10,000 applicants.

Canada's immigration minister Sean Fraser announced the new work permit programme in June.

The burst of applications is a sign of mounting frustrations among skilled workers in the US who feel trapped in the limbo of a legal immigration system that they see as outdated and unfriendly.

When his visa expires, Mr Yang says he will have few options. He fully intends to move to Canada if he is accepted by the programme.

"I will be treated not equal, but fair compared to other competitors in the job market and that's one of the things I've missed so much in the past three years," he told the BBC.

Mr Yang is hardly alone in feeling that way. Thousands of skilled foreign nationals either fail to make the cut for the H1-B visa or, when chosen, spend years waiting for a chance at the permanent residency green card.

Demand for the visa category "massively" outstrips supply, said Madeline Zavodny, a University of North Florida economics professor who studies immigration and the future of the US labour market.

When it was established by the US Congress in the year 1990, only 65,000 foreign nationals could apply for the visa each year.

That limit has since been raised only once - to 85,000 - which Ms Zavodny says is "way too small".

"Employer demand has risen, immigration has become much more common and the US workforce hasn't grown enough to keep up with employer demand," she said.

The crush of applicants also prompted US immigration authorities in 2014 to switch from a first-come, first-serve process to a randomised lottery system.

The result, according to Ms Zavodny, is that the US is losing graduates of its own universities who want to stay but are forced to return to their home countries or go elsewhere for employment.

"The impressive thing about Canada is how nimble and flexible they are," she said. "They are constantly innovating their immigration policies, while the US has not for decades."

Why Canada aims to bring in 1.5m immigrants by 2025


Canada adds million to population inside a year

It remains to be seen whether Canada will extend the cap for its work permit programme or seek to make it permanent.

But a spokesperson for its ministry of immigration told the BBC it believed there were likely more than 400,000 eligible applicants at any given time.

"This temporary policy is intended to facilitate career development and mobility for tech workers, expanding the range of opportunities available for skilled workers to advance their career in the North American tech sector," communications advisor Julie Lafortune said.

"The immense interest in Canada's new H1-B application stream is a strong indication of just how competitive Canada is on the global stage."

Ron Hira, a research associate with the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute think tank, says the H1-B programme is "a mixed bag" that sometimes rewards "the best and brightest" but largely benefits workers with skills already abundantly available in the US.

His research also suggests employers, like technology and outsourcing companies, are exploiting the visa category to hire migrant workers they routinely underpay and place in poor working conditions.

And if terminated, workers on the visa have only 60 days to secure new employment.

"It's not a big surprise that some H1-B workers want to escape and maybe think that Canada will be a better option for them," Mr Hira said.

"If we want immigrants," he added of the US, "we should be offering them green cards, not placing people in situations where the employer controls them."

A Canadian citizenship ceremony

He warns that it is far too early to know if Canada has made a good decision, in spite of the optics, and points to its lack of screening criteria for the open work permit as well as mass layoffs in the US tech industry.

"We don't know what mix of workers have applied," he said.

"It could be that some of them are very highly skilled. It could be that some of them have ordinary skills and they're just trying to escape a bad situation."

In fact, the longer that H1-B visa holders remain in the US, the more their concerns of getting a raw deal may intensify.

Those who seek green cards run up against the limited quotas allotted by nationality.

"The wait is so long now that, functionally, a new applicant from India is not going to get a green card in their lifetime," said David Bier, the associate director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute think tank.

The problem is compounded for those with families, as their children lose eligibility for the green card as dependents when they reach the age of 21 and must leave the country.

"If your kids are having to leave the country, you might want to consider going to a country that would welcome you and your family," said Mr Bier.

"The Canadian offer is: you come, immediately get to work for any employer you want and you're going to have a clear path to permanent residency to stay. That is a very attractive offer."

Soumya, 42, a financial services employee in New Jersey, is one Indian national who has applied for the Canadian work permit.She claims the stress and anxiety borne out of the green card "waiting game" is "killing a lot of the enthusiasm that people initially came [to the US] with".

"If people live in a country for 10 years, and they're still not sure whether they'll get to stay, that's not the feeling someone should have," she said.

Immigration detention continues in Canada despite the end of provincial agreements


Linda Mussell, Lecturer, Political Science and International Relations, University of Canterbury  Jessica Evans, Assistant Professor, Sociology, Toronto Metropolitan University

THE CONVERSATION

Wed, June 14, 2023 a

The peace arch monument on the Canadian side of the Canada-U.S. border crossing, in Surrey, B.C. Several provinces will no longer allow the CBSA to detain immigrants in provincial jails. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Despite its reputation as a refugee-welcoming and multicultural country, Canada imprisons thousands of people on immigration-related grounds every year. Many of these people are held in provincial jails under agreements between the provinces and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Several Canadian provinces are terminating their immigration detention agreements with the CBSA.

In 2022, British Columbia became the first province to review the immigration detention system and end its agreement with the CBSA. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia have since followed suit. Québec and New Brunswick have also recently announced they’re ending their agreements.

Provincial jails are notorious for their poor conditions. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have found the detention of persons without criminal charges in these jails is unjust.

According to the CBSA’s data, the majority of immigration detainees posed no risk to public safety in 2021-22 .

Read more: The detention of migrants in Canadian jails is a public health emergency

Facilities where immigration detainees are held across Canada. (Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International)

While these provincial terminations signal a move in the right direction, they do not mean an end to immigration detention in Canada.

We’ve been studying the recent regional shifts in immigration detention in North America. Advocates have worked hard to place pressure on provincial governments to end their agreements with the CBSA. To maintain this momentum, action is needed at the federal level.
Immigration detention

The CBSA makes contracts with provinces to deliver immigration detention under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. This means the agency can detain permanent residents, foreign nationals and refugee claimants and has sole discretion over where detainees are held.

That might be a provincial prison, immigration detention centre, RCMP detachment, a port of entry, inland enforcement cell, immigration holding centre or federal prison.

The CBSA has sweeping powers including arrest, detention and search-and-seizure without a warrant. It is the only major law enforcement agency without independent civilian oversight to review policies and investigate misconduct.

Figures from the CBSA show that the number of immigration detainees in Canada has increased every fiscal year between 2016 and 2020. More than 32,000 people were detained during that time period. Between 2019 and 2020, 8,825 people were detained, including 136 children, 73 of whom were under the age of six.

In many cases, the CBSA has separated children from their detained parents. This is a violation of international law and goes against the best interests of the child. The CBSA does not track how many children are separated from parents.

A protest at the Surrey Immigration Holding Centre in April 2020 calling for detainees to be released during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Prisoners’ Justice Day Committee Vancouver)

Research has found that even brief amounts of time imprisoned is associated with increased stress, depression and anxiety. Migrants with mental health conditions are more likely to be detained in provincial jails and in isolation, where their conditions tend to worsen. Mental health issues become a barrier for release and are then used to justify continued detention.

Immigration detainees endure harsh conditions including solitary confinement and no set release date. Since 2013, more than 1,623 detainees have been held for longer than a year.

People from racialized communities, particularly people who are Black, are subject to profiling by the CBSA and imprisoned for longer periods.

With provinces ending agreements, the CBSA has indicated it will transfer more detainees to immigration holding centres operated by the CBSA. In our research, we have found that the CBSA is considering building more holding centres to expand its capacity to imprison people across Canada.

A graph showing where immigration detainees in Canada come from and how long they have been detained. (Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International)

Federal government must also act

New rules under the Safe Third Country Agreement came into effect in March 2023. These rules bar migrants seeking entry to Canada via the U.S. from claiming asylum after crossing the land border. They make it more dangerous for people to cross and increase the risk of being detained.

The end of provincial agreements is not the end of immigration detention. Rights violations will continue regardless of where people are held. The ability to detain people for administrative purposes, the lack of a legal limit for detention and absence of oversight are all problems that remain in place.

Importantly, this change may provide impetus for the privatization of immigration detention, something that has been raised as a concern south of the border.

Federal changes are needed to end immigration detention, including practices like solitary confinement, imprisoning families and indefinite sentences.

The CBSA released imprisoned people at unprecedented rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is already an Alternatives to Detention program. While the current alternative is not without problems and continues the surveillance of migrants, it’s a step in the direction of humane treatment.

There must be greater community-based case management and funding for community supports as an alternative to detention. Through community engagement, we can prioritize housing, health care and education, and help migrants and asylum-seekers navigate the bureaucratic and legal systems. The focus should be on providing support, rather than policing and imprisonment.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation has a variety of fascinating free newsletters.

It was written by: Linda Mussell, University of Canterbury and Jessica Evans, Toronto Metropolitan University.

Read more:

Roxham Road: Asylum seekers won’t just get turned back, they’ll get forced underground — Podcast

How smaller cities can integrate newcomers into their labour markets

Montreal refugee advocacy groups, migrants begin 3-day protest march to Roxham Road

CBC
Sat, June 17, 2023 

Protesters in Montreal took off for Roxham Road on Saturday. They will walk in three 25-kilometre stretches and are expected at the border on Monday. (Rowan Kennedy/CBC - image credit)

Despite the rain trickling down Saturday morning, about 100 protesters gathered at La Fontaine park in Montreal with plastic rain ponchos, umbrellas, signs and flags to set off on a three-day march toward Roxham Road, in the Montérégie.

Refugee advocacy groups, migrants and supporters will be walking 73 kilometres to protest the recent closure of Quebec's irregular border crossing to asylum seekers arriving in Canada from the U.S.

"It's a symbolic walk for us," said Maryne Poisson, the director of social initiatives at Welcome Collective, a group that helps asylum seekers in Montreal.

Poisson says she meets families every day that walked or hitchhiked from places like Brazil, Chile and other countries in "horrible conditions," suffering relentlessly along the way.

"So this is a super small walk, but we're doing it thinking about them," she said.

Refugee advocacy groups and migrants delivered speeches at La Fontaine park Saturday before taking off.

 (Rowan Kennedy/CBC)

Claudia Aranda claimed asylum in Canada after fleeing persecution in Chile. She says refugee rights are a matter of life and death.

"I walk because human rights are rights of all people … human rights are not relative," she said.

Protesters will walk in three stretches, roughly 25-kilometres each. They will stay under church roofs overnight and are expected at the border on Monday.

Supreme Court upholds controversial agreement

The start of the journey comes a day after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) is constitutional — at least as it relates to the right to life, liberty and security.

The agreement, which came into force in 2004, stipulates that asylum seekers must make their claims in the first safe country they reach, allowing Canada to turn back most asylum seekers coming from the U.S.

Roxham Road, a well-travelled unofficial border crossing for asylum seekers, was previously exempt from this treaty, which only covered official border crossings. A renegotiation of the agreement expanded the pact in March to cover the entire land border, closing the loophole.

Lauren Lallemand, co-director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, argues the situation will only get worse now that the border is closed. She wants to see the agreement withdrawn altogether.

"We've seen that there are people who have died trying to make irregular crossings. So this isn't just a matter of an agreement, it's really a matter of life and death for vulnerable migrants," she said.

Before the new treaty went into effect, the Canadian government reported that since December of 2022, about 4,500 people were crossing through Roxham Road every month.

On Friday, the top court sided with the Canadian government which argued the U.S. is a safe place for migrants, despite groups saying they face deportation and detention there.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court did not, however, rule on whether the STCA violates Section 15 of the Charter of Rights — the section that guarantees equality under the law.

Refugee groups have argued the U.S. often denies refugee claims that cite gender-based violence as the reason for the claim.

The case was ordered back to Federal Court for a review of the policy in light of equality concerns. Poisson says there's still hope the agreement will be scrapped when it's back in court.

'Closing our borders is not the solution'

Marisa Berry Mendez, a campaigner with Amnesty International who left for Roxham Road Saturday, argues Canada must step up.

"We have international human rights obligations to respect the right to asylum," she said.

"Closing our borders is not the solution; it doesn't stop people seeking protection. It just makes them take more dangerous routes to get there."

In a statement following the Supreme Court's decision Friday, Canada's immigration minister said the government will continue to promote safe and regular pathways.

"We will continue to work with the United States to ensure that the STCA reflects our commitment with respect to our domestic and international obligations in its application," said Sean Fraser.

For her part, Poisson is hoping asylum seekers are given the opportunity to plead their case in Canada.

"We don't want them to have status right away; we want them to have a chance to be heard, to have a chance to explain why they need protection," she said.

Explainer-How a Canada Supreme Court ruling could affect U.S.-Canada refugee flows


FILE PHOTO: Roxham Road, an unofficial crossing point from New York State to Quebec for asylum seekers in Champlain

Sat, June 17, 2023 
By Anna Mehler Paperny

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's Supreme Court on Friday upheld a border pact under which Canada and the United States send back asylum seekers crossing the land border, finding the agreement does not violate asylum seekers' right to life, liberty and security of the person.

But it sent the case back to a lower court to determine whether the contested agreement violates asylum seekers' right to equal treatment under the law.

The ruling came as Canada was taking steps to more tightly manage its border with the United States. In March the two countries amended the Safe Third Country Agreement so it applies to the length of the 4,000-mile (6,440-km) land border, rather than just at formal crossings.

WHAT DOES THE RULING SAY?

The Supreme Court found that built-in "safety valves" that allow some asylum seekers to avoid being turned back in certain circumstances mean the agreement does not violate their right to life, liberty and security of the person under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But the court also found an unaddressed question when it comes to whether the agreement violates equality rights.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The agreement stands and the case will return to federal court to determine whether the agreement violates asylum seekers' right to equal treatment under the law.

Refugee advocates claimed the agreement violates that right because they argue the United States is less receptive to refugee claims predicated on gender.

A lower court could find in favour of refugee advocates or the government, a decision that could be appealed either way. The case could wind up back at the Supreme Court, lawyers told Reuters.

WHAT PRECEDENT DOES THE RULING SET?

It could prompt courts to pay closer attention to challenges under the equal treatment section of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, said lawyer Jamie Chai Yun Liew, who represented some of the parties intervening in this case.

"Now the court is saying, 'You should do the work.' ... By ignoring it, you're dismissing very important claims."

HOW HAVE MIGRANT MOVEMENTS CHANGED?

The expansion of the Safe Third Country Agreement is already having an impact on migrant flows into Canada. In March, Royal Canadian Mounted Police intercepted 4,173 asylum seekers on their way to file refugee claims in Canada after crossing irregularly. Last year, almost 40,000 people crossed into Canada between formal crossings to file refugee claims.

Between March 25, when the amendments took effect, and May 28, 618 asylum seekers crossed between ports of entry and were referred to the Canada Border Services Agency, according to agency figures. As many as 283 were sent back to the U.S., 247 were allowed to file refugee claims in Canada under exceptions to the agreement, and another 88 were being processed.

At the same time, the number of people caught crossing southbound into the United States spiked in March to 992 from 630 in February and stayed high in April, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol figures show.

The number of people apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol near the northern border in the first seven months of fiscal 2023, which began in October, is more than double the total for fiscal 2022, the figures show.

A Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson could not give a reason for the increase.

(Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Denny Thomas and Jonathan Oatis)

Biden's plan to fix a broken border? Asylum seekers should remain in Canada


Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY
Sat, June 17, 2023 

President Joe Biden's plan to fix a broken border just got the green light in Canada.

For months, Biden and his Canadian counterpart Prime Minister Justin Trudeau relied on their recently-hatched plan to restrict asylum seekers entering either country. But in Canada, the plan, a renegotiated Safe Third Country Agreement, faced a court challenge on the basis of whether the U.S. was in fact a safe country to return people due to its dysfunctional immigration system.

On Friday, Canada's highest court unanimously upheld in part that the agreement was safe to send asylum seekers back to the U.S., but the unanimous decision kicked back the issue of gender-based persecution, which the U.S. has not recognized in asylum claims, to a lower court.

The decision comes as liberal governments in both countries have sought to limit migrants amid mounting pressure from conservatives, while Biden has tried to walk a fine line on immigration – between opening legal pathways and border enforcement – in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets President Joe Biden as he arrives at Parliament Hill, Friday, March 24, 2023, in Ottawa, Canada. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The agreement with Canada better aligns the northern border with the asylum process at the southern border after Biden ended the pandemic-era Title 42 policy, once invoked by former President Donald Trump, in May. At the same time, Biden implemented new measures to stem the flow of migrants. Now, for people seeking to enter the U.S. from Canada or Mexico, they must seek asylum in the first country they set foot in, either in Canada or Mexico.

“We now have consistency between our policies at the northern and southern borders,” Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a U.S. think-tank, told USA TODAY.

Chishti called the agreement a “Biden-Trudeau success,” with negotiations occurring in 2022 that now largely survived Supreme Court of Canada scrutiny with Friday’s ruling. Biden and Trudeau unveiled their agreement in late March, during Biden’s first official visit to Ottawa, to clamp down on immigration in both countries.

Still, the debate around immigration won’t end especially as people flee from their homes in Venezuela, Haiti and other parts of Central and South America, said Christopher Kirkey, the director of the Center for the Study of Canada and Québec Studies at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

“This Supreme Court ruling may say this agreement is valid and is consistent with the Canadian Constitution, but the truth is that’s a bit of a snapshot,” he said

“This is going to continue to be a vexing public policy issue for Ottawa and Washington,” he said.

FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2017, file photo, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers greet migrants as they enter into Canada at an unofficial border crossing at the end of Roxham Road in Champlain, N.Y. A Canadian court on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, invalidated the country's Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States. Under the agreement, immigrants who want to seek asylum in Canada at ground ports of entry from the United States are returned to the U.S. and told to seek asylum there. But if they request asylum on Canadian soil at a location other than an official crossing, the process is allowed to go forward.

 (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

What's the Safe Third Country Agreement between US and Canada?

The 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) allows the U.S. and Canada to turn away asylum seekers from either country because both were designated as “safe” countries to send people. Under the agreement, Canadian officials could return asylum seekers seeking to enter their country from the U.S., and vice versa.

For two decades, the agreement had a loophole that allowed asylum seekers to enter Canada from the U.S. via irregular ports of entry, such as at Roxham Road, a remote path in Upstate New York that passes forests and farms leading to Quebec. Roxham Road became a pathway for tens of thousands of people for two decades to cross into Canada, which led to upsurges in people crossing at the rural road from the U.S.
Why are migrants headed to the northern border?

The Trump administration enacted hardline immigration policies such as moving to end Temporary Protected Status, resulted in thousands of people – many from Haiti – heading to Canada for asylum. The waves of asylum seekers have shifted from continents and countries, though many have chosen to leave a backlogged U.S. immigration system that takes years to get in front of an immigration judge.

In contrast, Canada has been seen as more welcoming and easier to resettle in the diverse country of 40 million people.

Migrants gather in an informal camp in El Paso, north of the Rio Grande and south of the border wall near Gate 40, on May 5.

During Biden's visit to Canada, he and Trudeau announced they would tighten the agreement to turn away irregular crossings, forcing people to regular ports of entry to make their claims under limited exceptions allowing them to enter. Under the new deal, Canada agreed to offer 15,000 more people from Western Hemisphere countries to seek asylum.

The agreement took effect March 25 at midnight, a day after Biden and Trudeau announced their new deal, officially closing Roxham Road. However, the two countries signed the expanded policy a year ago, as early as March 2022, per U.S. Federal Register rulemaking.

In 2022, close to 40,000 people crossed into Canada from the U.S. seeking asylum, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police figures. Experts have noted nearly all came via Roxham Road, into Quebec.

In 2023, crossings into Canada, nearly all through Quebec, totaled more than 4,000 each month. But by April, the first full month the new agreement took effect, it dropped to 85 people.

Early in 2023, the U.S. saw increases in people crossing from Canada near a remote stretch of border from New Hampshire to New York, prompting outcries from House Republicans who formed the Northern Border Security Caucus.

Observers have warned that the new agreement, in closing Roxham Road, will force people to make more dangerous treks into either country, much like the border with Mexico.

The numbers at the northern border are far fewer than the southern border. The 2022 fiscal year saw U.S. border agents encounter 109,000 people at the northern border, compared to 2.3 million at the southern border.

How was the agreement challenged?

Canadian immigrant advocates and some left-leaning politicians questioned whether the U.S. was indeed a safe country under Canadian law because of the American process to claim asylum and the conditions of immigration detention systems that migrants often face when they’re rejected from Canada.

Conservative Canadian politicians and officials in French-speaking Quebec, meanwhile, have sought to clamp down on border crossings. Quebecois officials have complained about the disparate burden their province faced in accommodating asylum seekers.

The agreement faced court challenges for violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by sending people to the U.S., which often places migrants in immigration detention or deports them to the country they fled. The Supreme Court of Canada heard oral arguments in October.

“The Supreme Court holds the regulations designating the United States as a safe third country do not infringe refugee claimants’ rights to liberty and security of the person,” the Supreme Court's brief read.

The court upheld the basis that the U.S. was a safe country, though allowed the appeal in part, which said “refugee claimants may be exempted from return to the United States” if their charter rights for liberty and security were at risk.

Families of asylum seekers are led into the Ramada hotel in Yonkers May 15, 2023. The families were being housed in New York City.

What else did the court decide on?

In the unanimous court decision, Justice Nicholas Kasirer wrote that designating the U.S. as a safe third country doesn’t breach the charter. However, he did agree with the risk of detention of migrants returned to the U.S., and with some aspects of detention conditions. The court returned the issue of gender-based persecution, which advocates say the U.S. flouts international refugee standards, back to the lower federal court.

“We have to ensure this is not a race to the bottom,” said Maureen Silcoff, a Toronto immigration attorney who co-counseled to intervene in the case on behalf of the Canadian Association for Refugee Lawyers. “We see in multiple countries and regions that the door is being sealed, but we have to act in accordance with international standards, not what’s politically expedient at the moment.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) speaks on border security and Title 42 during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 11, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Biden restricts asylum claims at both borders

The updated agreement complements Biden administration policies at the United States’ other border, which has seen an influx of people seeking asylum, many from Venezuela and parts of South America.

In May, the U.S. ended Title 42, a public health law implemented by Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic to restrict people from entering the U.S., including with asylum claims.

For two years, Biden kept the policy in place before recently returning to prior immigration law that allows asylum seekers to present credible fears with asylum officers or before an immigration judge. The administration also now uses expedited removal for people who enter the U.S. without permission. Now, people seeking asylum are expected to use an app to schedule an appointment at ports of entry.

Eduardo Cuevas covers race and justice for the USA TODAY Network of New York. He can be reached at EMCuevas1@gannett.com and followed on Twitter @eduardomcuevas.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden's deal to keep migrants out of US greenlit by Canada court