migration @en | Christina Felschen

migration @en | Christina Felschen

Hard selection, soft landing: Is Canada’s immigration policy as good as its image?

Translation of my German-language radio documentary (19mn), broadcast by Deutschlandfunk (German public radio) on Nov 23, 2021 >>

Canada opened its borders to people of all nationalities back in the 1960s, provided they bring the right qualifications. The German government discusses whether this could be a model for them. But Canada’s often idealized immigration system is classist and encourages exploitation, critics say.

Gold rush in Silicon Valley

published by Uniglobale Magazine, Germany, 4/2016; text, photos, and translation: CF >>

Software engineers from all over the world rave about working in the San Francisco Bay Area. But if their non-techie partners follow them, they usually have a hard time professionally – and might well end up as ice cream vendors with Ph.D.s.

How Clearview helps the Trump administration target undocumented immigrants

published on the NUDGED blog, March 14, 2020 >>

A small US company is selling an app that might end our ability to walk down the street anonymously. Among its clients: authoritarian states and US immigration enforcement. Jacinta Gonzalez, an organizer with the NGO Mijente, talked with us about why this puts the 11 million undocumented people in the United States at an even higher risk for deportation.

Fenced In, Fenced Out

German version (with photo essay) published February 14, 2017 by ZEIT ONLINE >>

In the US Mexican borderlands, even Trump voters oppose the president’s plan to erect a border wall. They fear that even more immigrants will die in their backyard.

The dictator next door

published in six languages in the European Magazine Cafebabel.com on January 5th, 2012 >> and shortlisted for the CEE Journalism Prize („Writing for Central and Eastern Europe“) 2012 >>

Belarus is Europe’s last dictatorship, but the Lithuanian capital Vilnius is located close to the border. Belarusian human rights campaigners use Vilnius as an asylum and distribution centre – yet they don’t feel completely safe. The Lithuanian president keeps up a good relationship with the Belarusian despot.

Undocumented – and indispensable

published in German by ZEIT ONLINE on February 28, 2017 >>

Harvest workers, nannies, craftspeople: Eleven million people live in the US without papers, nothing goes without them. Trump wants to deport them anyway. A life full of fear.

Sharing memories with strangers

text and photos published by the Göttingen University alumni network, September 2017 >>

Former students of Göttingen University live all over the planet. More than 80 of them recently met in Berkeley, California, remembering good old WG and Mensa times.

Invisible neighbors

Final report of my research on the situation of undocumented migrants in Arizona and California, supported by the American Council on Germany’s McCloy Fellowship in Journalism

There is no „America First“ science

published in the magazine of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), pp. 8-11, May 2017 >>

Climate change is a lie and science does not need any exchange: Donald Trump has an “alternative” understanding of what is true – much to US researchers’ chagrin. A conversation with the political scientist Beverly Crawford from Berkeley University, who is currently researching Fake News.

“A different America”

translation of a feature published November 12, 2016, by ZEIT ONLINE >>

In Oakland thousands take to the helicopter lit streets each night since the election, protesting hate crimes and a police state. But the demonstrators are also at odds with each other.