BRUSSELS — European foreign and defense ministers agreed on Monday to use naval forces to intercept and disrupt ships used by smugglers of migrants from North Africa, a far more assertive attempt to combat the swelling migration crisis that has led to thousands of deaths at sea.

As illegal immigrants continue to seek legal status under President Obama's executive actions, the waiting list to enter the United States legally grows longer, as does the waiting time for those in the pipeline.

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who started a state visit to Germany on Monday, said after meeting with German President Joachim Gauck, that to understand the attitudes of Estonia towards immigration quota, one must also take into account the Soviet-era mass immigration, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

As authorities grapple with the threat posed by Islamic State, there are calls from within the Muslim community to tighten Australia's immigration policies.

Several shelters are to open in Niger in an attempt to curb illegal migration to Europe, the French interior minister has said.

L’afflux des migrants vers l’Europe éveille des craintes chez certains Européens. Plusieurs citoyens ou représentants politiques affirment qu’il faut limiter cette migration, voire renvoyer les Africains dans leur pays d’origine. Pour certains Européens, les migrants prennent leurs emplois, abusent du système social et sont dangereux. Ces peurs sont-elles fondées ?

Overseas students are quickly becoming the new standard of immigration here in Canada, notes Instec International Student of Hamilton, Ontario. The opportunities that now exist for foreign students are likely to continue as visiting students become the country’s new immigrants.

The GOP wanted to talk differently about immigration in 2016. Instead they're trying to avoid talking about it at all

The already backlogged federal immigration courts have reportedly reached an all-time high with more than 445,000 pending cases.

Republicans continue voting against immigration efforts, despite party's efforts to appeal to Latinos

MIAMI - The number of Cuban migrants looking to enter the United States ballooned in early 2015, partly driven by uncertainty over the future of special immigration consideration for Cubans after the two countries announced efforts to improve ties.

Moroccan authorities said Tuesday that they had foiled a fresh bid at illegal immigration by 22 sub-Saharan Africans.

Prague - The Czech Republic wants to help refugees on the basis of sovereign government decisions, not of EU mechanisms, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said today, insisting on the Czech Republic's rejection of the compulsory quotas for the immigrants.

President Rafael Correa urged the entire international community to examine discriminatory immigration policies. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa announced Saturday that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) will provide assistance to the thousands of Asian immigrants stranded off the coast of Thailand.

Lithuania must be ready to share the burden of immigration together with other European Union member states, Algirdas Butkevicius, Lithuania's prime minister, said on Thursday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a new set of "reforms" to its detention facilities on Wednesday for families and children (the ones they created to "respond" to influx of unaccompanied minors and women from Central America) as they wait for their immigration hearings.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has offered the Malaysian government support and expertise to help deal with the ongoing migrant humanitarian crisis in the region, while urging the country to pay particular attention to the plight of the Rohingyas.

More than 3,900 people -- including 1,650 illegal immigrants -- have been arrested in South Africa during a controversial police crackdown after April's deadly xenophobic violence, authorities said Sunday. "We are satisfied that we have stabilised the situation and further loss of life has been prevented," a government statement said.

The terrible challenge of thousands of migrants endangering their lives to cross the Mediterranean has increasingly shaken the international community in recent years.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson testifies at a Senate Appropriations hearing on the Obama administration's "Emergency Supplemental Request for Unaccompanied Children and Related Matters" in Washington, on July 10, 2014. Reuters/Yuri Gripas An anticipated flood of illegal immigrant children crossing the U.S. southeastern border, similar to the surge of crossings seen last summer, has yet to materialize this year. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency says unaccompanied children were crossing in 2015 at rates that are staggeringly lower than in 2014 and 2013, the Washington Times reported.