New UN migration chief says private sector ‘desperate’ to take migrants despite negative narrative

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — The new head of the U.N.’s migration agency says the private sector is “desperate” for their countries to take in migrants to mop up labor shortages, especially in the West. It’s part of an effort to steer a narrative away from reticence and suspicion about migrants in many parts of the world. Amy Pope played up economic benefits of migration for wealthier nations with aging populations and declining workforces. The comments from the American director-general of the International Organization for Migration come in the face of “build-the-wall” rhetoric in the U.S. to block migrants from Latin America and right-wing movements in Europe. She says the evidence is “fairly overwhelming” that migration benefits economies by filling jobs and powering innovation.