Break In Case of Emergency What you need to know about immigration and unemployment (w/ Karina Villada & Juan Vargas Alba)
Dec 17, 2025
Karina Villada, a community organizer dedicated to migrant worker rights, joins Juan Vargas Alba to tackle the misconceptions surrounding immigration and unemployment. They discuss how migrants are unjustly blamed for social issues like housing and job scarcity. Villada sheds light on the Temporary Foreign Worker system that often exploits employees, and they both highlight the grim realities of employer-controlled housing. The duo calls for solidarity between the climate and migrant rights movements, linking these struggles to broader issues of colonialism and land dispossession.
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Budget's Double Standard On Migration
- The 2025 federal budget both funded a Youth Climate Corps pilot and cut immigration targets while boosting border security.
- This contradiction shows governments can simultaneously recruit migrant labour then scapegoat migrants when politically convenient.
Scapegoating Masks Systemic Issues
- Migrants are routinely used as convenient scapegoats for problems like housing and unemployment.
- Karina Villada argues stats alone won't stop scapegoating; organizing and building shared power will.
Study, Explore, Work, Stay — Then Blame
- Canada actively markets study-work-stay to international students to fill labour needs.
- Karina notes government messaging flipped from recruiting students to blaming them later.