Most of us think of international borders as invisible, but clear-cut lines: stand on one side, and you’re in one country; stand on the other, you’re in another country. But here’s a list of five international borders that, for one reason or another, are not quite that simple.

1. The Indian Exclave in Bangladesh That Contains a Bangladeshi Exclave (Which Contains Another Indian Territory)

The Cooch-Behar District, nestled between Bangladesh and India, is one of the most confusing border zones in the world, with 102 mini-exclaves belonging to India splattered on the Bangladeshi side of the border, and 71 exclaves belonging to Bangladesh peppering the Indian side. To further confuse things, inside many of those exclaves, there are other, even smaller exclaves belonging to the other country.

For example, take the Indian region of Balapara Khagrabari. It’s an Indian exclave on the Bangladeshi side of the border, and contains inside of it, a Bangladeshi exclave, which, in turn, contains yet another Indian territory—like a doughnut inside of a doughnut inside of a doughnut. In Bangladesh. Or in non-pastry terms: Balapara Khagrabari is the only place in the world where an exclave contains another exclave that contains yet another exclave.

So why’d the border get drawn like that? It can all be traced back to power struggles between local kings hundreds of years ago, who would try to claim pockets of land inside each other’s territories as a way to leverage political power. When Bangladesh became independent from India in 1947 (as East Pakistan until 1971), all those separate pockets of land were divvied up. Hence the polka-dotted mess.

As of last month, the Indian and Bangladeshi governments signed a treaty that will get rid of all the exclaves soon, draw a nice clean line between the countries, and allow people living within the enclaves to choose which nationality they’d like to have.

2. Closing Time at the Dutch-Belgian Border

Image credit: Jérôme

Any border buff worth his salt will tell you about the little town of Baarle, which straddles the Dutch-Belgian border. The Belgian portion of town, known as Baarle Hertog, is not so much a hunk of territory as a smattering of tiny exclaves inside of the Netherlands town of Baarle-Nassau. As in Cooch-Behar, many of those Belgian exclaves also contain Dutch exclaves, making a map of the whole town look like one of Jackson Pollock’s crazier designs.

The official border between Belgium and the Netherlands runs through living rooms, yards and cafés, so it’s possible – indeed, it happens more often than you’d think – to sit across a table having a cup of coffee with someone who is actually in a different country.

For a while, a Dutch law requiring dining establishments to close earlier than they did in Belgium laid the foundation for an absurd, nightly charade in some Baarle restaurants. At closing time in the Netherlands, patrons would have to get up and move tables, over to the Belgian side. Like in Cooch-Behar, Baarle’s complex borderline has to do with how regional lords and dukes divided up their land hundreds of years ago.

3. The Little Hunk of Land That Nobody Wants
In 1899, when the British Empire controlled Egypt and Sudan, the Brits drew a little map. They said that Sudan would get all the stuff south of the 22nd parallel, while Egypt would get all the stuff north it. It would have been simple enough, except three years later, a different group of Brits drew a different map, which mostly followed the 22nd parallel, but not exactly.

The 1902 map gave Sudan an extra chunk of fertile territory, known as the Hala’ib Triangle, north of the 22nd parallel, while allotting the Egyptians a rather useless chunk of desert, known as Bir Tawil, south of the parallel. One hundred and ten years later, the border is still in dispute.

Not shockingly, the Egyptians insist the 1899 map shows the “real” borders, while the Sudanese say the 1902 map is more accurate. Both countries claim the fertile Hala’ib Triangle, while neither country—or anyone else, for that matter—claims the Bir Tawil.

4. The American Town That’s Really in Canada

In 1787, the Treaty of Paris basically laid out which British territories would go to the freshly victorious American rebels, and which would remain part of British Canada. The treaty said that the Americans would get all the British territory “through the Lake of the Woods, to the northwestern most point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the river Mississippi…” The only problem was, the map they were using wasn’t quite right.

They didn’t know at the time that the source of the Mississippi was actually farther south, so if you follow their instructions to a T, you get this funny, 123 square mile blip of Minnesota up in the middle of Canadian territory, which still exists today. It’s called the “Northwest Angle,” and can only be accessed from the U.S. by land by crossing into Canadian territory first.

The citizens of the tiny Angle Township must check in via videophone to the Canadian customs authorities when they want to leave their village, and with the American customs authorities when they want to come back.

5. The Island Where You Can See the Future
There are two islands — known as the Diomedes, about two and a half miles apart — right smack in the middle of the Bering Straight. One of them, Little Diomede, belongs to the U.S., and has a hardcore, weather-bitten population of about 150. The other island, Big Diomede, belongs to Russia and is uninhabited. The space between these two islands marks not only an international border, but the International Date Line as well, making it possible for the folks on Little Diomede to wake up on a Sunday, pour themselves a cup of coffee, and peer across the water to Big Diomede, where it’s already Monday.

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Finally addressing the demand side of the problem? #immigration

I wonder who should be held responsible #immigration

The effects of immigration on the total output and income of the U.S. economy can be studied by comparing output per worker and employment in states that have had large immigrant inflows with data from states that have few new foreign-born workers. Statistical analysis of state-level data shows that immigrants expand the economy's productive capacity by stimulating investment and promoting specialization. This produces efficiency gains and boosts income per worker. At the same time, evidence is scant that immigrants diminish the employment opportunities of U.S.-born workers.

Interesting. This study posits that Americans are in fact better off if immigrants (from Latin American countries) lack in English language skills. Of course, that assumes *all* Americans have better English language skills :)

"A group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a giant public mural at a Prescott school. The project’s leader says he was ordered to lighten the skin tone after complaints about the children’s ethnicit"

"New evidence suggests that the New York crime miracle may have been driven, in part, by the city’s large population of immigrants."

"Nearly 140 young players born and raised in Spanish-speaking countries will congregate in Phoenix and its suburbs for their first taste of professional baseball. They may do so as the nation’s most controversial law – the one that says some people who look like them are most certainly not welcome – goes into effect in late July."

""Would you support deportation of natural-born American citizens that are the children of illegal aliens," Hunter was asked. "I would have to, yes," Hunter said. "... We simply cannot afford what we're doing right now," he said. "... It takes more than just walking across the border to become an American citizen. It's what's in our souls. ...""

I'm curious, what exactly is in your fucking soul, Hunter?

StartupVisa.com was created by Eric Ries, Dave McClure, Shervin Pishevar, Brad Feld, Paul Kedrosky, & Manu Kumar to help raise awareness and change policy around the EB-5 visa, which enables investors from other countries to get a visa in exchange for starting a business in the US with $1M in capital (or $500K for economically targeted areas) and the creation of at least 10 US jobs.

Nearly 80% of those with temporary visas surveyed in 2007 said they planned to stay; more than half had definite plans to do so.

You can't catch terrorists by casting a broad net. You catch terrorists with good police work. You look at networks, suspicious behavior, clues. Ignoring the desperate plea of a father who goes to the CIA with information about his son being radicalized in Yemen, but then patting down 170 million Nigerians ever after, is brain dead.

The CIR ASAP bill is the first comprehensive immigration reform bill that aims to rectify some of the egregious immigration practices set in place since 1996 while simultaneously establishing a 21st century approach to protect and secure our nation’s borders. Below is a thumbnail sketch of the contents of the bill:

Today is International Migrant's Day, and although one way or another we are all migrants, some people have a harder time than others migrating. Such as children. Or people forced to migrate because of the less than ideal conditions back home. This film is a reminder of how hard it is.

Her name is Christine Doyle and her job is to help Google employees who are seeking visas, or caught in limbo with the U.S. government, or facing other problems.

Where’s Sanjay?

Grassley questioned Ballmer about how many of the layoffs would involve foreigners hired under the H1-B programme. He wanted to know how it would affect US workers and non-US citizens working for Microsoft.

"As World Trade Plummets, Bustling Ports Stand Idle And Foreign Workers Track Back Home." Is it really that dire?

"America's Loss Is the World's Gain,"

So now the question is, who is willing to pay. Shall we raise your taxes, neocons?

For prices starting at $50, two nonfederally recognized Indian tribes are offering membership to thousands of illegal immigrants, claiming they can achieve legal status by joining the groups.

Now they are using leprosy to argue against illegal immigration.

Mr. Lago is the mayor of this scenic Swedish town of 60,000 people, which last year took in twice as many Iraqi refugees as the entire United States

How do you justify a border fence? Why is it OK to consign millions of unskilled Mexicans to lives of desperate poverty? I'm told it's because Americans should care more about their countrymen than about a bunch of foreigners. OK, but how much more?

Racists in the police department are the bane of society.