when a repatriation is done willingly it is referred to as voluntary repatriation which typically involves a commitment from the country of origin to help reintegrate the repatriated people 3 countries may offer assistance for this the u s repatriation program for instance exists to offer assistance to those who don t have the resources to return to the u s for a number of reasons including war mental illness or poverty 4 these returns however can be done with force such as in the depression era removal of mexican americans in the united states in that forced repatriation about 1 million mexican nationals and american citizens of mexican descent from throughout the united states of which perhaps 60 were u s citizens were mass deported out of the country according to an estimate from professor of american history and chicano studies at california state university los angeles francisco balderrama 56
under international law cultural property defined as movable or immovable property constituting the cultural heritage of all mankind is protected from pillaging or looting especially during conflict 7ultimately the protections exist to preserve cultural heritage and to keep it from being dismantled or defaced by war or theft and the legal framework became increasingly codified in response to the second world war particularly with the 1954 hague convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict which was later expanded 8 related to that idea is that each peoples have contributed in their own way to the common heritage and therefore have some meaningful claim over cultural goods of value that is independent of national jurisdiction or property rights although national interest also plays a large role in conversations about cultural heritage the protections are meant to dissuade acts like the destruction of the bamiyan buddhas by the taliban in afghanistan which was called a crime against culture by unesco in 2001 9in western countries repatriation of native cultural heritage has become integrated into law that is a relatively recent development in some places in the united states for example no consistent national policy existed for the repatriation of native american remains and sacred objects until the 1990s according to a historical note about the political implications of archeology 10repatriation in finance commonly refers to the conversion of offshore capital back to the home currency of a corporation in the global economy many corporations based in the united states generate earnings abroad there are legal steps corporations take to repatriate their currency including 11individuals might also repatriate funds for example americans returning from a visit to japan typically repatriate their currency converting any remaining yen into u s dollars the number of dollars they receive when they exchange their remaining yen will depend on the exchange rate between the two currencies at the time of the repatriation many companies choose not to repatriate their offshore earnings in order to avoid corporate taxes charged on repatriated funds special considerations for financial repatriationamerican taxpayers including individuals and corporations have historically been taxed on any income they earned abroad this includes any foreign income earned and repatriated for example u s corporations were taxed for dividends issued by a foreign subsidiary tax rates for repatriated currency were as high as 35 this changed following the signing of the tax cuts and jobs act tcja by president donald trump in late 2017 once signed the law cut the corporate repatriation tax which is referred to as a transition tax from that rate of 35 it allowed u s companies to repatriate money earned overseas at 15 5 for any foreign earnings held in cash and cash equivalents and 8 for any foreign income that doesn t fall in this category 12these changes could bring in as much as 340 billion between 2018 and 2027 in tax revenue 13 u s corporations repatriated 777 billion of cash stored overseas in 2018 according to the federal reserve 14repatriation risks for financial repatriationcompanies that operate in more than one country generally accept the local currency of the economy that they transact business when a company earns income in foreign currencies the earnings are subject to foreign exchange risk meaning they could potentially lose or gain in value based on fluctuations in the value of either currency for example though apple aapl is a u s based corporation an apple store in france accepts euros as payment for product sales since the euro is the currency used in france if apple earned one million euros from product sales in france at an exchange rate of 1 15 dollars per euro the earnings would equal 1 15 million or one million euros x 1 15 but if it earned one million euros during the next quarter and the exchange fell to 1 10 dollars per euro the earnings would equal 1 1 million or 1 1 million euros x 1 10 in other words apple would lose 50 000 in earnings based on the exchange rate decline despite having the same amount in sales in euros for both quarters the volatility or fluctuations in the exchange rate is called foreign exchange risk which companies are exposed to when they do business internationally as a result the volatility in exchange rates can impact a company s earnings some u s corporations repatriate funds from overseas translating the cash into u s dollars these funds are typically used to invest in new technologies and fixed assets like property plant and equipment pp e example of financial repatriationat the time that the tcja was passed apple had the largest amount of cash holdings abroad of any u s company following the changes made to the u s tax laws with the passing of the act the company said it was bringing home roughly all of the 250 billion held overseas as a result apple agreed to a one time tax payment to the internal revenue service irs of 38 billion to repatriate its foreign cash holdings 1516