House Republicans Release Impeachment Articles Against Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas
Washington — House Republicans on Sunday released two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as they vowed to swiftly push forward with election-year efforts to oust him over what they call his failure to manage the U.S.-Mexico border. The rare step against a Cabinet member drew outrage from Democrats and the agency as a politically motivated stunt lacking the constitutional basis to remove Mayorkas from office. Republicans contend Mayorkas is guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors” that amount to a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” on immigration and a “breach of the public trust.” Impeachment, they say, is “Congress’s only viable option.” “Alejandro N. Mayorkas willfully and systemically refused to comply with the immigration laws, failed to control the border to the detriment of national security, compromised public safety, and violated the rule of law and separation of powers in the Constitution, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States,” the impeachment resolution says. Only once in American history has a Cabinet secretary been impeached: William Belknap, President Ulysses Grant’s war secretary, in 1876, over kickbacks in government contracts. Going after an official for a policy dispute, in this instance over …
House Speaker Suggests Border Bill May Be ‘Dead on Arrival’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday pressed Congress to embrace a bipartisan Senate deal to pair border enforcement measures with Ukraine aid, but House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested the compromise on border and immigration policy could be “dead on arrival” in his chamber. The Democratic president said in a statement late Friday that the policies proposed would “be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country.” He also pledged to use a new emergency authority to “shut down the border” as soon as he could sign it into law. Biden’s embrace of the deal — and Republican resistance — could become an election-year shift on the politics of immigration. Yet the diminishing prospects for its passage in Congress may have far-reaching consequences for U.S. allies around the globe, especially Ukraine. Senate Republicans had initially insisted that border policy changes be included in Biden’s $110 billion emergency request for funding for Ukraine, Israel, immigration enforcement and other national security needs. But the Senate deal faced collapse this week as it came under fire from Republicans, including Donald Trump, the likely presidential nominee, who eviscerated the deal as a political “gift” to Democrats. …
In France and Elsewhere in Europe, Far Right Feeds on Anti-Migrant Sentiments
paris — Youssouf Doucoure handed out flyers against tough French migration legislation under slate grey skies, as thousands of people poured into Paris’ elegant Trocadero Square on January 21 for a last-shot protest against the newly passed bill. “I would say it’s more politicians,” said 25-year-old Doucoure, who hails from Mali, of an uptick of anti-migrant sentiment in the country. “Ordinary French treat me well here.” The tens of thousands of French demonstrating this past weekend against hardening immigration policies toward asylum-seekers got a boost Thursday when France’s Constitutional Council, the country’s highest constitutional authority, rejected large parts of the legislation, after being requested by President Emmanuel Macron to review it. Among other measures it deemed contrary to the constitution: making it harder for immigrants to access welfare and bring their families here. Still, migrant rights supporters here and across the European Union face a difficult road ahead, as a rising far right is helping to harden views and laws against undocumented migrants — whose 2023 numbers reached their highest level since the bloc’s 2015-2016 migrant crisis. “We see in Europe at large a trend to focus more and more on border controls, checking, filtering the migrants, and sending the illegal …
Canada Moves to Scale Back Fast-Growing Foreign Study Programs
HALIFAX, Canada — Facing a surge of foreign student applications from around the world, Canada has announced new caps on the number of applications that will be accepted each year, along with restrictions on eligibility for work permits for some graduating students. Even with the changes, Canada will remain one of the most welcoming countries for foreign students, hosting more of them relative to population than any other country and offering many a path to permanent residency after they graduate. However the rapidly growing foreign student population — estimated at about 900,000 last year in a country of 38 million — is seen as exacerbating a nationwide housing crisis by driving up rental costs while placing pressure on the country’s government-funded health care system. In announcing the changes, government officials also cited concerns that some foreign students are being exploited by low-quality profit-oriented diploma “mills” that offer something less than the level of education expected by the incoming students. Students flock to Canada The popularity of Canada as a destination for foreign study has exploded in recent years, with the number of applications increasing by about 300,000 a year between 2019 and 2022, according to an immigration ministry study cited by …
Abortion on Ballot in 2024, Biden Says; Harris on Swing Through Key States
Abortion is on the ballot in 2024, the White House says, with Vice President Kamala Harris crisscrossing the country to equate the Biden campaign with protection and expansion of reproductive rights, and Republican candidates speaking of possible federal abortion bans. This leaves the ultimate choice on this sensitive issue to American voters. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House. …
Abortion on 2024 Ballot, Biden Says; Harris Tours Key States
white house — Abortion is on the ballot in 2024, the White House says, with Vice President Kamala on Monday launching a cross-country tour to equate the campaign of President Joe Biden with protection and expansion of reproductive rights – as Republican candidates speak of possible federal abortion bans. On Monday — the 51st anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling that federally protected the right to have an abortion — Harris visited the battleground state of Wisconsin to highlight the Biden administration’s support of full access to reproductive health care, including abortion. “In America, freedom is not to be given,” Harris said. “It is not to be bestowed. It is ours by right. By right. And that includes the freedom to make decisions about one’s own body. Not the government telling you what to do.” Biden, a devoted lifelong Catholic, has expressed personal reservations about abortion. On Monday, however, he described the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — and throw the matter to individual states — as unfair. Since that court ruling, he noted, voters in different states have repeatedly voted to uphold abortion access. “Voters have voted to protect reproductive rights,” Biden …
US Supreme Court Lets Border Patrol Cut Razor Wire Installed in Texas
washington — A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire that Texas installed on the U.S.-Mexico border, while a lawsuit over the wire continues. The justices, by a 5-4 vote, granted an emergency appeal from the Biden administration, which has been in an escalating standoff at the border with Texas and had objected to an appellate ruling in favor of the state. The concertina wire along roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) of the Rio Grande near the border city of Eagle Pass is part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s broader fight with the administration over immigration enforcement. Abbott also has authorized installing floating barriers in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass and allowed troopers to arrest and jail thousands of migrants on trespassing charges. The administration also is challenging those actions in federal court. A federal appeals court last month forced federal agents to stop cutting the concertina wire. Large numbers of migrants have crossed the border at Eagle Pass in recent months. In court papers, the administration said the wire impedes Border Patrol agents from reaching migrants as they cross the river and that, in any case, federal immigration law trumps Texas’ own efforts …
3 Officers Convicted in Paris Police Violence Case
PARIS — A French court on Friday convicted three police officers of “voluntary violence” toward a youth worker in a Paris suburb who suffered serious injuries to his rectum after being assaulted with a police baton during an identity check seven years ago. All three officers received suspended prison sentences. The officer who used the baton to strike Theo Luhaka was given a suspended sentence of 12 months, while the other two present on the scene got three months each. Luhaka, a youth worker of African descent who was 22 years old at the time, filed a lawsuit accusing the officers of assaulting him during an identity check in February 2017 in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a working-class suburb northeast of Paris with a large immigrant population. Rights defenders have long complained of French police abusing their powers during identity checks on people of color. The court in the town of Bobigny, about 9 kilometers (5 miles) northeast of the French capital, dropped the charge of a “permanent infirmity” in its decision. A charge of rape was dropped earlier. Despite the light sentences, the verdict brought a sense of closure for Luhaka, the French press reported his lawyers as saying. “It’s a decision … …
Frigid Weather Compounds Chicago’s Struggles to House Asylum-Seekers
chicago — As temperatures hover below freezing in Chicago, dozens of asylum-seekers are staying in the lower level of a library until the bitter cold gripping much of the country lifts. But after that, Chicago’s plans for offering immediate shelter to the growing number of migrants arriving in the nation’s third-largest city remain murky. For more than a year, Chicago has wrestled with how to house new arrivals until shelter space is free, utilizing measures that city leaders insist are a stopgap. Last week, it was parked city buses. Before that it was police station lobbies and airports. The makeshift approach has frazzled volunteers, nonprofit groups and migrants wary of the lack of a long-term plan, particularly during the city’s long winters. “The city’s favorite word for everything is ‘temporary,’” said Vianney Marzullo, a volunteer who has helped migrants staying at O’Hare International Airport. “It’s their new choice of Band-Aid word. Everything is temporary, temporary, temporary.” Chicago has struggled, like New York and Denver, to deal with the crisis that started in 2022 when migrants began arriving in Democratic-led cities, largely at the direction of Texas Governot Greg Abbott. The winter weather has further complicated efforts. Last week, New York, which …
Following Review, Business Insider Stands by Reports on Wife of Ex-Harvard President’s Critic
New York — Business Insider’s top executive and parent company said Sunday they were satisfied with the fairness and accuracy of stories that made plagiarism accusations against a former MIT professor who is married to a prominent critic of former Harvard President Claudine Gay. “We stand by Business Insider and its newsroom,” said a spokesman for Axel Springer, the German media company that owns the publication. The company had said it would look into the stories about Neri Oxman, a prominent designer, following complaints by her husband, Bill Ackman, a Harvard graduate and CEO of the Pershing Square investment firm. He publicly campaigned against Gay, who resigned earlier this month following criticism of her answers at a congressional hearing on antisemitism and charges that her academic writing contained examples of improperly credited work. With its stories, Business Insider raised both the idea of hypocrisy and the possibility that academic dishonesty is widespread, even among the nation’s most prominent scholars. Ackman’s response, and the pressure that a well-connected person placed on the corporate owners of a journalism outlet, raised questions about the outlet’s independence. Business Insider and Axel Springer’s “liability just goes up and up and up,” Ackman said Sunday in a …
US Asks Court to Intervene Over Texas Blocking US Border Agents
McALLEN, Texas — The Justice Department on Friday asked the Supreme Court to order Texas to stop blocking Border Patrol agents from a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border where large numbers of migrants have crossed in recent months, setting up another showdown between Republican Governor Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over immigration enforcement. The request comes after Texas put up fencing to take control of a nearly 20-hectare public park along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, which was a crossing point for thousands of migrants entering from Mexico last year. Although a similar power struggle played out in the same region more than a year ago, the area Texas closed off this week prevents federal agents from accessing a larger and more visible crossing spot. Along one stretch, armed Texas National Guard members and their vehicles are preventing Border Patrol agents from accessing the river, the Justice Department said in a court filing. The Texas National Guard also allegedly used a military Humvee to keep Border Patrol agents off an access road. “Because Border Patrol can no longer access or view this stretch of the border, Texas has effectively prevented Border Patrol from monitoring the border,” the Justice Department …
Albany’s Afghan Americans Help Afghan Refugees Resettle
Albany, New York — A group of Afghan Americans in Albany, New York, have opened a community center to help resettle newly arrived Afghans in the United States. The Afghans, who fled their country after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, received help navigating the U.S. immigration system and starting a new life in the United States. “[When] the [Afghan] government collapsed and more Afghans came to the U.S., the [U.S.] government could not handle [the cases], so we considered it necessary to support them,” Yousaf Sherzad, vice president of the Afghan American Community Center, told VOA. “We rented this office to help the newly arrived Afghans begin their new life here [in the U.S.].” The center, which mostly serves families and single men, was launched in 2021, the same year the United States and its allies left Afghanistan, evacuating some 130,000 people from Kabul in the chaotic last weeks of August. Through Operation Allies Welcome, about 88,500 Afghan nationals arrived in the U.S. and resettled in communities across the country. Operation Allies Welcome was a program that coordinated efforts to resettle vulnerable Afghans. But those left behind are still making their way to the U.S., and …
Afghan Americans in New York’s Capital Help Afghan Refugees Resettle
In 2021, a group of Afghan Americans in Albany, New York opened a community center to help resettle newly arrived Afghans in the United States. Zafar Bamyani recently visited the site to see how their efforts are working, with Roshan Noorzi contributing. Aline Barros narrates the story. …
Dinghy Carrying Migrants Hits Rocks in Greece, Killing 2 in High Winds
ATHENS, GREECE — Two migrants were killed and 30 were rescued in Greece Wednesday after a dinghy crashed into rocks in high winds on the island of Lesbos, local authorities said. The incident occurred near the resort town of Thermi on the east of the island, facing the nearby coast of Turkey. Authorities said many of those rescued were found in a remote area on land near the accident site, apparently trying to make their own way to the nearest town. A search was also launched at sea, but it remained unclear whether others were missing. Strong winds disrupted ferry traffic in many parts of Greece Wednesday. Lesbos remains a transit point for illegal migration into the European Union despite rigorous patrolling by the Greek coast guard and the EU border protection agency Frontex. …
Illegal Border Crossings Into US Drop After Mexico Boosts Enforcement
EAGLE PASS, Texas — Daniel Bermudez’s family had fled Venezuela and was headed to the U.S. to seek asylum when the freight train they were riding through Mexico was stopped by immigration officials. His wife tried to explain that her family had permission to go to the U.S. Instead, they flew her to Mexico’s southern border as part of a surge of enforcement actions that U.S. officials say have contributed to a sharp drop in illegal border crossings. In addition to forcing migrants from trains, Mexico also resumed flying and busing them to the southern part of the country and started flying some home to Venezuela. Even if temporary, the decrease in illegal crossings is welcome news for the White House. President Joe Biden’s administration is locked in talks with Senate negotiators over restricting asylum and $110 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel hangs in the balance. Bermudez said his wife became separated from her family when she talked to authorities as he gathered his stepchild and their belongings. He wanted to run, but his wife said they shouldn’t because they had followed procedure by making an appointment with U.S. immigration authorities. “I told her, ‘Don’t trust them. Let’s go …
Returning Migrants Fight Irregular Migration in Gambia
Gambia’s Immigration Department has launched a manhunt for immigration smugglers after an increase in the death toll of Gambians attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean into Europe. Some returnees are holding workshops to tell about the dangers of trying to flee the country. Senanu Tord reports from the capital, Banjul. …
Justice Department Sues Texas, Says Immigration Law Unconstitutional
AUSTIN, Texas — The Justice Department on Wednesday sued Texas over a new law that would allow police to arrest migrants who enter the U.S. illegally, taking Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to court again over his escalating response to border crossers arriving from Mexico. The lawsuit draws Texas into another clash over immigration at a time when New York and Chicago are pushing back on buses and planes carrying migrants sent by Abbott to Democrat-led cities nationwide. Texas is also fighting separate court battles to keep razor wire on the border and a floating barrier in the Rio Grande. But a law Abbott signed last month poses a broader and bigger challenge to the U.S. government’s authority over immigration. In addition to allowing police anywhere in Texas to arrest migrants on charges of illegal entry, the law — known as Senate Bill 4 — also gives judges the authority to order migrants to leave the country. The lawsuit asks a federal court in Austin to declare the Texas law unconstitutional. It calls the measure a violation of the Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal laws in most cases supersede state law. “Texas cannot run its own immigration system,” the Justice Department …
Even Amid Texas Border Crackdown, Illegal Crossings Still High
EAGLE PASS, Texas — Before settling in New York City like thousands of other migrants this year, Abdoul, a 32-year-old from West Africa, took an unexpected detour: Weeks in a remote Texas jail on local trespassing charges after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. “I spent a lot of hours without sleeping, sitting on the floor,” said Abdoul, a political activist who fled Mauritania, fearing persecution. He spoke on the condition that his last name not be published for fear of jeopardizing his request for asylum. Starting in March, Texas will allow police to arrest migrants who enter the state illegally and give local judges the authority to order them out of the country. The new law comes two years after Texas launched a smaller-scale operation to arrest migrants for trespassing. But although that operation was also intended to stem illegal crossings, there is little indication that it has done so. The results raise questions about the impact arrests have on deterring immigration as Texas readies to give police even broader powers to apprehend migrants on charges of illegal entry. Civil rights organizations have already sued to stop the new law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, calling it an unconstitutional overreach that …
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