1 million migrants in the US rely on temporary protections that Trump could target

1 million migrants in the US rely on temporary protections that Trump could target
Maribel Hidalgo, an immigrant from Venezuela, pushes a stroller carrying her son outside the Roosevelt Hotel immigration shelter in New York on Nov. 6, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 14 November 2024
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1 million migrants in the US rely on temporary protections that Trump could target

1 million migrants in the US rely on temporary protections that Trump could target
  • People from 17 countries, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan and recently Lebanon, are currently receiving such relief
  • But President-elect Donald Trump promised mass deportations and suggested he would scale back the use of Temporary Protected Status

NEW YORK: Maribel Hidalgo fled her native Venezuela a year ago with a 1-year-old son, trudging for days through Panama’s Darien Gap, then riding the rails across Mexico to the United States.
They were living in the US when the Biden administration announced Venezuelans would be offered Temporary Protected Status, which allows people already in the United States to stay and work legally if their homelands are deemed unsafe. People from 17 countries, including Haiti, Afghanistan, Sudan and recently Lebanon, are currently receiving such relief.
But President-elect Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, have promised mass deportations and suggested they would scale back the use of TPS that covers more than 1 million immigrants. They have highlighted unfounded claims that Haitians who live and work legally in Springfield, Ohio, as TPS holders were eating their neighbors’ pets. Trump also amplified disputed claims made by the mayor of Aurora, Colorado, about Venezuelan gangs taking over an apartment complex.
“What Donald Trump has proposed doing is we’re going to stop doing mass parole,” Vance said at an Arizona rally in October, mentioning a separate immigration status called humanitarian parole that is also at risk. “We’re going to stop doing mass grants of Temporary Protected Status.”
Hidalgo wept as she discussed her plight with a reporter as her son, now 2, slept in a stroller outside the New York migrant hotel where they live. At least 7.7 million people have fled political violence and economic turmoil in Venezuela in one of the biggest displacements worldwide.
“My only hope was TPS,” Hidalgo said. “My worry, for example, is that after everything I suffered with my son so that I could make it to this country, that they send me back again.”
Venezuelans along with Haitians and Salvadorans are the largest group of TPS beneficiaries and have the most at stake.
Haiti’s international airport shut down this week after gangs opened fire at a commercial flight landing in Port-Au-Prince while a new interim prime minister was sworn in. The Federal Aviation Administration barred US airlines from landing there for 30 days.
“It’s creating a lot of anxiety,” said Vania André, editor-in-chief for The Haitian Times, an online newspaper covering the Haitian diaspora. “Sending thousands of people back to Haiti is not an option. The country is not equipped to handle the widespread gang violence already and cannot absorb all those people.”
Designations by the Homeland Security secretary offer relief for up to 18 months but are extended in many cases. The designation for El Salvador ends in March. Designations for Sudan, Ukraine, and Venezuela end in April. Others expire later.
Federal regulations say a designation can be terminated before it expires, but that has never happened, and it requires 60 days’ notice.
TPS is similar to the lesser-known Deferred Enforcement Departure Program that Trump used to reward Venezuelan exile supporters as his first presidency was ending, shielding 145,000 from deportation for 18 months.
Attorney Ahilan T. Arulanantham, who successfully challenged Trump’s earlier efforts to allow TPS designations for several countries to expire, doesn’t doubt the president-elect will try again.
“It’s possible that some people in his administration will recognize that stripping employment authorization for more than a million people, many of whom have lived in this country for decades, is not good policy” and economically disastrous, said Arulanantham, who teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, and helps direct its Center for Immigration Law and Policy. “But nothing in Trump’s history suggests that they would care about such considerations.”
Courts blocked designations from expiring for Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua and El Salvador until well into President Joe Biden’s term. Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas then renewed them.
Arulanantham said he “absolutely” could see another legal challenge, depending on what the Trump administration does.
Congress established TPS in 1990, when civil war was raging in El Salvador. Members were alarmed to learn some Salvadorans were tortured and executed after being deported from the US Other designations protected people during wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kuwait, from genocidal violence in Rwanda, and after volcanic eruptions in Montserrat, a British territory in the Caribbean, in 1995 and 1997.
A designation is not a pathway to US permanent residence or citizenship, but applicants can try to change their status through other immigration processes.
Advocates are pressing the White House for a new TPS designation for Nicaraguans before Biden leaves office. Less than 3,000 are still covered by the temporary protections issued in 1998 after Hurricane Mitch battered the country. People who fled much later under oppression from President Daniel Ortega’s government don’t enjoy the same protection from deportation.
“It’s a moral obligation” for the Biden administration, said Maria Bilbao, of the American Friends Service Committee.
Elena, a 46-year-old Nicaraguan who has lived in the United States illegally for 25 years, hopes Biden moves quickly.
“He should do it now,” said Elena, who lives Florida and insisted only her first name be used because she fears deportation. “Not in January. Not in December. Now.”


Top US, Russian generals spoke by phone amid tensions

Top US, Russian generals spoke by phone amid tensions
Updated 14 sec ago
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Top US, Russian generals spoke by phone amid tensions

Top US, Russian generals spoke by phone amid tensions
WASHINGTON: The top US military officer, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, spoke by phone with Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov last week, the US military said on Wednesday, the first time Brown spoke with his Russian counterpart.
“The leaders discussed a number of global and regional security issues to include the ongoing conflict in Ukraine,” a spokesperson for Brown said in a statement.
The rare call took place on Nov. 27, but “at the request of Gen. Gerasimov, Gen. Brown agreed to not proactively announce the call.” The request for the call was made by the Russian ministry of defense, the spokesperson said.
Brown became the top US general last year, and Gerasimov last spoke with Brown’s predecessor, Mark Milley.
Tensions have spiked in recent weeks. Ukraine fired US and British missiles at targets inside Russia despite Moscow’s warnings that it would see such action as a major escalation.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address, said Moscow struck a Ukrainian military facility with a new medium-range, hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik” (the hazel) and warned that more could follow.
US officials had said Russia notified Washington shortly before its strike.

UN children’s agency sets $9.9 bn fundraising goal for 2025

UN children’s agency sets $9.9 bn fundraising goal for 2025
Updated 31 min 47 sec ago
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UN children’s agency sets $9.9 bn fundraising goal for 2025

UN children’s agency sets $9.9 bn fundraising goal for 2025

UNITED NATIONS: The UN children’s agency on Wednesday launched a $9.9 billion fundraising appeal to provide aid next year for millions of young people impacted by wars and other crises across the globe.
“The scale of children’s humanitarian needs is at a historically high level, with more children impacted every day,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director, said in a statement.
The money will target 109 million children and will support access to primary health care facilities, mental health services, drinking water and education, malnutrition screening and gender-based violence mitigation.
“Looking ahead to 2025, we estimate that 213 million children in 146 countries and territories will need humanitarian assistance over the course of the year — a staggeringly high number,” Russell added.
UNICEF’s appeal comes at a time when humanitarian operations face a chronic funding crisis.
Last year, the agency appealed for $9.3 billion in its fundraising call.
The largest appeal for funds — at over $1 billion — is for Afghanistan, followed by Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Palestinian territories, and Lebanon.


Afghan economy faces ‘uncertain’ future despite modest growth: World Bank

Afghan economy faces ‘uncertain’ future despite modest growth: World Bank
Updated 05 December 2024
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Afghan economy faces ‘uncertain’ future despite modest growth: World Bank

Afghan economy faces ‘uncertain’ future despite modest growth: World Bank
  • The economy’s challenges include “fiscal constraints, trade imbalances, and a limited capacity for public investment,” the bank said in its Afghanistan Development Update

WASHINGTON: Afghanistan’s economy continues to face significant challenges despite showing signs of modest growth, the World Bank warned on Wednesday, with the future “uncertain.”
The economy’s challenges include “fiscal constraints, trade imbalances, and a limited capacity for public investment,” the bank said in its Afghanistan Development Update.
Critical factors for long-term recovery include enabling women’s participation in the economy, maintaining price stability and dealing with key deficits in human capital — such as education and health care, the multilateral development lender said.
While Afghanistan has seen GDP growth of 2.7 percent, driven by private consumption, this has “recouped only about 10 percent of past economic losses,” the World Bank said.
Afghanistan has been ruled by the Taliban since 2021, when their forces capitalized on the withdrawal of the US military under a peace deal to overthrow the country’s government.
The Taliban’s government has not been officially recognized by any country, and the economy remains largely isolated, with many Afghans living under the poverty line.
“Afghanistan’s long-term growth prospects depend on tapping into the substantial potential of the domestic private sector and improving the overall business environment,” said World Bank country director for Afghanistan Faris Hadad-Zervos.
The economy requires more investment, access to finance for small businesses, and support for skilled women entrepreneurs, Hadad-Zervos added.
Women and girls have been barred from secondary school and university as part of restrictions imposed by the Taliban that the UN has dubbed “gender apartheid.”
The World Bank noted that partial economic recovery, alongside falling food prices, has contributed to a gradual improvement in household welfare.
But it said many Afghan households still struggle to meet basic needs and that “poverty remains widespread.”
Trade is another challenge with a widening deficit due to surging imports on the back of greater demand for foreign goods and a revival of domestic industry.
“The trade deficit, exacerbated by Afghanistan’s reliance on imports for essential goods like fuel, food, and machinery, might pose a risk to the country’s economic stability,” the World Bank said.


Under pressure, UK’s Starmer sets out plans to deliver on election pledges

Under pressure, UK’s Starmer sets out plans to deliver on election pledges
Updated 05 December 2024
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Under pressure, UK’s Starmer sets out plans to deliver on election pledges

Under pressure, UK’s Starmer sets out plans to deliver on election pledges

LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer will set out plans on Thursday to deliver on his priorities to raise living standards and rebuild Britain in a speech he hopes will draw a line under what even some of his supporters say has been a bumpy start to government.
Five months since his Labour Party swept back to power with a landslide win, Starmer wants to turn the page on criticism of his government on everything from its use of campaign donations to a tax-raising budget which prompted an outcry from businesses and farmers.
He will use Thursday’s speech to plot out when Britain can expect to start seeing progress his government has promised in a range of areas, including hospital backlogs, increasing police numbers, improving education and securing home-grown energy.
Called the government’s ‘plan for change’, he is expected to set out a reform program for Britain’s overly stretched public services to try to restore trust in politics, eroded by years of chaos and scandal under the Conservatives and further deepened by Labour’s missteps in its first few months in power.
“My government was elected to deliver change, and today marks the next step. People are tired of being promised the world, but short-term sticking plaster politics letting them down,” Starmer will say, according to excerpts of his speech provided by his office.
“My mission-led government will deliver.”
Labour campaigned before the July 4 election on five missions — boosting economic growth, accelerating steps toward reaching net zero, reducing waiting times in the state-run health service, tackling crime and improving education.
His first measures on Thursday will include a move to give communities a named, contactable police officer to deal with local issues, his office said, part of a pledge to add a further 13,000 police in neighborhood roles.
“This marks a return to the founding principles of British policing — where officers are part of the communities they serve,” interior minister Yvette Cooper said in a statement.
“Through this visible, responsive police presence in every neighborhood, we will restore the trust and partnership that lies at the heart of keeping our communities safe.”


North Korea, Russia defense treaty comes into force

North Korea, Russia defense treaty comes into force
Updated 05 December 2024
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North Korea, Russia defense treaty comes into force

North Korea, Russia defense treaty comes into force

SEOUL: A landmark defense pact between North Korea and Russia, signed by its leaders in June, has gone into effect after the two sides exchanged ratification documents, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said Thursday.
The formalization of the treaty comes as the United States and South Korea have accused the nuclear-armed North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine.
Experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is keen to acquire advanced technology from Moscow and battle experience for his troops in return.
Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the strategic partnership deal during the Kremlin chief’s visit to Pyongyang.
It obligates both states to provide military assistance “without delay” in the case of an attack on the other, and to jointly oppose Western sanctions.
It came into effect from Wednesday, when the ratification documents were exchanged in Moscow by the countries’ vice foreign ministers Kim Jong Gyu and Andrei Rudenko, KCNA reported.
Lawmakers in Moscow last month voted unanimously for the deal and it was later signed by Putin. Pyongyang said it was ratified by a decree from Kim.
The treaty will serve “as a strong driving force accelerating the establishment of an independent and just multi-polarized world order without domination, subjugation and hegemony,” KCNA said.
Analysts have suggested Pyongyang could be using Ukraine as a means of realigning its foreign policy.
By sending soldiers, North Korea is positioning itself within the Russian war economy as a supplier of weapons, military support and labor — potentially even bypassing traditional ally, neighbor and main trading partner China, they say.
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Both countries are under rafts of UN sanctions — the former for its nuclear weapons program and the latter for the Ukraine conflict.
Kim said last week during a visit to Pyongyang by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov that his government, army and people would “invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Putin hailed the deal in June as a “breakthrough document.”