Press secretary says at least two deportation flights to Cuban base of undocumented immigrants ‘under way’
The Trump administration has begun flying undocumented immigrants from the US to a military detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Tuesday.
Leavitt told Fox Business Network that at least two deportation flights were “under way”, but gave no further details.
Continue reading...Move comes as one-two punch for group already reeling from last week’s decision to rescind 18-month extension
The Trump administration has stepped up its attack on Venezuelans living in the US under temporary deportation protections, revoking the right to stay of more than 300,000 people.
The move, first reported by the New York Times, comes as a one-two punch for Venezuelans who were already reeling from last week’s decision to rescind an 18-month extension of temporary protected status (TPS) that had been introduced in the final days of the out-going Biden administration. Reversing the extension was a blow that affected more than 600,000 Venezuelans living in the US.
Continue reading...New fact sheet bears similarity to Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther, which aims to quash US support of Palestine
Critics warn that a new executive order from Donald Trump’s administration purporting to “combat antisemitism”, and a corresponding fact sheet suggesting deporting international students who protest Israel, could chill political speech on campuses.
The fact sheet released before Trump signed the order on Wednesday quoted the president as saying: “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.”
Continue reading...The president wants to detain thousands of people at a site that is notorious for its secrecy and history of abuse
It has been denounced as “America’s gulag”: a secretive, abuse-ridden Caribbean prison camp for terror suspects that Donald Rumsfeld once said contained “the worst of the worst”.
“All of us have scars in our souls, deformities, from living at Guantánamo,” a former Yemeni inmate recalled of his time at the notorious military detention facility in south-east Cuba.
Continue reading...Proposal from state board of education condemned by teachers and rights groups, as parents and students protest
Parents enrolling children in Oklahoma public schools will be required to provide proof of their child’s US citizenship or legal immigration status under a proposed rule approved Tuesday by the state board of education.
The board voted unanimously to approve the rule aimed at helping Donald Trump’s immigration policies. It still needs to be approved by the legislature and the governor.
Continue reading...A pregnant mother from Venezuela responds to Trump’s executive order that would render her baby stateless
On his first day in office, Donald Trump signed an order ending constitutionally recognized right of birthright citizenship. Thousands of expecting parents across the US suddenly had to consider that their babies would be born into a legal limbo.
Among them is Monica, a woman expecting her first child after escaping political persecution in Venezuela. If Trump’s order stands, Monica’s baby will be born stateless.
Continue reading...TV personality embeds in one of several raids in US cities in what Tom Homan says are only ‘beginning stages’
The TV personality Dr Phil joined the US border czar, Tom Homan, in a choreographed immigration raid in Chicago, one of several conducted in US cities over the weekend in what Homan claimed was only “the beginning stages” of Donald Trump’s promised threat to deport millions of people from the country.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) said it had made 956 arrests on Sunday, bringing the total since Trump took office to 2,681 arrests – short of the 1,200 to 1,500 daily arrests that Trump has reportedly demanded. The Washington Post reported that Trump’s White House has issued a directive to Ice field offices that they should make 75 arrests daily and that agency managers would be held responsible for missed targets, raising fears of indiscriminate arrest tactics.
Continue reading...Ice confirms ‘enhanced targeted operations’ in a city on edge after Trump officials warned of enforcement actions
US federal authorities have begun immigration raids in Chicago, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) statement confirmed on Sunday, just days after incoming “border czar” Tom Homan said officials were “reconsidering” after details leaked into the press.
In a statement, Ice said its agents, along with the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the US Marshals Service, had begun conducting “enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago “to enforce US immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities”.
Continue reading...Far-right chatrooms are abuzz as extremists plan to use the next four years as ‘breathing room’ and look to expand
One week into Donald Trump’s second administration and the verdict among far-right activists and neo-Nazis is that the next four years will be a time to relax, organize and take advantage of the popular awakening of American fascism.
“Be ready to cash out the next four years,” wrote one delighted neo-Nazi account on Telegram, in a post viewed more than 1,000 times. “Get the bag, infiltrate existing institutions with power, build new institutions while we have breathing room, and tear down anything leftist.”
Continue reading...Ras Baraka and other state lawmakers express outrage as sanctuary cities nationwide brace for similar Ice actions
The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, said an immigration raid in the city was done without a warrant, and led to the detainment of undocumented residents as well as citizens.
Newark mayor Ras Baraka said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) had raided a local establishment. “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized,” he wrote in a statement.
Continue reading...Judge rules in favor of states who sued over president’s executive order, which was set to take effect on 19 February
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship regardless of the parents’ immigration status.
US district judge John C Coughenour ruled in the case brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, which argue the 14th amendment and supreme court case law have cemented birthright citizenship.
Continue reading...President pledges immigration crackdown, rolls back climate rules and pardons 1,500 January 6 rioters
Donald Trump launched his second term as US president with a barrage of executive orders reaching into broad swathes of American life, from pardoning hundreds of supporters who attacked Congress on January 6, including rightwing extremists convicted of seditious conspiracy, to rolling back LGBTQ+ rights and environmental rules while declaring an immigration emergency on the southern border.
Trump and his allies had long promised a “shock and awe” approach. They did not hold back.
Continue reading...Administration to send 100 to 200 officers to city on day two of new presidency, Wall Street Journal reports
Donald Trump’s incoming presidential administration plans to launch a large immigration raid in Chicago the day after he takes office, according to unnamed officials talking to various media outlets.
Federal immigration officers will target more than 300 people, focusing on those with histories of violent crimes, one official told the Associated Press, marking Trump’s initial attempt toward fulfilling his campaign promise of large-scale deportations.
Continue reading...Critics call Democratic lawmakers ‘spineless’ for joining GOP in making bill potentially big legislative win for Donald Trump
The US Senate on Friday cleared the way for final approval of a bill that targets undocumented immigrants accused of theft-related crimes, a preview of how Republicans will use their majorities to help Donald Trump deliver on his long-promised border crackdown – and an early test of how Democrats will respond.
The Laken Riley Act, named after a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan national, cleared a key procedural hurdle by a vote of 61-35, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans to advance it. A vote on final passage was scheduled for early next week, making it potentially one of the first pieces of legislation he signs as president.
Continue reading...Exclusive: records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’
Afghan citizens who fled the country with American assistance after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan remain stranded in third countries, new documents shared exclusively with the Guardian suggest, some at prison-like facilities and many with no clarity about their prospects for resettlement.
US officials won’t say exactly how many Afghans remain at such sites, where they were taken after the withdrawal that involved hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives during the Taliban’s lightning takeover in 2021. Some advocates estimate that “hundreds” remain stranded in temporary facilities in up to three dozen countries.
Continue reading...Appointment of progressive Robert McElroy comes as rightwing Catholics wield significant influence in US capital
When the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, sought to shut down a Catholic charity that was was providing shelter and aid to undocumented migrants at the border, the San Diego cardinal, Robert McElroy, took a robust public stand against the attempt.
“The state of Texas is using governmental pressure to curtail the work of the Church in one of its most fundamental obligations: to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless, and to provide drink to the thirsty,” McElroy said in a statement at the time. “No government can morally tell us to abandon or limit this mission.”
Continue reading...US president moves to shield roughly 230,000 Salvadorans and 600,000 Venezuelans against Trump administration
The Biden administration on Friday extended temporary humanitarian protections for about 230,000 Salvadorans and 600,000 Venezuelans living in the US, in an effort to shield those groups from an incoming Trump administration that has promised to deport them.
The decision in the dying days of Joe Biden’s presidency came after immigrant advocates and lawmakers urged the Department of Homeland Security to extend temporary protected status (TPS), designed to protect immigrants from being deported to countries that are engulfed in disaster or conflict.
Continue reading...Laken Riley Act passed House on Tuesday by 264 to 159, showing Democrats are feeling pressure over immigration
The US Senate advanced a bill calling for the detainment of undocumented immigrants charged with theft-related crimes on Thursday, as Donald Trump and fellow Republicans press their hardline immigration agenda after their victories in the November elections.
The overwhelmingly bipartisan vote was 84 to nine, as dozens of Democratic senators joined Republicans in supporting the motion to begin debate on the bill. But some Democrats who voted to advance the legislation indicated that they wanted to see amendments to the proposal, raising questions about how many of them would support its final passage.
Continue reading...Mike Lawler says Mike Johnson should remain speaker as cracks appear between Trump’s team and far right
The US House member Mike Lawler attempted on Sunday to tease out two pressing issues facing the new Congress beginning in 2025, telling an American political talkshow that this was not the moment for his fellow Republicans to have a “food fight” over leadership in Capitol Hill and that the country “needs an immigration system that works”.
Both issues have dominated political headlines in recent days, as potential policy splits become apparent between far-right congressional Republicans and the executive team being assembled for their party leader Donald Trump’s second presidency beginning in January.
Continue reading...Remarks follow social media posts from Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who vowed to go to ‘war’ to defend program
Donald Trump on Saturday sided with Elon Musk, a key supporter and billionaire tech CEO, in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backs the program for foreign tech workers opposed by some of his supporters.
Trump’s remarks followed a series of social media posts from Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, who vowed late Friday to go to “war” to defend the visa program for foreign tech workers.
Continue reading...