Category Archives: US immigration

US-Mexico border braces for midnight lifting of Title 42 migrant restrictions

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Border officials expect increase of people trying to cross into US as measure ostensibly to curb Covid-19 lapses

As the US was set to lift tough restrictions at the US-Mexico border, known as Title 42, on Thursday night, migrants raced to enter the US before pandemic-related asylum limitations are lifted in a shift that threatens to put a historic strain on the nation’s beleaguered immigration system.

The major policy shift comes as tens of thousands are stuck in harsh conditions in northern Mexico or risk life and liberty to enter America unlawfully, straining local communities and intensifying political divisions.

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Supreme court rules in favor of trans woman who fled violence in Guatemala

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Estrella Santos-Zacaria will have another chance to seek asylum from sexual assault and death threats after being deported in 2008

The US supreme court ruled on Thursday in favor of a transgender Guatemalan woman fighting deportation on the grounds that she would face persecution if returned to her native country.

The unanimous decision in favor of Estrella Santos-Zacaria gives her another chance to argue that immigration officials were wrong to reject her bid to remain in the US.

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Texas: police charge suspect with manslaughter after eight killed by truck

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George Alvarez accused after SUV drove into migrant crowd in Brownsville, as investigators work to determine if crash was intentional

An SUV driver who killed eight people when he slammed into a group waiting at a bus stop in Brownsville, Texas, was charged with manslaughter, police said on Monday as investigators tried to determine if the crash was intentional.

Authorities believe the driver, George Alvarez, 34, of Brownsville, lost control after running a red light on Sunday morning and plowed into a crowd outside a migrant center in the city, which has long been an epicenter for migration across the US-Mexico border.

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Seven dead in Texas after car drives into crowd outside migrant center

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Police say crash may have been intentional, and driver was arrested for reckless driving and could face other charges

Seven people have been killed and 10 others were injured after a car plowed into a crowd outside a shelter serving migrants and homeless people in Brownsville, Texas, on Sunday, and investigators believe it may have been intentional, according to authorities.

The car careened into the crowd of people who were sitting on the curb at a bus stop near the Ozanam Center at about 8.30am, the police department in Brownsville, which is near Texas’s border with Mexico, said. That came four days before the scheduled expiration of Title 42, the Covid-19 era policy that allows border patrol agents to swiftly expel migrants at the US’s southern border.

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Situation at US-Mexico border ahead of end of asylum limits ‘very challenging’

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US homeland security secretary calls circumstances ‘difficult’ as ending of pandemic-era Title 42 restrictions approaches

The US homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, said on Friday that immigration authorities faced “extremely challenging” circumstances along the border with Mexico days before the end of asylum restrictions implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A surge of Venezuelan migrants through south Texas, particularly in and around the border community of Brownsville, has occurred over the last two weeks for reasons that Mayorkas said were unclear. On Thursday, 4,000 of about 6,000 migrants in border patrol custody in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley were Venezuelan.

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Colombia cancels US deportation flights, blasting ‘cruel’ mistreatment of migrants

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Head of Colombia’s migration agency cites degrading treatment by US officials as flights returning citizens suspended

Colombia has suspended US deportation flights returning citizens detained at the Mexico border, because of cruel and degrading treatment by US migration officials and last-minute flight cancellations.

Fernando García, head of Colombia’s migration agency, blasted cruel and degrading treatment that some migrants were subjected to before boarding and during the flights, including use of cuffs for hands and feet.

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US-Mexico migration deal raises fears for struggling border cities

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Agreement designed to curb increase of people arriving into US marks dramatic precedent for two countries, experts say

An agreement between the United States and Mexico designed to curb the surge of migrants arriving at the US doorstep marks a dramatic new precedent in relations between the two countries, analysts said, warning that the deal could further overwhelm border cities already struggling to cope.

Under the agreement announced in a joint statement on Tuesday, Mexico will continue accepting migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua who are turned away from the US.

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US sends 1,500 troops to Mexico border as Covid-era asylum rule is set to expire

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Officials are bracing for the end of Title 42, which allows the US to expel non-Mexican migrants without the chance to seek asylum

Joe Biden will send 1,500 troops to the US-Mexico border, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, in preparation for a possible rise in immigration when Covid-19 border restrictions lift later this month.

The 90-day deployment of active-duty troops will supplement the work of the US border patrol but will not carry out law enforcement duties, said Brig Gen Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, in a statement.

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Arrest of Chihuahua migration chief spotlights abuses in Mexican system

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Last month’s fatal fire in Ciudad Juárez is latest in a series of deaths and injuries dogging the country’s militarized migration agency

Mexican authorities have arrested the head of migration for the state of Chihuahua in connection with a fire which killed 40 people at a government-run detention facility in the northern border city of Ciudad Juárez last month.

The death of the migrants sparked outrage across Mexico after surveillance footage showed that officials failed to unlock the doors of the holding cell where migrants were trapped.

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Manhunt for people-smuggling suspect after eight drown at US-Canada border

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The Akwesasne Mohawk police service continue a search for resident Casey Oakes as new details of victims emerge

Police investigating the drowning of eight people attempting to cross a river between Canada the the United States are searching for a man believed to be linked to people-smuggling, as new details of the victims emerge.

The bodies of eight people, including two young children, were discovered last week along the marshy banks of the St Lawrence River near the Mohawk community of Akwesasne, which spans Quebec, Ontario and New York state.

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‘Heartbreaking’: eight bodies recovered from waters at US-Canada border

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Two more people found on Friday as authorities says dozens of Indian and Romanian migrants have been crossing through Mohawk territory

The bodies of eight people believed to have died trying to cross from Canada into the United States have been found in the past two days, authorities said on Friday, including two children.

Six people, described as members of two families of Romanian and Indian descent, were found on Thursday in a marshy area of the St Lawrence River, which forms part of the Canada-US border. And on Friday, the bodies of two more migrants were found, bringing the death toll to eight, according to police in the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne.

Associated Press contributed to this report

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Migrant deaths at Mexican detention centre investigated as suspected homicide

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Several arrest warrants requested after video emerges which appears to show guards leaving as fire engulfs a cell with migrants locked inside

The deaths of at least 39 migrants in a fire at a Mexican detention centre are being investigated as suspected homicides, a prosecutor has said, accusing those in charge of doing nothing to evacuate the victims.

Authorities faced mounting scrutiny of their handling of the disaster after video surveillance footage appeared to show guards leaving as flames engulfed a cell with migrants locked inside.

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‘They’re killing us’: anger grows after deadly fire at Mexican migrant center

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Protesters call for justice as blaze at detention facility in Ciudad Juárez highlights tough US immigration policies

A loud voice cut through the thick quiet of the night: “¡Justicia! ¡Justicia! ¡Justicia!” Frark Martín Pérez Pérez, 32, chanted angrily, and hundreds followed.

Justice is what the crowd of about 400 migrants from Latin America gathered to protest about on Tuesday outside the migrant processing centre in Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican city on the US border, where at least 40 were killed in a fire on Monday night.

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Trudeau to announce US-Canada asylum deal after Biden talks

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Move following meetings in Ottawa with the US president will in effect close a controversial border crossing

Justin Trudeau’s government has announced a major shift in how Canada and the US handle asylum claims, a move that effectively closes a controversial border crossing, after meetings in Ottawa on Friday with Joe Biden.

Under the deal, which Canadian officials hope will temper the increase in irregular border crossings in recent months, Canada will bring in 15,000 more South and Central American migrants to Canada. The prime minister’s office said in a statement the agreement would ensure more “fairness” in migration between the two countries.

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Biden administration quietly resumes deportations to Russia

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Exclusive: Apparent reversal of position adopted after invasion of Ukraine sends men fleeing Putin’s draft back to Russia

The Biden administration has quietly resumed deportations to Russia, an apparent reversal of the position adopted after Russia invaded Ukraine just over a year ago, when such removals were suspended, the Guardian has learned.

Immigration advocates were taken by surprise when a young Russian man, who came to the US fleeing Vladimir Putin’s efforts to mobilize citizens to fight in Ukraine, was abruptly deported at the weekend from the US back to Russia.

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US border patrol closes bridge to Juárez after rumor causes migrant rush

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Hundreds of migrants tried to race across the Paso del Norte bridge to El Paso after false internet post said the border was open

Hundreds of people near an El Paso, Texas, border crossing who tried to enter the US from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on Sunday were met with physical barricades erected by shield-wielding authorities, according to reports on what is the latest episode to pit US immigration officials against a group of migrants.

Many of the migrants, who were largely Venezuelan, had gone to the center of the Paso del Norte international bridge to determine whether a rumor that the border had been temporarily opened to them was true, the Texas Tribune reported. Many trying to flee lives in Mexico, where they cannot legally work and are often confronted by police, had hurried through toll booths on the Mexican side of the bridge and arrived at the center.

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Biden’s proposal denying asylum at border would cause ‘unnecessary suffering’, say critics

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Proposal prompted comparisons to Trump’s policies to limit asylum for migrants, which Biden had pledged to reverse

Democrats and immigration advocates harshly criticized Joe Biden over a new proposal that could stop migrants claiming asylum when they arrive at the US-Mexico border. One advocate said the move would cause “unnecessary human suffering”.

The pushback came after the Biden administration unveiled a proposal that would deny asylum to migrants who arrive without first seeking it in one of the countries they passed through.

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Biden unveils Trump-style plan to deter asylum seekers at Mexico border

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Administration’s most aggressive plan yet would bar most migrants who hadn’t sought protection in other countries first

The United States could bar tens of thousands of migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border from claiming asylum under a proposal unveiled on Tuesday that would be the most wide-ranging attempt yet by Joe Biden’s administration to deter unauthorized crossings.

Under the new rules, the US would generally deny asylum to migrants who show up at the US southern border without first seeking protection in a country they passed through, mirroring an attempt by the Trump administration that never took effect because it was blocked in court.

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Facial recognition bias frustrates Black asylum applicants to US, advocates say

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Migrants from Africa and Haiti reportedly cannot utilize app to accept their photos, which is now required to apply for asylum

The US government’s new mobile app for migrants to apply for asylum at the US-Mexico border is blocking many Black people from being able to file their claims because of facial recognition bias in the tech, immigration advocates say.

Non-profits that assist Black asylum seekers are finding that the app, CBP One, is failing to register many people with darker skin tones, effectively barring them from their right to request entry into the US.

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Texas national guard soldier shoots and wounds migrant at Mexico border

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Injuries not life-threatening after soldier fires at migrant in the shoulder as he was attempting to detain migrant

A Texas national guard soldier has shot and wounded a migrant in the shoulder along the US-Mexico border.

According to Texas military records reviewed by the Military Times and the Texas Tribune, the soldier fired at the migrant on 15 January as he was attempting to detain the migrant.

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