At least four people have been killed when two boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers capsized off Libya’s coast, according to the Libyan Red Crescent.
In a statement on Saturday, the organisation said the incident occurred off the coastal city of al-Khums on Thursday night.
It said the first boat was carrying 26 people from Bangladesh, four of whom died.
The second boat carried 69 people, including two Egyptians and dozens of Sudanese, the Red Crescent added, without specifying their fate. Eight of them were children, it said.
Al-Khums is a coastal city, some 118km (73 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants and asylum seekers fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe since the 2011 fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi during a NATO-backed uprising.
Pictures released by the Libyan Red Crescent showed a line of bodies in black plastic bags laid out on the floor, while the volunteers are seen providing first aid to the survivors.
Other pictures show the rescued people wrapped in thermal blankets sitting on the floor.
The statement added that coastguards and Al-Khums Port Security Agency participated in the rescue operation. Adding that the bodies were handed over to the relevant authorities based on instructions by the city’s public prosecution.
On Wednesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that at least 42 migrants went missing and were presumed dead after a rubber boat sank near the Al Buri oilfield, an offshore facility north-northwest of the Libyan coast.
In mid-October, a group of 61 bodies of migrants were recovered on the coast west of Tripoli. In September, IOM said at least 50 people had died after a vessel carrying 75 Sudanese refugees caught fire off Libya’s coast.
Several states, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Norway and Sierra Leone, urged Libya last week at a United Nations meeting in Geneva to close detention centres where rights groups say migrants and refugees have been tortured, abused and sometimes killed.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: A senior State Department official said this week that President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked roughly 80,000 non-immigrant visas since taking office on January 20, citing offenses such as driving under the influence, assault, and theft.
The Washington Examiner first reported the scale of these revocations, which illustrate a wide-ranging immigration crackdown undertaken after Trump assumed the presidency, resulting in the deportation of unprecedented numbers of migrants, including individuals who held valid visas.
The administration has also implemented more demanding standards for visa issuance, introducing stricter social media vetting and expanding its screening measures. Of the visas revoked, approximately 16,000 were linked to DUI cases, around 12,000 to assault, and another 8,000 to theft. “These three offenses accounted for nearly half of the revocations this year,” the senior official said, speaking anonymously.
In August, a State Department spokesperson confirmed that more than 6,000 student visas had been canceled for overstaying or violating U.S. laws, with a small portion tied to allegations of “support for terrorism.” The department also said last month that at least six visas were withdrawn due to social media posts referencing the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated in May that he has revoked the visas of hundreds — possibly thousands — of individuals, including students, for involvement in activities he described as conflicting with U.S. foreign policy priorities.
Recent State Department guidance instructed U.S. diplomats overseas to maintain heightened scrutiny of applicants who may be considered hostile to the United States or have a record of political activism.
Officials in the Trump administration have asserted that holders of student visas and green cards could face deportation for expressing support for Palestinians or for criticizing Israel’s actions in the Gaza conflict, arguing that such positions threaten U.S. foreign policy and amount to pro-Hamas sentiment.
Walter Russell Mead is the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at Hudson Institute, the Global View Columnist at The Wall Street Journal and the Alexander Hamilton Professor of Strategy and Statecraft with the Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida.
He is also a member of Aspen Institute Italy and board member of Aspenia. Before joining Hudson, Mr. Mead was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations as the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy. He has authored numerous books, including the widely-recognized Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004). Mr. Mead’s most recent book is entitled The Arc of A Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People.
After a video of his arrest by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents went viral in June, Afghan Sayed Naser was released on September 26 following 106 days of detention.
On July 17, Naser’s attorney Brian McGoldrick filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus requesting his immediate release. McGoldrick argued that “attempts to detain, transfer, and deport [Naser] are arbitrary and capricious and in violation of the law.”
Afghan ally Sayed Naser was arrested and put in handcuffs by two masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), despite his pending asylum request. pic.twitter.com/06oBHmCqI1
According to court documents shared with Reason, the government opposed the petition, but Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the Southern District of California scheduled a hearing of Naser’s habeas petition on September 25. McGoldrick told Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac, that during the hearing, Curiel was “very inquisitive” and sounded “very friendly to our position.”
On September 26, Curiel put out a summarized opinion ordering Naser’s immediate release. Curiel found that Naser “could not have been legally subjected to and detained” given his status at the time of his arrest, and that by revoking Naser’s parole without providing notification, the government had denied “his due process rights.”
In an October 2 press conference, McGoldrick said that Naser was released at 9:45 p.m. last Friday, and added, “we’ve been celebrating ever since.” Naser expressed gratitude for all the Americans who supported his case, telling assembled press that his time in detention was “the hardest piece of my life.” “I thought that the time is stopped,” Naser said, adding that every day felt “like a month.”
When asked if his ordeal had changed his mind about wanting to be an American citizen, Naser replied, “I still believe in America. I do not feel betrayed. I feel hopeful because of how many Americans stood up for me when I was arrested.”
McGoldrick also expressed gratitude for Naser’s supporters, particularly the volunteers who filmed Naser’s arrest, saying that without their documentation, “nobody would know what happened.”
Following Naser’s release, Curiel has restored the terms of the parole Naser received when he legally entered the U.S. through the CBP One App in July 2024. Curiel has also ordered that “Respondents shall not cause [Naser] to be re-detained during the pendency of his removal proceedings without prior leave of this Court.”
Now, Naser and McGoldrick must return to square one and prepare his asylum claim once more before a new judge in San Diego immigration court.
The Taliban murdered Naser’s brother in 2023. A Special Immigrant Visa applicant who had worked with U.S. forces for two years during the Afghanistan War, Naser fled to Brazil in April 2024 and made his way to the U.S.-Mexico border. Like many parolees who utilized the CBP One App to claim asylum, Naser was told that his parole was revoked in a letter from the Department of Homeland Security in April.
It was after presenting his asylum case in immigration court in June that Naser was arrested. The government said that Naser’s notice to appear had been “improvidently issued,” but provided no further information about their allegation. On June 26, a federal judge dismissed Naser’s asylum case, which placed him in expedited removal proceedings.
While Naser’s release is a positive development, McGoldrick said he is now representing another Afghan, Habib, who is currently in ICE custody.
Like Naser, Habib had entered the U.S. on parole in 2024. McGoldrick says that Habib had received work authorization and had filed an asylum claim when he was arrested on September 19. McGoldrick explained that Habib had been performing a delivery at a U.S. military base in California when base personnel noticed that he had a limited license.
According to McGoldrick, base personnel called military police to the scene, and Habib was told that he could not depart the base until ICE arrived and took him into custody.
Habib has a wife and two young children. With no money coming in, McGoldrick reports that Habib’s wife cannot afford rent and is facing eviction. McGoldrick is working pro bono on Habib’s case and filed a habeas petition for his release on September 29.
After Naser’s release, VanDiver noted that while the judicial system has been successful in achieving assistance for Afghans in detention, the U.S. cannot go about rectifying “just one case at a time. We need Congress, companies, and citizens to step up.”
Ahead of the 111th World Day of Migrants, Washington’s Archbishop Cardinal Robert McElroy made some of his strongest comments about President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration policies.
And ahead of that, Washington’s Archbishop Cardinal Robert McElroy made some of his strongest comments to date about President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration policies.
Following a seven-station march Sunday that began at a Columbia Heights parish that has a large number of immigrant parishioners and ended at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, McElroy called the current crackdown a governmental assault.
“This assault seeks to make life unbearable for undocumented immigrants. It is willing to tear families apart.”
He added the policies embrace “as collateral damage the horrific emotional suffering that is being thrust on children who were born here.”
McElroy said those children face the terrible choice of losing their parents or leaving the only country they have ever known.
In his message that received a standing ovation that lasted nearly a minute, the Cardinal spoke about the parable of the good Samaritan. In that Bible story, a Samaritan man stopped on his journey to help an injured person, noting there were two other people who passed by the man and didn’t help.
“As a church we must console and peacefully stand in solidarity with the undocumented men and women whose lives are being upended by the government’s campaign of fear and terror.”
McElroy acknowledged that every nation has the right to effectively control its own borders, but said current policy produces fear and terror among millions.
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Paramjit Singh, a green card holder who immigrated to the United States from India more than 30 years ago, has been in federal custody for over a month after being detained by immigration agents in Chicago on July 30, according to his attorney.
Singh’s attorney Luis Angeles told Newsweek the detanment has been “nothing short of horrific” for him and his family.
President Donald Trump campaigned on mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, specifically targeting those with violent criminal records, and his administration ramped up immigration enforcement since his return to office in January. However, many Americans have been critical of his immigration policy as individuals with misdemeanors, decades-old infractions or in some cases no criminal records at all have been swept up in the heightened enforcement.
Singh’s case underscores the concerns raised by many immigration advocates about the administration’s approach to border security and deportations.
What to Know
Singh, a lawful permanent resident who operates a business in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was detained at Chicago O’Hare Airport on July 30 after he returned from a trip to India, his family and attorney told local news station WPTA. His family said he makes this trip several times per year.
Paramjit Singh takes a photograph with his family. Paramjit Singh takes a photograph with his family. Kirandeep Kaur, Gurkirat Singh.
Singh has a brain tumor and a heart condition and was kept inside the airport for five days. His condition deteriorated to the point where he had to be taken to the emergency room, the news station reported.
His family was not notified of the ER visit until they received a bill for his medical stay, Angeles told Newsweek.
Angeles said the alleged offense stems from an incident involving the use of a pay phone without payment, which he said is a “minor infraction for which he has already taken full accountability, served his time, and paid his debt to society.”
Efforts to secure his release have been “exhaustive but frustrating,” Angeles said.
“We filed for a bond redetermination and successfully won the bond hearing. However, DHS has continued to employ what I would describe as legal—yet arguably unethical—tactics to prolong his detention, despite being fully aware of his severe medical condition, which requires emergency surgery. The government is holding him without justifiable cause, exacerbating his health risks and causing immense distress to his family,” he said.
Several green card holders have been detained based on decades-old legal issues. A similar case that garnered national attention was that of Jemmy Jimenez Rosa, a Massachusetts mother who was held for 10 days based on a decades-old marijuana conviction. She was also taken to the hospital while being held in the airport without access to medication.
What People Are Saying
Angeles also told Newsweek: “As a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), Mr. Singh should never have been detained in the first place, as he has always followed the rules to the letter. We often hear the mantra of “follow the rules” to achieve legal status in this country. Well, that’s exactly what he did: he entered the United States lawfully, adjusted his status properly, built his American dream through hard work, and has been a significant contributor to his community.”
Singh’s brother, Charanjit Singh, told WPTA: “We’re just trying to post the bond, we’re just trying to speak to someone, trying to communicate with someone. We’re lost.
A Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson previously told Newsweek: “A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused. Lawful Permanent Residents presenting at a U.S. port of entry with previous criminal convictions may be subject to mandatory detention and/or may be asked to provide additional documentation to be set up for an immigration hearing.”
What Happens Next
WPTA reported that Singh’s legal team filed an appeal and planned to seek immediate federal court review to challenge DHS’s continued detention decision, and that the family aimed to post bond while the federal challenge proceeded.
Trump’s campaign promises, coming to fruition: “Until June, deportations had lagged behind immigration arrests and detentions,” reportsThe New York Times. “By the first week of August, deportations reached nearly 1,500 people per day, according to the latest data, a pace not seen since the Obama administration.”
So far during President Donald Trump’s second term, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported 180,000 people. The administration aims for 1 million this year, but if current numbers hold, it’ll be closer to 400,000. Stephen Miller, the ardent immigration restrictionist who has Trump’s ear, said on Fox News in late May that ICE would set a goal of a “minimum” of 3,000 arrests a day—far more than what it’s currently logging. But that’s beside the point: The administration seems interested in aggressive benchmarks and willing to use whatever tactics to get there, including compromising on apprehending the largest threats and instead going after people who’ve simply overstayed (a civil offense, not a criminal one).
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In fact, it’s looking very possible that the numbers will be juiced in order for these goals to be met, since the Trump administration enjoys its bragging rights. “The Department of Homeland Security says the total number of deportations so far under Mr. Trump is much higher—at 332,000. That figure includes people who are turned around or quickly deported at U.S. borders by Customs and Border Protection,” per the Times. There’s a fair bit of space between 180,000 and 332,000; expect more creative accounting as enforcement actions heat up further.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is pushing for ICE to simply buy its own planes. “ICE uses charter planes to deport immigrants and has done so for years. The agency has typically chartered eight to 14 planes at a time for deportation flights, according to Jason Houser, who served as ICE chief of staff from 2022 to 2023. He said that allowed the Biden administration to deport roughly 15,000 immigrants per month on charter flights,” reports NBC News. To double these numbers, Houser says, you’d need to purchase about 30 planes, at $80–400 million a pop; so purchasing 30 passenger planes could cost anywhere from $2.4 billion to $12 billion. It’s estimated that ICE had chartered a little more than 1,000 flights by the end of July, at $100,000 to $200,000 per flight.
Case in point: Angel Rodrigo Minguela Palacios, a strawberry delivery guy who had overstayed a tourist visa to escape his native Coahuila, a state in northern Mexico where he’d been the victim of stabbings and kidnappings, had been working for the same company for eight years and raising three kids with his girlfriend of eight years when Border Patrol nabbed him, reportsThe Los Angeles Times. He had been dropping off strawberries in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, outside of where California Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding an event—and where Border Patrol has lately taken to assembling.
Border Patrol detained him and threw him in the “B-18” federal detention center in downtown L.A., where he’s been since.
“When asked last week whether the person arrested outside the news conference had a criminal record, a Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency would share a criminal rap sheet when it was available,” reports the L.A. Times. “After four follow-up emails from a reporter, [Spokeswoman Tricia] McLaughlin on Saturday said agents had arrested ‘two illegal aliens’ in the vicinity of Newsom’s news conference—including ‘an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member and narcotics trafficker.’” Reporters asked for clarification as to whether that describes one person or two; then, “when presented with Minguela’s biographical information Monday, the department said he had been arrested because he overstayed his visa—a civil, not criminal, offense.”
It appears Minguela has no criminal record, and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The kicker: When Minguela handed one of the agents arresting him a “Know Your Rights” card he keeps in his wallet, the agent reportedly said, “This is of no use to me.”
Scenes from New York: Wild. But I do believe it.
“outlets like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and New Republic tend to have higher shares of graduates from elite schools than Fortune 500 CEOs, the US Congress, or federal judges. They have shares of elite school graduates comparable to the Forbes Billionaires list.” pic.twitter.com/B4O3HvCQYh
“SpaceX’s impressive track record, including the construction of the Starlink satellite-internet network and its innovation on reusable rocket technology, has had a deep impact on the space industry and US space policy. It has also made SpaceX among the most highly valued private companies in the world,” reportsBloomberg. But now, Starship—the first fully reusable orbital rocket, which Elon Musk says will be able to bring humans to Mars—is plagued by issues, which Musk is attempting to solve by shuffling around engineering talent internally. “To make Starship work, SpaceX is betting that it can draw resources away from its core rocket program at a time when the company faces weak competition. Some planned launches of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rockets would potentially be pushed from the end of this year to early 2026 because of the surge of Falcon engineers working on Starship, the people familiar with the company’s planning said.”
“Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard began a fresh strike Tuesday against national security officials whom President Donald Trump deems political enemies, announcing she had revoked the clearances of 37 people, including several currently serving U.S. intelligence officials,” reportsThe Washington Post. Many of the officials who had their clearances revoked were involved in the 2016 Russian interference investigations and the Trump impeachment.
Really useful chart to help you make sense of how tariffs will raise prices:
Useful chart projecting how major goods categories will face sustained price increases due to rising US tariffs. Lotta manufacturing inputs in here: pic.twitter.com/7I8IPqSqDT
Relatedly: “Automakers can’t eat the cost of tariffs forever, and September is a convenient time to adjust prices, as the 2026 models begin arriving in showrooms,” reportsAxios. Interestingly, “if companies try to offset tariffs on imported cars with higher prices, they’ll need to make adjustments across their portfolio to maintain reasonable gaps between vehicle segments. [General Motors’] entry-level Chevrolet Trax, for example, is imported from South Korea, now subject to a 15% tariff. But if it raised the price of the Trax, it might end up costing about the same as a Chevy Equinox, currently made in Mexico but moving to the U.S. in 2027.” Industrywide, forecasters predict a roughly 6 percent increase in prices next year, best-case scenario.
Breaking the law:
An Israeli dance prof is suing UC Berekley for allegedly discriminating against her on the basis of her nationality. Having taught at the dance department before, she was encouraged in the summer 2023 to apply for renewal.
“A former top City Hall advisor and current campaign confidante to Mayor Eric Adams attempted to give money to a reporter from THE CITY following a campaign event in Harlem Wednesday,” reportsThe City. “The failed payoff—a wad of cash in a red envelope stuffed inside an opened bag of Herr’s Sour Cream & Onion ripple potato chips—was made by Winnie Greco, a longtime Adams ally who resigned last year from her position as the mayor’s liaison to the Asian community after she was targeted in multiple investigations.”
Officials in Texas on Monday designated a Venezuelan gang called the Tren de Aragua as a “foreign terrorist group” and endorsed former President Donald Trump’s claim that many migrants crossing into the United States were released from prisons in Latin America.
The Tren de Aragua is an international criminal organization that operates in several Latin American countries and engages in extortion, homicide, drug trafficking and smuggling of people, authorities say.
But Texas’s top border official, Mike Banks, argued that Venezuela “has released prisoners with one condition: you leave Venezuela and don’t come back.”
He said the administration of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris is encouraging such people to come to the United States with what Banks called an open border policy.
Harris is running against Trump in November’s presidential election.
Immigration advocates present a very different picture, asserting that the Biden administration has harshly cracked down on the border with undue restrictions on people wishing to cross and seek asylum.
Appearing at the same news conference as Banks, Gov. Greg Abbott formally declared Tren de Aragua a “foreign terrorist organization.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in undated photo.
CBS News
That allows the authorities to go after the gang under a beefed up anti-terrorism law and also allows for the creation of a task force assigned specifically to fight the group.
Trump said Friday that if he becomes president, he will order large-scale deportations of migrants, beginning in Ohio and Colorado.
The vow came on the heels of his debate with Harris earlier in the week, when he made the debunked claim that migrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating residents’ pet dogs and cats.
Trump said Friday he’s going to send those migrants “back to Venezuela,” although most of the migrants in Springfield are Haitian.
Springfield has had to step up security due to threats being made as the viral, false claims about Haitian immigrants continue to circulate after being amplified by Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
They were the latest arrests after years of investigation into the deadliest tragedy of migrants smuggled across the border from Mexico. The dead included eight children.
Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez told The Associated Press the arrests were made possible after 13 raids in three of the country’s departments. They included Rigoberto Román Miranda Orozco, the alleged ringleader of the smuggling gang whose extradition has been requested by the United States.
Rigoberto Roman Miranda Orozco, the ringleader of various Guatemalans accused of having smuggled 53 migrants from Mexico and Central America who died of asphyxiation in 2022 in Texas, sits in a cell at a courtroom in Guatemala City on August 21, 2024.
Moises Castillo / AP
Police also seized vehicles and cash and rescued other migrants during the operations, they said in a statement.
“This is a collaborative effort between the Guatemalan police and Homeland Security, in addition to other national agencies, to dismantle the structures of human trafficking, one of the strategic objectives of the government President Bernardo Arévalo in order to take on the phenomenon of irregular migration,” Jiménez said.
Six people were charged previously.
Homero Zamorano Jr., who authorities say drove the truck, and Christian Martinez were arrested shortly after the migrants were found. Both are from Texas. Martinez later pleaded guilty to smuggling-related charges. Zamorano pleaded not guilty to smuggling-related charges and is awaiting trial. Four Mexican nationals were also arrested in 2023.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement at the time that, “Human smugglers prey on migrants’ hope for a better life — but their only priority is profit. Tragically, 53 people who had been loaded into a tractor-trailer in Texas and endured hours of unimaginable cruelty lost their lives because of this heartless scheme. Human smugglers who put people’s lives at risk for profit and break our laws cannot hide for long: We will find you and bring you to justice.”
Authorities have said the men were aware that the trailer’s air-conditioning unit was malfunctioning and wouldn’t blow cool air to the migrants trapped inside during the sweltering, three-hour ride from the border city of Laredo, Texas to San Antonio.
Mourners visit a makeshift memorial to honor the victims and survivors of a human smuggling tragedy in 2022 in which dozens of migrants were found dead or dying in a tractor-trailer a week prior in San Antonio.
Eric Gay / AP
When the trailer was opened in San Antonio, 48 migrants were already dead. Another 16 were taken to hospitals, where five more died. The dead included 27 people from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala and two from El Salvador.
Authorities have alleged that the men worked with human smuggling operations in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and shared routes, guides, stash houses, trucks and trailers, some of which were stored at a private parking lot in San Antonio.
Migrants paid the organization up to $15,000 each to be taken across the U.S. border. The fee would cover up to three attempts to get into the country.
Orozco, the alleged ringleader, was arrested in the Guatemalan department of San Marcos, on the border with Mexico. The other arrests occurred in the departments of Huehuetenango and Jalapa. The police identified the gang as “Los Orozcos” because several of those arrested are family members and carry that surname.
“Said organization illegally housed and transferred hundreds of migrants of different nationalities to the United States, collecting millions of quetzales (the national currency) through several years of operation,” the Guatemalan government said.
The number of migrant apprehensions have dropped dramatically since the beginning of the year. Adam Yamaguchi visited the U.S.-Mexico border near Tucson, Arizona, to find out what’s working.
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RANDALL’S ISLAND (WABC) — A woman was killed and two other people were injured in a shooting on Randall’s Island.
It happened near Field 71 just after 3:30 a.m. on Monday.
Police say the 44-year-old woman died after being shot in the face and back. She is believed to be a migrant from Venezuela.
Detectives believe the shooting stemmed from the robbery of a necklace. The victim was dancing and does not appear to be the intended target.
Many of those gathered on the field at the time of the shooting were Venezuelans, and the gathering appears to have started as a celebration of Sunday’s election results reelecting Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
A 31-year-old woman was shot in the lower back and a 32-year-old man was hit in the throat. They also taken to Harlem Hospital where they are in stable condition.
Police established two separate crime scenes on the island after first arriving to an area near the the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. Their investigation led them to Field 7 near the city-run migrant shelter.
Authorities say they are looking for at least two men. One of the suspects fled on a moped and the other was able to get away in a vehicle with New Mexico license plates.
No arrests have been made.
Randall’s Island Park Alliances Summer Camp, a free program for 350 to 400 children 6-12 years old, was canceled Monday due to the shooting. It will also be canceled on Tuesday.
Police have logged rising complaints of general lawlessness around the shelter.
On Monday, police impounded more than a dozen unregistered cars and scooters linked to asylum seekers at the shelter.
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John Dickerson reports on the new immigration policy affecting asylum seekers at the southern border, NATO military exercises in the Baltic region, and what’s behind the slew of liberal arts schools shutting down.
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John Dickerson reports on an executive order that could restrict asylum processing at the southern border, the historic election outcome in Mexico, and what’s really behind the dark web.
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The Biden administration on Thursday announced an effort to shorten the time it takes for U.S. immigration judges to decide the asylum cases of certain migrants who enter the country illegally along the border with Mexico.
Migrant adults released by federal border officials after crossing into the U.S. unlawfully will be eligible to be placed in the program, under a joint initiative between the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, which oversees the nation’s immigration courts.
The effort’s objective, senior U.S. officials said, is to speed up the process of granting asylum to migrants with legitimate cases, and rejecting weak cases. Federal officials under Republican and Democratic administrations have said the current years-long timeframe to decide asylum cases serves as a “pull factor” that attracts migration by economic migrants, who don’t qualify for humanitarian protection, but who often use the asylum system to work in the U.S.
Over the past years, the backlog of cases received by the immigration courts has ballooned, leading to wait times that often surpass four years. Fewer than 800 immigration judges are overseeing more than 3.5 million unresolved cases.
Single migrant adults who plan to live in five major U.S. cities — Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City — could be selected for the new process, which will instruct immigration judges to issue decisions within 180 days, instead of years.
Since the Obama administration, the U.S. has set up several similar programs, colloquially known as “rocket dockets.” While officials have portrayed them as ways to discourage illegal immigration, advocates have said the rocket dockets trample on migrants’ due process by making it more difficult for them to secure lawyers in time for their hearings.
The scope of Thursday’s announcement was not immediately clear, as U.S. officials declined to provide an estimate of the number of migrants who would be placed in the fast-track proceedings. Ten judges have been assigned to the program, one of the officials said during a call with reporters.
The latest rocket docket is the most recent step taken by the Biden administration to curtail unlawful border crossings, which spiked last year to record levels. Last week, the Biden administration published a proposed rule that would allow immigration officials to more quickly reject and deport asylum-seeking migrants who are deemed to endanger public safety or national security.
Last year, the administration implemented a regulation that presumes migrants are ineligible for U.S. asylum if they enter the country illegally after failing to request refuge in another country. It paired that policy with a vast expansion of avenues for some would-be migrants to enter the U.S. legally.
President Biden, who has increasingly embraced more restrictive border policies, has also been considering a more sweeping measure that would further restrict asylum for those entering the U.S. illegally. The move, which would rely on a presidential authority known as 212(f), would almost certainly face legal challenges.
Administration officials have argued they are exploring unilateral immigration actions due to the collapse of a border security agreement that the White House forged with a bipartisan group of senators earlier this year. While the deal would have severely restricted asylum and increased deportations without legalizing unauthorized immigrants, most Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, rejected it outright.
“This administrative step is no substitute for the sweeping and much-needed changes that the bipartisan Senate bill would deliver, but in the absence of congressional action we will do what we can to most effectively enforce the law and discourage irregular migration,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement Thursday.
The Biden administration has faced unprecedented levels of migration along the southern border, including over two million migrant apprehensions in each of the past two years.
Migrants line up to be transferred by U.S. Border Patrol after having crossed the Bravo River in El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico, on April 18, 2024.
HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images
In recent months, however, migrant crossings have plunged, bucking historical patterns that have seen migration soar in the spring. Last month, Border Patrol recorded nearly 129,000 migrant apprehensions, down from 137,000 in March, according to government data. U.S. officials have credited increased deportations and an immigration crackdown by Mexico for the surprising drop.
Jason de Leon has spent years studying undocumented migration and border concerns, trying to understand why people would leave their homes in search of new ones. The reasons can include climate change, poverty and violence, and in his newest book, Leon dives into clandestine border crossings like never before. Dana Jacobson has more.
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London — The British parliament passed a law late Monday that will mean asylum seekers arriving on British shores without prior permission can be sent to Rwanda and forbidden from ever returning to the U.K. The British government says the law will act as deterrent to anyone trying to enter the U.K. “illegally.”
The contentious program was voted through after the U.K.’s Supreme Court ruled it to be unlawful, and it has been condemned by human rights groups and the United Nations refugee agency.
King Charles III, who now must give the Rwanda bill his royal ascent to make it an official law, reportedly criticized the plan as “appalling” almost two years ago as it took shape.
Hours after the law was passed, French officials said at least five people drowned, including a child, in the English Channel during an attempt to make it to the U.K. on an overcrowded small boat.
Why would the U.K. send asylum seekers to Rwanda?
The Rwanda plan was put together by Britain’s Conservative government in response to a number of migrant and asylum seeker arrivals on British shores in small boats from France.
With local asylum programs underfunded and overwhelmed, the government has been housing asylum seekers in hotels, where they are effectively trapped and unable to work until their claims are processed, which can take years. These hotels cost the government around 8 million pounds — almost $10 million in taxpayer money — every day to rent, according to CBS News partner BBC News.
A protester holds a placard mocking the government’s Rwanda plan for asylum seekers during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, March 13, 2024.
Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government says the Rwanda policy will act as a deterrent to prevent migrants and asylum seekers from trying to reach the U.K. in the first place.
What is the U.K.’s Rwanda law?
The new policy will give Britain’s immigration authorities power to send any asylum seeker entering the U.K. “illegally” after January 2022 to Rwanda. Those individuals can also be forbidden from ever applying for asylum in the U.K.
It will apply to anyone who arrives in the U.K. without prior permission — anyone who travels on a small boat or truck — even if their aim is to claim asylum and they have legitimate grounds to do so.
These people can, under the new law, be immediately sent to Rwanda, 4,000 miles away in East Africa, to have their asylum claim processed there. Under the law they could be granted refugee status in Rwanda and allowed to stay.
What are the issues with the Rwanda law?
The law has been the subject of intense controversy and political wrangling.
In November 2023, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled the program was unlawful and violated the European Convention on Human Rights, because it said genuine refugees would be at risk of being deported back to their home countries, where they could face harm. The judgment also cited concerns with Rwanda’s human rights record.
The final legislation passed late Monday orders the court to ignore parts of the Human Rights Act and other U.K. and international rules, such as the Refugee Convention, that would also block the deportations to Rwanda, the BBC reported.
Rights groups have said they will launch legal challenges against deporting people to Rwanda as quickly as possible. This could delay any removal flights.
More than a thousand migrants gathered outside City Hall during joint hearing on Black newcomer experience.
Dean Moses
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Two Council committees representing immigration and hospitals held a joint hearing Tuesday that focused on the experiences of newly arrived Black migrants, drawing a crowd of more than a thousand migrants and newcomers outside City Hall.
City Council Members Alexa Avilés, Mercedes Narcisse and others critical of the mayor’s handling of the migrant crisis grilled members of the Adams administration on efforts being taken to address a myriad of issues pertaining to Black newcomer needs. According to the council members at the hearing, newcomers from countries including Guinea, Haiti, Senegal and others have faced significant problems in accessing shelter and city services as they integrate into the city.
These problems, the council members said, include language access barriers, cultural competency challenges and health needs.
Nearly 200,000 migrants have flooded into NYC since 2022, many arriving from Latin American countries and Africa. The mass influx has resulted in growing economic and humanitarian crises that has had local, state and federal politicians pointing fingers.
“Today’s hearing centers the experience of Black immigrants in NYC and has turned out over 1,000 people,” Avilés, who is chair of the council’s Committee on Immigration, posted on X, formerly Twitter. “We must uproot the anti-Blackness that plagues our systems of Care. This work requires dedication, creativity and a city willing to fund our short, mid and long-term needs.”
Migrants gather outside City Hall in lower Manhattan. Photo by Dean Moses.
Migrants gather outside City Hall
The gathering outside City Hall grew because, law enforcement sources said, many attendees apparently believed they would receive work visas, a misunderstanding spread on social media. The crowd eventually disbursed in peace while the hearing inside City Hall went on.
Several people from Black migrant and immigrant communities were invited inside to participate in the hearing by giving testimonies on their personal experiences in New York City. One man spoke through an interpreter and explained that he is facing many challenges here after leaving his native Guinea.
“I’m here for political reasons,” the man said. “I was a prisoner in my country and that’s why I fled here. I’ve had a lot of difficulties since I arrived in New York City. I have difficulty finding lodging. I’ve had health problems. And I’ve had a terrible time finding legal representation.”
Advocates for Black migrants and newcomers were also in attendance and demanded more funding for immigrant support services.
Migrants gather outside City Hall in lower Manhattan. Photo by Dean Moses.
Council members demanded answers from the administration about what is being done to alleviate the challenges faced by immigrants whose first language is not English.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said language barriers pose big problems for Black immigrant communities, especially when it comes to housing and other city services.
“Language accessibility is a lifeline for immigrants and opens doors to legal services, housing, economic empowerment and other opportunities,” Williams said. “Many of these migrants are navigating an entirely new city, culture, language and systems after what may have been a long and harrowing journey just to get here.”
Discussions about language centered around the successes and shortcomings of We Speak, a city program that helps newcomers from other countries learn English.
New Arrivals Strategy Team
As the marathon hearing continued throughout the day, NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams announced more details about the city’s New Arrivals Strategy Team, a set of experts who will “improve the overall response” to the growing number of migrants arriving in the city.
Members of the team include an advisory board with members who have backgrounds in government, education and public affairs, as well as stakeholders from the areas of language access, children, youth and young adult services, shelter, housing and resettlement, culture and social connections, health and hunger, legal services and support, among others.
According to Adams, the team will evaluate government and non-profit responses to the latest wave of migration into the city.
“In the past two years, tens of thousands of people have come to New York City in search of safety and a better life,” the speaker said. “Managing their arrival and supporting their success has come with challenges, exposing longstanding deficiencies in our social safety net and delivery of city services.”
Bogota, Colombia — A small boat full of decomposing corpses was spotted by fishermen off Brazil’s northeastern coast on Saturday, according to local news reports. Brazil’s Attorney General’s office said in a statement that it had dispatched a forensics team to the area to determine where the bodies and the boat came from.
“Some reports say there could be up to 20 corpses” in the boat, the Attorney General’s office said in a statement. The office announced it was opening a criminal and a civil investigation into the incident.
The boat was floating off the coast of the state of Para in a remote location about 185 miles from the state capital Belem.
It wasn’t the first time that vessels carrying dead bodies were spotted by fishermen in the western side of the Atlantic Ocean. In 2021, at least seven boats full of corpses washed up in Brazil and the Eastern Caribbean.
Boots are placed on the ground by police officers as they inspect a boat in which 15 Malians were found dead and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, in an Aug. 20, 2020 file photo taken on Gran Canaria island, Spain.
Emilio Morenatti/AP
Investigations by The Associated Press and local authorities determined that some of these boats carried the corpses of African migrants who were trying to make it to the Canary Islands, but had missed their target and had drifted for weeks in the Atlantic Ocean.
