Tag: US immigration

Family border crossings surge to ‘crisis’ level: White House

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Families crossing the US-Mexico border illegally surged to a “crisis” level in September as Trump administration policies failed to deter the inflow of migrants from Central America, officials said Tuesday. The US Border Patrol apprehended 16,658 people who arrived in the country as families last month, some 900 more than August and nearly 12,000 more than September one year ago. The surge was reported as President Donald Trump has called […]

Pentagon hustles to jump in line with Trump’s border directive

by Thomas WATKINS Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States – Pentagon planners scrambled Wednesday to find ways to support President Donald Trump’s surprise edict that he would send “the military” to guard America’s southern border. The commander-in-chief’s seemingly off-the-cuff directive blindsided officials Tuesday, when Trump said the military would guard the frontier until “we can have a wall and proper security.” It took hours for the White House to clarify that Trump’s plan involved mobilizing the […]

Uncertain future for ‘Dreamer’ immigrants as deadline passes

by Michael Mathes Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES – The hopes of hundreds of thousands of “Dreamers” were on hold Monday as lawmakers missed an initial deadline for resolving the fate of immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that shields nearly 700,000 of the immigrants from deportation was supposed to expire on March 5, six months after President Donald Trump announced he was ending it. But a […]

US Supreme Court to take up case on Trump’s latest travel ban

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) –  The US Supreme Court said Friday it will review President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban affecting citizens from six Muslim majority countries plus North Korea and Venezuela. In what could prove decisive in a legal battle that has roiled the first year of the Trump administration, the high court will rule on whether the president exceeded his powers and engaged in religious discrimination in the third rendering of the ban. Lower courts in California, […]

US immigration agents raid 7-Eleven stores

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US immigration agents raided nearly 100 7-Eleven convenience stores around the country Wednesday, sending a warning to businesses not to hire illegal immigrants, officials said. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 21 undocumented immigrants in the raids of 7-Eleven franchises in 17 states and the capital, they said, amid a broad crackdown by the year-old administration of President Donald Trump. “Today’s actions send a strong message to US […]

Decried as Muslim ban, will Trump decree pass legal muster?

by James MANNION Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The American Civil Liberties Union and others are already lining up to challenge President Donald Trump’s revised ban on refugees and travelers from six mainly Muslim countries. But can they succeed in overturning a measure that was deliberately crafted to remove the red flags raised by US courts? That may be more difficult. This time there is unlikely to be a backdrop of airport chaos […]

Melania Trump denies violating US immigration laws

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Melania Trump, the ex-model and third wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, denied reports Thursday that questioned whether she had worked illegally as an immigrant. It is the third controversy about her in less than three weeks that the potential first lady or the Trump campaign has been forced to address as her husband inflames the political establishment with his divisive campaign for the White House. “There has […]

Mexico, Central American countries OK plan for stranded Cubans

Mexico and Central American countries approved a plan on Wednesday (January 20) for more flights that would allow thousands of Cubans stranded in Costa Rica to continue on to the United States. Regional governments meeting in Guatemala earlier this week deemed as a “success” the first pilot trip last week, when 180 Cubans flew to El Salvador, took a bus to Mexico and received transit visas to go to the U.S. border. Costa Rica’s Deputy […]

Cuban migrants cross into the U.S. from Mexico

A small group of Cuban migrants crossed into the United States on Sunday (January 17) after a month’s long journey through Central America and Mexico finally came to an end. The migrants arrived to the border city of Reynosa in northeastern Mexico near the border with Hidalgo, Texas. One of the migrants, Byron Rojas Arevalo, who arrived to Reynosa by plane, said a long and harrowing journey, which started in Ecuador, was finally coming to […]

Cuban migrants continue northward trek through Mexico to the United States

Cuban migrants continued their journey through Mexico toward the United States on Thursday (January 14), flying northward from the southernmost state of Chiapas. The migrants arrived early at the Tapachula airport and spent much of the day awaiting their flight. Migrant Sandro said they were heading toward Mexico City and then on to the border. “Now we are continuing the trip to the United States which is our final destination, toward the border. What border […]

First Cuban migrant flight to leave Costa Rica next week, officials confirm

Officials in Costa Rica on Wednesday (January 6) outlined some of the logistical details of a pilot plan to transport stranded U.S.-bound Cuban migrants out of the country. The first leg of the journey, from Costa Rica to El Salvador via airplane, is scheduled for Tuesday (January 12). A group of around 180 people will be able to leave on a flight to El Salvador on Tuesday evening, they will then have ground transportation to […]

First group of immigrants recently deported from U.S. arrive in Guatemala

A flight carrying 131 Guatemalans arrived on Wednesday (January 6) in Guatemala City with the first group of migrants from the Central American country to be deported from the United States this year. This was the first of six flights planned for the upcoming days, carrying Guatemalans who were taken into custody by U.S. authorities over the past two weeks. The deportations are part of a U.S. plan to tackle a surge in arrivals of […]