Editor’s Note: Here’s a look at this week’s U.S. immigration news. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email VOA’s immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.
Biden calls decision wrong as Texas judge suspends immigration reform policy
A Texas judge on Monday ordered a 14-day administrative stay of a policy designed to simplify the process for spouses of U.S. citizens to obtain legal status in the country, a major blow to one of President Joe Biden’s biggest immigration reforms. Judge J. Campbell Barker granted the 14-day administrative stay Monday in a case brought by Republican attorneys general from 16 U.S. states challenging the policy. Agence France-Presse reports.
Biden revives 4-nation immigration program with tighter controls
The Biden administration is restarting an immigration program that allows migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to come to the United States, and includes “additional vetting” of their U.S.-based financial sponsors following concerns about fraud. The Department of Homeland Security suspended the program earlier this month to investigate the concerns, but said an internal review found no widespread fraud among sponsors. The Associated Press reported.
Harris vows tougher approach on immigration, backs arms shipments to Israel
Vice President Kamala Harris has pledged a tougher approach to migrant smuggling along the U.S. southern border and said she would not withhold arms from Israel, in her first interview with a major media outlet since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. In the interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash, Harris sought to show she has a handle on the issues and give Americans a sense of where she stands with just over two months to go until Election Day on Nov. 5.
Immigration in the world
Panama deports Ecuadorian migrants in second US-backed flight
Panamanian authorities have expelled a group of migrants to Ecuador aboard a second U.S.-funded flight, part of a U.S.-Panama deal aimed at deterring irregular crossings and reducing the flow of migrants, mostly to the United States. The flight carrying 30 Ecuadorians took off late Thursday for the coastal city of Manta, Ecuador, Panama’s migration agency said, adding that the migrants were expelled for evading a migration checkpoint on the popular Darien Gap route.
Smallpox outbreak in Africa poses risks to refugees and displaced communities
United Nations agencies warn that refugees and displaced communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries who report MPOX infections are at particular risk of illness and death because of the conditions in which they are forced to live. Lisa Schlein, VOA reporter from Geneva.
More food and other aid for millions of starving Sudanese
Progress in the first round of U.S.-brokered Sudan peace talks is growing, the U.S. special envoy to Sudan said. The talks wrapped up Friday in Geneva. VOA reporter Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.
For Senegalese dreaming of Europe, the deadly Atlantic route is not a deterrent
Salamba Ndiaye was 22 when she first tried to reach Spain, dreaming of a career as a real estate agent. Unbeknownst to her parents, she managed to board a small fishing pirogue, but Senegalese police intercepted the boat before it could leave. A year later, she tried again to leave the coast, but this time a violent storm forced the boat to stop in Morocco, where she and the other passengers were sent back to Senegal, the Associated Press reports.
Germany repatriates first group of Afghan refugees since Taliban takeover
A group of 28 asylum seekers were repatriated Friday from Germany to Afghanistan after being deported on criminal charges. The deportees, aboard a charter flight, arrived in the capital Kabul, where Taliban authorities quickly detained them for investigation and blocked journalists from entering the airport, witnesses said. The Taliban did not immediately comment on the fate of the repatriated Afghans or whether the repatriation was the result of a mutual agreement between Kabul and Berlin. Ayaz Gul reports for VOA.
13 dead after boat capsizes off Yemen, migration agency says
Thirteen people died and 14 others are missing after a boat capsized off Yemen on Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration said on Sunday.
The migrant boat, carrying 25 Ethiopians and two Yemenis, was sailing off the coast of Taiz governorate in southwestern Yemen, IOM said.
News in brief
— U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced the opening of an international office in Quito, Ecuador, on September 10. The Quito international office will focus on increasing refugee processing capacity, consistent with USCIS’ commitments under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and helping reunite individuals with family members in the United States.
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