The Good Place or The Bad Place?

'No child should be away from their mom': Trump policies make it nearly impossible for refugees to come to US Danae King USA TODAY COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Amina Olow holds her breath as she dials her aunt, the only hope she has of reaching her daughters,15-year-old Nemotallah and 13-year-old Nestexo. The phone rings and rings before a relative answers. The girls, Olow asks. The girls are not home, the voice on the other line says. Olow rests her forehead in her hand and stares down at the phone in exasperation. Olow lives in Columbus, Ohio, 7,000 miles away from her oldest daughters, who live in Kenya. She hasn’t lived with them in 13 years, separated by immigration delays that seemingly have no end in sight. She wasn’t there to buy them their first hijab, cuddle them to sleep after nightmares or celebrate their good grades in school. Amina Olow and her four youngest children at their home in Columbus, Ohio, Feb.11, 2020. Her two oldest daughters are in Kenya. “It’s tough, it...

MATAMOROS, Mexico — A butter yellow sun rose over the crowded tent camp across the river from Texas and a thick heat baked the rotten debris below, a mixture of broken toys, human waste and uneaten food swarming with flies. Clothing and sheets hung from trees and dried stiff after being drenched and muddied in a hurricane the week before. As residents emerged from the zipper-holes of their canvas homes that morning in August, some trudged with buckets in hand toward tanks of water for bathing and washing dishes. Others assembled in front of wash basins with arms full of children’s underwear and pajamas. They waited for the first warm meal of the day to arrive, though it often made them sick. The members of this displaced community requested refuge in the United States but were sent back into Mexico, and told to wait. They came there after unique tragedies: violent assaults, oppressive extortions, murdered loved ones. They are bound together by the one thing they share in common — ha...

The policy of separating families was a tragic mistake Border security can be achieved without callous strategies that destroy families. A boy and father from Honduras are taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the U.S.-Mexico Border on June 12, 2018 near Mission, Texas in response to the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) A boy and father from Honduras are taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the U.S.-Mexico Border on June 12, 2018 near Mission, Texas in response to the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)(John Moore / Getty Images) By Dallas Morning News Editorial 2:00 AM on Oct 24, 2020 It is hard to believe that anyone could have thought that separating children from their parents at the border wouldn’t lead to a tragedy. Yet, the Trump administration ignored warnings that nothing good could come from this policy, and now, after m...

Israel unblocks big immigration of Ethiopian Jews Published1 hour ago Ethiopian Jews arrive in Israel (21/05/20) IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES image captionEthiopian Jews have emigrated to Israel in small numbers in recent years Israel has approved a plan to bring 2,000 Ethiopian Jews to the country, marking a major step towards ending a decades-long saga over their fate. They are part of about 8,000 members of a community who have been waiting to come to Israel for years. Known as Falash Mura, their right to settle in Israel is a contentious issue as their background rules out automatic citizenship available to most Jews. Secret operations brought thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the 1980s. Many members of the Falash Mura have familial connections to that community, which is known as the Beta Israel. However, they have only been allowed to emigrate to Israel on a case-by-case basis, and thousands remain in camps in Gondar and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. media captionEthiopian Isra...

Nigerian migrant worker burned alive in Libya By Tamara Qiblawi, CNN Updated 5:46 AM ET, Thu October 8, 2020 An unflatable boat with 47 migrants on board is pictured while being rescued by the Dutch-flagged Sea Watch 3 off Libya's coasts on January 19, 2019. An unflatable boat with 47 migrants on board is pictured while being rescued by the Dutch-flagged Sea Watch 3 off Libya's coasts on January 19, 2019. (CNN)Three men stormed a factory in Tripoli, doused a Nigerian worker in petrol, and set him on fire, according to a statement by the Libyan interior ministry, in a new reported attack on migrants in the north African country. The United Nations has described the man's death "another senseless crime against migrants in the country." A statement by Tripoli's interior ministry on Wednesday said the suspects -- all Libyan nationals -- had been detained for the attack on the man, who has not been named. The ministry cited witness testimony that described the ...

Priti Patel to revamp ‘broken’ system that sends back 1 Channel migrant in 70 Steven Swinford, Deputy Political Editor | Francis Elliott, Political Editor Saturday October 03 2020, 12.01am BST, The Times Play Video Priti Patel will tell the Conservative party conference this weekend that the asylum system is broken as official figures suggest that just one in 70 cross-channel migrants has been deported. The Home Office disclosed that only 76 migrants have been deported from the UK since April. Over the same period 5,330 have made the crossing. SPONSORED 5 interiors experts share the secrets to the perfect home 5 interiors experts share the secrets to the perfect home Design that lasts a lifetime Design that lasts a lifetime On Thursday a deportation flight took off with one person, a Sudanese man, on board after 29 asylum seekers were taken off because of last-minute legal challenges. They included 18 who made applications to remain on the basis of their human rights and six who made...

Stranded migrants need safe and dignified return, says independent UN rights panel Migrants at a detention centre in the city of Zawiya, Libya. Photo: Mathieu Galtier/IRIN Migrants at a detention centre in the city of Zawiya, Libya. 1 October 2020 Human Rights Governments should immediately address the inhumane conditions in detention faced by migrant workers who are also being blamed for spreading the coronavirus, a UN panel of independent rights experts said on Thursday. ‘Left to die’ Citing reports of ill-treatment and torture “every single day in detention camps”, the UN Committee on Migrant Workers raised the alarm over facilities in Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and in North African countries, including Libya. "Migrants, mostly from African and South Asian countries, are regularly scapegoated for the spread of the coronavirus”, the panel said in a statement. It also highlighted allegations that inmates do not receive medical treatment and that “s...

Judge Blocks Trump’s Ban on Foreign Workers The court overruled limits on visas for hundreds of thousands of foreign workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Stephen Miller, the White House aide who is the architect of Mr. Trump’s immigration policy, has pushed for years to limit or eliminate many foreign worker visas, arguing that they harm employment prospects for Americans. Stephen Miller, the White House aide who is the architect of Mr. Trump’s immigration policy, has pushed for years to limit or eliminate many foreign worker visas, arguing that they harm employment prospects for Americans.Credit...Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times Miriam Jordan By Miriam Jordan Published Oct. 1, 2020 Updated Oct. 2, 2020, 2:54 a.m. ET LOS ANGELES — A federal judge ruled on Thursday that President Trump overstepped his authority in suspending new visas for hundreds of thousands of foreign workers amid the coronavirus pandemic, enabling major companies like Microsoft, Goodyear Tire and Exxon...

Trump plans to slash refugee admissions to U.S. to a new record low Abdisellam Hassen Ahmed, a Somalian refugee, arrives at Salt Lake City International Airport in 2017. Abdisellam Hassen Ahmed, a Somalian refugee, arrives at Salt Lake City International Airport in 2017.(Rick Bowmer / Associated Press) By ASSOCIATED PRESS OCT. 1, 20203:09 AM SAN DIEGO — The Trump administration has proposed further slashing the number of refugees whom the United States accepts to a new record low in the coming year. In a notice sent to Congress late Wednesday, just 34 minutes before a statutory deadline to do so, the administration said it intended to admit a maximum of 15,000 refugees in fiscal year 2021. That’s 3,000 fewer than the 18,000 ceiling the administration had set for fiscal year 2020, which expired at midnight Wednesday. The proposal will now be reviewed by Congress, where there are strong objections to the cuts, but lawmakers will be largely powerless to force changes. The reduction of ...

Asylum centre on Ascension would be ‘logistical nightmare’, says island chief updated Patrick Maguire Wednesday September 30 2020, 12.00pm BST, The Times Priti Patel asked officials to look at the possibility of putting a processing centre on the South Atlantic island Priti Patel asked officials to look at the possibility of putting a processing centre on the South Atlantic island WILL OLIVER/EPA Moving asylum seekers 4,000 miles from the UK to Ascension Island would be a “logistical nightmare” and not well received by residents, a member of the island’s council has said. Alan Nicholls’s comments came after it was reported that Priti Patel, the home secretary, had ordered officials to explore “inhumane” plans to process asylum seekers on a remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic. SPONSORED This is what companies could have done better during lockdown This is what companies could have done better during lockdown Design that lasts a lifetime Design that lasts a lifetime Mr Nicholl...

  Refugee resettlement falls to historic lows under Trump Migrants wait in a queue for food distribution near Mytilene town, on the northeastern island of Lesbos, Greece, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020. Greek authorities have been scrambling to find a way to house more than 12,000 people left in need of emergency shelter on the island after the fires deliberately set on Tuesday and Wednesday night gutted the Moria refugee camp. (Petros Giannakouris) By  Dianne Solis 5:45 AM on Sep 20, 2020 The number of refugees being welcomed into the U.S. is at historic lows even as famine, war and other violence have displaced record numbers of people around the world. And refugee advocates are worried that the Trump administration may be considering closing the door altogether. About 10,200 refugees have been resettled in the U.S. this year, down from a high of about 85,000 in the last full fiscal year of the Obama administration. President Donald Trump has steadily whittled back the flow of ref...

  Slowdown means many on the path to citizenship will not get to vote in the presidential election “We understand that COVID is a difficult environment but many institutions and entities have figured out how to work in this environment,” said one leader. Ömer Özak, a professor at SMU, on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020, in Dallas. Özak will soon become a U.S. citizen — and a first-time voter. (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer) By  Dianne Solis 6:14 AM on Sep 13, 2020 Ömer Özak will take his U.S. citizenship oath this week -- just in time to register as a voter in the contentious Nov. 3 presidential election. He’s coming in just under the wire: The Southern Methodist University economics professor was stuck in a huge backlog of more than 700,000 applications at the federal agency that vets and approves new citizens. Last fiscal year, 834,000 people became U.S. citizens. This fiscal year, the number of new citizens is expected to reach only about 600,000. “I am really looking forwar...