NEW YORK: US immigration agents increasingly are detaining unauthorized migrants in or near places once considered “safe” like courthouses and churches, spreading panic among migrants and outrage among activists.
Since taking office on an “America First” agenda, President Donald Trump has made immigration a policy cornerstone, granting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents broad authority to detain and deport unauthorized migrants.
The massive deportations feared under Trump have not materialized — in fact, deportation numbers are similar to those under former President Barack Obama.
However, ICE agents are now targeting places that used to be respected as sanctuaries of sorts, and have dropped guidelines urging a focus only on serious criminals.
The result: All undocumented migrants can be equally targeted.
One recent high-profile detention was of ‘Dreamer’ Daniela Vargas, 22, who was born in Argentina and came to the US as a child.
When ICE agents came to her home to arrest her father and brother, both undocumented migrants, Vargas escaped by hiding in a closet.
The agents however got a second chance on Wednesday after Vargas spoke out against deportations at a press conference in Jackson, in the southern state of Mississippi.
“Disturbing that ICE may have followed her from an immigration news conference,” wrote Democratic Sen. Ricard Durbin on Twitter, commenting on Vargas’ quick arrest.
Vargas had been living in the US protected by a 2012 decree signed by Obama known as DACA. The decree authorizes people who were brought into the country as children, and grew up as Americans, to remain and work in the US.
Some 750,000 young people, known as ‘Dreamers,’ signed up for the program.
Vargas, however, let her ‘Dreamer’ status expire, and was working to save money to pay the renewal fee when ICE agents swooped in and detained her.
According to Vargas’ attorneys, ICE agents plan to deport her without a hearing with an immigration judge.
“ICE has no shame,” said Yatziri Tovar, another ‘Dreamer’ who works for the pro-immigrant NGO Make the Road New York.
“This rogue agency has now detained another Dreamer —apparently, for exercising her First Amendment rights,” she said, a reference to the right under the US constitution to freedom of expression.
Trump has said contradictory things about the DACA program since taking office on Jan. 20.
During the presidential campaign he insisted that he was not ready to give them an “illegal amnesty,” but in mid-February he said he will “show great heart” in dealing with ‘Dreamers.’
“Donald Trump can try to confuse people as much as he likes by saying nice things about Dreamers,” said Tovar, “but the fact is that the agency he oversees is now targeting immigrant youth and tearing them from their families.”
Her group demands Vargas’ “immediate release.”
The government says that Vargas is not entitled to a hearing because “she’s a visa waiver program overstay,” attorney Patricia Ice, who heads a local immigration rights group, told AFP.
US immigration authorities did not respond to AFP’s request to comment on the case.
Emboldened by Trump’s decree — which authorizes immigration agents to deport even undocumented people suspected of crimes they have not been charged with — authorities recently detained people seeking shelter on a cold winter day at a church in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside the US capital.
Also taken into custody for deportation: A woman who went to court in El Paso, Texas to file a complaint about domestic abuse.
In another recent case agents boarded an domestic flight that landed at New York’s JFK airport and checked every passenger’s identification documents.
“There is certainly a more aggressive attitude by immigration agents as they feel they will no longer be held accountable if they target ‘sensitive areas’ as churches, schools, etc were often called,” said Cesar Vargas, the first openly undocumented New York attorney.
“Trump has giving the agents a blank check to do as they see fit with almost unfettered discretion granted to the agents. Looks like Trump is fine with targeting violent criminals and mothers,” said Vargas, founder of the DREAM Action Coalition which supports immigration reform.
The biggest fear of the 11 million undocumented migrants in the US is to have their families broken up.
Jeanette Vizguerra, another woman fleeing from ICE agents attempting to deport her, has taken refuge in a Denver, Colorado church with her three young children.
“I’m ready to sacrifice whatever is necessary to be with my children,” Vizguerra, 47, told AFP.
Also arrested in recent weeks was Mexico-born Daniel Ramirez Medina, a 23 year-old ‘Dreamer’ living in Seattle, in the northwestern state of Washington.
ICE agents detained Ramirez, who came to the US at the age of seven, even though his DACA authorization was still valid.
Immigration agents swept into his home to pick up his father, and claimed that Ramirez confessed to belonging to a gang.
Ramirez, who has no criminal background, denies the charges.
US agents in aggressive sweep for unauthorized migrants
US agents in aggressive sweep for unauthorized migrants
New EU chiefs visit Kyiv on first day of mandate
- The European Union’s new leadership team is keen to demonstrate it remains firm on backing Kyiv at a perilous moment for Ukraine
- Questions are swirling around the future of US support once Donald Trump assumes office in January
Kyiv: The EU’s new top diplomat Kaja Kallas and head of the European Council Antonio Costa arrived in Kyiv Sunday in a symbolic show of support for Ukraine on their first day in office.
“We came to give a clear message that we stand with Ukraine, and we continue to give our full support,” Costa told media outlets including AFP accompanying them on the trip.
The European Union’s new leadership team is keen to demonstrate it remains firm on backing Kyiv at a perilous moment for Ukraine nearly three years into its fight against Russia’s all-out invasion.
Questions are swirling around the future of US support once Donald Trump assumes office in January and there are fears he could force Kyiv to make painful concessions in pursuit of a quick peace deal.
Meanwhile, tensions have escalated as Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to strike government buildings in Kyiv with his new Oreshnik missile after firing it at Ukraine for the first time last month.
The Kremlin leader said the move is a response to Kyiv getting the green light to strike inside Russia with American and British missiles, and he has threatened to hit back against the countries supplying the weaponry.
As winter begins Russia has also unleashed devastating barrages against Ukraine’s power grid and on the frontline Kyiv’s fatigued forces are losing ground to Moscow’s grinding offensive.
“The situation in Ukraine is very, very grave,” Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, said. “But it’s clear that it comes at a very high cost for Russia as well.”
Ceasefire?
The new EU leaders — the bloc’s top officials along with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen — were set to hold talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky on Friday appeared to begin staking out his position ahead of any potential peace talks.
He called on NATO to offer guaranteed protections to parts of Ukraine controlled by Kyiv in order to “stop the hot stage of the war,” and implied he would then be willing to wait to regain other territory seized by Russia.
“If we speak ceasefire, (we need) guarantees that Putin will not come back,” Zelensky told Britain’s Sky News.
Kallas said that “the strongest security guarantee is NATO membership.”
“We need to definitely discuss this — if Ukraine decides to draw the line somewhere then how can we secure peace so that Putin doesn’t go any further,” she said.
Diplomats at NATO say there appears little prospect of the alliance granting Ukraine membership soon given opposition from a raft of members cautious of getting dragged into war with Russia.
Kallas said the EU “shouldn’t really rule out anything” in terms of the question of sending European troops to help enforce any ceasefire.
“We should have this strategic ambiguity around this,” she said.
’Transactional language’
Trump has cast doubt on continuing Washington’s vast aid for Ukraine and called on EU countries to do more.
Europe together has spent around $125 billion on supporting Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, while the United States alone has coughed up over $90 billion, according to a tracker from the Kiel Institute.
Kallas said the EU would use a “transactional language” to try to convince Trump that backing Kyiv was in the interest of the US.
“Aid for Ukraine is not charity,” she said. “A victory for Russia definitely emboldens China, Iran, North Korea.”
The new EU foreign policy chief said the bloc would continue seeking to put Ukraine in the “strongest” position — if and when Kyiv chose it was time to negotiate with Moscow.
But she conceded that it was becoming “increasingly difficult” for the 27-nation bloc to agree on new ways to ramp up support for Ukraine.
“This war has been going on for quite some time and it is harder and harder to explain it to our own people,” she said. “But I don’t see any option.”
Russian drones target Kyiv in overnight strike
- Russia has regularly sent missiles and drones at Ukrainian settlements far beyond the front line
KYIV: Russia launched attack drones at Kyiv in its latest overnight air strike on the Ukrainian capital, city officials said on Sunday.
Air defenses destroyed around a dozen drones over the city, according to military administrator Serhiy Popko. No injuries were reported after debris fell on one city district, he said.
Reuters correspondents heard explosions above the city later in the morning during the second air-raid alert of the day.
Russia has regularly sent missiles and drones at Ukrainian settlements far beyond the front line of its nearly three-year-old invasion, targeting the energy grid in particular as winter sets in.
War has no winners, Taiwan president says in visit to Hawaii
- Taiwan President Lai Ching-te is making a sensitive two-day trip to Hawaii
- He is on his way to three Pacific island nations that maintain formal ties with Taiwan
TAIPEI: War has no winners and peace is priceless, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Saturday in Hawaii after visiting a memorial to the attack on Pearl Harbor on a trip to the United States that has angered Beijing.
Lai is making a sensitive two-day trip to Hawaii that is officially only a stopover on the way to three Pacific island nations that maintain formal ties with Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.
Speaking to members of the overseas Taiwan community and Hawaii politicians, including members of Congress Ed Case and Jill Tokuda, Lai referred to his visit to the USS Arizona Memorial earlier in the day and laid a wreath in memory of those who died in the 1941 Japanese attack.
“Our visit to the memorial today in particular reminds us of the importance of ensuring peace. Peace is priceless and war has no winner. We have to fight — fight together — to prevent war,” Lai said in English, in a speech carried live on television in Taiwan.
As Lai was attending the event, China said it had complained to Washington for arranging for his transit through US territory, while vowing “resolute countermeasures” against a potential arms sale to Taiwan that the US announced hours before Lai started his trip.
China’s foreign ministry lodged “stern representations” over the transit, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement.
“We are firmly opposed to official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan, and we are firmly opposed to the ‘transit’ of leaders of the Taiwan region to the United States under any name and for any reason,” it said.
Security sources have told Reuters that China could launch a new round of war games around Taiwan in response to his visit, his first overseas trip since assuming office in May, having won election in January.
China has staged two rounds of major war games around Taiwan so far this year.
In his speech Lai switched to Taiwanese, also known as Hokkien, and said that by uniting together, all difficulties could be overcome. “Taiwan’s democracy can become a model for the international community,” he said.
Lai and his government reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims and say they have a right to visit other countries.
After Hawaii, Lai will go to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, with another stopover in the US territory of Guam. Hawaii and Guam are home to large US military bases.
Turmoil overshadows Romania vote as far right hopes to gain ground
BUCHAREST: Still reeling from this week’s shock developments, Romanians return to the polls to elect their parliament on Sunday, with the far right tipped to win, potentially heralding a shift in the NATO country’s foreign policy.
Romania was thrown into turmoil after a top court ordered a recount of the first round of last week’s presidential election won by Calin Georgescu, a little-known far-right admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Despite accusations of Russian influence and alleged interference via TikTok, Sunday’s parliamentary elections were going ahead as planned.
While the recounting of more than nine million ballots appeared to proceed quickly, people on the streets of Bucharest expressed worries about the recent twists and turns.
“What’s going on now doesn’t seem very democratic,” Gina Visan told AFP at a Christmas market in Bucharest.
“They should respect our vote. We’re disappointed, but we’re used to this kind of behavior,” said the 40-year-old nurse, echoing voter’s distrust in traditional parties.
Polling stations open at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and close at 9:00 pm, with an exit poll due to be published shortly afterwards.
The first official results are expected later in the evening.
Amid allegations of irregularities and possible interference in the election, concerns over the transparency of the electoral process have emerged, with independent observers being denied access to the recount.
According to Septimius Parvu of the Expert Forum think-tank, the recount order by Romania’s Constitutional Court had “many negative effects,” including undermining confidence in institutions.
“We’ve already recounted votes in Romania in the past, but not millions of votes, with parliamentary elections in the middle of it all,” said Parvu.
“No decision made during this crucial period should limit the right of Romanians to vote freely nor further put at risk the credibility of the election process,” the US embassy in Romania stressed.
But the top court’s decision is likely to boost the far right, Parvu said.
The NATO member of 19 million people has so far resisted rising nationalism in the region, but experts say it faces an unprecedented situation as anger over soaring inflation and fears of being dragged into Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine have mounted.
George Sorin in Bucharest said he hopes the far right will score well, claiming the current parliament had mostly served the interests of “Brussels and Ukraine” instead of “national interests.”
Outgoing President Klaus Iohannis said Sunday’s vote would determine Romania’s future — whether it will “remain a country of freedom and openness or collapse into toxic isolation and a dark past.”
Romania’s political landscape has been shaped by two major parties for the past three decades, but analysts predict a fragmented parliament to emerge from Sunday’s vote, influencing the chances of forming a future government.
Polls show that three far-right parties are predicted to claim more than 30 percent of the vote share combined.
Among them is the AUR party, whose leader George Simion won nearly 14 percent of the presidential vote, which actually topped the latest polls on more than 22 percent.
“We are here, standing, alive, more numerous than ever, and with a huge opportunity ahead of us,” Simion — a fan of US President-elect Donald Trump — recently told his supporters.
The Party of Young People (POT), which was founded in 2023 and has meanwhile thrown its support behind Georgescu, could reach the five-percent threshold to enter parliament and there is also the extreme-right SOS Romania party, led by firebrand Diana Sosoaca.
In recent years, around 30 percent of Romanians have embraced far-right views, even if they have not always voted for them in elections.
Elena Lasconi’s pro-European USR party has warned that the country faces “a historic confrontation” between those who wish to “preserve Romania’s young democracy” and those who want to “return to the Russian sphere of influence.”
The ruling Social Democrats (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL), which suffered a defeat in the presidential ballot, have centered their campaigns on their “experience.”
“The political scene is completely reset,” said political scientist Remus Stefureac, adding that 2025 “will be extremely complicated in terms of security risks.”
UK business confidence lowest since COVID-19 pandemic, IoD says
- The IoD survey took place between Nov. 15 and Nov. 27 and was based on 601 responses, mostly from small businesses
LONDON: Britain’s Institute of Directors said on Sunday that optimism among its members had fallen to the lowest since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, following tax rises in finance minister Rachel Reeves’ first budget on Oct. 30.
Investment plans and employment intentions were the weakest since May 2020 last month, while a gauge of business leaders’ optimism sank to its lowest since April 2020 at -65, down from -52 in October.
“As businesses continue to absorb the consequences of the Budget for their business plans, confidence has continued to plummet,” IoD Chief Economist Anna Leach said.
“Far from fixing the foundations, the Budget has undermined them, damaging the private sector’s ability to invest in their businesses and their workforces,” she added.
The IoD report adds to a chorus of complaints by businesses since the budget and other signs of an economic slowdown.
Last week Reeves promised the Confederation of British Industry that she would not be “coming back with more borrowing or more taxes” at future budgets.
Reeves announced 40 billion pounds ($51 billion) of tax rises at the budget, including a 25 billion pound increase in employers’ annual social security contributions.
Labour had only pointed to around 8 billion pounds of tax rises before the election and Reeves blamed the extra increases in large part on what she said was an unexpectedly poor fiscal legacy left by the previous Conservative government.
A planned tightening of employment laws was also likely to increase costs for employers, the IoD said.
The IoD survey took place between Nov. 15 and Nov. 27 and was based on 601 responses, mostly from small businesses.
