DEL RIO, Texas: More than 6,000 Haitians and other migrants have been removed from an encampment at a Texas border town, US officials said Monday as they defended a strong response that included immediately expelling migrants to their impoverished Caribbean country and using horse patrols to stop them from entering the town.
Calling it a “challenging and heartbreaking situation,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued a stark warning: “If you come to the United States illegally, you will be returned. Your journey will not succeed, and you will be endangering your life and your family’s life.”
Isaac Isner, 30, and his wife Mirdege, took wet clothing off their 3-year-old daughter Isadora after crossing the Rio Grande to Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, Monday afternoon. They had been in Del Rio, Texas, for seven days but decided to return to Mexico after a friend showed cellphone video of the US expelling migrants.
“They were putting people on a bus and sent them to Haiti just like that without signing anything,” Isner said.
His family has an appointment this month with Mexico’s asylum agency in the southern city of Tapachula, and they think they could be safe in Mexico.
Most migrants, however, still haven’t made up their minds.
“We don’t know what we’re going to do,” said a second Haitian man, who declined to give his name but said he crossed into Mexico Monday for food, leaving his wife and child in Del Rio. “The US is deporting and now Mexico won’t just sit back and do nothing. We don’t know where to go.”
Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister, said about 15 percent of the Haitian migrants in Mexico have accepted refuge there. So far this year, about 19,000 Haitian migrants have requested asylum in Mexico.
“Mexico does not have any problem with them being in our country as long as they respect Mexico’s laws,” he said.
Mexico was busing Haitian migrants from Ciudad Acuña Sunday evening, according to Luis Angel Urraza, president of the local chamber of commerce. Mexico’s immigration agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But a federal official told The Associated Press on Sunday that the plan was to take the migrants to Monterrey, in northern Mexico, and Tapachula, in the south, with flights to Haiti from those cities to begin in coming days.
Mayorkas and US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said they would look into agents on horseback using what appeared to be whips and their horses to push back migrants at the river between Ciudad Acuña and Del Rio, a city of about 35,000 people roughly 145 miles (230 kilometers) west of San Antonio where thousands of migrants remain camped around a bridge.
Both officials said during an afternoon news conference they saw nothing apparently wrong based on the widely seen photos and video. Mayorkas said agents use long reins, not whips, to control their horses. Ortiz, the former chief of the Del Rio sector, said it can be confusing to distinguish between migrants and smugglers as people move back and forth near the river. The chief said he would investigate to make sure there was no “unacceptable” actions by the agents.
“I don’t think anyone seeing that footage would think it acceptable or appropriate,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said when asked about the images at a nearly simultaneous briefing. She deemed the footage “horrific” and said the matter would be investigated.
Later Monday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement calling the footage “extremely troubling” and promising a full investigation that would “define the appropriate disciplinary actions to be taken.”
Mayorkas said 600 Homeland Security employees, including from the Coast Guard, have been brought to Del Rio. He said he has asked the Defense Department for help in what may be one of the swiftest, large-scale expulsions of migrants and refugees from the United States in decades.
He also said the US would increase the pace and capacity of flights to Haiti and other countries in the hemisphere. The number of migrants at the bridge peaked at 14,872 on Saturday, said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a labor union that represents agents.
“When it was reported that were flights going back to Haiti, it got around almost immediately,” he said. “There has been talk that some of them are going to go back (to Mexico) but we have not seen very much movement.”
The rapid expulsions were made possible by a pandemic-related authority adopted by former President Donald Trump in March 2020 that allows for migrants to be immediately removed from the country without an opportunity to seek asylum. President Joe Biden exempted unaccompanied children from the order but let the rest stand.
Any Haitians not expelled are subject to immigration laws, which include rights to seek asylum and other forms of humanitarian protection. Families are quickly released in the US because the government cannot generally hold children.
More than 320 migrants arrived in Port-au-Prince on three flights Sunday, and Haiti said six flights were expected Tuesday. The US plans to begin seven expulsion flights daily on Wednesday, four to Port-au-Prince and three to Cap-Haitien, according to a US official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Flights will continue to depart from San Antonio but authorities may add El Paso, the official said.
The only obvious parallel for such an expulsion without an opportunity to seek asylum was in 1992 when the Coast Guard intercepted Haitian refugees at sea, said Yael Schacher, senior US advocate at Refugees International whose doctoral studies focused on the history of US asylum law.
Similarly large numbers of Mexicans have been sent home during peak years of immigration but over land and not so suddenly.
Central Americans have also crossed the border in comparable numbers without being subject to mass expulsion, although Mexico has agreed to accept them from the US under pandemic-related authority in effect since March 2020. Mexico does not accept expelled Haitians or people of other nationalities outside of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
In Mexico, local authorities of border municipalities have asked for help from state and federal authorities. Claudio Bres, the mayor in Piedras Negras, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Ciudad Acuña, told local media that the official agreement is to turn back all the buses with migrants to prevent them from reaching the border. He said that last weekend around 70 buses passed through his town.
Haitians have been migrating to the US in large numbers from South America for several years, many having left their Caribbean nation after a devastating 2010 earthquake. After jobs dried up from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, many made the dangerous trek by foot, bus and car to the US border, including through the infamous Darien Gap, a Panamanian jungle.
Some of the migrants at the Del Rio camp said the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse make them afraid to return to a country that seems more unstable than when they left.
“In Haiti, there is no security,” said Fabricio Jean, a 38-year-old Haitian who arrived in Texas with his wife and two daughters. “The country is in a political crisis.”
But Mayorkas defended his recent decision to grant Haitians temporary legal status due to political and civil strife in their homeland if they were in the United States on July 29, but not to those being sent back now.
“We made an assessment based on the country conditions ... that Haiti could in fact receive individuals safely,” he said.
Six flights were scheduled to Haiti on Tuesday — three to Port-au-Prince and three to the northern city of Cap-Haitien, said Jean Négot Bonheur Delva, Haiti’s migration director.
Some migrants said they were planning to leave Haiti again as soon as possible. Valeria Ternission, 29, said she and her husband want to travel with their 4-year-old son back to Chile, where she worked as a bakery’s cashier.
“I am truly worried, especially for the child,” she said. “I can’t do anything here.”
US officials defend expulsion of Haitians from Texas town
https://arab.news/4kmna
US officials defend expulsion of Haitians from Texas town
One million Bangladeshis make public pledge to boycott Israel-linked products
- Dhaka protest was the largest Palestine solidarity rally in Bangladesh’s recent history
- Protesters call for reinstating the ‘except Israel’ clause in Bangladeshi passports
DHAKA: More than 1 million Bangladeshis assembled on the streets of Dhaka on Saturday to join the country’s largest Gaza solidarity rally and take a public oath to boycott products and entities linked to Israel.
Waving the flags of Bangladesh and Palestine and chanting “Free Palestine,” “Stop the Israeli aggression,” and “Boycott Israeli products,” residents of the country’s capital flocked to the Suhrawardy Udyan — the main public space — for the “March for Gaza” demonstration.
Organized by the Palestine Solidarity Movement Bangladesh, the event featured politicians, celebrities, artists, poets and popular social media influencers, who joined in a call on world leaders to bring to justice Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others responsible for Israel’s mass killing of Palestinian civilians.
Political leaders present at the event called for international accountability and immediate action to end Israel’s deadly onslaught on Gaza, where over 50,900 people have been killed, 116,000 wounded, and 2 million others face starvation after Israeli forces destroyed most of the region’s infrastructure and buildings, while blocking humanitarian aid from entering.
A joint declaration read during the rally called on the international community to “take effective and collective action to end the genocide,” and especially on Muslim countries to immediately sever all economic, military, and diplomatic relations with Israel and to “impose commercial blockades and sanctions on the Zionist state” and begin active diplomatic efforts to isolate it on the international stage.
“We will boycott every product, company, and force that sustains Israel’s occupation ... We will start from our own homes, leaving an imprint of this pledge in language, history, education, economy, and society,” said the declaration read by Mahmudur Rahman, editor of the Amar Desh daily newspaper, who helped organize the event.
It was the largest Palestine solidarity rally in Bangladesh in recent history.
“More than a million people actually gathered today. According to the police, they have said probably it was 1.1 million,” Rahman told Arab News.
“It was a huge gathering, but it was so peaceful ... This is some sort of example for the entire world. It was peaceful and it was in favor of humanity. Because it’s not only a question of Islam — we were protesting against the inhuman genocide (perpetrated by) the Israeli regime. So, this protest is for the humanity. We have asked the Muslim Ummah to get united to free Palestine.”
The protesters also called on the government to reinstate the “except Israel” clause in Bangladeshi passports, which had barred nationals from traveling to Israel. Even though Bangladesh has no diplomatic relations with Israel, the clause was removed in 2021 by the previous administration of Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in a popular uprising last year.
Participants at the rally said they already follow many aspects of Saturday’s declaration — especially the boycott call.
“I stopped buying Israeli products from the very beginning of this latest round of Israeli aggression, which started about a year and a half ago. I even stopped buying Coca-Cola, though it’s a very popular and well-known drink here. This is my personal way of protesting against Israel — as an individual,” said Arman Sheikh, a businessman in Dhaka.
“This kind of boycott can definitely make a difference. There’s nothing stronger than the power of the masses.”
Nasrin Begum, a teacher, said she has been trying to avoid global brands for their possible links with Israel, instead choosing local alternatives.
“Before purchasing cosmetics, now I always google about their origin. If anything in my search shows a connection to Israel, I avoid those products,” she said.
“It’s not very difficult to find a suitable substitute for Israeli-linked goods. It’s an open market economy. We can get any products from anywhere in the world. It’s all about our mindset and determination. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I continued purchasing Israeli-linked goods after all the atrocities they are committing.”
Asiatic Society employs AI to decipher ancient Indian manuscripts
- Society has 52,000 rare manuscripts, many of which still have not been deciphered
- Project Vidhvanika in collaboration with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing
NEW DELHI: The Asiatic Society in Kolkata is using AI transcription and machine learning to decipher ancient manuscripts in its archives and make them accessible to scholars worldwide.
Founded in 1784, during British colonial rule, the Asiatic Society is one of India’s oldest research institutions and is dedicated to the study and preservation of history, culture, and languages.
Many of the society’s more than 52,000 rare manuscripts and historical documents have not previously been deciphered. The society launched its Vidhvanika (“decoding knowledge”) project in December to digitize them and to develop language models for ancient scripts.
“Work needs to be done on the majority of the manuscripts,” Anant Sinha, administrator of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, told Arab News. “We are working with three scientists. Besides that, I have my reprography team involved in the scanning, and then there’s the expert team, which includes specialists in different languages, scripts, and subjects.”
The project is also being supported by the Center for Development of Advanced Computing, India’s premier IT research and development organization.
The society’s manuscript collection spans a wide range of subjects — including Indian history, literature, philosophy, religion, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and art — and of languages, including Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Tamil, Bengali, and other regional languages of India.
Decoding the manuscripts requires an understanding of the scripts, their language, the styles used in historical documents, the historical context, and the subject matter. There are few active, specialized paleographers and manuscript scholars conducting such work and research, not only in India but across the world.
“The motive behind this project is very simple and clear: the language, the script and the subject — generally you require knowledge of these three to understand a manuscript, (and) the people who have (that) knowledge are very few. We are developing machine language (models), so that you can use software or an app to read the manuscripts,” Sinha said.
He estimated the current accuracy of the models at about 40 percent, as the machine learning process continues.
“Our plan is to take it to 90 percent to 95 percent. It will never have 100 percent accuracy,” Sinha said. “It is a machine, it’s not a human. It’s learning what you are teaching it, so you have to give that leeway ... It will be an ongoing process because the machine language (model) keeps improving itself.”
The Vidhvanika project was launched on the 225th anniversary of the birth of James Prinsep, an English scholar and a former secretary of the society who is credited with deciphering the Kharosthi and Brahmi scripts of ancient India.
That feat played a crucial role in uncovering the history of the ancient Mauryan Empire that ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent during the 4th century BCE.
Vidhvanika, Sinha believes, may help save other languages that played a role in the region’s history from being forgotten.
“We must make an effort to understand what is in those manuscripts and what our ancestors have left for us,” he said. “Brahmi and Kharosthi are languages of this continent, and we ourselves have forgotten that. If we (are again at risk of losing) some script or some language, then we will require another James Prinsep to decipher it.”
Indian army officer, 3 suspected militants killed in Kashmir fighting
- India says militants were trying to infiltrate from Pakistan’s Azad Kashmir
- India, Pakistan each administer parts of Kashmir but claim territory in entirety
SRINAGAR, India: Three suspected militants and an army officer have been killed in two separate gunbattles in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the Indian army said Saturday.
Army soldiers laid a cordon in a forested area in southern Kishtwar district on Wednesday following a tip that a group of insurgents was operating there, an army statement said.
A search in the area by soldiers led to a firefight with militants, initially leaving one militant dead late Wednesday, the statement said.
It added that despite inclement weather, troops maintained their cordon in the area, triggering more exchanges of gunfire that resulted in the killing of two more militants on Saturday.
The army did not report any casualties on its side.
However, in another incident, the Indian army said its soldiers in southern Akhnoor area intercepted a group of militants close to the heavily militarized Line of Control dividing the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan late Friday.
Fighting ensued during which one army officer was killed, it said.
The statement said militants were trying to infiltrate into the Indian side from Pakistan’s Azad Kashmir.
There was no independent confirmation of either of the incidents.
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989.
Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored “terrorism.”
Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
The territory has simmered in anger since 2019 when New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms while intensifying counterinsurgency operations.
Bomb strikes near the Athens offices of the Greek railway company. No injuries reported
- The explosion comes amid widespread public anger over a 2023 railway disaster, Greece’s worst, in which 57 people were killed
ATHENS: A bomb planted near the offices of Hellenic Train, Greece’s main railway company, exploded Friday night in a busy district of central Athens, authorities said. There were no reports of injuries.
The explosion comes amid widespread public anger over a 2023 railway disaster, Greece’s worst, in which 57 people were killed and dozens more injured when a freight train and a passenger train heading in opposite directions were accidentally put on the same track.
Local media said a newspaper and a news website had received an anonymous call shortly before Friday’s blast, with the caller warning that a bomb had been planted outside the railway company offices and would explode within about 40 minutes.
In a statement, Hellenic Train said the explosion had occurred “very close to its central offices” and said the blast had caused limited damage and no injuries to any employees or passers-by.
It said authorities had acted immediately upon receiving information about the warning call, and that the company was cooperating fully with authorities and ensuring the safety of its staff.
Police cordoned off the site along a major avenue in the Greek capital, keeping residents and tourists away from the building in an area with several bars and restaurants. Officers at the scene said a bag containing an explosive device had been placed near the Hellenic Train building on Syngrou Avenue.
Police forensics experts wearing white coveralls were collecting evidence at the scene.
Criticism over the government’s handling of the Feb. 28, 2023 collision at Tempe in northern Greece has mounted over the last few weeks in the wake of the second anniversary of the disaster, which killed mostly young people who had been returning to university classes after a public holiday.
The crash exposed severe deficiencies in Greece’s railway system, including in safety systems, and has triggered mass protests — led by relatives of the victims — against the country’s conservative government. Critics accused authorities of failing to take political responsibility for the disaster or holding senior officials accountable.
So far, only rail officials have been charged with any crimes. Several protests in recent weeks have turned violent, with demonstrators clashing with police.
Earlier Friday, a heated debate in Parliament on the rail crash led to lawmakers voting to refer a former Cabinet minister to judicial authorities to be investigated over alleged violation of duty over his handling of the immediate aftermath of the accident.
Hellenic Train said it “unreservedly condemns every form of violence and tension which are triggering a climate of toxicity that is undermining all progress.”
Greece has a long history of politically-motivated violence dating back to the 1970s, with domestic extremist groups carrying out small-scale bombings which usually cause damage but rarely lead to injuries.
While the groups most active in the 1980s and 1990s have been dismantled, new small groups have emerged. Last year, a man believed to have been trying to assemble a bomb was killed when the explosive device he was making exploded in a central Athens apartment. A woman inside the apartment was severely injured. The blast had prompted Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis to warn of an emerging new generation of domestic extremists.
What we know about the New York City helicopter crash that killed 6 people
- Pieces of the aircraft could be seen floating in the river Friday as divers resumed searching for clues as to the cause of Thursday’s crash
- The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. In addition to the pilot, those killed included a family of five from Spain
NEW YORK: A New York City sightseeing helicopter broke apart and crashed into the Hudson River near the New Jersey shoreline, killing the pilot and a Spanish family of five who were on board.
Pieces of the aircraft could be seen floating in the river on Friday as divers searched for clues about what caused the Thursday crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. It’s the latest in a series of recent aircraft crashes and close calls that have left some people worried about the safety of flying in the US
Here’s what we know so far:
How did it happen?
Witnesses described seeing the helicopter’s tail and main rotor breaking away and smoke pouring from the spinning chopper before it slammed into the water.
The helicopter took off from a downtown heliport at around 3 p.m. and flew north along the Manhattan skyline before heading south toward the Statue of Liberty. Less than 18 minutes into the flight, parts of the aircraft were seen tumbling into the water.
Rescue boats circled the submerged aircraft within minutes of impact, and recovery crews hoisted the mangled helicopter out of the water just after 8 p.m. using a floating crane.
The bodies were also recovered from the river, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said.
Who were the victims?
The victims included passengers Agustin Escobar, 49, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, and their three children, Victor, 4, Mercedes, 8, and Agustin, 10. Mercedes would have turned 9 on Friday, officials said.
Escobar, an executive at Siemens, was in the New York area on business, and his family flew in to meet him for a few days, Steven Fulop, mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, wrote in a post on X. Photos on the helicopter company’s website show the couple and their children smiling just before taking off.
In a statement posted on the social platform X on Friday night by Joan Camprubí Montal, Montal’s brother, family members said there were “no words to describe” what they are experiencing.
“These are very difficult times, but optimism and joy have always characterized our family. We want to keep the memory of a happy and united family, in the sweetest moment of their lives,” he said. “They have departed together, leaving an indelible mark among all their relatives, friends, and acquaintances.”
The pilot was Seankese Johnson, 36, a US Navy veteran who received his commercial pilot’s license in 2023. He had logged about 800 hours of flight time as of March, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters Friday.
In the summer of 2023, Johnson announced on Facebook that he was flying a helicopter to fight fires for a Montana-based firm. In March this year, he changed his profile to an image of him piloting a helicopter with a view of One World Trade Center and the Manhattan skyline in the background.
His father, Louis Johnson, told The New York Times his son had moved to New York this year for “a new chapter in his life.”
What may have caused the crash?
Hemendy said the NTSB would not speculate on the cause of the crash so early in the investigation.
The main and rear rotors of the helicopter, along with its transmission, roof and tail structures had still not been found as of Friday, she said.
“We are very factual, and we will provide that in due course,” she said.
Justin Green, an aviation lawyer and former Marine Corps helicopter pilot, said videos of the crash suggest that a “catastrophic mechanical failure” left the pilot with no chance to save the aircraft. It is possible the helicopter’s main rotors struck the tail boom, breaking it apart and causing the cabin to free fall, Green said.
Michael Roth, who owns the helicopter company, New York Helicopter, told The New York Post that he doesn’t know what went wrong with the aircraft.
“The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter,” he said, noting that he had never seen such a thing happen in his 30 years in the business, but that, “These are machines, and they break.”
What do we know about the helicopter company?
In the last eight years, the New York Helicopter has been through a bankruptcy and faces ongoing lawsuits over alleged debts. Phones rang unanswered at the company’s offices Friday.
In 2013, one of the company’s helicopters suddenly lost power in midair, and the pilot maneuvered it to a safe landing on pontoons in the Hudson.
FAA data shows the helicopter that crashed Thursday was built in 2004. According to FAA records, the helicopter had a maintenance issue last September involving its transmission assembly. The helicopter had logged 12,728 total flight hours at the time, according to the records.
How common are such crashes?
At least 38 people have died in helicopter crashes in New York City since 1977. A collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson in 2009 killed nine people, and five people died in 2018 when a charter helicopter offering “open door” flights went down into the East River.
Thursday’s crash was the first for a helicopter in the city since one hit the roof of a skyscraper in 2019, killing the pilot.
Recently, seven people were killed when a medical transport plane plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood. The crash in January happened two days after an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter collided in midair in Washington in the deadliest US air disaster in a generation.
On Friday, three people were killed when a small plane crashed in South Florida near a major highway.
