Tag: border

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Politics

DHS chief says that border problem is extra acute than earlier than

DHS chief says that border challenge is more acute than before

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a press conference at the White House in Washington on March 1, 2021.

Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday the surge in unaccompanied minors on the U.S.-Mexico border is an unprecedented challenge as action has been taken under former President Donald Trump as critics accuse the current White House of not up To be prepared for a humanitarian crisis is the nation’s doorstep.

“There was a system in both the Republican and Democratic governments that was torn down during the Trump administration, and so the challenge is more acute than ever,” Mayorkas told CNN’s State of the Union.

Mayorkas appeared on CNN, NBC and Fox on Sunday to defend President Joe Biden’s administration as it scrutinized the record number of children held in prison-like customs and border guards, including thousands over the legal limit of 72 Hours go out.

The Biden administration reversed a Trump-era policy of expelling unaccompanied minors arrested at the border and instead admitting them to the United States for processing. Republicans, Democrats and human rights activists have criticized the conditions in which children are being held.

Critics said the policy change has encouraged unaccompanied children to make the dangerous journey at a time when the U.S. does not have the infrastructure to properly care for them.

Mayorkas has previously said there is no crisis on the border, despite admitting the US is well on its way to meeting more people on the southwest border than it has ever done in the past two decades.

The Biden administration has set up the Federal Emergency Management Agency to quickly place children under the care of the Department of Health and Human Services until they are placed with a family member in the US or with a sponsor while their immigration cases progress.

NBC News and other media outlets have been denied access to the facilities where unaccompanied children are held. Requests for photos inside the facilities were also denied.

Mayorkas said on Sunday that his department will allow the media access to Border Patrol facilities if it can be done safely under Covid-19’s health protocols. The Trump administration gave media access to facilities at the height of the controversy over its child segregation policy in 2018.

After visiting a border agency, Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Wrote on Twitter Friday that he “fought back” the tears and spoke to a 13-year-old girl who, through an interpreter, explained “how scared she was after seeing them had been.” separated from her grandmother and without her parents. “

Mayorkas, who was urged to set a time frame for the control of the border situation by the federal government, refused. He said the goal is to be able to meet the 72-hour time limit as quickly as possible.

“I have repeatedly said from the start that a border guard station is not a place for a child, and that’s why we are working around the clock to get these children out of the border guards and into the care of the children. Ministry of Health and Human Services, that protects them, “said Mayorkas.

According to NBC News, 5,049 unaccompanied children were in CBP detention as of Saturday.

Mayorkas said the Biden administration’s approach was more humane than Trump’s. On Murphy’s tweet, Mayorkas said the 13-year-old girl would have been removed from the United States under the previous administration.

“We will not give up our values ​​and principles. We will not give up the needs of vulnerable children. That is what this is about,” Mayorkas said.

In addition to the challenges caused by the Trump administration, the DHS secretary also cited the Covid-19 crisis as a complicating factor.

“We are in the middle of a pandemic and that makes operations a lot more difficult,” he said.

In each of the three networks in which he appeared on Sunday, Mayorkas repeated that the border was “closed”. He told the migrants not to attempt to cross the US-Mexico border at this time.

“We urge – and the message is clear – urgently not to do this now. I cannot exaggerate the dangers of the journey you are making,” Mayorkas said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

The situation on the border makes it difficult for the Democrats to reform bipartisan immigration.

The House of Representatives passed two bills last week that would pave the way for citizenship or the legal status of millions of undocumented immigrants, but the legislature faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

A more ambitious comprehensive immigration reform package, backed by the White House and introduced in Congress in February, appears to be receiving less support.

Mayorkas was confirmed by the Senate on February 2nd with 56-43 votes.

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World News

Migrant Households at U.S.-Mexico Border Deported by Shock

Migrant Families at U.S.-Mexico Border Deported by Surprise

When 149 migrants were taken to a bridge by US border guards, they had no idea where they were being taken. Many broke down crying when they learned they were back in Mexico.

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico – They arrived in groups of 30, children dangling from adults’ arms, and were escorted across the Paso del Norte bridge by United States border guards on Thursday afternoon until they reached halfway point. Then they were handed over to the Mexican authorities.

“Where are we?” A father asked a journalist at the New York Times.

“Ciudad Juarez” came the answer.

The father, who had not been told where he and the rest of the migrant group were being taken by US officials, looked confused.

“Mexico,” the journalist clarified.

Faces twisted from confusion to fear. Many of the parents began to sob and tears of frustration fell on the children who cradled them.

“You betrayed us!” yelled one parent.

“They promised they would help us!” another moaned.

Most of the 149 migrants brought across the bridge on Thursday had entered the United States from Reynosa, a border town in northern Mexico, where they were arrested by US border guards. They were then flown 600 miles to El Paso, Texas, where they were put on buses, driven to the border, and walked to the bridge.

No one was informed that they were being sent back to Mexico.

As they crossed the bridge that connected El Paso to Ciudad Juarez, they realized that everything they had risked on their journey – their lives, the well-being of their children, the loans they had bankrupted themselves – was for them to take up smuggling the United States – fell apart.

Below, Elvin Bautista Pérez (26) from Honduras and his daughter Mía (5) are trying to text his family after the deportation.

Vilma Iris Peraza, 28, struggled to carry Erick, her 2-year-old, pantless, in a dirty diaper, and her daughter Adriana, 5.

Adriana was standing in a pool of vomit on top of the bridge when Mexican officers surrounded her. The braids that Mrs. Peraza had so diligently woven into her daughter’s hair were a frizzy mess. The mother wanted her daughter to look her best for her new life in America.

Mrs. Peraza tried to comfort Adriana and gave her a sip of water when Erick wiggled in her arms. Eventually she collapsed on the bridge, hugged her children and cried.

“We couldn’t get through my dear,” Ms. Peraza told her husband on the phone when she was finally able to connect. “Here in Mexico we all cry. I don’t know what we’re gonna do. “

The family from Copán, Honduras, had tried days earlier to reunite with Ms. Peraza’s husband in Nashville. They have been a family divided since he left to work in Tennessee two years ago. The smugglers had billed them $ 12,000 to cross – the equivalent of nearly three years’ salary in Honduras – and they no longer minded huddled on the bridge.

“I just want to reconnect with my husband to give our children a better future,” said Ms. Peraza. “There is a lot of poverty in my country, nothing can be done.”

Above, US Customs and Border Protection officers escort migrants back to Mexico at the border crossing in Ciudad Juarez.

It had taken many of the migrants a month or more to complete the dangerous migration from Central America to the United States.

The dangerous journey was worth it, many had argued, as long as they could settle in America. They did not want to leave their homes, but their countries were broken under corrupt governments that neglected them and allowed gangs to rule the streets.

Now they were in Mexico with bad options: give up everything and return home or try to cross illegally again. Both decisions left them at the mercy of the Mexican criminal networks.

Another migrant asked a Times journalist about the situation in Juarez, one of Mexico’s most dangerous border towns.

“How is this town?” he asked. “Is it safe to go out?”

Migrants are loaded into vans to be taken to emergency shelters in Juárez.

Elvin Bautista Pérez, 26, clutched his daughter as he tried to get a reception on his phone to share the disappointing news with family members.

He and Mía, 5, had left their home in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, in January for the United States.

Mr Bautista said he never wanted to be an immigrant, never wanted to leave his family to learn a new language and new customs. He had found a way to live with the poverty and corruption that had plagued Honduras since childhood. But then, within a few weeks, two powerful hurricanes hit Honduras, leaving him unemployed and homeless in November.

“They deceived us because they never told us in the US that they would deport us,” said Bautista.

Mrs. Peraza downstairs with her children.

Mexican officials led the migrants from the bridge to their offices, where they were registered and said they would be taken to emergency shelters pending deportation home.

But the shelters were for those whose limits of despair had been reached. Among the crowd of migrants, there were still the hopeful, those who did not run out of money or who were determined to try again to cross. Instead of filling out the government forms, they slipped out of the chaotic offices onto the streets of Juarez.

A yellow sports car and a family appeared out of nowhere was led to the back seat. They had called their coyote or people smuggler to pick them up at government offices. As soon as everyone was packed into the car – as conspicuous as the coyotes are bold – the family sped off to try the dangerous crossing again.

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Business

Border opening, vaccine passes wanted for restoration

Border opening, vaccine passes needed for recovery

Clement Kwok, CEO of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, said easing border restrictions and introducing vaccination cards will be critical to revitalizing the hardest-hit hotel industry.

His comments come after the company, which owns and operates a number of luxury hotels, reported a net loss of $ 250 million for 2020.

Kwok told CNBC that the group has reopened its luxury brand Peninsula Hotel in all locations except New York, but it is still at 20% to 40% occupancy. A more meaningful recovery depends on easing travel restrictions due to Covid.

“Further recovery will depend on the implementation of travel protocols and the increase in vaccinations,” Kwok said Thursday.

“We certainly hope that as vaccinations increase, there will be a protocol that if vaccinated, travel restrictions may be lower,” he said, referring to so-called “vaccination cards” for vaccinated travelers. “We hope so and look forward to it,” said Kwok.

A vaccination record is digital documentation that shows that a person has been vaccinated against a virus, in this case Covid-19.

The exterior of the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong.

Prism of Dukas | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Currently, the group, whose flagship hotel is in Hong Kong, is largely dependent on local businesses and promotes a range of stays and experience packages.

“We were able to maintain a certain level of business during this time,” said Kwok. “But what we really need most is to see an opening.”

Putsch halts development of Yangon

In Southeast Asia, the military coup in Myanmar, which led to weeks of bloody protests, brought the construction of a planned new plot of land on the peninsula in the capital Yangon to a standstill.

“There’s really not much work going on in Yangon right now,” said Kwok, noting that the group would rethink both its immediate and long-term plans for the property.

If you know you will be investing for 100 years, you will have highs and lows during that time, and you need to have the staying power to get through the lows for the highs to come.

Clement Kwok

Managing Director, Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels

The budget for the renovation of the hotel, which is located in the former Myanmar Railways Company building, a Grade I listed building from the 1880s, has already increased from $ 90 million to $ 130 million.

The property is adjacent to Yoma Central, a larger commercial and residential development that is also in the works.

“These cost increases were not the material that affected the work and supply chain until Covid,” said Kwok. “But even now that the website is closed, we have to assess what impact this will have on costs.”

“Full steam ahead” in London, Istanbul

Even so, Kwok said the group is “in full swing” with the opening of two additional locations in London and Istanbul.

While construction on the properties has been delayed due to Covid restrictions, Kwok said the delay was a few months rather than years and both locations are well on their way to opening in 2022.

“We don’t want to delay any of the openings in view of the timing of the global recession,” said Kwok.

“When we go to a hotel, we think of 100 years. If you know that you will invest 100 years, you will have ups and downs during that time, and you must have the staying power to get through the lows, with the ups come. “

Categories
Health

China relaxes border restrictions for individuals who acquired China-made vaccines

China relaxes border restrictions for those who received China-made vaccines

Travelers walk through Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, China on Tuesday August 25, 2020.

Yan Cong | Bloomberg | Getty Images

China is making it easier for foreigners vaccinated with Chinese-made coronavirus vaccines to enter the country after closing its borders to international travel more than a year ago due to Covid-19.

Several Chinese embassies around the world – including those in the US, UK, India, Israel and the Philippines – posted notices on Monday setting out how foreigners can apply for visas to enter China.

However, the instructions only apply to those who have been fully vaccinated with China-made Covid-19 vaccines and have the vaccination certificate to prove it.

People with a valid residence permit can enter China without a new visa. Those without Chinese vaccines can also apply for visas, but need stronger reasons or specific documents to meet the requirements.

Vaccine nationalism is a possibility that cannot be ruled out in the absence of further explanations.

Chong Ja Ian

Associate Professor of Political Science

Chong Ja Ian, Associate Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore, discussed possible reasons for China’s move.

“Vaccine nationalism is a possibility that cannot be ruled out in the absence of further explanations,” he told CNBC in an email.

Chong also said some observers suggest that this is a way for China to get more use and recognition of its vaccines, or to get countries to approve their vaccines faster.

China has developed five vaccines, and 34 countries have approved at least one Chinese vaccine, according to CNBC’s calculations based on a Covid-19 vaccine tracking site.

For comparison, the Pfizer BioNTech shot was approved in 72 countries, while the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine was approved in 74 countries.

Chinese vaccines have met with some skepticism as information is less readily available compared to that of Western pharmaceutical companies.

Covid-19 was first reported in China in the city of Wuhan before it spread to the rest of the world. The coronavirus is mostly under control in China right now, but the country’s borders have remained largely closed to foreigners.

entry requirements

Notices were worded differently from each embassy, ​​but in general, foreigners from certain countries who have been fully vaccinated with Chinese vaccines require fewer documents to apply for a visa. You are also allowed into the country for more reasons – although tourism is not one of them.

For example, the Chinese Embassy in the UK said those who apply for business will no longer need to submit invitation letters from provincial governments or ministries of commerce. Those without a Chinese vaccine still need to produce a letter of invitation to apply, based on the visa requirements announced in November.

China also expanded the scope of those eligible to apply for a humanitarian visa. Those from the UK who wish to travel to the country to reunite with the family can apply now once they have taken the Chinese recordings.

Without the Chinese vaccine, UK foreigners can only apply for entry if a family member is in critical condition and in need of care, or if they have funeral affairs to do in China.

The country’s quarantine measures of up to 21 days will continue to apply if relevant and negative Covid tests have to be presented. Applicants should wait 14 days after receiving a China-made vaccine before applying for a visa to enter China.

Categories
Politics

Pelosi calls kids arriving at U.S.-Mexico border a ‘humanitarian disaster’

Pelosi calls children arriving at U.S.-Mexico border a ‘humanitarian crisis’

House Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks to the media during a briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 11, 2021.

Joshua Roberts | Reuters

House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Said Sunday the influx of unaccompanied children on the US-Mexico border was a “humanitarian crisis” and the result of former President Donald Trump’s policies.

Pelosi’s remarks came a day after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would begin housing and transferring children arriving at the southern border.

“The Biden administration is trying to fix the broken system that was left to them by the Trump administration,” Pelosi told reporters on Sunday. “The Biden government will have a system based on doing the best possible job and understanding that this is a humanitarian crisis.”

President Joe Biden’s administration has stopped calling the situation on the border a crisis.

On his first day in office, Biden put an end to Trump’s declaration of an “emergency” on the southern border that the former president had used as a legal mechanism to divert additional funds towards building a wall.

During a press conference at the White House earlier this month, Mayorka told reporters that he did not believe the situation at the border was a crisis.

“The answer is no,” said the DHS secretary. “I think there is a challenge at the border that we manage and we have put our resources into it.”

Biden campaigned for a sweeping reversal of Trump’s tough immigration policies, but a growing number of children in customs and border protection has challenged the burgeoning administration.

More than 3,700 children have been in CBP detention since last week, a record number, with around 450 arrested daily, according to CNN. Many of these children are being held in facilities similar to prisons, according to the outlet.

The Trump administration has been screened for its treatment of children trying to enter the US via Mexico.

The Republicans have tried to portray the Democrats as low immigration. On Monday, House minority chairman Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Is due to travel to the southern border with a delegation of Republicans, Axios reported.

McCarthy wrote a letter to Biden on March 5 saying he felt “compelled to express great concern about the way your administration is approaching this crisis,” adding that he “had the hope that we can work together to solve them “.

On the previous Sunday, Pelosi said on ABC’s “This Week” that the increase in unaccompanied children arriving at the border was “a humanitarian challenge for all of us”.

“What the government has inherited is a broken system on the border and they are working to correct that in the interests of the children,” Pelosi said.

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World News

Truck Jam Eases at U.Okay. Port Days After France Reopens Border

Truck Jam Eases at U.K. Port Days After France Reopens Border

LONDON – A huge truck traffic jam in the port of Dover in England continued to ease on Saturday, days after France lifted a border blockade imposed over fears of a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus that has already spread to Europe and Japan .

Up to 6,000 trucks had lined up at the height of the day-long traffic jam, and many drivers spent a bleak Christmas in their vehicles when France demanded that everyone crossing the border provide evidence of a negative coronavirus test.

“It was shocking to see things like this happening in a G7 country like Britain,” said Benjamin Richtzenhain, a traveler who crossed the Channel on Thursday. He said authorities had poor communication with those stuck in traffic and that access to water, bathrooms and blankets was restricted.

The misery in the harbor added to a general feeling of darkness that permeated the holiday season in the country. Christmas came barely a week after the government announced the presence of a rapidly spreading variant of coronavirus that swept the country and imposed widespread lockdowns and other severe restrictions.

A short-term Brexit deal with the European Union on Thursday meant the UK narrowly avoided getting out of the bloc without an agreement, but also brought home a sense of isolation. And dozen of countries have restricted travel from the UK in hopes of ruling out the new variant of the virus and disrupting plans during one of Europe’s biggest holidays.

Despite the new restrictions around the world, the virus variant has already spread to France, Spain and Japan. According to Japanese media, the Japanese government banned non-Japanese nationals from entering the country on Saturday to prevent the new tribe from spreading.

On Saturday morning, officials from the UK Transport Department said that since Wednesday when authorities prepared the tests, at least 1,600 vehicles had remained in traffic jams near the port, while at least 8,000 had crossed the English Channel via the Eurotunnel.

At the port, officials worked hard on Saturday to test the remaining drivers in hopes of deleting the backup. More than 15,526 were tested, 36 of which were positive, the department said.

Hundreds of other military personnel were deployed on Friday to step up testing efforts and distribute food and water provided by a number of organizations.

But almost a week after the blockades of the sea, rail and air routes, the scale of the task made it impossible to predict when the delays would improve and whether the drivers would spend another day in limbo and sleep another night in their trucks would.

Thousands of police officers, civilian testers, council planners and dock workers gave up their Christmas celebrations to reunite drivers with loved ones, said Grant Shapps, the UK’s transport secretary, who praised their efforts.

London airports were fairly quiet on Saturday and there were no signs of a rush the day after the United States imposed new restrictions on people flying in from the UK. From Monday, passengers to the United States will have to provide evidence of a negative coronavirus test.

A Heathrow Airport spokesman said Saturday is not expected to have a large number of travelers and that the day after Christmas is usually a quiet day of travel.

Categories
World News

New Covid pressure leaves UK remoted, 1,500 vehicles stranded at border

New Covid strain leaves UK isolated, 1,500 trucks stranded at border

The French borders have been closed at the entrance to the port of Dover because of a new COVID-19 strain in the Eastern Dock, where the cross-channel port is located. Ferries to Calais in France will depart on December 21, 2020. Kent, UK.

Andrew Aitchison | In pictures via Getty Images

French and British officials are working to lift a ban on freight traffic imposed by France amid fears across the continent of a new strain of coronavirus identified in the UK

France activated the 48-hour border closure on Monday and 1,500 trucks were stuck in Kent on Tuesday morning that couldn’t leave the UK, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said Tuesday.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has urged drivers not to travel through the affected counties of Kent, Sussex and Hampshire. Passenger ferry and freight services also ceased in the major ports of Dover and Portsmouth, leaving several thousand ferry travelers stuck.

Meanwhile, more than 40 countries have ceased transport links with the UK after a variation in the coronavirus – which health officials say could be up to 70% more transmissible – was sweeping the country.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has effectively canceled Christmas plans for much of the country, subjecting around 17 million people to strict lockdown rules. The coronavirus has already killed more than 67,000 people in the UK

Patel told the BBC on Tuesday morning that “a solution” to the freight disruption is to be found between Britain and France.

“You will hear about developments and updates later today,” she said, adding that part of the consideration was having truck drivers tested for Covid-19 in ports. Any resolution would have to be agreed by Johnson and French President Emmanual Macron and would start on Wednesday, said the French European Minister.

Transport for goods coming to the UK from France was still ongoing, a Eurotunnel representative said Monday evening, and unaccompanied cargo trailers could still be shipped to France, Shapps said. The current ban applies to accompanied cargo.

The news and the Christmas blackout have sparked panic buying and resulted in empty supermarket shelves in some parts of the UK. Shapps said stores were still well stocked, but major UK chain Sainsbury’s warned that if the disruption persists, there could be shortages of certain fresh foods in a matter of days.

The crisis comes just nine days before the UK ends its transition period with the European Union after voting to leave the bloc in 2016. At the time of writing, neither side had reached a new trade agreement.