Charter business thrives as US-expelled Haitians flee Haiti
Thousands of Haitians in recent months have boarded charter flights to South America, according to flight tracking information and independent verification by The Associated Press in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley.
Special unit patrols amid ‘dangerous’ surge of migrants trying to reach South Florida shores
Agents with Air and Marine Operations, a specialized law enforcement branch of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, gave Local 10 News a firsthand view of the work they do patroling South Florida from the sky and in the water.
Haitian American politicians ask Biden to stop all deportations during ‘mass migration’
Members of the National Haitian-American Elected Officials Network met on Tuesday in Miami-Dade County to announce they will continue to send requests to the President Joe Biden administration to halt deportations of Haitian migrants.
Venezuelan and Haitian leaders call for permanent protections in light of Supreme Court ruling
Venezuelan and Haitian leaders stood together at a press conference to call for permanent protections for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders in light of a Supreme Court decision, Monday, which excluded some TPS holders from permanent residency.
Here is what Biden said during his 1st official news conference
(AP Photo/Julio Cortez) (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. Scott Applewhite) (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. “If there is complete lockdown and chaos, as a consequence of the filibuster, then we have to go beyond,” Biden said. Biden also said he is concerned about the Republican legislatures across the country that are working to pass bills to restrict voting. Biden said it is going to be hard to meet the May 1st deadline to withdraw the U.S. military from Afghanistan.
Carlos Gimenez says he saw ‘humanitarian crisis’ on trip to southern border
MIAMI – A day after touring the U.S. southern border in Texas, Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-FL District 26 described what he saw as a “humanitarian crisis.”Gimenez discussed touring a facility that housed hundreds of migrant children between the ages of 4 and 17. “It really broke my heart to see those hundreds of kids,” he said in a news conference at Miami International Airport. Ad“We feel it’s due to the change of policy of the Biden administration, and we call on the Biden administration to reverse that stance,” Gimenez said Tuesday. Gimenez says the president should visit the border. Gimenez said the group of lawmakers was also told Monday by those protecting the border that they need more Customs and Border Patrol agents and need certain portions of the border wall finished, in addition to better technology.
Lawmakers from South Florida tour border, say Biden policy leads to dangerous migrant journey
South Florida’s newest members of Congress, Reps. Maria Salazar and Carlos Gimenez toured a processing site and met families at the United States’ southern border Monday, a tour with Republican leadership blaming President Joe Biden for a migrant surge. “I spoke to a family that told me it took them 22 days to come from Honduras,” said Gimenez, R-District 26. “They were incentivized by the rhetoric, by the change of policy.”Said Salazar, R-District 27: “It’s our girls — Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua — that are being raped. It’s our girls, the children that are being trafficked.”🚨 I’m at the border 🚨We’re facing a Human Trafficking crisis! “It’s a complicated problem, no doubt about it,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Biden injected hope into Venezuela’s opposition, Guaidó's envoy says
MIAMI – Opposition leader Juan Guaidó's envoy to the United States, Carlos Vecchio, said Friday that President Joe Biden took a very important step when he granted Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelans. Ad“With this protection now we will be more stable, in order to help us to raise the voice in favor of Venezuela,” Vecchio said. The cost includes the $50 TPS fee, the $85 biometrics fee, and the $410 work permit fee. Postal service in Florida need to mail their applications to the USCIS, Attn: TPS Venezuela, P.O. Those using FedEx, UPS, or DHL need to mail them to USCIS, Attn: TPS Venezuela, 1820 E. Skyharbor Circle S., Suite 100, Phoenix, AZ 85034.
Venezuelan opposition sends message of gratitude to Biden over TPS
BOGOTA, Colombia – Members of the Venezuelan opposition continued to send messages of gratitude on Tuesday to President Joe Biden for granting Temporary Protected Status to undocumented Venezuelans in the United States. Opposition leader Juan Guaidó released a statement in Spanish saying that the TPS reaffirms the U.S. is in favor of democracy in Venezuela and it sends a message to the international community. The protection of Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. follows a similar measure implemented by Colombia last month to receive legal status. Carlos Vecchio, Guaidó's envoy in Washington, D.C., said the Biden administration has recognized Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela. https://t.co/udhKPOJuJf — Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) March 8, 2021MORE ON TPSThe designation of Venezuela for TPS and the 180-day registration period begins on Tuesday.
Miami-Dade Democrats celebrate Venezuelans’ TPS at El Arepazo
Although it doesn’t affect her status, the attorney said there is plenty to celebrate on the first day that undocumented Venezuelans will be able to apply for Temporary Protected Status. Vegas said this will allow undocumented Venezuelans who qualify for TPS to also get a driver’s license. The party at El Arepazo follows a public virtual meeting that included Sen. Bob Menendez and Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Albio Sires, Stephanie Murphy, Ted Deutch, and Darren Soto. The protection comes about a month after former President Donald Trump’s administration granted Deferred Enforced Departure for some Venezuelans. “Unilateral sanctions have generally not been effective,” Wasserman Schultz said.
Florida sues to stop Biden’s immigration directives
MIAMI – The state of Florida is suing President Joe Biden’s administration over new directives that have halted detentions of some immigrants who have served time in prison. Florida’s Attorney General Ashley Moody says the new guidance has resulted in immigration officials declining to take custody of people who have served sentences for burglary, drug trafficking and other crimes. The complaint challenges new guidance issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month that prioritizes deporting people who pose national security threats or have been convicted of more serious crimes. Florida’s lawsuit follows a similar action filed by Arizona last month that Montana joined on Tuesday.
Guaidó's envoy meets with Democrats behind Venezuelans’ Temporary Protected Status
Tuesday is the first of 180 days that Venezuelans in South Florida will be able to apply for the new Temporary Protected Status, which also allows applications for a work permit and travel authorization. The benefit comes about a month after former President Donald Trump’s administration granted Deferred Enforced Departure for some Venezuelans. Carlos Vecchio has been the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s envoy in Washington, D.C., since 2019. “Over 320,000 will be able to apply,” Menendez said about Biden’s TPS, adding Trump’s DED did not provide enough time. Ad“The goal is to be able to make sure that we don’t need TPS,” Wasserman Schultz said.
Immigration policy: Boy waits for Biden to stop painful family separation
A Venezuelan-American family hasn’t been able to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve together for three Decembers now. Gabriel Villar recently celebrated his 11th birthday in Orlando with his grandmother and older brother. His parents, Maria and Asdrubal Villar, wished him well on a video call from Bogotá. AdEvery day, sometimes two times a day, Gabriel kneels in front of a small Catholic altar. It’s horrible,” Maria Villar said through tears.
About 8,800 unaccompanied children are expelled at US border
SAN FRANCISCO – About 8,800 unaccompanied children have been quickly expelled from the United States along the Mexico border under a pandemic-related measure that effectively ended asylum, authorities said Friday. The figures on children were reported for the first time in a declaration by Raul Ortiz, the Border Patrol's deputy chief, as part of the administration's appeal of an order to stop housing children in hotels. The administration “immediately” expelled most children and families to Mexico but more than 2,200 unaccompanied children and 600 people who came in families were held until flights could be arranged to return home, Ortiz said. She ordered border agencies to stop placing children in hotels by Tuesday. Before the pandemic, unaccompanied children were sent to state-licensed shelters operated by the Department of Health and Human Services and often released to family members while seeking asylum.
Justices reject end to protections for young immigrants
WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trumps effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants, a stunning rebuke to the president in the midst of his reelection campaign. The justices rejected administration arguments that the 8-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program is illegal and that courts have no role to play in reviewing the decision to end DACA. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court that the administration did not pursue the end of the program properly. We do not decide whether DACA or its rescission are sound policies, Roberts wrote. We address only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action.
‘Remain in Mexico’ asylum hearings suspended until June 1
SAN DIEGO – The Trump administration on Thursday suspended immigration court hearings for asylum-seekers waiting in Mexico through June 1, bowing to public health concerns while extending a state of limbo those locked down in Mexican migrant shelters. While it is difficult to know precisely, the Justice Department estimated in late February that there were 25,000 people waiting in Mexico for hearings in U.S. court. Barely 1% of the nearly 45,000 “Return to Mexico” cases decided through March won asylum, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The future of “Remain in Mexico” has become less certain after the administration temporarily suspended immigration laws using a 1944 public-health law, whisking Mexicans and Central Americans to the nearest border to be returned to Mexico without a chance to seek asylum. “We really can't commit to a case.”The Justice Department, which oversees immigration courts, has also suspended hearings for people who are released in the United States through May 15 in response to COVID-19, exacerbating a backlog of about 1.1 million cases.
US deports former Guatemalan soldier wanted in 1982 massacre, living in Boca Raton
MIAMI, Fla. – A former Guatemalan sergeant who acknowledged participating in a massacre in 1982 during the country's civil war was deported Tuesday by U.S. authorities. Gilberto Jordan, 64, is the third former Guatemalan soldier to be deported to face war crime charges for that massacre, said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a statement. Jordan went to the U.S. illegally in 1985 and eventually settled in Boca Raton, Florida, where he worked at a country club as a cook before his arrest in 2010. The 1982 slaughter went unpunished for years — even after Guatemalan authorities issued 17 arrest warrants. The civil war from 1960 to 1996 left 200,000 people dead and 45,000 missing, a United Nations report says.
Marco Rubio responds to immigration protesters
Immigration activists took aim at the Republican presidential candidate during a GOP policy summit in South Carolina on Saturday, interrupting the Florida senator with shouts of "Rubio does not represent our community" and "undocumented and unafraid."
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