All eligible small children separated from their families have been reunited with their parents, but nearly half of the children under 5 are still separated due of safety concerns, the Associated Press reports. The Court ordered the administration to reunify families separated between early May and June 20, the Associated Press reports.
The order came after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of a woman who had been separated from her child, the AP writes. The U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw said that all children must be “reunited with their parents.” According to the officials, 57 children were reunified with their parents on Thursday morning.
But, 46 of the children were not eligible to be reunited with their parents. In 22 cases, as Matthew Albence of immigration and Customs Enforcement said, the reason they did not allow reunification is the seriousness of the crimes. The Health and Human Services will take care for 46 children and it would seek a sponsor to them for a placement.
The separation of families happened as the Trump administration introduced zero-tolerance policy of those crossing the border illegally. The separation lasted until the executive order. During that time, about 2,300 children were separated from 2,200 adults. The judge ordered federal officials to unite children in a period of two weeks.
About 20 children under 5 are not reunite with the parents because the services are trying to look for families that have been already deported or released into the U.S., the AP explains. The second deadline is July 26, when the administration needs to “reunite more than 2,000 older children.”
The latest attack that happened in Lower Manhattan in which 29-year-old Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov plowed a rented pickup into bicyclists and pedestrians along the bike path reaffirmed the ongoing debate on immigration, aside the possible links of Saipov with extremist organizations.
The day after the attack in which eight people died and 11 are injured turned political after the U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the visa lottery program and referred to it as “a Chuck Schumer beauty,” pointing out to Democratic Senator. The reason for it was due to the information that Saipov arrived in the U.S. from Uzbekistan in 2010, where he received a Green Card.
National Public Radio reports the Washington Post’s conclusion that right-wing media widely reported on alleged connection among Schumer, the green card lottery program and Saipov. Schumer responded in a statement, as NPR reports, standing for immigration and saying the president is “politicizing and dividing” the country.
The Post, as NPR says, noted the visa lottery system and possible national security risks were under debate for years.
Visa lottery system started in 1990 under Republican President George H.W. Bush, when he signed a bipartisan immigration bill. However, on Wednesday, Trump called on Congress to halt the program and said, “We have to get much tougher, much smarter and less politically correct.”
Despite the political issues triggered with deadly attack in which two Americans, five tourists from Argentina and one from Belgium died, the investigators continue to collect information about Saipov’s life in the U.S. Police interviewed Saipov, after he went on surgery, but authorities did not give details what he said. The investigators work to find if he worked alone or had contacts with others.
Shabby details appeared in the different media as an Ohio truck driver said to the Associated Press few details on Saipov. Mirrakhmat Muminov said to AP that Saipov harbored radical views and that his life changed after he lost insurance on his truck, could not pay traffic tickets and companies stopped hiring him. He left Ohio for New Jersey, were he worked for six months under Uber license, and company said he passed the company background checks.
As NPR’s Martin Kaste reports, Muminov said, Saipov was not very religious when he arrived, but he started to go to the mosque more often. Saipov was not subject of New York police investigation, but he had links with people police investigated. At the scene, police discovered letter, reportedly written in Arabic allegedly saying ISIS will “endure forever.”
New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, said Saipov radicalized ‘domestically.’ Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Saipov arrived on visa lottery program. Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev offered condolences to the families on Wednesday and offered his country assistance in investigation. Uzbekistan was not on the U.S. President Trump’s list with travel ban.
The Islamic State did not claim the attack, although its supporters wrote in support of what happened, the CITE Intelligence Group reported.
Residents of New York continued to live according to their spirit and announced that the traditional New York City Marathon with 50,000 participants will be on Sunday as scheduled.
Key moments:
Eight people died and 11, including two children are injured
Five Argentineans on holiday died, one Belgian woman also died.
Suspect is 29-year-old Uzbekistan driver Sayfullo Saipov who pointed out a paintball gun and a pellet gun
Saipov was on surgery, but he is expected to survive
Saipov rented a Home Depot rental truck before the plowed into bicycle path on Lower Manhattan
The Unites States President Donald Trump gave six months period to Congress to legalize program that enables about 800.000 people to live and work in the U.S.
Trump decided do shut down the program of the former administration, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. A program, which was one of the marks of the former President, Barack Obama began in 2012 with a opportunity for children brought into America by their parents to obtain legal work permit every two year if they can comply with the American way of living.
“Congress now has six months to legalize DACA, something that Obama administration was unable to do,” Trump tweeted hours after he decided to put the destiny of those people to the Congress.
The United States President Donald Trump decided to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, created as a program by the administration of the former President Barack Obama. President Trump did not announce the measure himself. Instead, the Attorney General Jeff Session explained the program “has been rescinded,” talking from the Department of Justice.
The announcement on DACA, implemented since 2012 to provide legal status to children brought in America illegally by their parents, provoked many reactions. Former President Obama explained his DACA decision on social media with Facebook post.
To target hopeful young strivers who grew up here is wrong, because they’ve done nothing wrong. My statement: https://t.co/TCxZdld7L4
As Obama stated, over the years, bipartisan groups have worked together on the legislation for the young people and the possibilities for them to remain and “earn citizenship.” For years, Obama waited and asked Congress to send him such a bill.
“That bill never came. And because it made no sense to expel talented, driven, patriotic young people from the only country they know solely because of the actions of their parents, my administration acted to lift the shadow of deportation from these young people,” Obama stated.
After today’s announcement at the Department of Justice, many DACA protected young people protested in New York City. The protesters shouted loudly, “I am not afraid, I am documented.” Protesters gather at, not only the Trump Tower in NYC, but also in Washington D.C., where they promised, “keep fighting for ‘Dreamers.’”
Trump’s administration decided to grant a period for these young people until Congress find a lawful way for their status. Regardless, the process of shutting down the program started. Attorney General Sessions clearly stated that, “the Department of Justice has advised the President and the Department of Homeland Security that DHS should begin an orderly lawful wind down process, including cancellation of the memo that authorizes this program,” Sessions said.
Shortly after the announcement, Acting Secretary Elaine Duke of the Department of Homeland Security published a statement for the process. Duke explained that in respond to recent litigation, DHS had two options, either the wind the program down in an orderly fashion, which protects “Dreamers” while Congress work to pass the legislation, or allow the judiciary to potentially shut the program down immediately.
What was effect of DACA?
This question also raised debate after Session’s announcement of Trump’s decision. Obama reacted in his Facebook post that these “Dreamers,” called on never-passed proposals in Congress called the DREAM Act for similar protections, are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper.
“They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants. They may not know a country besides ours. They may not even know a language besides English,” Obama stated. Obama called today’s action “contrary to our spirit.”
But, Sessions accused the executive branch through DACA for making something that legislative branch refused to authorize. “Such an open-ended circumvention of immigration laws was unconstitutional exercise of authority by the executive branch.
The effect of this unilateral executive amnesty, among other things contributed to a surge at the southern border that yielded terrible humanitarian consequences,” Sessions talked.
In 2014, about 52.000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended along the Southwest border, but they were not eligible for a protection under DACA program.
Sessions said that DACA protected “recipients for a renewable two-year term work authorization,” used the social security program and took the jobs of thousands of Americans. DHS Acting Secretary Duke went even further, calling the program “never more than parole,” which never promised the rights of citizenship or legal status. Calling it “a bureaucratic delay,” Duke, said DACA, “was a lie that left recipients in two-year circle of uncertainty.”
The acting secretary shared the opinion that believes President Obama had “genuine intentions for DACA and he was frustrated by his inability to maneuver through the legislative process.”
“Secretarial Memo is not a substitute for a law passed by Congress and signed by the president,” Duke said.
Obama was clear in the post. “That bill never came.” Even though, as Obama writes, some 800.000 young people, stepped forward, met rigorous requirements, and “went through background checks.” Obama evaluate this action “contrary to our spirit, and to common sense.
Many in business community, faith leaders, and economists called Trump’s administration not to cut the program.
As they protested on Tuesday, Erica Andiola in a statement to Associated Press said, they are here to show Trump that, “we are not going to be afraid of him, that we are tired of him attacking us.”
The destiny of Dreamers will be in the hands of the Members of Congress to decide on their future.
If Congress acts in the period framed by Trump, the President could sign into legislation, giving the Dreamers legality for a stay in the U.S. Contrary, the program could expire and leave the beneficiaries vulnerable to deportation.
Time: 10:21 p.m. CEST Update: February 28, 9:10 a.m. CETS
At last-minute on Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives managed to vote on the short-term funding of Department of Homeland Security. The House voted 357 to 60 in favor of the one-week funding of the agency. For the Washington Post the deal happened after “a whirlwind day of negotiations in which the House Republican leadership suffered a humiliating defeat when its 20-day bill was rejected.”
The International New York Times informs on Friday, the Senate on Friday passed “a bill to finance the Department of Homeland Security, ” and send that legislation to the House of Representatives “with just hours remaining to avert a partial shutdown of the agency at midnight.”
The bill that removed President Obama’s executive action on immigration, passed the Senate with 68 to 31 vote. House Republicans could vote on a counterproposal that could ensure the funding of DHS for the next three weeks. However, House Democratic leadership “is campaigning against the short-term option, “the International New York Times reports.
Remains unclear if the Speaker of the House, John A. Boehner “will be able to win the support, to pass his leadership.” As the International New York Times reports, “House Republican leaders worked behind-the-scenes to pull together the 217 votes needed to pass their three-week spending proposal.”
The White House eagerly discussed with rare correspondents on Friday the developments related with the DHS and its funding. In a vivid conversation, the White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that, “if the President is faced with a choice having the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, or fund that department with a short term, the President is not going to allow the agency to shut down.”
Within several hours to the deadline for the financing of the DHS, Earnests said, “it is the day of self-imposed deadline, and apparently over the course of last two months, they have not figure it out how to maximize their political advantage.”
Aleksandra Dukovska 