International
After the new restrictions, fewer migrants can apply for asylum at the U.S. border
After the entry into force of a series of restrictions on the southern border of the United States, the number of migrants who can apply for asylum or some type of protection in the country has been reduced, several officials reported.
The measures, which were activated last week through an executive order of President Joe Biden, prohibit the majority of people who irregularly cross into U.S. territory from accessing this protection.
According to officials, a small group of media, including EFE, indicated the number of migrants who were referred to be deported in a “expedited” way to their countries or expelled to Mexico. This after being stopped at the border has doubled in the last week.
Specifically, from June 5 to 12, “73% of the family units and detained adults were prosecuted for voluntary return or expeditious deportation.”
In comparison, the week before the restrictions came into effect, this figure was 36%.
An official of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicated that “the number of arrests in the El Paso sector (Texas) has decreased a little” and that they have seen “early signs that the number of arrests throughout the border is decreasing.”
In turn, he assured that since the restrictions came into feal “the number of adults and family units that are processed and detained for expeditious deportation has doubled.”
When asked about the effect of the restrictions on the number of people who are subject to detention every day at the border, officials assured that it is “very soon” to evaluate it.
However, an official of the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) indicated that “the number of arrests in the El Paso sector has decreased a little” and that he has seen “early signs that the number of arrests throughout the border is decreasing.”
In the El Paso area, where the authorities built a large processing center with capacity for 2,500 migrants, the “majority” of the people in detention have not been able to apply for asylum, according to an officer of the Border Patrol.
The reason, the officer said, is that they are not expressing that they are afraid of being returned to their countries.
As part of the new measures, people who are stopped crossing irregularly have to express on their own that they are afraid to return to their countries of origin.
The new restrictions eliminated the requirement for the Border Patrol to ask migrants if they were afraid of return. Now they must be the ones who express it to be able to have a “credible fear” interview, the initial filter to be able to access some type of protection in the United States.
The official explained that in different parts of the center, there are posters explaining this change to migrants. EFE could only see one, in the area where the initial data is taken.
The facility, located in the middle of the desert, is composed of several tents and containers and extends for more than 300.00 square feet.
This Thursday, more than 1,321 migrants were detained in this center, according to the official.
It has a capacity for 2,500 people and today there were 1,320. In these facilities, about 700 people work daily, including CBP officials and contractors.
In this center, there are detainees both families and adults who travel alone and unaccompanied minors.
Migrants are detained in dozens of cells, with transparent doors. In each of them, they sleep and spend the day of 15 to 20 people.
Each cell has three toilets and two sinks. There are also several mats that people use to sleep on the floor. They are given an aluminum blanket to cover themselves.
Several human rights organizations filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the new restrictions imposed by Biden.
The organizations argued that the regulations are “categorically inconsistent with the asylum statute promulgated by Congress, which allows immigrants to submit asylum applications “whether they enter or not” through a port of entry.”
International
Pope Francis meets former Gaza hostages
Pope Francis met on Thursday at the Vatican with 16 Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza for months by the Islamist group Hamas, according to the official Vatican news website.
The group consisted of ten women, four men, and two children, as reported by the same source. Several of the former hostages showed the Argentine pontiff banners or photos of their loved ones who remain in captivity.
Francis had previously met with the families of hostages in April this year and November 2023, but this was the first time he had met with individuals who had personally endured captivity.
Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began, the pope has repeatedly called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages, while also condemning the suffering of the Palestinian population.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,206 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages who died in captivity.
Of the kidnapped, 97 are still being held in Gaza, but the Israeli military estimates that 34 of them have died.
The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 43,736 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-governed territory.
International
Israeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 and injure 16, including women and children
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on residential buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and its surroundings on Thursday, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 16 injuries, according to Syria’s Ministry of Defense and state television.
The ministry stated that around 3:20 p.m. local time (12:20 GMT), the Israeli military launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood in western Damascus and the Qudsaya suburb to the northwest of the capital.
The airstrikes “resulted in the death of 15 people and injuries to 16 others, including women and children,” based on initial estimates, in addition to significant damage to private property and civilian buildings, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, state television reported Israeli airstrikes on three buildings in Mazzeh and another on a building in an educational complex located in a residential area of Qudsaya.
Following the strikes, loud explosions were heard throughout the city, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted locations. Ambulances and emergency services rushed to the scene to attend to the victims.
International
Drug trafficker dies after boat collision with Guardia Civil Vessel in Sanlúca
Three people were on the boat that collided with a Guardia Civil vessel around midnight at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near the Andalusian city of Cádiz, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard reported.
Two officers sustained “contusions,” the spokesperson explained.
The drug traffickers managed to bring the boat to shore, where one of them was “abandoned” severely injured. The other two fled.
The Civil Guard officers attempted to resuscitate the victim before transporting him to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, but he ultimately died early in the morning.
The other two suspects took advantage of the officers’ absence while they were taking the victim and returned to set their boat on fire.
The collision occurred very close to the site of another accident on September 1, where a drug trafficker died following a Guardia Civil pursuit.
The suspects’ boat traveled “400 meters” before crashing head-on and “at full speed” into the riverbank, where a hundred bundles of hashish were found.
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