International
Amazon faces a lawsuit for violation of minority civil rights among employees
Amazon faces a class action lawsuit that accuses the company of violating state and federal civil rights laws by intentionally working harder to protect its disproportionately white managers from COVID-19, without taking the same precautions with its African American, Hispanic and immigrant warehouse workers.
“Their reaction to the pandemic subjected these minority workers to health threats to which Amazon did not subject its primarily Caucasian management staff,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in a New York federal court by Chris Smalls, an ex-Amazon logistics center worker, in Staten Island, N.Y.
Smalls, who is black, was fired by Amazon in March, just hours after leading a protest over the company’s early pandemic response.
“We terminated Mr. Smalls for putting the health and safety of others at risk and violations of his terms of employment. Mr. Smalls received multiple warnings for violating social distancing guidelines. He was also found to have had close contact with an associate that was COVID-19 positive and was asked to remain home with pay for 14-days. Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came onsite further putting the teams at risk,” Amazon spokesperson, Lisa Levandowski told Business Insider in a statement.
But Smalls stated in the lawsuit that, at the time, Amazon was not taking employees’ temperature, providing biosecurity standards, imposing social distancing or following health measures established by public health officials.
Days after Smalls was fired, a leaked memo obtained by Vice News revealed that Amazon’s top executives had planned to mount a public relations campaign against Smalls to discredit him.
In the lawsuit, Smalls claimed that the memo showed that “senior Amazon executives,” including CEO Jeff Bezos, perpetuated the company’s pervasive discriminatory animus against its minority workers across the country.
International
Thousands of migrants begin trek North amid stricter U.S. immigration rules
Thousands of migrants set out this Sunday in a new caravan from Mexico’s southern border, aiming to reach Mexico City and eventually attempt to cross into the United States, despite tighter restrictions imposed by Donald Trump in his return to the White House.
The undocumented migrants intend to challenge the Republican’s immigration policies, which include Monday’s executive order, issued at the start of his second term, mandating the deportation of thousands of undocumented individuals currently in the U.S.
Some members of the caravan hope to remain at Mexico’s northern border, fearing deportation to their home countries.
The group departed from Tapachula (Chiapas, southern Mexico) following the cancellation of the CBP ONE app, which previously allowed them to apply for asylum in the United States. The migration is driven by unemployment, insecurity, and the hope that new options may emerge to help them reach their destination.
The caravan’s departure comes just days after Trump signed his first executive orders aimed at “sealing” the southern border with a military deployment and reinstating the controversial “Remain in Mexico” program, which requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed.
International
Honduras launches “Brother, Come Back Home” to support returning migrants
The Government of Honduras announced this Sunday the launch of the “Brother, Come Back Home” program, an initiative designed to support returning migrants by ensuring a dignified and safe return, according to a statement from the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its X account.
The program is built on three main pillars: economic support through a solidarity grant to provide returning migrants with initial funds for reintegration, a food assistance system, and a large-scale employment program aimed at creating job opportunities to facilitate migrants’ integration into various productive sectors.
With this initiative, Honduras joins other regional efforts to receive migrants deported from the United States. Last Monday, the Government of Mexico introduced the “Mexico Welcomes You” plan to support repatriated individuals. The plan also includes the construction of three additional temporary shelters in the state of Tamaulipas to accommodate deported migrants.
International
Evo Morales accuses Luis Arce of aligning with Donald Trump and the U.S.
Former Bolivian President Evo Morales (2006–2019) stated this Sunday that President Luis Arce is a “close ally” of U.S. President Donald Trump, citing several events he sees as “alignments” with right-wing politics and imperialism.
“I don’t know how things will go for Donald Trump, who is clearly Lucho’s [Luis Arce] great ally now—it’s becoming evident,” Morales said on his Sunday radio program, broadcast by Kawsachun Coca.
Morales referenced the participation of Debra Hevia, the U.S. Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires in Bolivia, in the official celebration of the anniversary of the Plurinational State of Bolivia on January 22.
“That picture we saw of the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires sitting next to people wearing ponchos and polleras (the skirts of Aymara women)—please,” the former president criticized, referring to Hevia’s seating arrangement alongside indigenous and peasant leaders.
He also claimed that President Arce “congratulated” Trump just hours after the latter was sworn in as president of the United States.
“Lucho congratulated a president who punishes Cuba, expels migrants, and disregards our policy of universal citizenship,” said Morales, the former leader of the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS).
Bolivia and the United States have maintained relations at the chargé d’affaires level since 2008 when Morales expelled then-U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), accusing them of allegedly conspiring against his government.
In November 2024, Morales accused Trump, who was not yet the U.S. president, of funding a “coup” in 2019 when Morales was in office. He also accused Trump of supporting President Arce’s government today.
This Sunday, Morales declared that “the empire orchestrated” the military uprising of June 26 last year, which he referred to as an “auto-coup.”
Thousands of migrants begin trek North amid stricter U.S. immigration rules
Honduras launches “Brother, Come Back Home” to support returning migrants
Evo Morales accuses Luis Arce of aligning with Donald Trump and the U.S.
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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