International
New York boasts of a migration model but criticizes the lack of federal support
New York City boasts of a migration model having received and integrated more than 200,000 irregular immigrants in the last two years, but complains about the null support received from the federal government of Washington, trapped in an electoral logic where the migration issue has become political dynamite.
“Our support network is better than the one they find in any other city and state, and we are proud to have been able to specifically support all these people, who already total 202,000, but the burden is only ours and we do not see enough support from the federal government,” the city’s Immigration Commissioner, Manuel Castro, says in an interview with EFE.
Castro embodies like few others the famous ‘American dream’: he arrived in New York from Mexico as undocumented at the age of only five, and three decades later, after a youth dedicated to activism in favor of asylum seekers, he became the top immigration leader of New York, the city “raised by immigrants,” as he himself remembers.
Two years ago, the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, devived the ‘bus strategy’, which consisted of filling these vehicles with newly arrived immigrants from Mexico and sending them to what he called ‘progressive cities’ with the promise that they would receive accommodation and food there. It was not a lie in the case of New York: a rule from 50 years ago forces the city not to leave anyone homeless.
In the following months, New York declared a ‘humanitarian crisis’ but it did not stop providing assistance to the thousands of people who arrived not only from Texas, but from other states attracted by the generosity that the city deployed with immigrants: roof for everyone, school for minors and medical expenses.
The attention to all these people made the city calculate an extra expense of 10 billion dollars between 2022 and 2025, which it faced “without the support of the federal government, even though it should be a responsibility shared with the other cities and states,” Castro recalls.
The city was “obliged” – in the words of the Commissioner – to limit the stay in public shelters to one or two months, depending on the circumstances, through an exceptional judicial remedy, but guaranteed that families with children were not evicted in any case.
However, and as EFE has been able to verify in the giant camp of Randall’s Island, where adults without a family are sent, the law is applied in a very flexible way and there are several tenants who have been looking for more than four months, while looking for a work permit that never arrives.
And it is that another of the problems they face is the enormous slowness of bureaucratic efforts to obtain asylum status and/or a work permit, which usually takes more than 12 months, and that forces many immigrants to fall into the underground economy, usually in street sales or as delivery people of food on a bicycle.
“The emigration system doesn’t work,” Castro reflects. There is a great demand for jobs and it would be logical for us to support them with a work permit. We have been without a solution to these problems for decades, it is an inadequate system and Congress should act,” he insists, although he recognizes that the proximity of the electoral appointment complicates everything.
Castro regrets that all the attention paid to immigrants is now the victim of two opposing narratives: “On the one hand, they tell us that we are not doing enough for immigrants, that we have a moral obligation not to abandon them; on the other, they accuse us of giving them too much, and the more we give them, the more they will come,” he explains.
“It is symbolic of what is happening in the country, there is too much political division,” he believes, recognizing that in the year of elections the issue has become especially thorny, with a Republican candidate like Donald Trump who “with his threats of mass deportations is generating a huge fear and uncertainty,” and makes some immigrants not dare to go to a health center or a police station for fear of expulsion.
International
Mexico’s president blasts ‘Inhumane’ U.S. migration law
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated on Friday that any Mexican detained in the United States should be “immediately” returned to Mexico. Her remarks come in the wake of the opening of a new migrant detention center in Florida earlier this week.
Speaking during her daily press conference, known as La Mañanera del Pueblo, Sheinbaum emphasized that so far, no Mexican national has been held in the facility, which has already sparked controversy and has been nicknamed “the Alcatraz of the Alligators.”
She also criticized the new fiscal law signed by former U.S. President Donald Trump, passed by Congress just a day earlier. The law, which Trump dubbed the “great and beautiful tax reform,” includes significant tax cuts and sweeping reductions in public policies, reallocating billions toward national security and defense—including $170 billion to enhance border security, deportations, and the expansion of detention centers.
“We do not agree with a punitive approach to migration. Migration must be addressed through its structural causes, with cooperation for development,” Sheinbaum asserted.
The Mexican president labeled the Trump administration’s view of migrants as criminals as “inhumane,” and warned that such policies ultimately harm the U.S. economy. She pointed to the mass deportation of agricultural workers as an example of how these actions are already backfiring.
“These are hardworking people—people of good will—who contribute more to the U.S. economy than they do to Mexico’s,” Sheinbaum said, announcing that her government will strengthen support programs to ensure that affected migrants can return home safely and reintegrate into the workforce.
International
Julio César Chávez Jr. faces charges in Mexico after U.S. arrest
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Friday that the country is expecting the deportation of boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. so he can face legal proceedings in Mexico, following his arrest in the United States and confirmation by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) of an arrest warrant for organized crime and arms trafficking.
“This is an arrest warrant stemming from an investigation that began in 2019 and was granted by a judge in 2023 (…). We are expecting his deportation so he can serve his sentence in Mexico,” Sheinbaum stated during her daily press briefing.
The president said she was unaware of the case until speaking with Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero, who confirmed an investigation linked to organized crime. She also noted that authorities had been unable to execute the warrant earlier because Chávez Jr. had spent most of his time in the United States. “His deportation to Mexico is now being pursued,” she added.
Sheinbaum said there is no confirmed date yet for the boxer’s return to the country, as the process involves “specific protocols” that the FGR is currently handling.
Her statement follows the announcement by U.S. authorities on Thursday of Chávez Jr.’s arrest. The boxer, son of Mexican boxing legend Julio César Chávez, is accused of involvement in organized crime and arms trafficking allegedly tied to the Sinaloa Cartel.
“This Sinaloa Cartel affiliate, wanted for trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” said Tricia McLaughlin, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in an official statement.
International
Europe faces a summer of heatwaves and wildfires, Red Cross warns
The heatwave sweeping across Europe — accompanied by wildfires in countries such as Greece and Turkey — is “just the beginning” of a summer season expected to see extreme conditions lasting through September, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned.
In a statement, the IFRC stressed the urgent need for governments and communities to shift from a reactive to a preventive approach to safeguard lives.
The organization reported that wildfires in the Turkish region of Izmir, on the country’s western coast, have already claimed at least two lives and forced the evacuation of 50,000 people. Meanwhile, on the Greek island of Crete, around 5,000 residents and tourists have also had to flee due to encroaching fires.
Smaller-scale evacuations and wildfires are also being reported in other countries, including eastern Germany and North Macedonia, with Red Cross volunteers actively involved in firefighting and relief operations.
“Heatwaves and wildfires — increasingly frequent and deadly — are no longer isolated events. They are becoming the new reality for millions,” said Birgitte Bischoff, IFRC’s Regional Director for Europe.
Mexico’s president blasts ‘Inhumane’ U.S. migration law
Julio César Chávez Jr. faces charges in Mexico after U.S. arrest
Europe faces a summer of heatwaves and wildfires, Red Cross warns
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