2019-08-19: News Headlines

Rebekah Barber (2019-08-19). Public Charge Rule Is Trump's Latest Attack on Immigrants. commondreams.org This week, Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, announced updates to the public charge rule that would bar immigrants who use safety-net programs including Medicaid and food stamps from obtaining green cards. (Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr.) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/cuccinelli_skidmore_flickr.jpeg

Robert Fisk (2019-08-19). If Chinese Tanks Take Hong Kong, Who'll be Surprised? counterpunch.org In the glorious world of journalism, tanks always "roll" across borders. I've never in my life actually seen a tank roll, but you get the point. They don't let anything stand in their way — or nothing is supposed to stand in their way. Hence the Hong Kong Chinese should back off if the People's Army More

Staff (2019-08-19). Activist on the Front Lines Discusses the Historic Protests in Hong Kong. therealnews.com We had to blur her image but she talks about police brutality, the struggle for a transparent democracy, the Chinese army at the border, and hope for the future…

Tony Pecinovsky (2019-08-19). IWO: Book traces workers' efforts to insure themselves against capitalism's failures. peoplesworld.org Throughout history, countless mutual-aid societies have been created to help care for the injured and ill, the disabled and their dependents. With the emergence of modern industrial society and its by-product—the masses of workers (native and immigrant) ushered into the factories, mills, and stockyards—it is inevitable that a different type of mutual-aid society would emerge, …

Staff (2019-08-19). Group Identifies Human Remains Along the Border. truthout.org | | In a special broadcast from the Arizona-Sonora border, we look at how the bodies and bones of more than 3,000 people have been found in the Sonoran Desert since 2001, and speak with Robin Reineke, the co-founder of the Tucson-based organization Colibrí Center for Human Rights. Colibrí Center is dedicated to identifying the remains of people passing through the desert and, since its founding, has identified at least 100 migrants through meticulous forensic work and DNA data collection of people's remains…

Staff (2019-08-19). Facing Federal Charges for Aiding Migrants, Activist Says He Won't Be Deterred. truthout.org | | We broadcast live from Tucson, Arizona, where the government recently put humanitarian activist Scott Warren on trial amid the ongoing policing of the U.S.-Mexico border, separation of families, and cruel and inhumane conditions at immigrant jails across the country. Warren, a longtime volunteer with the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths, was charged with three felony counts for his alleged crime of providing food, water and shelter to migrants in Ajo, Arizona. The immigrants had arri…

Afroze Fatima Zaidi (2019-08-19). When People of Colour are seen as less than human, their babies are too. thecanary.co Every now and then, I come across a piece of news that just… rips my heart out. This may sound like an exaggeration, but reading these things can give me what feels like a physical pain inside my chest. I am forced to reflect on what some people have to suffer at the hands of our greatest living oppressors. And it makes me despair at the state of the world a little bit more. Reading about a four-month-old baby girl being separated from her breastfeeding mum by US immigration authorities…

Do No Harm Coalition, Public Health Awakening (2019-08-19). #CloseTheCamps: Protest by Healthcare & Harm Reduction Workers for Migrant Rights. indybay.org Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), | 630 Sansome St, San Francisco 94111…

Peadar O'Cearnaigh (2019-08-19). Salvini's anti-immigrant policy is like a bomb that's 'going to explode'. thecanary.co On 18 August, several people jumped into the sea from the Spanish humanitarian boat Open Arms to reach the Italian coast. Italian far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini refuses to give this boat permission to dock in It…

David Penner (2019-08-19). Health Care Imperialism: Looting the World's Doctors. dissidentvoice.org To poach and rely on highly skilled foreign workers from poor countries in the public sector is akin to the crime of theft. — "Migration of Health Workers: An Unmanaged Crisis," The Lancet, May 28, 2005 What is striking about the tyranny of the medical industrial complex is not only its unconscionable oppression of the …

Staff (2019-08-19). "Humanitarian Aid Is Never a Crime": No More Deaths Volunteers Drop Water in Desert to Aid Migrants. democracynow.org Volunteers with the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths have been venturing into the harsh Sonoran Desert for years to leave life-saving supplies for migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Longtime volunteer Scott Warren was charged with three felonies for the alleged crime of providing food, water and shelter to migrants. After a hung jury, he is facing retrial on two felony counts and faces a possible 10 years in prison, if convicted. As he awaits his next trial as well as deals with misdemeanor charges in another case of aiding migrants, Democracy Now! followed him into the Sonoran Desert for his first tr…

Staff (2019-08-19). Activist Scott Warren, Facing Federal Charges for Aiding Migrants, Says He Won't Be Deterred. democracynow.org We broadcast live from Tucson, Arizona, where the government recently put humanitarian activist Scott Warren on trial amid the ongoing policing of the U.S.-Mexico border, separation of families, and cruel and inhumane conditions at immigrant jails across the country. Warren, a longtime volunteer with the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths, was charged with three felony counts for his alleged crime of providing food, water and shelter to migrants in Ajo, Arizona. The immigrants had arrived at the doorstep of a humanitarian shelter after a perilous journey across the Sonoran Desert. At the same time, he and othe…

Staff (2019-08-19). "They Are Irreplaceable, and They Mattered": Group Identifies Human Remains Along the Border. democracynow.org In a special broadcast from the Arizona-Sonora border, we look at how the bodies and bones of more than 3,000 people have been found in the Sonoran Desert since 2001, and speak with Robin Reineke, the co-founder of the Tucson-based organization Colibrí Center for Human Rights. Colibrí Center is dedicated to identifying the remains of people passing through the desert and, since its founding, has identified at least 100 migrants through meticulous forensic work and DNA data collection of people's remains and family members who are alive. In 2018, it launched the Bring Them Back Campaign to call for dignity and dem…

teleSUR (2019-08-18). Spain Offers Port to Stranded Migrants, Salvini Claims Victory. telesurenglish.net Spain on Sunday offered Algeciras as a port to disembark more than a hundred migrants on a charity rescue ship stranded off the coast of Italy after the vessel had spent more than two weeks waiting for a safe port to be made available. | RELATED: | Open Arms Allowed to Land 27 Minors at the Lampedusa Port | The migrants, most of whom are African, were picked up by the Open Arms boat off the coast of Libya and have been waiting to disembark on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa…

Staff (2019-08-18). The Christian Left, Appalled by Treatment of Migrants, Is Reviving in America. truthout.org | | Holding pictures of migrant children who have died in U.S. custody and forming a cross with their bodies on the floor of the Russell Senate Office Building, 70 Catholics were arrested in July for obstructing a public plac…

teleSUR (2019-08-18). France Commits to Welcome 40 Migrants from 'Open Arms' Ship. telesurenglish.net French Ministry of Interior announced Sunday that it would welcome to France 40 migrants from the Open Arms boat. | RELATED: | Italian PM Blasts Salvini for Being Obsessed with Immigration | "Coordination of solidarity between the countries that have committed themselves to receive migrants is maintained," said the French Minister of Interior, Christophe…

Staff (2019-08-18). The Phrase "Go Back Where You Came From" Has a Long, Violent History. truthout.org | | As a college professor, I often assign novelist and activist Carlos Bulosan's writings in my classes. To my dismay, I often find that my students have never heard of Bulosan or his writings, which center the Filipino/a immigrant experience in the United States. | What does it mean when current generations do not have the gift of historical memory? For Filipino/a Americans, who comprise the second-largest Asian American group in the nation, what are the consequences when popular culture or educati…

Staff (2019-08-18). How to Counter Trump's Disastrous Attack on Our Public Lands. truthout.org | | Slashing two national monuments in Utah may have received the most attention, but Trump's Interior Department and U.S. Forest Service have been quietly, systematically ceding control of America's public lands to fossil fuel, mining, timber, and livestock interests since the day he took office. | What's at stake are 670 million acres of forests, canyons, rivers, wetlands, mountains, and high deserts. Native American sacred sites. Ancient migratory pronghorn paths and towering temperate rainforests. Pris…

Jake Johnson, staff writer (2019-08-18). 'Their Racist, Anti-Immigration Crusade Knows No Bounds': Trump White House Tried to Stop Immigrant Kids From Attending Public Schools. commondreams.org "America's teachers and school staff will not stand for this. If they try to block students from attending our schools they will hear from us. Immigrants are welcome here." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/donald_trump_stephen_miller.png

Eric Buerk, member UFCW (2019-08-17). Mississippi raid shows ICE = unionbusters for the capitalist class. liberationnews.org There have also been previous allegations that ICE was serving as a private army for the capitalists.

Betsey Piette (2019-08-17). Activists challenge ICE profiteers. workers.org Shortly after Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, shares of CoreCivic Inc. and GEO Group (CXW and GEO on the stock exchange) shot up 21 and 43 percent, respectively. The two companies controlled 85 percent of the private, for-profit prison industry. Today, facilities run by these two companies hold . . . | Continue reading Activists challenge ICE profiteers at Workers.org

Camden Goetz (2019-08-17). Queens, NY, rallies against ICE raids. liberationnews.org "Liberation, not deportation!"

Shawn Fremstad (2019-08-17). Trump's contempt for working-class expressed in new expanded public charge rule. nationofchange.org This week the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially published regulations that radically expand the definition of an archaic immigration law term, public charge, to include various non-cash benefits that supplement earnings and other income, but are impossible to live on in the absence of other income. The people most impacted include millions of working-class and middle-class US citizens who plan to marry or are married to foreign nationals. | Under the longstanding law and policy that existed before the new regulati…

Staff (2019-08-17). States Sue Trump Administration for Going After Low-Income Green Card Holders. truthout.org | | In November 2018, as the Trump administration ramped up plans to radically change public charge rules—which deem whether an immigrant or would-be immigrant is likely to end up a cash-burden to the state and thus be ineligible for permanent residency—the city of Baltimore sued the administration to prevent the change and protect its immigrant population. Three months later, the administration sought to g…

Randi Spivak (2019-08-17). How to counter Trump's disastrous attack on our public lands. nationofchange.org Slashing two national monuments in Utah may have received the most attention, but Trump's Interior Department and U.S. Forest Service have been quietly, systematically ceding control of America's public lands to fossil fuel, mining, timber, and livestock interests since the day he took office. | What's at stake are 670 million acres of forests, canyons, rivers, wetlands, mountains, and high deserts. Native American sacred sites. Ancient migratory pronghorn paths and towering temperate rainforests. Pristine streams that feed wild salmon and endangered pikeminnow. Prehistoric artifacts. | These lands are being p…

Tom Coburg (2019-08-17). MP tweets plan for no deal Brexit regardless of a no confidence vote in Johnson government. thecanary.co Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat has outlined a plan by which the UK government, led by Boris Johnson, could ensure a no deal Brexit. Moreover, if the plan went ahead, it would mean that a vote of no confidence in the government would be curtailed. | The plan: | Tugendhat, who is the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, outlined the plan via Twitter: | What odds would you give on: | 1 UK exits EU by 24 Aug — in time for G7 or before Parliament returns. Art 50 passed so nothing to stop unilateral withdrawal. | 2 General Election straight after to get majority. | 3 Answer Irish border Q with NI only re…

RT (2019-08-16). US Customs and Border Protection systems down, airports affected nationwide. rt.com Hundreds of passengers were stranded for hours at Los Angeles, New York and Washington international airports, as US Customs and Border Protection systems were plagued by 'technical 'issues.' | Around two hours after the technical issues were first reported, the CBP said that the crippled systems were "coming back online." The agency added that there was "no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at the time." | The affected systems are coming back online and travelers are being processed. CBP will continue to monitor the incident. There is no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at thi…

RT (2019-08-16). US Customs and Border Protection systems down, airports affected nationwide. rt.com Hundreds of passengers were stranded for hours at Los Angeles, New York and Washington international airports, as US Customs and Border Protection systems were plagued by 'technical 'issues.' | Around two hours after the technical issues were first reported, the CBP said that the crippled systems were "coming back online." The agency added that there was "no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at the time." | The affected systems are coming back online and travelers are being processed. CBP will continue to monitor the incident. There is no indication the disruption was malicious in nature at thi…

Paul Street (2019-08-16). Uncle Sam was Born Lethal. counterpunch.org One of the occupational and intellectual hazards of being a historian is that current events often seem far less new to oneself than they do to others. Recently a leftish liberal friend told me that the United States under the Donald Trump had "become a lethal society." My friend cited the neofascist Trump's: horrible family separations and concentration camps on the border; openly white-nationalist assaults on four progressive nonwhite and female Congresswomen; real and threatened roundups of undocumented immigrants; fascist-style and hate-filled "Make America Great Again" rallies; encouragement of white suprema…

Sam Ordóñez (2019-08-16). Guatemala signs 'Safe Third Country'. workers.org The governments of the U.S. and Guatemala on July 26 signed a "Safe Third Country" agreement, forcing migrants applying for asylum in the U.S. to do so from Guatemala. This agreement is part of the Trump administration's broader efforts to prevent migrants from entering the U.S. These include the construction . . . | Continue reading Guatemala signs 'Safe Third Country' at Workers.org

John McDevitt (2019-08-16). Trump uses Medicaid as weapon against disabled immigrants. liberationnews.org The administration's contempt for disabled people is only matched by its virulent racism and anti-immigrant bigotry.

Rebecca Gordon (2019-08-16). The Current Migrant Crisis Was Created by US Foreign Policy, Not Trump. thenation.com The Current Migrant Crisis Was Created by US Foreign Policy, Not Trump…

Staff (2019-08-16). Headlines for August 16, 2019. democracynow.org Israel Bars Reps. Omar & Tlaib from Official Trip to West Bank Due to Their Support for BDS, 11 Die in Kashmir as Pakistani & Indian Troops Exchange Fire, U.S. Puts Pressure on Crew of Iranian Oil Tanker Seized in July, North Korea Test-Fires Two Missiles as It Rejects New Talks with S. Korea, NOAA: July Was Officially the Hottest Month on Record, Australia Accused of Watering Down Pacific Island Climate Agreement, Study: Surge in Methane Gas Emissions Is Linked to Fracking Boom, 270 Die, 1 Million Displaced in India from Heavy Monsoon Rains, Federal Court: Trump Admin Can't Deny Soap & Toothpaste to Migrant Chil…

Nick Alexandrov (2019-08-16). Prevention Through Deterrence: The Strategy Shared by the El Paso Shooter and the U.S. Border Patrol. counterpunch.org It is a simple strategy. First: murder Latinos in the U.S. Second: news of the killings spreads south. Third: fear of violent death paralyzes those hoping to leave Mexico. Terror deters migrants. It appears this was Patrick Crusius' logic when he stormed an El Paso Walmart on August 3. His alleged manifesto insists "that the More

Atossa Araxia Abrahamian (2019-08-15). Immigration Is for Rich People. thenation.com Immigration Is for Rich People…

Staff (2019-08-15). Headlines for August 15, 2019. democracynow.org Trump Administration Moves to Seize Iranian Tanker Held in Gibraltar, Chinese Paramilitaries Mass on Hong Kong Border as Pro-Democracy Protests Continue, Dow Jones Plunges 800 Points on Fears of Looming Recession, Study Finds CEO Pay Increased 1,000% Since 1978 While Wages Stagnated, Facebook Hired Hundreds to Listen In on Users' Audio Messages, Mexico City Police Officers Suspended over Rape of Two Teenagers, Italian Court Allows Rescued Migrants to Disembark as Hundreds More Remain Stranded at Sea, NBC News: ICE Now Jailing 8,000 Migrants in Mississippi, Louisiana, Federal Court Weighs Fate of Protected Status…

Staff (2019-08-14). Immigrants Welcome to the US as Long as They Are White and Wealthy. therealnews.com The Trump's administration's Kenneth Cuccinelli rewrites Emma Lazarus's words on the Statue of Liberty, telling the poor and oppressed they're no longer welcome. This comes right after Trump proposes to limit legal migration to the US. We speak to Michael Paarlberg of IPS…

Staff (2019-08-14). "A Narco State Supported by the United States": How Crime & Corruption in Honduras Fuel Migration. democracynow.org We speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Sonia Nazario, who has closely detailed why migrants from Central America are fleeing their homes in an attempt to seek asylum in the United States. Earlier this year, Nazario spent a month in Honduras documenting how corruption and gang violence are forcing many people to flee. Her piece, "Pay or Die," ran in The New York Times, where she is a contributing opinion writer.

Staff (2019-08-14). "Give Us Your Rich": Immigration Reporter Says Trump Admin Is Changing "Wholesale" Who Gets into U.S. democracynow.org "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Those are the words of Emma Lazarus inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. But this week, acting Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli attempted to rewrite the poem to make a case for limiting immigration to the United States. He told NPR's Rachel Martin on Tuesday that the Statue of Liberty's message is "Give me your tired and your poor, who can stand on their own two feet and who will…

United Nations (2019-08-13). Tuesday's Daily Brief: Hong Kong airport disruption, Geneva Conventions at 70, new Ebola drug, French fighters in Iraq, Mediterranean migrant and Aden updates. un.org Our main stories today cover: Human rights chief on chaos at Hong Kong airport; Geneva Conventions have been 'limiting brutality' for 70 years; breakthrough drug in DR Congo Ebola fight; France pushed to repatriate nationals on death row in Iraq; 'Race against time" for migrants in Mediterranean…

splcenter (2019-08-13). SPLC joins brief opposing Kansas law targeting immigrants. splcenter.org The SPLC and 29 worker and immigrant rights organizations filed an amicus brief today urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a court decision stating that a Kansas identity theft law cannot be used to turn local law enforcement into immigration agents.

Jeff Abbott (2019-08-13). The Other Americans: In Guatemala, Indigenous Residents Appeal to the President Over Stolen Land. progressive.org With a newly elected leader, hundreds of Mayan Mam families still await restitution—or face migrating north.

Staff (2019-08-13). Headlines for August 13, 2019. democracynow.org Trump Announces New Rule to Limit and Penalize Low-Income Immigrants, Trump Slashes Endangered Species Act, Hong Kong Protesters Shut Down Airport for Second Day, Flooding, Landslides Kill Hundreds Across South and Southeast Asia, Ebola No Longer "Incurable" After Success of Experimental Treatments, Reports: Director of Mexican Migrant Shelter Kidnapped, Racist Border Patrol Agent Who Intentionally Ran Over Guatemalan Man Pleads Guilty, Friend of Dayton Shooter Says He Bought and Stored Gun Parts and Ammunition Used in Massacre, WaPo Editor Responds to Sanders Claim That Paper Writes Negative Stories Because of A…

Max Blumenthal (2019-08-12). Cómo los planes de privatización de Joe Biden condenaron a Latinoamérica y desataron la crisis migratoria. thegrayzone.com En su campaña, Joe Biden se ha jactado de su papel en la transformación de Colombia y Centroamérica a través…

unitedEditor (2019-08-12). Guatemala's Elections May Decide the Future of the US' Migration Crisis. uwidata.com Guatemala is currently holding the second round of its presidential elections. With about 98% of polling places reporting, it seems that Giammattei had about 58% of votes, compared to about 42% for Sandra Torres. The first round took place on June 16 (parliamentary and presidential). The winner will be tasked with managing the most populous …

Alexa Isais (2019-08-09). Miles protestan en Phoenix por abusos a niños en centros de detención de ICE. liberationnews.org Los eventos en Phoenix, incluido el valiente enfrentamiento con los matones de la policía que conllevó a 16 arrestos, así como la solidaridad tras los arrestos, demuestra la creciente determinación de un movimiento de solidaridad con todos los migrantes y refugiados, no solo aquí en Arizona, sino en todo el país.

Brian Becker (2019-08-09). El Mago Trump: el verdadero propósito del racismo y la xenofobia. liberationnews.org Trump no quiere que estas personas le echen la culpa de su sufrimiento al robo, la avaricia y la corrupción de los súper ricos y los mayores banqueros y jefes corporativos. Se protege a sí mismo y a sus amigos multimillonarios mediante el uso de tácticas fascistas para satanizar a los pueblos "minoritarios," inmigrantes y grupos socialistas.

Staff (2019-08-09). Mass ICE Raids in Mississippi After Workers Fought for Better Conditions Leave Kids Without Parents. democracynow.org Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swept through seven poultry processing plants in Mississippi this week and arrested 680 people. It was the largest single-state raid in U.S. history.The mass arrests also came on the first day of the school year, and some children walked home from school only to find their doors locked and their family members missing. Wednesday's raids targeted chicken processing plants operated by Koch Foods, one of the largest poultry producers in the U.S. Last year, the company paid out $3.75 million to settle an Equal Employment Opportunities Commission class-action suit charging th…

Staff (2019-08-09). Headlines for August 9, 2019. democracynow.org Mitch McConnell Says Senate Will Take Up Gun Bills, But Not Until September, President and First Lady Pose with Infant Orphaned in El Paso Massacre, Man with Guns and Body Armor Sparks Panic at Missouri Walmart, Home of Interracial Couple in Ohio Torched in Apparent Hate Crime, Over 100 Immigrant Hunger Strikers Tear-Gassed Inside ICE Jail, ICE Releases Some of the 680 Immigrants Swept Up in Massive Mississippi Raid, Mentally Ill Michigan Man with Diabetes Dies After Deportation to Iraq, ICE Agents, Lacking Warrant, Denied Entry to Brooklyn Homeless Shelter, Hundreds of Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protesters Occupy A…

splcenter (2019-08-08). SPLC statement on Mississippi immigration raids. splcenter.org Southern Poverty Law Center Attorney Julia Solórzano, with the SPLC's Immigrant Justice Project, issued the following statement on today's workplace raids in Mississippi:…