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☆ 77 Democrats send a letter to Biden criticizing his border and immigration policies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A group of 77 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Wednesday criticizing his administration’s policies restricting asylum access for migrants crossing the southern border. At a press conference Thursday, Menendez said, “We recognize that the United States is experiencing a difficult migration challenge at the southern border. The Biden administration has said that its proposal is different because Miller did not allow for migrants to apply from their home countries to come to the U.S. legally. Biden has faced intense criticism over his border policies from both parties, with Republicans saying they are unwilling to negotiate on immigration legislation or more funding for border initiatives until the administration does more to secure the border. Customs and Border Protection encountered undocumented migrants more than 250,000 times in December, a record monthly high to end a record high year of border encounters.

[1/3] A 3D printed Google logo is placed on the Apple Macbook in this illustration taken April 12, 2020. Apple Inc (AAPL.O), which is steadily growing its nascent advertising business and promoting it as privacy-focused, could be a winner if Google ads become less effective, said Brian Mandelbaum, chief executive of marketing firm Attain. With more options besides Google, publishers will have more transparency over how much they can sell ad space for, and could end up paying less in fees, Mandelbaum said. If Google loses access to data signals, advertisers could see their Google ads become less effective, said Nikhil Lai, senior analyst at research firm Forrester. While the lawsuit settled, the fight is credited with opening the way for other internet innovators, like Google itself.

☆ U.S. arrests of Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants plummet under new restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The number of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border dropped 97% from December to January following new restrictions by U.S. President Joe Biden that expel them back to Mexico. U.S. authorities encountered an average of just 115 migrants from those countries over a weeklong period ending on Jan. 24, down from an average 3,367 on Dec. 11, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Wednesday. The department attributed the decrease to the restrictions and new legal pathways opened for migrants with U.S. sponsors who enter by air. Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington D.C.Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The lawsuit tackles a business at Google that is responsible for 80 percent of its revenue. The Justice Department asked the court to compel Google to break up its ad technology business. Eight states joined the department in Tuesday's lawsuit, including Google's home state of California. The lawsuit says "Google has thwarted meaningful competition and deterred innovation in the digital advertising industry." In addition to its well-known search, which is free, Google makes revenue through its interlocking ad tech businesses, which connect advertisers with newspapers, websites and other firms looking to host them.

REUTERS/Benoit TessierWASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google on Tuesday over allegations that the company abused its dominance of the digital advertising business. "Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies," the government said in its antitrust complaint. The Justice Department asked the court to compel Google to divest its Google Ad manager suite, including its ad exchange AdX. The lawsuit is the second federal antitrust complaint filed against Google, alleging violations of antitrust law in how the company acquires or maintains its dominance. The Justice Department lawsuit filed against Google in 2020 focuses on its monopoly in search and is scheduled to go to trial in September.

☆ Illegal border crossings in December surged to highest of Biden's presidency
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — A surge in Cuban and Nicaraguan arrivals at the U.S. border with Mexico in December led to the highest number of illegal border crossings recorded during any month of Joe Biden’s presidency, authorities said Friday. The extraordinary influx came shortly before Biden introduced measures on Jan. 5 to deter Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. U.S. authorities stopped migrants 251,487 times along the Mexican border in December, up 7% from 234,896 times in November and up 40% from 179,253 times in December 2021, Customs and Border Protection said. Cubans were stopped nearly 43,000 times in December, up 23% from November and more than quintuple the same period a year earlier. Nicaraguans were stopped more than 35,000 times, up 3% from November and more than double from December 2021.

The app CBP One had already been in use by the administration for some purposes but was officially expanded to allow asylum seekers to be prescreened. Those who qualify are given appointments for a time and date and port of entry where they can enter the U.S. and begin their asylum request process. Many migrants have phones, but others arrive without them or have limited or no WiFi access. Groups have also raised concerns about how app users' personal information will be used and stored. He recommended migrants avoid taking the risks to cross the border and use the app instead.

☆ Texas spent nearly $9 million busing migrants over the holidays, according to records obtained by Insider
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Texas spent just under $9 million busing migrants across the country over the holidays. In total, Texas has now spent roughly $29 million on the program since April 2022. According to public records obtained by Insider, Abbott's migrant bus program cost the Texas Division of Emergency Management $8.97 million over the November and December holidays. Many of those on these Texas buses are people seeking asylum — a legal right — fleeing poverty and political persecution in countries such as Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela. In November, Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, argued that the millions spent busing migrants would have been better spent elsewhere, according to WFAA.

Jan 19 (Reuters) - David Crosby, one of the most influential rock singers of the 1960s and '70s with the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY) has died at the age of 81, Variety reported on Thursday, citing a statement from Crosby's wife. "I don’t know what to say other than I’m heartbroken to hear about David Crosby. He fell "as low as a human being can go," Crosby told the Times. In the 2019 documentary "David Crosby: Remember My Name," he made clear he hoped they could work together again but conceded the others "really dislike me, strongly." After his release, Crosby told People magazine he had beaten his addictions.

☆ Americans can sponsor refugees directly under program launching this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Ted Hesson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Groups of Americans will be able to directly sponsor refugees for resettlement in the United States under a new program launching on Thursday, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters, a step that could bolster admissions and reduce government costs. The sponsor groups will also be required to pass background checks and create a support plan. The program will aim to find U.S. sponsors for 5,000 refugees in fiscal year 2023, which ends on Sept. 30, another of the sources said. The administration also used parole to admit Afghans and Ukrainians and piloted sponsor programs to support them in the United States. Refugee Resettlement Program, which takes referrals from the United Nations and U.S. embassies.

☆ Americans can sponsor refugees directly under program launching this week -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Ted Hesson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

☆ Americans see Biden's handling of classified docs as inappropriate — but not criminal, poll shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The survey also found Biden's job approval among Americans sliding further into the red. But a plurality of Americans, 46% to 37%, do not think Biden should face criminal charges over the mishandling of those documents, Quinnipiac found. "Roughly two-thirds of Americans are aware of and troubled by the misplaced classified documents found in President Biden's home and private office. The questions about the classified documents had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.6 percentage points. For questions not related to Biden's handling of classified documents, Quinnipiac surveyed 1,659 adults between Wednesday and Sunday.

The Justice Department's lawsuit, filed by the Trump administration, alleged that Google violated antitrust law in how it maintained dominance in search and search advertising. For example, it pointed to billions of dollars that Google paid annually to Apple (AAPL.O), LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS) and others to ensure that Google search was the default on their devices. The company also argued that there was no evidence that agreements that Google made related to Google Assistant or Internet-of-Things devices hurt competition. Google faces additional allegations of antitrust violations from dozens of states. It also argues that Google broke antitrust law to hamper rivals, such as travel-oriented websites.

☆ Detained Nicaraguan Catholic bishop, Ortega critic to face trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MANAGUA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A prominent Catholic bishop in Nicaragua who has sharply criticized authoritarian President Daniel Ortega will go to trial while under house arrest, a judge ruled on Tuesday, in the latest clamp down on dissent in the country. Human rights organizations accuse Ortega's government of persecuting the Catholic Church. Another prominent cleric, Bishop Silvio Baez, is in exile in the United States along with a number of other priests who have fled. The president has accused Catholic leaders of trying to overthrow him in a "coup" following anti-Ortega street protests that began in 2018. But as tensions have intensified, Ortega officials have expelled Catholic nuns and missionaries and shuttered more than a dozen Catholic radio and television stations.

☆ Guns, drugs and migrants: Biden heads to Mexico to face diplomatic challenges with North American allies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Peter Nicholas | Peter Nicholas Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

MEXICO CITY — When North American leaders gathered in 2021 — at the first summit for the group in five years — the mood was upbeat. Before he arrived in Mexico City on Sunday night, Biden stopped in El Paso, Texas, amid criticism from congressional Republicans that the southwest border has gotten more porous on his watch. Citing health concerns, López Obrador has called for banning imports of genetically modified corn. Ahead of the summit, the leaders sought to ease some of the strains and perhaps create a more convivial atmosphere. Rather than fly into the more conveniently located Mexico City hub airport, Air Force One landed Sunday at a new airport that was a pet project of López Obrador’s.

Led by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, Mexican officials set out the U.S.-Mexico bilateral agenda after Biden's arrival in Mexico City on Sunday evening for a North American leaders' summit. "Integration needs to be strengthened," Lopez Obrador told a news conference, saying he expected to reach "good agreements" with Biden. Lopez Obrador is hosting Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau between Monday and Wednesday for the first summit between the three since late 2021. DOMESTIC POLITICSLopez Obrador has also alarmed the United States with a plan to prohibit imports of genetically-modified corn. "To create a North American corridor to outcompete China, the United States, Canada and Mexico need to be on the same economic page," he added.

☆ Repression, economic turmoil, and gang violence is driving the crisis at the US border, an expert says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

It came amid a surge in the number of undocumented migrants seeking to enter the US. An analyst told Insider that a perfect storm of factors is driving people north to the border. Ariel Ruiz, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, said that the factors driving migration are "intersecting and compounding," and driving the surge from Central America, South America and the Caribbean. In Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, increased political repression and inflation related to the COVID-19 pandemic are key factors driving the surge, while in Haiti, he said, a surge in gang violence was the main driver. The wealth available in the US, the relative poverty of other nearby nations, and limited options for legal migration, mean that high undocumented migration is likely to continue, Ruiz concluded.

☆ Explainer: Why migrants are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in record numbers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Mica Rosenberg | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

What is happening at the U.S.-Mexico border now and why are there record numbers of crossings? U.S. Border Patrol made more than 2.2 million arrests at the U.S.-Mexico in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended last September, the most ever recorded. The number of Venezuelans crossing the border plummeted after Mexico agreed to accept expulsions of Venezuelan migrants last October. The Biden administration has said it wants to surge resources to process more claims quicker but faces budgetary and other constraints. The Biden administration also set a goal of resettling 125,000 refugees in 2022 who apply from abroad after Trump dramatically slashed admissions during his term.

☆ Economy, energy row and drugs loom at North American summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Dave Graham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"A meeting like this is so that we keep moving forward on economic integration," Lopez Obrador said this week. A combative leftist, Lopez Obrador says his policy is a matter of national sovereignty, on the grounds that past governments skewed the energy market to favor private interests. Trudeau told Reuters on Friday he would make the case that resolving the energy dispute would help bring more foreign investment to Mexico, and was confident of making progress. "As long as Lopez Obrador keeps migrants out of the border area, Biden will be happy." Although Lopez Obrador's government agreed to delay the ban until 2025, the issue would be discussed, he said.

☆ Biden inspects busy port of entry along US-Mexico border
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about U.S.-Mexico border security and enforcement, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 5, 2023. President Joe Biden inspected a busy port of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday, his first trip to the region after two years in office as Republicans hammer him for being soft on border security while the number of migrants crossing spirals. Biden watched as border officers in El Paso demonstrated how they search vehicles for drugs, money and other contraband. The numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has risen dramatically during Biden's first two years in office. For all of his international travel over his 50 years in public service, Biden has not spent much time at the U.S.-Mexico border.

☆ Biden Administration Leans on Trump-Era Policies to Combat Migrant Wave
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Michelle Hackman | Tarini Parti | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—President Biden announced his administration’s broadest effort yet to deter migrants seeking asylum at the southern border, expanding its use of several Trump-era border control measures the president had previously decried. Beginning on Thursday, the administration will use a pandemic-era border measure known as Title 42 to rapidly expel migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the countries that have posed the greatest challenge to the administration in the past year. The administration is taking the step even as the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments in the case and the administration has argued that the measure is no longer justified on public-health grounds and must end.

[1/4] Migrants queue near the border fence, after crossing the Rio Bravo river, to request asylum in El Paso, Texas, U.S., as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico January 5, 2023. Initial backlash to Biden's policy shift also signals it could be challenged in court, from both those who favor restricting immigration and advocates for asylum seekers. The restrictions, known as Title 42, allow U.S. authorities to rapidly expel migrants caught at the border back to Mexico without the chance to claim asylum in the United States. The Biden administration tried last year to end the Title 42 border restrictions, but U.S. courts have left them in place and legal challenges are ongoing. The court rulings that left the Title 42 order in place give the Biden administration time to experiment with different strategies.

☆ Biden Administration Expands Title 42 Migrant Expulsions to More Countries
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Michelle Hackman | Tarini Parti | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Biden administration is expanding its use of a pandemic-era border measure known as Title 42 to begin rapidly expelling migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, while opening a new legal path for up to 30,000 migrants from those countries to enter the U.S. a month. The new policy represents the broadest effort yet that the Biden administration has undertaken to deter migrants seeking asylum from crossing the border illegally. It also relies on an expanded use of Title 42 as a border-control measure, even while the administration is arguing in court that the measure is no longer justified on public-health grounds and must end. The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Title 42 in February.

☆ Biden admin will use Title 42 to block more Nicaraguans, Cubans, Haitians at border, but also open more legal pathways
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The announcement comes as the Biden administration faces record numbers of illegal border crossings, particularly by migrants from those three countries. Previously Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans have been able to skirt the Covid-19 border restrictions known as Title 42 that have prevented more than 1.4 million border crossings by forcing migrants back into Mexico before they can claim asylum. Citizens of Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua were not subject to Title 42 in part because their home countries, and therefore Mexico, refuse to take them back. Those accepted through the application process must show they have a U.S.-based sponsor to support them, much like Venezuelans and Ukrainians have done through programs the Biden administration established for those countries. NBC News was first to report that the Biden administration was considering opening up an application program for migrants to apply to come to the U.S. from their home countries.

☆ Thousands seeking asylum crowd Mexico refugee offices amid fears of a U.S. policy change
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

TAPACHULA/MEXICO CITY — Thousands of migrants have flocked to government offices in southern Mexico seeking asylum since the United States said it would keep restrictions used to quickly expel hundreds of thousands of migrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Cuban migrant German Ortiz, who is waiting to apply for asylum in the Mexican city of Tapachula near the Guatemalan border, wants to make his way quickly to the United States. Title 42 was originally put in place to curb the spread of COVID, but U.S. health authorities have since said it is no longer needed for public health reasons. Ramirez said many migrants seek asylum to obtain documents they believe are necessary to traverse Mexico so they can then go to the U.S.-Mexico border later. Ramirez believed the mass of recent arrivals could be migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti seeking to reach the United States before rules change.

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