Rare Saudi resistance hits futuristic megacity project

AFP/File / FRANCK FIFE 

The tribal revolt exposes a rare domestic clash with a government that has a reputation for crushing dissent

A rare revolt by a Saudi tribe has spelt fresh trouble for a planned Red Sea megacity, a linchpin of the crown prince's economic vision already beset by low oil prices.

The $500 billion NEOM project, set to be built from scratch along the kingdom's picturesque western coast, is billed as a futuristic cityscape evocative of a sci-fi blockbuster -- with everything from flying taxis to robot-maids.

Economic analysts have long questioned its viability in the era of cheap oil.

But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's dream project hit a new roadblock last month when a member of the local Huwaitat tribe was gunned down after he refused to give up his land for the project.

Be the shootout, Abdulraheem al-Huwaiti posted a series of scathing videos in which he likened the forcefored displacement of his sprawling tribe, based in the northwestern Tabuk province for generations, to "state terrorism".

He presciently claimed his opposition would get him killed.

Saudi Arabia's state security agency said the "wanted" man died in an exchange of fire with state forces after he resisted arrest, adding that a cache of weapons had been recovered from his house.

Many other members of the Bedouin tribe, who commonly own guns, were detained for spreading anti-displacement slogans and refusing to sign relocation documents, multiple activists said.

It exposes a rare domestic clash with the government that has a reputation for crushing dissent, while it grapples with the twin economic blow of historic low crude prices and a coronavirus-led shutdown.

NEOM has said 20,000 people would need to be relocated to clear room for construction as it presses ahead with its target to complete its first sites by 2023.

- 'Deep cuts' -

The government is preparing emergency plans to slash spending as crude prices drop, with Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan warning of "painful" measures and an "extremely long" list of affected budget items.

He did not specify whether NEOM will be among them. Even before the crisis, the project -- first announced in 2017 -- has struggled to attract investment.

"I will be surprised if cuts are not made -- deep cuts in capital expenditure for NEOM," a Saudi source associated with the project told AFP. "Given the sums required, it cannot but be delayed in many aspects."

The source added that the government is offering "generous compensation in cash" to those displaced by the project in addition to "new properties" within the kingdom.

In a bid to placate the community, NEOM has also launched "social responsibility programmes" including university scholarships and vocational training programmes, the source said.

Several Huwaitat tribesmen have rejected what they call "vague" compensation offers, activists told AFP, even as state-run media have published a pledge of loyalty by the tribe to Saudi rulers.

The campaigners say NEOM is designed to be a liberal expat enclave in a conservative nation that is unlikely to benefit local residents.

- 'Crown jewel' -

"What happened in NEOM was the tragic death of a resident of a village that is being relocated," Ali Shihabi, a member of the NEOM advisory board, said on Twitter.

"Similar to the concept of 'eminent domain' used in Western law, the government is taking ownership of private land to use for the project... This happens all the time, all over the world when roads, train tracks or dams are built."

But forced evictions could backfire as economic pressures grow, observers warn.

"The combination of record-low oil prices and mounting demographic pressures poses significant challenges to Prince Mohammed's (MBS) future plans in Saudi Arabia," said the Soufan Center, a think tank.

"The high-tech city in NEOM is the crown jewel of MBS' future vision for Saudi Arabia, but it remains unclear how a prince's pet project will help the kingdom deal with its youth bulge.

"The government will have less cash to dispense as patronage to assuage Saudi citizens. The erosion of the social contract between the rulers and the ruled will lead to serious problems, especially in a tribal society."

But as part of his grand ambition to pivot the economy away from oil, Prince Mohammed looks set to press ahead with NEOM, billed as a regional Silicon Valley whose marketing slogan is a "bold and audacious dream".

"The economic fundamentals have turned further against this fantastical project, but I don't expect MBS to give it up," said Kristin Diwan of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

"It's the touchstone for everything he wants to achieve."

Aerospace firm Safran cuts 3,000 workers in Mexico as coronavirus hits demand & WORKERS HEALTH

Daina Beth Solomon,Reuters•May 7, 2020

FILE PHOTO: The Safran company logo is pictured at the company's logistic area in Colomiers near ToulouseMore



By Daina Beth Solomon

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - France's Safran , the world's third-largest aerospace supplier, said on Thursday it had laid off 3,000 employees in Mexico as the aerospace industry faces an unprecedented crisis stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

Safran's two plants in Queretaro, an industrial city in the center of the country, are part of a vast network of export-focused factories that have turned Mexico into a key player for global manufacturing supply chains.

Those factories have been bleeding jobs in recent months as manufacturers across the globe scale down production amid forecasts of the biggest global recession in many generations.

"We face a sharp drop in customer orders," a Safran spokeswoman said in emailed comments to Reuters.

"Unfortunately, this situation is affecting our business and we must take steps to adapt to clients requests. One of these steps is a reduction of the workload," the spokeswoman added.

Safran started notifying employees of the decision as of the third week of April.

"This tough step is proposed in order to preserve the longer-term existence of Safran in Mexico and to protect more than 10,000 jobs still active in the country," the spokeswoman said.

Companies in Mexico have been suspending operations and laying off workers as measures designed to slow the spread of highly contagious respiratory coronavirus have put a stranglehold on trade and consumption at home and abroad.

The National Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin), an influential industry association, estimates about 700,000 Mexican jobs were lost in March and April, and another 650,000 could be lost in May if the reopening of Mexico's economy does not start until June.

U.S. auto parts maker Yazaki North America, part of Japan-based Yazaki Group, said on Wednesday it was cutting its Mexico workforce by about 20%. That translates into about 14,500 job losses, according to a Reuters calculation.

Mexico has 27,634 confirmed coronavirus cases and 2,704 deaths.

Schiff: Trump Admin. Using Coronavirus Lab-Origin Story to ‘Deflect Attention’ from U.S. Failures

Mairead McArdle,National Review•May 6, 2020



Representative Adam Schiff said Tuesday that President Trump has embraced the “false narrative” that the coronavirus escaped from a Chinese lab in order to deflect from the administration’s “terrible mishandling” of the pandemic.

“We are told that we are currently informed on the latest intelligence, so I don’t know where they’re getting this apart from expressing their desire, or they’re withholding information from Congress,” Schiff, who serves as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said during an MSNBC appearance.

President Trump said Thursday that he has seen evidence that the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

When pressed for details, Trump responded, “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.”

U.S. intelligence agencies have not made a determination as to whether the virus was naturally occurring and escaped from the lab, which advertised its research on coronaviruses in the months leading up the pandemic, but the intelligence community has concluded that the pathogen was not manmade.

The intelligence community “concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement Thursday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed Sunday that there is “enormous evidence” but agreed with the intelligence community’s assessment that the virus was not engineered.

“I think what they’re clearly trying to do is deflect attention away from the administration’s terrible mishandling of this virus,” said Schiff, a California Democrat.

Schiff added that after espousing a “false narrative” early on that the virus is not worse than the common flu, the administration has “chosen to go after China.”

“Look, there’s a lot to criticize China about,” he added. “They should have been far more transparent about the human to human transmission, and they did conceal things.”

However “there’s a danger in the administration either putting out theories that cannot be substantiated or deliberately provoking a fight during the middle of a pandemic,” Schiff said.

In December, local and national officials issued a gag order to labs in Wuhan after scientists there identified a new viral pneumonia, ordering them to halt tests, destroy samples, and conceal the news.

Schiff added that the president is doing a “tremendous disservice” to the American public by preventing Dr. Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, from testifying to Congress about the virus.

Trump said Tuesday that his administration blocked Fauci from testifying before House lawmakers about the virus due to “Trump haters” in the Democrat-led chamber.

“Apart and away from the glare of the president, he’s concerned that Dr. Fauci will be even more candid with the country about the dangers of this virus and feel more free to contradict the false claims that the president has been making. That’s a very poor reason to keep someone from Congress during a pandemic,” Schiff said.

Detained American claims he plotted Maduro's capture in Venezuela TV statement

Brian Ellsworth and Angus Berwick,Reuters•May 6, 2020

CARACAS (Reuters) - A former U.S. soldier captured in Venezuela said on Wednesday that he had been contracted by a Florida security firm to seize control of Caracas' airport and bring in a plane to fly President Nicolas Maduro to the United States.

Venezuelan authorities on Monday arrested the man, Luke Denman, along with fellow U.S. citizen Airan Berry and 11 others, in what Maduro has called a failed plot coordinated with Washington to oust him.

During questioning broadcast on state television, Denman said the firm, Silvercorp USA, had signed a contract with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to seek Maduro's removal. A Guaido advisor told CNN on Wednesday that he had signed an exploratory agreement, but it had never been finalized and the opposition did not support the attempted incursion.

U.S. President Donald Trump has denied involvement. A senior Trump administration official said Maduro's accusations of a U.S. role "are not credible" and the administration remained focused on "achieving a peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the U.S. government would use "every tool" to secure the Americans' return, if they were being held in Venezuela.

In the video, Denman, 34, answered questions from a person off-camera speaking in English

Denman, who looked calm and wore a gray t-shirt, said his mission was to secure the airport and establish outer security. He did not give details on how his group planned to get Maduro on a plane.

It was unclear when or where the video was made, and where Denman and Berry are being held.

In March, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Maduro and a dozen other current and former Venezuelan officials with "narco-terrorism" and the Trump administration offered a reward of $15 million for information leading to his arrest.

"I was helping Venezuelans take back control of their country," Denman, a former special operations forces member, said in the video.

Denman said he and Berry were contracted by Jordan Goudreau, a U.S. military veteran who leads Silvercorp, to train 50 to 60 Venezuelans in Colombia in January for the operation. Goudreau supplied the group with equipment, Denman said.

Goudreau confirmed his role as organizer of the operation in media interviews on Sunday and told Reuters on Monday that Denman and Berry were "my guys." He could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.

Venezuelan authorities said they arrested the group by the isolated coastal town of Chuao, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) west of Caracas' airport, after locals raised suspicions. Authorities published photos of what they said was the group's boat, loaded with ammunition, weapons and communication equipment.

Eight people involved in the same operation were killed on Sunday in La Guaira state, near Caracas, Maduro's government said.

During a televised virtual press conference on Wednesday, Maduro originally said he would show videos of the two Americans, but did not end up showing a video of Berry. He said Venezuela would seek Goudreau's extradition.

"Donald Trump is the direct chief of this invasion," Maduro added.

Guaido's team, in a statement earlier this week, said they had "no relationship with any company in the security and defense branch," including Silvercorp.

But on Wednesday, Juan Rendon, a Guaido advisor and member of his strategic committee, told CNN that he had signed an "exploratory agreement" with Silvercorp to seek the capture of members of Maduro's government "to deliver them to justice."

Rendon said the preliminary agreement was never executed or completed and Goudreau sent the soldiers on a "botched suicide" mission without Guaido's support.

After Denman's televised statement, a U.S. State Department spokesman said that "due to privacy considerations" it would have no further comment about the two Americans alleged to be in Venezuelan custody.


(Additional reporting by Vivian Sequera in Caracas and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Angus Berwick; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Rosalba O'Brien and Kim Coghill)

The killing of Ahmaud Arbery highlights the danger of jogging while black

Rashawn Ray, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland,
The Conversation•May 7, 2020

Footage captured the last moments of Ahmaud Arbery's life. Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Youtube

Unsteady cellphone footage follows a jogger – an apparently young, black man – as he approaches and attempts to run around a white pickup truck parked in the middle of a suburban road. Moments later he lies dead on the ground.

The killing of Ahmaud Arbery took place on Feb. 23, after the 25-year-old was confronted by Gregory McMichael, a 64-year-old former police officer and investigator for the Brunswick, Georgia district attorney’s office, and his 34-year-old son, Travis. It took 10 weeks to gain widespread attention with the circulation of video footage on social media, prompting revulsion and calls for justice.

On May 5 was it announced that the case would go to a grand jury, which will decide if the McMichaels will be charged with a crime.

Death in suburbia

The killing of Arbery by people with links to law enforcement raises important questions over immunity and the so-called blue wall of silence that extends from law enforcement agencies to prosecutor’s offices and courtrooms.

But there is a separate question that needs to be asked: Why do these incidents seem to occur in certain types of neighborhoods? Satilla Shores, where Arbery was killed by the McMichaels, is predominately white and suburban. It evokes memories of the killings of Trayvon Martin, Jonathan Ferrell, Renisha McBride and Tamir Rice.

As a sociologist and public health scholar, I have studied physical activity and how it varies by race and social class. I know that the exact behaviors that are encouraged to extend life for all are the exact ones that can end the life of men like Ahmaud – in short, jogging while black can be deadly.

In 2017, I published a study on physical activity – focusing on where and how people exercise, and breaking this down by race and gender. I surveyed nearly 500 middle-class black and white professionals around the United States. The research also included in-depth interviews, focus groups and observations of public spaces in cities with varying racial and class compositions including Oakland and Rancho Cucamonga, California; Brentwood, Tennessee; Bowie, Maryland; and Forest Park, Ohio.

I found that race and place significantly inform where people engage in physical activity: White men, white women and black women living in predominately white areas were significantly more likely to engage in physical activity in their neighborhoods. Black men living in predominately white neighborhoods, however, were far less likely to engage in physical activity in the areas surrounding their own homes.
Good neighbors?

Black men I interviewed who had jogged in white neighborhoods where they lived reported incidents of the police being called on them, neighbors scurrying to the other side of the street as they approached, receiving disgruntled looks and seeing the shutting of screen doors as they passed. Similar experiences have been documented in public places like stores, restaurants and coffee shops.

A memorial left at the site where Ahmaud Arbery was shot dead on a quiet suburban road. Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Black men are often criminalized in public spaces – that means they are perceived as potential threats and predators. Consequently, their blackness is weaponized. Moreover, black men’s physical bodies are viewed as potential weapons that could invoke bodily harm, even when they are not holding anything in their hands or attacking. In fact, black people are 3.5 times more likely than white people to be killed by police in situations where they are not attacking nor have a weapon.

My research highlights that the social psychology of criminalization – the inability to separate concepts of criminality from a person’s identity or role in society – is important here. Often, physical features such as skin tone are used to guide attitudes, emotions and behaviors that can influence interactions between people of different races and lead to oversimplified generalizations about a person’s character. For black men, this means that negative perceptions about their propensity to commit crime, emotional stability, aggressiveness and strength can be used as justification for others to enact physical force upon them.

Signaling or survival?

Some black men attempt to make themselves less threatening. When it comes to jogging in white neighborhoods, some of the black men I spoke to wore alumnus T-shirts, carried I.D., waved and smiled at neighbors, and ran in well-lit, populated areas.

This is hardly surprising. Black men do this at work by thinking consciously about their attire, tone and pitch of voice, and behavioral mannerisms. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, many black men are going to great lengths to reduce criminalization by staying in the house, wearing colorful masks and even forgoing masks altogether.

Sociologists call it a signaling process. Black men call it survival.

An irony in the case of Ahmaud Arbery is that it has set in motion a campaign that could see more black men putting on their running shoes. The #IRunWithMaud social media campaign is encouraging people to jog 2.23 miles – a reference to the date on which Arbery was killed.

BLACK PANTHER MEMORIAL RUN WITH A GUN

Philippine broadcaster fights order to shut down
Reuters•May 7, 2020


Philippine broadcaster fights order to shut down
FILE PHOTO: A man runs outside the ABS-CBN network headquarters where candles are lit following government orders to cease its operations, in Quezon City

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines' biggest broadcaster asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to quash an order by the telecoms regulator to shut down its operations, saying it undermined freedom of speech and the public right to information.

The regulator's order for ABS-CBN Corp to cease operations after its 25-year license expired has prompted allegations by critics of President Rodrigo Duterte that his allies are trying to intimidate the media.

The president repeatedly threatened to block the renewal of ABS-CBN's franchise after the channel angered him during the 2016 presidential election by refusing to air his campaign commercial.

"The continued operation of ABS-CBN is a matter of public interest and transcendental importance, it being among the largest broadcasting entities in terms of coverage and audience," the company said.

ABS-CBN Corp also asked the Supreme Court to hear its petition quickly, saying the livelihood of thousands of its employees and their families were at stake.

The 66-year-old entertainment and media conglomerate, said in it its petition that it employs 11,000 people.

It also operates 21 radio and 38 television stations nationwide and distributes online content. It went off air on Tuesday to comply with the regulator's order, to widespread dismay from labor, business and media groups and opposition lawmakers.

"To close ABS-CBN now when it is most needed would certainly be detrimental to the public," it said. "ABS-CBN cannot be closed without compromising the fundamental guarantees of freedom of speech and the press."

ABS-CBN said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) abused its discretion when it ordered its closure even after it indicated in March the broadcasting company could remain on air pending its license renewal. ABS-CBN's 25-year congressional franchise expired on May 4.

"The NTC's bad faith, malice and underhandedness are simply shocking and abhorrent," ABS-CBN said.

The NTC was not immediately available for comment. The regulator said on Wednesday it stood by its decision and that ABS-CBN could seek a temporary restraining order from a court.

Several bills extending ABC-CBN's license have been pending as a parliament dominated by Duterte's loyalists dragged its feet over renewing its franchise.

ABS-CBN had apologised for what happened during the 2016 election campaign and the president's office said the mercurial leader no longer had an axe to grind with the station, despite past grievances.

"Even if the president would wish to give them a franchise, under the constitution, only Congress has the power to grant it," presidential spokesman Harry Roque said on Thursday.

Philippine TV network fights closure with court petition

JIM GOMEZ,Associated Press•May 7, 2020


A man stands next to a logo at the headquarters of broadcast network ABS-CBN Corp. on Wednesday May 6, 2020 in Manila, Philippines. Philippine church and business leaders expressed alarm Wednesday over a government agency’s shutdown of the country’s largest TV and radio network, which has been a major provider of news on the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines' largest TV and radio network, which was shut this week by a government regulator, asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to return to the air amid an uproar over its closure.

ABS-CBN Corp. said in its petition to the court that the Tuesday closure order by the National Telecommunications Commission muzzled freedom of the press and removed a major provider of news and entertainment while millions are under a coronavirus lockdown.

“The public needs the services of ABS-CBN, now more than ever, as the country grapples with the effects of COVID-19,” the broadcaster told the court.

Media watchdogs have accused President Rodrigo Duterte and his government of muzzling independent media like ABS-CBN that have reported critically on issues including his anti-drug crackdown. Duterte has accused the network of favoring a rival candidate in the 2016 election and had threatened to block its franchise approval.

The telecommunications commission ordered ABS-CBN to stop operating because its 25-year congressional franchise ended on Monday. But the move was a reversal of the regulator’s earlier assurance to Congress that it would issue the network a temporary permit to remain on air while legislators assess its franchise renewal.

At least six broadcasters have been allowed in the past to continue operating after their franchises expired and their renewal applications were still pending in the House of Representatives, which has exclusive power to grant and revoke such franchises.

Opposition Sen. Franklin Drilon, a former justice secretary, said the closure order violated the constitution, which guarantees equal protection and treatment under the law, and was a “grave abuse of discretion.”

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has cited the same constitutional principle and said the network should be able to continue operating while its franchise renewal is pending. Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin used an expletive in a tweet to express his disgust with the telecommunications commission.

Alarm over the shutdown has been expressed by a wide range of groups, including business leaders, left-wing activists, journalists and TV celebrities.

A Roman Catholic bishop, Broderick Pabillo, said shuttering ABS-CBN “is very unbecoming at best and traitorous to the people at worst” and was “a brazen exercise of power to show who is in charge, using the law and its technicalities as a tool of control."

Founded in 1953, the network was last closed down under the rule of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and reopened after his 1986 overthrow by an army-backed “people power” revolt.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte has a neutral position on ABS-CBN's closure, but the government’s solicitor-general, Jose Calida, warned telecommunication commissioners they could face criminal charges if they allowed the network to remain in operation without a franchise.

In February, Calida asked the Supreme Court to revoke the operating franchises of ABS-CBN and a subsidiary in a separate attempt to shut down the company for allegedly abusing its franchises and violating a constitutional prohibition on foreign investment in Philippine media. ABS-CBN denied the allegations.

• Barr says it was 'an easy decision' to drop case against Michael Flynn

  The Week

WHAT THE BOSS WANTS THE BOSS GETS

20,000 migrants have been expelled along border under coronavirus order
Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News•May 7, 2020



The Trump administration announced on Thursday that officials at the southern border have summarily expelled more than 20,000 unauthorized migrant adults, families and children from the U.S. under a broad public health order issued in late March in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Citing the emergency directive by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), border officials sent more than 14,000 migrants to Mexico or their home countries in April, according to new government data. In the last 11 days of March, more than 6,400 were expelled under the order, which the administration says allows officials to bypass laws and policies that govern the processing of migrants and asylum-seekers, including children who arrive at the border without their parents or legal guardians.

Officials relied on the emergency authority under the CDC order to quickly remove the vast majority of migrants who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border without documents last month. More than 90% of the adults, families and unaccompanied children encountered by Border Patrol in April were expelled.

Most of the 15,862 migrants encountered by Border Patrol last month were single adults, but 604 families and 734 unaccompanied minors were also processed. Officials did not immediately say how many of these families and children were processed under the CDC order, but government data suggests most of them were expelled.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, charged with caring for unaccompanied migrant minors, received only 58 children from border officials in April, according to the data obtained by CBS News. In March, including the 11 days under the order, border officials referred 1,852 children to the agency. Since the office has continued releasing minors to sponsors in the U.S. during the pandemic, less than 1,650 children remained in its care this week — a population level not seen since late 2011.

Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Ciudad Juarez

A migrant child in the "Remain in Mexico" program speaks on the phone while waiting with his parents at the Paso del Norte border bridge to reschedule their immigration hearings amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on April 21, 2020. Reuters

The administration has argued that the CDC directive, which cites a World War II-era public health law, is critical to contain the spread of the coronavirus inside the U.S., saying potentially infected migrants could overburden medical institutions along the borderlands. Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan reiterated on Thursday that the order is not part of the administration's immigration agenda, but rather a measure to safeguard public health.

"This is not about immigration," Morgan told reporters during a remote briefing.

Advocates, however, disagree, saying the administration is accomplishing something it has sought to do for years: restrict access to humanitarian protections for unauthorized migrants who arrive at the border. Since officials are processing most of them under public health law, migrants could be denied the opportunity to apply for humanitarian programs, like asylum, that are enshrined in U.S. immigration law.

Thelma Garcia, an immigration attorney in the Rio Grande Valley, the most heavily patrolled sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, said the CDC directive is being used to deny migrants access to America's asylum system.

"There are still problems in Central America. People are still fleeing. Once they cross the border into the U.S., nobody knows anything about them because they are deported so quickly. And I'm sure there's a lot of people in there with some good claims that should not be removed," Garcia told CBS News. "But they are using the pandemic as an excuse not to follow the immigration and asylum laws."

The CDC order was first issued on March 20 and renewed late last month for another 30 days. Morgan did not confirm whether it will be extended yet again beyond the current May 20 end date, saying health officials will make that determination. But he said the public health risk posed by processing large numbers of migrants persists, citing the growing coronavirus cases in Mexico.

U.S. suspends protections for migrant kids at border, expelling hundreds

Camilo Montoya-Galvez,CBS News•May 7, 2020

María does not know what to do. Her request for U.S. asylum was denied. Her authorization to be in Mexico, contingent on having an ongoing U.S. immigration case, has expired. And now, the U.S. has sent her 10-year-old son alone to Honduras, where she fled an abusive partner who threatened to kill her if she returns.

After losing their asylum case under the Remain-in-Mexico policy, which has granted protection to just 1.1% of the migrants who have completed their proceedings under the program, María allowed Jesús, her young son, to cross the border alone to turn himself over to U.S. officials, thinking he would be allowed to reunite with family in Texas and seek refuge in the U.S. under long-standing policies for unaccompanied migrant minors.

Instead, Jesús was placed on a deportation flight to Honduras within four days of encountering U.S. immigration officials, who have been granted broad emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic.

"He was desperate," María told CBS News in Spanish, referring to her son. "He wanted to be in the U.S. with his uncle because he did not want to go back to Honduras to suffer. 'I do not want to live with that man again so he can mistreat me,' he told me."

For the first time in decades, children like Jesús who show up at the southern border without their parents or legal guardians are being summarily expelled and denied access to protections that have been afforded to them under U.S. law. The shift is being justified under a 17-page public health order the Trump administration believes allows border officials to bypass asylum, immigration and anti-trafficking laws.

Under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order, first issued on March 20 and renewed for another 30 days late last month, border officials have expelled thousands of unauthorized migrants to Mexico or their home countries and denied most asylum-seekers the opportunity to request humanitarian protections created by Congress.

In the last 11 days of March alone, officials expelled at least 299 unaccompanied children under the public health order. Expulsions in April are expected to be released Thursday, according to a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman, but data from the U.S. refugee agency responsible for caring for these minors suggests that most unaccompanied children have been denied entry since the emergency order took effect.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) received only 58 children from border officials in April, according to government data obtained by CBS News. In March, including the 11 days under the order, border officials referred 1,852 children to the agency.

Before the worst weeks of the pandemic, the office was getting as many as 77 migrant minors on a given day. Since the order's implementation, especially in April, daily referrals from border officials have hovered around the single digits. On some days, the agency has not received any minors.

Because the refugee agency has continued to release children to relatives and sponsors in the U.S. during the pandemic, the number of unaccompanied migrant minors in its custody has plummeted, falling to 1,648 this week — a population not seen since late 2011, according to an administration official. Last April, during an unprecedented wave of U.S.-bound migrant families and children, the office had 12,500 minors in its care.

The administration has argued that the CDC order invoking a 1940s-era public health law is necessary to block the entry of migrants who could be carrying the coronavirus and cause outbreaks inside immigration jails that would overwhelm the public health system along the border. Migrant children, top officials have argued, pose the same threat to the U.S. as adults during the pandemic.

"The disease doesn't know age," Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters last month. "When [minors] come across the border, they pose an absolute, concrete public health risk to this country and everybody they come in contact with."

While officials like Morgan have maintained that the turn-back order was not a matter of immigration policy, it accomplishes an objective the Trump administration has pursued for over three years: shutting off access to humanitarian protections for immigrants who hardliners see as chiefly economic migrants.

"The administration is using coronavirus and the pandemic as a cover for doing what it has always wanted to do, which was to close the border to children," Jennifer Nagda, the policy director at the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, told CBS News. "There is no reason why unaccompanied children arriving at the border can't be safely screened and transferred to ORR custody, where capacity is at an all-time low."

"There is no real public health justification for turning these children away at the border — and it absolutely violates federal law," Nagda added.

"I didn't know where they had him"

María said she and Jesús left Honduras last year after being threatened by her former partner. She said her other three children stayed at her mother's home, where they had been living.

CBS News is not disclosing María or Jesús' real names to protect their identities.

Upon reaching and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in September 2019, María and her son were placed in the Remain in Mexico program, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols or MPP, according to U.S. government documents reviewed by CBS News. For months, they lived in the tent city in Matamoros, Mexico, the largest refugee camp along the U.S.-Mexico border. They entered the U.S. three times to attend their court hearings at a makeshift immigration court in Brownsville, Texas. In March, an immigration judge denied the family's petition for humanitarian protection in the U.S. María said she found herself in an agonizing position. She feared her son could be hurt if they returned to Honduras. She was also concerned about his safety in the squalid tent camp in Matamoros, located in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which the U.S. government warns Americans not to visit because of the rampant violence and crime there.

Migrant children play with cardboard boxes at a migrant encampment where more than 2,000 people live while seeking asylum in the U.S., while the spread of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Matamoros Mexico, on April 9, 2020. ReutersSo María followed the lead of other asylum-seeking parents in the MPP program and let Jesús cross the border without her, since unaccompanied minors are supposed to be excluded from the Remain in Mexico policy. Between October 2019 and last month, at least 571 children in the custody of the U.S. refugee agency have said their parents were in Mexico under the policy, according to government data obtained by CBS News.

In a letter Wednesday, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus denounced reports by advocates that the U.S. refugee agency has been delaying the release of children with pending Remain in Mexico cases. Last month, a federal judge said the agency can't block the release of children with sponsors simply because they were formerly in Mexico with their family and have a pending case linked to the MPP program.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Jesús was turned over to the agency on April 20, one day after Border Patrol agents encountered and processed him under the public health order. On April 24, ICE sent him to Honduras on a deportation flight, the agency said.

But María said he did not find out about her son's fate until a week after he was expelled to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Her cousin in Tegucigalpa, the country's capital, was the one who told her, she said. Honduran immigration officials reached her six days after Jesús' removal. "I was scared about my son's whereabouts. I didn't know where they had him," she said.

María's cousin has agreed to take care of Jesús for the time being. The 10-year-old boy is still shocked and distressed, María said.

"This is the first time we have been separated. That's why he is sad. 'When are you coming, mommy?' he has asked me," she added. "They told me he spent his days at the shelter crying."

Dr. Amy Cohen, a child welfare expert and executive director of the group Every Last One, which works with asylum-seeking minors, helped María locate her child and arranged for him to stay with family members in Honduras. Faulting the U.S. government, Cohen said it would've been nearly impossible for the Honduran mother to locate her son if she had not received outside help.

"This child, for all intents and purposes, is now alone in Honduras. He's 10-years-old. He has been traumatized and separated from his mother," Cohen told CBS News.

"Complete dereliction"

The rapid expulsion of unaccompanied children like Jesús from U.S. soil upends decades of legal safeguards that underage migrants have been granted for years, particularly those classified as unaccompanied.

When the Department of Homeland Security was created in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Congress charged the Office of Refugee Resettlement with caring for unaccompanied minors, which had been the responsibility of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, a Justice Department branch with law enforcement functions that was disbanded.

Under a 2008 law, border officials generally must transfer unaccompanied migrant children who are not from Mexico or Canada to the U.S. refugee agency within three days of their apprehension, except in extraordinary circumstances.

Once in the U.S., immigration law dictates that unaccompanied migrant minors can't be placed in a fast-tracked deportation process known as "expedited removal" and must be connected with legal services providers and child advocates. They are to be placed in the "least restrictive" shelters and facilities.

U.S. law stipulates that unaccompanied children can also have their asylum applications decided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, rather than an immigration judge. Migrant minors, unlike adults, also have other avenues beyond asylum to seek safe haven in the U.S. Those who can prove they have been neglected, abandoned or abused by one or both parents can request "Special Immigrant Juvenile Status," which creates a pathway to U.S. citizenship.

The care of unaccompanied children in U.S. custody is also governed by the landmark 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, which also covers minors in families. Under the settlement, minors must be detained in safe and sanitary facilities, and the government must make a continuing effort to release them to qualified sponsors.

The Trump administration has sought to alter, limit or completely scrap most of these laws and protections, arguing that they encourage unauthorized migration of children, particularly from poverty-stricken and violence-ridden parts of Central America. But Jennifer Podkul, vice president of Kids in Need of Defense, a group that provides legal services to unaccompanied minors, said these safeguards were purposely established to protect them.

"Congress passed legislation with incredible bipartisan support, recognizing that this is a particularly vulnerable population, to make sure that these kids aren't summarily returned but rather that they have the opportunity to talk to a social worker, talk to a lawyer and talk to a judge, so that the United States can be sure they are not sending a kid back to danger," Podkul told CBS News. "That was Congress' intent."

Pablo Rodriguez, an attorney at the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services who works with unaccompanied minors in U.S. immigration custody, said children fleeing to the U.S. are still in need of protection, even during a pandemic.

"Just because there is a pandemic going on does not mean that the reasons the children flee, the reasons why people are coming to the United States, have changed," Rodriguez told CBS News. "They are still fleeing gang violence, and a lot of other push-and-pull factors are still at play."

Border officials citing the CDC order have also altered the long-standing definition of an "unaccompanied" migrant child as a minor who is encountered at the border without a parent or legal guardian. The administration has told Congress it is now classifying minors who come to the border with other family members as "accompanied" and expelling them as a family.

Under an informal agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, Mexican officials agreed to receive Central American families and single adults expelled by the U.S. under the public health order but not unaccompanied minors, a Mexican government official told CBS News. However, a CBP spokesman said Tuesday that unaccompanied children could be expelled to Mexico through a port of entry, or in an ICE deportation flight.

CBP has said its agents could exclude unaccompanied minors from the public health order on a case-by-case basis if they see signs of trafficking or illness, or if the child's expulsion to her home country is not immediately possible. A CBP spokesman did not provide more details about when agents could exclude children. "If specific circumstances guaranteeing exemptions from title 42 expulsion were to be made public, they would be exploited by human smugglers," the spokesman said.

Nagda, the policy director at the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, is worried about the potential asylum and protection requests that the U.S. is no longer hearing from children.

"What is most terrifying about this situation is the complete dereliction of any sense of either our legal obligation or moral obligation to very vulnerable children who are coming to our borders," she said. "We have no idea who these children are and we have no idea where they're going."

Meanwhile, in the refugee camp in Matamoros, María is now contemplating returning to Honduras.

"Yes, I'm scared to go back — but my son is there now."

Democrats fume over having to clean up Bloomberg's mess

HE WAS A REPUBLICAN, STILL IS
HE FUCKED OVER HIS WORKERS

Alex Thompson and Holly Otterbein,Politico•May 7, 2020


Mike Bloomberg’s decision to dump hundreds of former campaign staffers from his payroll — after promising them paychecks through the election — has left a trail of ill will within the Democratic Party that’s now roiling a key part of its general election operation.

After accepting a much-needed $18 million donation from Bloomberg when he dropped out of the presidential campaign in March, Democratic National Committee officials have been pressuring battleground state parties to hire his former employees, according to senior party aides in three swing states. Those staffers found themselves jobless after the billionaire broke his campaign’s public promise to keep them employed through November whether he won the nomination or not.

But some state parties are chafing at the hiring requests. Senior state party officials told POLITICO they’re being tasked with cleaning up Bloomberg’s public relations mess rather than hiring the best people for the jobs.

“It’s ridiculous,” said one Democratic operative familiar with the dispute, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about the situation. “There were dozens of candidates [with qualified employees] and the parties are being asked to prioritize the rich guy’s staff over everyone else’s.”

David Bergstein, the DNC’s director of communications for battleground states, did not dispute that the DNC is pushing some state parties to hire ex-Bloomberg aides. But he said that “every potential staffer goes through a competitive hiring process.”

Bergstein added that “the Bloomberg campaign ended with a very large pool of available and talented staff in many battlegrounds, and we’re making sure they, along with others who are interested, have opportunities to apply to our state organizing programs."

The state parties' resistance has in turn irked Bloomberg’s team. “If people don't want the money, they can return it and it will be put to use in alternative efforts to defeat President Trump," a Bloomberg spokesperson told POLITICO. “The Bloomberg campaign made the largest transfer in DNC history, $18 million, to help boost the DNC's coordinated efforts, including by enabling them to hire field organizers of ours who wanted to continue through November. It is certainly our hope that effort not only continues, but accelerates.”

The rancor has highlighted Bloomberg’s growing influence in the Democratic Party as a donor and power broker after his failed presidential campaign, which now extends to hiring and contracting decisions. The rift over Bloomberg staffers is not an academic matter for Democrats: As Joe Biden ramps up his digital operation and shifts increasingly to online campaigning, the battleground organizers are some of the only on-the-ground infrastructure Democrats have in swing states right now.

Bloomberg’s digital operation has also been a point of contention since he left the race. The digital firm he started, Hawkfish, is seeking to take over large parts of Biden’s digital operation for the general election, a possibility that has caused a clash inside the campaign.

Part of the disagreement over the staffers seems to stem from differing expectations of what Bloomberg’s money would be used for. The Bloomberg team argued that $18 million is enough to hire 500 additional organizers, but the DNC said it is using that money to hire people faster and ahead of schedule rather than increasing the expected size of its battleground organizing teams.

The DNC has also been committing money to other areas, such as recently reserving $22 million in YouTube ads for the fall.

One of the three senior state party aides said some of the Bloomberg staffers were underqualified and overpaid on his presidential campaign, and had outsized expectations. Entry-level organizing staffers on the Bloomberg campaign were paid at a rate of $72,000 a year, nearly double the salary of similar positions on other presidential campaigns.

“They’ve been frickin spoiled,” the person said. “The two trends we noticed: They overshot what they were applying for” and some “felt as though they should have been compensated more than we were willing to go.”

“[The DNC] did make it clear it was a priority for them,” the state party aide added. “It was clearly a priority that they be able to show that they hired a lot more ex-Bloomberg [staffers] than they had to that date.”

Other state party officials expressed gratitude to the DNC and Bloomberg for the large infusion of resources.

“These early investments have helped us dramatically grow our organizing programs and ensure we have the folks we need to connect with voters early and across the Commonwealth,” Lauren Reyes, Virginia’s Democratic Coordinated Campaign Director, said in a statement through a DNC spokesperson.

Even state party officials who were frustrated by the pressure to hire Bloomberg staffers, however, said they ultimately blamed Bloomberg for the problem. In order to ramp up his campaign quickly, Bloomberg enticed employees with a pledge that they would have jobs through November. After he lost the primary, Bloomberg abruptly fired most of the 2,400 members of the staff, leaving them unemployed and without health insurance amid an economy in freefall. The former New York City mayor, who is estimated to be one of the richest 10 people in the world, is facing two class-action lawsuits from former aides over the situation.

After a barrage of criticism, Bloomberg relented last week and offered to pay for health care coverage for his former campaign staff through COBRA until November, citing “these extraordinary circumstances.”