Migrants cross the Suchiate River from Tecun Uman in Guatemala to Ciudad Hidalgo in Mexico. - AFP/VNA PhotoViet Nam News WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is deploying 5,200 active-duty troops to beef up security along the US-Mexico border, officials announced on Monday, in a bid to prevent a caravan of Central American migrants from illegally crossing the frontier. The move represents a massive military buildup along the border, where some 2,000 National Guardsmen are already working to provide assistance to overwhelmed authorities. Trump in recent weeks has repeatedly said more troops are needed to tighten border security, and he has made political capital of the caravan ahead of crucial midterm congressional elections that could see the Democrats regain some degree of power. According to US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, US authorities are tracking a group of about 3,500 people traveling north through the Chiapas-Oaxaca area in southern Mexico. … [Read more...] about Thousands of US troops head for southern border
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US judge extends deadline for reuniting migrant children
LOS ANGELES — A US judge on Monday gave the government more time to reunite migrant children aged five or younger with their parents separated as a consequence of a "zero tolerance" policy, US media reported. The decision came after a government lawyer said around half of the 102 young children could be placed back with their parents by the previously-given deadline of Tuesday. They are among more than 2,300 children split up from their families as a consequence of the "zero tolerance" practice that saw their parents prosecuted for illegally crossing the border, even if they did so to seek asylum. Many are fleeing gang violence and poverty in Central America. Following domestic and global outcry over the separations, in which some children were kept in chain-link enclosures, Trump ended the practice on June 20. But The New York Times reported late last week that, under pressure to reunite the families, authorities were struggling to connect them after records linking … [Read more...] about US judge extends deadline for reuniting migrant children
Trump claims victory on travel ban, but border crackdown on hold
Members of the New York Immigration Coalition hold a news conference in Foley Square, to talk about the US Supreme Court decision to uphold US President Donald Trump's Muslim ban. (Don EMMERT/AFP) The court ruling handed a major victory to Trump in a tortuous legal battle over the Republican leader's efforts to restrict immigration. But it follows two embarrassing climbdowns on illegal migration, as Trump and Congress face mounting pressure to legislate a solution to the flashpoint issue. Conservative jurists prevailed over liberals in Tuesday's majority opinion from America's highest court. The 5-4 ruling validated the third and most recent version of the ban, which applies to travellers from five mainly Muslim nations - Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen - and from North Korea, about 150 million people in total. Trump pounced on the decision as an endorsement of his authority to defend national security and "a tremendous success and victory for the American people." Protesters … [Read more...] about Trump claims victory on travel ban, but border crackdown on hold