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Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration is stopping all immigration functions from 19 international locations in response to final week’s lethal capturing of two Nationwide Guard troopers in Washington, DC.
What’s altering? The pause covers 12 international locations that had been already below a journey ban imposed earlier this 12 months, in addition to seven others dealing with partial restrictions. Underneath the brand new coverage, all inexperienced card and citizenship functions might be halted for immigrants from these international locations. US Citizenship and Immigration Companies additionally mentioned that immigration circumstances courting again to the beginning of the Biden administration might be re-reviewed.
The affected international locations are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
What’s the context? That is a part of a broader immigration crackdown by the Trump administration in response to the DC capturing, together with a pause on asylum functions. The capturing suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is an Afghan nationwide who labored with a CIA-backed paramilitary unit in his house nation earlier than getting into the US in 2021.
What’s the massive image? Even earlier than the newest restrictions, President Donald Trump (and White Home deputy chief of employees/anti-immigration zealot Stephen Miller) choked off many sources of immigration to the US. In October, the Trump administration set its annual refugee cap at simply 7,500 folks, in comparison with 125,000 below President Joe Biden. Of these 7,500, practically all could also be white South Africans — beneficiaries of what’s largely an imagined disaster on the a part of the Trump administration.
Why does this matter? Trump is seizing on the DC capturing as a possibility to advance a much wider, a lot uglier anti-immigration agenda, with a selected concentrate on excluding immigrants from non-white international locations. The newest instance of that got here simply yesterday: Trump attacked Somali immigrants in a Cupboard assembly, calling them “rubbish” and telling reporters that “I don’t need them in our nation.”
And with that, it’s time to sign off…
There are few methods to really feel higher concerning the state of the world, nevertheless dangerous the information is likely to be, than to spend time with mates in particular person (ideally with telephones distant). That may take plenty of types, however my colleague Allie Volpe has a selected advice: Attempt bringing again the slumber occasion. Merely coexisting with mates in an open-ended hangout, she writes, is a good way to loosen up and deepen friendships, no matter your age. You’ll be able to learn her full, compelling case right here.
As at all times, thanks for studying, have a terrific night, and we’ll see you again right here tomorrow!
