U.S. Will Build Stretch of Border Wall and Begin Deportations to Venezuela

A woman holding a small child stands in a line of migrants waiting outdoors to be processed in Brownsville, Texas.

The decisions underscore the challenges facing the Biden administration as humanitarian crises around the world drive more migrants to the U.S. border.

Unlawful crossings into the United States from Mexico have been increasing in recent months. Migrants are processed at locations like this one in Brownsville, Texas.Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

The Biden administration on Thursday said it would expand former President Donald Trump’s wall on the Mexican border and begin deporting thousands of Venezuelans in an effort to cut down on the migrant surge that shows no signs of abating.

The moves are an about-face by the White House, which is under political pressure to stem the flow of people. Criticism is intensifying among Republicans as well as Democratic leaders in New York, Chicago and elsewhere who say the influx is overwhelming their ability to house and feed the migrants.

During his campaign for president, Mr. Biden denounced efforts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying it was “not a serious policy solution.” But on Thursday the administration said it was waiving more than 20 federal laws and regulations to allow for the construction of physical barriers along a portion of the border in South Texas, near McAllen.

In announcing that the U.S. government would begin deporting Venezuelans who enter the United States unlawfully, the Biden administration was reversing a policy of not sending migrants back to the troubled South American country, where years of political unrest and economic turmoil have driven millions of people to flee. Last month alone, 50,000 migrants from that country crossed the southern border, a record number, and they now represent the second largest nationality group, dwarfed only by Mexicans.

The announcement about deportations came only three weeks after the administration granted a temporary legal status to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants who had already entered the United States unlawfully. That was an effort to make it easier for those migrants to work and, in doing so, reduce the strain on New York and Chicago, which have struggled to serve thousands of migrants, many from Venezuela.

But some experts said that in granting Temporary Protected Status, or T.P.S., to a large number of Venezuelans, the government risked encouraging even more migration from the country, and the deportation announcement on Thursday appeared to be the administration’s answer to those concerns.

On a day when three of Mr. Biden’s cabinet officials were in Mexico to meet with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the news about the border wall and deportations underlined the challenges Mr. Biden and his administration were wrestling with, as humanitarian crises around the world drive more migrants to the U.S. border while a deeply divided Congress leaves in place an outdated, dysfunctional immigration system.

¶ Nearly $200 million out of the $1.375 billion that Congress designated for barriers in the Rio Grande Valley was still available, and the money had to be used by the end of the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to the law.

In defending the decision to move forward with a segment of the wall, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that the work was a legal requirement stemming from appropriations during the Trump administration. But Mr. Biden still finds himself helping to build a border wall that was one of the signature objectives of his predecessor, even as he maintains that such barriers are ineffective in curbing unlawful entry from Mexico.

In a notice published in the Federal Register on Thursday, Mr. Mayorkas said that easing the laws was necessary to expedite construction of sections of a border wall in South Texas, where thousands of migrants have been crossing the Rio Grande daily to reach U.S. soil.

“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States,” Mr. Mayorkas said, adding that waiving laws and other requirements was necessary to complete the work more quickly.

The U.S. Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley, where the new stretch of the wall is to be built, had encountered more than 245,000 migrants who had entered the country between ports of entry, or unlawfully, in the 2023 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the notice said.

It added that construction would be built with funds appropriated by Congress in 2019 for wall construction in the Rio Grande Valley. That appropriation followed a disaster declaration by the Trump administration amid soaring numbers of border crossers.

Mr. Biden said on Thursday that he had no choice but to use the money for the wall.

“The money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate, to redirect that money. They didn’t. They wouldn’t,” he told reporters, apparently referring to Congress.

Asked whether he thought the border wall was effective, he replied, “no.”

In January 2021, on Mr. Biden’s first day in office, the administration revoked the disaster declaration and halted construction. In a proclamation, he said that, “Building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.”

Nearly $200 million out of the $1.375 billion that Congress designated for barriers in the Rio Grande Valley was still available, and the money had to be used by the end of the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to the law.

As the number of migrants entering the United States has soared in recent months, Mr. Biden has come under fire from Republican leaders, who have made immigration a core issue in the presidential race, and he has faced increasing pressure from mayors of some Democratic-led cities.

“Given the high flow of people, and the political pressure from the right and left, Biden had to be more assertive on enforcement,” said Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

“Even his own party has been asking for strong measures,” he said.

The pace of unlawful entries plummeted in the spring after the end of a pandemic-era measure that allowed the government to swiftly deport migrants. But numbers rebounded over the summer, and on some days have doubled the 4,900 unlawful crossings a day that were recorded in mid-April.

This year, more than 380,000 people bound for the United States have crossed the Darién Gap — a jungle straddling Colombia and Panama — and more were expected to come in October, the most popular month for crossings.

In a bid to stem the tide, the Biden administration over the past year has created new policies to provide legal pathways for Venezuelans, enabling them to apply for legal entry into the country if they have a financial sponsor.

But the program has been oversubscribed, and most Venezuelans do not have connections in the United States.

Venezuelan migration to the United States is a recent phenomenon. Many of the arrivals have no relatives or friends, unlike Mexicans, Haitians and Central Americans who have established networks in the country, to receive them. As a result, many Venezuelans have been sleeping in city shelters and relying on municipal and state governments for other assistance.

While border crossings by Venezuelans contributed to a monthly high in unlawful crossings along the southern border in September, when more than 200,000 people were apprehended, the United States has also experienced a spike of migrants from countries in Africa and Asia, thanks to the global reach of smuggling networks that assure clients entry into the United States.

Mexico has struggled with the tide of people moving through the country. Migrants seeking to elude officials have been riding atop cargo trains to reach the border with the United States, arriving by the thousands each day in cities like Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, across the river in Texas.

At a news conference Thursday morning, the president of Mexico, Mr. López Obrador, said that resumption of wall construction was “contrary” to what President Biden had been arguing.

“I understand there are strong pressures from political groups from the extreme right in the United States,” he said, “especially those who want to take advantage of the migratory phenomenon, the consumption of drugs, for electoral purposes.”

Starr County, Texas, where the 20 miles of wall is to go up, is home to about 66,000 people and is west of the city of McAllen. It is home to the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which follows the Rio Grande along the river’s last 275-mile stretch. The Clean Air Act and Safe Drinking Water and Endangered Species Act are among the federal laws that the Homeland Security Department will waive to allow construction to proceed.

At least one Democratic lawmaker said he supported the administration’s decision to extend the border wall.

“This is a necessary step to help Texas’ overwhelmed border communities deal with this current surge of migrants,” said Colin Allred, a Democratic congressman who is running for the U.S. Senate against Ted Cruz, the Republican incumbent.

“I have long said that targeted physical barriers have a role to play in securing our border at high traffic areas,” he said, “but this is only a partial solution.”

Comprehensive immigration reform, which only Congress can pass, was vital, he said.

The Biden administration has previously taken small steps to seal portions of high-traffic areas along the border. Last year, it closed gaps in the bollard fence erected by the Trump administration in Yuma, Ariz., which had become a busy crossing point for migrants who surrendered to border agents and claimed asylum.

Mr. Trump erected some 550 miles of the hulking, rust-colored bollard fence along the border, much of it to replace shorter, older barriers. Still, smugglers have successfully loosened beams to dig holes, or have flung rope-ladders over the structure, enabling many migrants to breach the border.

----------------------

Emiliano Rodríguez Mega in Mexico City and Zach Montague in Washington contributed reporting.

Miriam Jordan reports from the grassroots perspective on immigrants and their impact on the demographics, society and economy of the United States. Before joining The Times, she covered immigration at the Wall Street Journal and was a correspondent in Brazil, India, Hong Kong and Israel. More about Miriam Jordan

Eileen Sullivan writes about the Department of Homeland Security with a focus on immigration and law enforcement. More about Eileen Sullivan

Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent covering a range of domestic and international issues in the Biden White House, including homeland security and extremism. He joined The Times in 2019 as the homeland security correspondent. More about Zolan Kanno-Youngs

Glacial lake bursts in India leaving 100 missing and 14 dead

Devastating glacial lake outburst causes flash floods in Sikkim 

By Helen Regan, Akanksha Sharma and Sania Farooqui, CNN Updated , Thu October 5, 2023 CNN

More than 100 people are missing in India’s northeast after heavy rain caused a glacial lake to burst, leading to flash floods which ripped through the Himalayan state of Sikkim Wednesday, killing at least 14 and washing away roads and bridges, according to the state government.

A “sudden cloudburst” over Lhonak Lake, in the northern part of the state, sent fast-moving torrents of water surging down the Teesta River in Sikkim’s Lachen valley, raising water levels 15-20 feet higher than normal, the Indian Army said in a statement. A cloudburst is a very sudden and destructive rainstorm.

Chungthang Dam, also known as the Teesta 3 dam and part of a major hydropower project in the state, was “washed away,” according to a statement issued by the National Disaster Management Authority on Wednesday night.

Drinking water supplies and sewage treatment plants have been “totally damaged” across affected districts, according to the state government.

Video from the north of the state shows a muddy deluge rapidly overflowing the river, and flooded houses caked in dirt and debris, while images show search teams using excavators to uncover army vehicles buried deep in the mud.

Rescue and restorations operations are underway with both state and national disaster personnel involved, the government said.

Known as the rooftop of the world, the ecologically-sensitive Himalayan region is prone to flash floods and landslides, and flooding is not unusual in Sikkim.

But scientists are clear that extreme weather is becoming more frequent and more intense as the human-caused climate crisis accelerates.

As search efforts continued Wednesday, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) released dramatic images showing the volume of water which had been released from Lhonak Lake following the cloudburst.

Lhonak Lake is a large glacial bullet-shaped water body that sits at the foot of a melting glacier.

An analysis of the images shows more than 60% of the water held in the lake drained out after the extreme rainstorm triggered a glacial lake outburst. This phenomenon happens when a glacial lake rises too high or the surrounding land or ice gives way and the lake bursts, sending water and debris rushing down mountains.

One satellite image shows the lake holding about 167.4 hectares of water on September 28, while another dated October 4 shows the lake reduced by more than half – holding approximately 60.3 hectares of water in it.

“It is observed that lake is burst and about 105 hectares area has been drained out … which might have created a flash flood downstream (in the Teesta River),” ISRO said in text accompanying the images.

Scientists have long studied Lhonak Lake, identifying it as one of the fastest swelling glacial lakes in the region with a high risk for a potential glacial outburst, according to multiple studies.

In recent years, the state’s Disaster Management Authority led several expeditions to the site, concluding that a glacial lake outburst would “cause huge devastation downstream” and that “loss of life and property” were likely. Pipelines were installed at the lake to siphon off the water as a short-term solution.

And last May, the state government held a consultation workshop on such a risk, with the director of Sikkim’s Department of Science and Technology highlighting the “urgent need for an early warning system for these glacial lakes in Sikkim.”

Search efforts hampered by heavy rain

The Sikkim city of Pakyong was the worst affected with seven people killed in the floods and 59 people missing, the Sikkim government said.

Among those unaccounted for are dozens of members of the Indian Army. A “massive” search and rescue operation to find the missing soldiers has been launched but efforts were hampered by “incessant rains” and flooding that had cut off roads and washed-out bridges, the army said.

On Wednesday evening, one soldier was rescued and is in a stable condition but 22 others remain missing, according to the army.

At least 11 bridges collapsed in the flooding, impeding rescue efforts and cutting off remote areas, the government said.

In the state capital and largest city Gangtok, three deaths were reported and 22 people missing, it added.

More than 2,000 people have been evacuated and relief camps have been set up across the state to help more than 22,000 people affected by the flash floods.

The India Meteorological Department has forecast heavy rainfall to continue across the country’s east and northeast, including Sikkim, for the next two days.

Sikkim’s chief minister Prem Singh Tamang said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that emergency services have been mobilized to the affected areas, and he has “visited Singtam to assess the damages and engage with the local community.” Singtam is a town affected by the flooding about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Gangtok.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the situation an “unfortunate natural calamity” and offered “all possible support in addressing the challenge.”

“I pray for the safety and well-being of all those affected,” he wrote on X.

Glacial outbursts will affect millions

The Himalayan region is highly vulnerable to the climate crisis.

Himalayan glaciers feed into rivers that provide freshwater to two billion people and many communities depend on the glacial waters to irrigate their crops.

But a recent report warned the glaciers could lose up to 80% of their ice by 2100 as temperatures rise, heightening the likelihood of floods, landslides, avalanches and also drought.

As glaciers around the world melt at an alarming rate, about 15 million people who live near glacial lakes are at risk from catastrophic glacial lake outbursts, with more than half concentrated in just four countries – India, Pakistan, Peru and China – according to a study earlier this year.

These lake bursts have been compared to an “inland tsunami” and their impact akin to a sudden dam collapse, experts previously told CNN.

The ensuing floods happen with little to no warning and previous glacial lake outbursts have killed thousands of people and destroyed property and critical infrastructure.

A 2020 study of the Teesta River basin by scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, found a increase in rainfall and temperatures this century and that Sikkim’s many glacial lakes are expanding due to glacier and snow melt as temperatures rise.

The researchers warned that heavy rainfall events can cause the sudden expansion of lakes, risking glacial outburst floods, and it was “critical” that state disaster management departments are properly equipped to respond to such disasters and that policy makers implement climate change adaptation strategies.

In 2021, a Himalayan glacier collapsed in Uttarakhand, sending an avalanche of water, dust and rocks down a mountain gorge, and crashing though two hydroelectric projects, killing at least 38 people.

In India’s north, communities have warned for decades about unregulated commercial development, deforestation and back-to-back dam building in the fragile region, increasing the risk of disasters, flooding and landslides.

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Intl. People’s Tribunal seeks to challenge violence of US imperialism: Co-chair

 

US Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) (L) talks with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during a rally
with fellow Democrats before voting on H.R. 1, or the People Act, on the East Steps of the US Capitol on
March 08, 2019 in Washington, DC. (AFP photo) 

By Syed Zafar Mehdi  Wednesday, 04 October 2023 

Amid the rise of the global majority, anti-imperialist movements are joining forces to abolish the capitalist and imperialist systems perpetuating violence, says a legal scholar and activist.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Helyeh Doutaghi, co-chair of the International People's Tribunal on US Imperialism, explained the objectives of the Tribunal, which concluded on Saturday.

After nine months of international hearings on sanctions and economic coercive measures, the Tribunal concluded on Saturday in New York City. The verdict is expected to be announced on Monday.

The nations represented in the Tribunal included Cuba, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Nicaragua, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

¶ “The sanctions regime has also sown political confusion.”

“This confusion is neither accidental nor a secondary outcome of the sanctions. Instead, it has been strategically engineered to create an environment conducive to regime change and to provide narratives for opposition forces, particularly those serving as proxies for the United States, who aim to extend and intensify the sanctions regime,” she stated.

Doutaghi's research focuses on the intersection of sanctions, imperialism, and international law.

She said the Tribunal project originated with the Committee of Anti-Imperialists in Solidarity with Iran (CASI), a collective of global activists involved in anti-imperialist and anti-war movements worldwide.

“We held significant concerns about the absence of anti-imperialist principles in conversations concerning Iran, particularly in light of US imperialism directed against the nation. This omission was especially evident among the so-called left in the Global North,” Doutaghi told the Press TV website.

The Tribunal, according to its website, views sanctions as “one of the key tools of US imperialism,” and strives to “determine the impact of sanctions on various aspects of life, with a focus on social, political, economic, and ecological issues.”

Doutaghi said the objective of holding the nine-month-long Tribunal was to “build an international campaign rooted in global cross-movement solidarity and to establish systems of accountability—both within and outside of the law—to challenge the violence of imperialism through sanctions.”

The other objectives, she hastened to add, included creating “a comprehensive archive detailing the on-the-ground impact of sanctions, as described by witnesses who have lived under and experienced these sanctions” and “to author an edited volume that consolidates our analysis and findings.”

“By linking the struggles of countries under sanctions with those under colonial occupation, such as Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Hawai'i, we have demonstrated that sanctions act as a form of ongoing, modified colonialism,” she said in a conversation with the Press TV website.

“The living conditions in these colonies, as testified by our witnesses, are strikingly similar to those in countries under sanctions, suggesting that the process of decolonization remains incomplete.”

Additionally, she noted, the Tribunal managed to put together a rich archive of primary sources, “which will serve as a valuable resource for both activists and researchers for further work and investigation on the subject of sanctions.”

On how sanctions, blockades and economic coercive measures have been weaponized against Iran, Doutaghi said in addition to “causing destructive economic impacts” affecting society's most vulnerable sectors including workers, patients and women, “the sanctions regime has also sown political confusion.”

“This confusion is neither accidental nor a secondary outcome of the sanctions. Instead, it has been strategically engineered to create an environment conducive to regime change and to provide narratives for opposition forces, particularly those serving as proxies for the United States, who aim to extend and intensify the sanctions regime,” she stated.

Doutaghi said they “aspire for our movements to follow the lead of the global majority by taking effective actions toward accountability and reparations.”

“We are hopeful that with the decay of empire and the rise of the global majority, anti-imperialist movements within the Global North will join forces to abolish the capitalist and imperialist systems that have perpetuated violence both domestically and abroad,” she noted.

☝

The Geopolitics of ‘The Global South’ versus ‘The Global North’

NEO 03.10.2023 Author: Salman Rafi Sheikh

 The recently concluded meeting of the Group of 77 (‘G77’) in Cuba saw some crucial developments at the global level. Comprising most of the countries in the Global South, the meeting endorsed the idea of a new, alternative global order led, not by one power center but multiple power centers, including from the Global South. China, while not a member of the G77, also endorsed the group’s position stated quite comprehensively by Cuban President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, at the opening of the summit. To quote him, “After all this time that the North has organized the world according to its interests, it is now up to the South to change the rules of the game”. There perhaps could not be a better expression of growing frustration with the Global North, which, amongst many other failures, continues to relentlessly push the world towards a major environmental crisis. The scale of frustration is itself daunting. The Group of 77, while established in 1964, today includes 134 members, which is close to two-thirds of the total states representing almost 80 percent of the world’s total population.

What does it mean for countries like China and Russia pursuing a politics of new world order, de-dollarization, multilateralism, and multipolarity? Obviously, it means that they are not, as the West normally projects them, ‘isolated’ in their pursuit or demand. For the West, the growing demand – and support – for a new world order not only means that building a ‘global coalition’ against rivals like China and Russia and making developing or under-developed nations toe Washington’s foreign policy will be much more difficult in the near future, but also that the West’s ability to counteract its rivals through economical means, i.e., investment, will also shrink. Just as the West has not been able to ‘isolate’ China and Russia, its efforts to project these economies as essentially predatory is not to going to pay the dividends either. For the West to gain economic space in the Global South, China’s footprint must shrink. The G77+China gathering has directly undermined such a possibility. In fact, it is only a prelude to further expansion.

From Washington’s perspective, nowhere is this expansion more visible – and dangerous – than in Latin America, a region that the Monroe Doctrine (1823) had turned into an exclusive ‘American’ territory in the sense that no foreign power could set its footprint in it. In that sense, Latin America’s endorsement of a new, multilateral world order means a systematic dismantling of history.

But the ‘American Under-Belly’s’ endorsement is both an outcome of its frustration with the Global North’s domination and its simultaneous interaction with big powers championing a systemic shift. This interaction is most invisible in the case of Latin America’s trade ties with China, which have grown from accounting for only 2 percent of the region’s total economy in 2000 to 31 percent in 2010, reaching a volume of US$180 billion. In 2020, this volume reached US$450 billion, and is likely to increase to US$700 billion by 2035. China is only second to the US in terms of its trade volume with the region. But combined with China’s consistent push for a new world order, its growing interaction with Latin America shows a correlationship between the region’s changing global outlook. Apart from trade, China is also involved in Latin America financially. Between 2005 and 2021, Chinese banks loaned US$139 billion to various Latin American countries.

¶ But the Global North has not so far collapsed due to these divisions, nor will the Global South. In fact, internal diversity is not a problem but a strength that allows any given state to exercise its agency to manoeuvre the complex – and fast changing – international scenario to its best advantage. This, indeed, is the hallmark of a new world order in which countries’ options are not constrained by one power centre.

More importantly, countries in the ‘American Under-Belly’ are also not opposed to de-dollarization. In June 2023, Argentine signed a deal to double its currency swap line with China to access nearly US$10 billion.

Brazil, a major South American economy, is a leading member of the BRICS, a grouping that has recently become a center stage actor pushing for a new, multipolar order. As a BRICS member, Brazil is also intertwined with the politics of de-dollarization.

More importantly, that Latin America is coming round to deep cooperation with China means that these states are hardly concerned by this Western/US idea of China laying ‘debt-traps’ for developing countries and that it is a political force that meddles and intervenes. Clearly, these narratives are not working even in territories within the direct US radar.

Yes, the Global South is not internally homogenous; it is extremely diverse. It means that there is a reasonable possibility that not all members of G77 may favor a position that targets the US. Mexico, for instance, has deep economic ties with the US. Whether or not it would be willing to pursue de-dollarization is a legitimate question.

But a counter proposition is that it is not just the Global South that is internally diverse. The Global North, too, is. Growing tensions within the West have been reported vis-à-vis the extent of support the EU countries are willing to provide to Ukraine against Russia. France has long been pushing for a Europe-centric security system independent of NATO. The US and many other NATO countries want to expand the organization, but convincing Turkey has been a major problem.

But the Global North has not so far collapsed due to these divisions, nor will the Global South. In fact, internal diversity is not a problem but a strength that allows any given state to exercise its agency to maneuver the complex – and fast changing – international scenario to its best advantage. This, indeed, is the hallmark of a new world order in which countries’ options are not constrained by one power center. Therefore, even if Mexico happens to be the largest US trade partner, China’s very presence in Latin America – which means that countries can always make alternative arrangements – acts as a restraint on Washington seeking to reinforce its domination. Washington’s aggression and hegemony will only prove counterproductive, that could push countries further into the politics of a new world order. It means that Washington, too, will have to recalibrate its old ways. Not doing so has so far led to the growing support for multiple power centers.

It is in this context that we can analyze why support for a new, alternative global order has gained traction in the Global South. This has happened despite this bloc’s internal diversity, and it has happened in the context of growing disillusionment with the US led world order and the increasing access to alternative powers.

Salman Rafi Sheikh, research-analyst of International Relations and Pakistan’s foreign and domestic affairs, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”

The North South Divide

Source: https://intranet.kes.hants.sch.uk/resource.aspx?id=145038