by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Arul Louis,
New York : US President Donald Trump has called on the Congress to come together to enact sweeping immigration reforms that introduce a merit-based system while ending the inflow of extended family members and building a wall to safeguard the borders.
In his first State of the Union address to the Congress on Tuesday night in Washington, Trump offered to legalise those who were brought into the country illegally as children and ultimately give them citizenship, while cracking down on criminal gangs as part of his reform package to “bring our immigration system into the 21st century”.
Trump did not directly touch on the temporary H1-B visas that are given to professionals, which has become a contentious issue with India. His administration is tightening the scrutiny of the issuance of the visas and he has in the past criticised the system saying it affected American workers.
There was only a passing mention of protecting American workers and of immigration policies that focus on the best interests of American workers and American families in the speech.
“It is time to begin moving towards a merit-based immigration system — one that admits people who are skilled, who want to work, who will contribute to our society and who will love and respect our country,” he said to cheers and applause from Republicans and their supporters, while Democrats sat quietly.
Currently, Indian professionals have a 11-year wait to get their permanent resident status with green cards because of national quota restrictions. A purely merit-based system like those in Canada and Australia, which the administration has proposed, has the potential to help Indians get them sooner.
Trump said that the focus would be on the nuclear family and “chain migration” of brothers, sisters and parents of immigrants would be ended. Limiting immigration to only spouses and children of immigrants would affect other aspiring immigrants from India.
The Democrats have made legalising those brought illegally into the US as children — referred to as “Dreamers” — as a condition for cooperating with the Trump administration.
The President offered in his speech a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million “Dreamers”, which he said is three times more than the numbers offered by previous administrations. “Those who meet education and work requirements and show good moral character will be able to become full citizens of the US,” he said.
It is estimated that over 5,500 Indian “Dreamers” in danger of deportation when the current programme ends in March could benefit if they are given a permanent reprieve with the possibility of gaining citizenship.
Preventing illegal immigration would require building a wall on the southern border with Mexico and hiring more immigration and border security personnel, Trump said.
In the audience with his family were the parents of two girls who were murdered by members of a notorious Central American gang known as MS-13. He called out to the tearful parents, who received a standing ovation, as he spoke of cracking down on the gang made up of many who came in as unaccompanied minors when Barack Obama was President under a liberal programme he put in place.
“Crucially, our plan closes the terrible loopholes exploited by criminals and terrorists to enter our country — and it finally ends the dangerous practice of ‘catch and release’ under which those who are apprehended by law enforcement are freed,” he said.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Amman : The Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) on Sunday officially received the final shipment of new Black Hawk helicopters from the United States, bringing the total number to 12 of all aircraft received over the last nine months, the US Embassy in Amman said.
The helicopters will strengthen the JAF, its Quick Reaction Force (QRF), and Jordan’s security, said the embassy in a statement to the press.
Prince Faisal bin Hussein presided over the aircraft delivery ceremony, with Charge d’Affaires of US Embassy Henry Wooster and Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of the US Central Command, representing the United States.
“The US and the Kingdom of Jordan have a historic and enduring relationship, built on shared values and shared interests. Our military partnership epitomizes our mutual goals for a secure and stable region,” said Wooster at the ceremony.
“Today’s ceremony marks the beginning of a new JAF capability in the form of a state-of-the-art UH-60 Black Hawk fleet,” he added.
The US Congress appropriated $470 million in 2017 to the JAF and the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF), including training for pilots, crew chiefs and maintenance technicians, as well as spare parts, ground equipment, weapons, ammunition and shelters for the Black Hawks.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : Faith groups protested on Friday against ongoing efforts by the Donald Trump administration to institute a ban on travel by residents of a number of Muslim-majority countries.
The demonstration in New York’s Washington Square Park took place a year after Trump’s first executive order setting out the ban, which has been blocked by the courts.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to decide the legality of the latest version of Trump’s ban, which affects residents from six countries instead of the original seven.
It pits an administration that considers the restrictions necessary for Americans’ security against challengers who claim it is illegally aimed at Muslims and stems from Trump’s campaign call for a “complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the US. The policy blocks entry into the US of most people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.
The justices plan to hear arguments in April and issue a final ruling by late June on a Trump policy that has repeatedly been blocked and struck down in the lower courts. On Friday protesters linked arms around a group of Muslim demonstrators who knelt to pray in Washington Square Park.
Rev Dr. Chloe Breyer, from the Interfaith Centre of New York, told Huffington Post: “It’s practically important and symbolically important to stand with people of different faith traditions. It’s what we should do as Americans.”
Trump’s first travel ban was issued almost a year ago, almost immediately after he took office, and was aimed at seven countries.
It triggered chaos and protests across the US as travelers were stopped from boarding international flights and detained at airports for hours. Trump tweaked the order after the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit refused to reinstate the ban.
The next version, unveiled in March, dropped Iraq from the list of covered countries and made it clear the 90-day ban covering Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen did not apply to those travelers who already had valid visas. It also dropped language that would give priority to religious minorities. Critics said the changes did not erase the legal problems with the ban.
The same appeals courts that are evaluating the current policy agreed with the challengers. The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond said the ban “drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination.” The San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Trump violated immigration law.
The Supreme Court allowed the ban to take partial effect but said those with a claim of a “bona fide” relationship with someone in the US could not be kept out of the country. Grandparents, cousins and other relatives were among those who could not be excluded.
But the high court said lower courts were wrong to apply the same limits to the new policy, at least while it is being appealed. The justices did not explain their brief order.
The third version is permanent, unlike the other two, and the administration said it is the product of a thorough review by several agencies of how other countries’ screen their own citizens and share information with the U.S.
Solicitor General Noel Francisco said in court papers that the policy is well within the President’s “broad authority to suspend or restrict the entry of aliens outside the United States when he deems it in the Nation’s interest.”
In response, the challengers said the policy violates the Constitution because it is biased against Muslims and also violates immigration law. The new version continues “the same unlawful policy” that was struck down by lower courts last year, lawyer Neal Katyal said in his brief on behalf of the challengers.
—SM/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Arun Kumar,
Washington : His supporters may be a “basket of deplorables”, as presidential rival Hillary Clinton suggested on the campaign trail, but Donald Trump is no basket case as his detractors have insinuated.
Twitter-thumb Trump may well be the most obnoxious egomaniac to ever occupy the White House as left liberal media paints him to be, but he is no “moron” as his exasperated Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is alleged to have once called him.
There is a method to Trump’s madness. His temper tantrums, intemperate tweets, and juvenile taunts all have a purpose: Distract, shoot and scoot. And time and again, the media has fallen for it hook, line and sinker.
Take the President’s latest rant against “shithole countries” in Africa. The alleged remark sent a nebulous bipartisan deal on “dreamers” — illegal immigrants brought to the US as children — down the toilet.
As conservative Washington Examiner aptly summed it up: “Trump was breaking ground on immigration, then it all went to shit.”
But probably that’s what he wanted to up the ante for a larger immigration reforms package that he outlined days after a short-lived shutdown of government with opposition Senate Democratic leader “Crying Chuck” Schumer throwing in the towel too soon.
Even as the media upbraided Trump for his intemperate language, he dangled new hope for the Dreamers — a path to citizenship for 1.8 million of them in return for $25 billion for his “big beautiful wall” on the Mexican border and a merit-based immigration system.
That’s part of the pattern for the author of “The Art of the Deal”. These very tactics have helped “The Donald”, as his first wife lovingly called him, notch up in just one year an impressive list of successes — good, bad or ugly! — despite the Russian “cloud” hanging over his administration.
He has instituted the biggest corporate tax overhaul in 30 years and drastically cut red tape by revoking hundreds of regulations to make it easier to do business. Trump is also rapidly reshaping the judiciary by naming a conservative judge to the Supreme Court and appointing a record 12 federal appellate judges who serve lifelong with hundreds more to come.
At home he has been rewarded by a roaring economy and a soaring stock market. Companies big and small have outlined plans to bring back profits stashed abroad and open new plants, raising minimum wages and giving $1,000 bonuses to workers.
Among them, information technology giant Apple has announced plans to invest a whopping $350 billion and create 20,000 new jobs in the US over the next five years. And corporate titans gathered at Davos too have started warming up to the “America First” President with his declaration that “America is open for business”.
Trump has also upended decades of US foreign policy, rattling allies and foes alike. Islamic State has been virtually crushed, thanks to a free hand given to the military and some help from Russia. Trump has also called Pakistan’s bluff and frozen its funding until it stops harbouring terrorists.
He has pulled out of the non-binding Paris Climate accord, approved two controversial oil pipelines — Keysone XL and Dakota access — and opened up about 90 percent coastal areas for drilling, throwing environmental concerns to the winds.
On the campaign trail, Trump had threatened to tear up the “disastrous” Iran nuclear deal on day one. But he is unlikely to follow through even as he has threatened to walk away from it after signing yet another waiver on sanctions.
Trump has recognised Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and announced plans to move the US embassy there two decades after the Senate passed a law and successive presidents signing waivers with little more than murmurs of disapproval from powerful Muslim nations.
Whether Trump’s actions would have a disastrous effect on climate change or would end hopes of a two-state solution in Palestine is moot. The point is Trump is having his way on all but a few issues.
Trump’s tantalising tweets and taunts have provided a circulation spinning bonanza to the “Failing New York Times” or Very Fake News CNN or other “Dishonest media”, as he has nicknamed them. But by falling for them they have also given The Donald a free pass.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Reports, World
Washington : US President Donald Trump is expected to ask for $716 billion for defence spending in the 2019 budget to be unveiled in February, the American media has reported.
The figure will represent a seven per cent increase over the 2018 budget, which was yet to be passed through the Congress, The Washington Post quoted an US official as saying on Friday.
Trump’s request would cover the Pentagon’s annual budget as well as spending on ongoing wars and the maintenance of the US nuclear arsenal, said the report.
Defence Secretary Jim Mattis unveiled the National Defence Strategy last week, in which he proposed boosting the power of the US military.
Mattis said that the country’s military competitive edge “has eroded in every domain of warfare” because of inconsistent funding.
The increase in defence spending, as pundits say, would be critical to achieving Trump’s vision for the military, including a larger Navy fleet and a bigger Army, Xinhua news agency reported.
But others warned that a long-term increase in the US military spending would dramatically expand the deficit.
—IANS
