logo
US announces new fentanyl-related visa restriction policy

US announces new fentanyl-related visa restriction policy

Reuters4 hours ago

June 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday announced a new visa restriction policy aimed at stopping the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States.
"Imposing visa restrictions on drug traffickers, their family members, and close personal and business associates will not only prevent them from entering the United States, but it will serve as a deterrent for continued illicit activities," Rubio said in a statement issued by the State Department.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Mark Carney is trapped under Donald Trump's Golden Dome
Mark Carney is trapped under Donald Trump's Golden Dome

Telegraph

time21 minutes ago

  • Telegraph

Mark Carney is trapped under Donald Trump's Golden Dome

Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, won over a gullible electorate in April by promising to defend Canada's independence from Donald Trump. He pledged to increase defence spending and boost domestic manufacturing, and bluntly told the US president that Canada was 'not for sale' at a meeting in the Oval Office. Unfortunately for Carney, the rhetoric was easier than the reality. Consider the case of the Golden Dome. Trump signed a large number of executive orders when he returned to the White House in January, including the announcement of an 'Iron Dome for America'. Inspired by Ronald Reagan's unrealised plan to build a defence system against nuclear weapons, it would help protect the US from the 'threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks'. Fittingly, given Trump's penchant for gold, the president's Iron Dome was effectively renamed the Golden Dome in May (perhaps also to distinguish it from Israel's Iron Dome air defence system). The estimated cost has been put at $175 billion (£147 billion), with a down-payment of $25 billion (£18.2 billion) included in a Republican reconciliation spending bill. The project will be headed up by General Michael Guetlein, with the US Space Force, and will apparently take three years to construct. Some are sceptical that the Golden Dome can be built on time and on budget. The congressional budget office has suggested the real costs for constructing constellations of space-based interceptors could be in the range of $161 billion (£117 billion) to $542 billion (£395 billion) over 20 years. Tim Sheehy, a Montana Republican Senator, predicted the final price tag could reach 'trillions of dollars'.

Canadian dies in ICE jail after being arrested for staying in country illegally
Canadian dies in ICE jail after being arrested for staying in country illegally

Daily Mail​

time27 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Canadian dies in ICE jail after being arrested for staying in country illegally

A Canadian immigrant has died in the custody of ICE while awaiting removal from the US. Johnny Noviello, 49, died on Monday afternoon while in custody in Miami, Florida. His cause of death is under investigation. Noviello was undergoing removal proceedings when he was found unresponsive. Medical staff attempted to resuscitate him but he was pronounced dead shortly after. According to ICE, Noviello entered the US in 1988 and formally became a lawful permanent resident in 1991. But in 2023, he was convicted of racketeering and drug trafficking - which revoked his legal migrant status. He was meant to leave the country but didn't, so was arrested in May as part of an ICE round-up. ICE said he was convicted for trafficking Oxycodone, as well the unlawful use of a two-way communication device to facilitate commission of crime. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison in October of 2023. Volusia County corrections data shows he was released in February of last year. Last month ICE had arrested Noviello at a Florida probation office and issued a notice to appear and charged with removability. They said this was due to Noviello 'having been convicted of a violation of (or a conspiracy or attempt to violate) any law or regulation of a State, the United States, or a foreign country, relating to a controlled substance'. An ICE statement added: 'Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment individuals arrive and throughout the entirety of their stay.' They added that officials in Canada had been informed of Noviello's death. According to Volusia County Corrections, he had also previously been booked into prison on charges relating to the sale of oxycodone and trafficking the drug in 2017. Federal agents raided a used car lot in Daytona Beach in November of 2017 and said they found drugs being sold inside the business. Noviello and his father Angelo were arrested and charged with the sale of thousands of painkillers. The DEA said at the time that the two had trafficked nearly 2,000 methadone, hydromorphone and morphine tablets. They also found over 11,000 oxycodone pills. According to court records seen by the Daily Mail, the two men pleaded guilty to the charges. The DEA said that buyers would walk into the business and exchange money for the pills. In April of this year a Chinese woman detained at the US-Mexico border died by suicide while in the custody of ICE. The woman, 52, had been taken into custody for overstaying a visitor visa before. She died in a facility in Yuma, Arizona. Also in April, Haitian woman Marie Ange Blaise, 44, died after over 10 weeks in ICE custody. In a statement at the time, ICE said they stopped Blaise at an airport in the Virgin Islands as she tried to return to North Carolina. They said she didn't have a valid immigrant visa.

Rama Duwaji: Who is the wife of NYC candidate Zohran Mamdani?
Rama Duwaji: Who is the wife of NYC candidate Zohran Mamdani?

BBC News

time33 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Rama Duwaji: Who is the wife of NYC candidate Zohran Mamdani?

Rama Duwaji, a 27-year-old artist and animator, has been thrust into the spotlight as her husband Zohran Mamdani this week became the likely Democratic candidate for mayor of New York Duwaji is a New York-based artist with Syrian roots whose work often explores Middle Eastern themes. Her work has appeared on BBC News, and in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vice and London's Tate Modern museum."Rama isn't just my wife; she's an incredible artist who deserves to be known on her own terms," Mamdani wrote in a post on 12 May, announcing they had been married three months earlier."Omg she's real," Mrs Duwaji joked in a comment on that post. Mrs Duwaji was rarely seen during her husband's primary election campaign to lead the most populous US city, leading opponents to claim that the 33-year-old state assemblyman was "hiding" his wife. Her absence was notable, given that US candidates often put their spouses on full display to show off their commitment to family values. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, declared a stunning victory in the Democratic party's primary on Tuesday, defeating his main rival and political veteran Andrew Cuomo who previously served as state governor. Mamdani addressed the criticism over his wife's absence in his May post, which included a series of photos showing their marriage at the New York City Clerk's office. "If you take a look at Twitter today, or any day for that matter, you know how vicious politics can be," he wrote. "I usually brush it off, whether it's death threats or calls for me to be deported. But it's different when it's about those you love.... You can critique my views, but not my family."After results from the Democratic primary came in earlier this week, she took to her own Instagram page to post black-and-white photos of the couple embracing with the caption "couldn't possibly be prouder". The couple met on dating app Hinge, "so there is still hope in those dating apps," the candidate said in an interview for The Bulwark last week. "Before their civil ceremony in New York City, Zohran and his wife celebrated their engagement in Dubai last year - where her family lives - with a small, joyful ceremony surrounded by their loved ones," the Mamdani campaign said in a posted by a florist in Dubai showed the Dubai city skyline in the background, as the couple stood on the rooftop where they held a traditional Islamic wedding ceremony known as a nikah. Mrs Duwaji graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University before earning a master's degree in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City."Using drawn portraiture and movement, Rama examines the nuances of sisterhood and communal experiences," Mrs Duwaji's professional website reads. Much of her work is in black and white, and depicts scenes from the Arab world. Mrs Duwaji herself was born in Texas and is ethnically Syrian, a campaign spokesman told the New York Times on 2022, her works appeared in the BBC World Service documentary "Who killed my grandfather" that investigated the assassination of a Yemeni politician in 1974. Some of her works listed on Instagram criticise "American imperialism," what she called Israeli war crimes and denounce the "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians, mirroring some of her husband's policy positions. Israel emphatically denies accusations of genocide in Gaza, or Jewish works also show support for Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate that the Trump administration is seeking to deport over claims that his work advocating for Palestinians amounts to "antisemitism" towards Jews. The Brooklyn-based artist spent most of the coronavirus pandemic in Dubai, where her family lives, she said in an April interview with website that interview, she was asked about recent events in the Middle East, the return to the White House of Donald Trump and sharp uptick in immigration raids. "I'm not going to lie, things are dark right now in NYC. I worry for my friends and family, and things feel completely out of my hands," she said."With so many people being pushed out and silenced by fear, all I can do is use my voice to speak out about what's happening in the US and Palestine and Syria as much as I can," she added. She was also asked about the responsibly that artists have to speak out about global issues. "An artist's duty as far as I'm concerned is to reflect the times," she said, quoting musician Nina Simone."I believe everyone has a responsibility to speak out against injustice, and art has such an ability to spread it," she continued. "I don't think everybody has to make political work, but art is inherently political in how it's made, funded, and shared. Even creating art as a refuge from the horrors we see is political to me. It's a reaction to the world around us."

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store