Latest news with #ImmigrationLaws
Gulf Business
2 days ago
- Gulf Business
UAE residency law violators: Over 32,000 caught in first half of 2025
Image credit: Getty Images/ For illustrative purposes More than 32,000 violators of the UAE's Entry and Residency Law were apprehended between January and the end of June 2025, according to the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security. Read- The arrests came as part of a broad series of inspection campaigns conducted across the Emirates under the slogan 'Towards a Safer Society.' The initiative is part of the authority's ongoing efforts to enhance compliance with immigration laws and ensure the lawful residence and employment of foreigners. Major General Suhail Saeed Al Khaili, Director General of the Authority, said the primary goal of the campaigns is to reduce the number of violators and uphold social stability. 'These campaigns aim to guarantee a dignified life for residents and visitors by ensuring they live and work within the framework of the law,' he said. Legal action, deportations underway Al Khaili emphasised that the authority's strategy includes not only enforcing the law but also raising public awareness about the importance of legal compliance. 'We are committed to instilling a culture of lawfulness in society,' he said. 'Those who are found to be in violation are given an opportunity to rectify their status or face deportation in accordance with legal procedures.' Of the individuals apprehended, approximately 70 per cent have already been deported after completing the required legal processes. Others are currently in detention and will be referred to the relevant authorities for further action. The Director General stressed that inspection campaigns will continue across all emirates. He added that dedicated task forces are working around the clock to identify and apprehend violators, and that strict penalties—including fines—will be imposed on both the violators and those who employ or shelter them. 'The Entry and Residency Law includes strong deterrents for anyone who breaks the law or helps others to do so,' Al Khaili noted. Public urged to support law enforcement Al Khaili called on all members of society to comply with the Entry and Residency Law and to avoid employing or assisting violators. He emphasized that public cooperation is vital to maintaining security and social order. 'The law is clear, and its enforcement protects the safety and integrity of our society,' he said.
The South African
29-04-2025
- The South African
Six undocumented miners arrested with unpolished diamonds
Members of Operation Vala Umgodi arrested six undocumented illegal miners at a residence in Sizamile, Port Nolloth, on Monday, 28 April 2025, in a major breakthrough. According to South African Police Services, while conducting a community outreach programme in Komaggas. The team received credible information about foreign nationals allegedly in possession of unpolished diamonds. Acting swiftly, the police operationalised the intelligence and raided the identified premises. During the search, authorities seized unpolished diamonds and an undisclosed amount of cash. The six male suspects, aged between 18 and 33, failed to produce valid immigration documents, leading to their immediate arrest. Police charged the suspects with possession of unpolished diamonds and with contraventions of Immigration Laws. As part of a broader strategy to combat illicit mining across the country, the Limpopo operation on Sunday, 27 April, led to the arrest of five suspects aged between 18 and 50. This was followed by a successful operation in Port Nolloth. In the Limpopo operation, police targeted the Saselamani and Letsitele policing areas, successfully arresting a 37-year-old male in Matiyane Village, Saselamani, who was caught loading sand into a white Hino truck without a mining permit. Authorities confiscated the truck and a shovel. The South African Police Service (SAPS) continues to urge the public to support crime-fighting efforts by participating in the 'Rate Our Service' online survey. Aimed at improving service delivery. SAPS also encourages citizens to report criminal activities by contacting the Crime Stop number 08600 10111 or using the MySAPS App. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 . Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp , Facebook , X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Venezuela Deportation Flights to Restart on Friday, US Says
(Bloomberg) -- The US on Friday will resume deportation flights to Venezuela that its government had halted after President Donald Trump's decision to revoke Chevron Corp.'s license to operate in the country, an American official said. Trump DEI Purge Hits Affordable Housing Groups NYC Congestion Pricing Toll Gains Support Among City Residents Electric Construction Equipment Promises a Quiet Revolution Open Philanthropy Launches $120 Million Fund To Support YIMBY Reforms Prospect Medical's Pennsylvania Hospitals at Risk of Closure 'I am pleased to announce that Venezuela has agreed to resume flights to pick up their citizens who broke U.S. Immigration Laws and entered the U.S. illegally,' Trump's special envoy, Ric Grenell, said in a post on X. 'The flights will resume Friday.' Venezuela's Information Ministry didn't immediately reply to a request for comment. The announcement marks improving relations between the two countries after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday that the US 'had damaged communications' by revoking the Chevron license. Last year, Maduro suspended the flights after President Joe Biden threatened to reimpose oil sanctions in response to the Venezuelan leader's failure to follow through on commitments for democratic reforms. The flights resumed in February after Grenell visited Caracas and secured the release of six American citizens from Venezuelan prisons, but they were halted earlier this month after the US Treasury gave Chevron 30 days to stop operating in the country. Earlier: Chevron Given 30 Days to Shut as Trump Squeezes Venezuela Three flights arrived in Venezuela last month, carrying about 370 passengers either directly from the US or from Honduras after arriving from the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The administration proposal to house as many as 30,000 detainees at Guantanamo has encountered legal and other challenges. Maduro's government said the Trump administration had told them that roughly 5,000 migrants could be subject to deportation. --With assistance from John Harney and Andreina Itriago. (Updates with Maduro comment in fourth paragraph.) How America Got Hooked on H Mart How Natural Gas Became America's Most Important Export How Trump's 'No Tax on Tips' Could Backfire for the Working Class Germany Is Suffering an Identity Crisis 80 Years in the Making Disney's Parks Chief Sees Fortnite as Key to Its Future ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Fox News
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Justice Department memo reveals seismic changes in how we treat illegal immigration
Amidst the tidal wave of executive orders, presidential appointments and policy announcements, it is easy to treat the interim policy memo from the acting deputy attorney general as just another ripple of nominal change that occurs when Democrats replace Republicans or Republicans replace Democrats. But it would be a serious oversight to miss the memo's dramatic departure from status quo and even from the first Trump administration's view of federal prosecutor responsibilities. With every party turnover at the White House, a philosophical tug-of-war resumes over whether federal prosecutors should be tough on crime or more "nuanced" in their approach to punishment. That memorandum battle started in 1989 when Attorney General Dick Thornburgh ordered prosecutors to pursue the "most serious and readily provable offense" and since then, the Republican AG's consistently have encouraged seeking the death penalty and charging mandatory minimum sentencing statutes. This latest memo is certainly consistent with that approach. The heart of the memo is immigration enforcement. The memo emphasizes the need for the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") to attack cartels and transnational criminal organizations, to reduce violent crime committed by cartels, gangs and illegal aliens, and to shut down the cross-border flow of fentanyl. Those targets track the President Donald Trump campaign's points of emphasis and come as no surprise. Similarly, the return to the Thornburgh memo's aggressive guidance for prosecutors to charge and pursue "the most serious and readily provable offense" signals an aversion to soft plea agreements and "charge bargaining," where prosecutors low-ball the criminal conduct in a plea agreement to resolve the case. But then it gets interesting. The memo establishes that a prosecutor's discretion to resolve a case with a softer plea is limited to "unusual facts." It specifically mentions the appropriateness of pursuing the death penalty and mandatory minimum sentences in repeat offender drug and/or firearm cases. The interim attorney general then turns his attention to the "Faithful Execution of the Immigration Laws," and the more measurable changes begin. For instance, in announcing the priority of pursuing immigration offenses, the memo specifically includes Title 8 U.S. Code § 1325, illegal entry by an alien. This is a six-month misdemeanor for simply being illegally inside the U.S., and federal prosecutors are likely to bristle at devoting inordinate time to a simple misdemeanor that could be pursued, well, millions of times across the nation. Historically, U.S. Attorney's Offices ("USAOs") with significant immigration issues rarely use the misdemeanor but instead prosecute cases of illegal re-entry after removal for a felony (or better, an "aggravated felony.") These felony immigration charges can be used as leverage to flip gang members or at least serve as a real deterrent – adding years of federal imprisonment to the equation before the defendant is again deported to his or her country of origin. Rejecting potential immigration cases is no longer the simple prerogative of the local U.S. attorney. The memo requires the prosecutor to disclose declinations as urgent reports directly to the attorney general, within days or sometimes even hours of the decision. No U.S. attorney is going to be eager to repeatedly send "urgent" reports to the attorney general about his or her refusal to prosecute immigration cases. This practical deterrent enhances the power of the Department of Homeland Security – their cases are being prioritized in every way through this Memo. Similarly, federal programs targeting drugs and gangs (the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, aka "OCDETF") and Project Safe Neighborhood ("PSN") which targets guns and gangs, now have to provide resources supporting immigration prosecutions. Making well-funded OCDETF units prioritize immigration offenses reflects a massive power shift away from DOJ and toward Secretary Kristi Noem's DHS. Not only are the U.S. attorneys watching their investigators pivot to immigration prosecutions, but the memo tasks the USAOs with investigating incidents of resisting, obstructing or failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands. In short, "sanctuary" advocates or even prosecutorial inaction are being considered fodder for potential criminal prosecutions. Consistent with that aggressive approach, the memo fleetingly mentions the DOJ's new creation of a Sanctuary Cities Enforcement Working Group, which presumably exists to take legal action against inconsistent policies or local practices that thwart immigration enforcement action. Like many government documents, this memo buries some juicy tidbits in the footnotes. Specifically, the memo rescinds earlier memos promulgated by democratic regimes in 2013, 2014, 2021, and former AG Merrick Garland's memo from December 2022. The memo establishes that a prosecutor's discretion to resolve a case with a softer plea is limited to "unusual facts." It specifically mentions the appropriateness of pursuing the death penalty and mandatory minimum sentences in repeat offender drug and/or firearm cases. The Garland memo was essentially a repudiation of the Thornburgh approach – emphasizing a more individualized approach to prosecution and urging prosecutors to seek "sufficient, but not greater than necessary" punishment. Somehow, that permission slip for mercy was completely ignored in the January 6 prosecutions, as the government invariably asked for higher sentences than the already-severe bench was willing to mete out. But in many USAOs, the Garland memo's flexibility, such as ignoring mandatory drug sentencing except in particularly aggravated circumstances and overtly permitting prosecutors to join the defense attorneys in calling the drug sentencing guidelines too high, gave a green light for local autonomy in plea bargaining. But, as they say, there's a new sheriff in town. It is true that the latest memo is framed as a DOJ interim policy. That could be read to suggest that newly confirmed Attorney General Bondi might consider a different approach. But Bondi's first announcements as AG — including pausing federal funding for sanctuary cities, pursuing obstruction cases against jurisdictions thwarting immigration enforcement laws, and evaluating nongovernmental organization ("NGO") support of illegal aliens for defunding or even prosecution — confirm that the policies and sentiment behind her predecessor's memo are here to stay.
