Latest news with #Protests
The Guardian
21 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump's new travel ban is a gratuitously cruel sequel
I'm not much for horror movies, but I have just read that the film Black Phone 2 'will creep into cinemas' in October and that, compared to the original, it's supposed to be a 'more violent, scarier, more graphic' film. I'll pass on the movie, but that description seems pretty apt to what living under this Trump administration feels like: a gratuitously more violent sequel to a ghoulish original. Consider the Muslim ban. Back in late 2015, candidate Donald Trump called for 'a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on'. He signed the first version of the Muslim ban on 27 January 2017, and protests erupted at airports across the nation at the revival of a national policy, similar to the Chinese Exclusion Act, that bars entry of whole swaths of people based on our national prejudices. It took the Trump administration three attempts at crafting this policy before the supreme court tragically greenlit it. While Joe Biden later reversed the policy, congressional moves to restrict the president's ability to institute these blanket bans – such as the No Ban Act – have not succeeded. And on the first day of his second term, Trump indicated he was prepared to institute a wider-reaching travel ban. He has now done just that. The new executive order will 'fully restrict and limit the entry [to the US] of nationals of the following 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen' and will also 'partially restrict and limit the entry of nationals of the following 7 countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela'. Yes, there are key cutouts in the latest travel ban that make it a different animal from the original 2017 ban, but it still derives from the same family. Green-card holders, those with valid visas issued before the executive order was proclaimed, and professional athletes representing their countries in the forthcoming World Cup, for example, are exempt, illustrating how the administration has learned to write more litigation-resistant immigration exclusion orders. But make no mistake. Such a policy is alienating, counterproductive and simply racist. For one thing, Trump claims that the ban is necessary because the selected countries exhibit either 'a significant terrorist presence', a lack of cooperation in accepting back their nationals, or high rates of visa overstays. According to the Entry/Exit Overstay Report for fiscal year 2023 (the last one available), the number of people from Equatorial Guinea, a small African country, who overstayed their B1/B2 visas (travel to the US for business or pleasure) was 200. From the United Kingdom, it was 15,712. It's true that the percentage (as opposed to the number) of people overstaying their visas from Equatorial Guinea is significantly higher than UK overstays. But Djibouti, which hosts the primary US military base in for operations in Africa, has an even higher percentage of B1/B2 visa overstayers than Equatorial Guinea – yet it isn't part of the ban, illustrating how much it is based on narrow political calculations and cheap theatrics. The capriciousness of the policy was immediately evident after Trump released a video explaining his decision. 'The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed for our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstayed their visas,' he said, adding: 'We don't want them.' Yet, as everyone knows, the suspect in the Boulder, Colorado, attack is an Egyptian national, another key US ally. And Egypt is not on the list. Nor should it be, because these lists of banned countries collapse individuals into vague categories of suspicion and malfeasance. Why should the actions of one person from any given country mark a completely different person as inadmissible? Trump may sound tough to his supporters when announcing the ban, but such broad-brush applications against basically all the nationals of comparatively powerless countries is hardly the flex that Trump thinks it is. In the eyes of the rest of the world, the new policy mostly makes the administration look like a bully, picking on a handful of Muslim-majority countries, a few African and Asian states, a couple of its traditional enemies, and Haiti. Meanwhile, the rest of the world also sees how the Trump administration has withdrawn temporary protections from more than 500,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua, suspended refugee resettlement from around the world, and yet welcomed in dozens of white Afrikaners from South Africa to the United States as refugees. The ethnocentrism of the policy is as naked as it is opportunistic. The truth is that the damage from Trump's first-term Muslim ban was long-lasting and had all kinds of collateral impact, including on the mental health of family members living in the United States. And immigrant advocacy organizations are already sharply criticizing this latest version. AfghanEvac, a non-profit organization that facilitates the resettlement of Afghans who worked with American troops, stated that the new ban 'is not about national security – it is about political theater'. To include Afghanistan among the banned countries, even as thousands of Afghans worked alongside American forces, is to Shawn VanDiver, the group's founder and president, 'a moral disgrace. It spits in the face of our allies, our veterans, and every value we claim to uphold.' Trump's latest travel ban, his ramped-up immigration deportation regime, his international student crackdown, and his all but ending asylum in the United States add up to a clearly a concerted attempt to stave off the inevitable while vilifying the marginal. Demographers have been telling us for years now that the US will be a 'majority minority' country around 2045, a prospect that has long frightened many of the white conservatives who make up Trump's base. In response, Trump is pursuing a policy that draws on the most basic kind of nativism around, and one we've seen before in the United States. The 1924 Immigration Act severely restricted immigration to the US to keep America as white and as western European as possible. Only in 1965 were the laws finally changed, with the national immigration quotas lifted, laying the foundation for the multicultural society we have today. That earlier movie of epic exclusion lasted some 41 years. So far, this sequel is violent, scary and authoritarian. It had better be a short film. Moustafa Bayoumi is a Guardian US columnist
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
US soldiers arrive in Panama for military exercises
US soldiers have arrived in Panama for military exercises aimed at protecting the Panama Canal, the US embassy said, after a bilateral agreement triggered protests in the Central American country. The agreement, signed in April, allows US troops to deploy around the canal but not to establish bases, according to the Panamanian authorities. The US military will train alongside Panamanian security forces in forest operations, the US embassy said in a statement to AFP Thursday. It said the entry of American troops for military exercises had to be approved by Panama. Panama signed the security agreement after pressure from US President Donald Trump, who threatened to take back the 82-kilometre (51-mile) waterway that connects the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. He has repeatedly claimed that China has too much influence over the canal, which handles about 40 percent of US container traffic and five percent of world trade. The agreement has triggered protests from unions and other organizations, who argue that it 'violates national sovereignty' and constitutes a veiled return of former military bases. The American military has in recent years participated in several military exercises in Panama alongside other Latin American countries.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Protesters march at Texas Capitol calling for vetoes from Gov. Abbott
The Brief Protesters marched to the Texas Capitol on Saturday, appealing to Gov. Greg Abbott on various legislative actions as the regular session nears its end. Demonstrators highlighted new bills requiring state documents to reflect sex assigned at birth, a ban on THC products, and a mandate for the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Abbott has publicly supported the bill on sex assigned at birth and vowed to defend the Ten Commandments bill in court if it passes. AUSTIN - There are only 48 hours to go before Texas lawmakers wrap up the regular session at the Capitol. Protesters marched from the governor's mansion to the Texas Capitol on Saturday morning, calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to veto some legislation that's faced opposition from voters during the legislative session. As the 89th Texas legislative session nears its end, some state residents are concerned about proposals that now need only to be signed by Abbott to become law. This week alone, lawmakers sent a bill to Abbott that would require state documents to reflect the sex assigned at birth. Others would ban THC and require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms across the state. Only Abbott has the power to either sign or kill these and other bills, and Saturday's protesters called for him to side with their beliefs. What they're saying "We want to make the case against Greg Abbott," said Ron Reynolds, chair of the TX Legislative Black Caucus. "He's been on the wrong side of the people of the great state of Texas." "I am so proud to stand here with these people that have traveled, some traveled far to be here today," said Reynolds. "That we're sending a loud message to Governor Abbott that we're not going back." Reynolds, along with a couple of hundred others, brought a long list of grievances to the rally. "There are so many bills that are on the verge of becoming law that are going to become a problem not just in Texas but for the entire nation later," said Samantha Boucher, managing director for Turn Left. "Whether it is healthcare, whether it is immigration, whether it is the persecution of communities of color or trans communities, Texas is the incubator," said Boucher. "Texas is the front line, and testing out different attacks and approaches." That same concern also resonated with "The Handmaid's Tale" actor Lucas Neff. "I care about what happens to the people in Texas. I care about what happens to people everywhere, and so I want to be with all these great people here and show that I stand with them," said Neff. FOX 7 Austin reached out to Abbott's office on Saturday for comment, but has yet to hear back. What's next Earlier this week, Abbott said on X that he would take up a lawsuit to keep the Ten Commandments in Texas schools. He also said on X that he would sign HB 229, which would require state documents to reflect the gender assigned at birth. He said, "Texas recognizes only two sexes." The Source Information in this article came from FOX 7 coverage at Austin's demonstration and previous coverage on the Texas legislature.
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Violence flares in Jerusalem Day rally
A large rally in Jerusalem - marking Israel's capture of the city's east in the 1967 war - has descended into chaos with far-right Israelis confronting and assaulting Palestinians. Israelis were heard chanting "death to Arabs" and "may your villages burn".
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Airport cleaners and flooding in Australia: photos of the day
Palestinians run for cover as smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA Mourners react as they attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at Nasser hospital Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters NYPD officers arrest a pro-Palestinian demonstrator during a protest to demand the release of the Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil outside the federal court Photograph: Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu/Getty Images A road is flooded from the overflowing Wallis Creek in Gillieston Heights. Record floods cut a destructive path through eastern Australia, caking houses in silt, washing out roads and separating 50,000 people from help Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images The bed of Woodhead reservoir is partially revealed by falling water levels Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images A house on a residential street damaged when a small aircraft crashed near Montgomery-Gibbs executive airport Photograph: Caroline Brehman/EPA Workers clean a roof at Tocumen airport as Panama and Venezuela prepare to resume commercial flights nearly a year after suspending them, after the Panamanian president, José Raúl Mulino, refused to recognise the re-election of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro Photograph: Matias Delacroix/AP A residential area in ruins after a Russian bombing Photograph: Jose Colon/Anadolu/Getty Images People visit the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine on the Day of Heroes Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, addresses a joint press conference with her Danish counterpart (out of frame) after their meeting at Palazzo Chigi in Rome Photograph: Riccardo Antimiani/EPA A volunteer firefighter takes part in a drill before starting 24-hour shifts at the emergency station next month, in Rodopoli Photograph: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images Gul Khattab awakens during a heatwave that has forced residents to seek cooler conditions outdoors Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters A child sits in a walkway at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence Photograph: Odelyn Joseph/AP A vendor holds a parrot for sale at Koch-e Kafuroshi, the bird market Photograph: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images Fireworks explode as the sails of the Sydney Opera House are illuminated at the start of the annual Vivid Sydney festival Photograph: Ayush Kumar/AFP/Getty Images Models present creations by designer Nicolas Ghesquière during the Cruise 2026 collection show for Louis Vuitton at the courtyard of honour at the Palais des Papes Photograph: Sylvain Thomas/AFP/Getty Images Helen Mirren, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Cara Delevingne arrive for the screening of the film La Venue de l'Avenir (Colours of Time) at the Cannes film festival Photograph: Antonin Thuillier/AFP/Getty Images Kermit the Frog delivers the commencement address to graduates of the University of Maryland Photograph: Stephanie S Cordle/University of Maryland/Reuters
