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The White House — For Javier Quiroz Castro, entering America's most famous home was an impossible dream – his parents brought him to the U.S. from Mexico at age 3, without legal immigration status.  But on Tuesday, in a blue suit with an American flag pinned to his lapel, Quiroz Castro – now a registered nurse – spoke these words at the White House.  "Growing up undocumented, it was not easy," said the Houston resident, who used the 12-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to change his status. "Like thousands of other immigrants, my parents endured hard labor in order to provide for the family. They are a symbol of the American dream." Beside him stood President Joe Biden, who used the 12-year anniversary of that landmark immigration policy to announce a move to offer protections to undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens. The new move could affect approximately half a million spouses of U.S. citizens, plus 50,000 noncitizen children who have a parent married to a U.S. citizen.  "These couples have been raising families, sending their kids to church and school, paying taxes, contributing to our country for 10 years or more," Biden said. "And as a matter of a fact, the average time they've spent here is 23 years, the people that are affected today. They've been living in the United States all this time, in fear and uncertainty. We can fix that. And that's what I'm going to do today." But, as the White House laid out in its fact sheet on the announcement, it is a bit more complicated.  To be eligible, a person must have lived in the U.S. for 10-plus years and be legally married to a citizen. It is retroactive – only those married before June 17, 2024, qualify.  Those who meet those two criteria – and whose application is approved by the Department of Homeland Security – then have three years to apply for permanent residency. They will be allowed to remain in the U.S., with their families, and be eligible for work authorization during this time. Also included in Tuesday's announcement is a plan to accelerate the process of obtaining work visas for certain DACA recipients who have a U.S. degree and an employment offer relating to their field.  Both Biden and his main challenger have repeatedly brought up immigration on the stump, and Biden has made several recent moves on immigration, including a recent executive order that will temporarily restrict asylum eligibility at the U.S.-Mexico border whenever the number of migrants crossing unlawfully or without authorization reaches a daily average of 2,500. Those who cross the border illegally won't be eligible for asylum unless there are extraordinary reasons why they should be allowed to stay. For many American voters in a tight election year, immigration is a more cleanly divisive topic that falls neatly along party lines. The divide was reflected in the wildly divergent reactions from two representatives from the border state of Texas.  "I applaud the Biden-Harris administration for heeding the call of so many of us to use its executive authority to keep American families together, support our Dreamers in the workforce, and boost our economy," Democratic congresswoman Sylvia Garcia said in a statement.  Whereas Ted Cruz, the Canada-born junior Republican senator from Texas, said: "While our border is being overrun by ISIS terrorists and cartel criminals, Joe Biden's top priority is to give amnesty to illegal aliens. He has utterly abandoned the American people. This amnesty program allows illegal aliens to get citizenship and vote in future elections. Make no mistake: Joe Biden views every illegal alien as a future Democrat voter."  And Republican candidate Donald Trump has gone further. He blames both Biden's policies and immigrants in general – often without clear evidence, and sometimes in the face of facts – for a number of ills, including crime, inflation, and even disease and terrorism.  "This is a Biden migrant invasion," Trump said at a recent campaign event. "An estimated 50% of inflation has been caused by the soaring cost of housing which is skyrocketing due to Joe Biden's tidal wave of illegal immigration and high interest rates." On Tuesday, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused Biden of using this sensitive issue to gain votes. "Biden only cares about one thing — power — and that's why he is giving mass amnesty and citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals who he knows will ultimately vote for him and the Open Border Democrat Party," she said, echoing some of Trump's concerns about the economy. "Biden has created another invitation for illegal immigration through his mass amnesty order."   Immigration advocates disagree, saying research shows that those who benefit from this policy contribute about $13 billion in spending power to the U.S. economy each year.  "We estimate that if they were to be U.S. citizens years down the line, they could actually increase that amount by about $5 billion each year," Phillip Connor, a senior demographer at bipartisan immigration-advocacy group FWD.us, told VOA.  "These individuals are already working in industries that already have labor shortages with some kind of legal status that will be permitted through this policy that will allow them to go into careers that are barred from them right now, and to be more productive into our economy, which will be beneficial for their families, but also beneficial for our society as a whole,” Connor said. And families affected by these policies say they can't put a price on it.  Rebecca Shi's mother was undocumented for nearly two decades – gaining legal status changed her life.  "She was a doctor in China, but for 19 years, undocumented here, so she worked in Chinese restaurants, she worked in nursing homes, caring for the elderly and emptying bedpans and wasn't able to practice her profession," Shi, who is executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, told VOA.  "And so when she was able to get parole in place and get her Green Card, she went back to the medical field and it's been thrilling and deeply humanizing for her and just showing that when you legalize people who are here for decades already contributing, you unleash their economic potential, and that's good for every American,” Shi said. Quiroz Castro echoed that thought, telling the friendly crowd of congressional Democrats, immigration advocates and immigrants how he worked to return the warm embrace he got from the country he calls home. "Being a nurse has allowed me to give back to my community while supporting my family especially during the pandemic, I helped take care of patients in our COVID-19 critical care unit," he said. "Saving American lives was only possible because of DACA. It allowed me to live and work and build a family in the only country I have ever known and loved." Kim Lewis contributed from Washington.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit to Vietnam will put the Southeast Asian country in a difficult position and could even be seen as risky for Hanoi, according to three international relations experts who spoke on Monday to VOA. They expected no breakthrough from the visit. Putin is scheduled to visit Vietnam on Wednesday and Thursday, after his Tuesday-Wednesday trip to North Korea. Risks for Hanoi “Hosting Putin in a combined trip that brings him to North Korea is bad optics for Hanoi and will bring some risks. This may make Vietnam less trustful in the eyes of the West, Japan and South Korea. But on the other hand, Hanoi would gain more trust in the eyes of Russia,” said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu. According to Vuving, the link between Putin's visits to North Korea and Vietnam lies mostly in logistics: It makes more sense for Putin's schedule to go to these countries in one trip rather than in two separate trips. “But it also highlights the fact that Vietnam, like North Korea, is a close friend of Russia,” he said. Nguyen Ngoc Truong, former president of the Center for Strategic Studies and International Development, a government-affiliated think tank in Hanoi, said Vietnam had sent a message telling Russia they did not want Putin to combine the North Korea and Vietnam stops in one trip "because it could cause international misunderstandings." But the combined trip will still take place because "in terms of foreign affairs, Vietnam must consider all aspects," Truong said. 'Traditional and dearest friend’ Truong pointed out that the Vietnamese leadership is grateful for the assistance Vietnam received in past wars from the former Soviet Union. Therefore, they consider Russia a "traditional and dearest friend." “Vietnamese people, especially those who understand geopolitics, cannot turn their backs on their friends because of immediate events. Russians stood shoulder to shoulder with Vietnam through the darkest and happiest moments, including assisting with weapons,” Truong said. Hoang Viet, a Ho Chi Minh City Law University lecturer and international dispute expert, stressed that Vietnam "does not want to lose its long-standing relationship" with Russia, a major power holding a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Viet noted that Russia has never had any disputes or conflicts with Vietnam. "Given the current harsh Western sanctions, Putin's visit puts Vietnam in a difficult position. But Vietnam still has to maintain its relations because with the Vietnamese way of thinking, they must honor traditional friendship," Viet observed. Relationship with U.S. Just nine months ago, Vietnam welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden, and on that occasion, Hanoi and Washington upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, on par with the relationship that Vietnam had for many years with Russia, China and a few other countries. Viet noted that while the U.S. views Vietnam as an important player in its Indo-Pacific strategy, Vietnam still largely relies on Russian weapons for its defense strength. Therefore, Vietnam must balance its relations with Russia and the U.S. "No country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalize his atrocities," a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi told Reuters on Monday when asked about the impact of the visit on ties with the United States. "If he is able to travel freely, it could normalize Russia's blatant violations of international law," the spokesperson added, referring to the invasion of Ukraine that Putin launched in February 2022. The Hague-based International Criminal Court in March 2023 issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Vietnam, Russia and the U.S. are not members of the ICC. No breakthrough expected Viet expected that during the visit, Russia and Vietnam would enter into deals on weapons and oil and gas, which he called "traditional deals," while Hanoi tries "not to violate Western sanctions."  Truong expected there would be no special outcomes, saying "It will be just a friendly visit. There will probably not be any breakthroughs between the two countries. Military and defense cooperation in the current situation is unlikely to develop at all." Vuving said he thought the top issues likely to be discussed by Vietnam and Russia will be the ways to boost bilateral trade in the face of Western sanctions, cooperation in the energy sector, including oil, gas, solar and nuclear energy, and Vietnam's purchase of weapons from Russia. “Issues like payments and direct flights will likely be high on the agenda, as they are critical for restoring bilateral trade,” Vuving said. He assessed that “Russia will benefit more from the visit.” Noting that Vietnam will be the farthest destination for Putin since his invasion of Ukraine, Vuving commented that the visit will show that after the invasion, “many friends remain loyal to Moscow. These friends are not only in Russia's neighborhood, and some are friends to Russia not because they are enemies of the West,” he said. “But Vietnam also benefits from the visit as it helps to gain more trust from Russia and helps to keep Russia on Vietnam's side in the South China Sea disputes with China,” he said. Neutral stance toward war Vuving added that Vietnam has been trying to maintain a largely neutral stance toward the war in Ukraine. However, the hosting of Putin will carry big risks to this stance. Viet said despite trying to balance its heart for both Ukraine and Russia, two former Soviet republics that provided colossal help to Vietnam, Hanoi still leans more to one side. “Russia's strength is different; Russia is also a great power. In geopolitics, interests are important. Vietnam finds more benefits in Russia than in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, the Vietnamese government still seems more inclined to maintain relations with Russia than with Ukraine,” Viet said. Truong commented, "Ukrainians may not like this trip, but they are also a people who have gone through many tough and tragic events in their history, and they understand everything very well. As a country living next to a giant neighbor [like Vietnam], they have similar views and similar feelings."

CAIRO/LOS ANGELES — Yemen's Houthi militants are believed to have sunk a second ship, the Tutor, in the Red Sea, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Tuesday. The Greek-owned Tutor coal carrier was struck by missiles and an explosive-laden remote-controlled boat last Wednesday and had been taking on water, according to previous reports from UKMTO, the Houthis and other sources. "Military authorities report maritime debris and oil sighted in the (Tutor's) last reported location," UKMTO, a capability of the Royal Navy, said in a security update. The Tutor's manager could not immediately be reached for comment. One crew member, believed to be in the Tutor's engine room at the time of the attacks, remains missing. The U.K.-owned Rubymar was the first ship sunk by the Houthis. It went down on March 2, about two weeks after being struck by missiles. The UKMTO's report of the suspected Tutor sinking comes a week after the Houthis seriously damaged that Liberia-flagged ship, as well as the Palau-flagged Verbena, which was loaded with wood construction material. Sailors from the Verbena abandoned ship when they were unable to contain a fire sparked by the attacks. The Verbena is now drifting in the Gulf of Aden and vulnerable to sinking or further assaults. U.S. and British forces on Monday conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen's Hodeidah International Airport and Kamaran Island near the port of Salif off the Red Sea in what appeared to be retaliation for last week's ship attacks. The Iran-aligned Houthis have been targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea region since November, in what they say are attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The Houthi drone and missile assaults have forced shipping firms to divert vessels from the Suez Canal to the longer route around Africa, disrupting global trade by delaying deliveries and sending costs higher. In November, the Houthis seized another vessel, the Galaxy Leader cargo ship. On Tuesday its manager renewed calls for the Houthi to release the ship’s 25 crew, who have been held for seven months. The militants used helicopters to attack the Bahamas-flagged ship on Nov. 19. They captured the Bulgarian ship master and chief officer, along with 17 Filipinos and other sailors from Ukraine, Mexico and Romania, STAMCO Ship Management said in a statement. "There is nothing to be gained by the Houthis in keeping the 25 crew members," said STAMCO, which requested that they be released to their families without further delay.

RIYADH/MINA, saudi arabia — Hundreds of visitors have died during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca amid scorching heat, according to press reports and foreign ministries.  At least 550 people have died on Hajj, diplomats told French news outlet Agence France-Presse on Tuesday. Three hundred and twenty-three of the dead were Egyptians, most of whom perished due to heat-related illness, AFP reported, citing two Arab diplomats.  Reuters was not able to immediately verify those numbers.  Stampedes, tent fires and other accidents have caused hundreds of deaths during Hajj to Saudi Arabia in the past 30 years. The pilgrimage began on Friday.   Saudi state TV said temperatures rose on Monday as high as 51.8 degrees Celsius (125.2 Fahrenheit) in the shade at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.  A 2024 study by the Journal of Travel and Medicine found that rising global temperatures may outpace strategies to deal with the heat. A 2019 study by Geophysical Research Letters said that as temperatures rise in arid Saudi Arabia due to climate change, pilgrims performing Hajj will face "extreme danger."  Thirty-five Tunisian citizens have died during the Hajj, Tunisian news agency Tunis Afrique Presse said on Tuesday.  Many of those deaths were due to extreme heat, family members said on social media, as other families continued to search for missing relatives in Saudi hospitals.   The Jordanian foreign ministry said it had issued 41 burial permits for Jordanian pilgrims on Tuesday. Earlier, the ministry said at least six Jordanian citizens died of heat stroke during the Hajj.  Eleven Iranians have died and 24 were hospitalized during the pilgrimage, Iranian state news outlet IRINN said on Tuesday without giving the causes of death.   Three Senegalese citizens also died during Hajj, Agence de Presse Senegalaise, said on Monday.   One hundred and forty-four Indonesian citizens died during the pilgrimage, Indonesian health ministry data showed on Tuesday. The data did not specify if any of the deaths were due to heat stroke.  Physical exertion  The Hajj is an annual pilgrimage that millions of Muslims make to Mecca to perform religious rites as taught by the Prophet Mohammad to his followers 14 centuries ago.   A Saudi health official, speaking to Reuters on Monday, before many of the reports of deaths were issued, said that authorities had not noticed any unusual fatalities among Muslim pilgrims amid the extremely high temperatures.  The ministry had so far treated more than 2,700 pilgrims who suffered from heat-related illness, he added.   "Hajj is a difficult task, so you have to exert efforts and perform the rituals even in the conditions of heat and crowding," an Egyptian pilgrim told Reuters on Sunday.  Pilgrims used umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun, as Saudi authorities warned pilgrims to stay hydrated and avoid being outdoors during the hottest hours between 11 a.m. (0800 GMT) and 3 p.m.  Hajj, one of the largest mass gatherings in the world, is a once-in-a-lifetime duty for able-bodied Muslims who can afford it. It will end on Wednesday.  More than 1.8 million pilgrims were expected to take part this year, according to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced that his administration would offer protections to some undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens. He also marked the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides protection for young undocumented immigrants to the U.S. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House.

Dakar, Senegal — Senegalese customs said Tuesday it had intercepted three shipments of cocaine with a total estimated value of more than $50 million in the past five days. The authorities have made an increasing number of cocaine seizures in recent months from neighboring countries — notably Guinea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Mali — which are reputed to be transit zones for drugs produced in Latin America on their way to Europe. In a statement on Tuesday, the police said they had intercepted a refrigerated truck near the border with Mali. "The search of the lorry revealed 264 packets of cocaine weighing a total of 306.24 kilograms, carefully concealed in a hiding place inside the ventilation compartment of the fridge," it said. The value of the seizure is estimated at $40 million. The day before, customs officers in the south of the country carried out an operation on a vehicle from "a neighboring country" driven "by an individual from a Sahel country," according to another statement published on Friday. Customs officers discovered 95 packets of cocaine worth $14.2 million. Another seizure on Saturday at Blaise Diagne International Airport, near Dakar, led to the discovery of 18 kilograms of cocaine worth around $2.3 million. The drugs were in a suitcase that was part of a consignment of unaccompanied luggage "coming from a country bordering Senegal and bound for a European Union country." Several seizures of cocaine have been announced by customs in recent months, including a 1-ton haul in mid-April in the east of the country, near the border with Mali, and several others earlier this month. In November, the army announced the seizure of nearly 3 tons of cocaine from a vessel seized in international waters off the coast of Senegal.

LONDON — General elections in the United Kingdom will be held on July 4, and thousands of Hong Kongers who are eligible to vote through the British National (Overseas) program, or BNO visa, are expected to make their voices heard. The program was launched in January 2021 in response to a harsh Chinese security law imposed on Hong Kong seven months earlier. Since then, more than 150,000 Hong Kongers have received visas. The policy allows them to build new lives in the U.K. and gives them the right to vote. In towns such as Sutton and Wokingham, where many Hong Kongers live, the influence of Hong Kong society is obvious as the election approaches. Candidates seeking to secure their votes are addressing their concerns and needs. Lucy Demery, a Conservative Party parliamentary candidate for Wokingham, lived in Hong Kong for 17 years and once joined peaceful protests against the strict rule of the Chinese Communist Party. She told VOA that she wants to make sure that she is “the biggest, strongest advocate for the Hong Kong community here.” "It's a priority of mine to make sure that all Hong Kongers in Wokingham feel safe and secure and integrated into the community here. ... It's really a Conservative government that initiated the BNO settlement scheme, which I'm very proud of," she said. In Sutton, parliamentary candidates from all parties met with more than 70 BNO Hong Kongers and journalists on Saturday. The event was organized by local community groups Sutton Hong Kongers, HK Watch,  and Vote for Hong Kong 2024. The candidates expressed support for integration and providing a safe environment for the Hong Kong people. They also took a firm stance on international issues involving China, emphasizing the importance of human rights and democracy. Hersh Thaker, a Labour Party candidate for Carshalton and Wallington, said, "This is going to be one of the most remarkable migration stories in British history when you look back at the number of people that have come over from Hong Kong, but actually the contribution that has been made to this country as a result of this has been extraordinary.” But not all Hong Kongers are eager to participate in the political process. Richard Choi, Sutton Hong Kongers' organizer, told VOA, "It's important for Hong Kongers to feel safe. They are too scared to get involved in politics. They are afraid of speaking out. It's hard to get feedback from them. Even though their email address, postcode, and data are not required, people still don't want to get involved. Article 23 [of Hong Kong’s national security law] and the spy incident make it even worse." Last month, the U.K. prosecuted three people under the country’s National Security Act of 2023 for allegedly assisting Hong Kong intelligence agencies to conduct foreign interference activities in the U.K. According to the prosecution, Chung Biu Yuen, the executive manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, was the suspected mastermind of the activities. Article 23 of Hong Kong’s national security law has also been used against Hong Kongers in the U.K. The Hong Kong passports of activists Simon Cheng and Nathan Law, who are in exile in the U.K., have been revoked, and their families in Hong Kong have been harassed. Demery said the U.K.'s strengthened national security law is crucial in protecting the safety of Hong Kong people. "It was also a Conservative government which strengthened our national security laws in the U.K., which allows us now to be cracking down on some transnational oppression from Hong Kong and China on our territory," she said. Bobby Dean, the Liberal Democrats candidate for Carshalton and Wallington, trained democracy activists in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He expressed concerns about China's threat to the Hong Kong community in the U.K. and called on the government to take a tough stance. "In the West, for too long, [we] have been too lenient and too concerned about how bad state actors like Russia and China might react to the language and rhetoric that we use, and so, we really soften that," he said. “China and Russia are looking at the hard calculation, not the tone of what we say.” During the event, some Hong Kongers expressed their concerns about higher tuition fees for those who haven’t lived in the U.K. for three years. One BNO passport holder said, "People misunderstand that Hong Kong people are rich. But many of us cannot afford £50,000 [$63,000] a year in tuition fees for our children because we are still classified as internationals." Tom Drummond, the Conservative Party candidate for Sutton and Cheam, said he would help solve the problem of expensive tuition fees. "We need to rebuild trust. We are all standing to make your lives better. I will be your voice in Westminster instead of your voice in Sutton. But I think it's important to realize that we're standing, all of us. And whoever's elected, I've got no doubt, they're going into it for the right reasons," he said. Luke Taylor, the Liberal Democrats candidate for Sutton and Cheam, said, "I think I would give you the reassurance that as Liberal Democrats, we have a history of standing on, as a party, the right side of controversial issues. We are not afraid to be contrary to the established view." Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

The war in Ukraine is bringing what promises to be lasting changes in the role of women in the workplace. Lesia Bakalets traveled to Ukraine's Mykolaiv region to hear from women training to drive tractors, a job that until recently was the exclusive realm of men. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.