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tehran, iran — Gunmen ambushed a police convoy in Iran's restive southeast on Tuesday, killing six police officers, media reports said. The attack on a road in Sistan and Baluchistan province also wounded two more police officers, according to Young Journalists Club, a website affiliated with the state broadcasting company. The report said the Jaish al-Adl militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The report could not be independently verified. The militants have allegedly been fighting for greater rights for the ethnic Baluch minority in the region. Iran and some other nations consider it to be a terrorist group. The attack was the second in as many weeks targeting security forces, indicating deterioration of the security situation in the region. Last week's clashes in three separate areas of the province killed 10 Iranian troops and 18 militants. Six more members of the security forces died later in the hospital. The province, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, has occasionally been the site of deadly clashes involving militants, armed drug smugglers and Iranian security forces. In December, militants killed nearly a dozen police officers in an attack on a police station in the province. Sistan and Baluchistan is one of the least developed parts of Iran. Relations between the predominantly Sunni Muslim residents of the region and Iran's Shiite theocracy have long been strained.

After months of contentious debate and near government shutdowns, Congress approved appropriations for fiscal year 2024, which President Biden quickly signed into law. The spending package contains several important immigration-related appropriations and provisions. Alarmingly, however, $800 million has been cut from the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and […]

The post The Federal Government Is Cutting Aid for Migrant Shelters and Services. What Will States Do Now? appeared first on Immigration Impact.

Washington — The United States Postal Service (USPS) said on Tuesday it wants to raise the price of first-class mail stamps to 73 cents from 68 cents effective July 14. The proposal, which must be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, would raise mailing services product prices by 7.8%. USPS in November reported a $6.5 billion net loss for the 12 months ending Sept. 30 as first-class mail fell to the lowest volume since 1968. Stamp prices are up 36% over the last four years since early 2019 when they were 50 cents. USPS has been aggressively hiking stamp prices and is in the middle of a 10-year restructuring plan announced in 2021 that aims to eliminate $160 billion in predicted losses over the next decade and had previously forecast 2023 as a breakeven year. USPS has been raising stamp prices twice yearly and has said it expects its "new pricing policy to generate $44 billion in additional revenue" by 2031. A number of lawmakers have raised concerns about USPS planned changes to its processing and delivery network that could impact timely deliveries. First-class mail volume fell 6.1% in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2023, to 46 billion pieces and is down 53% since 2006 -- to the lowest volume since 1968 -- but revenue increased by $515 million because of higher stamp prices.

President Biden signed the final 6-bill “minibus” funding package for fiscal year (FY) 2024 on March 23, which includes funding for the agencies that implement our immigration laws. This was the culmination of months of negotiations mired by attempts to insert restrictive border and immigration policy changes into the budget. While the compromise package doesn’t […]

The post FY 2024 Government Funding Package Is a Mixed-Bag on Immigration appeared first on Immigration Impact.

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 Global Terrorism Index ranks Nigeria eighth among the ten countries most impacted by terrorism, while, according to the Global Organized Crime Index, Nigeria has the world’s sixth “highest criminality rate,” far worse than the U.S., which is ranked 67th.

Johannesburg — Former president Jacob Zuma can contest upcoming national elections in May, a South African court ruled Tuesday. Zuma had appealed a ban by the electoral commission, which said last month that Zuma couldn’t compete for a seat in parliament because the constitution bars people who have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than one year in prison from running for office.  Zuma, 81, was forced to resign near the end of his second term in 2018 amid numerous corruption scandals. In 2021, he was sentenced to 15 months in jail for contempt of court after he refused to appear in a corruption investigation.  Zuma’s lawyers argued in court Monday that because the former leader, who served just three months before being released on health grounds, was granted a remission, the ban did not apply.  The court’s decision will not be welcome news to the governing African National Congress party, of which Zuma was a lifelong member before throwing his support behind a newly formed political party called uMkhonto weSizwe, or MK, late last year.  The ANC suspended him, and Zuma — who, despite all the allegations against him, still has massive support in his home province of Kwa Zulu-Natal — has since been campaigning as the face of MK.  National elections on May 29 are widely expected to be the most fiercely contested ever, with surveys suggesting the ANC will win less than 50 percent of the vote for the first time since the advent of democracy in 1994.  Political analyst Sandile Swana broke down what the electoral court’s ruling means.  “The reintroduction of Jacob Zuma into mainstream politics is already eating away at the electoral base of the African National Congress led by Cyril Ramaphosa, and they have now been fortified with this decision of the electoral court that Zuma can be the face of the party, he can campaign, he can be the number one candidate for the party,” Swana said.  Outside the court on Monday, Zuma told supporters he’d be happy to lead the country again.  However, Swana noted, there is still a legal question over whether Zuma could ever become president again, as he was already in his second term when he was forced out.  Rather than directly electing a president, South Africans vote for members of parliament. Whichever party wins a majority then puts their leader forward as president.  Independent analyst Asanda Ngoasheng said Tuesday’s developments are concerning.  “We now have the potential of someone who has faced or is facing multiple allegations of corruption and bankrupting the state being able to kind of keep coming back,” Ngoasheng said. “Is Jacob Zuma really turning out to be Mr. Teflon as he has been called, with nothing ever sticking to him, or will something come that will trip him up?” Last month the ANC went to court to try to prevent Zuma’s new party from using the name uMkhonto weSizwe, which was also the name of the ANC’s disbanded armed wing.

Washington — The Pentagon is not backing off on its support for Israel, despite growing frustration by some U.S. lawmakers that Israel is crossing ethical lines as it goes after Hamas in Gaza. During a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday interrupted multiple times by protesters accusing Israel — and the United States — of having innocent blood on its hands, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pushed back. Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican, asked Austin: "Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?" Austin replied: "Senator Cotton, we don't have any evidence of genocide." But under repeated questioning, Austin acknowledged Israel’s military can and must do more to differentiate between Hamas militants and civilians. "There’s no question that there have been far too many civilian casualties in this conflict,” he said. Austin said he has warned his Israeli counterpart that a failure to allow the delivery of much more humanitarian aid to Gaza “would just create more terrorism.” As for continued talk by Israel about an operation to root out Hamas in Rafah, the secretary of defense was blunt. “It cannot be what we’ve seen in the past in terms of the type of activities that we've seen in Gaza City and in Khan Yunis,” he said. Not all lawmakers were satisfied with those answers. Some expressed frustration that Washington has been forced to step in. "There's no reason the United States should have to build a pier in the eastern Mediterranean. There's no reason we should have to airdrop supplies,” said Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat. "The pace of humanitarian aid is insufficient." Other lawmakers put blame on Hamas. Austin agreed that the U.S.-designated terror group’s ongoing conduct continues to amount to war crimes. The hearing was about President Joe Biden's budget request for the Department of Defense.

Tehran, Iran — Iran released four conservationists who had worked to save the endangered Asiatic cheetah before they were convicted on espionage charges and spent five years in prison, local media reported on Tuesday. The Tehran newspaper Etemad said authorities released on Monday night Niloufar Bayani and Houman Jowkar, who were part of a group of five activists convicted in 2019 on espionage charges that were internationally criticized. On Tuesday, several Iranian media outlets, including the semiofficial ILNA news agency, said two other conservationists were also released, Sepideh Kashani and Taher Ghadirian. The four are among more than 2,000 prisoners granted amnesty on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, which celebrates the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The United Nations Environment Program on Monday welcomed the release of Bayani and Jowkar, who are members of the nonprofit Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. Iranian authorities released Sam Rajabi, another member of the group, in 2023. The conservationists were arrested in 2018, along with Kavous Seyed-Emami, the 64-year-old founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. Seyed-Emami, an Iranian Canadian dual citizen, died while awaiting trial under disputed circumstances. Bayani was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in 2019, while the others received six-to-eight-year terms on espionage charges. The case against members of the nonprofit Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation came as protests and unrest shook parts of Iran amid a government-imposed internet shutdown.

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — Maryland Governor Wes Moore said he plans to meet with members of Congress this week to discuss support for rebuilding the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, which has blocked the main shipping channel at Baltimore's port for nearly two weeks.  "I'm going to be spending part of this week with our delegation going down and meeting with leaders and ranking members in the Congress and letting them know that this issue is not partisan. This is a patriotic responsibility to be able to support one of this country's great economic engines," Moore said Monday. "This is an opportunity to support a port that is directly responsible for the hiring of tens of thousands of people."  As Maryland lawmakers reached the end of their legislative session Monday, a measure authorizing use of the state's rainy-day fund to help port employees was approved and sent to Moore's desk. The governor planned to sign the emergency legislation Tuesday, putting it into effect right away.  The bridge collapsed March 26 after being struck by the cargo ship Dali, which lost power shortly after leaving Baltimore, bound for Sri Lanka. The ship issued a mayday alert with just enough time for police to stop traffic, but not enough to save a roadwork crew filling potholes on the bridge.  Authorities believe six workers — immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — plunged to their deaths in the Patapsco River. Two others survived. The bodies of three workers have been recovered, but the search for the other victims continues.  Moore said the state remains focused on supporting the families of the six workers.  "We are still very much focused on bringing closure and comfort to these families, and the operations to be able to bring that closure to these families," Moore said. "It has not stopped. It continues to be a 24/7 operation."  Temporary, alternate channels have been cleared, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said last week that it expects to open a limited-access channel for barge container ships and some vessels moving cars and farm equipment by the end of April. Officials are aiming to restore normal capacity to Baltimore's port by the end of May.  Moore was upbeat about progress in reopening channels.  He said that if he had been told the morning of the collapse that there would be two channels open in two weeks, "I would have said that sounds really ambitious, considering what we saw, but that's where we are."  The governor also spoke of progress in removing debris, saying crews pulled 318 metric tons (350 tons) of steel from the Patapsco River on Sunday.  More than 50 salvage divers and 12 cranes are on site to help cut sections of the bridge and remove them from the key waterway. Crews began removing containers from the deck over the weekend, and they're making progress toward removing sections of the bridge that lie across the ship's bow so it can eventually move, according to the Key Bridge Response Unified Command. 

phoenix — The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state can enforce its long-dormant law criminalizing all abortions except when a mother's life is at stake. The case examined whether the state is still subject to a law that predates Arizona's statehood. The 1864 law provides no exceptions for rape or incest but allows abortions if a mother's life is in danger. The state's high court ruling reviewed a 2022 decision by the state Court of Appeals that said doctors couldn't be charged for performing the procedure in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. An older court decision blocked enforcing the 1864 law shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court issued the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a constitutional right to an abortion. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, then state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge in Tucson to lift the block on enforcing the 1864 law. Brnovich's Democratic successor, Attorney General Kris Mayes, had urged the state's high court to side with the Court of Appeals and hold the 1864 law in abeyance. Since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision ending a nationwide right to abortion, most Republican-controlled states have started enforcing new bans or restrictions and most Democrat-dominated ones have sought to protect abortion access. Currently, 14 states are enforcing bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions. Two states ban the procedure once cardiac activity can be detected, which is about six weeks into pregnancy and often before women realize they're pregnant. Nearly every ban has been challenged with a lawsuit. Courts have blocked enforcing some restrictions, including bans throughout pregnancy in Utah and Wyoming. A proposal pending before the Arizona Legislature that would repeal the 1864 law hasn't received a committee hearing this year. "Today's decision to reimpose a law from a time when Arizona wasn't a state, the Civil War was raging, and women couldn't even vote will go down in history as a stain on our state," Mayes said Tuesday. The justices said the state can start enforcing the law in 14 days. Former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who signed the state's current law restricting abortion after 15 weeks, posted on X saying Tuesday's ruling was not the outcome he would have wanted. "I signed the 15-week law as governor because it is thoughtful policy, and an approach to this very sensitive issue that Arizonans can actually agree on," he said. President Joe Biden called the 1864 Arizona law cruel. "Millions of Arizonans will soon live under an even more extreme and dangerous abortion ban, which fails to protect women even when their health is at risk or in tragic cases of rape or incest," he said in a statement. "Vice President Harris and I stand with the vast majority of Americans who support a woman's right to choose. We will continue to fight to protect reproductive rights and call on Congress to pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade."

White House — President Joe Biden is set to welcome Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the White House Tuesday evening for an official visit that will mark one of the biggest structural upgrades of the U.S.-Japan security alliance in several decades. The visit will also usher in Tokyo’s further integration into Washington’s security framework with other allies in the region, a key factor to deter Beijing. Biden and Kishida will announce steps that for the first time will allow the United States and Japan to collaborate more closely on the development and potentially co-production of vital military and defense equipment, said Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell in a recent event hosted by the Center for a New American Security. It's a milestone in the U.S. alliance with Japan, what Campbell describes as the “cornerstone of our engagement in the Indo-Pacific.”   The two leaders are also set to declare their intention to modernize a framework that has for decades guided interaction between Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the approximately 54,000 U.S. troops in Japan. Tokyo wants the U.S. military to strengthen the functions of its command headquarters in Japan to allow for better coordination. Under the current system, major decisions are coordinated with the U.S. military's Indo-Pacific Command, located more than 6,000 kilometers (3,728 miles) and five time zones away in Hawaii. Under its new national security strategy, Japan is establishing a joint operational command for its self-defense force, said Tetsuo Kotani, senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. “In that sense we have done our homework and now it’s time for the United States to upgrade their command-and-control structure in the Indo-Pacific,” he told VOA. Broader regional frameworks The leaders agree on the goal of expanding bilateral security ties into broader regional frameworks with other U.S. allies, including the Philippines and Australia. The pair will be joined later this week by Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in a summit set to bolster trilateral maritime cooperation in the South China Sea. An announcement on some form of trilateral joint naval patrol activity is widely expected. Beyond bolstering naval defense amid Beijing’s ramped-up aggression in the South China Sea, Tokyo has signaled it wants to link Japan into a broader integrated air and missile defense network with the U.S. and Australia. “Pushing ahead on cooperation with like-minded countries on security, including defense equipment and technology, will lead to the establishment of a multilayered network, and by expanding that we can improve deterrence,” Kishida said Friday. Considering the difficulties of integrating such systems, talks will likely begin with establishing greater situational awareness among the three countries for their individual air and missile defenses, said Jeffrey Hornung, the Japan Lead for the RAND National Security Research Division and a senior political scientist at RAND. “Any cooperation on this front will help dilute Chinese anti-access, area denial efforts by enabling the three countries to pass information on Chinese activities,” he told VOA. Biden and Kishida are also set to discuss Japan’s potential involvement in AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership formed in 2021 among the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom. “Recognizing Japan's strengths and its close bilateral defense partnerships with all three countries, we are considering cooperation with Japan on AUKUS Pillar II advanced capability projects," the group said in joint statement published by the British government.   “Pillar II” of AUKUS is focused on delivering advanced capabilities and sharing technologies across a range of areas including quantum computing, undersea, hypersonic, artificial intelligence and cyber technology. The step takes the group’s effort to push back against China beyond its first pillar — delivery of nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia, for which there are no known plans to include Japan. Any multinational defense industrial partnership is an extremely complicated endeavor, said Yuki Tatsumi, director of the Japan Program at the Stimson Center. Many aspects need to be harmonized, from industrial security standards and export licensing regulations to the arrangement on intellectual property rights, she told VOA. “Making it a reality will take many months of careful consultation among all four countries.” Nippon Steel A potential rift remains between Biden and Kishida over the proposed sale of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan, a deal that has become embroiled in protectionist campaign rhetoric ahead of the November U.S. presidential election. Last month Biden announced his opposition to the deal, saying the U.S. needs to “maintain strong American steel companies powered by American steelworkers.” His prospective opponent, former President Donald Trump, has promised to block the $14 billion deal if he is elected again. The optics of a Japanese firm trying to buy an American manufacturing company during an election year is bad for Biden, Tatsumi said, and the pair will want to avoid airing their differences publicly. In a Tuesday event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel sought to downplay the impact of Biden’s opposition to the U.S. Steel acquisition to the relationship. He noted that in February the Biden administration approved a plan that would drive billions of dollars in revenue to a U.S.-based subsidiary of the Japanese company Mitsui for crane production in the United States. Kishida and Japanese first lady Yuko Kishida will be briefly welcomed at the White House on Tuesday evening ahead of Wednesday’s official visit and formal state dinner, the fifth that Biden will have hosted since taking office in 2021. VOA’s William Gallo 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.

Under the new provisions of section 203(b)(5)(E)(vii) added by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) to the Immigration and Nationality Act, we must audit each designated regional center at least once every five years.

GENEVA — The United Nations refugee agency says thousands of people are still fleeing Sudan every day as clashes between two warring army factions, raging for nearly a year, show no signs of abating.   The latest UNHCR figures show that more than 8.5 million people in Sudan have been forced to flee their homes since war erupted on April 15, 2023, making this one of the largest displacement and humanitarian crises in the world.   The number includes 1.8 million Sudanese who have fled to neighboring countries seeking refuge.   The UNHCR says fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has shattered peoples’ lives. It says attacks on civilians are escalating, human rights violations are widespread and rampant, conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence continues without stop, and the economy has collapsed.   “While the war started one year ago, thousands are crossing borders daily as if the emergency had started yesterday,” UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado told journalists in Geneva Tuesday.   “Chad has experienced the largest refugee arrivals in its history. While teams from UNHCR and partners continue to work and relocate refugees to expanded and new settlements, over 150,000 remain in border areas in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, mainly and largely due to funding shortfalls,” she said.   The UNHCR says more than 1,800 people are arriving daily in South Sudan alone, increasing pressure on the country’s overstretched infrastructure and worsening vast humanitarian needs.   “Some 635,000 people have arrived in South Sudan since the 15th of April last year, which represents more than 5% of the population of South Sudan,” said Marie-Helene Verney, UNHCR representative in South Sudan, speaking from the capital, Juba.  To put that number in perspective, she said 635,000 people would be equivalent to 4.5 million people arriving in less than one year in Germany or about 17.6 million people arriving in less than one year in the United States.  “This is the world’s poorest country, so you can imagine the pressure that is being put on this country,” she said. “There are very few roads, pretty much all humanitarian assistance has to be airlifted, at significant cost. We are approaching the rainy season again, so we are facing the risk of disease, particularly cholera.  “Unfortunately, we all know that the risk of sexual violence is high during transit,” she said, “and we have heard of heartbreaking stories of what has happened to women who have had to flee when they were in Sudan.”  Verney said the profile of many of the refugees presents challenge and opportunity as “many tend to be very urban.”   She said those who arrive from Sudan mostly lived in the capital, Khartoum, and the city of Wad Madani and “are very middle class, very educated, and have professional skills, mainly in health and education.”   The urban people are “reluctant to live in refugee camps,” she said, so UNHCR is working with South Sudan to match their skills with the gaps that exist in the country.  The UNHCR’s Sarrado notes other countries of asylum, including the Central African Republic, Egypt and Ethiopia, also are experiencing large daily inflows of Sudanese refugees and the many logistical challenges that come with them.  “Those crossing borders, mostly women and children, are arriving in remote areas with little to nothing and in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical care. Many families have been separated and arrive in distress. People and children have witnessed or experienced appalling violence, making psychosocial support a priority. Many children arrive malnourished,” she said.  As the conflict continues and the lack of assistance and opportunities deepens, Sarrado warned that “more people will be forced to flee Sudan to neighboring countries or to move further, risking their lives by embarking on long, dangerous journeys,” seeking safety in countries further afield.   In the last year, the UNHCR reports Uganda has welcomed 30,000 Sudanese refugees, including over 14,000 since the start of the year.  Additionally, UNHCR statistics show more Sudanese refugees are going to Europe, with 6,000 arriving in Italy from Tunisia and Libya since the beginning of 2023 — an almost six-fold increase from the previous year.  Despite the magnitude of the crisis, Sarrado said funding remains critically low, saying that “only 7%” of the UNHCR’s $1.4 billion 2024 Regional Refugee Response Plan for Sudan has been received.  She said UNHCR and partners are saving lives in many locations, but firm commitments from international donors to support Sudan and the countries hosting refugees “are needed to ensure those forced to flee by the war can live in dignity.” 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel will go forward with its planned operation into Rafah to root out remaining Hamas fighters. The Iranian foreign minister visits Damascus after the embassy there was attacked. An update from Kyiv and a look at drought in Africa