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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.

MADRID — A prosecutor at Spain's High Court is seeking a prison sentence of 2-1/2 years for former soccer federation chief Luis Rubiales over his unsolicited kiss on player Jenni Hermoso, a court document seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed. Prosecutor Marta Durantez charged Rubiales with one count of sexual assault and one of coercion for his alleged actions in the aftermath of the kiss, offenses carrying jail terms of one year and one-and-a-half years, respectively. Rubiales, 46, unleashed a furor when he grabbed Hermoso and kissed her on the lips on Aug. 20 of last year during the awards ceremony after Spain's victory in the women's World Cup in Sydney.   Hermoso and her teammates said the kiss was unwanted and demeaning, but Rubiales argued it was consensual and denied any wrongdoing.   The prosecutor also accused the former coach of the women's national team, Jorge Vilda, the team's current sporting director, Albert Luque, and the federation's head of marketing, Ruben Rivera, of coercing Hermoso into saying the kiss was consensual. All three have denied wrongdoing when they appeared before the court. Durantez seeks to have Rubiales pay $54,080 in damages to Hermoso, and another $54,080 jointly paid by Rubiales, Vilda, Luque and Rivera. If the court were to convict Rubiales and impose the sentencing sought by the prosecutor he would not necessarily have to go to prison. Spain's criminal code allows judges to "exceptionally" suspend the execution of the sentence if - as in this case - none of the sentences imposed individually exceeds two years.

BEIJING — China's President Xi Jinping met American business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday, as the government tries to woo back foreign investors and international firms seeking reassurance about the impact of new regulations.  Beijing wants to boost growth of the world's second-largest economy after foreign direct investment shrank 8% in 2023 amid heightened investor concern over an anti-espionage law, exit bans, and raids on consultancies and due diligence firms.  Xi's increasing focus on national security has left many companies uncertain where they might step over the line, even as Chinese leaders make public overtures toward foreign investors.  "China's development has gone through all sorts of difficulties and challenges to get to where it is today," Xi said, according to state media.  "In the past, [China] did not collapse because of a 'China collapse theory,' and it will also not peak now because of a 'China peak theory,'" he said.  Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder and CEO of private equity firm Blackstone, Raj Subramaniam, head of American delivery giant FedEx, and Cristiano Amon, the boss of chips manufacturer Qualcomm, were part of the around 20-strong all-male U.S. contingent.   The audience with Xi — organized by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the U.S.-China Business Council and the Asia Society think tank — lasted around 90 minutes, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.  The source, who declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media, had no immediate comment on what was discussed. The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and Asia Society did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the meeting.  A statement from U.S.-China Business Council said the participants "stressed the importance of rebalancing China's economy by increasing consumption there and encouraging the government to further address longstanding concerns with cross border data flows, government procurement, intellectual property rights, and improved regulatory transparency and predictability."  The U.S. and China are gradually resuming engagements after relations between the two economic superpowers sank to their lowest in years due to clashes over trade policies, the future of democratically ruled Taiwan and territorial claims in the South China Sea. 

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.

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Thousands of people are gathering in Libreville and Akanda for what the government calls an Inclusive National Dialogue, to be held April 2 to 30, aimed at bringing Gabon back to civilian rule. Military ruler General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema previously said he would hand back power in August 2025.  Nguema reportedly named 28 military officials, clerics, traditional rulers, and civil society and opposition leaders to serve as officials of the dialogue. Jean-Patrick Iba-Iba, head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Libreville, will preside over the deliberations. Gabon's state TV says the participants will include opposition and civil society members. But Gabon's opposition parties say a majority of the approximately 600 delegates are supporters of Nguema, and want him to stay in power.  They also say many of the civilians traveling to Libreville and Akanda were hired by military rulers to give a false impression that Nguema is popular. The government has refuted that claim.   Judicael Obiang Meyong, head of the opposition group the Movement to Act for Gabon's Freedom and Independence, said it is surprising that Gabon’s military leaders are inviting many of the same officials, leaders and clerics who took part in previous dialogues that failed to solve the country’s problems.    He said those dialogues were organized to extend the rule of Gabon's first president, Omar Bongo Ondimba, and when Omar Bongo died on June 8, 2009, a series of other dialogues attended by Bongo’s collaborators was organized to extend the Bongo family rule.  The Bongo family ruled Gabon for more than half a century. Nguema is a cousin of President Ali Bongo, who was overthrown by the military in August of last year.   Meyong said military rulers should have asked civilians, whose opinions were not taken into consideration by former regimes, to meet in each of Gabon’s nine provinces, outline their needs, and elect people to represent the provinces.   But Gabon's government says more than 50,000 suggestions were received when Nguema asked civilians to give proposals on issues to be discussed during the one-month dialogue.   Francis Edgar Simar Mba, a political science lecturer at the Libreville-headquartered Omar Bongo University, said the dialogue is, so far, the most representative in Gabon's history.  For the first time, he said, citizens of the central African state who are in exile and political refugees and their peers in the diaspora will be taking part in the national dialogue. In addition, Mba said, all civil society groups and Gabon's 104 political parties will each send a representative to the dialogue, unlike in the past when only opposition and civil society close to the ruling government were invited to talk. Nguema said he will respect decisions made at next month’s dialogue.  A March 10 decree signed by Nguema says the dialogue will pave the way for the drawing up of a new constitution, determine the duration of the transition, and propose the political, economic, and social organization of the central African nation after the transitional period.   Opposition and civil society groups say Gabon's transitional government should respect an initial plan it published to hand power to civilian rule. According to that plan, the transition is to last 24 months, ending in August 2025 with free, credible, and fair elections.

When Russia imposed harsh laws on reporters covering its invasion of Ukraine, dozens fled. But physical distance doesn’t always keep exiled journalists safe. Steve Baragona narrates this story by Liam Scott in Berlin. (Camera and Produced by: Jonathan Spier )

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.

BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping told visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Wednesday that attempts to restrict China's access to technology will not stop the country's advance.  The Netherlands imposed export licensing requirements in 2023 on the sale of machinery that can make advanced processor chips. The move came after the United States blocked Chinese access to advanced chips and the equipment to make them, citing security concerns, and urged its allies to follow suit.  An online report from state broadcaster CCTV did not mention the chip machinery, but quoted Xi as saying that the creation of scientific and technological barriers and the fragmentation of the industrial and supply chains will lead to division and confrontation.  "The Chinese people also have the right to legitimate development, and no force can stop the pace of China's scientific and technological development and progress," Xi said, according to CCTV.  Dutch company ASML is the world's only producer of machines that use extreme ultraviolet lithography to make advanced semiconductors. In 2023, China became ASML's second-largest market, accounting for 29% of its revenue as Chinese companies bought up equipment before the licensing requirement took effect.    Rutte, speaking to journalists after his meeting, declined to go into specifics of the talks.  "What I can tell you is that ... when we have to take measures, that they are never aimed at one country specifically, that we always try to make sure that the impact is limited, is not impacting the supply chain, and therefore is not impacting the overall economic relationship," he said.  The Dutch leader, who was accompanied by Trade Minister Geoffrey van Leeuwen on the trip, said the top issue for him in their meetings with Xi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang was the war in Ukraine.  China has taken a neutral position on the war, providing Russia with diplomatic cover and economic support through trade. That stance has angered and frustrated much of Europe, which sees Russia as the aggressor and Ukraine as the victim.  Rutte said it's important for China to understand that "this is a direct security threat for us, because if Russia will be successful in Ukraine, it will be a threat to the whole of Europe. It will not end with Ukraine."  He added that he had asked China's leaders "to put their considerable weight — and they can do that as far as I'm concerned in a very discreet way — but as much as possible on Russia to influence the course of events."  ASML, the Netherlands' largest company, recently threatened to leave the country over anti-immigration policies that may impact the company's ability to hire talent, leaving government officials scrambling to ensure that the firm does not leave.  Van Leeuwen said this week in an interview with The FD, a Dutch business newspaper, that protecting the interests of ASML is a top priority but acknowledged that national security comes before economic interests.  Beijing has repeatedly accused the U.S. of trying to hold back China's economic development by restricting access to technology. In response, Xi has launched a campaign to develop home-grown chips and other high-tech products.  "China always opposes the U.S. overstretching the concept of national security and making various excuses to coerce other countries into imposing a technological blockade against China," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in January.  Rutte said that NATO and its growing ties with Asia did not come up at Wednesday's talks. He is a leading candidate to be the next head of the alliance, which China has criticized for provoking regional tensions and making diplomatic forays into the Asia-Pacific region.

Burmese (19%) and Hmong Americans (17%) were among the Asian origin groups with the highest poverty rates in 2022.

The post Key facts about Asian Americans living in poverty appeared first on Pew Research Center.

Israel has ordered Palestinian hospital patients back to the Gaza Strip after they’re done with treatment in East Jerusalem medical facilities. As Linda Gradstein reports from East Jerusalem, the order has sparked an outcry from human rights groups, and the Israeli Supreme Court has put their transfer on hold.

Bangkok — Thailand’s lower house passed a same-sex marriage bill Wednesday, as the country inches towards becoming the first Southeast Asian nation to recognize LGBTQ nuptials, a seismic legal shift lauded as a “fantastic first step” towards full gender parity. The measure comfortably passed – 399 for to 10 against in the elected House of Representatives - some of whom waved rainbow flags during the landmark vote. To become law, it now has to be approved by the unelected upper chamber, the Senate, and then receive a royal assent.  Once the law is passed, Thailand will join only Nepal and Taiwan in Asia in recognizing same-sex marriage. Gay rights advocates say the progress after years of false starts shows Thailand’s changing cultural space and offers the country up as a legal sanctuary in Asia, where gay rights are virtually non-existent in many Muslim-majority and Communist-led nations. “The repercussions are huge. My friends have spoken about feeling unshackled from their place as second-class citizens,” Paron Mead, 39, a Thai-British LGBTQ artist told VOA. “We are thinking of the enormous number of queer people in Asia who have their eyes on Thailand as we navigate what this marriage bill leads to, both legally and culturally. This will undoubtedly help millions of queer people both in and out of Thailand feel a little safer.” The government of Srettha Thavisin has prioritized the marriage equality bill seeing its potential to bring a ‘soft power’ win to Thailand, including potentially a boost in LGBTQ tourism. But the bill is also a popular progressive win for his administration after it was criticized for allying with conservative hardliners who have blocked many other structural reforms to take power after an election last year. Thailand has long had a reputation as a safe place for LGBTQ people to visit and live, despite the law failing to keep up shifting social attitudes towards gender. The law was specifically amended within the Civil and Commercial Code, a piece of legislation that has proven notoriously hard to rewrite.  “We’re making the impossible possible,” said Nada Chaiyajit, a transgender woman law lecturer and an advisor to the commission tasked with amending the Marriage Equality Law. “We’ve come so far to demand rights for same sex couples, laying groundwork for the society including removing all the discriminatory terms towards women from the existing law, adding provisions to protect individuals.” While the bill has practical outcomes such as inheritance, tax breaks and medical power of attorney for married LGBTQ couples, it says same sex couples who adopt children under the law cannot be called “parents” but instead must still use the gender specific terms “father” and “mother.” “Passing the law is a fantastic first step,” said Aitarnik Chitwiset, who was an advisor to the panel which drafted the same sex marriage bill. “But it’s just a first step.” Recognizing the lingering unease among some conservative parts of Thai society - including the country’s Muslim population - a spokesperson for the Pheu Thai party which leads the governing coalition, moved to reassure heterosexual couples will not be “deprived” of their legal rights. Instead, it aims to it fix long standing injustice towards LGBTQ Thais, Danuporn Punnakan, of the Pheu Thai Party, who chairs the Same-sex Marriage Committee told parliament. “I invite you all [members of parliament] to create a new chapter in Thai history together.” After years of rejection by governments dominated by conservative elders, LGBTQ advocates say the law change will signal a new dawn for equality. “We are in debt to the cultural leaders… who have fought for this reality,” Mead added. “To empower anyone to love wholeheartedly is one of the simplest things we can do to shape a more peaceful world.”

Islamabad — A majority of federal High Court judges in Pakistan have jointly accused the country's military-run spy agency of intimidating them and their relatives through abduction, torture, and secret video surveillance inside their bedrooms to influence judicial outcomes. In a rare letter this week addressed to mostly Supreme Court judges, including the chief justice, six out of eight members of the Islamabad High Court documented the allegations and sought their intervention to resolve the complaint. It prompted Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa to summon an emergency meeting of all the Supreme Court judges to discuss the matter on Wednesday. The letter dated March 25 blamed the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, for meddling in judicial proceedings "to seek a certain outcome." An army general runs the spy agency, and it is notorious for allegedly orchestrating the making or breaking of elected governments at the behest of Pakistan's powerful military. The Pakistani military has not responded to VOA’s request for comment on the allegations. "We believe it is imperative to inquire into and determine whether there exists a continuing policy on the part of the executive branch of the state, implemented by intelligence operatives... to intimidate judges, under threat of coercion or blackmail, to engineer judicial outcomes in politically consequential matters," the letter read. It highlighted several instances of attempted coercion and intimidation by ISI officers "to influence the outcome of cases, including those related to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.” Referring to a March 2023 state-backed lawsuit against Khan, the letter said that "considerable pressure was brought to bear" on judges "by operatives of the ISI." It said the judges sought additional protection for their homes over personal security fears. "One of the judges had to be admitted to a hospital due to high blood pressure caused by stress," it noted. The letter recounted the abduction of a "brother-in-law" of the Islamabad high court judge by alleged ISI operatives. It added that the abductee "was administered electric shocks" and "tortured into making false allegations" on camera against the judge. "We, therefore, request that a judicial convention be called to consider the matter of interference of intelligence operatives with judicial functions and/or intimidation of judges in a manner that undermines [the] independence of the judiciary," the judges wrote. The letter was delivered to the Supreme Judicial Council, the governing authority of the judiciary in Pakistan. The unprecedented chargesheet against the military has triggered calls from lawyers' associations, Khan's opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party, and independent critics to hold an independent inquiry and prosecute those involved. They lauded the judges for revealing the alleged interference of ISI operatives in the judicial work. "Everyone has known the pressure the courts have been under, but the bravery of these 6 judges must be applauded," Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, a human rights lawyer in Islamabad, said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Pushing politicos, press, or the judiciary the wrong way is counterproductive and is bound to have consequences, as we see in this letter," said Mushahid Hussain, a former Pakistani senator. "Revolt of the judges! Truly unprecedented!" he said. "This is the litmus test for the Supreme Judicial Council: will it move to protect its protesting ‘brother judges,’ who are working in the heart of the nation’s capital?" Hussain added. Michael Kugelman, the director of the South Asia Institute at Washington's Wilson Center, said the letter underscored "just how deep, extensive, and serious the establishment's interference is these days." "The establishment" is a term commonly used to refer to the Pakistan military. "The stunning letter written by six Pakistani high court justices illustrates not only the extent of interference in the legal process, at the highest levels but also the willingness of public servants to go public about it despite the risks that doing so may pose for them," Kugelman said on X. In the lead-up to the parliamentary elections in Pakistan last month, the military was constantly accused of influencing judicial proceedings and cracking down on Khan's party to keep him in jail over controversial convictions. Eventually, he was barred from running in the February 8 vote, and PTI candidates were restricted from winning the majority, despite representing the most popular party, according to public surveys. Many of the nearly 200 state-instituted lawsuits against Khan are pending in the Islamabad High Court. The 71-year-old incarcerated politician rejects all the charges as politically motivated, saying the military is behind them. A statement posted on Khan's X social media account said, "The fact that the judges have been intimidated and coerced into giving judgments based on political expediency raises a lot of questions on the fairness of the courts and their judgments over the last 2 years." Khan, the cricket hero-turned-prime minister, was ousted from power in April 2021 through an opposition parliamentary vote of no-confidence, a move he denounced as orchestrated by the military, allegations the institution rejected. The military has ruled Pakistan for more than three decades through coups against elected governments since the country gained independence in 1947. Former prime ministers, including Khan, have publicly accused army generals of interference in national politics even when not in power in violation of the constitution. The army denies the allegations, but its former chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, acknowledged in a nationally televised speech just days before his retirement in November 2022 that his institution had been meddling in politics for the past 70 years.

Paris — France has evacuated some 240 people from violence-wracked Haiti on French army helicopters, its foreign ministry said Wednesday. "More than 170 French nationals and around 70 people of European and other nationalities in a vulnerable situation" were airlifted out, it said in a statement. They have all been taken to a "navy boat that will ferry them today to Fort-de-France" in the French overseas territory of Martinique, it said. Some 1,100 French citizens live in Haiti, many of them holding dual nationality, according to the foreign ministry. Paris first announced the flights on Sunday, saying people wanting to leave should contact the embassy in Port-au-Prince. Port-au-Prince has been rocked by street battles that erupted in late February, prompting the resignation earlier this month of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. His departure, a key demand by an alliance of armed gangs that now control most of the capital, has not lessened the violence. Haitians are suffering serious food shortages during the wait for a transitional government to be formed.

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.

Geneva — U.N. aid agencies warn the crisis in Gaza has reached an unprecedented level of despair as Israeli attacks continue and hunger stalks the civilian population after months of inadequate humanitarian assistance.   “Let us be clear: Lifesaving aid is being obstructed. Lives are being lost. Dignity is being denied,” said James Elder, a UNICEF spokesperson. “The deprivation, the forced desperation, means despair pervades the population. And people’s nerves are shattered amid unrelenting attacks,” he said. Speaking in Rafah, Elder told journalists in Geneva Tuesday that the city was “unrecognizable” from when he last was there three months ago “because of the congestion, and tents on street corners and sandy plots.” An estimated 1.2 million Palestinians have crowded into Rafah to escape fighting in other parts of Gaza. Elder described living conditions in Rafah as “hellish,” noting that one toilet was available for every 850 people and one shower for every 3,600 people. Calling Rafah “a city of children,” he said, “the endless talk of a large-scale military operation in Rafah,” a city of 600,000 girls and boys, was highly concerning. He noted that the situation in northern Gaza, where food is scant and hunger pervasive, is particularly dire. In recounting a trip he undertook to the northern city of Jaballa two days ago, he said there were crowds of tens of thousands of people standing on the rubble in the streets “placing their hand to their mouth--that universal sign of hunger--desperately asking and seeking for food.” He said that when he entered the Gaza strip a week ago there were hundreds of trucks with lifesaving humanitarian aid waiting to get to people in urgent need “but they were on the wrong side of the border.”   “Hundreds of U.N. and international NGO trucks are currently backlogged, waiting to enter Gaza,” he said. The ongoing war was triggered by the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and resulted in 240 being taken hostage. Since then, Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 31,000, according to Gaza health authorities. An analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification System (IPC) report released March 18, warns that Gaza’s “entire population” of some 2.3 million people—is enduring high levels of “acute food insecurity,” and that half the population is suffering from “catastrophic” acute hunger. In a follow-up to that report, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization last week said that famine is projected to occur “anytime between now and May 2024” in Gaza’s northern governorates. “There are cases of death as a result of starvation and those are the early indications of famine,” said Abdulhakim Elwaer, the FAO assistant director-general and regional representative for the Near East and North Africa. Speaking from Cairo Tuesday, he said, “I hope we are not waiting for a full famine declaration because the situation as it exists calls for action, which is long overdue.” He noted that currently the only available access to the north is through the south. “The north remains a total blockade and is inaccessible and we have enough evidence that shows there is ongoing starvation,” he said. “Urgent measures are needed to avert famine in Gaza. Restoration of unfettered humanitarian access is crucial to prevent deterioration of the situation.” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, said that under international humanitarian law, the parties to the conflict “must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.” He said that Israeli authorities have a right to control and inspect aid, but they also need to create “an enabling environment to move it around.” “You cannot claim and adhere to these international provisions of law when you block UNRWA (the U.N. relief and works agency for Palestine refugees) food convoys,” he said. Israeli officials reject accusations of blocking aid. They say they have increased aid to Gaza through a new gate to the north that opened earlier this month, and say it is the responsibility of the U.N. and other aid agencies inside the territory to deliver the food and other supplies. Israel also accuses Hamas of stealing humanitarian aid – a charge Hamas denies. Before the war, UNICEF said that less than one percent of children under five in Gaza suffered from wasting, a condition that affects acutely malnourished children. Today, it says one in three children under two years of age are acutely malnourished. A week ago, UNICEF’s James Elder went to Kamal Adwan Hospital--one of two hospitals in northern Gaza where more than 20 children reportedly have died of dehydration and malnutrition. “When I was there, I saw a room full of mothers and carers shuttering over children who were paper thin. Incubators full of babies who are born prematurely because of the stress on mothers, who are also malnourished.” He said, “Mothers have done so well to keep children alive from bombardment. They know children now face starvation very simply because of a lack of food. People in the north, when I speak to them now, say they are mainly surviving on a type of grass with lemon.” He said famine could be averted if Israel would open the Erez crossing point in northern Gaza, “that is 10 minutes from those at risk of starving to death. Ten minutes.” “Open that and we could turn this humanitarian crisis in the north around in a matter of days. But it remains closed,” he said.

Burmese (19%) and Hmong Americans (17%) were among the Asian origin groups with the highest poverty rates in 2022.

The post Key facts about Asian Americans living in poverty appeared first on Pew Research Center.

NEW ORLEANS — A Texas law that allows the state to arrest and deport migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. will remain on hold for now, a federal appeals court ruled. The 2-1 ruling late Tuesday from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals followed a March 20 hearing by a three-judge panel of the court. It's just the latest move in a seesaw legal case over Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's strict new immigration law that is not yet ended. The Justice Department has argued that Texas' law is a clear violation of federal authority and would create chaos at the border. Texas has argued that President Joe Biden's administration isn't doing enough to control the border and that the state has a right to take action. Judge Andrew Oldham, an appointee of former President Donald Trump and a former aide to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, dissented with the majority decision. Oldham wrote that the Biden administration faced a high bar to take sovereign power that Texas has to enforce a law its people and leaders want. The judge predicted the same 2-1 split when the merits of the case are considered while the legal challenge plays out. "There is real peril in this approach. In our federal system, the State of Texas is supposed to retain at least some of its sovereignty," Oldham wrote. "Its people are supposed to be able to use that sovereignty to elect representatives and send them to Austin to debate and enact laws that respond to the exigencies that Texans experience and that Texans want addressed." The law was in effect for several hours on March 19 after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way. But the high court didn't rule on the merits of the case. It instead sent the case back to the 5th Circuit, which then suspended enforcement while it considered the latest appeal. The latest ruling keeps the block in place. Spokespersons for Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton did not immediately return phone calls for comment Wednesday morning. The law signed by Abbott allows any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally, but that brief window while the law was in effect revealed that many sheriffs were unprepared, unable or uninterested in enforcing SB4 in the first place. Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland of Terrell County, which touches more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) of border, said during a gathering of about 100 sheriffs at the state Capitol last week said there's no practical way for him to enforce the law. Cleveland said he has no way to transport people, the county jail has space for just seven people and the closest port of entry is a drive of more than 2 1/2 hours away. Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith, president of the Texas Sheriff's Association, said the law will have little effect in his jurisdiction in East Texas, which is closer to Louisiana and Oklahoma than Mexico which is nearly 400 miles (644 kilometers) away. Once in custody, migrants could either agree to a Texas judge's order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry. Migrants who don't leave could face arrest again under more serious felony charges. Texas did not announce any arrests during the brief time the law was previously in effect. Authorities have offered various explanations for how they might enforce the law. Mexico has said it would refuse to take back anyone who is ordered by Texas to cross the border. The law is considered by opponents to be the most dramatic attempt by a state to police immigration since an Arizona law more than a decade ago that was partially struck down by the Supreme Court. Critics have also said the Texas law could lead to civil rights violations and racial profiling. Supporters have rejected those concerns, saying arresting officers must have probable cause, which could include witnessing the illegal entry or seeing it on video. They also say that they expect the law would be used mostly in border counties, though it would apply statewide.