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Biden Visits US-Mexico Border, First Time in Since 2008

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Biden Visits US-Mexico Border

On his first trip to the region after two years in office, President Joe Biden walked a muddy stretch of the US-Mexico border and inspected a busy port of entry on Sunday, a visit overshadowed by the fraught politics of immigration, as Republicans blame him for record numbers of migrants crossing into the country.

The president observed border officers in El Paso demonstrate how they search vehicles for drugs, money, and other contraband during his first stop. He then went to a dusty street with abandoned buildings and walked along a metal border fence that separated the United States city from Ciudad Juarez.

His final stop was the El Paso County Migrant Services Center, but no migrants were in sight. As he learned more about the services available, he asked a volunteer, “If I could wave the wand, what should I do?”

Biden’s nearly four-hour trip to El Paso was tightly orchestrated. Except for when his motorcade drove alongside the border and about a dozen migrants lined up on the Ciudad Juárez side, he encountered no migrants. His visit did not include any time spent at a Border Patrol station, where illegal immigrants are apprehended and held before being released.

The visit appeared to be intended to demonstrate a smooth operation for processing legal migrants, weeding out smuggled contraband, and treating those who had entered illegally in a humane manner, creating a counter-narrative to Republicans’ claims of a crisis situation equivalent to an open border.

However, his visit is unlikely to appease critics on both sides, including immigrant advocates who accuse him of instituting cruel policies similar to those of his hardline predecessor, Donald Trump.

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Biden given letter from Texas governor

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, handed Biden a letter as soon as he touched down in the state, saying the “chaos” at the border was a “direct result” of the president’s failure to enforce federal laws. During his tour, Biden took the letter from his jacket pocket and told reporters, “I haven’t read it yet.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called Biden’s visit a “photo op,” tweeting that the Republican majority would hold the administration “accountable for creating the most dangerous border crisis in American history.”

El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego welcomed Biden’s visit, but said the president was unable to see how large the group of newcomers was due to a recent lull in arrivals.

“He didn’t get to see the real difficulties,” Samaniego, a member of the local delegation that welcomed Biden, said. “It was fortunate that he was present. It’s just the beginning. However, we still need to do more and spend more time with him.”

Hundreds of migrants gathered Sunday outside the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in El Paso, where they have been sleeping outside and receiving three meals a day from faith groups and other humanitarian organizations.

Biden Turns His Back on Venezuelans at the US-Mexico Border

Venezuelans abandoned by Biden

Among the migrants were several pregnant women, including Karla Sainz, 26, who was eight months pregnant. She was traveling with her 2-year-old son, Joshua, in a small group. Sainz left her three other children with her mother in Venezuela.

“I’d like to ask President Biden for permission or something so we can work and continue,” she said. Juan Tovar, 32, one of several people in her group, suggested he was leaving for political reasons as well. “The worst is socialism,” he said. “In Venezuela, they kill us, torture us, and we can’t criticize the government. We are in worse shape than Cuba.”

Noengris Garcia, who was also eight months pregnant, was traveling with her husband, teen son, and small family dog from the Venezuelan state of Portuguesa, where she ran a food stall.

“We don’t want money or a house,” Garcia, 39, explained. “All we want to do is work.”

Asked what he’s learned by seeing the border firsthand and speaking with the officers who work along it, Biden said: “They need a lot of resources. We’ll go get it for them.”

El Paso is currently the busiest crossing point for illegal immigrants, owing in large part to Nicaraguans fleeing repression, crime, and poverty in their home country. They are among four countries’ migrants who are now subject to immediate deportation under new rules enacted by the Biden administration last week, which drew harsh criticism from immigration advocates.

Biden’s recent border security policy announcements and border visit were intended to mitigate the impact of upcoming immigration investigations promised by House Republicans. However, any long-term solution will necessitate action by a deeply divided Congress, where multiple attempts to enact major changes have failed in recent years.

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Texas to Mexico City

Biden traveled south from Texas to Mexico City, where he will meet with the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Monday and Tuesday for a North American leaders summit. Immigration is one of the topics on the agenda.

During Biden’s first two years in office, the number of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border has increased dramatically. During the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, there were more than 2.38 million stops, the first time the figure surpassed 2 million. The administration has struggled to crack down on border crossings, hesitant to take measures similar to those implemented by Trump’s administration.

The policy changes announced this week are Biden’s most significant move yet to limit illegal border crossings, and they will turn away tens of thousands of migrants. At the same time, 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela will be allowed to enter the United States legally if they travel by plane, find a sponsor, and pass background checks.

The United States will also turn away migrants who do not first seek asylum in a country they passed through on their way to the United States. Migrants are being asked to fill out a form on a phone app in order to visit a port of entry on a pre-determined date and time.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters on Air Force One that the administration is attempting to “incentivize a safe and orderly way and cut out the smuggling organizations,” adding that the policies are “not at all a ban,” but rather an attempt to protect migrants from the trauma that smuggling can cause.

Some welcomed the changes, particularly leaders in cities where migrants had gathered. However, immigrant advocacy groups chastised Biden for adopting policies similar to those of the former president. Officials from the administration disputed that assessment.

In his 50 years in public service, Biden has spent very little time at the US-Mexico border.

The White House could only point to Biden’s drive by the border during his presidential campaign in 2008. He dispatched Vice President Kamala Harris to El Paso in 2021, but she was chastised for largely avoiding the action because El Paso was not the crossroads hub that it is now.

Trump, who has made hardening immigration a signature issue, has made several trips to the border.

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Pam Bondi Is Appointed US Attorney General Following Gaetz’s Resignation.

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Pam Bondi
Photo via Reuters

(VOR News) – President-elect Donald Trump selected Pam Bondi, a former Florida Attorney General and ally, to succeed Matt Gaetz on Thursday after the latter withdrew from consideration.

Gaetz’s drug use and sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl were the subject of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee. He denies any wrongdoing.

During Trump’s first administration, Pam Bondi, 59, served on the Opioids and Drug Abuse Commission. He served as police chief of the third-most populous state from 2011 to 2019.

She was also a member of Trump’s defense team at his first impeachment hearing, where he was charged with use military assistance to get Ukraine to look into the wrongdoing of his opponent, now President Joe Biden. The Senate cleared Trump on all charges.

The right-wing America First Policy Institute, which has collaborated with Trump’s campaign to create government concepts, most recently had Pam Bondi as its leader of the legal branch.

Unlike Pam Bondi, Gaetz lacks the experience necessary to serve as attorney general and is likely to encounter resistance from Senate Democrats and some Republicans.

According to Jones Walker defense attorney David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Florida, “She is unequivocally qualified for the position on paper.” Throughout her life, she battled in court. She stood out from the previous nominee because to her resume.

In a tweet announcing his intention to nominate Bondi, Trump praised her skills as a prosecutor and her firm stance against crime as Florida’s first female attorney general. Trump said that even though Bondi was elected on November 5th, while numerous state and federal criminal investigations were underway, he pledged to keep federal prosecutions from being politicized.

According to Trump, “The biased Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans for an excessive duration.” Not true anymore.

Discussion about Pam Bondi and Trump’s history before 2016.

In 2013, the Trump Foundation may have broken federal law by giving $25,000 to a political action committee that supported Pam Bondi. Bondi thought about looking into the for-profit Trump University.

Pam Bondi disputed that her decision to end her legal actions against Trump University following the 2016 disclosure of Trump’s $25,000 gift had anything to do with her decision to withdraw from those actions. According to her, all pertinent material was made public by her office.

The erroneous money disclosure was attributed by the Trump team to a “series of unfortunate coincidences and errors.” New York state fraud investigations resulted in the dissolution of both Trump University and the Trump Foundation.

After misleading Trump University students, he settled for $25 million and was fined $2 million for misusing charitable funds.

Following Special Counsel Jack Smith’s acquisition of two indictments against him for his interference in the 2020 election and his possession of secret materials after leaving office, Trump has voiced his displeasure with the present leadership of the Justice Department and pledged retaliation.

AFPI’s Pam Bondi remains loyal to Trump.

She and a number of other lawyers claimed that Smith’s appointment was illegal in an amicus brief they prepared in support of Trump in the secret information litigation. The Justice Department filed an appeal after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump nominee, rejected the case.

According to a long-standing rule against charging a sitting president, Smith and other top Justice Department officials are examining how both of the Trump criminal cases were resolved.

During his first administration, Trump was incensed with the Justice Department’s obstructionism. Bill Barr specifically refuted Trump’s baseless claims that he lost the 2020 election due to fraud, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions permitted an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump’s overarching objectives for the Justice Department have been delineated through his public remarks, interviews with former department lawyers, and Mark Paoletta, a conservative lawyer who develops the department’s policy.

Federal prosecutors may give illegal immigration cases priority.

To obtain a portion of the department’s $291 million justice assistance award, cities might have to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

It is probable that the Civil Rights Division will refocus its attention from legal challenges to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the public and commercial sectors to police accountability to religious freedom.

SOURCE: EAT

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PayPal’s Technical Challenges Are Affecting Thousands Of Customers Globally.

Matt Gaetz Withdraws as Trump’s Pick for Attorney General

 

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PayPal’s Technical Challenges Are Affecting Thousands Of Customers Globally.

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PayPal

(VOR News) – PayPal is a software program that enables the sending and receiving of monetary orders and transactions.

According to the corporation, which has taken responsibility for the incident that was mentioned before, PayPal is apparently experiencing problems in every region of the world in which it conducts business. This information was provided by the company.

In addition, PayPal noted on its service status website that it was experiencing “a system issue” which may affect a variety of PayPal Products, such as the ability to withdraw money from an account and the ability to complete an express checkout. This issue may even hurt the ability to complete an express checkout.

This problem may also affect other PayPal products.

In light of the fact that this vulnerability is present, there are further PayPal products that have the potential to be affected by it.

One of the remarks that was made was that “Our technical teams are actively working towards resolving the issue,” which was stated in the email that was distributed. This was one of the comments that individuals made. A number of assertions were made, and this was one of them all.

Several customers from various regions of the world have stated that they are unable to access their accounts or that they are having difficulty when it comes to making payments. These customers have also mentioned that they are encountering difficulties making payments.

These clients have informed us that they are experiencing difficulties obtaining their orders by communicating their concerns. As an additional point of interest, a number of customers have reported that they are currently having trouble processing payments. This is something that should be taken into consideration.

Up to the moment that the clock struck twelve twelve Central European Time (GMT), the platform outage monitor known as Downdetector had already received more than seven thousand alerts from users. When the clock reached twelve o’clock, this was the situation that existed.

As indicated by a dashboard that provides an overview of the current state of the services that are being offered by the organization, the crisis started at roughly 10:53 UTC.

PayPal gathered this information via the dashboard.

Among the services that were impacted by the outage, the business asserts that its bitcoin services and the peer-to-peer payment platform Venmo were among those that were affected. Venmo is a form of cryptocurrency that enables users to send and receive payments from one another.

This information suggests that these services were among those that were impacted by the circumstances. This information has been provided.

There are consumers who have voiced their frustration on social media over the fact that they are unable to access their accounts, and some of these customers have expressed their frustration over this issue. A number of users have stated their frustration about this issue.

The discontentment that users are experiencing has been communicated through posts that have been published on various social media platforms as of late.

Users of X, which was once known as Twitter, have submitted screenshots of a notification that flashed when they attempted to log into the platform.

The notification appeared after logging in.

The message was flashed on the screen whenever they attempted to log in by entering their credentials. For those individuals who were fortunate enough to receive the notification, it was strongly recommended that they “please check your entries and try again.”

Since its beginning in 1998, PayPal has developed into a global financial institution that is associated with a significance level that is significant enough to be considered noteworthy. The occurrence of this evolution took place virtually immediately following the establishment of PayPal.

Investors were informed that the total number of active accounts across all of the company’s companies had increased to $432 million for the month that ended on September 30th.

This information was provided to investors. Following the conclusion of the month, this information was made available to the public.

During the course of the month of October, investors were provided with this information for the purpose of their consideration. For those individuals who were interested in investing, the material in question was made available to them.

SOURCE: BBC

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NVIDIA’s Earnings: The Leader In AI Chips Demonstrates Relentless Growth.

Thousands of Asylum Seekers in Canada Get Free Housing

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Thousands of Asylum Seekers in Canada Get Free Housing

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Asylum Seekers Canada

With a large increase in the number of asylum seekers in Canada, several communities have begun to create free accommodations for new immigrants, while many Canadians remain homeless.

The city of Ottawa is attempting to build a sprung building, which will function as both a temporary shelter and a center for settlement services such as language training and job placement.

These facilities are intended to host refugees in the city for the first few weeks before transitioning to more suitable housing in Ottawa’s settlement infrastructure.

The city has identified two possible sites for these centers, both in the city’s west end. Planning records refer to them as “modular tension fabric buildings.”

The proposed placements for these structures have caused concern in the local areas. The city’s first proposed location was canceled due to strong community opposition. Subsequently, it proposed two alternative options and rallies for and against constructing the structures, which took place last weekend in both locations.

Many people protested that they had not been fully consulted on the location, while others grumbled that nothing was being done to assist Canadian citizens.

Asylum Seekers Canada

Canadian authorities opened a temporary housing center for migrants with 1,050 beds in the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

According to city data, one planned location is a federally owned tract of property near the Nepean Sportsplex, which serves around 1.5 million people annually. The other is near a public transport park-and-ride lot in Kanata’s western suburb.

City Councillor Sean Devine, whose constituency includes the Sportsplex site, stated that citizens have much to say about the problem.

“A lot of it is coming from the fact that it would have been preferable if the city of Ottawa had communicated the information sooner, perhaps in advance of the recommendations,” he told Global News during a telephone interview.

According to Devine, the number of migrants arriving in Ottawa has increased significantly in the last two years. This is consistent with national trends in refugee and asylum seeker rates.

Under Trudeua’s leadership, Canada had approximately 250,000 asylum petitions pending as of September 30, 2024, with more than 33,000 approved between January and the end of September.

International students in Canada filed nearly 14,000 asylum petitions in the first nine months of 2024, a roughly 14% increase over the same period last year. Compared to the present figures, approximately 12,000 asylum applications were lodged by international students in 2023—a tremendous surge from a mere 1,810 claims in 2018.

Devine stated that the city has been using two community center gymnasiums outfitted with bunk beds to temporarily lodge certain claimants before transitioning to other sorts of accommodation.

Asylum seekers get free housing in Quebec and Ontario

Asylum seekers get free housing in Quebec and Ontario.

According to a September release, the Ottawa Mission noticed a considerable increase in refugees filling its shelter beds in the summer of 2023. By October, asylum seekers were using 61% of the beds, a record high under Trudeau’s leadership.

The new structures will be funded under the federal interim housing aid program, which allows municipalities and provinces to reimburse the federal Government for expenditures incurred while temporarily hosting asylum seekers.

Since 2017, well over $1 billion has been distributed, largely in Ontario and Quebec, with the city of Ottawa getting $105 million to date.

Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development, who represents the Ottawa riding of Kanata-Nepean, expressed disappointment with how the plans were presented to people.

Louisa Taylor, executive director of Settlement Service Organization 613 Asylum Seekers, has collaborated with the city to coordinate resources for settlement assistance at future centers.

Taylor explained that many asylum seekers in an Ottawa homeless shelter prompted her and 613 refugees to organize a recent rally supporting the structure.

“For several years, hundreds of refugee claimants have been living and sleeping on bunk beds and cots in community centers and arenas throughout the city.”

Nobody has gone out protesting about it. “What they’re protesting is the concept of having a facility in their community that they don’t know much about,” she explained.

Homeless Canadians

Homelessness is not a problem that most people connect with within Canada, but it is becoming a growing one. The projected number of homeless persons in Canada fluctuates from 150,000 to 300,000, which is increasing.

According to the 2016 State of Homelessness study, Canada had at least 235,000 homeless people. According to the Homeless Hub, the number of homeless people in Canada varies each year, ranging from 150,000 to 300,000.

However, many more people may be without a permanent home in Canada. The actual number is impossible to determine because many homeless people live in concealed places.

They are so named because they temporarily reside in squats or with friends and relatives. An estimated 1.3 million Canadians have experienced insecure housing or homelessness.

Homelessness Statistics for Canadians

  • Between 25,000 and 35,000 people are homeless on any given night in Canada.
  • Toronto has the most homeless people in Canada.
  • 62% of homeless people in Canada are males.
  • 30% of Canadian homeless come from Indigenous communities.
  • 90% of homeless shelters in Canada are in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and Alberta, and 44% of them are in Ontario alone.
  • 22% of shelters are aimed at young homeless in Canada, while 20% of people experiencing homelessness are 13-24 years old.
  • The annual cost of homelessness is over $7 billion.
  • The Canadian Government has invested $2.2 billion over ten years to expand funding for the homeless.

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