Foreign
‘Please let us in’: Trump crackdown leaves migrants in tears
Margelis Tinoco broke down in tears after her asylum appointment was canceled as part of a sweeping immigration crackdown announced by US President Donald Trump on his first day in office.
“I don’t know what will become of my life anymore,” said the 48-year-old Colombian, who made the long and dangerous journey from South America with her husband and son.
Trump began his second term in office with a series of announcements intended to drastically reduce the number of migrants entering the United States.
He vowed to declare a national emergency at the border with Mexico, immediately halt “all illegal entry” and begin the process of deporting “millions and millions of criminal aliens.”
Minutes after he was sworn in, an app introduced by his predecessor Joe Biden to help process claims for entering the United States went offline.
“Look what it says,” Tinoco said, pointing to a message on her cellphone screen informing users of CBP One that existing appointments had been canceled.
“Have compassion and let us cross,” she pleaded, saying that she had endured “six months of suffering” after leaving Venezuela where she had been living with her family.
Yaime Perez, a 27-year-old Cuban, also made an emotional appeal to Trump.
“Since we are here, please let us in, please, after all the work we have put in to get here, let us enter your country, so that we can better ourselves in life and be somebody,” she said.
Antony Herrera arrived at the border with his wife and three children after a long journey from their native Venezuela only to discover that their appointment had been canceled.
“We don’t know what is going to happen,” said the 31-year-old, one of millions of people who have left crisis-hit Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro was inaugurated this month for a third term after a disputed election victory.
– Caravan heads for border –
During his first term in the White House from 2017 to 2021, Trump put heavy pressure on Mexico to turn back a tide of migrants from Central America.
On Monday, he quickly moved to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy that prevailed under his last administration.
Under that rule, people who applied to enter the United States at the Mexican border were not allowed to enter the country until their application had been decided.
Mexico agreed during Trump’s first term to receive deportees from other countries in exchange for the Republican withdrawing his tariff threats.
It is unclear if the current Mexican government would do the same this time round.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that Mexico would receive its own deported nationals, without mentioning how it would proceed with other foreigners expelled from the United States.
Congratulating Trump on his inauguration, she called for “dialogue, respect and cooperation” between the closely connected neighbors.
In southern Mexico, hundreds of US-bound migrants ignored Trump’s warnings and set off on foot from near the border with Guatemala.
The caravans are a way for migrants to pressure the Mexican authorities to issue permits allowing them to transit through the country without being detained.
“I’m a little scared because with everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve fought for, with all the sacrifices we’ve made, it’s very hard to have the doors closed on us and not be able to cross,” said Jefferzon Celedon, a 24-year-old Venezuelan.
Despite the gloomy mood, fellow Venezuelan Leonel Delgado said he was still determined to reach the Mexican-US border.
“We have to keep going and not be swayed by what people say, whether they close it or not. We will see when we arrive,” the 42-year-old said.
Air defence systems intercepted rockets fired at the US embassy in Baghdad, security sources told AFP.
It is the first such attack on the embassy in Baghdad since the start of the war in the Middle East, triggered by a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, into which Iraq has been dragged.
Loud bangs were heard on Saturday night in Baghdad, AFP journalists said, with a witness near the fortified Green Zone, which houses the US embassy, reporting seeing air defences activated over the area.
“Four rockets were launched… toward the embassy,” a security official said, adding that air defences intercepted three, while one fell in an open area in the embassy’s airbase.
Two other security sources confirmed the attack, with one saying that all rockets were downed, including the one that fell in the airbase.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, ordered security forces to find the perpetrators of “the terrorist act” against the US embassy.
He said that “targeting diplomatic missions and embassies operating in Iraq is an act that cannot be justified or accepted under any circumstances.”
Iraq, long a proxy battleground between the US and Iran, had said it did not want to be dragged into the conflict engulfing the Middle East, but it has not been spared.
It was drawn into the war from the outset, with strikes blamed on the United States and Israel targeting Iran-backed groups, which have since claimed attacks on US bases in Iraq and the region.
Drone and rocket attacks have targeted Baghdad International Airport, which houses a military base and a US diplomatic facility, as well as oil fields and facilities.
The northern autonomous Kurdistan region, which hosts US troops, has also been a main target of drone attacks that were largely intercepted.
Late on Saturday, an AFP journalist reported hearing the sound of a drone followed by at least three loud bangs in Kurdistan’s capital Erbil, which also houses a major US consulate complex.
Airstrikes
On Saturday, airstrikes hit military bases belonging to the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi in the northern Nineveh province, the government’s security media cell said.
One fighter was killed and three other wounded.
The Hashed al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), is an alliance of factions now integrated into the regular army, including several Iran-backed groups, which have a reputation for acting on their own.
Bases belonging to Hashed al-Shaabi have been hit several times since the start of the war.
The group’s media cell said Saturday’s strikes were carried out by “unidentified aircraft,” but a PMF official told AFP that “an airstrike, likely American, hit a Hashed base” near the city of Mosul.
Kurdish militants
Iraq’s Kurdistan also hosts camps and rear bases operated by several Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, which Iran has struck repeatedly since the start of the war.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Saturday they have targeted “separatist groups” in Iraqi Kurdistan, after Tehran threatened to target “all the facilities” of Kurdistan if militants were allowed to enter the Islamic republic.
So far, no forces have entered Iran, Iraq’s border guards said.
The Iraqi government and the autonomous region said Friday that Iraq must not be a launchpad for attacks against neighbouring countries.
AFP
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel would continue its war with Iran “with all our force,” and alongside the United States had gained near-total control of the skies over Tehran after a week of strikes.
“We have a systematic plan to eradicate the Iranian regime and achieve many other objectives,” Netanyahu said in a televised address.
Israel and the United States launched the war against Iran with strikes on Tehran last Saturday that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Citizens, you are telling me, the government, and our heroic soldiers to continue until victory, and I thank you. I can assure you that we will continue with all our force,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader said that thanks to the bombing campaign by Israeli and American pilots, “we have gained almost complete control of the airspace” over Iran’s capital.
Speaking to the Iranian people, he said the “moment of truth” was coming as Israel was seeking to help liberate them from the “yoke of tyranny”.
He said that Israel had managed to “transform the Middle East” and shift the balance of power in the region.
Israel’s military said earlier that it had carried out around 3,400 strikes on Iran during the first week of the war, dropping roughly 7,500 munitions.
Meanwhile, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said on Saturday that the body would meet within a day to choose the country’s next supreme leader, Iranian media reported.
“With divine assistance, this session will occur within the next twenty-four hours,” said Hossein Mozafari, one of the assembly’s 88 members, cited by the Fars news agency.
The statement came a week after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli attack.
Mozafari also urged Iranians to “refrain from any speculation and the spreading of rumours regarding this matter” as the assembly has not yet convened for a session.
But the United States on Saturday condemned Iran’s drone strikes earlier this week on an Azerbaijan border region, describing the attack as a “needless escalation” of aggression by Tehran during the Middle East war.
The State Department said Thursday’s “unprovoked drone attack” targeted an airport and school in Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhchivan bordering Iran, and that innocent civilians were injured.
“These strikes are a flagrant violation of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and a needless escalation of Iran’s aggression,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement, adding that attacks on American partners in the region “are unacceptable and will be met with resolute US support for those partners.”
AFP
A member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said on Saturday that the body would meet within a day to choose the country’s next supreme leader, Iranian media reported.
“With divine assistance, this session will occur within the next twenty-four hours,” said Hossein Mozafari, one of the assembly’s 88 members, cited by the Fars news agency.
The statement came a week after the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli attack.
Mozafari also urged Iranians to “refrain from any speculation and the spreading of rumours regarding this matter” as the assembly hasdnot yet convened for a session.
Meanwhile, the United States on Saturday condemned Iran’s drone strikes earlier this week on an Azerbaijan border region, describing the attack as a “needless escalation” of aggression by Tehran during the Middle East war.
The State Department said Thursday’s “unprovoked drone attack” targeted an airport and school in Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhchivan bordering Iran, and that innocent civilians were injured.
“These strikes are a flagrant violation of Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and a needless escalation of Iran’s aggression,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement, adding that attacks on American partners in the region “are unacceptable and will be met with resolute US support for those partners.”
Similarly, explosions were heard on Saturday night in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, and in the city of Erbil in the autonomous Kurdistan region, AFP journalists reported.
The cause of the loud bangs in Baghdad was still unknown, but a witness near the fortified Green Zone, which houses the US embassy, reported seeing air defences activated over the area.
Several drones have been intercepted near Baghdad airport since the start of the war in the Middle East.
In Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist reported hearing the sound of a drone followed by at least three loud bangs.
Since the start of the war, drones have repeatedly been intercepted over the city of Erbil, which is also home to a major US consulate complex.
AFP
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