photo by Jordan Vonderhaar
by the El Reportero‘s wire services
The number of migrant deaths in 2021 was 650, a stark reminder of the human cost of US immigration policies
The deaths of 50 migrants – traveling from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras – in terrible conditions in Texas has cast a spotlight on the immense risks people are willing to take to cross the US border in search of a better financial life or escaping violence in their native countries.
Laura Peña, the legal director of the Texas Civil Rights Project’s Beyond Borders program, represents asylum seekers at the border. Responding to the tragedy in San Antonio, she said both the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, and President Biden have “utterly failed people who are trying to seek safety by crossing the border”.
“The closure of borders are forcing people to take more dangerous routes. That’s just the facts. It’s resulted in thousands of deaths across the border … And it’s a direct result of these efforts to harden the border and criminalize people instead of investing in processing – simple processing of people who are trying to seek asylum and refuge at our ports of entry at our borders.”
The processes Peña is referring to are the same ones used to allow more than 3,000 Ukrainian refugees to enter the US at the border of Mexico. With Reports from The Guardian
US removes relative of Venezuela’s Maduro from sanctions list
Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, an ex-national treasurer, was put on blacklist in 2017 on charges of undermining democracy
The United States has lifted sanctions against a relative of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, weeks after Washington said it was taking steps to encourage dialogue between Maduro’s government and the US-backed Venezuelan opposition.
The US Department of the Treasury confirmed on Friday that it had removed Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, Venezuela’s former national treasurer, from a blacklist on which he was placed in 2017 on charges of undermining democracy.
Malpica Flores also formerly held a top position at the national oil company PDVSA and is the nephew of First Lady Cilia Flores.
The move follows a meeting between a delegation of top US officials and Maduro in Caracas in March, seen as an attempt to kick-start negotiations between the government and Venezuela’s opposition politicians.
Last month, the Biden administration also moved to ease some economic sanctions on Venezuela as part of that effort to encourage talks. Two senior US government officials told The Associated Press at that time that Malpica Flores would be removed from the sanctions list.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that he believed discussions would soon resume in Mexico City between the government and opposition headed by Juan Guaido, and offered further sanctions relief if Maduro compromises.
But Washington also excluded Maduro from the recent Summit of the Americas, along with the presidents of Nicaragua and Cuba, prompting criticism from other leaders in the region.
Analysts also pointed out that US President Joe Biden’s effort to address migration in the Americas could be complicated by the exclusion of Venezuela, in particular, from those talks.
More than 6 million people have fled the country in recent years amid rising violence, poverty and a devastating socioeconomic crisis, according to the United Nations.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies.
