Editor’s note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.
In win for Mexico, US will expand areas for migrants to apply online for entry at southern border
The Biden administration will expand areas where migrants can apply online for appointments to enter the United States to a large swath of southern Mexico, officials said Saturday, potentially easing strains on the Mexican government and lessening dangers for people trying to reach the U.S. border to claim asylum. The Associated Press reports.
Fact Focus: A look at Trump’s claims at news conference
Claim: “Twenty million people came over the border during the Biden-Harris administration — 20 million people — and it could be very much higher than that. Nobody really knows.”
The facts: Trump’s 20 million figure is unsubstantiated at best, and he didn’t provide sources.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports 8.2 million arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico from January 2021 through June 2024. That’s arrests, not people. Under pandemic-era asylum restrictions, many people crossed more than once until they succeeded because there were no legal consequences for getting turned back to Mexico. So, the number of people is lower than the number of arrests. By The Associated Press.
Immigration around the world
Afghan refugees worry as Iran continues forced deportation
When the Taliban overran the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif in August 2021, Aminullah Ranjbar, a police officer, said he had “no option” but to flee with his family to Iran. The Ranjbars have been living in Tehran as undocumented refugees for the past three years, fearing deportation to Afghanistan, where Aminullah’s life is in danger. By Meena Barek and Roya Zamani.
Italian coast guard: 2 migrants die after rescue at sea
Italy’s coast guard said Sunday two migrants died after they were rescued along with more than 30 others in the Mediterranean off the eastern coast of Sicily. The coast guard said it received a distress call late Saturday from a boat about 17 miles southeast of Syracuse carrying Syrian, Egyptian and Bangladeshi migrants. Search and rescue operations began after the coast guard dispatched a patrol boat and plane to the area, but “the occupants of the vessel ended up in the water as the patrol boat approached,” it said in a statement. By Agence France-Presse.
UN: Climate change wreaks havoc through large parts of Africa
The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, reports climate-induced heavy rains and flooding have upended the lives of tens of thousands of people in war-torn Sudan this year, displacing, injuring and killing many. The agency warns that heavy seasonal rains are creating further misery for thousands of displaced, including refugees in dire need of humanitarian aid. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.
How a network of falsehoods helped inflame Britain’s anti-immigrant riots
When a teenager attacked a children’s dance class in Southport, England, with a knife, killing three girls, it shocked the British public. Soon, a purportedly American website published what it said was the name of the attacker. He was “Ali al-Shakati,” a “17-year-old asylum-seeker,” a website called Channel3 Now reported. Claims that the suspect was a Muslim migrant provoked a week of unrest across England. By Matthew Kupfer.
Taliban says millions of Afghans returning home; IOM says millions leaving — who is right?
Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban said Tuesday that about 3.7 million former refugees have returned to the country since the Islamist group took power three years ago. The statement was a response to the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, which reported last week that more than twice as many Afghans have left the country since 2020. Which side is correct? Possibly both. Ayaz Gul reports from Islamabad, Pakistan.
UK leader Starmer condemns attack on asylum-seeker hotel as far-right violence spreads
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer strongly condemned an attack Sunday on a hotel housing asylum-seekers that saw at least 10 police officers injured, one seriously, describing it as “far-right thuggery,” as more violence broke out across the country in the wake of a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and many more wounded. By The Associated Press.
News Brief
— Mexican authorities rescued a 9-year-old boy from Honduras who was being held for ransom by members of a transnational criminal organization in the border town south of El Paso, Texas, on August 2.
