April, 18 2018, 12:00am EDT
Case of Iraqi Man Cleared for Travel But Stranded in Danger Shows Cruelty of Trump's Refugee Ban
The situation faced by an Iraqi man stranded in Egypt and in danger for his life despite being cleared to travel to the United States is emblematic of the cruelty of President Trump's refugee policies, said Amnesty International USA today.
WASHINGTON
The situation faced by an Iraqi man stranded in Egypt and in danger for his life despite being cleared to travel to the United States is emblematic of the cruelty of President Trump's refugee policies, said Amnesty International USA today.
The man, known as "Sam," is in particular danger as a result of unnecessary delays caused by the Trump administration's successive refugee bans and additional security screening procedures implemented after he was cleared for travel to the United States. Due to these delays, he is in danger of being returned to Iraq, where, as a former interpreter who worked with the United States, he would be at risk of serious harm or death. Numerous Iraqi interpreters like him face substantial risk to their lives, and many have been murdered. AIUSA, in cooperation with the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to keep its promise to Sam and expedite his case on emergency and humanitarian grounds, while also ensuring that Congressionally appropriated resources are used to process additional refugee cases to ensure the refugee admissions goal is reached for this fiscal year.
"Sam's story is all too familiar to those who have lost everything and are now living in desperation and danger as refugees," said Ashley Houghton, tactical campaign manager at Amnesty International USA. "The Trump Administration's cruel policies treat them as though they are criminals just for wanting a safe place to live. Sam's case is particularly striking due to the number of close friends who have fought for years for his resettlement and the community that is waiting for him. This is the time for other local communities to stand up and support people like Sam and let our federal government know that they are welcome."
"Sam has been a client of ours for the past three years, during which he had to go through several interviews, and pass extensive security and medical checks," said Betsy Fisher, policy director of the International Refugee Assistance Project. "Last year, he was told to get ready for travel to the U.S. to start his new life, but before he was able to do so, the government's new refugee restrictions shattered his hopes. He is now held up in the process for no discernible reason, other than that he is from Iraq. The U.S. government's refugee ban policies are keeping him in danger."
The UN refugee agency estimates that of the 22.5 million refugees in the world, there are 1.2 million refugees in need of resettlement to a third country like the United States, meaning they cannot return home or stay in the country to which they fled. However, the U.S. has set the cap on the number of refugees it will resettle in fiscal year 2018 at only 45,000, the lowest refugee admissions goal since the start of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in 1980.
At the halfway point for the fiscal year, the United States has resettled 10,548 refugees - not even a quarter of 2018's reduced goal. If the current arrival levels keep pace, the U.S. won't even resettle half of that goal.
In addition to sending a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, AIUSA is calling on supporters to take local actions to welcome refugees in their own communities, and to urge elected officials to hold the U.S. government accountable for keeping its promises to refugees.
This report can be found at https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/sam-refugee-ban
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
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'The Next Recession Starts Here': Trump Team Weighs Abolishing Bank Regulators
The president-elect's advisers are reportedly discussing plans to shrink or eliminate key bank watchdogs, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Dec 13, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers are reportedly considering plans to weaken—or abolish altogether—top bank regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The Wall Street Journalreported Thursday that members of Trump's transition team and the new Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency have asked nominees under consideration to head the FDIC and OCC if the bank watchdogs could be eliminated and have their functions absorbed by the Treasury Department, which is set to be run by a billionaire hedge fund manager and crypto enthusiast.
"Bank executives are optimistic President-elect Donald Trump will ease a host of regulations on capital cushions and consumer protections, as well as scrutiny of consolidation in the industry," the Journal reported. "But FDIC deposit insurance is considered near sacred. Any move that threatened to undermine even the perception of deposit insurance could quickly ripple through banks and in a crisis might compound customer fears."
The Trump team's internal and fluid discussions about the fate of the key bank regulators broadly aligns with Project 2025's proposal to "merge the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Federal Reserve's non-monetary supervisory and regulatory functions."
The FDIC, which is primarily funded by bank insurance premiums, was established during the Great Depression to restore public trust in the nation's banking system, and the agency played a central role in navigating the 2023 bank failures that threatened a systemic crisis.
Observers warned that gutting the FDIC and OCC could catalyze another economic meltdown.
"The next recession starts here," tech journalist Jacob Silverman warned in response to the Journal's reporting.
Eric Rauchway, a historian of the New Deal, wrote that "even Milton Friedman appreciated the FDIC," underscoring the extreme nature of the incoming Trump administration's deregulatory ambitions.
Musk, the world's wealthiest man, is also pushing for the elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency established in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
The Journal noted Thursday that "Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican from Kentucky and Trump ally on the House Financial Services Committee, has backed the plan to eliminate or drastically alter the CFPB and said he wants to get rid of what he calls 'one-size-fits-all' regulation for banks."
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Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Israel conquered the western two-thirds of the Golan Heights in 1967 and has illegally occupied it ever since, annexing the seized lands in 1981.
Other countries including France, Russia, and Saudi Arabia have criticized Israel's invasion, while the United States defended the move.
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"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," he said. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together."
Dec 12, 2024
Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
"Look, when we talk about the healthcare crisis, in my view, and I think the view of a majority of Americans, the current system is broken, it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, and it is wildly inefficient—far too expensive," said Sanders (I-Vt.), whose position is backed up by various polls.
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"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system."
"What you're seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current healthcare system," he continued, noting the tens of thousands of Americans who die each year because they can't get to a doctor.
"Killing people is not the way we're going to reform our healthcare system," Sanders added. "The way we're going to reform our healthcare system is having people come together and understanding that it is the right of every American to be able to walk into a doctor's office when they need to and not have to take out their wallet."
"The way we're going to bring about the kind of fundamental changes we need in healthcare is, in fact, by a political movement which understands the government has got to represent all of us, not just the 1%," the senator told Jacobin.
The 83-year-old Vermonter, who was just reelected to what he says is likely his last six-year term, is an Independent but caucuses with Democrats and sought their presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He has urged the Democratic Party to recognize why some working-class voters have abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both chambers of Congress last month. A refusal to take on insurance and drug companies and overhaul the healthcare system, he argues, is one reason.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
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Two other Medicare for All advocates, Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), also made clear to Business Insider that they oppose Thompson's murder but understand some of the responses to it.
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