Foreign News
US unveils new app for ‘self-deportations’
The Trump administration is repurposing a mobile application – originally created to facilitate asylum appointments – into a way for undocumented migrants already in the US to “self-deport”.
The app, known as CBP Home, allows migrants to submit an “intent to depart”, which US Customs and Border Patrol says offers them a chance to leave without “harsher consequences”.
US officials have repeatedly suggested that undocumented migrants in the country should leave voluntarily, rather than be arrested and subject to deportation.
This is the latest move in the White House’s effort to dramatically overhaul the US immigration system, which has included promises of mass detentions.
Originally launched as CBP One in 2020, the mobile application was expanded during the Biden administration to allow prospective migrants to book appointments to appear at a port of entry.
At the time, officials credited the application with helping reduce detentions at the border and portrayed the technology as part of a larger effort to protect asylum seekers making the often dangerous journey.
Now, on the newly rebranded application, undocumented migrants identify themselves and declare their intention to leave the country.
In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that by self-deporting through the app, migrants “may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream”. “If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return,” she added.
The app also asks migrants whether they have “enough money to depart the United States” and whether they have a “valid, unexpired passport from your original country of citizenship”.
The BBC has contacted DHS for further details about how the process works once the forms on the app are filled out.
CBP Home can also be used to apply and pay for I-94 entry and exit cards up to seven days before travel, book inspections for perishable cargo and check wait times at US border crossings.
According to DHS, the app is meant to complement a $200m (£155m) domestic and international ad campaign calling for undocumented migrants to “stay out and leave now”.
The Trump administration moved quickly to scrap the CBP One app as part of a larger shift in immigration strategy. It also paused parole programmes, and an uptick in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the country followed.
In late February, the administration said it would create a national registry for undocumented migrants and those failing to sign up could possibly face criminal prosecution.
The registration requires any undocumented migrants above the age of 14 to provide the US government an address and their fingerprints.
Experts said that the registration system will face hurdles, as it is difficult to enforce and fraught with logistical challenges.
[BBC]
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Saudi Arabia to visit the kingdom’s crown prince and prime minister ahead of meetings with United States diplomats focused on a bilateral minerals deal and ending Ukraine’s war with Russia.
Saudi state television reported Zelenskyy’s arrival in Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea where the Ukraine-US summit will be held on today. He met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, before Ukrainian officials – including Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov – sit down with the Americans on Tuesday.
[Aljazeera]
Large crowds have greeted Nepal’s former king in the capital, Kathmandu, calling for the reinstatement of his abolished monarchy amid dissatisfaction over the state of the country.
An estimated 10,000 supporters of Gyanendra Shah on Sunday gathered near the main entrance to Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport as he arrived from a trip to western Nepal.
“Vacate the royal palace for the king. Come back king, save the country. Long live our beloved king. We want monarchy,” the crowds chanted.
Passengers were forced to walk to and from the airport, with hundreds of riot police blocking the peaceful demonstrators from entering the premises.
Gyanendra, 77, was crowned in 2001 after his elder brother Birendra Bir Bikram Shah and his family were killed in a mass murder that wiped out most of the royal family.
He ruled as the constitutional head of state without executive or political powers until 2005, when he seized absolute power, saying he was acting to defeat anti-monarchy Maoist rebels. The king disbanded the government and parliament, jailed politicians and journalists and cut off communications, declaring a state of emergency and using the army to rule the country.
The moves triggered huge street protests, forcing Gyanendra in 2006 to hand power to a multi-party government. That government signed a peace deal with the Maoists, ending a decade-long civil war that caused thousands of deaths.
In 2008, Gyanendra stepped down from the throne after parliament voted to abolish Nepal’s 240-year-old Hindu monarchy, transforming the country into a secular republic.
But since then, Nepal has had 13 governments, and many in the country have grown frustrated with the republic. They say it has failed to bring about political stability and blame it for a struggling economy and widespread corruption.
Rally participants said they were hoping for a change in the political system to stop the country from further deteriorating.
“We are here to give the king our full support and to rally behind him all the way to reinstating him in the royal throne,” Thir Bahadur Bhandari, 72, told The Associated Press news agency.
Among the thousands was 50-year-old carpenter Kulraj Shrestha, who had taken part in the 2006 protests against the king but has changed his mind and now supports the monarchy.
“The worst thing that is happening to the country is massive corruption and all politicians in power are not doing anything for the country,” Shrestha told AP. “I was in the protests that took away monarchy hoping it would help the country, but I was mistaken and the nation has further plunged so I have changed my mind.”
Gyanendra has not commented on the calls for the return of monarchy. Despite the growing support, Gyanendra has slim chances of returning to power.
Political analyst Lok Raj Baral told the AFP news agency that he did not see any possibility of the monarchy being restored because the institution had been “a source of instability”.
“For some disgruntled groups, it has become a retreat due to incompetence of politicians who have grown increasingly self-centred. This frustration has manifested in such gatherings and demonstrations,” he said.
[Aljazeera]
A former Thai police chief who was jailed for life three years ago for torturing a drug suspect to death has been found dead in his Bangkok jail cell, authorities said.
Thitisan Utthanaphon, who was nicknamed Joe Ferrari for his many luxury cars, died by suicide, according to a preliminary autopsy.
In 2021, a leaked video showed Thitisan and his colleagues wrapping plastic bags around the head of a 24-year-old drug suspect during an interrogation, leading to the suspect’s death.
The video sparked national outrage at that time over police brutality in Thailand. It has made fresh rounds on social media in the wake of Thitisant’s death.
Thailand’s justice ministry has launched an investigation into his death after his family expressed doubts that he killed himself. Further tests were needed to confirm that he had indeed died in a suicide, authorities said.
Justice minister Tawee Sodsong said on Monday that all evidence related to Thitisant’s death should be disclosed, and urged prison authorities to cooperate with investigators.
The family said Thitisant was previously assaulted by a prison staffer. They said officials did not allow them to see his body, which was found in his cell on Friday.
But on Sunday authorities said “no prison officer or inmate has harmed or caused [his] death”.
A previous raid on Thitisant’s house revealed that he owned a dozen luxury sportscars. Authorities believe he owned at least 42, one of them a rare Lamborghini Aventador Anniversario, of which only 100 were made, priced in Thailand at 47 million baht ($1.45m; £1.05m).
As a police colonel, Thitisant was paid about $1,000 a month.
There were allegations that he demanded bribes from the suspect in the viral video, Jirapong Thanapat, while suffocating him. Thitisant denied this.
Thitisant surrendered in 2021 following a manhunt.
Besides Thitisant, five other police officers were convicted of murdering Jirapong and were also sentenced to life in prison in 2022.
“It’s like he has paid off the karma he committed,” Jirapong’s father said in an interview on local media on Saturday.
The Department of Corrections said they had been investigating a previous complaint filed by Thitisant’s family alleging that he had been bullied and assaulted by prison officers earlier this year.
Thitisant had consulted doctors over anxiety issues and trouble sleeping, the department said.
His family visited him on the day that he died and prison staff did not notice any “abnormalities”, it said.
[BBC]
Three new Court of Appeal Justices sworn In
Cabinet approves payment of annual subscription to International Solar Alliance and to and sign Country Partnership Framework
Cabinet nod to amend industry Promotion Act No 46 of 1990
-
News4 days agoPrivate tuition, etc., for O/L students suspended until the end of exam
-
Sports7 days agoThomians drop wicket taking coloursman for promising young batsman
-
Features5 days agoShyam Selvadurai and his exploration of Yasodhara’s story
-
Editorial6 days agoCooking oil frauds
-
Features7 days agoLife, happiness, and the value of existence
-
Latest News3 days agoS. Thomas’ beat Royal by five wickets in the 146th Battle of the Blues
-
News4 days agoTeachers’ union calls for action against late-night WhatsApp homework
-
Editorial3 days agoRanil roasted in London