U.S. Courts Uphold Travel Ban, Order Families Reunited
President Trump claimed a “tremendous victory” after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld his travel ban affecting several Muslim-majority countries, ruling in a 5-4 vote that the president has broad powers to control immigration on national security grounds.
Separately, a federal court ordered the Trump administration to stop separating parents and children who crossed the border and reunite separated families within a month, in a case brought by the ACLU. The head of U.S. border patrol said Trump’s executive order last week to stop separating families prompted a temporary halt in prosecutions of parents crossing the border irregularly.
A DEEPER LOOK
Center for Global Development: Child Migration From Central America – Just the Facts
“We found that violence was a major decision factor driving migration … Economic conditions also influence migration decisions – explaining roughly as much migration as violence explained. In short, child migrants are fleeing violence and its ripple economic and social impacts.”
Donors Plug Some UNRWA Funding Gaps
Some 20 countries pledged funds to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees at a conference meant to plug a shortfall after the U.S. cut its contribution to the agency. The head of UNRWA, Pierre Krahenbuhl, warned that the agency may have to cut food aid in Gaza within weeks and may not be able to open schools for Palestinian refugees by September.
European Nations to Share Passengers of Stranded Rescue Ship
French president Emmanuel Macron said the German aid ship Mission Lifeline, which has been stranded at sea for five days with 234 rescued people on board, would be allowed to dock in Malta, and European nations would share its passengers between them.
Portugal offered to take in some of the people rescued at sea, while Italy and France said they would accept others. On Wednesday morning, Mission Lifeline said it was waiting for permission to dock in Malta and warned that several people onboard needed medical treatment. A Danish-flagged cargo vessel carrying another 100 people docked in Sicily Tuesday.
Recommended #MustReads
- Migration Policy Institute: Europe Pushes to Outsource Asylum, Again
“Public pressure to further slow arrivals of refugee and migrant boats has mounted in many countries, and leaders feel compelled to find an agreement. The result is a debate on migration increasingly divorced from reality.”
- The Financial Times: Give Refugees a Voice and Let Us Shape Our Own Futures
“Being a refugee is my experience, not my identity. We are called refugees because we have had to flee war or persecution, but we experience this label as paradox.”
“Europe should think differently about African states. Instead of just being objects of inducement and coercion, many should offer inspiration. Africa now hosts more refugees than any region of the world. And yet some are adopting pioneering solutions from which the rest of the world might learn.”