- Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Nextdoor (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on X (Opens in new window)
Month: September 2024
US imposes sanctions on Cambodian tycoon over scam centers
washington — The United States announced sanctions on Thursday on Cambodian businessman and ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat as well as several entities over alleged abuses related to workers who were trafficked and forced to work in online scam centers.
The move comes at a delicate phase in relations between the United States and Cambodia, which has moved ever closer to Washington’s strategic rival China despite U.S. efforts to woo its new leader Hun Manet, son of longtime strongman Hun Sen.
Ly Yong Phat was appointed Hun Sen’s personal adviser in 2022.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the sanctions targeted Ly’s L.Y.P. Group Co. conglomerate and O-Smach Resort.
It said it was also sanctioning Cambodia-based Garden City Hotel, Koh Kong Resort, and Phnom Penh Hotel for being owned or controlled by Ly.
Bradley Smith, the Treasury’s acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the move was made to “hold accountable those involved in human trafficking and other abuses, while also disrupting their ability to operate investment fraud schemes that target countless unsuspecting individuals, including Americans.”
Cambodia and other countries in Southeast Asia have emerged in recent years as the epicenter of a multibillion-dollar criminal industry targeting victims across the world with fraudulent crypto and other schemes, often operating from fortified compounds run by Chinese syndicates and staffed by trafficked workers.
The Treasury statement said scammers leverage fictitious identities and elaborate narratives to develop trusted relationships and deceive victims.
In many cases, this involves convincing victims to invest in virtual currency, or in some cases, over-the-counter foreign exchange schemes, it said.
The statement said traffickers force victims to work up to 15 hours a day and, in some cases, “resell” victims to other scam operations or subject them to sex trafficking.
It noted that the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report this year highlighted abuses in O’Smach and Koh Kong and that official complicity in trafficking crimes remained widespread, resulting in selective and often politically motivated enforcement of laws.
Americans have been targeted by many of the scams. In 2022, in the U.S alone, victims reported losses of $2.6 billion from pig butchering – a type of long-term scam – and other crypto fraud, more than double the previous year, according to the FBI.
The Treasury reportsaid that for more than two years the O-Smach Resort has been investigated by police and publicly reported on “for extensive and systemic serious human rights abuse.”
It said victims reported being lured there with false employment opportunities, having phones and passports confiscated upon arrival and being forced to work scam operations.
“People who called for help reported being beaten, abused with electric shocks, made to pay a hefty ransom, or threatened with being sold to other online scam gangs,” it said, adding that there had been two reports of victims jumping to their death from buildings within the resort.
The report said local authorities had conducted repeated rescue missions, including in October 2022 and March 2024, freeing victims of various nationalities, including Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai and Vietnamese.
The U.S state department said in June that Cambodian government officials were complicit in trafficking and that some officials owned facilities used by scam operators.
Spokespeople for Cambodia’s government and foreign ministry did not answer phone calls or respond to messages seeking comment when asked about the sanctions.
The U.S. and other governments have repeatedly engaged with Cambodia to put an end to the scam centers.
Washington had considered sanctions for months, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters. They said the decision was initially expected earlier this year but had been delayed.
A change of leadership to West Point-educated Hun Manet last year was seen by U.S. officials as an opportunity to mend ties with Cambodia, but despite U.S. efforts, its ties with China have steadily grown. Beijing sent warships to Cambodia this year and is backing the expansion of a key naval base.
…
Report: IS-Somalia becomes financial hub; leader could be top IS chief
Nairobi, Kenya — The International Crisis Group says Islamic State in Somalia has become an important financial influence for terrorism, and a report suggests the leader of the branch might become the new overall head of the militant group.
IS-Somalia is not as active on the battlefield as its local counterpart, the al-Qaida-linked terror group al-Shabab, which controls large parts of southern and central Somalia, but it is building relations with other IS branches, the International Crisis Group said in a report released Thursday.
In addition, the report says, IS-Somalia is able to finance terror operations in other African countries.
Omar Mahmood, a senior researcher with the International Crisis Group, or ICG, said IS-Somalia plays a bigger role outside Somalia than al-Shabab does.
“Al-Shabab is by far and away a bigger threat,” Mahmood said. “But at the same time, Islamic State Somalia has, one, persisted despite some significant odds against it. And two, it’s carved out a role for itself within the wider Islamic State network, particularly when it comes to serving as a financial hub between some of the affiliates and other parts of the Islamic State.”
The ICG said the Islamic State restructured its African operations in 2020, placing affiliates from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique under the watch of IS headquarters in Somalia’s Puntland region.
IS-Somalia is reported to have between 100 and 400 fighters stationed in the northern part of the country. According to ICG, about half of the fighters are believed to be foreigners. Early this year, Puntland authorities arrested six Islamic State members who were Moroccans; they were later deported.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, since May of this year, the group has been increasingly active and has waged several attacks against security forces and business centers.
IS-Somalia has also increased its activities in the port city of Bosaso and its surroundings, carrying out an extortion racket that it uses to support its fighters and activities.
Richard Tuta, a Kenyan counterterrorism expert, said Somalia’s weak central government has enabled Somalia to be the financial hub of the IS group.
“Somalia … does not have strong institutions, so it’s easy for such institutions to be compromised,” Tuta said. “It’s easy to undertake both illegal and legal ways of fundraising towards terrorism activity. And because of the country’s strategic location, it has a porous border, surrounded by an ocean, which is very hard to keep [under] surveillance.”
In May, the U.S. carried out airstrikes in Somalia targeting IS leader Abdulqadir Mumin. Mumin survived.
Mahmood said that if Mumin becomes the overall head of Islamic State, his rise would signal the group’s growing influence in Africa.
“Now whether he’s actually the head of the movement is something that’s disputed,” Mahmood said. “There’s a couple other figures that are thrown out there as well. And so that’s a bit uncertain. It would be quite a big jump … for the Islamic State to designate someone on the African continent, but it would also symbolize the growing role of Islamic State within … the African continent.”
Puntland authorities have arrested dozens of IS members in the Bari region. Some have been handed jail terms. Others were executed for their involvement in terror activities and the deaths of civilians or government security forces.
The ICG called for cooperation between the Somali government in Mogadishu and Puntland regional authorities to tackle IS-Somalia and urged outside actors to pay closer attention to the group’s activities.
…
US reconsidering Ukraine missile restrictions on firing into Russia
US commander: Support for Somalia in the works as country readies for withdrawal of AU mission
Nairobi, Kenya — A U.S. Marine Corps general who commands forces in Africa says stability and support programs for Somalia are in the works as the country prepares for the withdrawal of African Union troops in December.
General Michael Langley, head of the U.S. Africa Command, said that after meeting this past weekend with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his top military official, Major General Ibrahim Sheikh Muhyadin Addow, he’s confident the country can manage its own security after the December withdrawal of the African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia, known as ATMIS.
Langley’s remarks, in a virtual briefing to reporters Thursday, came 2 1/2 years after the multidimensional mission was authorized by the U.N. Security Council, in part to help stabilize the country following years of insurgency by the militant group al-Shabab.
Langley said that Somali authorities have told him military operations in the southern and central parts of the country are focused on liberating some areas from the militants and stabilizing others.
“The operations are ebbing and flowing,” Langley said. “I’ll just use some of their narratives. They have a young army, it’s a building army, so there are some successes and some setbacks, but I think the morale across the forces is building and they are very enthusiastic they’re going to be able to keep al-Shabab back on their heels going forward in future operations.”
In a briefing to the Security Council in June, Mohamed el-Amine Souef, head of ATMIS, told the council that the threat posed by al-Shabab remains unpredictable. Citing a recent attack on Somali security forces in the Galmudug region, and a mortar attack on the ATMIS camp in Baidoa, he said the group still retains the ability to conduct devastating assaults.
Although Somali forces supported by ATMIS have achieved significant gains in the fight against al-Shabab, support from international partners is essential to maintain the momentum, he said.
After visiting Somalia, Langley arrived in Kenya, which contributes troops to ATMIS, where he said he plans to engage with the Kenyan military leadership to explore future prospects on how to help the Somali army hit its operational objectives.
“They have been a tremendous partner with the Somali national army, institutionalizing, professionalizing, helping them to be able to operate in various areas, collaborating along the border to ensure the defeat of al-Shabab,” Langley said.
In West Africa, U.S. troops recently withdrew from Niger, where they were ordered to leave after a military junta took power. Juntas that took power by force also rule Mali and Burkina Faso.
Langley said the way forward on security cooperation across the Sahel is still to be determined, but added that U.S. forces will stay engaged.
“In the interim, yes, we are pivoting to some degree on like-minded countries with democratic values and shared objectives and shared challenges across the coast of West Africa,” he said. “So yes, we are in talks with Cote D’Ivoire, in talks with Ghana and Benin, as well as we start to reset and calibrate some of our assets.”
He said those countries are facing threats from terrorist groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State, which initially operated in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, but are now moving toward other countries across the region.
…
Iran summons 4 European envoys over accusations it supplied missiles to Russia
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s government on Thursday summoned the envoys of Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands over their accusations that Tehran supplied short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use against Ukraine.
State-run IRNA news agency reported that the country’s foreign ministry summoned the envoys separately on Thursday to strongly condemn the accusations.
IRNA said the ministry also condemned Britain, France, and Germany for issuing a joint statement against Iran and called it an “unconventional and non-constructive statement.”
The joint statement, issued Tuesday, condemned the alleged transfer of missiles, calling it “an escalation by both Iran and Russia” and “a direct threat to European security.”
The three countries also announced new sanctions against Iran, including the cancellation of air services agreements with Iran, which will restrict Iran Air’s ability to fly to the U.K. and Europe.
IRNA said that Iran’s foreign ministry told the envoys that their insistence on taking such positions is seen as part of the West’s ongoing hostile policy against the Iranian people. The actions will “be met with an appropriate response from the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that Iran had ignored warnings that the transfer of such weapons would be a profound escalation of the conflict.
He told reporters during a trip to London that dozens of Russian military personnel had been trained in Iran to use the Fath-360 close-range ballistic missile system, which has a maximum range of 120 kilometers.
…
Ukraine urges US, Britain to allow Western weapons to be used on Russian targets
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited Kyiv, Ukraine, this week, where they announced nearly $1.5 billion in additional aid. Kyiv in turn requested the two nations lift restrictions on using Western weapons to strike targets in Russia. VOA Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze reports. Lesia Bakalets contributed to this report. (Camera: Daniil Batushchak, Vladyslav Smilynets)
…
Indonesian leader spends final weeks of his term in unfinished new capital
Jakarta — Indonesian President Joko Widodo will from Thursday spend the final weeks of his term in the country’s planned new capital, Nusantara, amid doubts about the continued pace of development of his flagship $32 billion megaproject.
The massive infrastructure undertaking on the island of Borneo has suffered a series of setbacks, including construction delays, land issues, and a lack of foreign investment. This June the two top officials overseeing Nusantara abruptly resigned.
Jokowi, as the outgoing leader is known, reiterated on Thursday that it could be decades before Nusantara is finished.
“It could take 10, 15, or even 20 years,” Jokowi told top military and police officials during a meeting in Nusantara’s recently completed eagle-shaped palace.
“Moving to the new capital is not only about moving to a new building, palace or location,” he added. “But is a change of mindset and working patterns.”
Intended to ease the burden on the congested, polluted and densely populated current capital Jakarta, the parliament in 2022 passed a law to move its capital.
But ahead of the Oct. 20 inauguration of president-elect Prabowo Subianto and Jokowi’s eldest son, vice president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka, doubts have grown about Nusantara’s future viability.
Analysts say the development of Nusantara is unlikely to continue at the same breakneck speed in the next administration.
Prabowo, who ran on a platform of continuing Jokowi’s policies, is expected to prioritize his own signature $28 billion “free nutritious food program” targeting malnutrition and stunted growth in schoolchildren across the world’s fourth-most populous nation.
Jokowi told officials on Thursday that Prabowo had promised to speed up construction.
Located on the eastern side of Borneo island, Nusantara is about 1,200 km from Jakarta.
Nusantara’s presidential palace and its first hotel were recently completed, while housing for state officials, an airport and toll roads are still under way.
On Friday Jokowi is expected to hold his second cabinet meeting in Nusantara and may announce several new investments.
…
Australia strips medals from Afghan war military commanders
Ukraine businesses hire more women and teens as labor shortages bite
KYIV, Ukraine — After spending years in what she described as “boring, sedentary” roles in the offices of several Ukrainian companies, Liliia Shulha landed her dream job as a truck driver with Ukraine’s leading retailer, Fozzy Group.
“I always dreamed about big cars. Instead of (playing with) dolls, I drove cars when I was a child,” she told Reuters.
“Now the situation is such that they take people without experience and they train. I was lucky,” said Shulha, 40, wearing a company uniform in front of a large truck.
As the war with Russia drains the labor force, businesses are trying to cover critical shortages by hiring more women in traditionally male-dominated roles and turning to teenagers, students and older workers.
With millions of people, mostly women and children, abroad after fleeing the war, and tens of thousands of men mobilized into the army, the jobs crisis could endanger economic growth and a post-war recovery, analysts say.
Ukraine has lost over a quarter of its workforce since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, central bank data showed.
Nearly 60% of businesses said finding skilled workers was their main challenge, an economy ministry survey of over 3,000 companies showed.
“The situation is indeed critical,” said Tetiana Petruk, chief sustainability officer at steel company Metinvest, one of Ukraine’s largest employers with a workforce of about 45,000. It has about 4,000 vacancies.
“The staff deficit that we feel has an impact on our production,” Petruk told Reuters in an online interview.
“We are not the only ones who feel the staff shortages, all companies in the regions feel that, including our contractors.”
Reuters spoke to representatives of nine Ukrainian companies, from big industrial firms to retail groups and small private entrepreneurs. All said staff shortages and a growing mismatch of skills were big challenges.
Businesses said they were changing recruitment and business practices, automating, rotating existing staff and expanding their job descriptions, re-hiring retirees and offering more benefits, especially for younger workers.
They also have had to increase wages. The average monthly wage now is about $470 compared to about $350 a year ago.
“There is a noticeable shift away from gender and age bias in candidate selection as employers adjust criteria to attract needed employees,” said the Kyiv School of Economics. “This trend also extends to entrepreneurship, where the share of female entrepreneurs is growing significantly.”
More women
Male-dominated industries are more affected by staff shortages, the central bank said.
The construction sector, transport, mining and others have all suffered because of military mobilization, for which men aged 25 to 60 are eligible. To keep the economy running, the government provides full or partial deferrals for critical companies.
In the energy and weapons production sectors, 100% of staff are eligible for draft deferral. In some other sectors, firms can retain 50% of male staff. But the process to secure deferral is long and complicated.
As the government toughened mobilization rules this year, the number of men preferring informal employment – allowing them to stay off public data records – grew, some enterprises said.
In the agricultural southern region of Mykolayiv, women are being trained as tractor drivers. Women are also increasingly working as tram and truck drivers, coal miners, security guards and warehouse workers, companies say.
“We are offering training and jobs for women who have minimal experience,” said Lyubov Ukrainets, human resources director at Silpo, part of Fozzy Group.
Including Shulha, the company has six female truck drivers and is more actively recruiting women for other jobs previously dominated by men, including loaders, meat splitters, packers and security guards.
The share of female employees is growing in industries such as steel production. Petruk said female staff accounted for about 30-35% of Metinvest’s workforce and the company now hired women for some underground jobs. Metinvest was unable to provide comparative figures for before the war.
Some other women are unable or unwilling to join the workforce because of a lack of childcare. Shulha, who works 15-day stretches on the road, has moved back in with her parents to ensure care for her 14-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter.
Young people
Businesses and economists expect labor market challenges to persist. Employers are turning their attention to young people by offering training, job experience and targeted benefit packages.
Metinvest, which previously focused on students, is now increasingly working with professional colleges, Petruk said.
Silpo is more actively hiring teenagers for entry-level jobs in supermarkets and has launched a specialized internship program for students.
Mobile phone operator Vodafone repackaged its youth program, creating an opportunity for about 50 teenagers in 12 cities to get their first job experience.
“We want to offer the first proper experience of the official job to this young audience. Another objective is to build a talent pool,” said Ilona Voloshyna of Vodafone Retail.
“Also we want to understand the youth,” she said in a Vodafone shop in Kyiv as six teenagers consulted with visitors.
The government and foreign partners have launched several programs to help Ukrainians reskill.
“We provide the opportunity for everyone at state expense to obtain a new profession which is in demand on the labor market, or to raise their professional level,” said Tetiana Berezhna, a deputy economy minister.
…
Ukraine destroys 44 Russian drones
Botswana, US firm partner to conduct border pathogen monitoring
Gaborone, Botswana — Botswana and an American biotech firm, Ginkgo Bioworks, have partnered to conduct pathogen surveillance at the country’s entry points. Health officials say the proactive move is meant to safeguard public health as the world faces emerging disease threats.
Botswana introduced mpox screening last month for travelers at its entry points.
In a statement Wednesday, Ministry of Health spokesperson Christopher Nyanga said a pathogen-monitoring program is critical to detecting similar emerging health threats.
Dr. Mbatshi Mazwiduma, a public health expert, said the pathogen-surveillance program will complement existing strategies to prevent disease threats.
“The initiative by the Ministry of Health is a very welcome development in the sense that it is at least demonstrating that they are both embracing traditional methods of surveillance and disease detection plus at the same time, they are looking at other innovative ways of disease detection,” he said.
Through the collaboration, Boston-based Gingko Bioworks will work with the Ministry of Health to collect and monitor travelers’ samples. Nasal swabs will be used to collect the samples.
Nyanga said testing will be done on a voluntary, anonymous basis.
“Although participation in this initiative is entirely voluntary, travelers are encouraged to participate because this early detection of pathogens is meant to safeguard the health of all citizens, visitors and residents of this country,” he said. “The samples collected will be kept anonymous. The data collected from the samples will be vital in strengthening the country’s robust health system and response to public health threats and emergencies.”
But Mazwiduma said voluntary participation in the pathogen-monitoring program could hinder effective disease detection.
“Perhaps if non-invasive, non-intrusive, the technique should be compulsory because it ensures that the number of people who comply to sample acquisition is increased and, therefore, you can actually rapidly achieve suitable sample sizes for you to be able to ensure that you do not miss any patients, but also more importantly that it allows you to improve your validation of these particular technologies,” Mazwiduma said.
Botswana and Gingko Bioworks previously collaborated in a 2022 pathogen-monitoring program to detect new and emerging COVID-19 variants.
During the same year, Botswana was credited with the discovery of COVID-19 variant omicron.
…
Blinken to discuss support for Ukraine in visit to Poland
WARSAW, Poland — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with senior Polish government officials on Thursday to discuss support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia and deepening U.S. defense cooperation with Warsaw.
Washington’s top diplomat travels to NATO ally Poland following a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, where he heard Ukrainian officials’ appeals to be allowed to fire Western-supplied missiles deep into Russian territory.
Blinken is scheduled to meet with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, President Andrzej Duda and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, according to their offices.
More than 2-1/2 years since Russia’s invasion began, Ukrainian forces are being pressured on the battlefield by a better armed and bigger foe, as they try to fend off Russian gains in the east where Moscow is focusing its attacks.
In a bid to regain some of the initiative and divert Russian forces, Kyiv last month sent troops into Russia’s Kursk region, but progress has stalled.
The security of Poland’s eastern flank will also feature in the discussions with Blinken, said Mieszko Pawlak, head of the international policy bureau at Duda’s office.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made defense a top priority for eastern members of the NATO alliance, and Poland has sought to strengthen the borders it shares with Belarus and Russia.
Relations between Poland and Russia have deteriorated sharply since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into neighboring Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Warsaw has ramped up defense spending in response and expects record defense spending in 2025 of $47.95 billion.
Deepening energy cooperation is also expected to be a topic of discussion while Blinken is in Warsaw, the State Department said on Tuesday. Pawlak said cooperation on civilian nuclear energy including building the first Polish nuclear power plant would be on the agenda.
…
US supports two permanent UN Security Council seats for Africa
UNITED NATIONS — The United States supports creating two permanent United Nations Security Council seats for African states and one seat to be rotated among small island developing states, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield will announce on Thursday.
The move comes as the U.S. seeks to repair ties with Africa, where many are unhappy about Washington’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza, and deepen relations with Pacific Islands nations important to countering Chinese influence in the region.
Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters she hopes the announcement will “move this agenda forward in a way that we can achieve Security Council reform at some point in the future,” describing it as part of U.S. President Joe Biden’s legacy.
The push for two permanent African seats and a rotating seat for small island developing states is in addition to Washington’s long-held support for India, Japan and Germany to also get permanent seats on the council.
Developing nations have long demanded permanent seats on the Security Council, the most powerful body in the United Nations. But years of talks on reform have proved fruitless and it is unclear whether U.S. support could fuel action.
Ahead of making the announcement at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Thursday, Thomas-Greenfield clarified to Reuters that Washington does not support expanding veto power beyond the five countries that hold it.
The Security Council is charged with maintaining international peace and security and has the power to impose sanctions and arms embargos and authorize the use of force.
When the U.N. was founded in 1945, the Security Council had 11 members. This increased in 1965 to 15 members, made up of 10 elected states serving two-year terms and five permanent veto-wielding nations: Russia, China, France, the U.S. and Britain.
Legitimacy problem
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres backs Security Council reform.
“You have a Security Council that corresponds exactly to the situation after the Second World War … that has a problem of legitimacy, and that has a problem of effectiveness, and it needs to be reformed,” Guterres told Reuters on Wednesday.
Any change to the Security Council membership is done by amending the founding U.N. Charter. This needs the approval and ratification by two-thirds of the General Assembly, including the Security Council’s current five veto powers.
The 193-member U.N. General Assembly has annually discussed reform of the Security Council for more than a decade. But momentum has grown in recent years as geopolitical rivalries have deadlocked the council on several issues, particularly after permanent veto-wielding member Russia invaded Ukraine.
“Much of the conversation around Security Council reform has been just that: a conversation,” Thomas-Greenfield will say on Thursday, according to prepared remarks reviewed by Reuters of her announcement that Washington supports moving to negotiations on a draft text to amend the U.N. Charter to expand the council.
Thomas-Greenfield told Reuters she could not say how long it might take to get the General Assembly to vote on such a resolution.
Each year the General Assembly elects five new members from different geographical groups for two-year terms on the Security Council. Africa currently has three seats rotated among states.
“The problem is, these non-permanent seats don’t enable African countries to deliver the full benefit of their knowledge and voices to the work of the council … to consistently lead on the challenges that affect all of us – and disproportionately affect Africans,” Thomas-Greenfield will say.
She will also say that small island developing states deserve a rotating elected seat because they offer “critical insights on a range of international peace and security issues: including, notably, the impact of climate change.”
…
DACA case faces uncertainty again as US appellate court arguments loom
washington — The future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program remains in limbo with another court hearing set for October 10.
Judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on the case, initiated in 2018 by Texas and other Republican-led states seeking to end DACA. The program offers temporary protection from deportation and work permits to undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children who are often referred to as “Dreamers.”
The case centers on whether DACA exceeds presidential authority, immigration advocates from the coalition “Home is Here” said during a recent conversation with reporters.
“Our response to that is that presidential authority in the area of immigration, and particularly the discretion exercised by the executive branch, is very broad and certainly encompasses the type of program that DACA is, which is now a regulation,” Nina Perales, vice president of litigation at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said during the call.
A central issue in the case is whether Texas and other states have the standing to sue.
Texas and other Republican-led states have argued that DACA has harmed them financially because they are spending resources on education, health care and other services on undocumented immigrants who were allowed to remain in the country illegally.
But Perales, who will be one of the attorneys arguing the case in October, said that “Texas cannot show any injury as a result of DACA” because recipients contribute to their communities and states by paying taxes and more.
A final decision could take a while, said Perales, who noted the 5th Circuit could take “as long as 18 months” to rule.
And the case could end in several ways: The 5th Circuit might dismiss the case, send it back to the lower court or rule against DACA, which could then be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“One possible scenario is that the 5th Circuit decides [U.S. District] Judge [Andrew] Hanen didn’t evaluate the evidence properly and sends the case back to [him],” she said.
If that happens, Perales said, DACA recipients might benefit from the current case’s legal state, which allows recipients to continue renewing their DACA benefits while awaiting the courts’ final resolution. The Biden administration continues to accept new applications but does not process them.
How we got here
Former President Barack Obama, frustrated with congressional inaction on the Dream Act, created DACA by executive order in 2012. Some DACA recipients arrived legally, but their families later overstayed their visas; others arrived by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without authorization. They are now in their mid-20s to late 30s, and they come from around the world.
In 2018, Texas and other Republican-led states sued the federal government, arguing not only that they were being harmed financially but also that only Congress has the authority to grant immigration benefits.
In 2022, the Biden administration revised the program in hopes of satisfying one of the arguments made in federal courts by Republican-led states — that the program was not created properly. Biden officials issued the new version of DACA in late August. It went through a period of public comments as part of a formal rule-making process to increase its odds of surviving this legal battle.
In a February 2023 statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, wrote in a statement on his website that “the Obama and Biden programs are practically indistinguishable in both the negative harms that they will have on this country and in the illegal means used to implement them. I am therefore calling for the new DACA rule to end in the same way that the Obama-era rule did: struck down as unlawful.”
But DACA has support. In October 2022, a coalition of dozens of influential corporations, including Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, sent a letter to Republicans and Democrats in Congress urging a bipartisan solution for the almost 600,000 immigrants who are enrolled in DACA.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, DACA has “improved recipients’ employment outcomes, increased the labor force participation rates of those who are eligible, decreased their unemployment rates, and boosted earnings for those with the lowest incomes.”
MPI’s analysis shows that DACA holders contribute “nearly $42 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product each year and add $3.4 billion to the federal balance sheet.”
Bruna Bouhid-Sollod, a former DACA recipient and current senior political director at United We Dream, highlighted the emotional impact of the uncertainty.
“The importance of making [the impact] really clear is really important. … DACA recipients and their families are dealing with an extreme amount of stress,” she said.
With renewal periods lasting just two years, many recipients are in constant limbo, unsure if their work permits and deportation protections will remain intact.
There is a lot at stake, according to immigration lawyers and advocates.
“Unless you’re living in it … you don’t think about the impact it has on the people that are waiting for their lives to be decided by this case,” Bouhid-Sollod said.
…