‘Close border if Mexico fails to stop caravan’
Environmentalists file 3rd lawsuit over Trump wall plans
GUATEMALA CITY, Oct 18, (Agencies): As about 3,000 Hondurans made their way through Guatemala, attention - and pressure turned to Mexico Thursday, after US President Donald Trump threatened to close the US-Mexico border if authorities there fail to stop the impromptu caravan.
“I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught - and if unable to do so I will call up the US Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!,” Trump tweeted.
Mexico dispatched additional police to its southern border, after the Casa del Migrante migrant shelter in Tecun Uman on the Guatemalan side of the border reported that hundreds of Hondurans had already arrived there.
Mexican officials say the Hondurans won’t be allowed to enter as a group, and would either have to show a passport and visa - something few apparently have - or apply individually for refugee status, a process that can mean waiting for up to 90 days for approval.
Mexico’s Ambassador to Guatemala, Luis Manuel Lopez Moreno, met with leaders of the caravan Wednesday and warned them that Hondurans caught without papers in Mexico would be deported.
But the idea that Mexico could close its porous southern border - or that the United States would choke off the hundreds of thousands of legal freight, vehicle and pedestrian crossings every day - strained the imagination.
And, much like Guatemala, Mexico is itself a country where many have migrated, raising the question of whether the political will for a confrontation exists.
Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who will take office on Dec 1, wants to avoid repression against migrants and also
prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Natalie May Edwards, a senior adviser in the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), was arrested on Tuesday and avoid angering the United States. 0He has long pushed economic development as a way to keep people from migrating, and on Wednesday he said, “We will offer jobs, work to Central Americans. Anyone who wants to work in our country will have help, will have a work visa.”
As the caravan strung out from Guatemala City to the border, it was unclear whether those who made it the farthest would wait for their countrymen to arrive to attempt a mass crossing into Mexico. The caravan, fairly compact in recent days, has dispersed a bit, with different bands of people seen walking together in a line, some boarding buses or trying to hitch rides.
Mauro Verzzeletti, a priest who runs the Casa del Migrante shelter in the Guatemalan capital, said about 3,000 people slept there overnight and left around 4 am to continue the journey, adding that “more are arriving.”
Solidarity
All along the way in Guatemala, the Hondurans found solidarity.
More than 2 million Guatemalans live in the United States, and locals here saw the Hondurans streaming in front of their homes and businesses with dreams of making it to the US as their Central American brothers and sisters.
Sweaty, sunburned and exhausted, Jonathan Zuniga had been carrying his 1-year-old baby in his arms for five hours when help arrived unexpectedly from a local woman who offered him a used baby carriage.
Meanwhile, Environmental groups filed another lawsuit Thursday challenging the Trump administration’s use of waivers to speed up construction of a border wall, this time in Texas.
Three groups sued the Department of Homeland Security, a week after the agency waived environmental
charged with unauthorized disclosure of suspicious activity reports and with conspiracy, according to the office of US Attorney Geoffrey Berman. Both charges carry a maximum sentence of five years laws along a roughly 25-mile (40-kilometer) stretch of border in the Rio Grande Valley, which is the southernmost point of Texas.
Lawsuits have been filed to try to stop construction in California and New Mexico. So far, no judges have stopped DHS from moving forward with construction, though a federal appeals court in California heard arguments in that state’s case in August.
In Texas, the government wants to connect existing sections of fencing on river levees in Hidalgo County and to close other gaps in fencing in neighboring Cameron County. It argues that more barriers are necessary to stop the flow of drugs and immigrants. Congress already funded construction in both areas, though it hasn’t yet provided the larger amounts of money President Donald Trump has requested for his signature campaign priority to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
Environmental groups say DHS is wrongly using authority that it received in 2005 for specific projects to waive reviews under more than two dozen laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Jean Su, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, argued that when the previous border fence was built, Congress directly gave DHS the authority to issue waivers. But that waiver authority was not meant to carry over automatically for future projects, she said.
“It will be a longer process, but that process is a basic part of our democratic system and the protection of our environment,” Su said.
Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Legal Defense Fund joined the lawsuit, which was filed in Washington.
in prison.
Manafort and his longtime associate Rick Gates have pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to cooperate in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign coordinated with Russia. Prosecutors said Edwards leaked documents that became the basis of BuzzFeed articles about that investigation. (RTRS)
Mega jackpot now at $900m:
Despite the terrible odds – one in 302.5 million for those keeping score at home – someone will eventually match all six numbers and win the Mega Millions jackpot, which now stands at $900 million. It could happen as soon as Friday night, when the next drawing is held.
That would leave most of us disappointed but some lucky winner beset by a host of questions. Here are some answers for someone holding that prized lottery ticket for what would be the second-largest lottery jackpot in US history.
Lottery officials recommend winners take a deep breath, put their winning ticket in a safe spot and consult with a reputable financial planner before popping over to the lottery headquarters. Their first decision is whether to take the cash option, which would now be $513 million, or an annuity, with one initial payment and annual installments over 29 years. Nearly all winners opt for cash, but the annuity has advantages, as it reduces the tax bill a little and offers a stable flow of income that climbs by 5 percent annually. (AFP)