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Responding to what she said were smears, the first lady said she never had knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse and was not a victim of his. She called for a congressional hearing for his victims.
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The United States and Iran have announced a two-week ceasefire, brokered by Pakistan, under which Iran has agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Israel is also part of the agreement, but it has said it will continue its attacks and occupation inside Lebanon. The deal was reached less than two hours before President Trump's 8 p.m. ET deadline Tuesday for Iran to reopen the strait under threat of destroying every power plant and major bridge in Iran.
Although both parties have "strong incentives" to maintain a ceasefire, the deal is "extremely precarious," says Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, professor of international relations of the Middle East at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. "We're already seeing it being imperiled as we speak, with ongoing attacks in Lebanon, as well as reports of [Iranian] attacks in the Persian Gulf."
We are also joined by Naghmeh Sohrabi, professor of Middle East history at Brandeis University, who has been translating articles from Persian to English by writers inside Iran. Sohrabi speaks to the economic suffering — which had already led to protests in Iran earlier this year — that has been compounded by war. "People are losing their jobs. People are losing their homes. Food prices are going up," she says. "And the question is, even if the ceasefire holds, how they're going to pull this country out of the situation."
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WASHINGTON - Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to take actions to promote a fair labor market by supporting more effective enforcement of wage protections, workplace safety, labor rights, and other employment laws and standards. ?
"The Department of Homeland Security has a critical role to ensure our Nation's workplaces comply with our laws,"?said Secretary Mayorkas.??"We will not tolerate unscrupulous employers who exploit unauthorized workers, conduct illegal activities, or impose unsafe working conditions.??Employers engaged in illegal acts compel the focus of our enforcement resources.??By adopting policies that focus on the most unscrupulous employers, we will protect workers?as well as legitimate American businesses."??
In accordance with a memorandum issued by Secretary Mayorkas on October 12, ICE, CBP, and USCIS will develop and update policies to enhance the Department's impact in supporting the enforcement of employment and labor standards. The agencies must also develop strategies for prioritizing workplace enforcement against unscrupulous employers and, through the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, facilitate the participation of vulnerable workers in labor standards investigations.
The memorandum also establishes an end to mass worksite enforcement operations. Under the previous administration, these resource-intensive operations resulted in the simultaneous arrest of hundreds of workers and were used as a tool by exploitative employers to suppress and retaliate against workers' assertion of labor laws.
Lastly, the memorandum calls for broader and deeper mechanisms for coordination with interagency partners to enforce worker protections.
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