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Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas led a delegation of Democrats to a South Texas detention center to press for the release of the brothers and their family.
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Iran has selected Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as Iran's supreme leader. The elder Khamenei was assassinated in a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike on February 28. Iran selected the "hard-liner" Mojtaba Khamenei in defiance of President Trump, who has repeatedly claimed he can choose Iran's next leader. His selection also contradicts the Islamic Republic's previous resistance to hereditary succession. "The war changed everything," says Iranian American political analyst Hooman Majd, who adds that Iran's leadership sees the conflict as "existential" and is therefore carrying out retaliatory attacks throughout the region to "make it painful economically and in many other ways for the United States and for Israel to continue the war."
Meanwhile, preliminary investigations by The New York Times, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International indicate that the U.S. military carried out the strike on an elementary school in Minab, Iran, that killed over 100 young girls. "It is a war against people," says Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard, who is calling for the school massacre to be investigated as a war crime.
"Iran is going to be changed forever," says Majd, rejecting claims from U.S. leaders that military intervention has created the conditions for a civilian uprising. "For them to be able to rise up and take control of the government is just a pipe dream. I mean, how are they supposed to do that when they're being killed or are running away from missiles almost on a daily basis?"
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Two brothers who were recognized by their congresswoman last year, along with their parents and younger brother, are facing deportation.
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As the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran enters its third day, dragging much of the Middle East into armed conflict, we speak with two Iranian American scholars about the situation.
"It's quite a devastating attack on the infrastructure of the country, both in terms of the state infrastructure and civilian infrastructure," says Golnar Nikpour, associate professor of modern Iranian history at Dartmouth College. She notes that far from leading to a popular uprising against the government, as President Trump has encouraged, the U.S.-Israeli attacks have forced Iranians to worry about their immediate safety from the bombs.
"These attacks are causing much suffering for Iranian people, and it's destroying the space in which Iranians were struggling for social justice and civil liberties," says Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, a fierce critic of the government who was once imprisoned on death row in Iran but who nevertheless opposes the war. "I'm very pessimistic about the possibility of a regime change in Iran without having a clear idea of what is going to replace it."
According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, more than 550 people have been killed in Iran since Saturday, when the U.S. and Israel began an intense bombing campaign and assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A number of other top Iranian officials have also been killed. Iran has retaliated by launching missiles targeting Israel, as well as U.S. allies across the region, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Cyprus, where an Iranian drone hit a British air base. Fighting has also resumed between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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WASHINGTON - Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas released the following statement on President Biden's Executive Order, Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government:
"Today's Executive Order is a historic step forward in ensuring that all Americans who interact with the federal government can more easily access its programs and services. The Department of Homeland Security is committed to ensuring the public can seamlessly interact with its agencies and offices and is taking key steps to reduce administrative burdens and improve efficiency, equity, and accessibility throughout the customer experience."
The President's Executive Order, explicitly designed to reduce the "time tax" imposed on people who interact with federal agencies, builds on a long list of initiatives launched by DHS this year to eliminate unnecessary administrative barriers and burdens related to disaster assistance, immigration, trade and travel facilitation, and much more.
Under today's Executive Order, the Department's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will:
develop a streamlined, online disaster assistance application;work with states to proactively update existing rules and policies on supporting documentation needed for disaster assistance to reduce burdens to applicants and increase accessibility;test the use of innovative technologies at airport security checkpoints to reduce passenger wait times; and,provide new opportunities for the public to more efficiently connect with TSA, including through online chat options, improved communication during additional screenings, and other mechanisms to receive customer feedback to inform future improvements to the customer experience.DHS interacts more frequently on a daily basis with the American public than any other federal agency, from trav
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 WASHINGTON - Yesterday, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas met with Haitian Ambassador to the United States Bocchit Edmond to discuss our nations' continued cooperation.
"I appreciated the opportunity to speak directly with Ambassador Edmond about our shared commitment to ensuring that Haitian migrants are treated with dignity and respect," said Secretary Mayorkas. "I look forward to continuing to work with the government of Haiti and other partners throughout the hemisphere as we work toward safe, orderly, and humane management of migration in the region."
Secretary Mayorkas thanked the Government of Haiti for supporting the safe return and re-integration of Haitian nationals.? Secretary Mayorkas and Ambassador Edmond agreed that much work remains to be done to address the drivers of migration, and both acknowledged that the displacement of people is a global crisis and needs worldwide attention.?
Secretary Mayorkas assured the Ambassador that the dignified and humane treatment of all individuals, regardless of their immigration status, is his top priority. Secretary Mayorkas shared that the investigation into mistreatment of migrants in Del Rio is ongoing.
The Department of Homeland Security continues its engagement with partners in the hemisphere, including Brazil and Chile, to ensure they too are doing their part to offer protection for vulnerable populations and receive individuals who had legal status there.
Keywords: Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
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