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US News: Austin Tice's Fate, Hunter Biden Pardon, Trump’s Controversial Moves
It looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country's swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. He blamed it on contaminated noodles. In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete's system. This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug. The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory. “The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more,” Cottier wrote. Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China's conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated. Critics of the way the China case was handled can't help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier's conclusions. “There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie,” said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. "And all of it is complete fiction.” In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ. China's anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation , did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the “no-fault findings,” as is often seen in similar cases. The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report , Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA's chief scientist “saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities.” But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA's “decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable.” A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen? Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China's agency, Li Zhiquan. Li's presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive. A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug “then entered the market through illegal channels,” he said. The alcohol "was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles,” Li said. “The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample. "The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice.” This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li's report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier. Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP. All this came with Li's request that the noodles story be kept confidential. Turns out, it made it into Cottier's report, though he took the information with a grain of salt. “Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated,” he wrote. Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them. Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case. Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed. “It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away," Koehler said. “Which clearly it has not.” AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
Dublin belongs to Fontaines DC on hometown victory lap in 3ArenaVenezuela accuses an Argentine officer of terrorism as relations deteriorateNext on the schedule for the Houston Texans (7-4) is a division matchup against the Tennessee Titans (2-8) on Sunday, November 24, 2024 at NRG Stadium. You should head to TV in order to see this game. Watch live NFL games, NFL Network, other live sports and more on Fubo. What is Fubo? Fubo is a streaming service that gives you access to your favorite live sports and shows on demand. Start your risk free trial today and watch seven hours of commercial-free football from every NFL game every Sunday. Catch NFL action all season long on Fubo. Watch Thursday Night Football exclusively on Prime Video. Rep your favorite NFL players with officially licensed gear. Head to Fanatics to find jerseys, shirts, hats, and much more. Get tickets for any NFL game this season at StubHub.
Expands U.S. Manufacturing to Drive Innovation in National Defense and Emerging Technologies ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Safran Defense & Space, Inc . (Safran DSI), the newly established U.S. subsidiary of global aerospace leader Safran , has launched a strategic initiative to enhance its support for the U.S. defense and space sectors. This includes major investments in U.S. manufacturing in several states for diverse technology capabilities. With an emphasis on solutions to next generation challenges such as satellite propulsion and communication, geospatial artificial intelligence, and GPS-denied navigation, Safran DSI is committed to safeguarding national sovereignty, and protecting our armed forces and space operations preparedness. Safran DSI is expanding its digital design, model-based systems engineering (MBSE), Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), and advanced manufacturing capabilities with significant growth at its facility for electro-optics and infrared systems in Bedford, N.H.; its newest facility for small satellite propulsion in Denver, Colorado; and at the Safran Federal Systems facility for Assured Positioning, Navigation & Timing (PNT) in Rochester, N.Y. These investments, along with testing and telemetry operations in Norcross, Georgia, will boost Safran DSI's production capacity and strengthen domestic supply chains. "By leveraging Safran's globally proven expertise and investing in U.S. engineering and product development, Safran DSI can offer tailored solutions today for fast evolving challenges across air, land, sea and space domains," said Joe Bogosian, president and CEO of Safran DSI. "In doing so, we are proud to support local communities through the creation of high-technology jobs and contribute to impactful economic development." With its new headquarters soon to open in Arlington, Va., Safran DSI is strategically positioned to strengthen partnerships with key US defense entities, both in government and industry, and enhance collaboration and support for critical national security programs. Safran, the parent company of Safran DSI, is an international high-technology group, operating in the aviation (propulsion, equipment and interiors), defense and space markets. Its core purpose is to contribute to a safer, more sustainable world, where air transport is more environmentally friendly, comfortable and accessible. Safran has a global presence, with 92,000 employees and sales of €23.2 billion in 2023 and holds, alone or in partnership, world or regional leadership positions in its core markets. Safran undertakes research and development programs to maintain the environmental priorities of its R&T and Innovation roadmap. Safran is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange and is part of the CAC 40 and Euro Stoxx 50 indices. Safran Defense & Space, Inc. (Safran DSI) is a leading provider of cutting-edge solutions designed to address the evolving challenges of national defense and advanced space missions. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Safran DSI operates through specialized business units in Optronics, Space Solutions, Testing & Telemetry, Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Assured Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT). Safran DSI leverages its parent company's innovative technologies and global resources to deliver unparalleled solutions across air, land, sea, and space domains. For more information: www.safran-group.com / http:// www.safran-dsi.com View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/safran-defense--space-inc-launches-ambitious-us-growth-strategy-302321063.html SOURCE Safran Defense & Space, Inc.
Article content After President-elect Donald Trump revealed that he told NHL great Wayne Gretzky that he should be Canada’s next leader, the Great One’s wife has co-signed the idea that he could be an exceptional prime minister. “I just left Wayne Gretzky, ’The Great One’ as he is known in ice-hockey circles,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Christmas Day. “I said, ’Wayne, why don’t you run for prime minister of Canada, soon to be known as the governor of Canada — you would win easily, you wouldn’t even have to campaign.’ He had no interest.’” Trump tells Wayne Gretzky to run for Governor of Canada🤣 pic.twitter.com/yg1C4lRlix Despite Gretzky saying he held no political aspirations, Trump urged Canadians to “start a DRAFT WAYNE GRETZKY Movement.” “It would be so much fun to watch!” he concluded. According to Fox News , Gretzky’s wife, Janet, who was born in Missouri, reposted Trump’s message to her Instagram Stories. The mother-of-five also added her own endorsement in support of her husband running for office north of the border. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” she shared, quoting one of Gretzky’s most famous statements . On Instagram, many of Janet’s followers backed the idea of the Brantford, Ont.-born Gretzky running for prime minister. “GOT FOR IT 99 ... SAVE CANADA,” one person wrote, while another asked, “Is this a ‘running for PM’ announcement?” Last month, Gretzky and some of his family appeared at Trump’s victory party after he was re-elected as America’s 47th president. His wife is a fan of Trump, with her mother, Jean, reportedly a fanatical supporter of The Donald. Dustin Johnson, the professional golfer and husband of the NHL’s all-time leading scorer and Hockey Hall of Famer’s daughter Paulina, has been golfing with Trump since 2017. Back in 2015, Gretzky, who is ineligible to vote in Canada, endorsed Conservative Leader Stephen Harper . “I think you have been an unreal prime minister,” Gretzky said during an event in Toronto, adding that he had been “wonderful to the country.” “I know you have nothing but the country’s best interests at heart,” Gretzky added. Gretzky’s comments divided social media, but the former Edmonton Oilers great said he has always lent a hand when a sitting prime minister has asked for his help. “In 1981, I did a luncheon for prime minister (Pierre) Trudeau at the time. In 1986, Mr. (Brian) Mulroney and (his wife) Mila asked me to host an event for a charity of their choice, which I did,” he said. “When Mr. Harper reached out to me and asked me to do a Q&A with him it’s simple: I can’t vote in this country. But ... when the prime minister of Canada calls you, you say: ‘OK, I’ll do the favour for you.’ So whoever is going to be the next prime minister, if they call me for the favour I’d reach out again,” he said . “I have known Patrick Brown for a number of years now,” Gretzky said in a statement . “Hard working and dedicated, Patrick is a strong Conservative. He has the passion and vision to lead Ontario.” Elsewhere, Trump continued teasing Canada’s deeply unpopular Prime Minster Justin Trudeau as he prepares to take over as America’s next president in January. On Wednesday, Trump also offered his Christmas greetings to Trudeau, calling him a “governor” and boasting that Canadians would enjoy a tax cut of more than 60% if the country became a U.S. state. “Their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other country anywhere in the world,” he wrote. These comments followed a pre-Christmas message in which he asserted “ Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State.” “They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it is a great idea. 51st State!!!” he wrote. Trump also welcomed the departure of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, calling her “totally toxic.” Trudeau has been largely quiet about Trump’s taunts. But on Boxing Day he shared a six-word message alongside a video narrated by Tom Brokaw that provided an overview of Canadian politics, landscapes and formative moments in the national memory in the leadup to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. “Some information about Canada for Americans,” Trudeau wrote on X. Meanwhile, Trudeau’s political rival Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been a vociferous opponent of Trump’s takeover rhetoric. “W e need a strong, smart prime minister who has the brains and backbone to first and foremost say to President Trump, ‘Canada will never be the 51st state. We will be an independent, proud, sovereign country, as we always have been,'” he said in an exclusive interview with the Toronto Sun . mdaniell@postmedia.comAn online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump's political coalitionThe New Jersey Devils faced their rival New York Rangers on Monday afternoon in one of the most anticipated matchups of the NHL’s regular season. With most people home for the holidays, the sold-out crowd of 16,514 had a playoff-like feel. The Devils were the ones who came out victorious, dominating the Rangers by a score of 5-0 . Jacob Markstrom notched his second shutout in a row. The Devils are now 23-11-3; the Rangers fall to 16-17-1. With the Rangers struggling recently, they opted to scratch Chris Kreider, who had just two goals in his last 13 games. In an effort to spark them early, Vincent Trocheck dropped the gloves with Paul Cotter. It was Cotter who got the better of it, though, taking Trocheck down after a spirited bout. Then, 89 seconds later, Jack Hughes scored to give the Devils a 1-0 lead. That’s where the score remained at the horn, but not before Brenden Dillon and Sam Carrick fought each other in a pretty even (and intense) tilt. The Rangers got themselves into penalty trouble in the second, which came back to bite them. They had too many men, which led to Dawson Mercer making a great individual effort to feed Timo Meier for a power-play goal. A few minutes later, the Rangers had too many men again, and Luke Hughes assisted brother Jack for his second goal of the contest. Hughes your daddy? #NJDevils | @Mikes_Amazing pic.twitter.com/eG3BoQ4KzU The third period was more domination from the Devils, as they made it 4-0 as Nico Hischier fed Stefan Noesen for a tap-in. Then, they scored again: Mercer on the power play; J. Hughes got the assist for his third point of the game. They shut it down the rest of the way. J. Hughes told The Hockey Writers , “I think we really believe in our group, and it allows us to come to the rink and enjoy it.” The Devils allowed just 12 shots, continuing their level of historical defensive dominance. It’s the sixth straight game in which they’ve allowed less than 20 shots. The Devils will remain home to take on the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:00 PM on Friday; the Rangers will head to Amalie Arena to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (7:00 PM). This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission.
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly vowed to begin “the largest deportation program in American history.” How exactly he plans to carry that out, and how many he ultimately intends to deport, remains unclear. Although Trump puts the number of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally at more than 20 million ( without providing backup ), the Pew Research Center estimates the number at 11 million as of mid-2022, based on the latest Census data. Trump has occasionally said that all of them will have to leave and apply to legally get back in. At other times, when pressed about how he will accomplish that, Trump has said he plans to initially target immigrants in the country illegally who have committed crimes and immigrants whose asylum bids were denied by the courts, but who have still not left the country. “On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in American history,” Trump said at a rally in Pennsylvania the day before the election. “We’re going to get them out. We have to. Dwight Eisenhower has the record. ... But we’re going to unfortunately beat the record.” Trump was referring to a program under President Eisenhower in 1954 dubbed “Operation Wetback,” a federally led effort to remove Mexican immigrants illegally living in the U.S. (The term “wetback” is a slur applied to Mexicans who swam or waded across the Rio Grande.) The federal government claimed to have forced as many as 1.3 million people to return to Mexico. Historians have dispu t ed that figure, but nonetheless it is the benchmark that Trump has vowed to exceed. Immigration experts warn, however, that there are many logistical hurdles, including budget constraints and legal challenges. But to the extent he is successful — and contrary to Trump’s assertions — many economists warn mass deportations will likely hurt the economy, drive up inflation and reduce employment and wages for native-born workers. We’ll explain Trump’s proposal , what experts say about it and how it compares to statements he made in 2016. The GOP platform says Trump will “begin the largest deportation program in American History,” including “the millions of illegal Migrants who Joe Biden has deliberately encouraged to invade our Country” and starting with removing “the most dangerous criminals and working with local Police.” “All of the illegal migrants that [Vice President] Kamala [Harris] has dumped into your small towns will be going home,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Michigan in October. “You’re going to have to go home. I’m sorry. Because it’s not sustainable, and it’s going to be very hard to do. It’s a very hard thing to do.” Trump’s appointment of Tom Homan as border czar and Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff — both hardliners on immigration — suggests he intends to follow through with an aggressive approach to deportations. “Any activists who doubt President Trump’s resolve in the slightest are making a drastic error: Trump will unleash the vast arsenal of federal powers to implement the most spectacular migration crackdown,” Miller told the New York Times in November 2023, adding, “The immigration legal activists won’t know what’s happening.” According to the New York Times, “To increase the number of agents available for ICE sweeps, Mr. Miller said, officials from other federal law enforcement agencies would be temporarily reassigned, and state National Guard troops and local police officers, at least from willing Republican-led states, would be deputized for immigration control efforts.” On Nov. 18, Trump responded “True” to a post that speculated the Trump administration was “prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program.” In remarks at the Heritage Policy Fest in July, Homan, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2017 and 2018, reiterated comments he made the week before, that if Trump is elected, “You ain’t seen nothing yet [on immigration]. Wait until 2025.” Homan has since clarified that the Trump administration will first target immigrants who have committed — or been accused of — crimes, a number he put at 1.5 million (though that appears to be too high). Homan said the Trump administration will also target for deportation the estimated 1.3 million immigrants whose asylum bids were denied, but who have still not left the country. But he pushed back on claims about a deportation force sweeping neighborhoods and businesses in search of immigrants. “People say, Trump’s threatening this historic deportation operations. He’s going to build concentration camps. He’s going to sweep neighborhoods. Let me be clear. None of that will happen,” Homan said at the Heritage Policy Fest. “We are going to have a historic deportation operation, because you’ve got a historic, illegal immigration crossing the southern border. If you look at immigration court data ... nearly 9 out of 10 of these people won’t get asylum because they don’t qualify. So they’re going to be ordered removed. They’ll get a federal order saying you must leave.” “So when they get due process at billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money and a federal judge says ‘You must go home,’ the Trump administration is going to make them go home,” Homan added . “And it’s going to require an historic deportation operation.” Nonetheless, Homan also would not rule out eventually deporting all other immigrants in the country illegally. “Bottom line is, under Trump he’s still going to prioritize national security threats and criminals,” Homan said. “But no one’s off the table. If you’re in the country illegally, it’s not OK. If you’re in the country illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.” As we said, there were an estimated 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally as of mid-2022. Jeffrey Passel , a senior demographer at Pew Research Center, told us “it’s safe to say the numbers have grown since mid-2022 and there are significantly more immigrants in the ‘quasi-legal’ group.” That “quasi-legal” group includes immigrants lacking permanent legal status who have temporary protection from deportation and may be authorized to work. That includes immigrants granted temporary protected status due to civil unrest, violence or natural disasters in their home country; immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, because they were brought to the U.S. as children; asylum applicants; and immigrants from Ukraine, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela provided special “parole” protections. “They are not immediately deportable with their current status but their status could be revoked and they would become deportable if policy changes,” Passel said. Most of the immigrants living in the U.S. illegally or with temporary legal status have been in the country for years. “According to our estimates for 2022 (July 1), the median time in the US was 15 years and more than 6 of 10 (61%) had been in the country 10 years or more,” Passel told us via email. “In the case of unauthorized immigrants from Mexico (the largest group by far), the median time in the US was almost 22 years and more than 5 of 6 (84%) had been in the US 10 years or more.” While some immigration experts doubt that Trump will be able to achieve the mass deportations he has promised, his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, has said it will be done with a “sequential” approach. Vance likened the problem to “a really big sandwich ... you take the first bite and then you take the second bite, and then you take the third bite.” “Let’s start with the first million who are the most violent criminals, who are the most aggressive. Get them out of here. First prioritize them, and then you see where you are, and you keep on taking bites of the problem, until you get illegal immigration to a serviceable point,” Vance said at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania in August. “You’ve got to do something with the people who are already here,” Vance said on ABC’s “This Week” on Aug. 11. “And I think that you take a sequential approach to it. You are going to have to deport some people. If you’re not willing to deport a lot of people, you’re not willing to have a border when there are 20 million illegal aliens in our country.” Aside from trump and Vance inflating the number of people who have come to the country illegally during the Biden administration, Trump and Homan appear to be inflating the number of immigrants in the country illegally who have been charged or convicted of crimes. In September, ICE Deputy Director Patrick J. Lechleitner reported to Congress: “As of July 21, 2024, there were 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories on ICE’s national docket. ... Of those, 435,719 are convicted criminals, and 226,847 have pending criminal charges.” That includes more than 125,000 convicted of or facing traffic offenses. Another 92,000 are on the list for immigration offenses. The Biden administration already prioritizes the removal of those who pose a danger to public safety or national security. The number of deportations dipped in Biden’s first two years (see table 39 of the Department of Homeland Security’s 2022 Yearbook ), but have increased since and are on pace to equal Trump’s deportation total. “I don’t want to diminish the impact that a Trump administration will have with respect to civil rights or aggressive immigration enforcement tactics,” John Sandweg, a former acting director of ICE in the Obama administration, to l d the Financial Times in October. “If his supporters believe that he’s suddenly going to come and magically deport a million people per year, he’s lying to them.” In order to “dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil,” Trump has promised to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. That’s a wartime authority extended to the president, “Whenever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government.” In such a situation, the act allows the president to apprehend, detain and deport citizens of that hostile nation who are not naturalized citizens of the U.S. Some experts, however, question whether Trump could constitutionally invoke the law as he intends. Steven Camarota , director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports lower levels of immigration, told us in a phone interview that while he expects the number of removals by the Trump administration may rise to less than 400,000 a year (about a third more than the average in his first term), he believes a strict enforcement climate will encourage more immigrants in the country illegally to leave on their own, and fewer to attempt to come in. As a result, he expects that if the Trump administration “puts their money where their mouth is,” the immigrant population without permanent legal status — which he estimates to have climbed over the last two years to about 14 million — will decline by about 1 million per year over the next four years. Aside from the numerous legal hurdles that would threaten Trump’s mass deportation plan, immigration experts say it would be enormously expensive. The American Immigration Council, a nonpartisan advocacy group for immigrants, estimates a one-time mass deportation of all of the immigrant in the U.S. without legal status would cost $315 billion. A yearslong deportation program — which is more like what Trump and Vance have described — would cost nearly $1 trillion, which the AIC called a “conservative” estimate. “It’s enormously complicated and an expensive thing to decide to deport people who have been here years,” Laura Collins, an immigration expert at the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas, told the New York Times in July, adding that it would cost billions of dollars and would likely take 20 years. “Trump would need to triple the size of the immigration court to achieve anywhere near the numbers he is talking about,” Sandweg told the New York Times. “Even then, he would need funding to build new courthouses, hire support staff and train judges.” Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh , an associate policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute’s U.S. Immigration Policy Program, told us in a phone interview that at the current funding level, “I do not think that it would be possible to carry out deportation at the scale that Trump and his advisers are talking about.” Under the Biden administration, she said, ICE resources have been concentrated on deportations at the border. Trump is talking about interior enforcement, Putzel-Kavanaugh said, “And so that would mean taking ICE resources, as they currently are, away from the border, and refocusing them on the interior. And so at current resource levels, it would just require an immense amount more of staffing and more money, quite frankly, to be able to carry it out in the way that he’s describing.” With Republicans now in control of both the House and Senate, she said, “it is plausible that increased resources could be given to ICE through the appropriations process, but I’m not sure if they would be at the level needed to conduct something like this.” Adding to the cost is that the immigrant profile has changed in recent years, with more immigrants coming from outside Central America. Deporting migrants to countries in South America, Asia, Africa and throughout the Caribbean is not only more costly but may be complicated by the fact that many of those — such as Cuba and China– are considered “ recalcitrant ” countries because they refuse to accept migrants designated for return, Putzel-Kavanaugh said. Those uncooperative nations stymied Trump in his first term, as well. The Migration Policy Institute reported that just 20% of migrants who received removal orders were actually deported in 2020. “There are just some logistical constraints with carrying out those removal operations. They require a lot of resources, both to find people and then be able to apprehend them, but then also actually carry out their removals,” Putzel-Kavanaugh said. “So from start to finish, it is a huge logistical and resource-intensive endeavor.” Trump has said cost is not an issue. “It’s not a question of a price tag,” Trump said in a post-election interview with NBC News. “It’s not — really, we have no choice. When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag.” In 2023, Miller told the New York Times, “Mass deportation will be a labor-market disruption celebrated by American workers, who will now be offered higher wages with better benefits to fill these jobs.” But many economists disagree. “Economists who have studied past large-scale deportations of immigrants from the United States have found those deportations to have been harmful to the U.S. economy and project that future large-scale deportations would also have negative impacts,” according to a review of the economic literature on the impact of mass deportations by Robert Lynch, professor emeritus of economics at Washington College, and Michael Ettlinger, the founding director of the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, in August. “Negative effects include lower national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and reduced employment and lower wages for citizens and authorized immigrants. The research finds that negative labor market consequences are found across income and pay levels. Economists anticipate that in the event of future mass deportations prices would rise and U.S. tax revenues would decline.” Specifically, the authors wrote that researchers estimate that mass deportations would reduce the gross domestic product by 2.6% to 6.2% and the number of hours worked by as much as 3.6%. Studies of the economic impact of past mass deportations “have consistently found that deportation policies have not benefitted U.S.-born residents,” the authors wrote. In a working paper released in September, the Peterson Institute for International Economics modeled two possible scenarios: one in which Trump deported 1.3 million people, and another in which he deported 8.3 million. Both are expected to lower U.S. GDP, reduce employment and increase inflation. “The scenarios differ only by the degree of damage inflicted on people, households, firms, and the overall economy,” the authors of the paper wrote, saying the labor supply would be reduced by 0.8% or 5.1% under the two scenarios, respectively. “The Trump campaign assumes that employers would simply replace the deported workers with native workers, but the historical record shows that employer behavior is far more complicated than that,” according to a PIIE story about the research on Sept. 26. “Past experience with deportations demonstrates that employers do not find it easy to replace such workers. Instead, they respond by investing in less labor-intensive technologies to sustain their businesses, or they simply decide not to expand their operations. The net result is fewer people employed in key business sectors like services, agriculture, and manufacturing. In addition, those unauthorized immigrants aren’t just workers—they’re consumers too. Deporting them means less demand for groceries, housing, services, and other household needs. This lower spending in turn reduces demand for workers in those sectors. That reduced demand for workers in all types of jobs outweighs the reduction of supply of unauthorized workers. Contrary to the Trump campaign’s assumption that deporting workers increases domestic employment, removing immigrants reduces jobs for other US workers.” The researchers also warn, as did the authors of the literature review published by the University of New Hampshire, that mass deportations will spike inflation in the short term. “On the whole, unauthorized immigrants act as complements for US-born workers rather than substitutes for them,” Chloe East , an associate professor in economics at the University of Colorado and a non-resident fellow at Brookings Institution, told us via email. “My research has found that one of the last mass deportation episodes in the US, which deported about 400,000 people over 2008-2014, actually hurt the US labor market and job prospects for US-born workers. For every 100 people removed from the labor market because of deportations, 9 US-born people lost a job permanently. “This is because when unauthorized immigrants are removed from the labor market, US-born people do not simply slot into the jobs left behind,” said East, who is also faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. “Instead, those jobs generally go away and this hurts job prospects for US-born people. As examples, think about the construction industry—when there are fewer unauthorized immigrants in the US to work as construction laborers, the demand for construction site managers—jobs held mostly by US-born people—go down. Similarly, when there are fewer unauthorized immigrants in the US to work as dishwashers at local restaurants, the demand for waiters and waitresses—jobs held mostly by US-born people—go down. Additionally, unauthorized immigrants help to stimulate consumer demand, and this helps to create jobs for everyone including US-born people.” In Detroit on Oct. 18, Trump claimed that the “migrant invasion” under Biden is “devastating our great African American community” because “they’re taking their jobs.” He said people who immigrated illegally are “taking a lot of Hispanic jobs” as well. “We don’t see strong evidence that even US-born people with the lowest levels of education are helped as a result of mass deportations,” East told us. The economic disruption is true even when targeting criminals for deportation, East said. “The policy I have analyzed is called Secure Communities and was intended to only deport people who were arrested and found to be unauthorized after their arrest,” East said. ( Secure Communities was a federal program to facilitate removal of public safety and national security threats. Implemented during parts of the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump, it led to the removal of over 363,000 criminal aliens.) “However, even with this policy goal, the policy failed to target only criminals –17% of those deported were not convicted of any crime, 7% had a traffic violation as their most serious criminal conviction, and another 6% had an immigration violation as their most serious criminal conviction. And ... this policy, even though it was supposed to be targeted, had large, negative impacts on the labor market.” The American Immigration Council estimates that mass deportations would reduce the U.S. GDP by 4.2% to 6.8%. “Mass deportations would cause significant labor shocks across multiple key industries, with especially acute impacts on construction, agriculture, and the hospitality sector,” AIC wrote. “We estimate that nearly 14 percent of people employed in the construction industry are undocumented. Removing that labor would disrupt all forms of construction across the nation, from homes to businesses to basic infrastructure. As industries suffer, hundreds of thousands of U.S.-born workers could lose their jobs.” In an interview with CNN on Nov. 13, Lawrence Summers, who was an economic adviser to then-President Barack Obama and treasury secretary under then-President Bill Clinton, warned that the sum of Trump’s plans, including for mass deportations, would cause “an inflation shock significantly greater than the one the country suffered in 2021.” “I think every sensible American thinks we need to do more to secure our border,” Summers said. “But if you’re talking about deporting millions of people, that is an invitation to labor shortage and bottlenecks.” Camarota, of the Center for Immigration Studies, isn’t buying it. “It’s hard to make the argument that if you removed 2% of the workforce it’s going to have some big effect on the overall economy,” Camarota said, particularly since most of the immigrant workers are in low-wage jobs. “You’re just not going to get some big economic drop from reducing lots of low-wage workers.” It may have a significant short-term impact on some industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor, he said, such as construction or yard maintenance. He expects that to drive up wages in those industries, something he hopes will entice some U.S. citizens to rejoin the workforce. In 2015, Trump also talked about deporting all of the 10 million-plus immigrants in the country illegally and then “expediting” the return of the “good people.” “In a Trump administration, all immigration laws will be enforced. As with any law enforcement activity, we will set priorities,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Arizona in 2016. “But, unlike this administration, no one will be immune or exempt from enforcement — and ICE and Border Patrol officers will be allowed to do their jobs. Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation — that is what it means to have laws and to have a country.” “What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate. But we’re getting them out of our country, they’re here illegally. After the border is secured and after everything gets normalized, we’re going to make a determination on the people that you’re talking about who are terrific people, they’re terrific people but we are going make a determination at that [time],” Trump told “60 Minutes” in November 2016. But the average annual number of deportations — defined as removals plus enforcement returns — went down under Trump compared with the number of deportations under Obama. They also dropped significantly in the first two years under Biden , but then dramatically increased and are on pace to match Trump’s deportation numbers. (In the first two years under Biden, when interior removals plummeted, the number of Title 42 expulsions soared. Trump began the use of Title 42, an emergency public health law that allowed the U.S. to turn away many immigrants at the border during the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in the number of deportations under Biden began after Biden stopped the use of Title 42 in May 2023, when the federal public health emergency for COVID-19 ended .) “After nearly four years in office, the president’s record on immigration—while remarkably faithful to his campaign agenda—did not keep up in at least one regard,” according to a report from the Migration Policy Institute near the end of Trump’s presidency. “Immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior during the Trump administration has lagged far behind the president’s 2016 electoral promises as well as the record of his predecessor, Barack Obama. In fact, the Trump administration deported only slightly more than one-third as many unauthorized immigrants from the interior during its first four fiscal years than did the Obama administration during the same timeframe.” According to MPI, “the large number of deportations promised [by Trump] has remained elusive, mostly due to resistance from state and local officials who have advanced ‘sanctuary’ policies that limit cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).” This time around, Trump has vowed that he “will cut federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions.” ( Sanctuary jurisdictions are those that limit the degree to which local police cooperate with requests from federal authorities to detain and turn over unauthorized immigrants.) That’s sure to draw legal challenge. During his first term, Trump cut off access to some federal crime-fighting grants to cities and states with sanctuary policies. When some cities and states sued, a federal appeals court ruled in the Trump administration’s favor. That decision was then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the appeal was withdrawn after Biden was elected and the Justice Department reversed the policy. Putzel-Kavanaugh, of the Migration Policy Institute, warned that Trump’s efforts to stem illegal immigration may face the same headwinds Biden did. She said migration in recent years has become “kind of a hemispheric and a global phenomenon” that is unlikely to change, “though we may, we may see ebbs and flows kind of depending on what’s happening in the world.” “I do think that many of the same challenges that the Biden administration has faced, the Trump administration is likely to face as well, including diversified nationalities, increases in families and more people sort of wanting protection,” she said. “It’s hard to know exactly what’s going to happen in terms of overall numbers. I think that in the next couple of months, we’ll certainly see an increase, and then once Trump comes into office, depending on what policies are put into place, we’ll likely see the similar patterns as we have before, which is sort of an initial decrease, and then it increases back up, and then maybe another decrease with another policy, and then numbers go back up. And that’s happened throughout the Biden administration too.” Putzel-Kavanaugh also expects Trump to face numerous legal challenges to his plans, such as his vow to revive Title 42. Trump has said the new version would be based on claims that migrants carry other infectious diseases. (That’s disputed by some health experts. “There is no evidence to show that migrants are spreading disease,” Dr. Paul Spiegel, who directs the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, told NBC News . “That is a false argument that is used to keep migrants out.”) Trump has also talked about ending DACA — which includes protections for qualified individuals who were brought to the United States illegally when they were children. And Trump has again vowed to end birthright citizenship, though as we have written , most legal scholars believe such a change would require a constitutional amendment. In his 2023 interview with the New York Times , Miller said Trump anticipates lawsuits challenging all of Trump’s proposed changes, but Miller “portrayed the Trump team’s daunting array of tactics as a ‘blitz’ designed to overwhelm immigrant-rights lawyers.” Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page . If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, 202 S. 36th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers, meet your latest lobbyists: online influencers from TikTok. The platform is once again bringing influencers to Washington, this time to lobby members of Congress to reject a fast-moving bill that would force TikTok's Beijing-based parent company to sell or be banned in the United States. On Tuesday, some influencers began a two-day advocacy event in support of TikTok, which arranged their trip ahead of a House floor vote on the legislation on Wednesday. But unlike a similar lobbying event the company put together last March when talks of a TikTok ban reached a fever pitch, this year’s effort appeared more rushed as the company scrambles to counter the legislation, which advanced rapidly on Capitol Hill. Summer Lucille, a TikTok content creator with 1.4 million followers who is visiting Washington this week, said if TikTok is banned, she “don’t know what it will do” to her business, a plus-sized boutique in Charlotte, North Carolina. “It will be devastating,” Lucille said in an interview arranged by the platform. The legislation is drawing unusual support in Congress In an unusual showing of bipartisanship, a House panel unanimously approved the measure last week. President Joe Biden has said he will sign the legislation if lawmakers pass it. But it’s unclear what will happen in the Senate, where several bills aimed at banning TikTok have stalled. The legislation faces other roadblocks. Former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump, who holds sway over both House and Senate Republicans, has voiced opposition to the bill, saying it would empower Meta-owned Facebook, which he continues to lambast over his 2020 election loss. The bill also faces pushback from some progressive lawmakers in the House as well as civil liberties groups who argue it infringes on the First Amendment. TikTok could be banned if ByteDance, the parent company, doesn’t sell its stakes in the platform and other applications it owns within six months of the bill’s enactment. The fight over the platform takes place as U.S.-China relations have shifted to that of strategic rivalry, especially in areas such as advanced technologies and data security, seen as essential to each country’s economic prowess and national security. The shift, which started during the Trump years and has continued under Biden, has placed restrictions on export of advanced technologies and outflow of U.S. monies to China, as well as access to the U.S. market by certain Chinese businesses. The Biden administration also has cited human rights concerns in blacklisting a number of Chinese companies accused of assisting the state surveillance campaign against ethnic minorities. TikTok isn’t short on lobbyists. Its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance has a strong lobbying apparatus in Washington that includes dozens of lobbyists from well-known consulting and legal firms as well as influential insiders, such as former members of Congress and ex-aides to powerful lawmakers, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will also be in Washington this week and plans to meet with lawmakers, according to a company spokesperson who said Chew’s visit was previously scheduled. Influencers descend on Washington But influencers, who have big followings on social media and can share personal stories of how the platform boosted their businesses — or simply gave them a voice — are still perhaps one of the most powerful tools the company has in its arsenal. A TikTok spokesperson said dozens of influencers will attend the two-day event, including some who came last year. The spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about how many new people would be attending this year’s lobbying blitz. The company is briefing them ahead of meetings with their representatives and media interviews. Lucille, who runs the boutique in North Carolina, says has seen a substantial surge in revenue because of her TikTok page. The 34-year-old began making TikTok content focusing on plus-sized fashion in March 2022, more than a decade after she started her business. She quickly amassed thousands of followers after posting a nine-second video about her boutique. Because of her popularity on the platform, her business has more online exposure and customers, some of whom have visited from as far as Europe. She says she also routinely hears from followers who are finding support through her content about fashion and confidence. JT Laybourne, an influencer who also came to Washington, said he joined TikTok in early 2019 after getting some negative comments on videos he posted on Instagram while singing in the car with his children. Laybourne, who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, said he was attracted to the short-form video platform because it was easy to create videos that contained music. Like Lucille, he quickly gained traction on the app. He says he also received more support from TikTok users, who reacted positively to content he produced on love and positivity. Laybourne says the community he built on the platform rallied around his family when he had to undergo heart surgery in 2020. Following the surgery, he said he used the platform to help raise $1 million for the American Heart Association in less than two years. His family now run an apparel company that gets most of its traffic from TikTok. “I will fight tooth-and-nail for this app,” he said. But whether the opposition the company is mounting through lobbyists or influencers will be enough to derail the bill is yet to be seen. On Tuesday, House lawmakers received a briefing on national security concerns regarding TikTok from the FBI, Justice Department and intelligence officials. AP Journalist Didi Tang contributed to this report. This story was originally published on March 12, 2024. It was updated on December 23, 2024 to clarify a quote by TikTok content creator Summer Lucille.
One thing anyone will tell you when visiting any Italian city is to know where your wallet or purse is at all times. The likelihood of finding a lost purse or wallet is somewhere between zero and none. It’s just one of those things. But that’s exactly what happened to Italian woman Marisa Corradi. Now and again we hear about a tourist who has lost something of value, and it’s very occasionally followed by a heartwarming story of how it was returned by a good-hearted citizen. But not quite to this extent. Marisa Corradi, from San Paolo, Lombardy, wrote on her Facebook page. ‘I was in Palermo , Sicily, recently walking around Ballarò market when, in a moment of distraction, I lost my purse. I didn’t even realise until that night back at the hotel, and I entered in panic.’ Most Read on Euro Weekly News Musk law passed in Italy, then rebuffed by judges Italian nun arrested in major mafia investigation Italy bans the use of Airbnb key boxes Ballarò market, one of the oldest markets in Italy , bustling with tourists and pickpockets, and is not a place where one loses a purse and expects to ever see it again. Market trader had been looking for Marisa all afternoon ‘I was looking at my phone when this man, a Palermo resident, messaged me to say he was looking for a woman who had lost her purse. I replied to him immediately, and he told me he had been trying to find me all afternoon. So, he got on his scooter and came to find me at my hotel.’ After seeing Marisa’s name on her bank cards, he took to social media to see if he could find her. Finally he found one profile on Facebook that must have been hers. What went beyond the unusual in this case was that there was €600 in cash sticking out of the purse, clearly visible. Yet this market stallholder, Rosario Scalia, never touched any of it. In fact, on arrival at the hotel and on meeting Marisa, he refused any compensation for returning the purse. Marisa took to social media instantly to thank Rosario, saying, ‘I feel so thankful, and I want to thank him publicly. There are still honest people out there. I thank him from the bottom of my heart!’ Since this extraordinary act of kindness and effort, the story of Marisa, Rosario, and the missing purse has gone viral throughout Italy’s social networks and news stations.Frustrated Porter passengers stuck 2 1/2 hours on YOW tarmacAquarius – (20th January to 18th February) Daily Horoscope Prediction says, You handle pressure as no one does New love and better professional chances make your day brighter. Overcome the challenges at work to have a productive day. Be careful about money. You may fall in love today. The office life will be productive and multiple opportunities will come to explore. Financially, you’ll have minor issues while your health will be on track today. Aquarius Love Horoscope Today Minor ego-related issues may create ruckus today but this won’t hurt the relationship. Spend more time with the lover. The single natives can expect a positive response while proposing today. Married females will be happy and may also get conceived today. Some love affairs will need more communication and those who are traveling should connect with the lover over the phone to express their feelings. The second part of the day is also good to call shorts on marriage. Aquarius Career Horoscope Today Your professionalism will work out at tasks with immediate deadlines. You may also be required to send additional hours to the workstation today. Chefs, IT professionals, designers, and academicians will have opportunities to move abroad. In case you have a job interview, be confident as you will crack it. You may also receive a task to negotiate with a client and utilize this as an option to prove your mettle. Entrepreneurs can confidently launch a new venture today. Students waiting for a response from a foreign university can be confident about the result. Aquarius Money Horoscope Today The inflow of money will not be as good as you expected. This may impact the routine life. However, money will come in as the day progresses. You may keep a distance from money-related discussions with friends or siblings as there can be arguments over it, causing mental stress. The first part of the day is good for trying luck in stock, and speculative business. Some females will buy jewelry or a vehicle today. Aquarius Health Horoscope Today Your health may develop minor complications today. Those who have vision-related issues may develop problems in the second part of the day. Avoid having food from outside as you may also develop digestion issues. Children may have minor throat issues or headaches today. Pregnant females need to be highly cautious while taking part in adventurous games. Aquarius Sign Attributes Strength: Tolerant, Ideal, Friendly, Charitable, Independent, Logical Weakness: Disobedient, Liberalistic, Rebel Symbol: Water carrier Element: Air Body Part: Ankles & Legs Sign Ruler: Uranus Lucky Day: Saturday Lucky Color: Navy Blue Lucky Number: 22 Lucky Stone: Blue Sapphire Aquarius Sign Compatibility Chart Natural affinity: Aries, Gemini, Libra, Sagittarius Good compatibility: Leo, Aquarius Fair compatibility: Cancer, Virgo, Capricorn, Pisces Less compatibility: Taurus, Scorpio By: Dr. J. N. Pandey Vedic Astrology & Vastu Expert Website: www.astrologerjnpandey.com E-mail: djnpandey@gmail.com Phone: 91-9811107060 (WhatsApp Only)Antiques expert delves into the 'extraordinary talent' of William Hogarth