Father of Ohio boy asks Trump not to invoke his son’s death in immigration debate

Father of Ohio boy asks Trump not to invoke his son’s death in immigration debate
This image made from video released by the City of Springfield shows Nathan Clark, father of Aiden Clark, speaking at a City Commission meeting, on Sept. 10, 2024 in Springfield, Ohio. (City of Springfield via AP)
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Updated 13 September 2024
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Father of Ohio boy asks Trump not to invoke his son’s death in immigration debate

Father of Ohio boy asks Trump not to invoke his son’s death in immigration debate
  • “This needs to stop now,” Nathan Clark said, referring to the repeated use of his son's death by Donald Trump in his campaign rhetoric against rival Kamala Harris
  • 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed on his way to school in an accident by a Haitian migrant driver. Trump blames the Biden government for letting illegal migrants in

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio: The father of an Ohio boy killed last year when a Haitian immigrant driver hit a school bus is imploring Donald Trump and other politicians to stop invoking his son’s name in the debate about immigration.
Nathan Clark spoke Tuesday at a Springfield City Council hearing — the same day that the former president and Vice President Kamala Harris debated, and the city in Ohio exploded into the national conversation when Trump repeated false claims demonizing Haitian immigrants there, saying they eat pets.
“This needs to stop now,” Nathan Clark said. “They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members. However, they are not allowed, nor have they ever been allowed, to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio. I will listen to them one more time to hear their apologies.”
Eleven-year-old Aiden Clark was killed in August last year when a minivan driven by Hermanio Joseph veered into a school bus carrying Aiden and other students. Aiden died and nearly two dozen others were hurt.
In May, a Clark County jury deliberated for just an hour before convicting Joseph of involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide. He was sentenced to between nine and 13 1/2 years in prison. A motion to stay his sentence pending an appeal was denied in July.

Trump’s campaign and others, including his running mate, JD Vance, have cited Aiden’s death in online posts. On Monday, the Trump campaign posted “REMEMBER: 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed on his way to school by a Haitian migrant that Kamala Harris let into the country in Springfield, Ohio.” On Tuesday, Vance posted: “Do you know what’s confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here.”
Clark’s death got wrapped up in a swirl of false rumors on Monday about Haitian immigrants eating pets. Then Tuesday, Trump repeated the statements, which local officials and police have said are not supported by evidence.
Clark declined to comment further on Thursday. A message seeking a response to Clark’s statement was left with representatives of Trump.
Vance’s spokesperson said in a statement that Harris owed an apology over her border policies and added that the Clark family was in Vance’s prayers.
Clark also mentioned Republican senate candidate Bernie Moreno in his speech. Moreno campaign spokesperson Reagan McCarthy said it was Harris and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown who should apologize and criticized their handling of the border.
Four government buildings and two schools were evacuated in the city Thursday after a bomb threat was emailed to multiple city agencies and media outlets, Springfield police chief Allison Elliott said. City officials said the buildings included Springfield City Hall, a local office of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a licensing bureau and a driver’s exam station. The city is working with the FBI to determine the source of the threat. Officials didn’t specify whether the threats had to do with the discussions about immigration.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday condemned the conspiracies regarding Haitians as “hate speech.” She deferred to the local police department regarding any threats to the Springfield community, but she described the situation as “an attempt to tear apart communities” and an “insult to all of us as Americans.”
Pastors from Springfield churches gathered Thursday to address the effects of the false rumors.
Vile Dorsainvil, the executive director of the Haitian Community Help and Support Center, attended the event and said it was necessary to bring peace to the community.
People have to understand each other, he said.
Many Haitians have come to the US to flee poverty and violence. They have embraced President Joe Biden’s new and expanded legal pathways to enter, and they have shunned illegal crossings, accounting for only 92 border arrests out of more than 56,000 in July, according to the latest data available.
The Biden administration recently announced an estimated 300,000 Haitians could remain in the country at least through February 2026, with eligibility for work authorization, under a law called Temporary Protected Status. The goal is to spare people from being deported to countries in turmoil.
On Tuesday, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said he would send law enforcement and millions of dollars in health care resources to the city of Springfield, which has faced a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. DeWine said some 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020 under the Temporary Protected Status program, and he urged the federal government to do more to help affected communities.
Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost also drew attention to the crisis on Monday when he directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending “an unlimited number of migrants to Ohio communities.”
 


Trump names Lee Zeldin to lead EPA, Stephen Miller to be deputy chief of policy

Trump names Lee Zeldin to lead EPA, Stephen Miller to be deputy chief of policy
Updated 31 sec ago
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Trump names Lee Zeldin to lead EPA, Stephen Miller to be deputy chief of policy

Trump names Lee Zeldin to lead EPA, Stephen Miller to be deputy chief of policy
NEW YORK: President-elect Donald Trump on Monday named former Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency as he continues to build out his future administration with loyal supporters.
Trump, in a statement, said Zeldin, who mounted a failed bid for governor of New York in 2022, would “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.”
Zeldin, who left Congress in 2023, was a surprising pick for the role. His public appearances both in his own campaigns and on behalf of Trump often had him speaking about issues like the military, national security, antisemitism, US-Israel relations, immigration and crime.
He was among the Republicans in Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. While in Congress, he did not serve on committees with oversight of environmental policy.
In 2016 he pushed to change the designation of about 150 square miles of federal waters in Long Island Sound to state jurisdiction for New York and Rhode Island. He wanted to open the area to striped bass fishing, which is allowed in state waters but banned in the federal area.
Trump often pointed to Zeldin’s performance in the 2022 gubernatorial race — where the Republican did far better than had been expected against Gov. Kathy Hochul — when he insisted he could be competitive in his Democratic home state. While Trump didn’t win New York, he did far better than he had during previous elections, particularly in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.
The announcement comes after Trump selected longtime adviser Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner, to be the deputy chief of policy in his new administration and named Rep. Elize Stefanik as his nominee for US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Confirming the Miller appointment, Vice President-elect JD Vance posted a message of congratulations Monday on X and said, “This is another fantastic pick by the president.” The announcement was first reported by CNN.
Miller is one of Trump’s longest-serving aides, dating back to his first campaign for the White House. He was a senior adviser in Trump’s first term and has been a central figure in many of his policy decisions, particularly on immigration, including Trump’s move to separate thousands of immigrant families as a deterrence program in 2018.
Miller has also helped craft many of Trump’s hard-line speeches, and was often the public face of those policies during Trump’s first term in office and during his campaigns.
Since leaving the White House, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization of former Trump advisers fashioned as a conservative version of the American Civil Liberties Union, challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as freedom of speech and religion and national security.
He was also a frequent presence during Trump’s campaign this year, traveling aboard his plane and often speaking ahead of Trump during the pre-shows at his rallies.
Miller drew large cheers at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden during the race’s final stretch, telling the crowd that, “your salvation is at hand,” after what he cast as “decades of abuse that has been heaped upon the good people of this nation — their jobs looted and stolen from them and shipped to Mexico, Asia and foreign countries. The lives of their loved ones ripped away from them by illegal aliens, criminal gangs and thugs who don’t belong in this country.”
“We stand here today at a crossroads,” he went on, casting the election as “a choice between betrayal and renewal, between self-destruction and salvation, between the failure of America or the triumph of America.”
Because it is not a Cabinet position, the appointment does not need Senate confirmation.

Niger rebels fighting for ousted president’s release hand over weapons

Niger rebels fighting for ousted president’s release hand over weapons
Updated 13 min 17 sec ago
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Niger rebels fighting for ousted president’s release hand over weapons

Niger rebels fighting for ousted president’s release hand over weapons

NIAMEY, Niger: Nine members of an armed rebel movement seeking the release of Niger’s ousted president surrendered Monday, officials in the north of the military-ruled country said.
The rebel Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) was set up in August 2023, a month after Niger’s democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown in a military coup.
Since then, Bazoum has been imprisoned with his wife Hadiza at the presidential palace in the capital Niamey.
“Nine FPL fighters repented and handed over their weapons and ammunition on Monday during a ceremony in the presence of General Ibra Boulama,” the governor of Agadez, an official from the governorate of the northern desert region near Libya told AFP.
FPL members began surrendering at the start of the month after discreet negotiations by “influential local personalities,” the Air-Info media outlet reported.
On November 1, FPL spokesman Idrissa Madaki and three other members turned themselves in separately in two towns near the Libyan border, according to Niger’s army and national television.
Last week, FPL leader Mahmoud Sallah was “provisionally stripped” of his nationality as well as seven members of the Bazoum regime who were suspected notably of “terrorist bomb attacks.”
Sallah had claimed responsibility for attacks against the army in the north and disabling part of a crucial pipeline carrying crude oil to Benin in June.
He had also threatened to attack strategic sites.
Another rebel movement also demanding Bazoum’s release, the Patriotic Front for Justice (FPJ), has held since June the military prefect of northeastern Bilma and four of his security team, kidnapped after an ambush.
Authorities in Niger, which is also battling attacks by jihadist groups, have stepped up security in recent weeks, with military patrols, checks and searches of vehicles.


Trial starts over rape, murder of doctor in India’s Kolkata

Trial starts over rape, murder of doctor in India’s Kolkata
Updated 11 November 2024
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Trial starts over rape, murder of doctor in India’s Kolkata

Trial starts over rape, murder of doctor in India’s Kolkata
  • Around 128 witnesses will be examined during the trial, court sources told Reuters

KOLKATA: A court in the eastern state of West Bengal began the trial on Monday of a police volunteer accused of raping and murdering a doctor at a government hospital in August, a case that has sparked outrage over the lack of safety for women in India.

The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in the state capital Kolkata on Aug. 9, federal police said. They also said they had arrested a police volunteer, Sanjay Roy, for the crime.

Charges were drawn up last week, while Roy said he was “completely innocent” and was being framed, local media reported.

The legal case has reignited criticism of India’s poor record on women’s safety despite the introduction of tougher laws following the 2012 gang rape and murder of a woman on a moving bus in New Delhi.

It also shines a light on the poor infrastructure and security at government hospitals in India, many of which lack basic facilities including CCTV cameras and security personnel.

Around 128 witnesses will be examined during the trial, court sources told Reuters, with hearings taking place on a daily basis as authorities look to fast-track the high-profile case. They will not be open to the public.

One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the father of the woman doctor, the alleged victim, gave evidence on Monday.

In addition to the defendant Roy, India’s federal police said they arrested the officer in charge of the local police station and the superintendent of the hospital for allegedly tampering with evidence and financial irregularities.


Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments

Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments
Updated 11 November 2024
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Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments

Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments
  • Curbing illegal immigration served as one of Trump’s central campaign promises
  • Picks signal movement on number of Trump’s key campaign messages

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump has moved quickly to staff up his incoming administration, naming loyalists to several key posts within days of his election victory and signaling his desire to have some seated without a Senate confirmation process.
The staffing picks are the subject of intense speculation and scrutiny, with Trump vowing that his second administration will oversee a radical shake-up of the federal government.
The 78-year-old Republican tycoon said Sunday he would tap hard-line immigration official Tom Homan as the country’s “border czar,” while US media reported the nod for UN ambassador as going to New York congresswoman Elize Stefanik, a vocal Trump ally.
Stephen Miller, another fierce critic of illegal immigration who served in Trump’s first administration, has been tapped for deputy chief of staff.
The picks signal movement on a number of Trump’s key campaign messages, with Homan’s hard-line immigration stance making him a loyal hand in carrying out the incoming president’s deportation promises, while Stefanik, who has voiced strong support for Israel, will represent the administration as the UN grapples with the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Stefanik’s nomination would need approval by the Senate, but Trump is hoping to bypass Congress by making appointments while the chamber is in recess.
He has turned the issue into a loyalty test, insisting that any Republican seeking to be the leader of the Senate “must agree” to recess appointments.
The three senators jockeying for the post immediately issued statements saying they supported the move, or were at least open to the idea.
Trump will not be inaugurated until January, and had previously made one cabinet-level appointment, naming his campaign manager Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
His weekend nominations for both border czar and ambassador to the UN will help him fulfill a number of his key promises to the American electorate.
Homan, a former acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), holds strident views on immigration, as does Miller, who served as Trump’s senior adviser and speechwriter during his first term.
Curbing illegal immigration served as one of Trump’s central campaign promises as he pledged to launch the largest deportation operation of undocumented migrants in US history beginning on day one.
“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders,” Trump said of Homan on Truth Social, adding that he will be in charge of “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.”
Stefanik, a key Trump ally now in her fifth term in office, has been a staunch defender of Israel and will head to the UN as the wars in Gaza and Lebanon dominate diplomacy.
Israel welcomed the appointment Monday.
“At a time when hate and lies fill the halls of the UN, your unwavering moral clarity is needed more than ever,” its UN ambassador Danny Danon wrote on X, wishing her “success in standing firm for truth and justice.”


Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry

Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry
Updated 11 November 2024
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Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry

Netherlands to impose land border controls from Dec 9, says migration ministry

AMSTERDAM: The Netherlands will impose controls on its land borders from Dec. 9, a spokesperson for Migration Minister Marjolein Faber said on Monday, confirming an earlier report by Dutch news agency ANP.
The controls on borders, all of which are with fellow countries in the EU's Schengen border-free zone, are set to last six months, part of a wider crackdown on migration proposed by the right-wing coalition led by the anti-Muslim nationalist PVV party of Geert Wilders. They follow a similar move by neighbouring Germany.