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Secretary of Homeland Security

DHS: U.S. to start reopening southern border to asylum seekers

The United States will next week begin reopening the southern border to asylum-seekers who the Trump administration forced to remain in Mexico while awaiting immigration court hearings. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said this in a statement on Friday. “Beginning on Feb. 19, the Department of Homeland Security will begin phase one of a programme to restore safe and orderly processing at the southwest border. “DHS will begin processing people who had been forced to ‘remain in Mexico’ under the Migrant Protection Protocols,” the statement said. The move marks a first step toward overturning the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the ‘remain in Mexico’ policy, which since being implemented in January 2019 has forced migrants to wait in Mexico while t...

Donald Trump declares state of emergency in D.C.

President Donald Trump on Monday declared a state of emergency in Washington, D.C., citing the “emergency conditions” surrounding President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had declared a state of emergency in the city on Wednesday in the aftermath of the takeover of the Capitol by rioters incited by Trump. Reports of further planned violent demonstrations have continued to circulate ahead of Inauguration Day, and Trump’s order on Monday allows the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist the city in any emergency response. Details of the violent Capitol attack have become increasingly clear in the days since a mob broke into the building, and Democrats and Republicans alike expressed concern about a similar security brea...