Will Joe Biden administration provide U.S. citizenship to over 5 lakh Indians?

Agencies
November 8, 2020

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Washington, Nov 8: United States President-elect Joe Biden will work towards providing a roadmap to American citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants, including over 500,000 from India, and will also establish a minimum admission number of 95,000 refugees annually.

As a largely immigrant community, but in some cases with American roots reaching back generations, Indian-Americans know firsthand the strength and resilience that immigrants bring to the United States of America, according to a policy document issued by the Biden campaign.

"He (Biden) will immediately begin working with Congress to pass legislative immigration reform that modernises our system, with a priority on keeping families together by providing a roadmap to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants -- including more than 500,000 from India," it said.

The Biden administration will support family-based immigration and preserve family unification as a core principle of the US' immigration system, which includes reducing the family visa backlog, it said.

"And, he will increase the number of refugees we welcome into this country by setting the annual global refugee admissions target to 125,000 and seek to raise it over time commensurate with our responsibility, our values, and the unprecedented global need. He will also work with Congress to establish a minimum admissions number of 95,000 refugees annually," the policy document said.

Biden will remove the uncertainty for Dreamers by reinstating the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) programme and explore all legal options to protect their families from inhumane separation. And, he will end workplace raids and protect other sensitive locations from immigration enforcement actions, it said.

Launched by the Obama administration, the DACA is an immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the US after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit in the US. DACA recipients are often referred to as Dreamers. To be eligible for the programme, recipients cannot have felonies or serious misdemeanours on their records.

The Trump administration moved to end the DACA programme in 2017 and was ultimately blocked by the Supreme Court from doing so this year. Even so, his administration scaled back the programme and pledged to end it, leaving thousands of the programme's beneficiaries in limbo.

Biden will also restore and defend the naturalisation process for green card holders, the policy document said. Employment-based visas, also known as green cards, allow migrants to gain lawful permanent residence in the US in order to engage in skilled work.

"He (Biden) will increase the number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration based on macroeconomic conditions and exempt from any cap recent graduates of PhD programmes in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields," it said.

"He will support first reforming the temporary visa system for high-skill, speciality jobs to protect wages and workers, then expanding the number of visas offered and eliminating the limits on employment-based green cards by country, which have kept so many Indian families in waiting for too long," the document stated.

The Biden administration, it said, will also repeal President Donald Trump's 'Muslim ban'.

President Trump had imposed a controversial travel ban, often referred to by critics as a 'Muslim ban', on several Muslim majority countries, including Iran and Syria, through a series of executive orders.

"Biden will rescind Trump's Muslim ban on day one and reverse the detrimental asylum policies that are causing chaos and a humanitarian crisis at our border," the policy document said.

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News Network
December 11,2024

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Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Revolution, has called the Syrian conflict a "joint American and Zionist plot," while attributing a secondary role to a neighboring country in the crisis.

Speaking to a gathering in Tehran on Wednesday, Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized, "There should be no doubt that what happened in Syria was plotted in the command rooms of the United States and Israel. We have evidence for this."

The Leader also pointed to the involvement of a neighboring nation, widely understood to be Turkey, stating, "One of the neighboring countries of Syria also played a role, but the primary planners are the US and the Zionist regime."

Ayatollah Khamenei dismissed fears of a weakened resistance front following the takeover of parts of Syria by militants and Takfiri terrorists. He assured that resistance will emerge stronger despite the adversities. "This is what the resistance is, this is what the resistance front is. The more you push, the stronger it becomes; the more you commit crimes, the more motivated it becomes. The more you fight with them, the more widespread it will be, and I tell you, by the Divine Power, the domain of resistance will cover the entire region more than before."

The Leader rejected analysis suggesting that a weakened resistance front would lead to Iran’s decline. "That ignorant analyst, unaware of the meaning of resistance, imagines that when the resistance becomes weak, Islamic Iran will also become weak, and I say that by God's will and power and with the permission of God Almighty, Iran is strong and powerful and will only grow more powerful," Ayatollah Khamenei declared.

Highlighting the divisions among militant groups operating in Syria, the Leader noted, "Each group has its own agenda and all seek to stake out their own turf."

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News Network
December 23,2024

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The Israeli military has completely destroyed 70 percent of buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp as the occupying regime continues with its deadly aggression against northern Gaza. 

Amos Harel, a military affairs analyst, wrote in the Israeli daily Haaretz on Sunday that the Jabalia refugee camp has become a “ghost town” amid Israel’s deadly offensive in the area.

“As far as the eye can see lie miles and miles of destroyed homes. It's hard to look away from the devastated remains of Jabalia's refugee camp in northern Gaza,” Harel said.

“I could see that even the few buildings that are still standing were badly damaged,” he added.

Harel went on to say that the Israeli military has operated in the area twice before, but this time the camp was torn down.

“Jabalia has become a ghost town. Outside, you mainly see pack after pack of stray dogs roaming around and hunting for scraps of food,” he said.

The Israeli regime dispatched tanks again to northern Gaza last month in what it said was aimed at combating members of the Palestinian resistance movement launching retaliatory strikes, and preventing them from regrouping.

The towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia have been besieged for more than 40 days, without food, water, medicine, or aid, and under constant bombing, shelling, and drone attacks.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Hamas-led resistance groups waged the surprise Operation al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to its decades-long campaign of devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed 45,227 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 107,573 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

Separately on Sunday, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said its fighters hit a group of nine Israeli soldiers who had taken refuge inside a house in the west of the Jabalia refugee camp.

It made the remarks in a statement on Telegram, noting that several Israeli forces were killed and wounded in the attack which was carried out with a TBG (thermobaric) rocket.

Qassam Brigades further noted that its fighters had killed an Israeli soldier from a long distance in the central area of the Jabalia camp.

Qassam Brigades has been daily carrying out military operations against the Israeli occupation forces since October 7 last year.

On Thursday, Qassam Brigades said its fighters stabbed at close range an Israeli officer and three soldiers at the Jabalia refugee camp, resulting in their deaths.

The retaliatory operation came following another attack on Wednesday, when Hamas fighters killed five Israeli soldiers in central Jabalia, also at close range.

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News Network
December 17,2024

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US and British warplanes have carried out fresh airstrikes on the Yemeni capital Sana'a and other regions, intensifying attacks as Yemeni Armed Forces continue their anti-Israeli operations in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid the regime’s genocide.

Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported that US and British aircraft targeted the premises of the Yemeni Defense Ministry in the the Assafi'yah district of Sana’a early on Tuesday.

Local sources heard loud explosions echoing from the site of the strikes. 

The report, however, did not provide any details regarding potential casualties or damage.

For his part, the Yemeni information minister vehemently denounced the latest US and British airstrikes against Sana’a, stating that the act of aggression “falls within the framework of attempts to diminish the Yemeni nation’s will to support Palestinian people.”

Hashem Sharaf al-Din underscored that enemies are unable to undermine Yemen’s military capabilities, as its government and nation are standing firm in the face of their vicious and terrorist attacks.

This came hours after the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces announced in a statement that the country’s missile units had carried out a military operation against an Israeli military target in Tel Aviv, using a hypersonic Palestine 2 ballistic missile

Brigadier General Yahya Saree noted that the missile strike was in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and successfully achieved its desired objectives.

The Yemeni Armed Forces will continue their operations, and will strike all Israeli facilities within the occupied territories, Saree pointed out, adding that such strikes will not stop unless the ongoing aggression on Gaza ends and the siege is completely lifted.

Early on Monday, American and British warplanes conducted a joint airstrike on targets at the Midi district in Yemen’s northern province of Hajjah.

US and British military aircraft also targeted a number of locations in the At Tuhayta district of the strategic western province of Hudaydah. Details on potential human or material losses from the strikes were not quickly disclosed.

Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the territory’s resistance movements carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity.

The Yemeni armed forces have said they will not stop their attacks as long as Israel continues its ground and aerial offensives in Gaza.

So far, Israel has killed at least 45,028 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 106,962 others in Gaza.

In October, the US military unleashed B-2 stealth bombers to bomb Yemen in support of Israel. Since then, attacks against Yemen have continued in a bid to halt the retaliatory attacks by Sana'a. 

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