International

Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard moved to US military base

AFP

Fifty or so migrants sent to the wealthy island of Martha’s Vineyard in the northeastern United States as part of a political battle over immigration will be temporarily housed at a military base not far from there, the governor of Massachusetts said Friday.

The migrants, mostly Venezuelans and including children, arrived Wednesday at Martha’s Vineyard, a Democratic stronghold and popular vacation spot for the country’s political elite.

They had been put on board flights from Texas which the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, says he chartered.

Despite local mobilization to help the new arrivals, the island is “not equipped to provide sustainable accommodation, and state officials developed a plan to deliver a comprehensive humanitarian response,” said a statement from the administration of Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican.

State authorities on Friday offered to move the migrants, on a voluntary basis, to temporary accommodation at the nearby Joint Base Cape Cod.

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“Families will not be separated,” the statement said, noting that the base had previously served as an emergency shelter and that the migrants would have access to care and legal services.

According to local media, the migrants were on their way to the base by midday Friday.

Some of them had said they had not known they were being sent to an island.

Human trafficking

Local Democrat legislator Julian Cyr called for an investigation.

“Whether or not this meets the legal threshold for human trafficking, this meets the moral threshold of human trafficking,” he told local television, adding that he hoped the Department of Justice would look into the incident.

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Sending migrants to Democratic strongholds has become a political cudgel for the American right as a means of denouncing President Joe Biden’s immigration policy, which they say has allowed undocumented migrants to cross the border with Mexico in large numbers.

It is also a way to try to place immigration at the center of the campaign for the midterm elections in November.

On Thursday morning, two buses carrying migrants arrived near the official residence of Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, a place chosen on purpose because she is overseeing the explosive issue of immigration for the White House. They had been sent by Texas’s Republican Governor Greg Abbott.

The White House on Friday again slammed the Republican governors’ tactics towards people who have fled the socialist regime in Venezuela.

“These were children. They were moms. They were fleeing communism. And what did Governor DeSantis and Governor Abbott do to them? They use them as political pawns, treating them like chattel in a cruel, premeditated political stunt,” said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.

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“These are the kinds of tactics we see from smugglers in places like Mexico and Guatemala. And for what? A photo op?” she said.

But DeSantis shot back by mocking the fact that the migrants had been transferred off the wealthy island.

“By the way, they already bussed them out. They said, ‘We want everyone. No one’s illegal.’ And they’re gone within 48 hours,” he said.

International

Florida judge sets 2027 trial in Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against BBC

A federal judge in Florida has scheduled February 2027 for the trial in the lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump against the BBC, in which he is seeking $10 billion in damages for defamation.

Trump accuses the British broadcaster of airing a misleading edit of a speech he delivered on January 6, 2021, which, he says, made it appear that he explicitly urged his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

The president filed the suit in December in federal court in Florida, alleging defamation and violations of a law governing business practices when the program was broadcast ahead of the 2024 election.

Trump is seeking $5 billion in damages for each of the two claims.

Lawyers for the BBC unsuccessfully asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that Trump had not suffered a “legally recognizable harm,” since the investigative program Panorama, which included the edited footage, aired outside the United States.

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International

Head-of-state diplomacy key to guiding China–U.S. ties, Beijing says

Head-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China–United States relations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Thursday during a regular press briefing, when asked about high-level exchanges between the two sides.

Lin added that in a recent phone call, U.S. President Donald Trump once again expressed his intention to visit China in April, while Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated his invitation.

Both sides remain in communication regarding the matter, the spokesperson said.

Lin noted that the essence of China–U.S. economic and trade ties lies in mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.

“Both parties should work together to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, injecting greater certainty and stability into China–U.S. economic and trade cooperation, as well as into the global economy,” he said.

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International

Trump administration to end special immigration operation in Minnesota

The administration of Donald Trump is bringing to a close its special operation targeting illegal immigration in the northern state of Minnesota, border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday, following weeks of unrest and the fatal shootings of two activists by federal agents.

Thousands of federal officers had been deployed to Minnesota in December to carry out large-scale raids against undocumented immigrants.

The operations triggered strong reactions from residents and advocacy groups, leading to daily confrontations and the deaths of two people who were shot by federal agents.

“I proposed, and President Trump agreed, that this special operation should end in Minnesota,” Homan said during a press conference in the state capital, Minneapolis.

“A significant drawdown began this week and will continue into next week,” he added.

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Homan indicated that similar enforcement efforts could be launched in other cities.

“Next week we will redeploy the agents currently here back to their home stations or to other parts of the country where they are needed. But we will continue to enforce immigration laws,” he said.