US separates 2,000 children from parents at Mexico border
Washington, June 16 : The US government has separated at least 2,000 children from parents at the Mexico border since implementing a policy that results in such family separations, the Department of Homeland Security(DHS) has confirmed.
From April 19 through May 31 of this year, 1,995 minors travelling with 1,940 adults who said they were the children's guardians were separated due to the policy, CNN quoted DHS spokesman Jonathan Hoffman as saying on Friday.
According to Hoffman, the call was largely to defend the administration's decision to charge every adult caught crossing the border illegally with federal crimes, as opposed to referring those with children mainly to immigration courts, as previous administrations did.
Because the government is charging the parents in the criminal justice system, children are separated from them, with no clear procedure for their reunification aside from hotlines the parents can call to try to track their children down.
The policy to refer all adults for charges was publicly announced on May 7, though the Justice Department announced it would prosecute 100 per cent of the cases referred to it at the beginning of April.
"We make decisions based on the ability to detain and the ability of courts to take these cases, but we no longer exempt categories or classes of individuals," a DHS official said.
"By and large, we are accepting nearly all of the referrals that we get from our counterparts at DHS, we continue to work with the federal judiciary on practical solutions to differing caps that they have," CNN quoted a Justice Department official as saying.
"In terms of declining prosecution, we're not going to get into specifics." The UN has called on the US to immediately halt the separations, the BBC reported.
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Commuters bear brunt as labour union protest halts traffic at Delhi-Noida border
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New Delhi (PTI): Commuters faced a harrowing morning on Monday as a massive traffic jam brought vehicular movement to a near standstill at the Delhi-Noida border following a protest by a labour union demanding a salary hike.
The protest, which began early in the day, led to congestion on key arterial roads connecting Delhi and Noida, including NH 9, severely disrupting the office rush hour.
Long queues of vehicles were seen stretching for several kilometres, with many commuters stranded for hours.
A police source said that members of the labour union from Uttar Pradesh gathered near the border area were staging a demonstration, blocking portions of the road and slowing down traffic movement.
"Personnel from the Delhi Police and Noida Police were deployed to manage the situation and divert traffic, but the heavy volume of vehicles compounded the chaos," the source said.
Frustrated commuters took to social media platform X, urging authorities to intervene and clear the roads. Many complained of being stuck in unmoving traffic despite starting early to avoid peak-hour congestion.
An employee of a private company said she left her home at around 7:30 am but remained stuck in traffic for over an hour without any significant movement.
"There is no movement at all. People are getting down from vehicles and trying to figure out what's happening ahead," she said.
Authorities said efforts were underway to clear the congestion and restore smooth traffic flow as soon as possible.
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