GENEVA: Hit hard by US aid funding cuts, the UN migration agency is battling claims from current and former staff of now pandering to Washington and providing cover for mass deportations.
Like many humanitarian agencies, the International Organization for Migration has been reeling since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, pushing an anti-migrant agenda and immediately freezing most US foreign aid funding.
“These funding cuts directly affect IOM’s ability to support some of the world’s most vulnerable people,” an IOM spokesperson said, warning this would “lead to more suffering, increased migration, and greater insecurity.”
The United Nations agency, which at the end of last year employed around 22,000 people, has already laid off thousands.
It has also been accused of allowing its assisted voluntary return (AVR) program to be used to “bluewash” — or give a UN stamp of approval — to Trump’s mass deportation scheme.
IOM announced on February 1 that it was scaling up its efforts across Latin America and the Caribbean “to help migrants return home, reintegrate and rebuild their lives.”
It said it had resumed its AVR programs in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as Panama, which with Costa Rica has reached an agreement to take in migrants from other countries deported by the United States.
Describing its activities as “a lifeline for stranded migrants,” it said it aimed to provide “urgent support” to those “unable or unwilling to remain where they are and need help to return home safely and with dignity.”
“Without this vital support, conditions for the people impacted would be far worse,” the spokesperson insisted.
But one of the thousands of IOM employees who received notice last month warned it looked “like there is an effort to align ourselves with the administration.”
This was “very concerning,” she said, asking not to be named.
“It really looks very bad for IOM’s reputation,” agreed a former agency staff member, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
The criticisms come as the IOM seeks its footing after the threat that all US funding — accounting for around 40 percent of its total financing — could evaporate indefinitely.
“We have to make some really hard decisions about staff because we simply can’t afford to pay staff when we’re not actually being paid for our work,” IOM chief Amy Pope said recently.
The biggest impact so far has been seen in connection with the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), since the Trump administration has suspended all refugee entries into the country.
Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden embraced the program designed to facilitate legal resettlement of vetted refugees, resettling over 100,000 refugees in the United States last year.
Trump’s sudden about-face prompted the IOM last month to send pink slips to 3,000 staff, warning more “adjustments” were likely.
“It was quite a shock,” the dismissed staff member said.
Another former employee said staff were “appalled” by the swift pace of the layoffs.
Those at IOM headquarters in Geneva were especially bracing for more mass job cuts.
According to an internal memo from the IOM’s Global Staff Association Committee, seen by AFP, management last month ordered directors to slash a certain percentage of their department costs.
Word inside headquarters is that around one third of around 550 staff there will soon get the axe, the former employee said, with “managers under huge pressure to meet quotas.”
“People are terrified... They’ve got laser beams pointed at their heads.”
IOM staff and union representatives have sent complaints to management about the abrupt layoffs, warning of detrimental impacts on employees and on many of the tens of millions of migrants the organization serves.
Also sparking outrage was a report by the Devex news organization last month suggesting IOM had scrubbed its website of content that could be construed as promoting Trump’s bete noir — DEI (diversity, equality and inclusion).
IOM did not respond directly to that allegation but said it had “recently relaunched its global website following a year-long review, refining content to align with evolving contexts and in accordance with United Nations humanitarian principles.”
The laid-off employee said the Devex report “really hurt.”
“We can align ourselves with certain priorities of this (US) administration,” she said.
“But we shouldn’t lose our identity in the process.”
UN migration agency in turmoil after US aid freeze
https://arab.news/9c5x9
UN migration agency in turmoil after US aid freeze
- The UN agency, which at the end of last year employed around 22,000 people, has already laid off thousands
- The IOM announced on February 1 that it was scaling up its efforts across Latin America and the Caribbean
Supreme Court allows Trump to restart swift deportation of migrants away from their home countries
- Since some countries do not accept US deportations, the administration has reached agreements with other countries, including Panama and Costa Rica, to house them
WASHINGTON: A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to restart swift removals of migrants to countries other than their homelands, lifting for now a court order requiring they get a chance to challenge the deportations.
The high court majority did not detail its reasoning in the brief order, as is typical on its emergency docket. All three liberal justices dissented from the order.
It came after immigration officials put eight people on a plane to South Sudan in May. US District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston found that violated his court order giving people a chance to argue they could be in danger of torture if sent away from their home countries.
The migrants from countries including Myanmar, Vietnam and Cuba had been convicted of serious crimes in the US and immigration officials have said that they were unable to return them quickly to their home countries.
Authorities instead landed the plane at a US naval base in Djibouti, where the migrants were housed in a converted shipping container and the officers guarding them faced rough conditions even as immigration attorneys waited for word from their clients.
The case comes amid a sweeping immigration crackdown by Republican President Donald Trump’s administration, which has pledged to deport millions of people who are living in the United States illegally.
Since some countries do not accept US deportations, the administration has reached agreements with other countries, including Panama and Costa Rica, to house them. South Sudan, meanwhile, has endured repeated waves of violence since gaining independence in 2011.
Murphy’s order doesn’t prohibit deportations to third countries. But it says migrants must have a real chance to argue they could be in serious danger if sent to another country.
The justices have confronted a similar issue in Trump’s effort to send Venezuelans accused of being gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador with little chance to challenge the deportations in court.
In that case, the court said migrants must get a “reasonable time” to file a court challenge before being removed, and the majority blocked the administration from resuming the deportations while lower courts worked out exactly how long they should get.
The conservative-majority court has sided with Trump in other immigration cases, however, clearing the way for his administration to end temporary legal protections affecting a total of nearly a million immigrants.
The third-country deportation case has been one of several legal flashpoints as the administration rails against judges whose rulings have slowed the president’s policies.
Another order from Murphy, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, resulted in the Trump administration returning a gay Guatemalan man who had been wrongly deported to Mexico, where he says he had been raped and extorted. The man, identified in court papers as O.C.G, was the first person known to have been returned to US custody after deportation since the start of Trump’s second term.
US hit by first extreme heat wave of the year
- Heat records tumbled across parts of the US Northeast, including in Central Park, known as the lungs of Manhattan, where Monday’s temperature of 96 degrees broke a record that had stood since 1888, according to the National Weather Service
NEW YORK: A potentially life-threatening heat wave enveloped the eastern third of the United States on Monday impacting nearly 160 million people, with temperatures expected to climb to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in the New York metropolitan area.
The country’s first significant scorching heat of the year arrived over the weekend and peaks Monday and Tuesday in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City.
“This extreme heat will not just be uncomfortable and oppressive for New Yorkers,” warned Mayor Eric Adams, adding that each year heat claims the lives of 500 people in this city of eight million.
“It’s going to be brutal and dangerous if you do not treat it with the understanding that we want you to,” he added.
As sweltering heat enveloped the city, authorities urged seniors, people with health problems and those without air conditioning to stay hydrated and seek help at designated cooling centers such as libraries and recreation facilities.
Heat records tumbled across parts of the US Northeast, including in Central Park, known as the lungs of Manhattan, where Monday’s temperature of 96 degrees broke a record that had stood since 1888, according to the National Weather Service.
“Extreme Heat Warnings and Heat Adviseries across much of the eastern third of the country (are) affecting nearly 160 million people” across at least 29 states, the NWS reported.
“This level of HeatRisk is known for being rare and/or long duration with little to no overnight relief, and affects anyone without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration,” the agency warned.
Meteorologists are describing the intensifying weather pattern as a heat dome, a high-pressure system that traps air and leads to steadily rising thermal readings.
For many in the Big Apple, avoiding work in the searing heat was not an option.
“We have to endure it, because otherwise what are we going to survive on?” Manuel, a manual worker repairing a building facade in New York’s Harlem neighborhood, told AFP.
“Sometimes we stop because it’s a danger. We don’t all have the same energy, but you have to endure,” he added.
In the Washington Heights neighborhood, authorities opened several fire hydrants so residents could seek relief with the gushing water.
One of the local heroes was Ronald Marcelin, a 44-year-old air conditioning technician sweating profusely as he repaired a pizzeria’s AC unit.
“I’m taking the heat so that everyone else can cool down,” Marcelin said with a grin.
The soaring temperatures come just as New Yorkers head to the polls Tuesday for the Democratic primary that will decide the party’s mayoral candidate. This promises to be a tight race between Andrew Cuomo, who is seeking political resurrection after resigning in disgrace as state governor in 2021, and rising left-wing star Zohran Mamdami.
Over the weekend, Cuomo urged residents to cast their votes even if the temperatures hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
In Washington, the heat index — what the temperature feels like with humidity factored in — was forecast to soar to as high as 110 F on Monday, and the mayor’s office urged residents to take advantage of cooling centers.
Scientists say extreme heat waves are a clear sign of global warming, and they are expected to become more frequent, longer, and more intense.
Fueled by human-caused climate change, 2024 was the warmest year on record globally — and 2025 is projected to rank among the top three.
EU will not yield decision-making right in US tariff talks, says von der Leyen
- Her comments come amid speculation that Washington may be pressing Brussels into delaying the implementation of laws such as those on deforestation and online platforms or providing exemptions to US companies
BRUSSELS: The European Union will not give up its right to make policy decisions in negotiations with the United States to avert higher US tariffs on EU goods, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.
“Of course, we discuss tariff lines, we discuss non-tariff barriers, like standards and norms. For example, we discuss strategic purchases, we discuss all these topics,” von der Leyen told a news conference after an EU-Canada summit.
“But where it is the sovereign decision-making process in the European Union and its member states that is affected, this is too far,” she continued, adding this was an “untouchable.”
Her comments come amid speculation that Washington may be pressing Brussels into delaying the implementation of laws such as those on deforestation and online platforms or providing exemptions to US companies.
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte seeks dismissal of impeachment case
- The House of Representatives impeached Duterte in early February on charges of graft, corruption and an alleged assassination plot against one-time ally and former running mate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr
MANILA: Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte responded Monday to her Senate impeachment trial summons, demanding the case against her be dropped.
The House of Representatives impeached Duterte in early February on charges of graft, corruption and an alleged assassination plot against one-time ally and former running mate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
A guilty verdict in the Senate would result in her removal from office and permanent disqualification from politics.
A copy of Duterte’s reply to the summons delivered by messenger to House prosecutors on Monday afternoon called the complaint against her an abuse of the impeachment process.
“There are no statements of ultimate facts in the (impeachment complaint). Stripped of its ‘factual’ and legal conclusions, it is nothing more than a scrap of paper,” the response read.
It goes on to deny the allegations made against her as “false” and state that the Senate’s decision to remand the case to the House earlier this month removed her responsibility to answer them.
Duterte is currently on a trip to Australia where she is meeting with Filipino supporters.
Her summons was issued on June 10 after an hours-long Senate session that saw lawmakers convene as an impeachment court only to send the case back to the House, a decision one lawmaker called a “functional dismissal.”
Bangladesh detains Hasina era ex-election chief
- KM Nurul Huda is accused of rigging past polls in favor of former leader
DHAKA: A Bangladesh court on Monday remanded in custody the former elections chief for his alleged role in rigging the vote in favor of now-ousted autocrat Sheikh Hasina.
KM Nurul Huda, 77, was ordered to be detained for four days while questioning continues, a day after a mob who smashed into his home and assaulted him eventually handed him to the police.
On Sunday, the powerful Bangladesh Nationalist Party filed a case against Huda and other former election commissioners it accuses of rigging past polls in favor of Hasina, whose 15 years in power ended in an mass uprising in August 2024.
Interim leader Mohammed Yunus has said elections will be held in early April 2026 — the first in the South Asian nation of around 170 million people since the student-led revolt ousted Hasina.
Police put a helmet on Huda while taking him to the court for protection.
Yunus’s government warned last month that political power struggles risked jeopardizing gains that have been made, saying that holding elections by mid-2026 would give them time to overhaul democratic institutions.
Hasina’s rule saw widespread human rights abuses and her government was accused of politicizing courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided elections.
Hasina, 77, remains in self-imposed exile in India, where she fled after she was ousted last year.
She has defied orders to return to Dhaka to face charges amounting to crimes against humanity. Her trial in absentia continues.
