Latest Political refugees News

A volunteer network of interpreters wants to make refugees' languages more accessible. Will AI help?

Sep. 19, 2024 09:05 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — They may be Tigrinya speakers fleeing the authoritarian Eritrean government's indefinite military service policy. Or Rohingya people escaping ethnic violence in Myanmar. But refugees navigating resettlement often face a shared hurdle: poor machine translations and a short supply...

Vance touts deportation plan in Wisconsin city where tensions flared over refugee resettlement

Sep. 17, 2024 21:49 PM EDT

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) — Stephanie Hirsch remembers growing up in the western Wisconsin city of Eau Claire when the community welcomed newly arriving Hmong refugees from Southeast Asia. So Hirsch, now the Eau Claire city manager, said she was surprised at the hostility, fear and...

Ex-NYC federal building guard gets 5-year sentence in charge related to sex assault of asylum seeker

Sep. 13, 2024 18:55 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A former security guard at a federal building in New York City where the FBI has its offices was sentenced Friday to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge related to the sexual assault of an asylum seeker. Jimmy Solano-Arias, 45, of the Bronx was...

Human rights group calls on governments to protect Venezuelan and Haitian immigrants

Sep. 11, 2024 13:59 PM EDT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A global human rights watchdog on Wednesday called on Latin American governments to improve protection schemes, grant legal status and reverse “onerous visa requirements” for millions of Haitians and Venezuelans who have struggled to find work, access to health care...

Germany's expansion of border controls is testing European unity

Sep. 10, 2024 13:38 PM EDT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The German government says it is cracking down on irregular migration and crime following recent extremist attacks, and plans to extend temporary border controls to all nine of its frontiers next week. Last month, a deadly knife attack by a Syrian...

Germany expands border controls to curb irregular migration and extremism risks

Sep. 09, 2024 13:13 PM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's government ordered temporary controls at all land borders Monday, expanding checks it already has in place at some borders, saying that it was responding to irregular migration and to protect the country from extremist threats. “We are strengthening our...

Belgium's top migration official criticizes Hungary for threatening to bus migrants to Brussels

Sep. 09, 2024 10:30 AM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s top migration official on Monday criticized Hungary for threatening to send a bus convoy of migrants to Brussels in retaliation against European Union policies and suggested they would be stopped at the border. Hungary’s anti-immigrant government...

Man sentenced to 9 years in prison following far-right riot at hotel in England

Sep. 06, 2024 13:31 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) — A man who helped fuel a fire outside a hotel housing more than 200 asylum-seekers was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison, the longest punishment handed so far to those involved in last month’s wave of far-right riots in England. At the sentencing hearing at...

Hungary signals it's serious about sending buses of asylum seekers to EU headquarters

Sep. 06, 2024 06:53 AM EDT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's anti-immigrant government signaled Friday that it is serious about implementing a plan to provide asylum seekers free one-way travel to Brussels, a measure meant to pressure the European Union into relenting on heavy fines against the country for its restrictive...

Rights group alleges Lebanon and Cyprus violated refugees' human rights and EU funds paid for it

Sep. 04, 2024 02:54 AM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — European aid sent to Lebanon in an attempt to regulate migration by sea is funding practices that violate human rights, according to a global watchdog report published Wednesday. As part of a policy to contain migration, authorities in Cyprus have physically pushed...