Mexico officials abused 47% of migrants awaiting US asylum, rights group says
Nearly half of asylum-seekers returned to Mexico under the “Remain in Mexico” program to await a U.S. immigration court hearing said they’d been abused by local officials, according to a Human Rights First report released Thursday.
The U.S.-based human rights organization reviewed 2,688 interviews of asylum-seekers conducted between January and August. Most of the migrants were from Latin America, and 47% said they’d been robbed or extorted by Mexican government officials, including immigration agents and security forces.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has focused his immigration strategy on regional development, insists that his government doesn’t tolerate corruption or abuse by security forces. He celebrated the decision to scale back the U.S. program, saying in August that Mexico had never agreed to be a “camp for migrants who are waiting for a resolution in the United States.”
The Biden administration sought to end the program, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, which was implemented during the government of former President Donald Trump in 2019 to deter asylum-seekers. The program was shuttered after a protracted legal battle.
—Bloomberg News
Hollywood school student detained in connection with teen girl’s fentanyl overdose death
LOS ANGELES — A Bernstein High School student was detained Thursday in connection with the death of another student who died at the Hollywood school after ingesting fentanyl-laced pills, according to authorities.
A law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times that a teenager was detained by the Los Angeles Police Department for questioning. At about 9 p.m. Tuesday, LAPD officers responded to a possible overdose at the school, located in the 1300 block of North Wilton Place, according to a police news release.
A girl, who was suffering from a possible overdose, told her stepfather that her friend was in the girls’ bathroom, police said. The parent and a school employee found an unresponsive student inside the bathroom and attempted live-saving measures.
The Los Angeles Fire Department arrived and pronounced the girl dead at the scene. The other student was taken to a local hospital in stable condition. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office identified the deceased girl as 15-year-old Melanie Ramos.
Ten students, including the four from Tuesday night, have overdosed in the last three weeks from drugs obtained at Lexington Park, located just a few blocks from Bernstein, according to Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
—Los Angeles Times
Miami school district says it denied Pulitzer play due to racy scenes. Others say censorship
MIAMI — Days after the Miami-Dade County School District denied students from attending Miami New Drama’s production of Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Anna in the Tropics,” school officials pointed to lines and imagery they considered to be “sexually explicit” or inappropriate for school-aged children.
Among the examples cited were comments between characters, such as “I would’ve shot the son of (expletive) a long time ago,” and a stage note that referenced lovemaking on top of a table. There’s also a description “of what lovers do” and a violent passage in which a character reads from Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel “Anna Karenina.”
In total, the school district objected to nine parts of the script.
The decision to prevent students from seeing the play as part of the district’s Cultural Passport program came after a script review process that included two curriculum support specialists, the supervisor of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, the administrative director, and the assistant superintendent over the Division of Academics. The district did not identify the names of the people in those positions.
—Miami Herald
Zelenskyy says mass burial site found in newly liberated Izyum
KIEV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that a mass grave was found in the north-eastern city of Izyum, which was retaken from Russian forces just days ago.
"A mass burial site was found in Izyum, Kharkiv region. The necessary procedural actions have already begun there. There should be more information — clear, verified information — tomorrow," Zelenskyy said in a Thursday evening address.
"We want the world to know what is really happening and what the Russian occupation has led to," the Ukrainian leader said. "Bucha, Mariupol, now, unfortunately, Izyum... Russia leaves death everywhere. And it must be held accountable for that."
Hundreds of bodies were found in the Kiev suburb of Bucha after Russian troops withdrew in early April. Russian soldiers have been accused of committing war crimes against civilians there.
—dpa
