CURRENT EVENTS - Easter - April 25

The Trump Administration Is Preparing to Send American Allies to Their Deaths​

If the Afghans in the United States are deported, they will likely be executed.​




“…While approximately 76,000 of these refugees arrived during Operation Allies Welcome, the military operation following the fall of Afghanistan, thousands more came under President Biden’s Operation Enduring Welcome, which created a pipeline for those Afghans left behind. The Trump administration has plans to shutter OEW.

In mid-April, the Trump administration announced plans to revoke 9,000 Afghans’ temporary protected status (TPS), which currently protects them from being deported to dangerous and unstable countries.

… Last week, the Department of Homeland Security sent emails to Afghan refugees telling them to “self-deport” back to Afghanistan.

At the same time, according to multiple people active in the Afghan-American community who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals, two Afghan refugees were improperly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and remain in custody.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration appears to be improving relations with the Taliban. Zalmay Khalizad, who served as Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation in both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, arrived in Kabul in late March, ostensibly to secure George Glezmann, an American citizen whom the Taliban released after kidnapping him in 2022. A few days later, the Trump administration removed the bounties on several Taliban officials including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s minister of interior. …”
 
nycfan said:

The Trump Administration Is Preparing to Send American Allies to Their Deaths​

If the Afghans in the United States are deported, they will likely be executed.​




“…While approximately 76,000 of these refugees arrived during Operation Allies Welcome, the military operation following the fall of Afghanistan, thousands more came under President Biden’s Operation Enduring Welcome, which created a pipeline for those Afghans left behind. The Trump administration has plans to shutter OEW.

In mid-April, the Trump administration announced plans to revoke 9,000 Afghans’ temporary protected status (TPS), which currently protects them from being deported to dangerous and unstable countries.

… Last week, the Department of Homeland Security sent emails to Afghan refugees telling them to “self-deport” back to Afghanistan.

At the same time, according to multiple people active in the Afghan-American community who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals, two Afghan refugees were improperly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and remain in custody.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration appears to be improving relations with the Taliban. Zalmay Khalizad, who served as Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation in both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, arrived in Kabul in late March, ostensibly to secure George Glezmann, an American citizen whom the Taliban released after kidnapping him in 2022. A few days later, the Trump administration removed the bounties on several Taliban officials including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s minister of interior. …”
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When billions in emergency funds were stalled, the Trump administration sped FEMA money to some GOP-led states​


amp.cnn.com

When billions in emergency funds were stalled, the Trump administration sped FEMA money to some GOP-led states | CNN Politics

At a time when critical funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has slowed to a crawl, some states — with Republican governors — have been luckier than others in prying money loose.
amp.cnn.com amp.cnn.com

“At a time when critical funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has slowed to a crawl, some states — with Republican governors — have been luckier than others in prying money loose.

The Trump administration directed FEMA to prioritize payments to GOP-led Missouri and Virginia in recent weeks, while some other states’ requests weren’t being filled, according to multiple sources and internal communications obtained by CNN.

The situation has raised concerns at FEMA that the White House is playing politics with critical emergency management funds…

… FEMA staff first received orders to prioritize payments for Missouri, after state officials warned the Department of Homeland Security that they would have to lay off state emergency management personnel if the funds didn’t arrive quickly, according to internal emails obtained by CNN.

Homeland security officials forwarded Missouri’s request to FEMA, and within 24 hours, the agency’s acting administrator instructed staff to start paying the state. At the time, extremely little money was getting out of FEMA, multiple sources tell CNN.

…In the weeks that followed, Missouri began receiving various previously paused grants, even as other states were forced to wait for a range of FEMA funds – including, in some cases, disaster assistance – multiple sources tell CNN.

… Last week, another directive went out to FEMA staff: prioritize payments for Virginia.

The request came from the White House, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. It is unclear which specific funds were prioritized.

A DHS spokesperson would not clarify why Missouri and Virginia were singled out for priority but reiterated that grants are greenlit based solely on need.

…
Yet some inside FEMA argue the unfreezing of federal funding goes beyond leveraging working relationships.

“This is politicization of grant funds and disaster assistance like we’ve never seen before,” a second FEMA official told CNN.

FEMA payments have started flowing more freely in recent weeks, but the agency is still working through its backlog [due to a pause on funding for review to confirm compliance with Trump Executive Orders], which has proved consequential for some of the recipients.

…
As FEMA greenlit some payments, North Carolina was waiting on more than $150 million in disaster assistance for its recovery from Hurricane Helene, according to the state’s office of emergency management.

North Carolina Emergency Management spokesman Justin Graney told CNN more than half of that backlog has now been cleared, but the ongoing delays have been detrimental to their recovery efforts as the state waits to be reimbursed by the federal government…”
 
nycfan said:

When billions in emergency funds were stalled, the Trump administration sped FEMA money to some GOP-led states​


amp.cnn.com

When billions in emergency funds were stalled, the Trump administration sped FEMA money to some GOP-led states | CNN Politics

At a time when critical funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has slowed to a crawl, some states — with Republican governors — have been luckier than others in prying money loose.
amp.cnn.com amp.cnn.com

“At a time when critical funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has slowed to a crawl, some states — with Republican governors — have been luckier than others in prying money loose.

The Trump administration directed FEMA to prioritize payments to GOP-led Missouri and Virginia in recent weeks, while some other states’ requests weren’t being filled, according to multiple sources and internal communications obtained by CNN.

The situation has raised concerns at FEMA that the White House is playing politics with critical emergency management funds…

… FEMA staff first received orders to prioritize payments for Missouri, after state officials warned the Department of Homeland Security that they would have to lay off state emergency management personnel if the funds didn’t arrive quickly, according to internal emails obtained by CNN.

Homeland security officials forwarded Missouri’s request to FEMA, and within 24 hours, the agency’s acting administrator instructed staff to start paying the state. At the time, extremely little money was getting out of FEMA, multiple sources tell CNN.

…In the weeks that followed, Missouri began receiving various previously paused grants, even as other states were forced to wait for a range of FEMA funds – including, in some cases, disaster assistance – multiple sources tell CNN.

… Last week, another directive went out to FEMA staff: prioritize payments for Virginia.

The request came from the White House, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. It is unclear which specific funds were prioritized.

A DHS spokesperson would not clarify why Missouri and Virginia were singled out for priority but reiterated that grants are greenlit based solely on need.

…
Yet some inside FEMA argue the unfreezing of federal funding goes beyond leveraging working relationships.

“This is politicization of grant funds and disaster assistance like we’ve never seen before,” a second FEMA official told CNN.

FEMA payments have started flowing more freely in recent weeks, but the agency is still working through its backlog [due to a pause on funding for review to confirm compliance with Trump Executive Orders], which has proved consequential for some of the recipients.

…
As FEMA greenlit some payments, North Carolina was waiting on more than $150 million in disaster assistance for its recovery from Hurricane Helene, according to the state’s office of emergency management.

North Carolina Emergency Management spokesman Justin Graney told CNN more than half of that backlog has now been cleared, but the ongoing delays have been detrimental to their recovery efforts as the state waits to be reimbursed by the federal government…”
Click to expand...
“… As FEMA’s previously awarded funds trickle out of the agency, the White House has also recently denied additional disaster relief to two states with Democratic leadership.

This month, the Trump administration notified North Carolina that it would no longer fully reimburse the state for funding used to support the recovery from Hurricane Helene.

Such a decision is common months after a destructive natural disaster. Yet during the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly lambasted FEMA’s response in North Carolina, saying the agency had failed to provide adequate resources to hurricane survivors.

… The administration also denied Washington state’s request for $34 million in additional disaster assistance to help in its recovery from last year’s “bomb cyclone,” which killed two people and destroyed homes and infrastructure, saying the funding “is not warranted.”

“There are very clear criteria to qualify for these emergency relief funds. Washington’s application met all of them,” Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, wrote in a statement after Trump’s denial. “This is another troubling example of the federal government withholding funding.”

Ferguson, like Stein, has vowed to appeal the decision.“
 

Scoop: Musk vs. Bessent dispute erupted into West Wing shouting match​



“Elon Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessentgot into a heated shouting match in earshot of President Trump and other officials in the White House last week during a dispute about the IRS, two witnesses and three sources briefed on the matter tell Axios.

…
  • "It wasn't a fight about right or wrong. It was about control," another administration official familiar with the disagreement said. …
  • "Scott can't stand" Musk. "That goes pretty deep and pretty far back. But he's acting like a grown-up about it."…”
 
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