Category World News

According to Thai authorities, heavy rain has impacted southern Thailand, leaving thousands of people stranded and at least 33 people dead. Tony Cheng from Al Jazeera joined local volunteers in delivering aid by boat to stranded residents.

Despite acknowledging that some of the country’s “remaining concerning,” the administration of US President Donald Trump has announced it plans to remove hundreds of thousands of Haitians from their temporary immigration protections.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS) announced its intention to sever Haitians’ Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, on February 3 with a notice in the Federal Register on Wednesday.

According to estimates from the government, 352, 959 Haitian nationals and stateless people of Haitian descent are expected to be affected.

The draft version of the notice will go into effect on Friday.

The Department of Homeland Security aimed to walk a fine line in explaining its decision. On the one hand, it claimed that Haiti’s violent gangs and instability were US threats to national security.

On the other hand, it argued that Haiti’s current TPS-protected citizens should return.

According to the department, canceling Haiti’s program would be equivalent to granting Haiti’s future a vote of confidence.

The notice reads, “The end of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti represents a necessary and wise decision to accept the new chapter in which Haiti is heading.”

The United States cannot signal doubt from afar while calling for bold change on the ground.

Temporary Protected Status is a temporary measure of protection for foreign applicants who are already residing in the United States but discover that conflict, natural disasters, or other pressing circumstances have made things unsafe there.

The program grants legal residency and employment authorization to recipients.

Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen were among the 17 nations whose citizens were protected by various TPS programs at the start of the year.

However, the Trump administration has attempted to get rid of many TPS designations, claiming that doing so would conflict with American national interests.

The rollback is a part of a larger trend to reduce immigration to the US and implement what Trump has vowed will be the “largest deportation in the history of our country.”

However, critics warn that some foreign nationals could find themselves in danger if TPS is repealed and protections are not extended.

A humanitarian crisis

The island nation was first impacted by a catastrophic, 7.0-magnitude earthquake on January 21, 2010, prompting the launch of the TPS program for Haitian citizens.

According to US government statistics, nearly 1.7 million people were displaced from their homes and nearly 222, 570 people were killed.

Haiti experienced its first cholera outbreak in nearly a century that year. The disease’s spread at the time was the cause of a estimated 10,000 fatalities, and a new resurgence since 2022 has resulted in thousands more.

Haiti has long struggled with underadequate housing, food scarcity, and lack of health care because it is regarded as the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere.

The Haitian government’s corruption and upheaval, as well as the spread of gang violence, have made these issues worse.

National elections were indefinitely postponed in 2019, and Jovenel Moise, the president, was murdered in his Petionville home in 2021. Since then, no one has taken his place, and late 2026 saw another round of national elections delayed.

The last Haitian National Assembly members who were democratically elected were given a 2023 term that was up.

Although the transitional presidential council’s nine members currently hold office, its terms are set to expire in February.

Gangs and other criminal organizations have taken control of as much as 90% of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, without the support of the government.

As the gangs’ reach expanded, there have been more human rights violations. At least 1, 617 people were killed in the violence just this year between April and June. In 2024, the death toll was 5, 600, an increase over 2023.

Due to the fighting, at least 1.4 million people are currently being driven from their homes.

Appellate in court

However, according to Trump officials, the previous administration, under President Joe Biden, had a right to refuse to grant Haitians and other foreigners TPS extensions.

Trump has criticized Biden for allowing unrestricted entry into the US and attempted to thwart some of his predecessor’s efforts.

The Biden administration approved the most recent TPS extension for Haitians in July 2024, extending the protections for an additional 18 months.

However, under Trump’s orders, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in February that she would “partially vacate” the extension, reducing it from 18 months to 12 months.

No later than September 2, that would have required Haitians using TPS to flee the nation or seek alternative immigration routes.

The highest level of danger is currently indicated by the US State Department’s category four travel advisory, which is currently in effect for Haiti. It mentions the country’s current state of emergency and points out that there are threats of “kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and limited health care.”

The State Department advises against visiting Haiti on its website, “Do not travel there for any reason.”

Plaintiffs have argued that restricting the extension is not only irresponsible but also illegal.

As she and 18 other state prosecutors filed an amicus brief to stop the TPS revocation, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement earlier this year, “Revoking Haitians’ legal immigration status that has kept them safe with their families in the US is cruel and dangerous.”

“New York and this country would not be the same without the Haitian immigrants who have greatly impacted our communities, neighborhoods, and local economies.”

Racial animus has been raised by some of the legal challenges to the Trump administration’s decision.

For instance, Trump made racist and unfounded accusations about Haitian immigrants living in the US, including that they eat neighborhood pets while campaigning for re-election in 2024.

One of the cases referred to as Haitian Evangelical Clergy Association v. Trump was heard in a federal court in New York in July.

Judge Brian Coban ruled that extending the deadline was “arbitrary and capricious” and “violated plaintiffs’ due process rights.”

However, his ruling made it possible for the Trump administration to simply allow the current extension period to expire, as it does in Wednesday’s notice.

disputing the expiration date

Noem contends that an end to the program is necessary in light of the notice announcing the end of the TPS protections.

The Secretary stated in the notice that while the current situation in Haiti is concerning, the United States must prioritize its national interests. It is against the American people’s interests to permit Haitian nationals to temporarily reside in the country.

Additionally, it referred to Judge Coban’s July ruling as “interference” with executive branch operations.

Noem is alleged to have determined that Haiti’s extraordinary and temporary circumstances shouldn’t prevent TPS recipients from “returning in safety.”

However, it maintained that the government was unable to extend the TPS program because “even if the Department found that there were circumstances that were extraordinary.”

According to the notice, Haitian immigrants are still arriving in large numbers in the US.

Additionally, it highlighted the threat of organized crime and gangs in Haiti. As part of a wider crackdown against Latin American criminal networks, the Trump administration earlier this year referred to two Haitian organizations, Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif, as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

The absence of a central government in Haiti was also highlighted in the notice. According to the statement, “This lack of government control has directly impacted US public safety and destabilized Haiti internally.”

Noem’s assertion that Haiti has experienced “positive developments” was still underlined by this assertion.

For instance, the UN Security Council approved the creation of a gang-suppression force to aid Haiti’s police in October.

A Kenya-led, UN-endorsed multinational mission that has struggled to stop gang violence in Haiti would take the place of that initiative.

The notice claimed that granting TPS protections would undermine Haiti’s recovery goals.

According to the notice, “Our immigration policy must align with our foreign policy vision of a secure, sovereign, and self-reliant Haiti.”

However, it made a fair assessment of Haiti’s safety. Only “areas of the country are acceptable to return to,” it said.

The killing of a Bedouin couple south of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, was expected to cause yet another week of sectarian hostility there.

The couple, who was discovered dead on Sunday, were a well-known Sunni Bani Khaled tribe. Their alleged murderers had scrawled sectarian slogans on the walls next to their bodies.

Homs, a city known for having a diverse religious makeup, was furious. Tribal members called for the start of shootings at homes with Alawite majority in the neighborhoods where they lived. Additionally, on Tuesday, a religious leader from the Alawite community called for significant demonstrations in Latakia and Tartous, both of which were held in the religious minority’s traditional heartlands.

However, in the almost one year since Bashar al-Assad’s fall, Syria has yet to experience another outbreak of sectarian violence, unlike on a number of occasions, such as in the coastal areas in March and again in Suwayda in July. The Minister of Interior and Defense sent security forces to the area, which helped bring the situation under control. The Syrian government imposed a curfew.

How perilous is Syria’s potential for sectarian violence? What steps is the government taking to stop it? And why are some Syrian minority communities concerned about their future?

What was the government’s response to the violence?

After some violent protests against the killing of some tribal members in Homs’ Alawite neighbourhoods, the government appears to have acted quickly to calm the conflict. Although monitoring organizations claimed dozens of injuries, no casualties were officially reported.

Working with tribal leaders, government security forces eased tensions and detained 120 of the violence’s perpetrators.

In contrast to earlier this year’s incidents along the Syrian coast and in Suwayda, when tribes reportedly affiliated with the government mobilized and reportedly contributed to widespread violence alongside armed fighters from minority groups, reports from the ground indicate that the deployment has had a positive effect in preventing violent clashes.

Even as it opened inquiries, the new Syrian government has received criticism internationally for failing to stop those attacks. The government has taken immediate action to prevent further clashes because international legitimacy is one of President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s top priorities.

The Syrian government, whose Sunni Muslim majority is in charge, has also questioned whether sectarianism was a factor in the killing of the Bedouin couple. Nour al-Din al-Baba, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, claimed that the sectarian messages found next to the bodies were intended to “mislead investigators and incite strife.”

Brigadier General Marhaf al-Naasan, the Homs Internal Security Commander, stated in a statement on Facebook that the government “strongly condemns this heinous crime and affirms that its goal is unmistakable sectarian rhetoric and stir up division within our community.”

What’s happening in Homs right now?

The curfew was lifted by Tuesday morning, but the sectarian tension persists.

Homs was credited by some activists as the savior of the revolution during the Syrian uprising that ultimately ended with al-Assad. The al-Assad regime, which was led by Alawite, had long been a source of oppression for members of its Sunni Muslim community.

Homs still has Sunni, Alawite, and Christian communities, despite being a multifaith, multiethnic and multicultural city.

Alawite in Homs have reported instances of discrimination, violence, and home eviction since al-Assad’s ouster in December 2024. Some Alawite emigrated from Syria to villages in the Akkar region of Lebanon after the coastal violence in March.

Since the Homs violence, what has happened elsewhere in Syria?

Homs was the site of protests along the coast, which is well known for its large Alawite communities, particularly in Latakia, where hundreds of people gathered.

The al-Azhari Roundabout, al-Hammam Square, and the agriculture roundabout in Latakia were the locations of protests. According to Enab Baladi, a local media outlet in Syria, there were also sit-ins in the city of Baniyas’ al-Qusur neighborhood.

Sit-ins in the Latakia or Tartous regions, including those in Jableh, Qardaha, Safita, Dreikish, Sheikh Badr, and others, demanded “the human right to live in safety and dignity” and opposed to the “killing of Alawites,” according to Enab Baladi.

Some protesters chanted “the Syrian people are one,” according to reports, while others called for federalism. Additionally, the new government’s plan to release Alawite prisoners was called.

The Supreme Alawite Islamic Council’s Ghazal Ghazal made the demand on Monday. Ghazal emailed his neighborhood to express his peaceful protests.

In Jableh and Banias, there was also a pro-government counterprotest. Security forces opened up two rival demonstrations, according to a report from Reuters. The government claimed that “unknown assailants also opened fire on security forces and civilians” according to Reuters.

Is Syria’s government at a turning point now?

Although it is still too early to say whether the government has been completely able to stop a new wave of sectarian violence, it is crucial that Homs’ situation do not turn into days of widespread violence in order to regain the trust of many people.

Lina Ghoutouk, a researcher and human rights expert in Syria, told Al Jazeera, “The communication from the government side was good.” It was obvious that this kind of violence, aggression, or sectarianism was completely unacceptable.

Ghoutouk argued that more work must be done to bring the tribes under the control of the state security forces.

She claimed that the root cause is unknown, which is the issue.