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u.s. news Diahuebs 29 september 2022

Biden keeps US target for refugee admissions at 125,000

(AP) — President Joe of the 2021 budget year. He
Biden on Tuesday kept the then set the target at 125,000 The 125,000 target "is justi-
nation's cap on refugee ad- for the 2022 budget year, fied by humanitarian con-
missions at 125,000 for the which ends Sept. 30. But so cerns or is otherwise in the
2023 budget year, despite far fewer than 20,000 refu- national interest," Biden
pressure from advocates gees have been admitted. stated in his presidential de-
to raise it even higher to termination. Historically,
meet the need after falling That number excludes the the average has been 95,000
far short of that target this roughly 180,000 Ukrainians under both Republican and
year. and Afghans who came to Democratic administrations.
the United States via a legal
Refugees advocates have been process called humanitarian Biden earmarked 5,000 more
pushing the Biden adminis- parole that got them into the slots for people from Europe
tration to do more to restore country more quickly than and Central Asia for the 2023
the U.S. Refugee Admissions the traditional refugee pro- budget year, making room to
Program. The more than gram but only allows for stays accommodate those fleeing
four-decade-old program of up to two years. the war in Ukraine. Biden has struggled to restore head of Lutheran Immigra-
suffered deep cuts under the U.S. Refugee Program tion and Refugee Service,
the Trump administration, Refugees are provided a path The largest number of slots despite raising the numbers said the Biden administration
which slashed admissions to to permanent residency. — 40,000 — was set aside and removing bureaucratic must act now to improve the
a record low of 15,000. Their admissions are deter- for refugees from Africa, fol- barriers put in place by his refugee program with the
mined by the president each lowed by 35,000 from South predecessor, which slowed United Nations reporting
After taking office, Biden year, and federal funding for Asia and 15,000 each from the process and led to a mas- a record 100 million people
quadrupled the number of resettlement agencies is based East Asia, Europe and Latin sive backlog. being displaced from their
refugee admissions permit- on the number of people they America. homes.
ted for the remaining months resettle in a given year. Krish O'Mara Vignarajah,

Lawsuit demands San Francisco stop homeless camp sweeps

billions of dollars on af- on affordable housing has left The city does not give 72
fordable homes that will thousands forced to use tents hours notice in advance of
keep residents housed. and vehicles as shelter. An clearing an area or bag and
annual homelessness survey tag property for homeless
The Lawyers' Committee found 7,754 homeless people people to collect later, in
for Civil Rights of the San in 2022 with nearly 60% liv- violation of its own policies,
Francisco Bay Area and oth- ing unsheltered. according to the complaint.
ers filed the lawsuit in federal Homeless outreach workers
court on behalf of the Coali- Shroff acknowledged the do not know until hours after
tion on Homelessness and court can't order San Francis- people have been forced out
seven individuals who are co to build affordable hous- what kind of shelter, if any, is
homeless or at risk of becom- ing, but the group hopes the available that day.
ing homeless. Defendants lawsuit will push city leaders
include the city, several city in that direction. The lawsuit estimates San
departments and Mayor Lon- Francisco would need to
don Breed. The lawsuit asks the court to build nearly 6,700 new af-
order the city to stop pun- fordable units, which they es-
(AP) — Homeless people destroying the belong- The complaint states that San ishing homeless people for timate to cost $4.8 billion, to
and their advocates sued ings of people living on Francisco "presents the image sleeping and living on public house every person currently
the city of San Francisco the streets with nowhere of a caring municipality" with property until it has suffi- unhoused in San Francisco.
on Tuesday, demanding to go, and with the goal of a plan to address homeless- cient shelter to offer.
that it stop harassing and forcing the city to spend ness, but decades of inaction

Ian makes landfall in southwest Florida as Category 4 storm

(AP) — Hurricane Ian made Catastrophic storm surges could Hurricane Center.
landfall in southwest Florida near push 12 to 18 feet (3.6 to 5.5 meters)
Cayo Costa on Wednesday as a of water across more than 250 miles
catastrophic Category 4 storm. (400 kilometers) of coastline, from
Bonita Beach to Englewood, fore-
About 2.5 million people were or- casters warned.
dered to evacuate southwest Florida
before the storm hit the coast with Off the coast on Sanibel Island near
maximum sustained winds of 150 Fort Myers, swirling water flooded
mph (241 kph). It was heading inland, streets and was halfway up mailbox
where it was expected to weaken, at posts by mid-morning. Seawater
about 9 mph (14 kph), but residents rushed out of Tampa Bay, leaving
in central Florida could still experi- parts of the muddy bottom exposed,
ence hurricane-force winds. and waves crashed over the end of a
wooden pier at Naples.
The center of the massive Category
4 storm lingered offshore for hours, Fueled by warm waters in the Gulf
which was likely to mean more rain of Mexico, Ian grew to a Category 4
and damage from a hurricane that hurricane overnight with top winds
was trudging on a track that would of 155 mph (250 kph), on the thresh-
have it making landfall north of the old of the most dangerous Category
heavily populated Fort Myers area. 5 status, according to the National