From Europe and the Middle East to South America and the Asian Pacific, the lives of an increasing number of migrants and asylum seekers are being put on hold. Governments in various countries are struggling to resolve the contradiction between the universal desire to travel to find prosperity and the difficulties societies encounter in welcoming newcomers.
Even the world’s most powerful country, one that built itself on the idea that all are created equal and have the right to pursue happiness, can find itself immobilised by this conundrum. In the south of the US, along the border with Mexico, local and federal authorities are failing to provide for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people.
After illegal border crossings dropped during the Covid-19 pandemic, numbers are surging once again. In the opening months of 2021, almost 180,000 people have moved towards the area from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. A great deal of them have already attempted the dangerous journey into the US. Many are asylum seekers, and some are even unaccompanied children, who live all too frequently without specialist housing and educational facilities in an area that is home to some of the country's most violent drug cartels.
Many children attempt the crossing, with some even travelling alone. Reuters
In 2021, almost 180,000 people have moved towards the border
The National recently reported on the work of Felicia Rangel-Samponaro, a Texan woman who is distributing vital provisions and organising education for many lone and stranded young people. Despite the dangers of violence in the area, Ms Rangel-Samponaro continues to cross from the US to provide, as much as she can, services that many believe should be the concern of the American state.
Perhaps most remarkably of all, Ms Rangel-Samponaro, a former teacher, founded an unofficial "pavement school" in the Mexican border city of Matamoros, enlisting the help of educated migrants that had also been turned back from the crossing. She pays teachers a living wage, and students have a chance to continue their educations.
Ms Rangel-Samponaro has been undertaking her mission on the Mexican side of the border since November 2018. She felt compelled to do so after hearing the anti-asylum seeker rhetoric of former US president Donald Trump. And yet, with a new administration well into its first months in office, her work, unfortunately, remains as important as ever.
President Joe Biden made his opposition to Mr Trump's immigration policies a central part of his election campaign, reaping the political capital of the many Americans who opposed the former president's approach. Months into his new administration, Mr Biden has not done enough to fulfill his pledges, inaction on a major campaign promise.
Most importantly, it is a betrayal of the many vulnerably people America should be helping. As Ms Rangel-Samponaro put it, "These asylum seekers belong to us... The US asylum seekers are our responsibility.”
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah 5.10pm: Continous 5.45pm: Raging Torrent 6.20pm: West Acre 7pm: Flood Zone 7.40pm: Straight No Chaser 8.15pm: Romantic Warrior 8.50pm: Calandogan 9.30pm: Forever Young
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
Price: from Dh285,000
On sale: from January 2022
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Company profile
Date started: Founded in May 2017 and operational since April 2018
Founders: co-founder and chief executive, Doaa Aref; Dr Rasha Rady, co-founder and chief operating officer.
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: Health-tech
Size: 22 employees
Funding: Seed funding
Investors: Flat6labs, 500 Falcons, three angel investors
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
Tickets range from Dh110 for an advance single-day pass to Dh300 for a weekend pass at the door. VIP tickets have sold out. Visit www.mefcc.com to purchase tickets in advance.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area. Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife. Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”. He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale. Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Quick facts on cancer
Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases
About one in five men and one in six women will develop cancer in their lifetime
By 2040, global cancer cases are on track to reach 30 million
70 per cent of cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries
This rate is expected to increase to 75 per cent by 2030
At least one third of common cancers are preventable
Genetic mutations play a role in 5 per cent to 10 per cent of cancers
Up to 3.7 million lives could be saved annually by implementing the right health strategies
The total annual economic cost of cancer is $1.16 trillion
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
