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(The Center Square) The U.S. House Oversight Committee is demanding that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas provide information about the departments catch-and-release policy through which its released millions of foreign nationals into the country.

The policy has been struck down by a federal judge in a lawsuit brought by Florida, ruling its illegal.

Mayorkas has claimed that through the policy the vast majority of those applying for asylum claiming credible fear passed an initial screening by federal agents. Those who claim credible fear say theyd be in imminent danger if they were forced to return to their home countries.

In aninterviewwith CNN last month, Mayorkas said, The vast majority of those individuals have not sought to evade law enforcement, but have actually surrendered themselves to law enforcement and made a claim for relief under our laws And so they make their claims, and the initial threshold for those claims under the law is lower than the ultimate asylum standard.

However, in aletterto Mayorkas, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, told Mayorkas, DHSs own data contradict your statements. Only a fraction of the illegal aliens DHS personnel apprehend receive a credible fear screening prior to being released into the country.

According to federal data for last December, for example, more than 140,000 of the 172,116 Title 8 apprehensions resulted in individuals being released into the U.S. but only 5,001 were referred for credible fear screenings. A similar pattern is reported in other months.

Because of contradictory data posted on various DHS websites, however, it is impossible to know the extent of DHSs catch and release policies, Comer said. Instead of referring the majority who were released for credible fear screenings, Comer argues, Mayorkas policy in most circumstances is to simply release illegal aliens into the country.

The committee requested DHS provide all documents and communications on how many people were released into the U.S. This includes how many were processed under Title 8 who claimed they planned to apply for asylum and how many were referred to a credible fear screening. Among them, the committee asked for data on how many received a positive credible fear determination and how many were detained during their pending asylum applications, were paroled into the U.S., released with a notice to appear, released on recognizance, or released with instructions to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for further processing (notice to report). The committee also asked how many received a negative credible fear determination.

It also asked for documents and communications about how many were processed under Title 8 who didnt claim asylum and how many of them were removed from the U.S., paroled into the U.S., released with a notice to appear, released on recognizance, or released with a notice to report.

The committee also asked for all documents and communications on how many were processed under Title 8 who were referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution for a violation of 8 U.S.C. 1326, which governs illegal entry and reentry into the U.S.

The request was madeaftermore than 1.6 million people were apprehended or reported evading capture by law enforcement after illegally entering the U.S. this fiscal year to date. Despite Mayorkas claiming the border is closed and secure and CBP reports its making progress on less apprehensions being reported, the committee says its investigating the Biden administrations creation of and failure to resolve the worst border crisis in American history.

U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell for the Northern District of Florida Pensacola Divisionruled the Biden administrations catch-and-release policy effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country by prioritizing alternatives to detention over actual detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the country on parole or pursuant to the exercise of prosecutorial discretion under a wholly inapplicable statute without even initiating removal proceedings.

He also said the administrations collective policies were akin to posting a flashing Come In, Were Open sign on the southern border.

See the article here:
House committee demands answers from Mayorkas on catch-and ... - Heartlander News

A record 35,500 migrants from Nicaragua were encountered at Americas southern border in December. So what did the Department of Homeland Security do? It added Nicaraguans to a lengthening list of foreign nationals who can use a reservation system to enter thiscountry.

DHS calls its system rigorous security vetting, but, in fact, the agency has no way to check for criminal histories in a diplomatically estranged nation that is a pariah of LatinAmerica.

The Migration Policy Institute reports that more than 200,000 Nicaraguans fled their country last year. In response, neighboring Costa Rica, the nearest landing spot, imposed new restrictions on incoming Nicaraguans, citing widespread abuse of the asylum system. Costa Rican officials said many are simply seeking economic opportunities (not legal grounds for asylum) and would not be at risk of harm or persecution in their native land. Rebuffed, tens of thousands have headednorth.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered Nicaraguan migrants nearly 165,000 times in fiscal 2022, a 52-fold increase over 2020. Notably, 57 percent who received a decision on asylum in U.S. immigration courts during 2022 wererejected.

Since the Biden administration is more about accommodating historic waves of migrants than actually securing the border, DHS in January added Nicaraguans along with Cubans, Venezuelans, and Haitians to a plethora of nationalities that have been entering the U.S. at designated ports of entry via their cellphones.

Using the bilingual CBP One app, migrants can schedule appointments with the agency and submit biographical information prior to arrival. According to one report, CBP One expedites the admission process while applying a thin veneer of legality. Migrants no longer have to enter illegally to be granted parole, allowing them to live and work here for years while their asylum applications languish in immigration court. All they have to do is show up at a port ofentry.

How convenient! No need to hang around the old country waiting for U.S. approval to fly to America. And yet how dangerous. CBP One is one more way the Biden administration encourages perilous journeys throughMexico.

The latest statistics seem to bear this out. Some 212,266 border encounters were reported in February, but only 128,877 were recorded by CBP, while the Office of Field Operations, which handles app entries, registered 83,389 encounters at legal ports ofentry.

Though the government did not break down the 83,389 encounters by nationality, FAIR says moving that number off the books is a ploy to mask the scope of illegal migration. One can only assume that the increase in app users is feeding the presidents illegal paroleprogram.

In theory, CBP One is a pre-legalization program that enables U.S. border officials to expeditiously process Nicaraguans and hundreds of thousands of other foreign nationals through biometric data, fingerprints, and personal testimonies of clean living backhome.

In reality, CBP is flying blind. Agents cannot possibly vet criminal histories from hostile or chaotic regimes that have no capacity to run such checks, or no interest in doingso.

For super-majorities of all the foreign nationals who have and will use this new ad hoc parallel immigration system, meeting the programs top requirement of rigorous security vetting will turn out to be all but impossible, writes Todd Bensman, of the Center for Immigration Studies. Security vetting for the entire program stands as an empty promise, an unfulfillable requirement that will bring danger into thenation.

Meantime, Managuas disregard for international law was on display last month when Daniel Ortegas regime brazenly flew 222 of his countrymen, purported political prisoners, into the United States without even bothering to consultWashington.

Nicaragua can save the jet fuel. When it comes to immigration enforcement and security, DHS is literally phoning it in at ourborder.

Read more:
Southern Border Security? DHS Phones It In For Nicaraguan Migrants - Federation for American Immigration Reform

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

ALACHUA, Fla. Nehemias Matias Perez, 23, was arrested late last night and charged with driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, and cocaine possession.

An Alachua Police Department officer responded at about 11:20 p.m. to a call about a car swerving between lanes on U.S. 441 near NW 151st Place. The officer reported that Perezs car was parked halfway in the lane of travel on NW 151st Place and that Perez was in the drivers seat with an odor of alcoholic beverages coming from the car.

The officer reported that Perez raised an alcoholic beverage and smiled in the direction of the officer. Perez got out of his car, then reportedly tried to urinate in front of the patrol car; he was then handcuffed and placed in the back of the patrol car.

A search of the car reportedly produced four empty containers of alcohol. A rolled dollar bill in the front passenger seat reportedly contained 0.1 grams of powdered cocaine. Perez also reportedly had powdered cocaine in one nostril and on his shirt.

Post Miranda, Perez reportedly admitted snorting one line of cocaine and consuming three Micheladas and two Modelos (the big ones). He reportedly performed poorly on field sobriety exercises, and his breath samples measured 0.211 and 0.213 (0.08 is legally intoxicated).

Perez has been charged with driving with an unlawful blood alcohol level and cocaine possession. He was cited for driving without a valid license (the officer reported that he has never had a valid U.S. license).

Perez has a federal conviction from 2016, and in 2020, he was arrested in Arizona for illegally crossing the border. Seven days later, he entered a plea of guilty to the charge and was sentenced to eight days in jail or time served; he was released the next day. Perez reportedly told an officer in his intake interview that he has lived in Alachua County for three years and works for a landscape services company; he provided an address in Alachua. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has indicated that they will pick him up.

Judge Thomas Jaworski set bail at $22,000 and required that Perez be fitted with a Transdermal Alcohol Detector and GPS monitor unless he is picked up by ICE.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Originally posted here:
Man who pled guilty to illegal immigration in Arizona arrested in ... - Alachua Chronicle

In fact, the new Hipstamatic social network looks very similar to early versions of Instagram allowing photographers to publish images to a chronological feed and share their snaps with friends or like-minded users. Its a simple format that Instagram itself has long since abandoned in favor of stuffing its platform with algorithms and features like Reels.

Hipstamatic seemingly has little interest in any of that, which could be good news for those frustrated by the modern Instagram experience. For example, users on Hipstamatic are limited to following a maximum of 99 people, distinguishing it from similar platforms and, hopefully, ensuring it remains a smaller community.

And, of course, the new platform still features Hipstamatics iconic camera filters and lenses for adding a variety of image effects in addition to a selection of editing tools to make adjustments to photographs without jumping to another app. The platform is still an iOS exclusive and completely free of ads. Hipstamatic co-founder Lucas Buick says the app will be supported through a community membership program, though he doesnt say how much this will be, when itll be available, or whether itll unlock any benefits. Weve contacted Buick to clarify and will update should we hear back.

Despite the similarities of this relaunch, Buick once claimed that Hipstamatic never really tried to compete with Instagram. But as Instagrams popularity started to surge in 2011, it ultimately made Hipstamatic obsolete anyway. Not only did Instagram have social networking capabilities but it was also completely free, while Hipstamatic cost $1.99 to download. Hipstamatic was never shut down, instead remaining as a shadow of its former glory despite removing that download fee and eventually relaunching as the Hipstamatic X analog camera app in 2019.

The new Hipstamatic social platform faces an uphill battle to compete not just with Instagram but also the plethora of other photography-based networking apps like VSCO that exist today. Hipstamatics social network features are fairly basic by comparison, and most other platforms have since directed their attention toward video-based features anyway. But success doesnt have to involve crushing rival platforms. Maybe Hipstamatic will finally find its own beat as the niche, hipster photography network it could have been.

Read this article:
Hipstamatics new social network is a reimagining of early Instagram - The Verge

GLOBAL

In higher education, the benefits of these social networks include, among other things, sharing intellectual resources, co-development of knowledge and joint research. Like any other human motivation, people form networks because it serves their own interests, and when peoples interests align, the relationship becomes mutually beneficial.

The evolution of social networks

It is useful to first understand how social networks evolved over time. Ever since humans decided to form social communities during the Neolithic Era, social networking and relationship-building have been a part of the human experience. As these communities grew, the quality of those interpersonal relationships became increasingly important and progressively complex.

And as communities became more complex, and as the division of labour increased, and as the family unit became more structured and more prevalent, people took on an increasing number of roles (for example, daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, aunt, friend, teacher, pottery maker, food maker and clothing maker). Communities required people to interact with other people in ways never before imagined or required.

From these first communities, the concept of private property arose for land, livestock, crops, dwellings, tools and the like. The concept of governance also evolved as nomadic tribal societies morphed into sedentary societies led by community leaders (military or religious or monarchal).

In these first agricultural societies new technologies and techniques were invented to aid in their development, such as crop and animal domestication, writing, the wheel, time-keeping devices and better tools to clear and cultivate the land for crop and animal husbandry. All of these developments allowed humans to control their environment to greater and greater degrees rather than always being at the mercy of the natural environment.

In the modern era, however, the social roles that people play have become increasingly fluid and more complex. With the advent of human rights and justice as chief concerns over the past century, greater expectations have been placed on social institutions like colleges and universities to address these concerns through such initiatives as diversity, equity and inclusion. As a result, social networks in higher education also continue to be more diverse and inclusive.

Technological changes

Over the past 20 years, social networks have expanded with the use of digital technology. With the advent of the internet and digital communication platforms (for example, websites, blogs, webinars, podcasts, social media sites and smart phones), people have been able to connect in ways never before imagined.

With these technologies, traditional time and space boundaries are no longer an obstacle for many people. With the emerging Industry 5.0 and Society 5.0, industrial capitalism is giving way to post-industrial capitalism which is based primarily on a service economy driven by knowledge, innovation and social capital.

In the past, the productivity of farmers and factories increased many-fold with the implementation of technological innovations. The results of many of these innovations have led to a global increase in economic growth.

In like manner, recent technological innovations have had a significant influence on higher education. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an exponential increase in online learning which, in turn, has significantly affected conventional pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning. The next step is to develop a solution that will address the digital divide in order to enable education for all.

The COVID-19 crisis caused many schools and universities around the world to start using digital learning management systems (for example, Zoom, Google Classroom, Blackboard and Canvas) to provision most or all of their courses and programmes.

Universities are now making huge capital expenditures to implement a wide array of online teaching and learning technologies, including making them more social. In addition, innovative technologies like blockchain, virtual reality and artificial intelligence will become a critical part of the future of higher education.

Furthermore, changes in technology can occur very fast and it is often a challenge for organisations to respond to those changes. The change often requires significant resources such as training facilities, operational changes and transformation management, among others.

Organisations are also relying more on automation and artificial intelligence. It is within this context that students need to learn the right skills to help with both employment and employability prospects.

Enabling innovation through social networks

Cooperation is an important factor to enable innovation through social networks. In higher education, collaborative projects between different groups have been regarded as a way to diffuse ideas and knowledge.

Through online tools, many governments, universities and industries have collaborated using their expertise and technical or research skills. This was also witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic when institutions and laboratories worked together to level up research-based productivity in health care and medicine, for example.

Connectedness is also correlated with the increase in use of social networks. Due to the recent advancement in technological tools such as discussion forums and social networking platforms, geographical distance and demographic factors have diminished in importance. Social networks have taken on a vital role in spreading knowledge across countries.

However, there is a dilemma to choose whether ties with social media contacts should be strong or weak. Strong ties typically consist of close family and friends. On the other hand, people who choose to establish weak ties with people can more readily disseminate new information with those outside their close network, thus increasing their social capital.

Cohesion is another factor to consider when setting up a learning environment through social networks. More researchers are inclined to share their ideas and research findings through social networking websites because they can reach a wider audience instantly. This kind of attitude towards the dissemination of knowledge can bring knowledge holders together and increase trust and reliability among them.

As a result, technology-enabled researchers can have a greater impact, which accelerates the development of innovative ideas.

Lastly, conciseness is a factor to enable innovation through social networks. The level of heterogeneity among network partners is crucial when determining the effectiveness of the network, which enables diverse voices to be heard. In order to cluster like-minded voices, discussion groups and online forums can be created to foster collaborative ideas.

Building social capital

Invest in community-led networks; they make a difference, says Margaux Jacquemin, head of alumni at Ensea por Mxico/Teach for All Network.

When networks are at their most powerful, they make people happier and more inspired in their work and the impact can be really strong. Networks are very effective in contributing to systemic change in education.

Social networking technologies have become pervasive in students lives. Students today are very technologically savvy. The social identity of students is important. Digitally networked learning communities have great potential for innovation and they help foster a more human-centric economy. Thus, social networking technologies have the potential to advance the common good.

The success of social networking depends on diversity, equity and inclusion. As human tendencies are, we tend to associate with those that are like us and reflect our own thoughts and perspectives. However, social networks enable people to view problems from different perspectives which, in turn, tends to enable better outcomes.

A network built on a foundation of shared values empowers its members through multiple perspectives and collaborative approaches, which is especially important in higher education. As such, social networks are now one of the primary mechanisms through which faculty and students can build their social capital.

Patrick Blessinger is president and chief scientist of the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning (HETL) Association, United States; Enakshi Sengupta is an author and independent scholar, India; and Serpil Meri-Yilan is assistant professor of languages at AICU, Turkey.

Read more from the original source:
How students and faculty can build their social capital - University World News