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The federal cabinet on Monday passed the National Accountability (Third Amendment) Bill, 2022, with fresh legislation aiming to restrict the watchdog's role in corruption cases of over Rs500 million and taking away the president's authority to appoint accountability court judges.

The joint session of the Parliament on June 10 approved the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021. The bill was opposed and returned unsigned by President Arif Alvi before it became the law.

According to the documents of the new bill, available with Dawn.com, the offence of corruption and corrupt practices as per the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, will be tied to the value of Rs500m. Hence, corruption cases under Rs500m will not come under the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) ambit, if the bill is passed.

Likewise, Section 16 of the NAO has been replaced with an amendment that suggests that an accused will be tried for an offence under the ordinance in the court under whose territorial jurisdiction the offence was alleged to have been committed. Earlier, there was no territorial limits.

Meanwhile, in a proposed amendment to Section 19E, NAB's authority to allow surveillance with the help of a high court will be withdrawn, including any assistance from government agencies to be used against the accused in the trial.

The said section has been replaced with a new one which states that any person called to provide information in relation to an offence alleged to have been committed will be informed of the allegations against them so they can file their defence in court.

Another proposed amendment will strip the president of his authority to appoint judges of accountability courts in consultation with high court chief justices. That privilege will instead reside with the federal government.

Similarly, Section 20, which stated that whoever failed to provide the required information to NAB was punishable with rigorous imprisonment extendable to five years with a fine. Following the amendment, the said section will apply only to cases with a cash transaction over Rs2 million.

In an amendment to Section 31B, the chairman's powers to terminate cases and pending proceedings were further extended, including withdrawal of cases both partly or wholly, but subject to certain conditions.

Last month, the PTI approached the Supreme Court against the earlier NAB bill, with party chairman Imran Khan arguing that tweaks to the Ordinance would pave the way for public office-holders to get away with white-collar crimes.

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Cabinet approves second NAB amendment bill in span of a month - DAWN.com

The attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which left 21 people dead, is the second school tragedy in the United States, only after Sandy Hook, where 26 people were killed on December 14, 2012.

And now a shooting in Illinois' Highland Park, where so far six people have been killed and multiple wounded.

This new black chapter in U.S. history puts the spotlight on the responsibility of the National Rifle Association (NRA), which promotes freedom of gun ownership.

Although its leader, Wayne LaPierre, has denied any responsibility for his organization in past shootings and has fervently defended gun ownership.

The NRA emerged in 1871 as a recreational group designed to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis," notes the BBC.

In 1934 it took its step into politics, when it began to send to its members draft legislation related to facilities for acquiring armaments.

It was that same year when he promoted the approval of the National Firearms Act.

Years later, in 1968, it achieved a new regulation of the same type that facilitated access to these items.

Mainly, it is to promote the freedom to own firearms among civilians, based on a controversial defense of the Second Amendment.

The Association attacks any measure that restricts the right to bear arms as an attack on freedom.

It also strongly opposes even measures such as attempts to ban the sale of assault rifles to civilians or devices that multiply the lethal power of semi-automatic weapons.

In 2018, Donald Trump claimed that what many people don't understand "or don't want to understand" is that "friends" who work at the NRA, like LaPierre, are "great people" and "great American patriots."

The number of members it has is not exactly known, as the NRA claims to have more than five million followers, although opposing groups say the number is lower and that its leadership inflates the figures.

However, research by the Pew Research Center, conducted in 2017, revealed that around 19 million people recognize themselves as members of the organization, even if they do not actively militate in it.

The Association has lobbied hard to prevent any gun control measures under the argument that these make the United States a safer country and that it is a right backed by the Constitution, an argument that has become controversial in the face of the increase in mass shootings in the country.

Despite the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 and the Marjory Stone Douglas school shooting in 2018, the NRA has rejected proposals to impose controls on sales and has claimed as solutions putting armed police in schools and not giving guns to "mentally ill" people.

The NRA was ranked as one of the three most influential lobbying groups in Washington, according to a survey conducted by Fortune magazine in 1999.

An investigation by The Washington Post, notes that the NRA has interfered over the years to slow down gun control investigations and has moved its influence on the passage of legislation and endorsed or rejected candidates for governor, Congress or the presidency.

The BBC notes that since 1968, the Association created an Action Committee aimed at supporting or fighting politicians depending on their position on gun control.

They also conduct campaigns to influence public opinion on the image of candidates.

In addition, the NRA donates large amounts of money to politicians who support the deregulation of gun sales.

Excerpt from:
National Rifle Association: What is it and how important is it in the U.S.? - Marca

Just hours after news broke Monday that dozens of people later confirmed to be migrants were found dead inside a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, lawmakers and advocacy groups took part in a partisan blame game.

Gov. Greg Abbott blamed the president in a tweet: These deaths are on at Biden. They are a result of his deadly open border policies.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, instead blamed Abbotts Operation Lone Star, a state-funded and -operated border-security mission, and former President Trumps immigration policies.

The politics of President Trump and Governor Abbott to build the wall, deport them all, and Operation Lone Star have all been abysmal failures, said Domingo Garcia, LULACs national president.

But policy experts and immigration attorneys argue that its decades of failed immigration policy not one party or administration that led to the tragedy and others like it.

The idea that any one president is responsible for things like this is simply not in line with the facts. And, similarly, we have seen incidents like this occur in countries around the world, said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the policy director at the American Immigration Council, a Washington-based research and advocacy organization. This is evidence of the systematic failure of the United States and other nations to update their legal immigration systems for a modern era of global displacement.

The death toll after Mondays discovery increased to at least 51 Tuesday after some migrants taken to the hospital later died, Texas Public Radio reported. Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrand said 22 of the migrants were Mexican, seven were from Guatemala, two were from Honduras, and the remaining people have not yet been identified.

Though the number of fatalities is staggering compared to other smuggling events, Reichlin-Melnick said, the motivation that led to similar tragedies was the same.

The last time we updated our legal immigration system was November 1990, months before the first website went online, he said, referring to the Immigration Act of 1990 that raised the cap on legal migration. For many migrants [now], there is simply no way to legally immigrate to the United States. And even for people who do have a path to get a visa to the United States, that path is often so expensive and time consuming that it is not practically possible.

Eduardo Beckett, an El Paso-based immigration attorney who specializes in asylum cases, said Republicans have had success in crafting an anti-immigrant message while Democrats cant or wont push back on the policy front.

The right-wing, the Trump [supporters], the anti-immigrants are loud and more in the open, they dont hold back, but in reality, its the whole system, he said.

Beckett specifically said that Title 42, a Trump-era, public health policy that allows federal border officials to immediately expel migrants at the United States southern border, likely increased the migrants sense of desperation. The policy has been in place since March 2020 and the Biden administration, despite an outcry from immigrant rights groups, kept it in place until earlier this year. (The policy is still in effect due to a court order issued last month.)

Title 42 should have ended right away, Biden dragged his feet, he said. So hes to blame for that. But this has been going on for years, all the way back to the Clinton administration. I think the system is working exactly as its supposed to be. Less people are getting in the legal way.

That leads more people to turn to criminals and smugglers for a chance at entering the country, Beckett added.

Things need to change. There needs to be a humane way for people to apply, to come here whether its for asylum or whether its to work as an agricultural worker. Because the system is creating death, right now. At the border and everywhere around the world.

Mondays fatal smuggling attempts came as the number of migrants encountered by U.S. Border Patrol agents at the southern border continues to climb to near-record levels. There were about 239,400 encounters between federal agents and migrants at the southwest border in May, a 2% increase compared to April, according to Customs and Border Protection. Texas continues to see the highest number of apprehensions, especially in the Rio Grande Valley, where there have been more than 333,000 encounters since the beginning of the federal governments fiscal year in October, according to CBP statistics. Thats followed by the Del Rio Sector, where there have been more than 280,600 in the same time frame.

Reichlin-Melnick said those numbers are somewhat misleading because the statistics include tens of thousands of migrants who have tried to cross multiple times.

Title 42 incentivizes them to cross the border repeatedly. That's because Title 42 is not an immigration law. It's a public health law, he said. That means there are no immigration-related consequences for a migrant expelled under Title 42. Thats compared to a conviction for violating federal immigration laws, which bar a migrant from trying to enter for several years.

A person can cross the border as many times as they want, safe in the knowledge that if caught, they will simply be expelled back to Mexico where they can, if they still have the resources, make another attempt to cross, he said. And that means every time somebody is crossing, they're rolling the die. And leads to the possibility of something tragic happening.

Mondays horrific discovery has led advocacy groups to urge the Biden administration to make immigration reform a priority. After blasting Abbott and Republicans in its statement, LULAC said Democrats needed to join their GOP colleagues to usher in change.

It's time for politicians in Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reforms to address these issues and avoid other tragedies, said Domingo Garcia, LULACs national president. It's also time for the politicians in Austin to stop using immigrants as political piatas and start treating them as people in this humanitarian crisis, not a police enforcement issue."

Krish OMara Vignarajah, the CEO and president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said there are moral and legal obligations to adopt a system that is fair to people seeking safety.

Our nation requires a reckoning with the fatal fallout of its deterrence-only framework. Real reforms are sorely needed to move us past the partisan politics that have plagued discussions of asylum and our southern border for far too long, she said in a tweet.

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, considermaking a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.

Got a tip? Email Julin Aguilar atjaguilar@kera.org.You can follow Julin on Twitter@nachoaguilar.

More here:
'The system is creating death': Calls for immigration reform follow migrant tragedy in San Antonio - KERA News

"If we dont take notice to 53 innocent migrants dying, then when are we going to take notice to it?" U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (TX-23) told Inside Texas Politics.

DALLAS It is the deadliest human smuggling incident in the history of the United States: Fifty-three migrants dead after being locked inside a tractor-trailer that was later abandoned in San Antonio.

The Republican congressman from that area says if this doesnt open our eyes, nothing will.

If we dont take notice to 53 innocent migrants dying, then when are we going to take notice to it, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (TX-23) asked on Inside Texas Politics.

And now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Biden Administration can dump the Trump-era Remain in Mexico border policy, Gonzales says two things must happen.

First, the San Antonio Republican says the legislative branch needs to find a long-term solution, so judges arent the folks deciding immigration policy, which can vary from court to court and year to year.

And second, he says the executive branch needs to implement policies that work. While he thinks the Remain in Mexico policy was flawed, he says it was working. It required asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases were heard in U.S. courts.

Gonzales also thinks more immigration judges must be added to the equation.

What needs to happen is folks need to get their asylum cases heard in days, not years, the Republican said. They need to have due process. But once their process is through, if they do not qualify for asylum, they need to return back to their country of origin.

The congressmans last priority is a legal route to obtain work visas, a program he says is currently broken.

The Republican says he represents 42% of the Texas border with Mexico and he thinks you can have both security and compassion.

I think you can have both a strong border security package and an immigration reform package that welcomes those that want to come and work and live the American dream, he said. Now, you cant start with amnesty. And you cant start with the wall. I mean, that immediately tanks any kind of package. I think you start with work visas and you build out from there.

The rest is here:
Texas congressman says immigration reform should start with better work visa program - WFAA.com

This commentary has been adapted from a homily delivered during a memorial mass for immigrants at San Fernando Cathedral Thursday night.

The Lord says, in Exodus, You shall not oppress or afflict a resident alien, for you were once aliens residing in the land of Egypt. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely listen to their cry (Ex 22:20.22).

Not all sins have the same degree of intrinsic evil by which God is offended, nor are their consequences equally serious. The exploitation of the poor, and in particular of migrants who flee dramatic situations in search of opportunities and hope is particularly grave.

The carnage by abandonment whether intentional or negligent of our 53 brothers and sisters killed on Monday, is one of those sins that cry to heaven. Anyone who is not outraged is complicit to at least some degree. They are Gods children. We grieve the loss of these immigrant brothers and sisters because they are members of Gods family.

Certainly, it is traders of death who consider lives as merchandise and ultimately as collateral damage. However, it is not permissible for anyone in our society to remain idle and look the other way in the face of the humanitarian crisis caused to unregulated migration. We all have a role to play in solidarity with people fleeing in search of opportunities for development.

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Even though it is everyones responsibility, it falls primarily on the lay faithful to create the political incentives for our elected representatives to fulfill their duty to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The Catholic lay faithful must assume their baptismal duty to sanctify social life by organizing it according to the values of the Gospel. Everyone must do their bit to be part of the solution.

Catholic social teaching provides moral guidance primarily for the laity in their duty of civic engagement. All social life is based on our shared responsibility to uphold human dignity and to pursue the common good, through the practice of solidarity and subsidiarity.

Immigration is a natural phenomenon that arises from the supply and demand for labor and security. It is like a stream of water. If it is not given a channel, it finds it naturally, but not in the right way. Migration is a natural human right. Likewise, the receiving country has the right and the duty to regulate it.

In very concrete ways, the path of immigrants often identifies with the itinerary of the beatitudes described in the gospel of Matthew. It does us good to hear their experiences beyond headlines and editorials. As much as possible, I suggest listening first-hand to the stories of immigrants. It is not uncommon to realize that they have traveled challenging spiritual journeys throughout their physical exodus. They are a great gift for receiving countries, like ours, which owes its greatness largely to its immigrant spirit.

As Pope Francis has said, these beloved men and women mostly young adults were following their hope of a better life.

As we entrust them to Gods merciful embrace, we are warned so that their lives have not been lost in vain. This tragedy must prevent others. Like Pope Francis said, may the Lord open our hearts so these misfortunes never happen again.

May we learn to walk through the journey of the beatitudes in our civic engagement, coming to realize that politics rightly understood is the opposite of ideological confrontation. It is one of the highest forms of charity. It is a path that begins by loving our closest neighbor in order to be able to love even those we do not know.

May the hopes that these deceased pursued be more than fulfilled in heaven through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe. May she guide them on their final journey to restful waters, where their souls are refreshed.

See original here:
We must uphold human dignity by passing immigration reform - San Antonio Report