Biden makes first trip to border amid crisis – National & International News – MON 9Jan2023

Critics unimpressed by Biden’s first trip to border.

Virginia: Authorities unsure what to do after 6-year-old shoots teacher.

Brazil: Bolsonaro supporters storm Congress.

NATIONAL NEWS

Biden makes first trip to border amid crisis

Today, President Biden is in Mexico City meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Immigration is likely to be high on their agenda. Yesterday, Biden made his first trip to the US-Mexico border, the epicenter of one of the most pressing political and humanitarian crises of his presidency. Biden visited El Paso, TX, which has recently borne the brunt of dealing with a wave of arrivals. There he met with local and state officials, local law enforcement and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. He also visited a border crossing, part of the border wall and a migrant welcome center, where somehow there were no migrants in sight.

Amazingly, in Biden’s four-hour visit to El Paso, he managed not to encounter a single migrant. This is quite a feat in a city where thousands of migrants have been sleeping on the streets for weeks in freezing temperatures. The closest Biden came to a migrant was when his motorcade passed by the border where a dozen migrants were visible on the Mexican side. Biden didn’t visit any Border Patrol stations, where CBP processes migrants. He also delivered no public remarks and the press was kept at a distance. At no point was Biden up close and personal with the human faces of the humanitarian crisis.

This carefully-maintained distance confirmed the worst criticisms leveled at Biden by advocates for migrants since his announcement last Thursday of the expansion of harsh, restrictive and punitive border policies for Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans.

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Authorities unsure what to do after 6-year-old shoots teacher

Last Friday, a 6-year-old boy in Newport News, VA, shot this first grade teacher, causing her life-threatening injuries. The local school district has identified the teacher as Abby Zwerner, 25. Officials have so far not named the boy or his parents. Zwerner remains in hospital in stable but serious condition.

Police have said that the shooting was the result of an “altercation” and that it was “not accidental”. This incident has raised a number of questions for the public, such as where the boy obtained the gun and how he got it into the school (which is equipped with metal detectors). Police have so far not offered any specifics on the circumstances of the altercation or other details.

Officials are grappling with questions of their own, the most pressing of which is what to do next. Even though investigators believe the boy’s actions were intentional, he is too young to be tried as an adult in Virginia. He’s even too young to enter Virginia’s juvenile justice system. However, a juvenile judge could revoke the parents’ custody and place the boy in the care of the state.

Under Virginia law, if the boy’s parents allowed him access to a loaded gun, they could potentially be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Brazil: Bolsonaro supporters storm Congress

Trouble has been brewing in Brazil ever since the country’s far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro narrowly lost his re-election bid to leftist rival Lula da Silva in October. Immediately following the election, Bolsonaro supporters set up roadblocks throughout the country. Bolsonaro himself eventually appealed for calm, but did not concede the election. Even after Bolsonaro’s staff promised an orderly transition of power, Bolsonaro and his party sued to have some of the results thrown out. Brazil’s Supreme Court not only rejected this lawsuit, they fined Bolsonaro and his party for bringing the litigation in bad faith.

Despite these setbacks, Bolsonaro’s hardcore supporters remained undeterred. Many camped outside of military barracks for weeks, demanding that the military intervene to halt Lula’s inauguration. Even after Lula’s inauguration on Jan. 1, Bolsonaro’s supporters have continued protesting.

Yesterday, about 40 busloads of them assembled in the capital, Brasilia. They breached a military barricade with minimal opposition as federal police forces stood by. The few police officers who did stand and fight were mobbed and beaten. The marchers then stormed the federal complex that houses the Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace. There they smashed windows, set fires and used furniture to form barricades against military reinforcements who eventually arrived. The Congress was not in session and other offices were closed on Sunday.

Brazil’s new President Lula da Silva promised to bring everyone involved in the riot to justice. He also placed the blame squarely on his predecessor. Bolsonaro has denied any involvement and was in Orlando, FL, at the time.

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