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Since imposing a $100,000 fee on new visas in September, the Trump administration has upended the skilled worker program.
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Amid strains in U.S.-European relations, the Trump administration has worked to strengthen ties with Hungary and its far-right leader, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is facing his biggest challenge in 16 years. With just days to go before parliamentary elections, Orbán's Fidesz party is trailing the center-right pro-EU Tisza party led by Péter Magyar. U.S. Vice President JD Vance traveled to Budapest this week and appeared alongside Orbán to openly campaign for his reelection.
"This election is really crucial, not just for Hungary, but for the international right wing," says Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of sociology and international affairs at Princeton University. "There's been a lot of American signaling that the U.S. would really love to have Viktor Orbán be reelected. The problem is the Hungarian people don't seem to agree."
Scheppele also discusses the role of Sebastian Gorka, a top counterterrorism official in the Trump administration, who has longstanding ties to the far right in Hungary and has been instrumental in forging closer ties between the two governments. According to a recent New York Times investigation, Gorka is also leading an effort to target left-wing groups in the United States and abroad as "terrorist organizations."
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White House officials solicited messaging ideas from leaders of the Make America Healthy Again movement, which has soured on some recent administration actions.
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On April 8, less than one day after the Trump administration agreed to a two-week ceasefire deal with Iran, Israel struck Lebanon in its heaviest and deadliest attack on the country since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began. At least 250 deaths have been reported. Israeli and U.S. authorities are insisting that the ceasefire proposal did not include Lebanon, where Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah. Iran and Pakistan, which brokered the deal, say the agreed-upon pause in hostilities applied to both countries. Since Israel's genocide of Gaza, "the silence of states and the continued flow of weapons has only emboldened Israel," says Beirut-based Human Rights Watch researcher Ramzi Kaiss. "The response from the international community has been limited by words of condemnation, but no effective action has been taken yet in order to stop these atrocities from happening."
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(First column, 5th story, link)
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WASHINGTON - Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to take actions to promote a fair labor market by supporting more effective enforcement of wage protections, workplace safety, labor rights, and other employment laws and standards. ?
"The Department of Homeland Security has a critical role to ensure our Nation's workplaces comply with our laws,"?said Secretary Mayorkas.??"We will not tolerate unscrupulous employers who exploit unauthorized workers, conduct illegal activities, or impose unsafe working conditions.??Employers engaged in illegal acts compel the focus of our enforcement resources.??By adopting policies that focus on the most unscrupulous employers, we will protect workers?as well as legitimate American businesses."??
In accordance with a memorandum issued by Secretary Mayorkas on October 12, ICE, CBP, and USCIS will develop and update policies to enhance the Department's impact in supporting the enforcement of employment and labor standards. The agencies must also develop strategies for prioritizing workplace enforcement against unscrupulous employers and, through the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, facilitate the participation of vulnerable workers in labor standards investigations.
The memorandum also establishes an end to mass worksite enforcement operations. Under the previous administration, these resource-intensive operations resulted in the simultaneous arrest of hundreds of workers and were used as a tool by exploitative employers to suppress and retaliate against workers' assertion of labor laws.
Lastly, the memorandum calls for broader and deeper mechanisms for coordination with interagency partners to enforce worker protections.
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