US News Roundup: Trump comments on subpoena of his son; Census on citizenship in US


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 10-05-2019 18:55 IST | Created: 10-05-2019 18:25 IST
US News Roundup: Trump comments on subpoena of his son; Census on citizenship in US
Image Credit: IANS
  • Country:
  • United States

U.S. will assign dozens of border agents to migrant asylum interviews

Up to 60 U.S Border Patrol agents will be trained to conduct initial asylum screenings as part of a pilot effort to speed up the vetting of migrants who seek refuge in the United States, U.S. officials told a congressional committee on Thursday. Ten border agents are currently undergoing the training to conduct "credible fear" screenings of asylum seekers, and two other groups of 20 to 25 agents each have been designated to receive the training, said Robert Perez, deputy commissioner at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in testimony to members of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee.

A quarter of Americans don't trust Census on citizenship: Reuters/Ipsos poll

The Trump administration has repeatedly assured Americans that it will not use data from a proposed citizenship question on the 2020 Census to target undocumented immigrants. But more than a quarter of Americans don't believe it, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. That skepticism could have serious implications for the accuracy of the decennial count, according to demographers, activists, local governments and corporations who say it will prompt millions of residents https://reut.rs/2uoFSNK to skip the survey out of fear their participation will result in deportation.

Trump says subpoena of his son came as a surprise

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said the Senate Intelligence Committee's subpoena of his son Donald Trump Jr. came as a surprise, one day after media outlets reported that the Republican-led panel had called on his son to again answer questions. "I'm pretty surprised," Trump said at an event at the White House, calling his son "a good person."

'Golden Spike' event marks 150th anniversary of Transcontinental Railroad

Thousands of visitors, many of them train enthusiasts, are expected to crowd onto a remote bluff in northern Utah for a day of speeches, music and a historical re-enactment marking the 150th anniversary of the first U.S. Transcontinental Railroad. The three-day "Golden Spike" celebration opens on Friday at Promontory Summit, 66 miles (106 km) northwest of Salt Lake City, where the Central Pacific Railroad from the west was joined to the Union Pacific Railroad from the east on May 10, 1869.

Heavy rain and widespread power outages hit southeast Texas, Louisiana

Hailstones the size of golf balls along with fast, heavy rains pelted the Texas' Gulf coast from Houston up into Louisiana, bringing as much as 4 inches of rain, flooded highways and downed power lines, officials said. More than 159,000 homes and businesses in Texas, were without power early Friday and another 17,000 customers without electricity in Louisiana, according to the tracking site, PowerOutage.US.

One Marine dead, six injured in training accident in California: media

One Marine was killed and six others were injured in an accident on Thursday morning when their light-armored vehicle rolled-over at Camp Pendleton, California during a training drill, media reports said. The names of the people involved were not immediately available.

Accused California synagogue shooter charged with federal hate crimes

A California nursing student accused of a deadly shooting spree in a San Diego-area synagogue and arson at a nearby mosque was charged on Thursday with 109 counts of federal hate crimes and civil rights violations, prosecutors said. John Earnest, 19, was already charged in state court with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder in the April 27 attack at the Chabad of Poway synagogue, which left one worshipper dead and three others wounded, including a rabbi.

Months before shooting, parent warned Colorado school could be next 'Columbine'

Five months before Tuesday's deadly shooting at a Colorado school, a district official urged the school's director to investigate allegations of student bullying and violence by a parent who feared they could lead to the next "Columbine." In a Dec. 19 letter to the director of the STEM School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, the district official said the anonymous parent raised "concerns about student violence due to a high-pressure environment" and referred to the massacre at a nearby school in 1999.

Americans' support for impeaching Trump rises: Reuters/Ipsos poll

The number of Americans who said President Donald Trump should be impeached rose 5 percentage points to 45 percent since mid-April, while more than half said multiple congressional probes of Trump interfered with important government business, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday. The opinion poll, conducted on Monday, did not make clear whether investigation-fatigued Americans wanted House of Representatives Democrats to pull back on their probes or press forward aggressively and just get impeachment over with.

Teens accused of deadly Colorado school shooting set to be charged

The two Colorado teenagers accused of opening fire with handguns at their Denver-area charter school this week, killing one classmate and wounding eight others, were due to return to court on Friday for the formal filing of charges. Devon Erickson, 18, and Alec McKinney, 16, who was listed on the court docket by the name Maya Elizabeth McKinney but who identifies as male, were both arrested on suspicion of a single count of first-degree murder and 29 counts of attempted murder immediately after Tuesday's shooting.

(With inputs from agencies.)

Give Feedback