Advocacy groups issued a travel advisory on Thursday, warning that visitors traveling to the US for the 2026 World Cup may face arbitrary detention or deportation, among other human rights abuses.
Protests on multiple fronts disrupted the atmosphere outside the FIFA Congress in Vancouver on Thursday, as demonstrators raised sharply different concerns over global politics and local issues.
Nineteen United States states have sued the Trump administration over its 'unlawful' decision to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions, warning that the move will worsen labour shortages in key sectors such as health care, education and technology.
The 'rescue' operation occurred within kilometres of Iran's underground tunnel complex at Isfahan, assessed by the IAEA and US intelligence as holding a substantial portion of the country's 60 per cent enriched uranium stockpile. Retired senior US military officers have highlighted that the mission's footprint -- hundreds of special operators, multiple heavy-lift aircraft deep inside Iran -- appears outsized for recovering a single airman. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
Law enforcement officials from the US Department of Homeland Security have started visiting gurdwaras in New York and New Jersey to check for the presence of illegal immigrants, drawing a sharp reaction from some Sikh organisations which see such actions as a threat to the sanctity of their faith. The Trump administration has rescinded the Biden administration's guidelines that protected places of worship from immigration enforcement actions, leading to concerns that gurdwaras are being targeted. Sikh organisations argue that gurdwaras are not just places of worship but also vital community centres and that surveillance and raids by armed law enforcement would burden religious exercise and limit the ability of Sikhs to gather and associate with one another.
Ragbir, 43, was arrested on January 12 during a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ordered immediate deportation, irking local community in New York.
Tens of thousands of people, including Indian-Americans, took to streets in several United States cities to protest against controversial immigration policies of US President Donald Trump which has resulted in separation of children of illegal immigrants.
Nisha Agarwal, commissioner of the New York Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, recalls, with both anguish and elation, the events of the last fortnight after the US President's order banning entry for people from seven countries was put in place.
'...he keeps his campaign promises, does what he said he will do which led to his huge victory.'
Indians are the main beneficiaries of the H-1B visas, which bring in the best of the talent and brains from across the world. Highly skilled professionals from India walk away with the overwhelming number of H-1B visas - which is Congressional mandated 65,0000 every year and another 20,000 for those who received higher education from the US.
Thousands of people gathered in Washington to protest against Donald Trump's policies ahead of his inauguration as the 47th President of the United States. The People's March, a coalition of nonprofit bodies, organized the demonstration to voice their opposition to Trump's policies and values. The protesters, displaying anti-Trump posters and banners, chanted slogans against Trump and his supporters, including Tesla owner Elon Musk. Similar protests, though on a smaller scale, were also held in cities like New York, Seattle, and Chicago.
'When compared to many of America's treaty allies in Asia, Modi 3.0 is on a much stronger footing.'
Driven by hardship, adventurous souls mortgage their homesteads in Punjab or Haryana, pawn the family jewellery and borrow heavily to satisfy the greed of the criminal traffickers who organise their trips, points out Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
One bill provides $60.8 billion for Ukraine, with over 80 percent of it for helping Kyiv amid its ongoing war with Russia, including replenishing supplies of US made weapons and ammunition.
Gurupreet Kaur, who was a month shy of turning 7, was found dead by the US Border Patrol officials 27 kilometres west of Lukeville, Arizona, after her mother left her with other Indian migrants she was travelling with to go in search of water.
'Just think about it. She's a prosecutor, he's a convicted felon. I love that juxtaposition.' 'She's a woman, and she's black and South Asian. He's a white guy who grew up with enormous [wealth].' 'She grew up in a very average, lower middle class/middle class kind of setting with a single mother.'
Trump's move followed a rare show of bipartisanship on Thursday when legislators voted to fund large swaths of the government and avoid a repeat of the recent five-week government shutdown.
The travel ban is the third version of a contentious policy that Trump first sought to implement a week after taking office in January.
America Inc tells Aziz Haniffa that Microsoft's new CEO validates what business leaders have long known - 'We need more Satyas travelling to the US'.
Their rematch, long anticipated, but hardly clamoured for, is broadly expected to mirror the 2020 campaign, though Trump will run this time under the spectre of 91 felony charges.
'We are going to see relatively soon an executive order that deals with H-1B and other temporary visas.' 'We are also going to see an executive order on undocumented people.' 'Undocumented Indians comprise the largest population growth of all undocumented people in this country.' 'Just because India is not named in this executive order doesn't mean it won't be in the future.'
Fifteen years after 9/11, the Sikh Coalition, a non-profit organisation, turns to art to open American hearts and minds to the community.
Three years after the horrific massacre of Sikh worshippers at the Oak Creek, Wisconsin, gurdwara by a gunman with ties to supremacist organisations, a federal system to help track hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindu, Arab American communities has been formalised.
'This election might be the most significant for the community and indicates the possibility of greater engagement.'
From Bollywood-themed performances to a heritage tour... Donald Trump will soak up all things Indian.
Civil rights activist Lakshmi Sridaran argues why South Asians must stand on the right side of history and resist the Trump administration's "systematic attack on the entire spectrum of the US immigration system."
In a 59-41 vote, 12 Republicans joined every Senate Democrat on Thursday in a rare move to block the president's effort to divert billions in funding to build his long-promised border wall without congressional approval.
'Foreign aid to Pakistan. Forget it, bye bye...' 'F-16s to Pakistan. Forget it.' Shalabh Kumar, the desi who knows Donald Trump best, speaks to Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
The lawsuit accuses Trump of "an unconstitutional and unlawful scheme".
BJP president Rajnath Singh has said that he did not bring up the Modi visa ban issue even once during his deliberations in Washington, DC, also dismissing the controversy over letter to President Barack Obama by Indian parliamentarians, reports Aziz Haniffa.
'Vanita Gupta is the greatest civil rights lawyer of her generation' Praise comes flying in from all corners Vanita Gupta is appointed acting US Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. The 39-year-old is known for her work in criminal justice reforms, legalising marijuana and racial justice, reports Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com.
From the political maelstrom in Washington to the humanitarian disaster in Yemen to the deadly unrest along the Israel-Gaza border, photographers captured a world in turbulent transition.
Civil rights activist Deepa Iyer, former executive director, South Asian Americans Leading Together, a social justice organisation thought after a visit to the minority businesses hit in recent weeks that the tragic story in Ferguson, Missouri, offers Indian Americans an opportunity to stand up and decry police brutality and show sympathy and support for African Americans in the beleaguered city
The narrative in America after Donald Trump's victory sounds like the questions and debates that took place in India after May 2014. Were both electoral results all about jobs and economic anxiety? Mihir S Sharma doubts it.
Members of the United States Congress break bread to celebrate the contributions of Sikh Americans. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports
'You shouldn't mistreat Muslims, you shouldn't mistreat Sikhs, you shouldn't mistreat anyone you perceive to be the other.'
'...But my strong suit will not be dancing,' Kal Penn tells Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com, in the concluding part of the interview.
Aseem Chhabra gives us the top films that enriched his year.
In his penultimate State of the Union address, Barack Obama said that the economy is improving.
Read the full transcript of President Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday at the US Capitol in Washington.
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