‘Welcome Corps’ will allow Americans to privately sponsor refugees in US
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced a new program Thursday to allow thousands of American citizens to directly sponsor refugees financially, an effort to increase the United States’ capacity to accept more people seeking protection from abroad.
In a statement, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken described the program, dubbed Welcome Corps, as “the boldest innovation in refugee resettlement in four decades.”
“By launching the Welcome Corps, we build on a proud tradition of providing refuge and demonstrate the spirit and generosity of the American people as we commit to welcoming refugees in need of our support,” Blinken said.
According to the State Department, which released details about the program, the government will begin matching private sponsors interested in participating with refugees who have already been approved to be resettled in the U.S. during the first six months of 2023.
—CQ-Roll Call
Rep. George Santos allegedly used fake name to bilk Jewish people
Rep. George Santos used a phony name he thought sounded Jewish in one of his schemes, saying “the Jews will give more if you’re a Jew,” a former roommate says.
Santos allegedly used the fake moniker to raise money for an animal charity that doesn’t seem to exist. According to his former roommate Gregory Morey-Parker, Santos called himself Anthony Zabrovsky when hitting up Jewish people for money.
“He would say ... the Jews will give more if you’re a Jew,’” Morey-Parker told CNN on Tuesday. The claim came shortly after Santos was reportedly appointed to the House Committee on Small Business and the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
“That is the name he used for his GoFundMes,”Morey-Parker said. Weeks after Santos was elected in November, a New York Times report found he’d lied about his involvement in schools he never attended, Wall Street companies where he was never employed and a dog rescue charity that saved 2,500 animals. His claims to being Jewish were also found to be phony.
—New York Daily News
Religious leaders sue to overturn Missouri’s abortion ban
ST. LOUIS — More than a dozen faith leaders filed suit Thursday in St. Louis Circuit Court to overturn Missouri’s abortion ban, arguing state legislators acted based on their personal religious beliefs and violated the separation of church and state protected in Missouri’s Constitution.
The faith leaders, from St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia, represent several Protestant and Jewish denominations. They partnered with the National Women’s Law Center and Americans United for Separation of Church and State in drafting the suit.
“What these abortion restrictions do is enshrine into law the particular narrow religious beliefs of the state officials who enacted these laws, and it forces all of us to live by these narrow beliefs,” said Michelle Banker, the NWLC’s director of reproductive rights and health.
Missouri bans abortions except in cases of medical emergencies. Providers who violate the ban can be charged with a felony punishable by five to 15 years in prison, and lose their medical license
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Taliban minister blames sanctions for restrictions on women in Afghanistan
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi appeared to use women’s rights as a bargaining chip to gain sanctions relief, telling a United Nations official that Taliban leaders currently saw little incentive to shift course.
“Afghanistan has been sanctioned, the banking system has been sanctioned, and our businessmen are facing serious difficulties. They can’t even transfer money abroad to import food and fuel,” Muttaqi told UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed in Kabul Wednesday, while discussing women’s rights. “What action has the U.N. taken that I can pass on to my leaders and people?”
The Taliban recently banned local female staff members of international non-governmental organizations from working and women from attending universities until further notice. It was the latest curb on women’s rights and freedoms since the group retook control of the country.
Despite promises to the contrary, the militant group has rolled back all advances in women’s freedom that occurred over the last two decades, taking the country back to their repressive rule in the late 90s. Women have been barred from public parks and gyms and forbidden to travel long distances without a male escort.
—Bloomberg News
