U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday defended his planned withdrawal of all 2,000 American troops from Syria, attacking critics of the action as chronic complainers.

In a string of Twitter remarks, Trump said, “If anybody but Donald Trump did what I did in Syria, which was an ISIS (Islamic State) loaded mess when I became President, they would be a national hero.”

He said the Islamic State terrorist group that once claimed Raqqa in northern Syria as the capital of its caliphate, “is mostly gone” from Syria and “we’re slowly sending our troops back home to be with their families, while at the same time fighting ISIS remnants.”

Trump stunned U.S. national security aides and lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, by announcing December 19 that he was withdrawing the U.S. troops who had been instrumental in removing most of the jihadist group from northeast Syria and aided Kurdish fighters in their fight against the insurgents.

Critics of the withdrawal said that removing U.S. troops could lead to a resurgence of Islamic State operations.

One critic of the move, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, normally a Trump loyalist, met with the U.S. leader Sunday and later said the president remains committed to defeating Islamic State. Graham suggested Trump may slow his planned 30-day withdrawal, but the White House has not commented on Graham’s interpretation of his talks with Trump.

“I think we’re in a pause situation where we are re-evaluating what’s the best way to achieve the president’s objective of having (other countries) pay more and do more” in the war on terrorism, Graham said.

In his Monday tweets, Trump said, “I campaigned on getting out of Syria and other places. Now when I start getting out the Fake News Media, or some failed Generals who were unable to do the job before I arrived, like to complain about me & my tactics, which are working. Just doing what I said I was going to do! Except the results are FAR BETTER than I ever said they were going to be! I campaigned against the NEVER ENDING WARS, remember!”

Trump contended, “I am the only person in America who could say that, “I’m bringing our great troops back home, with victory,” and get BAD press. It is Fake News and Pundits who have FAILED for years that are doing the complaining. If I stayed in Endless Wars forever, they would still be unhappy!”
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Editor’s note: We want you to know what’s happening, why and how it could impact your life, family or business, so we created a weekly digest of the top original immigration, migration and refugee reporting from across VOA. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.

Separated by the wall

A U.S. partial government shutdown started at the beginning of the week and showed no signs of ending by week’s end. At issue is President Trump’s insistence on $5 billion in funding for construction of a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. Democrats believe a wall would be ineffective and a waste of money. They refuse to provide any funding for the wall. 

By Thursday Congress had adjourned for the rest of the year. Friday, the president struck back by threatening to close the border entirely.

A case of the flu

A second migrant child has died in U.S. custody, prompting calls for investigations in both houses of Congress. Eight-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo became nauseous and started vomiting Monday night. He later died in a hospital on Christmas. A subsequent autopsy revealed he had had the flu.

A second child who died in U.S. custody, Jakelin Caal, was buried – also on Christmas. As a result of the two deaths, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has ordered medical screenings for all children in its custody.

Migrants, safe and… not

A migrant ship has docked in Spain after being refused in other countries. Three hundred and ten African migrants walked off the ship draped in red blankets provided by the Red Cross.

They are the lucky ones. The International Organization for Migration has found records that 6,600 Africans have died over the past five years, most of them crossing the Sahara Desert toward Europe. The study notes these numbers are “just the tip of the iceberg.”
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White flowers and flickering candles sat atop a low table inside the simple wooden home in remote, rural Guatemala. Nearby was a small pair of rubber boots, sized to fit an 8-year-old.

Taped to the wall were three photos, alternately smiling and serious, bearing a simple epitaph for the boy whose memory the makeshift altar honored: “Felipe Gomez Alonzo. Died Dec. 24 2018 in New Mexico, United States.”

On Christmas Eve, Felipe became the second Guatemalan child this month to die while in U.S. custody near the Mexican border. The deaths prompted widespread criticism of President Donald Trump, who has foisted blame on Democrats even as his Homeland Security secretary vowed additional health screenings for detained migrant children.

In the boy’s village of Yalambojoch, in western Guatemala, the political fallout in the United States seemed a world away and there was only deep sadness over his death. Relatives said they had no idea that such a tragedy could occur. Nor had they heard about U.S. policies that led to thousands of migrant children being separated from their parents earlier this year.

“We don’t have a television. We don’t have a radio,” said Catarina Gomez, Felipe’s sister. “We didn’t know what had happened before.”

The hamlet, set on a plain and surrounded by spectacular, pine-covered mountains, is a place of crushing poverty and lack of opportunity, home to a single small school, dirt roads that become impassible during the rainy season and rudimentary homes without insulation, proper flooring, water or electricity.

The community is populated by families who fled to Mexico during the bloodiest years of Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war but returned after the signing of peace accords. There are no jobs, and people live off meager subsistence farming and local commerce. Residents say the Guatemalan government has turned a blind eye to their plight, a complaint that can be heard in other impoverished villages in the country.

Felipe’s sister, Catarina, said that in recent years “everyone started heading for the United States,” so much so that a local project to boost education financed with Swedish help was abandoned because there were practically no more young people to take the classes.

It was extreme poverty and lack of opportunity that drove Felipe’s father, Agustin Gomez, to decide that he and the boy would set off for the United States. Others from the community had been able to cross the U.S. border with children, and he figured they would have the same luck. Felipe was chosen because he was the oldest son. It didn’t occur to anyone that the journey could be dangerous.

“I didn’t think of that, because several families had already left and they made it,” the boy’s mother, Catarina Alonzo said, speaking in the indigenous Chuj language as her stepdaughter translated into Spanish.

Felipe was healthy when they left, according to the family. The last time he spoke with his mother was a day before they were taken into detention by border agents. Felipe told her he was well, that he had eaten chicken, that the next time they talked would be by phone from the United States.

Instead, the call that came Christmas Day was from her husband, who said Felipe had died the day before.

The two had been apprehended a week earlier, on Dec. 18, near the Paso del Norte bridge connecting El Paso, Texas, to Juarez, Mexico, according to border officials. Father and son were held at the bridge’s processing center and then the Border Patrol station in El Paso before being transferred on Dec. 23 to a facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) away.

After an agent noticed Felipe coughing, father and son were taken to an Alamogordo hospital, where Felipe was found to have a 103-degree fever (39.4 degrees Celsius), officials have said.

Felipe was held for observation for 90 minutes, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, before being released with prescriptions for amoxicillin and ibuprofen.

But the boy fell sick hours later and was admitted to the hospital on Christmas Eve. He died just before midnight.

New Mexico authorities said late Thursday that an autopsy showed Felipe had the flu, but more tests need to be done before a cause of death can be determined.

The other Guatemalan child, 7-year-old Jakelin Caal, died Dec. 8 in El Paso. She showed signs of sepsis, a potentially fatal condition brought on by infection, according to officials.

On Saturday, Trump claimed that Felipe and Jakelin were “very sick” before they reached the border and sought to pin blame for their deaths on Democrats, though both young migrants passed initial health screenings by Border Patrol.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said last week that prior to this month, no child had died in the agency’s custody in more than a decade.

On Sunday he called for a “multifaceted solution” on immigration, including not only better border security and new immigration laws but more aid to the Central American countries the migrants are fleeing from.

Referring to the U.S. pledge earlier this month of $5.8 billion in development aid for Central America, McAleenan called it “a tremendous step forward.”

“There are green shoots of progress both on security and the economic front in Central America. We need to foster that and help improve the opportunities to stay at home,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Outside the Gomez family home in Yalambojoch, women gathered wearing lavender skirts in the intricate patterns typical of indigenous garb in Guatemala. Colorful tapestries hung on a clothesline above the muddy yard.

Taped to the door were a pair of Felipe’s artworks. One was a rendering of a blue balloon with a green string; in the other, a white horse jumped over a fence against a yellow sun and tangerine sky.

Among the villagers grieving Felipe’s death was his 7-year-old best friend, Kevin. Two days before Felipe and his dad left, the two boys quarreled.

“They were crying because they had fought,” said Felipe’s sister, Catarina.

By the time Kevin came back to look for his friend, he had left for the United States. Kevin now knows that Felipe has died, the family said.

Trying to fight back tears, Catarina Alonzo said her son promised before leaving that when he was grown, he would work to send money home. Felipe also wanted to buy her a cellphone so she could see pictures of him from afar.

Now she hopes for only two things: That Felipe’s body is returned as soon as possible for burial, and that her husband can remain in the United States to work off debt and support their other kids.

The Guatemalan Consulate in Phoenix has said that Agustin Gomez was released on a humanitarian license allowing him to remain in the United States for now. Felipe’s body is expected to be sent back to Guatemala around mid-January.

 

 
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Former senior diplomats who have steered U.S. policy on Afghanistan say U.S. President Donald Trump’s reported decision to pull thousands of troops out of that country complicates U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad’s efforts to broker a cease-fire with the Taliban.

Trump announced he was considering withdrawing roughly half of the 14,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan, shortly after he said American forces would pull out of Syria. Both decisions took many by surprise, including some officials tasked with overseeing U.S. foreign policy.

A former U.S. diplomat, who requested not to be named because of possible reprisal, told VOA that Khalilzad needed flexibility on a U.S. troop pullout from Afghanistan because that has long been a demand by the Taliban.

“What’s problematic is that any gesture indicating drawdown had to be on a quid pro quo basis and tied to a cease-fire agreement by the Taliban, which does not appear to be the case,” the former U.S. official said. “And that can have military- as well as policy-related consequences, not to mention the Afghan government circles do not like this situation one bit as they feel they have been sold out by Ambassador Khalilzad.”

Ambassador Richard Boucher, a former assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, told VOA the decision to withdraw some troops from Afghanistan was a political decision, not a strategic one.

Former U.S. Ambassador Robin Raphel agreed, and added that the announcement put additional pressure on Khalilzad’s office to come up with a deal that doesn’t damage the U.S. reputation as a reliable ally in the region.

“Otherwise, this would send wrong message to the Taliban and the neighboring countries like Pakistan, who have always doubted U.S. seriousness to stay in Afghanistan,” Raphel said. 
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U.S. President Donald Trump continued Saturday to stress the need for his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall as a partial government shutdown, triggered by a stalemate over funding for the project, entered its eighth day. 

 

In a tweet, Trump linked Democrats’ “pathetic immigration policies” with the deaths of two Guatemalan children while they were in U.S. custody.  

 

And in an earlier tweet, he said Democrats should take the initiative on ending the shutdown, saying, “I am in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come on over and make a deal” on border security. 

 

A budget standoff remains between Trump, who wants $5 billion in wall funding, and Democratic lawmakers, who back a modest increase in border security funding but resolutely oppose a wall. 

420,000 work without pay

 

Out of a workforce of about 2.1 million federal employees, more than 800,000 have been furloughed without pay. About 420,000 of those furloughed employees are still being required to work without pay. 

 

On Friday, Trump again threatened to close the entire U.S.-Mexico border and cut aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador if Congress failed to give him money to fund the wall. In an earlier series of tweets, he also asked for changes in what he said were the United States’ “ridiculous immigration laws.”  

 

Closing the U.S.-Mexico border would mean disrupting a $1.68 billion-a-day trade relationship between the two countries. In addition, immigrant advocates have called any move to seal the border “disgraceful.”  

Trump has declined to comment on whether he might accept less than $5 billion for wall funding. When asked Wednesday how long he thought the shutdown would last, Trump told reporters, “Whatever it takes.”  

‘Chaos’

 

Democrats have blamed Trump for “plunging the country into chaos” and have noted that, weeks ago, Trump said he would be “proud” to “own” a shutdown over border wall funding.  

 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and presumed incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said in a joint statement, “The president wanted the shutdown, but seems not to know how to get himself out of it.”  

 

The Republican Party controls the White House, as well as both chambers of Congress. Next Thursday, however, a new Congress, with a Democrat-controlled House, will be seated. 

 

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox News Channel on Friday, “We’re here, and they know where to find us.”   

Mulvaney also blamed Democrats for the continuing shutdown, saying they have refused to negotiate since the White House made an offer last weekend.  

 

Lorella Praeli, deputy political director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement that Congress has an obligation to serve as a check on the executive branch.  

 

“This government shutdown is due solely to Trump’s border wall obsession and his refusal to abandon his anti-immigrant agenda, even at the cost of denying hundreds of thousands of federal workers their holiday paychecks and impacting operations at several federal agencies,” Praeli said.

Affected departments 

 

Among the government agencies affected by the partial shutdown that began Dec. 22 are the departments of Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Interior and the Executive Office of the President. 

 

Early Saturday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which had funding through midnight Friday, was shut down. Many of the agency’s 14,000 employees are being furloughed, EPA spokeswoman Molly Block said. Disaster-response teams and other employees deemed essential will continue to work, she added.  

If the partial shutdown continues, the Smithsonian Institution said it would start closing its 19 museums, art galleries and National Zoo starting midweek. The Smithsonian attractions drew nearly 21 million visitors by the end of October 2018, according to the institution’s website. It recorded 30 million visitors in 2017.

 

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters on Friday that Trump’s border closure threat was an internal U.S. government matter.   

 

“We take great care of the relationship with the government of the United States,” Lopez Obrador said. “Of course we will always defend our sovereignty. … We will always protect migrants, defend their human rights.” 

Aid cutback

 

Cutting funds to Central American countries would mean a cutback on humanitarian programs, according to State Department data. The aid includes assistance on civilian security, legal development and basic nutrition.  

 

The largest grant was spent to help with agriculture in Guatemala, where the U.S. Agency for International Development says food security is a “grave concern.”  
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U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday Democratic lawmakers should take the initiative to act on ending a partial government shutdown that was triggered by a stalemate over funding for his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I am in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come on over and make a deal on Border Security,” Trump wrote. “From what I hear, they are spending so much time on Presidential Harassment that they have little time left for things like stopping crime and our military!”

Although it is unclear, Trump’s harassment reference may relate to information in a second tweet. He appeared to accuse Special Counsel Robert Mueller of deleting “approximately 19,000 text messages shared between former F.B.I. investigators Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. The two exchanged text messages that were critical of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

A recent investigation by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General said the text messages have been recovered and concluded the texts were missing due to a technical failure by an F.B.I. automated collection tool.  

Trump’s latest tweets came as the U.S. government was in the eighth day of a partial shutdown. A budget standoff remains between Trump, who wants $5 billion in wall funding, and Democratic lawmakers, who back a modest increase in overall border security funding but resolutely oppose a wall.

On Friday, Trump once again threatened to close the entire U.S.-Mexico border and cut aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador if Congress fails to give him money to fund the wall.

In an earlier series of tweets, Trump also asked to change the “ridiculous immigration laws that our country is saddled with.”

Closing the U.S.-Mexican border would mean disrupting a $1.68 billion-a-day trade relationship between the two countries, according to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Immigrant advocates have called the move to seal the border “disgraceful.”

  

Trump has declined to comment on whether he might accept less than $5 billion for wall funding. When asked Wednesday how long he thinks the shutdown will last, Trump told reporters, “Whatever it takes.”

Democrats have blamed Trump for “plunging the country into chaos” adding that, weeks ago, Trump said he would be “proud” to “own” a shutdown over border wall funding.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and presumed incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said in a joint statement, “The president wanted the shutdown, but seems not to know how to get himself out of it.”

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox News Channel on Friday, “We’re here, and they know where to find us.”

Mulvaney blamed Democrats for the continuing shutdown, saying they have refused to negotiate since the White House made an offer last weekend.

Lorella Praeli, deputy political director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement that Congress has an obligation to serve as a check on the executive branch.

  

“This government shutdown is due solely to Trump’s border wall obsession and his refusal to abandon his anti-immigrant agenda, even at the cost of denying hundreds of thousands of federal workers their holiday paychecks and impacting operations at several federal agencies,” Praeli said.

  

Trump also tweeted Friday, “Word is that a new Caravan is forming in Honduras and they are doing nothing about it. We will be cutting off all aid to these 3 countries – taking advantage of U.S. for years!”

VOA has not verified the president’s claim that a new caravan is on its way.

 

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters on Friday that Trump’s border-shutting threat was an internal U.S. government matter.

“We take great care of the relationship with the government of the United States,” Lopez Obrador said. “Of course we will always defend our sovereignty … We will always protect migrants, defend their human rights.”

Cutting funds to Central American countries would mean a cutback on humanitarian programs, according to State Department data. The aid includes assistance on civilian security, legal development and basic nutrition.

  

The largest grant was spent to help with agriculture in Guatemala, where the U.S. Agency for International Development says food security is a “grave concern.”
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