En 2024, la ciudad suspendió temporalmente varias regulaciones para algunos refugios mientras llegaban inmigrantes, con el fin de poder levantar más rápidamente refugios de emergencia. El alcalde Mamdani quiere ahora un plan para que todas las instalaciones vuelvan a cumplir las normas sobre capacidad y otros estándares.

Hombres frente a un refugio para migrantes adultos en el Bronx la primavera pasada. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

Este artículo se publicó originalmente en inglés el 7 de enero. Traducido por Daniel Parra. Read the English version here.

El martes por la mañana, el alcalde de la ciudad de Nueva York, Zohran Mamdani, emitió una orden ejecutiva en la que exigía al Departamento de Servicios Sociales y al Departamento de Servicios para Personas sin Hogar (DHS por sus siglas en inglés), en colaboración con el Departamento Jurídico, que elaboraran un plan para eliminar gradualmente el uso de refugios de emergencia para migrantes que no cumplan con las normas municipales vigentes desde hace tiempo.

Esta medida marca el final de un caótico capítulo de casi tres años en el sistema de refugios de Nueva York, durante el cual la ciudad se apresuró a abrir docenas de centros de emergencia en respuesta a la llegada de cientos de miles de inmigrantes y solicitantes de asilo, instalaciones que no tenían que cumplir las mismas normas de espacio y recursos exigidas por la legislación municipal.

La ciudad ha ido cerrando estos centros durante el último año, a medida que disminuía el número de nuevas llegadas de inmigrantes. Mamdani espera recibir un plan en 45 días, es decir, antes del 19 de febrero, para que todo el sistema de refugios vuelva a cumplir con la normativa en materia de capacidad y otros requisitos, como que todas las instalaciones para familias dispongan de cocina.

Bajo el mandato del exalcalde Eric Adams, la ciudad llegó a un acuerdo para suspender temporalmente algunas de esas normas sobre el derecho al refugio durante la oleada de nuevas llegadas, con el fin de poder poner en marcha más rápidamente la capacidad de los refugios de emergencia. 

“La suspensión y modificación iniciales de estas normas y reglamentos se produjeron en un momento en que la ciudad buscaba desesperadamente capacidad de acogida para hacer frente a la afluencia de solicitantes de asilo que necesitaban servicios de acogida”, dijo un portavoz del DHS en un comunicado. “Dado que la situación se ha estabilizado, estas disposiciones de emergencia ya no son necesarias”.

En diciembre, la ciudad seguía gestionando tres refugios de emergencia no pertenecientes al DHS, dos para adultos solteros en Brooklyn y el Bronx, y uno para familias con niños en el Row Hotel, en el centro de Manhattan. Dos de ellos cerraron a finales del año pasado, quedando solo el del Bronx, aunque no es claro de inmediato cuántas personas permanecían allí. 

El último censo de solicitantes de asilo de la ciudad muestra que, en noviembre, había algo menos de 4.000 migrantes alojados en instalaciones no pertenecientes al DHS. Según la agencia, actualmente hay más de 28.000 migrantes en los centros gestionados por el DHS —de los más de 86.000 que hay en total en los refugios del DHS— y la gran mayoría son familias con niños.

La orden de Mamdani aún no pone fin al acuerdo que suspendía ciertos requisitos para los refugios, alegando la emergencia migratoria. El DHS sigue gestionando varios hoteles comerciales como refugios que no cumplen totalmente con la normativa, según Dave Giffen, director de la Coalición para las Personas sin Hogar.

“Aún no han revocado esa suspensión [del acuerdo]. [La ciudad] sigue diciendo que necesitamos cierta capacidad para alojar a las familias en hoteles que no disponen de instalaciones para cocinar”, afirmó Giffen. 

Aunque la orden ejecutiva no exige a la agencia que cumpla estas normas en un plazo de 45 días, sí exige la presentación de un plan en el que se describa cómo el DHS lo hará.

La coalición y Legal Aid Society aplaudieron la orden de la nueva administración.

“Dado que la ciudad ya no está experimentando una afluencia de recién llegados tan elevada como la observada en los últimos tres años, según la propia lógica de la administración anterior, un marco de crisis ya no es apropiado ni necesario, ni sustituye a una estrategia de reubicación y vivienda humana y duradera”, afirmaron los grupos en una declaración conjunta.

Durante las elecciones primarias, el entonces candidato Mamdani dijo que pondría fin a los límites de 30 y 60 días de acogida para los migrantes en el sistema, una política que Eric Adams instauró en 2023 para los adultos y en 2024 para las familias con niños.

“Somos optimistas”, afirmó Giffen. “La filosofía del nuevo alcalde y su administración parece estar en consonancia con la nuestra, es decir, que la respuesta a la falta de vivienda masiva es la vivienda asequible, que las personas que no tienen hogar no deben ser criminalizadas, sino que se les debe proporcionar acceso a una vivienda permanente”.

Para ponerse en contacto con el reportero de esta noticia, escriba a Daniel@citylimits.org. Para ponerse en contacto con la editora, escriba a Jeanmarie@citylimits.org.

The post Mamdani terminará refugios de emergencia para inmigrantes que no cumplan con estándares de la ciudad appeared first on City Limits.

By MATTHEW LEE and FARNOUSH AMIRI, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organizations, including the U.N.’s population agency and the U.N. treaty that establishes international climate negotiations, as the U.S. further retreats from global cooperation.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order suspending U.S. support for 66 organizations, agencies and commissions following his instructions for his administration to review participation in and funding for all international organizations, including those affiliated with the United Nations, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a presidential decision that had not yet been publicly announced.

Most of the targets are U.N.-related agencies, commissions and advisory panels that focus on climate, labor and other issues that the Trump administration has categorized as catering to diversity and “woke” initiatives.

“The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity,” the State Department said in a statement.

Trump’s decision to withdraw from organizations that foster cooperation among nations to address global challenges comes as his administration has launched military efforts or issued threats that have rattled allies and adversaries alike, including capturing autocratic Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and indicating an intention to take over Greenland.

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This is the latest U.S. withdrawal from global agencies

The administration previously suspended support from agencies like the World Health Organization, the U.N. for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, the U.N. Human Rights Council and the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO as it has taken a larger, a-la-carte approach to paying its dues to the world body, picking which operations and agencies they believe align with Trump’s agenda and those which no longer serve U.S. interests.

It has marked a major shift from how previous administrations — both Republican and Democratic — have dealt with the U.N., and it has forced the world body, already undergoing its own internal reckoning, to respond with a series of staffing and program cuts.

Many independent nongovernmental agencies — some that work with the United Nations — have cited many project closures because of the U.S. administration’s decision last year to slash foreign assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.

Despite the massive shift, the U.S. officials, including Trump himself, say they have seen the potential of the U.N. and want to instead focus taxpayer money to expand American influence in many of the standard-setting U.N. initiatives where there is competition with China, like the International Telecommunications Union, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization.

The global organizations from which the US is departing

The withdrawal from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, is the latest effort by Trump and his allies to distance the U.S. from international organizations focused on climate and addressing climate change.

UNFCC, the 1992 agreement between 198 countries to financially support climate change activities in developing countries, is the underlying treaty for the landmark Paris climate agreement. Trump — who calls climate change a hoax — withdrew from that agreement soon after reclaiming the White House.

Mainstream scientists say climate change is behind increasing instances of deadly and costly extreme weather, including flooding, droughts, wildfires, intense rainfall events and dangerous heat.

The U.S. withdrawal could hinder global efforts to curb greenhouse gases because it “gives other nations the excuse to delay their own actions and commitments,” said Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that tracks countries’ carbon dioxide emissions.

It also will be difficult to achieve meaningful progress on climate change without cooperation from the U.S., one of the world’s largest emitters and economies, experts said.

The U.N.’s population agency, which provides sexual and reproductive health across the world, has long been a lightning rod for Republican opposition and Trump himself cut funding for the agency during his first term in office. He and other GOP officials have accused the agency of participating in “coercive abortion practices” in countries like China.

When President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, he restored funding for the agency. A State Department review conducted the following year found no evidence to support these claims.

Other organizations and agencies that the U.S. will quit include the Carbon Free Energy Compact, the United Nations University, the International Cotton Advisory Committee, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, the Pan-American Institute for Geography and History, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies and the International Lead and Zinc Study Group.

The State Department said additional reviews are ongoing.

Amiri reported from the United Nations. Associated Press writer Tammy Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.

A Burnsville man is jailed and charged in a New Year’s Day morning attack on a 74-year-old woman on a park trail near Crystal Lake in the city.

Dashawn Jawaun Newton (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

Dashawn Jawaun Newton, 23, grabbed the woman from behind, put his gloved hand over her mouth and told her that he had a knife and not to scream, according to charges filed Wednesday in Dakota County District Court.

The woman fought Newton, who had thrown her to the ground and at one point kneeled on her, the criminal complaint said. Newton eventually fled after asking her about her husband.

“Victim believed the male was going to sexually assault her, because she did not have any other property on her person for him to take,” the complaint read.

Surveillance recordings at nearby apartment buildings helped lead police to Newton, who was arrested Monday. He went before a judge Wednesday on charges of false imprisonment, threats of violence and fifth-degree assault.

Newton’s attorney Marcus Almon declined to comment on the charges when reached by phone Wednesday.

Newton remains jailed on $100,000 bail, which was requested by Assistant Dakota County Attorney Cory Monnens. In a bail request court filing, Monnens said Newton is a suspect in three indecent exposure incidents that occurred in Burnsville between October and December.

Two interactions

Burnsville officers responded to a report of an assault about 8 a.m. Jan. 1.

According to the complaint, the woman said she was walking on a park trail, close to Crystal Lake, and a male, later identified as Newton, had approached her and asked her questions about the trail and walking on the nearby lake.

She said she became suspicious and told him that her husband was in the area. Newton then left and the victim continued walking.

About 10 minutes later, Newton returned, approached her from behind and put his hand over her mouth. After pushing her to the ground, she attempted to scratch his face and eyes. He asked the woman if her husband was wearing black clothing. She responded yes. Newton then got up and ran away.

She yelled for help, and a man who was running on the trail responded and found her “pale, disheveled and in shock,” the complaint read. She went home and called 911.

Police asked for public’s help

Burnsville police alerted the public of the attack on Jan. 1 and asked residents in the area to review home surveillance footage.

Investigators viewed surveillance recordings from nearby apartment buildings. Newton was identified on the video, matching the description given by the woman, the complaint said.

Officers obtained a search warrant for an apartment where Newton was thought to be staying. During the search, they found clothing consistent with what the victim described to investigators.

On Monday, officers were surveilling the apartment and saw Newton leave in a vehicle. He was stopped and arrested.

In an interview with investigators, Newton said he went to the park on Jan. 1 to get fresh air and that a woman began talking to him on the trail. He said he urinated in the snow, causing the the woman to yell at him.

Newton said the woman got closer to him and started threatening him by stating that her husband would beat him up. He stated that the woman came up on him and he pushed her, at which point she fell to the ground landing on her stomach.

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Newton said the woman started screaming for her husband, and that he went back to his apartment.

Alleged prior incidents

According to the prosecutor’s bail request filing, Newton was previously seen masturbating outside of random strangers’ homes. In two cases, the act was caught on Ring video doorbell recordings, and in the third a person saw Newton outside of her sliding glass door.

“Defendant was questioned about these incidents as part of this investigation, and he admitted that he had been exposing his penis outside of people’s homes out of a desire to see people’s reactions to this conduct,” the court filing read. “The current offense seems to be an escalation of this conduct, and the State has significant public safety concerns.”

Gov. Tim Walz has put the Minnesota National Guard on notice in the event of unrest following the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

Walz says he’s issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard in the event of civil unrest. It’s a first step that alerts 13,000 guard members that they may need to be called upon in the event of an emergency.

Addressing reporters on the situation during a Wednesday briefing, Walz said he supported the rights of demonstrators but urged them to engage in peaceful protest.

“What we’re seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict,” Walz said. “It’s governing by reality TV, and today, that recklessness cost someone their life.”

He added: “We won’t let them tear us apart. We’ll not turn against each other. To Minnesotans, they say this, I feel your anger. I’m angry. They want a show. We can’t give it to them.”

Like a number of other Democrats in Minnesota, Walz called for federal law enforcement authorities to leave the state.

“I have a very simple message, we do not need any further help from the federal government,” he said. “To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem: you have done enough.”

Meanwhile, state Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson urged “safe and lawful” protests and warned that actions like blocking freeways or damaging property could result in fines and arrest.

“We fully expect that the community will want to peacefully demonstrate their anger or frustration. Minnesota residents and visitors have the right to peacefully demonstrate,” Jacobson said. “Our focus is keeping demonstrators, community members, drivers and law enforcement safe, especially during moments of heightened tension or uncertainty.”

Reactions

A number of statements via social media and email from politicians ranged outrage over ICE’s actions and presence in the Twin Cities to support for federal law enforcement.

President Donald Trump, in a social media post, described the victim as a “professional agitator” and said video of the incident shows the ICE agent acting in self-defense.

“Based on the attached clip, it’s hard to believe he’s still alive” Trump said. He went on to blame “The Radical Left” for threatening law enforcement.

State Attorney General Keith Ellison, in a statement, said he was “very angry.”

“Like so many Minnesotans, I’m heartbroken. I’m also angry. Very angry. For weeks, we’ve watched the Trump administration deliberately brutalize our communities, and now an ICE agent has fatally shot one of our neighbors,” Ellison said. “The president is deliberately weaponizing the federal government against the people of Minnesota to inflict pain and instill terror. We must stand up to this horrendous injustice, and in doing so, we must not stoop to Donald Trump’s level. We’re right to be heartbroken and angry, but we cannot give Donald Trump the excuse he wants to continue escalating this violence against Minnesotans.”

Ellison said residents should “protest peacefully, organize your communities, and stand up for one another. I will continue to do everything in my power to oppose this brutality, ensure justice is served, and keep Minnesotans safe. Right now, I think nothing would keep Minnesotans safer than seeing ICE leave our state, and take their chaos, pain, and violence with them.”

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, in a statement, said the incident was “the result of the administration sending federal agents onto our streets against the wishes of local law enforcement, including our respected (Minneapolis) Police Chief Brian O’Hara. We need full transparency and an investigation of what happened, and I am deeply concerned that statements made by (the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) do not appear to reflect video evidence and on-the-ground accounts. While our immigration enforcement should be focused on apprehending and prosecuting violent criminals to make our communities safer, these ICE actions are doing the opposite and making our state less safe.”

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat from St. Paul, called on ICE agents to leave the state.

“ICE must immediately cease and desist their actions in Minnesota to allow state and local law enforcement officials to restore order, prevent further violence, and conduct a full, independent, and transparent investigation into ICE’s actions and conduct which caused this horrific shooting,” McCollum said. “Minnesotans are justified in their anger. As Minnesotans, we demand accountability and justice. We have a fundamental right to express our first amendment freedoms through peaceful protest. We must not fall into Trump’s trap of division and violence. We can show the world the best of Minnesota values – our compassion, our respect for the dignity of each of our neighbors, and our belief in justice for all.”

In a social media post U.S. Tom Emmer, a Sixth District Republican, posted on X his support for federal law enforcement.

“I pray that every federal law enforcement officer on the ground in Minnesota right now remains safe as they carry out their vital mission. Tim Walz and Jacob Frey are cowards who are inciting violence to distract from their own failures. It’s dangerous. Stay safe, @ICEgov.”

St. Paul mayor, others

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her said in a social media post that she was monitoring the situation in Minneapolis.

“My heart is broken for the victim, their family, and our community as a whole,” Her said. “I join Mayor Frey in demanding that ICE leave our cities immediately before they cause any further harm.”

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL- St. Paul, in a statement, said she was “devastated and furious.”

“A weak president sent ICE agents to Minnesota to sow chaos without regard for human life, and today’s killing is the predictable outcome,” Murphy said. “This federal government is using violence to force us into fearful silence and compliance, and a woman is dead because of it. ICE should never have been in Minnesota, and they need to leave now.

“I denounce these actions, and I will fight with all I have for our freedom and safety. I urge us all, even as we feel our rage and our grief, to remain calm; more innocent people cannot be hurt. We demand accountability — and the truth — from the President, Secretary Noem, ICE officials, and those involved in the shooting.”

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Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, in a statement, said “peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and must be protected, but endangering law enforcement officers is never acceptable.”

Johnson added: “I offer my condolences to the family grieving the loss of a loved one and urge everyone to step back, de-escalate, and let investigators fully examine the facts of what occurred.”