By ANITA SNOW (Associated Press)

The one thing 9-year-old Cal Clifford wanted more than anything since he was a toddler was a pet octopus.

The boy’s family in rural Edmond, Oklahoma, humored him with toy versions of an eight-legged mollusk, but as Cal got older it became clear that only the real thing would do.

The child’s father, 36-year-old dentist Cameron Clifford, researched the possibility with a local aquarium store and before long Terrance the California two-spot octopus, also known as a bimac, was living in a watery enclosure at the family home southwest of Oklahoma City.

“We really like to encourage our children’s interests,” said the older Clifford. “It’s magical to see a kid embrace their dreams and bring them to fruition. Cal has been infatuated with the natural world and with marine biology since he was very little.”

A popular TikTok saga was launched with the father narrating the tale of Terrance the cephalopod, using a faux British accent generated by the social media app. Eventually, hundreds of thousands of people were following.

Within weeks, the tale took an surprise twist when it was learned Terrance was actually a female as it laid some 50 eggs that the family initially assumed were unfertilized. Several weeks after that, teeny near-transparent octopus babies began hatching and were given names like Rocket Larry, Squid Cudi, Swim Shady, Jay-Sea and Sea-Yoncé

Cal had burst into tears at the family dinner table when his father first announced that the local aquarium store had told him adopting an octopus would be possible.

Father and son together researched what was needed, deciding on a saltwater tank and water cycling system and ensuring they would be able to source food for the soft-bodied sea creature.

The family’s younger son Lyle and mom Kari also joined the project in their own ways. A family friend who is a reptile scientist has provided support and advice.

While female octopuses usually die soon after laying their eggs, Clifford said Terrance remains alive four months later.

Clifford said the family has gained much from the experience.

“Aside from the physical, financial and emotional requirements of owning a species such as a bimac, you will learn a lot about yourself in the process,” the Arizona-born Clifford told TikTok followers in his app-generated accent. “There’s always some valve or seal that’s not completely closed, and your storm resistant carpet isn’t rated for gallons and gallons of seawater. You’ll learn that seawater and electricity don’t always get along.”

“You will learn new things and meet incredible people and will learn that wildlife is magnificent,” he added. “But most of all, you’ll learn to love a not-so-tiny octopus like Terrance.”

El Programa para menores no acompañados de la Oficina de Reasentamiento de Refugiados (ORR por sus siglas en inglés) ha brindado atención y encontrado patrocinadores a más de 700.000 niños no acompañados, según cifras del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos (HHS por sus siglas en inglés).

Cuando un menor de 18 años llega a los Estados Unidos o a la frontera sin un padre, tutor y sin un estatus legal, reciben protecciones especiales bajo las leyes de inmigración y contra la trata de personas y están sujetos a procesos separados de expulsión y asilo.

Muchos de los menores no acompañados (UC por sus siglas en inglés) provienen de la región conocida como el Triángulo Norte de Centroamérica, que incluye a Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador. 

No existe una única razón que impulsa a los menores no acompañados a huir a los Estados Unidos, sino más bien una serie de factores que interactúan como altas tasas de delitos violentos, reclutamiento de pandillas e inseguridad económica.

Muchos de los menores no acompañados son procesados por la Oficina de Reasentamiento de Refugiados (Office of Refugee Resettlement u ORR por sus siglas en inglés), la agencia federal responsable de su atención.

El Programa para UC de la ORR ha brindado atención y encontrado patrocinadores a más de 700.000 menores no acompañados, según el Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos (HHS por sus siglas en inglés).

Varias investigaciones han mostrado los efectos en salud mental de los menores de familias divididas a través de fronteras. Menores que han sido serparados de sus familias tiene mayor probabilidad de experimentar ansiedad por separación y màs probabilidades de sufrir estres cuando viven con un cuidador indocumentado.

Un nuevo libro de los investigadores Daniel Jenks y Ernesto Castañeda, quien es el director del Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos y Latinos en la American University, ofrece detalles sobre las causas de migración, el procesos de reunificación familiar y el impacto de la separación en los menores.

El libro “Reunited: Family Separation and Central American Youth Migration” (Reunidos: Separación familiar y migración juvenil centroamericana) saldrá a la venta el próximo 8 de mayo.

Más detalles en nuestra conversación a continuación.

Ciudad Sin Límites, el proyecto en español de City Limits, y El Diario de Nueva York se han unido para crear el pódcast “El Diario Sin Límites” para hablar sobre latinos y política. Para no perderse ningún episodio de nuestro pódcast “El Diario Sin Límites” síguenos en Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Pódcast y Stitcher. Todos los episodios están allí. ¡Suscríbete!

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing Idaho to enforce its ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth while lawsuits over the law proceed, reversing lower courts.

The justices’ order Monday allows the state to put in a place a 2023 law that subjects physicians to up to 10 years in prison if they provide hormones, puberty blockers or other gender-affirming care to people under age 18. Under the court’s order, the two transgender teens who sued to challenge the law still will be able to obtain care.

The court’s three liberal justices would have kept the law on hold.

A federal judge in Idaho had blocked the law in its entirety after determining that it was necessary to do so to protect the teens, who are identified under pseudonyms in court papers.

Opponents of the law have said it will likely increase suicide rates among teens. The law’s backers have said it is necessary to “protect children” from medical or surgical treatments for gender dysphoria, though there’s little indication that gender-affirming surgeries are being performed on transgender youth in Idaho.

Gender-affirming care for youth is supported by every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association.

Medical professionals define gender dysphoria as severe psychological distress experienced by those whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth.

The action comes as the justices also may soon consider whether to take up bans in Kentucky and Tennessee that an appeals court allowed to be enforced in the midst of legal fights.

At least 23 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states face lawsuits. A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban as unconstitutional. Montana’s ban also is temporarily on hold.

The states that have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson left uncertain his plan for advancing aid for Israel and Ukraine on Monday, keeping the future of the funding in doubt as lawmakers returned to Washington for a crucial week of foreign policy work.

Iran’s missile and drone strike against Israel over the weekend put renewed pressure on House Republicans to act on a national security package that would send military support to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. But after mulling for two months how to advance such a package through the political divides in the House, Johnson has revealed little of his strategy, including whether he will try to push the funding for Israel separately or keep it packaged with the aid for the other U.S. allies.

As the House has struggled to act, conflicts around the globe have escalated. Israel’s military chief said Monday that Israel will respond to Iran’s weekend missile strike. And Ukraine’s military head over the weekend warned that the battlefield situation in the country’s east has “significantly worsened in recent days,” as warming weather has allowed Russian forces to launch a fresh offensive.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, hosting Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala at the White House, called on the House to take up the funding package immediately. “They have to do it now,” he said.

Senior Republicans were also growing impatient after Johnson had offered them assurances that he would bring Ukraine aid to the floor. Many have expected him to make that move before the House takes a recess next week. But with no plan set, time was running short for Johnson, who is learning the job of speaker as he goes.

The speaker planned to huddle with his fellow House Republicans on Monday evening. But the meeting will be filled with lawmakers strongly opposed on Ukraine: Republican defense hawks, including the top lawmakers on national security committees, who want Johnson to finally take up the national security supplemental package as a bundle, are pitted against populist conservatives who are fiercely opposed to continued support for Kyiv’s fight at all.

Ahead of the meeting on Monday, Johnson revealed little on his decision after saying over the weekend that he would bring Israel aid to the floor this week. Johnson has expressed support for aiding Ukraine, but ignored questions from reporters on Monday about whether he would bundle funding for the two nations together. The House was also preparing this week to take up a series of bills aimed at sanctioning Iran.

“The House must rush to Israel’s aid as quickly as humanly possible, and the only way to do that is passing the Senate’s supplemental ASAP,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Meanwhile, the White House would “oppose” a standalone bill that only addresses aid for Israel, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday. Democratic leaders are pressuring Johnson to take up a Senate-passed bill that would provide a total of $95 billion for the U.S. allies, as well as humanitarian support for civilians in Gaza and Ukraine.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries pledged in a letter to lawmakers to do “everything in our legislative power to confront aggression” around the globe, and he cast the situation as similar to the lead-up to World War II.

“The gravely serious events of this past weekend in the Middle East and Eastern Europe underscore the need for Congress to act immediately,” Jeffries said. “We must take up the bipartisan and comprehensive national security bill passed by the Senate forthwith. This is a Churchill or Chamberlain moment.”

During a private meeting last week, two senior Democrats, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker emerita, and Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former No. 2 leader, encouraged their Democratic colleagues to sign on to a discharge petition that could force the House to vote on the Senate aid package.

Pelosi and Hoyer told the Democratic lawmakers that even if they oppose the bill, they could still sign the discharge petition to at least push the package to the floor — and then vote against it later. The leaders’ message was confirmed by two people familiar with the private meeting and granted anonymity to discuss it.

So far, 195 lawmakers have signed on to the discharge petition, about a dozen shy of the majority needed to force action on the floor. Many of the progressive Democrats holding out from signing the petition are against U.S. aid to Israel due to the Netanyahu government’s assault on Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians.

On the right, the House Freedom Caucus said Monday that it opposed “using the emergency situation in Israel as a bogus justification to ram through Ukraine aid with no offset and no security for our own wide-open borders.”

The political divides on foreign aid have so far flummoxed Johnson, who rose from the lower ranks of House leadership to become speaker after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was abruptly ousted late last year.

Now Johnson is facing the same threat. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a right-wing Republican from Georgia, has ratcheted up the political pressure on Johnson by threatening to oust him from the speaker’s office if he puts aid to Ukraine on the floor.