Daily News Brief

May 11, 2023

Top of the Agenda

The Joe Biden administration finalized a new rule (Reuters) to govern crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of the midnight expiration of Title 42, a public health law allowing U.S. authorities to quickly expel unauthorized migrants on pandemic-related grounds. Northbound migrants who aim to apply for asylum in the United States but who did not already apply for that protection in another country, or who did not use lawful pathways to enter the United States, will be presumed ineligible for asylum, the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice announced. 

In addition, Washington said the United States will admit (AP) at least one hundred thousand Latin Americans seeking to reunite with family members in the country, but it did not offer further details. U.S. authorities said some exceptions will be made to the ban on asylum applications at the southern border. Uncertainty around the details of the new policies has reportedly prompted a rapid uptick in migrants caught illegally crossing the border in recent days. 

Analysis

“In the three years that the U.S. employed Title 42, the pandemic-era measure that made it possible to turn away people seeking asylum at the southern border, lawmakers in both parties have grown increasingly comfortable with a future in which the decadeslong right to cross America’s border to seek refuge from persecution is no longer sacrosanct,” the Wall Street Journal’s Michelle Hackman writes.

“The real emergency here is not the number of people seeking refuge—it’s the failure of U.S. policy to adapt. Many, many, MANY other refugee-hosting countries routinely absorb far higher numbers of refugees as a share of their populations,” Refugees International’s Jeremy Konyndyk tweets.

This Backgrounder explains how the U.S. asylum process works.

Pacific Rim

An information-sharing agreement that Washington and Beijing signed in 2022 allowed the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to discover unacceptable deficiencies (Reuters) in Chinese auditors’ reviews of U.S.-listed Chinese companies, the board said. China’s securities watchdog offered to work with its U.S. counterparts (Reuters) to overcome the differences.

China/France: Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, yesterday in Paris, where the diplomats discussed (SCMP) expanding economic ties and the war in Ukraine.

 South and Central Asia

Islamabad police said they arrested several leaders (Dawn) of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party for “inciting violent protests” in the wake of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest on corruption charges earlier this week.

India: Police said they arrested five people (CNN) in connection to a series of bombings that occurred this week near the city of Amritsar’s Golden Temple, the holiest shrine in Sikhism.

Middle East and North Africa

Egyptian state media said Cairo had brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, yet the Israeli military announced that it killed another commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group today. Gaza’s health ministry said twenty-five Palestinians have been killed in the fighting (AP).

Israel: The International Monetary Fund warned that uncertainty over the status of Israel’s planned judicial overhaul presents a “notable downside risk” (Times of Israel) to the country’s economy.

For Foreign Affairs, Risa Brooks and Avishay Ben Sasson-Gordis explain how the judicial overhaul spurred unusual protest within the Israeli military.

Sub-Saharan Africa

A grouping of mostly Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, called for the UN Human Rights Council to increase its monitoring (Reuters) of abuses in Sudan’s conflict during an emergency meeting of the council today. The Sudanese ambassador to the body opposed the suggestion, saying the conflict is an internal matter.

South Africa: Foreign minister Naledi Pandor said the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa will discuss the possibility of adopting a common currency (Bloomberg) at their Johannesburg summit in August. Some emerging markets are weighing whether to abandon the U.S. dollar as the global trading currency.

Europe

Ukrainian troops have advanced against Russian fighters (RFE/RL), gaining roughly 3 square kilometers (1.2 square miles) outside the embattled city of Bakhmut, officials on both sides said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv needs more time (BBC) to prepare for a broader counteroffensive against Russia, as it is still awaiting deliveries of promised aid.

On this episode of The President’s Inbox podcast, CFR’s Charles A. Kupchan discusses whether it is time for the United States and the West to rethink their strategy in Ukraine.

Armenia/Azerbaijan: The countries blamed each other for an exchange of fire (RFE/RL) along their shared border this morning. Azerbaijan said a member of its military was killed. The European Union is set to mediate peace talks between the two sides this weekend.

Americas

Ecuador’s trade ministry estimates that the deal, which still requires approval by Ecuador’s legislature, is expected to increase Ecuador’s non-oil exports (FT) by $3–4 billion over the next ten years.  

Brazil/Ukraine: A foreign affairs advisor to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, met with President Zelenksyy (AP) and Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister in Kyiv yesterday to discuss the war. The meeting came after Lula drew criticism from Western nations for refusing to send weapons to Ukraine and saying that Kyiv shares some of the blame for Russia’s invasion. 

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