administration crackdown: We can't have it, Trump says, according to Metro News. We want a safe country. President Donald Trump says mayors who boycotted a White House event over an administration crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities are placing the needs of illegal immigrants above citizens. Trump is welcoming a bipartisan group of local leaders to a meeting initially billed as a discussion of infrastructure, drug addiction and other topics. Landrieu, the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, called the meeting untenable. Trump noted the absence of invitees like New Orleans' Mitch Landrieu and New York's Bill de Blasio. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

bill richardson: The sudden resignation Wednesday of probably the panel's most prominent member, a former senior U.S. politician and diplomat who considered Suu Kyi a close friend, raises serious questions about international efforts to deal with the calamitous fallout of Burma military operations, according to Toronto Star. Since August, the operation against the Rohingya Muslims has been called textbook ethnic cleansing by the United Nations. Bill Richardson has resigned from an advisory panel on the massive Rohingya refugee crisis, calling it a whitewash and a cheerleading operation for Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi. It also offers possible insight into the thinking of Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate once revered as an icon of human rights whose leadership during the Rohingya crisis has shocked many outsiders. She believes there's a concerted international effort against Myanmar Burma and I believe she is wrong, Richardson said Wednesday evening in an Associated Press interview at his hotel in downtown Rangoon, the country's biggest city. Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and President Bill Clinton's energy secretary, castigated Suu Kyi for blaming outsiders for the crisis instead of looking honestly at military actions that have forced nearly 700,000 Rohingya to flee to squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh, where they have spoken of mass killings, rapes and the obliteration of whole villages in Burma. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

fight bias: In a report released this week, the commission says there was no significant difference for candidates from visible minority groups when their personal information was concealed, according to Toronto Star. It also says applicants from all other groups were less likely to be brought in for an interview under that system compared to a traditional method. The practice involves removing names and other identifying information such as country of origin from job applications to fight bias against people of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Article Continued Below The commission notes that the results can't be generalized to the entire public service because the pilot relied on departments that volunteered and used a non-random selection of external hiring processes. The report is just one of the many ways the PSC is exploring innovative approaches to ensure a diverse and representative workforce while supporting bias-free recruitment within the federal public service, Patrick Borbey, president of the Public Service Commission of Canada, said in a statement. react-empty 158 We will continue to push boundaries in this area while maintaining the integrity of the federal public service's non-partisan and merit-based staffing system. The project included 27 external job postings across 17 departments between April and October of last year, resulting in a sample of 2,226 candidates, of which 685 self-identified as visible minorities. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

discussion point: It's going to happen, at some point in the future, over a period of 10 to 12 years, according to The Chronicle Herald. Trump's pronouncements came as the White House announced it would be unveiling a legislative framework on immigration next week that it hopes can pass both the House and the Senate. We're going to morph into it, Trump told reporters. The president's remarks amounted to a preview of that framework. But immediately after Trump spoke, a senior White House official stressed the idea of a pathway to citizenship so-called Dreamers was just a discussion point in the plan that the White House intended to preview to the House and Senate later Wednesday. He said he'll propose 25 billion for building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and 5 billion for other security measures. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

jim thome: A .300 career average, according to The Chronicle Herald. In the age of baseball analytics, there's still room in the Hall of Fame for big, round numbers you can count on. More than 600 saves. Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero and Trevor Hoffman were rewarded Wednesday, easily elected in the newest class headed for Cooperstown. Yes, you can dig deeper, he said. I don't know how you tabulate or calculate WAR, Jones said, referring to a sabermetric stat that didn't exist for much of his career. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

marios: He learns everything as much as he can.'- Peter Jackson Marios Al Bazi, and his family, originally from Iraq, were brought to St, according to CBC. John's by a group that raised money to sponsor their immigration from Lebanon where they had lived for the last several years. He's like a little information sponge. It's been a productive two years for Marios, who's gone from barely being able to speak a word of English to placing fourth in his Grade 6 class spelling bee earlier this week. I enjoyed doing it, he told the St. I got 28 out of 35 right and I had fun doing it. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

mother minutes: To remedy what their parents, a gay married couple, view as an injustice, Ethan Dvash-Banks became a plaintiff at the tender age of 16 months in a federal lawsuit against the U.S. State Department that seeks the same rights his brother has as an American citizen, according to CTV. Each boy was conceived with donor eggs and the sperm from a different father - one an American, the other an Israeli citizen - but born by the same surrogate mother minutes apart. Everything but a toothbrush and U.S. citizenship. What we're trying to do is pursue justice for Ethan, said Elad Dvash-Banks, Ethan's biological dad, and correct a wrong that the State Department is continuing to pursue that might affect other couples. The cases filed in Los Angeles and Washington by Immigration Equality said the children of a U.S. citizen who marries abroad are entitled to U.S. citizenship at birth no matter where they are born and even if the other parent is a foreigner. The lawsuit was one of two filed Monday by an LGBTQ immigrant rights group that said the State Department is discriminating against same-sex binational couples by denying their children citizenship at birth. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

security reasons: While the Immigration Department has concluded she was a known conduit of harmless information about that project and its Canadian personnel, the Canada Border Services Agency insists that she is inadmissible and must appear before an admissibility hearing on Thursday, according to Toronto Star. It is really difficult to see why she is being put through all of this or how she could be considered a risk to Canada's security either now or then. Elena Crenna is deemed inadmissible to Canada for security reasons for her contacts with Russia's intelligence and security agency, the FSB, while working as a translator for a Canadian housing development project 20 years ago. She was accepted as an American citizen after thorough security vetting. The housing project she allegedly spied on never had any official secrets. She is a registered nurse in California and her son served in the U.S. military, said her lawyer Seamus Murphy. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

offer: So we're going to have to start on a new basis and the wall offer is off the table, Schumer told reporters, according to CBC. An aide said the offer was pulled on Sunday. A day after the end of a government shutdown linked to wrangling over immigration, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he pulled the offer because of what he said was Trump's failure to follow through on the outlines of an agreement the two men discussed last Friday. What's up with Trump's border wall Prototypes are ready to test, but it's a bit more complicated in Texas Why Trump's desire for a protectionist wall threatens more than Don Pittis The Congressional Hispanic Caucus expressed fears on Tuesday that Republicans in the House of Representatives would pursue a harsh immigration bill written by judiciary committee chairman Bob Goodlatte. During the 2016 election campaign, Trump said Mexico would pay the cost of building a wall along the southwestern border of the United States to keep out illegal immigrants. The House measure would allow Dreamers to renew their legal status for three years, instead of putting them on a pathway to citizenship, and would call for hiring 10,000 more agents at U.S. borders while shutting down some visa programs and taking other steps to find people who are in the country illegally. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

post-season regulars: Consider the nightly rotations a mere warmup for a post-season that could feature a handful of teams who missed the playoffs last year, according to CTV. Teams like Tampa Bay, Vegas and Winnipeg are making life hard for post-season regulars, though luckily for two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh, there's plenty of time to climb back into contention. Just be ready for them to change again once the games resume. Then again, the Chicago Blackhawks, with three Stanley Cups since 2010, are further back and in danger of missing the playoffs entirely without a late surge. Anytime you get a little break, you want to come back and really be on top of your game because from now on, it's only going to get harder, Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne said. The teams in front of the usual powers plan on staying there once the All-Star Game weekend ends. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rohingya muslims: After Myanmar expressed readiness to start receiving an estimated 680,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled incredible violence over the last five months, Younus said he would rather die in the camp than go back again to the land of his birth, according to CTV. They have been killing Muslims for a long time now, he said. The 30-year-old Rohingya Muslim, who has been slowly rebuilding a shadow of a normal life in a sprawling and squalid refugee camp in Bangladesh, is in no mood to return home to Myanmar. We run and come to Bangladesh. We come back to Bangladesh, and go back again. Then we go back. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

signature pledge: Schumer said the offer was being taken off the table, according to CBC. While it's arguably a setback, the administration has been making progress toward additional barriers along the 3,145-kilometre border, a signature pledge for Trump since he first brought up the notion of a fence at the Iowa Freedom Summit in January 2015, five months before his official campaign launch. The White House rejected the characterization, saying no offer existed, but Texas Republican John Cornyn and Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin said the offer entailed 25 billion US for the wall and other border security measures, spread over several years. Why Trump's desire for a protectionist wall threatens more than Don Pittis What's up with Trump's border wall Prototypes are ready to test, but it's a bit more complicated in Texas Trump's border security ideas evolved on the hustings, as he frequently exhorted supporters at his rallies in chants of Build that wall! Here's a look at how the issue has evolved since Trump was inaugurated as president just over a year ago. Earlier in the year, the pair had a contentious phone call about the border wall. Trump meets Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Germany on July 7. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

dozen others: She heard sirens, but quickly dismissed them, assuming they signalled an accident somewhere else, according to National Observer. When she arrived at an intersection about 50 metres from the local mosque, police officers had blocked the road. It was a Sunday night. They stopped her and aimed guns at her car window. They were running everywhere, it was strange, Elazzouzi recalled. Minutes later, she learned of the carnage a gunman had run into the mosque, killed six worshippers and wounded more than a dozen others. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

affairs employees: It's not clear why Lukasz Niec, 43, was taken into custody last Tuesday, according to The Chronicle Herald. Niec is a legal U.S. resident who works at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo. A Michigan doctor who came to the U.S. from Poland as a young child was in jail Monday, nearly a week after immigration agents arrested him at his home. He has two misdemeanour convictions from high school and an impaired driving conviction from 2008 that was later dismissed. An automatic response said the agency's public affairs employees aren't working because of the government shutdown. The Associated Press sent an email Monday seeking comment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

canada: This call was echoed and supported by many other Muslim groups, according to Rabble. Yet the call has not been heeded by any government to date. The National Council of Canadian Muslims called for making January 29 a day against Islamophobia in Canada many months ago. Some politicians dodge the question skillfully, while others explicitly say they will not do it. As I think about this, I ask which president decided to celebrate February as Black History Month, and which governor adopted and initiated the Pride Parade If the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History would have called on the United States government, in 1926, to declare the second week of February as Negro History Week, they probably would have been waiting, till today, for President Donald Trump to tweet his consent. I am left to wonder which is worse. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

club option: He arrived on a three-year deal that includes two years on loan from Bologna FC, plus a club option for 2021, according to CTV. Vargas, an attacking midfielder, signed for 2018 with two-and-a-half option years. Taider, 25, is French but plays internationally for Algeria. Both will likely be key pieces in an Impact lineup that has been largely rebuilt since French coach Remi Garde was hired in November. Taider, who usually plays in a defensive midfield position, takes the place of attacking midfielder Blerim Dzemaili, who asked to return to Bologna after only six months in Montreal to be closer to his family. The newcomers, plus the recently signed goalkeeper Clement Diop and defenders Jukka Raitala, Raheem Edwards, Michael Petrasso and Zakaria Diallo, were presented at a news conference at the team's training centre. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

countries report: After Switzerland, Canada, Germany, the U.K. and Japan round out the top five spots -- all countries with progressive social and environmental policies, analysts note, according to CTV. Nordic countries like Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway are also heavily represented on the list and top other subcategories thanks to their famously progressive social policies Denmark, for instance, is named the best country for women, and for raising children, while Norway ranks the top country for citizenship. It's the second time the Swiss have topped U.S. News & World Report's Best Countries report, which looked at 80 countries for this year's ranking. The category of citizenship considers a country's record on human rights, gender equality and religious freedom. Y&R's BAV Group helped develop the model for the ranking. For the countries that rose to the top of this year's rankings, it is once again clear that military vigor and economic power are no longer the key determinants to a country's brand success, said David Sable, Y&R Global CEO in a statement. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

core: Nashville, Tennessee-based Core Civic had proposed locating a 100 million, 1,200-bed centre about 10 miles 16 kilometres east of South Bend, according to The Chronicle Herald. Elkhart County Commissioner Mike Yoder says Core Civic officials informed the three county commissioners Monday morning that they would withdraw their petition to rezone farmland for the centre. A private prison management company on Monday scrapped plans to build a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centre in northern Indiana following fierce local opposition, county commissioners said. Yoder said the company didn't give a reason why. I think Core Civic read the writing on the wall and saw it wasn't going to be a good fit for Elkhart County, Lucchese said. Commissioner Frank Lucchese confirmed the decision by the company previously known as Corrections Corp. of America. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

ethiopian border: The first peacekeepers are expected to arrive in the next few weeks, according to Metro News. This will be the first U.N. peacekeeper presence in Akobo since 2013, when the base of 43 troops was abandoned after armed men stormed the compound and killed three Indian peacekeepers. We've had several requests to be there in Akobo, U.N. mission chief David Shearer told The Associated Press, calling the gap in services there significant. Situated near the Ethiopian border, the bustling town is one of South Sudan's last opposition strongholds and has become a refuge for thousands of ethnic Nuer fleeing the fighting in Upper Nile and Jonglei states. The latest cease-fire, which took effect Dec. 24, was broken just hours later with both sides blaming each other for the violations. South Sudan's five-year civil war has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions amid warnings of ethnic violence. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigrant dreamers: The vote set the stage for hundreds of thousands of federal workers to return on Tuesday, cutting short what could have become a messy and costly impasse, according to Toronto Star. The House approved the measure shortly thereafter, and Trump later signed it behind closed doors at the White House. They relented in return for Republican assurances that the Senate will soon take up the plight of young immigrant dreamers and other contentious issues. But by relenting, the Democrats prompted a backlash from immigration activists and liberal base supporters who wanted them to fight longer and harder for legislation to protect from deportation the 700,000 or so younger immigrants who were brought to the country as children and now are here illegally. But there were deep divides in the Democratic caucus over strategy, as red-state lawmakers fighting for their survival broke with progressives looking to satisfy liberals' and immigrants' demands. Read more Why a U.S. government shutdown holds risks for Democratic senators facing re-election Article Continued Below U.S. government shutdown spoils Trump's first-year celebrations react-text 155 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer at Capitol Hill on Monday. /react-text Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES U.S. Embassy in Israel will move to Jerusalem by 2019, Mike Pence says Democrats climbed onboard after two days of negotiations that ended with new assurances from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the Senate would consider immigration proposals in the coming weeks. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

passion-fueled indies: Leading all nominees with 13 nods, including best picture, was The Shape of Water, by veteran Mexican filmmaker del Toro, whose Cold War-era fantasy is about a mute office cleaner Sally Hawkins who falls in love with an amphibious creature, according to Metro News. The film, shot in Toronto and Hamilton, came just shy of tying the record of 14 nominations shared by All About Eve, ''Titanic and La La Land. In nominations that spanned young and old, studio blockbusters and passion-fueled indies, the 90th annual Academy Awards on Tuesday gave many who have long been shunned by the movie business women directors, transgender filmmakers, minority actors, even Netflix something to cheer about. Toronto native J. Miles Dale shares in the best picture nomination for the film. Gerwig, the writer-director of the nuanced coming-of-age tale Lady Bird, became just the fifth woman nominated for best director, following Lina Wertmuller, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow, the sole woman to win, for The Hurt Locker. But the nominations also carried forward some of the ongoing reckoning of the Me Too movement that has been felt especially acutely in Hollywood, where male filmmakers outnumber women by a ratio of approximately 12-to-1. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rights group: It also alleges that Motel 6 provided such information without requiring authorities to get a warrant or without having a reasonable suspicion that crimes were being committed, according to The Chronicle Herald. We are seeking to deter any law enforcement operation of this sort, said Thomas Saenz, president of the civil rights group. The lawsuit by the Mexican American Legal Defence and Educational Fund said Motel 6 had a corporate policy or practice of giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents information that guests provided at check-in. Motel 6 declined to comment on the lawsuit but said in a statement that it takes guests' privacy seriously. In a tweet at the time, Motel 6 said This was implemented at the local level without the knowledge of senior management. The national budget motel chain said in September that its Phoenix employees will no longer work with immigration authorities after the Phoenix New Times newspaper reported that workers were providing guests' names to agents who later arrested 20 people on immigration charges. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

phone conversation: In a city of accents, what's considered 'cute' versus 'foreign' reveals a hierarchy What can we tell from how someone speaks The next step would be a phone conversation before an in-person interview, according to CBC. Over the phone, however, Gupta said he sensed the initial enthusiasm begin to wane. Shortly after arriving in Toronto in 2014, he sent out resumes in droves and received several email responses back, including a few that were promising. Do you speak with an accent How do you feel about it How do others make you feel about it Share your experience at torontotips cbc.ca or call our Vox Box at 416-205-2595. You start talking and then the conversation sort of drops off. The only reason I can think of was after hearing me....so obviously he could figure out this person was not from here, he told CBC Toronto. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

politics: Every country's cuisine reflects that list and the journey its cooks took to your table, according to Toronto Star. American cooking reflects more journeys than most, its collective cuisine assembled almost entirely from the suitcases and memories of generations of immigrants. There's the sustenance and comfort of that food, but what's also built into the sauce or dropped into the pot is a sometimes invisible and highly complex ingredient list that can include tradition, community, history, geography, art, religion and politics. A new cookbook, published last month by Interlink Books, celebrates this multicultural recipe box, giving voice to the myriad chefs and their traditions as it puts their food on our menu and, more subtly, their politics on our plates. Collected and edited by Leyla Moushabeck, the book assembles over 70 recipes from first- and second-generation immigrant chefs from six continents. The title, The Immigrant Cookbook Recipes that Make America Great, is the least subtle thing about the cookbook, an obvious allusion to U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign slogan, and thus a pointed gastronomic counter to his administration's rhetoric and policies on immigration. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

trialable issues: Motor vehicle theft is punishable by up to 10 years in prison in Canada, according to CBC. Mr. Ahmed Aden Ali was deemed inadmissible to Canada because he had been earlier convicted of grand theft auto in the U.S. It's considered serious criminality under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which classifies any crime with a maximum of at least 10 years in prison as serious. Ali, who had every hope to stay here, his pending criminal charges didn't even prevent Canada from removing him, said his defence lawyer, Amado Claros. They ended up staying or dropping those charges as a result of him actually being removed from Canada. ... From our perspective as defence, there are considerable trialable issues on the charges he was facing. The deportation was not because of those criminal charges. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

unity mosque: They were also active in the Church and Wellesley area, according to police at the time, according to Toronto Star. When news of their disappearance first emerged in 2012, El-Farouk Khaki, who founded the Unity Mosque, an LGBTQ prayer group, was very aware that the men weren't white. Skandaraj Navaratnam, 40, Majeed Kayhan, 58, and Abdulbasir Faizi, 42, were all middle-aged, of similar skin colour and immigration status. Police have made great attempts at reconciliation with the community, he said. Project Houston was formed in November 2012, nearly five years before the disappearance of two other men prompted police to set up another task force. But, it falls short by not recognizing that the queer community is not monolithic . . . Relationships need to be nurtured across. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.