Arizona authorities said Monday they sent prosecutors the results of an investigation into a now-shuttered shelter for immigrant children where videos showed staffers dragging and shoving kids.   The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office investigated incidents that took place on three days in September. Prosecutors will now decide whether to file charges. The videos first obtained by The Arizona Republic are blurry but show staffers dragging children on the ground and shoving a boy against a door. In one video, a staffer is seen sitting at a conference room table, fidgeting with her hair, while another staffer drags a child into the room. The treatment continued even after the child falls to the ground.  Facility closed in October The shelter, known as Hacienda del Sol, was operated by Southwest Key and located in the metro Phoenix area before it was closed in October. It held immigrant children who came to the …

Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is giving some final advice to troops and the Defense Department’s civilian employees – maintain your faith in America and continue to stand by the country’s allies. “Our Department’s leadership, civilian and military, remains in the best possible hands,” Mattis wrote in his official farewell message Monday, his last day on the job. “I am confident that each of you remains undistracted from our sworn mission to support and defend the Constitution while protecting our way of life,” he continued. “So keep the faith in our country and hold fast, alongside our allies, aligned against our foes.” Monday’s letter comes as Mattis prepares to relinquish his office to Deputy Secretary Pat Shanahan, who will become acting defense secretary as of January 1. Unlike Mattis, who came to the Pentagon as a revered former Marine general who served in Afghanistan, Shanahan does not have any military …

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday took the first major step toward launching a widely anticipated campaign for the presidency, hoping her reputation as a populist fighter can help her navigate a Democratic field that could include nearly two dozen candidates. “No matter what our differences, most of us want the same thing,” the 69-year-old Massachusetts Democrat said in a video that highlights her family’s history in Oklahoma. “To be able to work hard, play by the same set of rules and take care of the people we love. That’s what I’m fighting for and that’s why today I’m launching an exploratory committee for president.” Warren burst onto the national scene a decade ago during the financial crisis with calls for greater consumer protections. She quickly became one of the party’s more prominent liberals even as she sometimes fought with Obama administration officials over their response to the market turmoil. Now, …

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 …

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. …

U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged Monday that not all of the barrier he wants to build along the Mexican border would be a concrete wall he has long called for. “An all concrete Wall was NEVER ABANDONED, as has been reported by the media,” Trump contended in a Twitter remark. He was disputing John Kelly, his outgoing White House chief of staff, who said in an interview over the weekend that the Trump administration discarded the idea of a “solid concrete wall” early in Trump’s two-year tenure as president. But Trump conceded, “Some areas will be all concrete but the experts at Border Patrol prefer a Wall that is see through (thereby making it possible to see what is happening on both sides). Makes sense to me!” Trump won the cheers of his most ardent loyalists in his successful 2016 presidential campaign with his call for a solid concrete wall …

The officers suit up in the pre-dawn darkness, wrapping on body armor, snapping in guns, pulling on black sweat shirts that read POLICE and ICE. They gather around a conference table in an ordinary office in a nondescript office park in the suburbs, going over their targets for the day: two men, both with criminal histories. Top of the list is a man from El Salvador convicted of drunken driving.   U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enforcement and removal operations, like the five-person field office team outside Richmond, hunt people in the U.S. illegally, some of whom have been here for decades, working and raising families. Under President Donald Trump, who has pushed hardline immigration policies, ICE has been exposed to unprecedented public scrutiny and criticism, even though officers say they’re doing the same job they did before the election — enforcing U.S. laws that were on the books long before …

Russia has detained an American citizen in Moscow on accusations of spying, according to Russian state media. Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officials issued a statement on Monday saying U.S. citizen Paul Whelan had been detained on December 28 “while carrying out an act of espionage,” and that they have opened a criminal probe. They provided no further details, but Russia’s state-run TASS news agency said that Whelan faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. A State Department spokesperson said Monday the United States is aware of Russian authorities’ detention of a U.S. citizen. “We have been formally notified of the detention by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the official said in an emailed statement to VOA. “Russia’s obligations under the Vienna Convention require them to provide consular access.  We have requested this access and expect Russian authorities to provide it.” The State Department did not provide further details, …

For Canadian-American Kristin Clay, cost was a significant factor when she chose Aalborg University in Denmark for a master’s degree in culture, communication and globalization after completing her bachelor’s degree at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida. “I … felt like I couldn’t afford to [study] in the States,” she told VOA. Her degree in Denmark cost her around $3,000 per semester, she said.  The average cost of tuition and fees at a U.S. college or university is around $25,000 a year, while more exclusive schools charge up to $70,000 in annual tuition and fees. A degree from one of those schools might garner a graduate better opportunities and income over time.  The higher education industry in the U.S. faced documented evidence of daunting competition from other countries in 2018 that offer lower tuition, immigration pathways and less controversy for international students.  International student enrollment at American universities has leveled …

Vietnam has earned a name as the chief haven for multinationals hoping to avoid the Sino-U.S. trade dispute of 2018. The Philippines, another Southeast Asian country that has pushed to pick up foreign investment, aims to follow suit. The Philippines boasts young workers skilled in English, quick infrastructure upgrades and a tax system overhaul – though fuel prices and periodic political unrest may check progress, people familiar with the country say. The government approved $17.2 billion in investments, up 47 percent over 2017, the Board of Investments announced on December 24. Those figures “blew past expectations,” the board said. “We do have a market, a growing middle class and qualified workers, but there are economic and political factors that affect the level of confidence among investors, particularly foreign investors,” said Maria Ela Atienza, political science professor at University of the Philippines Diliman. Perks in the Philippines The Philippines would attract …

The origins of a suspected computer attack that disrupted the Los Angeles Times and Tribune Publishing newspapers remained unclear Sunday after causing delivery delays and being brought to the attention of federal investigators. San Diego Union-Tribune Publisher Jeff Light described the incident as “what now seems to have been a malicious attack on the company by computer hackers” in a message posted to the newspaper’s website. He told readers the disruption had mostly seemed to have been brought under control. The suspected attack prevented the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun and other papers from publishing paid death notices and classified ads Saturday. But Tribune Publishing has said no news websites were affected and no customer information was compromised. Katie Waldman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in an email Sunday that the agency was “aware of reports of a potential cyber incident” affecting several news outlets. She …

Retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal blasted U.S. President Donald Trump, calling him dishonest and immoral. The former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan told ABC’s This Week news show, “I don’t think he tells the truth.” Responding to Trump’s announcement that he will withdraw half of all U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan, McChrystal said the move would reduce the incentive for the Taliban to negotiate a peace deal after more than 17 years of war. He said, making the decision, Trump has “basically traded away the biggest leverage point we have.” “If you tell the Taliban that we are absolutely leaving on date certain, cutting down, weakening ourselves, their incentives to try to cut a deal drop dramatically,” McChrystal said. He was also highly critical of the president’s personal character. When asked if Trump is immoral, McChrystal responded: “I think he is.” This is not the first time McChrystal …

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 …

A senior Republican U.S. senator said he emerged from a White House meeting with President Donald Trump on Sunday reassured that Trump is committed to defeating Islamic State even as he plans to withdraw American troops from Syria. Senator Lindsey Graham had warned that removing all U.S. forces from Syria would hurt national security by allowing Islamic State to rebuild, betraying U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters of the YPG militia battling remnants of the militant group, and enhancing Iran’s ability to threaten Israel. During a morning television interview, Graham said he would ask Trump to slow down the troop withdrawal, which was announced earlier this month and drew widespread criticism. An ally of Trump, although he has opposed some of his foreign policy decisions, Graham was more upbeat after the meeting. “We talked about Syria. He told me some things I didn’t know that made me feel a lot better about where …

A group of journalists will usher in the New Year Monday in New York City’s Times Square as the time-honored tradition of the annual ball drop recognizes journalism and free speech. Leading American reporters and editors will be on stage just before midnight to push the button that begins the countdown to the New Year. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 53 journalists were killed on the job in 2018 and another 251 were imprisoned around the world. In another first, New York police will use a drone to monitor the crowds. The camera-carrying drone will be added to the arsenal of more than 1,200 fixed video cameras that will be deployed by the police. The security plan also includes road closures, thousands of uniformed and plainclothes officers, sharpshooters on rooftops of surrounding buildings and the sealing of manhole covers. On Sunday, officials did a test run …

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told U.S. President Donald Trump in a New Year’s letter that the Kremlin is “open to dialogue” on the myriad issues hindering relations between their countries. The Kremlin published a summary of Putin’s “greeting message” to Trump on Sunday. The summary states the Russian leader wrote: “Russia-U.S. relations are the most important factor behind ensuring strategic stability and international security.” Trump canceled a formal meeting with Putin scheduled for Dec. 1 at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, tweeting “it would be best for all parties” given Russia’s seizure days earlier of three Ukrainian naval vessels. Since then, the Kremlin has repeatedly said it is open to dialogue. The message to Trump was among dozens of holiday greetings Putin sent to other world leaders, each tailored to reflect a bilateral theme. The recipients included Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom Putin has backed throughout a civil …

An international trade association says on-the-job slayings of journalists and news media staff rose again in 2018 following an overall decline during the past half-dozen years. The International Federation of Journalists said in an annual report set for release Monday that 94 journalists and media workers died in targeted killings, bomb attacks and conflict crossfire this year, 12 more than in 2017. Before the declines seen in five of the past six years, 121 people working for news organizations were slain in 2012. Since the federation started its annual count in 1990, the year with the most work-related killings, 155, was 2006. The deadliest country for people who work in the news media this year was Afghanistan, where 16 of the killings occurred. Mexico was next, with 11. Yemen had nine media slayings and Syria eight in 2018. Beyond the tragedy of lives lost, such killings affect the pursuit of …

The U.S. government is expected to remain partially closed for most of this week, and possibly even longer, as federal spending negotiations between the White House and lawmakers remain at a standstill. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, at issue is President Donald Trump’s demand for wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border, where a second undocumented child in U.S. custody died last week. …

The partial U.S. government shutdown hit its 10th day Monday, with no end in sight, as federal spending negotiations remain stalled between President Donald Trump and lawmakers heading into 2019. Trump continues to demand billions of dollars in federal spending for wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. Democratic lawmakers back a modest increase in overall border security funding but resolutely oppose a wall. Spending authority for one fourth of the U.S. government expired on December 22. White House officials said talks to resolve the impasse have broken off. Trump on Sunday tweeted that Democrats “left town and are not concerned about the safety and security of Americans!” Democrats scoffed at the accusation. “This is the same president who repeatedly promised the American people that Mexico would pay for the wall that he plans to build,” New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said on ABC’s This Week program. “Now he’s trying to …