NATION & WORLD
Senators defying Obama, seek new sanctions for Iran by 10 Democrats. The escalation in the fight over sanctions comes less than four weeks after diplomats from Iran and six world powers signed a historic accord that temporarily freezes key parts of Tehran’s nuclear program in return for short-term relief from some economic sanctions. Negotiators set a sixmonth deadline for hammering out a permanent treaty that would set strict limits on Iran’s nuclear capabilities. The measure introduced Thursday, if approved, would impose harsh new sanctions on Iran’s petroleum industry while also threatening U.S. allies and partners with financial restrictions unless they curtail trade with Iran. The sanctions go into effect if Iran violates the terms of the accord or if it fails to reach a permanent agreement with world powers in a timely manner. Sponsors of the bill said the measure would increase U.S. leverage as its diplomats continue to work toward a permanent deal. But White House officials had pushed hard to delay the bill’s introduction, saying that even the threat of new sanctions could cause the fragile negotiations to collapse.
By Joby Warrick and Karen DeYoung The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of 26 senators introduced legislation Thursday that threatened new sanctions against Iran, dismissing warnings from the White House that such a move could scuttle efforts to peacefully resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program. The bill, called the “Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013,” drew a rebuke from the Obama administration and highlighted deep divisions among Senate Democrats on whether to heap new pressures on Tehran’s government while diplomacy is underway. Hours after the bill’s introduction, a separate group of senior Democrats revealed in a letter that U.S. intelligence agencies had cautioned lawmakers in private briefings about the consequences of new sanctions. A Dec. 10 intelligence assessment had concluded that new punitive measures would “undermine the prospects for a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran,” according to the letter, signed
Friday, December 20, 2013 THE NEW MEXICAN
Deportations fall by nearly 10 percent Numbers decrease for first time since Obama took office By Brian Bennett Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The number of immigrants deported from the country decreased this year for the first time since President Barack Obama entered office, reflecting new policies intended to focus enforcement on immigrants with criminal backgrounds. Both sides in the debate over immigration policy seized on the annual figures released Thursday by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Advocates for immigrants, who have repeatedly criticized the administration for high numbers of deportations under Obama’s tenure, said the 369,000 immigrants deported in the 12 months ending Sept. 30 were still too many. Con-
servative groups denounced the decline as a sign of lax law enforcement. In its five years so far, the Obama administration has removed nearly 2 million immigrants, the highest number of deportations under any president. The roughly 10 percent decline from last year’s recordhigh 409,849 deportations involved several changes in administration policy over the last two years. The change with the biggest effect, officials said, was the move to give higher priority to deporting immigrants with criminal records and multiple immigration violations. Finding and removing criminals in the country without visas takes longer than deportations in noncriminal cases, officials noted. The totals “make clear that we are enforcing our nation’s laws in a smart and effective way and meeting our enforcement priorities by focusing on convicted
criminals,” said John Sandweg, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A recent increase in the number of immigrants caught entering the United States illegally from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala also has slowed the removals, because returning a deportee to Central America takes longer than sending a person back to Mexico, which remains the source of the largest share of deportees. As congressional action on immigration legislation has stalled over the past several months, immigrant advocates have been holding sit-ins and demonstrations at immigration offices across the country to pressure the Obama administration to stop deportations that split up families. This week, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution calling on Obama to suspend deportations of all individuals who lack serious criminal histories, joining
House Democrats who have asked the president to stop removals of any immigrants who would qualify for legalization under proposed immigration reform bills. A coalition of immigrant rights groups is pushing for the passage of similar resolutions in other major California cities. The Senate passed an immigration bill in June that would create a 13-year pathway to citizenship for many of those in the country illegally as well as boost spending on border security by more than $30 billion. That legislation has stalled in the Republican-controlled House. Republicans might take up a series of more narrowly framed immigration bills in the spring. The president has said he won’t sign an immigration bill unless it includes a way for some of the 11 million people in the country without authorization or who overstayed their visas to eventually become U.S. citizens.
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