Hasta La Gadget!

WASHINGTON ― Tens of thousands of Haitians who had already been granted temporary reprieve to stay in the U.S. will be allowed to remain for an additional six months, but they should use that time to “get their affairs in order,” a Trump administration official said Monday.

The Department of Homeland Security had until Tuesday to decide whether to extend temporary protected status, or TPS, for roughly 58,700 Haitians, who have been approved to remain in the U.S. following a devastating 2010 earthquake in their native country.

Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly chose to extend TPS for six months ― until early next year. When that deadline draws closer, he could extend it again based on conditions in Haiti, but officials suggested he wouldn’t.

“We are strongly encouraging current TPS recipients to take advantage of this six-month period to resolve their affairs, to include obtaining travel documentation,” a DHS official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters on a press call. “Congress designated the program … by the name ‘temporary protected status.’ It’s not supposed to be permanent.”

Human rights groups and lawmakers had urged the administration to extend TPS for Haitians based on ongoing problems in that country in the wake of the 2010 earthquake, which killed up to 316,000 people and displaced 1.5 million. A cholera epidemic struck the country soon after and killed thousands more. Seven years later, the country is still suffering: Some 55,000 people remain in camps and nearly 60 percent of the population lives in poverty.

TPS is currently open to Haitians who were in the U.S. on Jan. 12, 2011, the one-year anniversary of the earthquake. It allows individuals who could otherwise be deported to stay and work legally, but as the official said, it’s temporary. The program for Haitians has been extended several times already, for six to 18 months on each occasion. The current extension is effective July 23 and will last until Jan. 22, 2018. Individuals with TPS will have to leave at that point if the program is not extended or they cannot obtain other authorization to stay, such as asylum. 

Kelly said in a public statement that conditions in Haiti are improving and that this may be the final extension.

“I believe there are indications that Haiti ― if its recovery from the 2010 earthquake continues at pace ― may not warrant further TPS extension past January 2018,” he said. “TPS as enacted in law is inherently temporary in nature, and beneficiaries should plan accordingly that this status may finally end after the extension announced today.” 

Before Monday’s announcement, DHS officials had sought data on how many TPS recipients from Haiti have committed crimes in the U.S. ― an unusual move because the decision on whether to maintain protections is based on conditions outside the U.S., not the actions of people taking shelter here.

At the time that story broke in May and again on Monday, DHS officials insisted they were trying to collect data on criminality, employment and other factors for their information and not to malign any nationality. They also said the data would not be part of the TPS decision-making process.

Haiti is one of 13 countries whose citizens are currently eligible to receive TPS. Four nations on the list ― Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen ― were singled out by President Donald Trump in his blocked executive orders banning travelers from certain Muslim-majority countries. Trump has also spoken disparagingly about border-crossers from other countries on the list, such as El Salvador and Honduras.

DHS officials indicated some changes might be coming for those other countries as Kelly looks at TPS with “a fresh set of eyes” to ensure that the program is operating as Congress requires.

“It’s at many times easier for one to kick the can down the road with some of these extensions or redesignations than it is to make the hard decisions that Congress has asked us to do,” an official said. “That is the way that the secretary is approaching TPS designations in this administration.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

May 22 (Reuters) – Fox News was hit with new sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits on Monday, adding to the catalog of complaints that has rattled the U.S. cable news network and its corporate parent 21st Century Fox Inc.

New York City lawyer Douglas Wigdor filed lawsuits in federal court in Manhattan on behalf of Kathleen Lee, a Fox News Radio shift editor who says she was sexually harassed and subjected to “unceasing retaliation” for complaining, and Naima Farrow, who maintains she was fired from her job as an accounts payable coordinator after telling supervisors she was pregnant.

In a third case in the same court, Vidya Mann, a Fox News accounts receivable specialist, said she was taken on as a temporary employee but passed over for permanent jobs in favor of white coworkers.

A spokeswoman at Fox News said the company believes the suits are without merit, noting that the company took prompt action and takes all complaints of discrimination seriously.

The new legal claims come as Fox News is already battling a series of lawsuits that led to the resignations of former chief executive Roger Ailes, who died last week, star anchor Bill O’Reilly and network co-president Bill Shine.

Wigdor said he was also representing an unidentified black information technology employee who was subjected to racially insensitive remarks by Bob Beckel, an on-air host who was fired last week, days after the worker complained.

“Despite public relations efforts to the contrary, business at 21st Century Fox continues to operate more akin to 18th Century Fox,” Wigdor said in a statement.

Wigdor represents at least 23 current and former Fox News employees with legal claims against the company. Earlier this month, he met officials from the Office of Communications, a British regulatory agency that is currently considering whether to approve 21st Century Fox’s proposed takeover of satellite broadcaster Sky.

On Monday, Wigdor sent a letter to the regulator, known as Ofcom, outlining the new legal claims against Fox and claiming the company refused his request to waive confidentiality agreements signed by its employees so they could speak directly to the agency.

(Reporting By Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Tom Brown)

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

A veteran police officer offered to fix a Texas teen’s traffic tickets if she gave him nude photographs of herself, according to court documents.

Officer Michael Coppock, 33, a nine-year veteran of the Baytown Police Department, has been pulled off patrol while an internal investigation and criminal probe are underway for his alleged proposition to the 18-year-old woman, according to The Houston Chronicle.

The officer recently ticketed the teen for speeding and having an expired registration, Houston’s KHOU News reported. Roughly one hour after the traffic stop, the officer allegedly contacted the teen through social media and text messages and offered to change the tickets to warnings.

In exchange, the officer asked the teen to “send him nude photographs of herself,” according to court documents. The teen reportedly sent photos to the officer. Police began investigating after she reported what happened. 

KHOU News reports:

Police say they viewed screenshots of the conversations and characterized the messages as “clearly coercive in nature,” and “putting pressure” on the teen.

Authorities have since obtained search warrants for Coppock’s cell phone and Snapchat account.

Baytown police officials, citing the ongoing investigations, declined to comment.

David Lohr covers crime and missing persons. Tips? Feedback? Send an email or follow him on Twitter.

type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related… + articlesList=591f13d3e4b094cdba53a6f0,591b5475e4b07d5f6ba6ee0b

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Up until today, all of the Far Cry games have been set in far off locations. A tropical island, Africa, another tropical island, the Himalayas and prehistoric times have all played witness to the franchise’s often morally ambiguous open-world first-p…

Nest is working on a new security camera product, at least according to a newly surfaced source, that features 4K resolution able to facilitate high-resolution zooming within a 1080p Full HD video. According to the leak, this camera product will be intended for home security and feature ‘advanced smart features’ like automatic zooming in on a region when the camera … Continue reading