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Immigrant advocates denounce US Asylum Transit Ban
AFRO carib F E S T I VA L
Miramar to End Black History Month with a Bang The annual Afro-Carib Festival will be held Saturday, February 25 from 5:00 to 11:00 p.m. at the Miramar Regional Park Amphitheater, with a star-studded lineup of African and Caribbean acts. The ultimate Black History Month celebration, the festival is a salute to cultures found across the African diaspora.
The festival was born years ago after Miramar Commissioner Alexandra P. Davis returned from a trip to Jamaica for Reggae Month. “I wanted to bring the Black History Month celebrations and the Reggae Month celebrations together in a festival,” Commissioner Davis told us. She spearheaded the Afro-Carib Festival, which is now in its third year, to do just that.
Reggae phenom Koffee will be the festival's headline act. The Grammy winner is looking forward to the annual festival where she'll take the stage for the first time. “The festival is a natural match,” she explained. “My team and I are always on the lookout for festivals that push my music
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2023
across the diaspora.” Koffee, who is fresh from another Grammy nomination for her 2022 album, Gifted, has made waves over her short career as one of the leading voices in the neo-Reggae movement. Gifted is an intentional departure from her more politically charged, award-winning album, Rapture. “Gifted is a more fun project. It's a little more intimate,” Koffee noted. The young artiste said she was not only eager to perform in Miramar, but also looking forward to taking in the other acts who hail from as far as Nigeria, as well as throughout the Caribbean. “Music is a service. It's mainly about finding who can benefit the most from what you're creating,” Koffee affirmed. continues on B3 – AfroCarib Festival
New York immigration advocates have denounced an “Asylum Transit Ban” plan by the Joe Biden administration that would block asylum applications from Caribbean and other asylum seekers who travelled through third countries en route to the United States but did not apply for asylum. The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups, said this proposed rule favors more affluent asylum seekers and needlessly excludes others from the United States. It urged the Biden administration to expand protections for all asylum seekers, including those from Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela. “A just, humane immigration system is an important and necessary part of a healthy democracy and a growing economy,” NYIC executive director Murad Awawdeh told the Caribbean Media Corporation. “However, the Biden administration’s proposed ‘Asylum Transit Ban’ rule is a blatant and ruthless attack on our humanitarian obligations, and the children and families seeking refuge from violence and persecution in our country. “The transit ban cruelly favors wealthier asylum seekers coming to the United States via air travel over those who travel by foot to continues on B3 Asylum Transit Ban
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