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US immigration officers instructed to halt arrests of non-criminal immigrants: report

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have been instructed to stop arresting immigrants who do not have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, according to agency sources. Under the reported directive, federal immigration agents may arrest immigrants with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, while those with final deportation orders but no criminal convictions or charges would not be arrested, The Daily Wire reported. The reported change would also end so-called “collateral arrests,” under which officers may detain others without legal status encountered while pursuing a criminal target, according to sources. Read: US judge blocks Trump limits on how long foreign students, journalists can stay The reported directive comes amid increased scrutiny of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies and ICE operations. Several ICE officers expressed frustration about the reported change, with one...

India's Assam scraps colonial-era Muslim marriage law

India's Assam state has scrapped an 89-year-old law that allowed marriage involving underage Muslims, against opposition from leaders of the minority community who called the plan an attempt to polarise voters on religious lines ahead of elections. Assam, which has the highest percentage of Muslims among Indian states at 34%, has previously said it wants to implement uniform civil laws for marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance, as the state of Uttarakhand did earlier this month. Nationwide, Hindus, Muslims, Christians and other groups follow their own laws and customs or a secular code for such matters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised a Uniform Civil Code, opposed by Muslims. Assam repealed the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935, effective from Feb. 24, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on X on Saturday. "This act contained provisions allowing marriage registration even if the bride and groom had not reached the legal ages of 18 and 21... This move marks another significant step towards prohibiting child marriages in Assam." Read also: Modi's party set to bring contentious common civil laws in India through states Asked by Reuters on Sunday whether the northeastern state would implement a Uniform Civil Code before general elections due by May, Sarma said: "Not immediately". Many Muslims in Assam trace their roots to the neighbouring Bengali-speaking and Muslim-majority country of Bangladesh. Tension often flares between the Muslims and ethnic Assamese, who are mostly Hindu. The BJP, the governing party in Assam - and Uttarakhand - calls itself the champion of ethnic communities. Muslim opposition leaders said repealing the colonial-era law was discriminatory. "They want to polarise their voters by provoking Muslims, which Muslims will not let happen," Badruddin Ajmal, a lawmaker from Assam who heads the All India United Democratic Front that mainly fights for Muslim causes, told reporters on Saturday. "It's a first step towards bringing a Uniform Civil Code, but this is how the BJP government will come to an end in Assam."

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