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It doesnt make sense to weigh tragedies on a scale. How do you measure them? Leo Tolstoy got it right in Anna Karenina when he said whereas all happy families are alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

And so indeed it was on June 14 when it was reported that a boat carrying 750 migrants had capsized near Greece in the Mediterranean killing over 500 with dozens missing.

It was one of the most horrific tragedies in recent times, claiming the lives of hundreds of migrants mostly from Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan and Palestine who put their lives in great danger in pursuit of the basic human instinct of looking for a better life.

A world becoming tragically familiar with migrant misery barely had time to shake its head in pity once again when news broke that a submarine, The Titan, operated by a US-based company, OceanGate, had imploded in the depths killing all five tourists on an expedition to the debris of the Titanic.

Two heart-wrenching tragedies in a space of days and yet the major global news networks could not resist reporting the tragedies on a scale of prejudice that barely disguised where their sympathy lies.

The concerned world also rallied a multinational rescue mission for The Titan sparing neither expense nor expertise. The press provided minute-by-minute accounts of the efforts, looking for experts from around the world who had made similar missions in the past. Others got families of some of those on board to share their fears and hopes.

How, for example, could anyone not be touched by the story of Suleman Dawood, the 19-year-old student who followed his millionaire father, Shazada, on that expedition to honour his Fathers Day wish? We were touched because the press shined a light on the human angle.

Who knows how many such stories among the hundreds of the families of the dead migrants have now gone untold? Interestingly, the Dawoods whose tragic story is still travelling the world, shared a similar Pakistani heritage with some migrants whose own stories will never be heard.

As the search went on, the horrific deaths of the migrants in the Mediterranean fizzled from news flashes to scrolls of ticker tape and soon disappeared altogether.

From the way the networks covered the two accidents, you would be forgiven to think that they had weighed both and concluded that the lives of the 750 migrants mattered less, if they mattered at all. It was not an issue that the number of migrants who died in the Mediterranean on June 14 was over one-third of the fatality when RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912.

Somehow, the unspoken message was that the migrants deserved their fate. What else did they want from Europe or the rest of the world? After all, in the last eight years or so, and long before the Russia-Ukraine war complicated things, Europe had opened its borders to an estimated 1.5 million migrant refugees. Yet, in spite of tighter border controls, controversial repatriations and deportations, the wave of migrants has been unrelenting.

Governments in Europe, especially in Italy and Greece, that spent years sleepwalking over a comprehensive plan to manage the migrant crisis have used rising domestic economic difficulties and the upsurge in right-wing groups in their countries as excuses for cracking down on migrants, sometimes, with the most cynical sea-border policing.

Since no deterrent appears to have worked so far (not unsanitary conditions, severe overcrowding, poor food and water quality, torture by guards or even reinforced barbed wires), the networks may well have deployed their own a new set of filtering tools to cover the Mediterranean tragedy: downgrade the story if you cant help it, otherwise turn a blind eye.

Of course, its not the fault of the five victims who died in The Titan; its the fault of a system that treats people less than who they are because of where they are from, their skin colour or lets be honest because of their economic conditions.

Its improbable that if the migrant boat were some ocean liner on a summer cruise of the Mediterranean an accident involving 750 passengers out of which 500 have been confirmed dead would be given the same shorthand coverage.

The double-standard between the wall-to-wall coverage of the implosion of The Titan and the short shrift that the deaths of over 500 migrants received at the hands of the global networks reecho the Shakespearean line about beggars, comets and the deaths of princes. Only that Shakespeare could not have seen that modern networks could sometimes make comets for their own princes.

The hypocritical coverage of both tragic incidents barely hides the fact that even though the deaths touched each affected family in a different way, the material condition of the dead was also a factor in how the tragedies were reported.

Former US President Barack Obama, perhaps one of the worlds most famous modern victims of right-wing calumny, called out the stark contrast, describing it as obscene and untenable. Its an obscenity with a long history, one which in 1977 compelled UNESCO to set up the Sean MacBride Commission on North-South communication lopsidedness.

On September 26, 2002, for example, an overcrowded Gambia-bound Senegalese ferry, Le Joola, hit a serious storm at night, killing 1,800 passengers, including the sister and 10 other relatives of the current coach of the Senegalese national football team, Aliou Cisse. Only 64 passengers survived. Cisse was saved on that day by a match for Birmingham City. It was a monumental tragedy, claiming more lives than were lost in RMS Titanic.

But that catastrophic event remained largely unreported then and remains, to date, one of the worlds most famous unlisted calamities on the global calendar. Only a BBC Africa documentary produced last year, on the 20th anniversary of the disaster and the pillars of the victims empty graves, remind us there was such a human tragedy!

This double-standard sometimes plays out in how help is deployed, after a humanitarian disaster. When the US sent help to Nigeria after catastrophic floods claimed over 600 lives last year, for example, it sent money $1 million. When a devastating wildfire impacted New South Wales in Australia in late 2019, on the other hand, the US sent hundreds of firefighters. Sadly, three of them died helping.

To be fair, we cant blame foreign countries or the major networks forever. If these countries and their networks are hostages to blinkered lenses in understanding and telling our story, journalists in the global south, including Africa, must also invest in telling their own stories themselves.

And that does not have to be only when tragedies happen. Otherwise, neither tragedies nor heart-warming stories would have the touch, which as Tolstoy said, connects to us as humans in their own different, intimate ways.

Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of TheCable.

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Titan and migrants: Two tragedies, different stories - TheCable

Senator heard from non-governmental organizations about how theyre using funding she secured to prepare for the end of Title 42

WASHINGTON Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema held meetings with Arizona nonprofits including International Rescue Committee, Casa Alitas, and the Regional Center for Border Health to discuss how theyre preparing for the end of Title 42 on May 11.Arizona non-profits make Arizona communities safer and more secure and help ensure migrants are treated fairly and humanely. Were working together to ensure Arizona non-profits on the front lines of the migration crisis have the resources they need ahead of Title 42s end, said Sinema, Chair of the Senate Border Management Subcommittee.In order to prevent street releases in Arizona and across the Southwest border, non-profits and local governments need consistent, dependable funding streams. Since 2019, Sinema has secured over $1 billion for migrant services through the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) and the new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Shelter and Services Grant Program (SSP).The Administration will end COVID-19-related emergency declarations on May 11, which will also remove the basis for Title 42. Sinema recently questioned Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about the Administrations plans to manage increased levels of migration following Title 42s permanent suspension. Following her questioning, the Senator remains concerned that the Administration is not prepared to handle the anticipated surge of encounters.For more than a year, Sinema has urged the Administration to implement a comprehensive plan to prepare for the anticipated surge of encounters when Title 42 ends.

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Ahead of Administration's Title 42 Suspension, Sinema Meets with ... - Kyrsten Sinema

This post first appeared in the May 4 Morning Report. Subscribe to the newsletter here.

With the looming expiration of the federal governments order under Title 42, San Diego is bracing for what could be a significant influx of migrants seeking asylum who were turned away during the pandemic. But its still unclear what the actual plan is.

Nearly three months ago, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors directed Chief Administrative Officer Helen Robbins-Meyer to prepare for the arrival of asylum seekers entering the U.S. to lessen the impact on the regions growing homelessness crisis.

On Wednesday, Michael Workman, the countys director of communications, said a comprehensive long range plan is headed to the board soon.

In the meantime, county officials have been meeting with other agencies and service providers and prepared a list of unused and underused properties that may be used to build out shelter infrastructure. Theyve also petitioned federal representatives for help.

Vargas asked the regions congressional delegation for immigration reform legislation and funding. Supervisor Joel Anderson also pointed out that Congress made $800 million available last year for shelter and other migrant services, but the administration has yet to release the money to local governments and organizations.

Those seeking safety and asylum in our country have a right to humane treatment and local entities cannot bear the brunt of this need created by federal policies, Vargas wrote.

How we got here: The Trump administration put Title 42 to use on the rationale that it would limit the spread of Covid-19, and the U.S. Supreme Court kept the restrictions in place longer than planned. So when the shelters reached capacity, federal authorities just dropped hundreds of people onto the streets.

Lisa Halverstadt reported last fall that dozens of migrants were staying in city-funded homeless shelters amid a spike in border arrivals. Shelter providers struggled to connect migrants to resources they typically tap into to aid homeless San Diegans.

Deadline looms: CBS 8 reports that the Biden administration is sending 1,500 more troops to the southwest border to help when Title 42 expires on May 11. Exhausted migrants, some of whom said they hadnt eaten in days, are already lining up. Some are being transported to Border Patrol stations to get the process of asylum started. Other border communities, like El Paso, have already declared a state of emergency.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has also met with federal officials. Ultimately, the only real solution is for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform that constructively addresses this issue and ends this cycle of crises that have a profound impact on American cities, he said in a statement.

Clarification: This post was updated to clarify how Title 42 is used.

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With Another Migrant Crisis Around Corner, San Diego Begs Feds ... - Voice of San Diego

In September 2022, a record-high number of migrants were bused into New York City, with at least nine buses reaching the city on a single Sunday. The Republican governors in Texas, Arizona and Florida claimed their operation to transport migrants to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions like NYC is designed to pressure Democratic politicians and the Biden administration to enact tougher border measures that will deter illegal crossings.

For Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who continues to callously ship and demonize migrants, seeing them as mere political pawns they have provided an issue for his likely run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He has chosen charged cultural issues as his political signature, trying to top Donald Trump at his own game while projecting an image that he is free of all of Trumps baggage. He has attacked migrants, transgender people and gays while supporting gun rights, making the death penalty easier to impose as well as tightening abortion as a way of endearing himself with the Floridian and national right-wing base.

Florida might be the place that DeSantis complacently informs us is where woke goes to die, but its also where teachers salaries are among the lowest in the nation, unemployment benefits are extremely low and DeSantis campaigned against a successful ballot initiative to raise the states minimum wage from $8.65 an hour.

Its one more reason for DeSantis to promote the culture wars so the electorate is diverted from the prime aims of his rule: starving programs committed toward bettering the lives of ordinary people so he can maintain low taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Florida also has no income tax for individuals, and its corporate tax rate of 5.5 percent is among the lowest in the nation. One can only hope that DeSantis has overreached politically by promoting an extremely hard-right-wing line on a raft of issues in a state that is not, for the most part, linked to the deep South culturally and socially. DeSantis continues to reach out to the center-right and Orthodox Floridian Jews by signing legislation that will expand Floridas school choice program and visiting Israel to deliver the keynote address at a high-profile event hosted by The Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem.

DeSantis and other governors cynical and repellent actions have had painful consequences for New York City. There are projections that the city alone could spend up to $1 billion this year to adequately support the migrants with food, housing education and employment. Some 200 asylum-seekers arrive in the city every day, and it costs $380 per day per household to provide them with food and shelter, according to City Hall. Most of the migrants, about 34,600 of them, are being put up in taxpayer-funded emergency shelters mostly hotels with thousands more dropped off at eight Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers. Sleeping in the shelters often results in many complaints, especially about children having no access to health care and sometimes coming to school with diarrhea or families experiencing chickenpox outbreaks.

Camille Mackler, executive director of the Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative, one of the many NYC nonprofits that offer legal support, says they are overwhelmed:

Ive been an immigration lawyer for 20 years and Ive never ever gone through what Ive experienced in the last six months or year, Mackler says. Absolutely no one can take cases.

There is no way of avoiding dealing with the oppressiveness of the conditions that the migrants face.

Mayor Eric Adams and others have called the cost for temporary housing, medical care and other support impossible to sustain. In Adams words: While our city may be the face of the asylum seeker crisis, it is not a crisis we can solve on our own. A comprehensive response from all levels of government especially from our state and federal partners is needed. Adams has directly criticized President Joe Biden for failing New York City in dealing with the migrant crisis. He indicated he wants the federal government to grant temporary protected status to asylum-seekers so they can receive work permits because many of the migrants are being exploited and mistreated. Hopefully, the president will want to avoid having a Black Democratic mayor of the countrys largest city be angry with him. In fact, following Adams remarks, a spokesperson for the White House said the federal government would announce additional migrant funding in the coming weeks.

There are no easy answers to the deluge of migrants. No city can carry the burden without an immense amount of aid. At the same time, NYC cannot morally emulate DeSantis and heartlessly pass the problem on to other localities. Its a painful quandary that must be resolved.

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Leonard Quart: In NYC, practical costs and moral stakes of a migrant ... - Berkshire Eagle

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX) Rep. Veronica Escobar announced El Paso, Texas, will be getting $12.5 million in emergency food and shelter funds for the migrant crisis.

El Paso is among 35 local government and service organizations listed to get help.

As of Thursday, there are more than 2,000 migrants in south El Paso, in addition to migrants on the U.S. side of the border wall in the Lower Valley.

A statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated this is one component of DHSs multi-agency plan to manage increased encounters at the border and support communities when the Title 42 public health order lifts.

The next round of funding is expected to focus on the needs of interior cities, in addition to border communities.

New York is receiving the significant amount in this and the next round of funding, according to DHS.

El Paso has received $22 million from the federal government, according to Mayor Oscar Leeser. Lesser said the city of El Paso has $15 million available to use.

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$12.5 million in funding coming to El Paso, Texas for migrant crisis - KPIC News