Indian dies in Texas shooting; Imran Khan arrest fallout; US immigration policy changes

In Pod Americana, we take stock of the most compelling stories in the United States from the week gone by. In this episode, we focus on gun violence in the wake of the Texas shooting, the border immigration policy changes that kick in soon, and the fallout of Imran Khan’s arrest in Pakistan.Indian dies in Texas mass shooting America has witnessed more than 200 mass shootings already this year, according to data from the Gun Violence ArchiveThe latest instance occurred at a mall near Dallas, Texas. A man named Mauricio Garcia opened fire and killed eight people. Among those who killed was a 27-year-old Hyderabad-origin woman, Aishwarya Thatikonda. According to Chidanand Rajghatta, the US-based foreign editor of The Times of India, the profiles of the victims of this shooting allude to the suspect being fuelled by racist and anti-immigrant sentiments. During the shooting, Garcia was seen wearing a badge that said "RWDS", which is an acronym that stands for "right wing death squad". Many violent social media posts glorifying the Third Reich have also been uncovered from the gunman’s online profiles. Chidanand cites gun violence and lack of firearm regulation in the US to be one of the primary factors behind Indians looking to move to other Western countries for work and higher education. Trump’s Title 42 immigration policy to expireThe US is preparing this week for the end of a controversial Donald Trump-era public health order that prevented people from across the US borders to seek asylum in the country. This immigration policy, known as Title-42, is set to expire on Thursday, May 11. Chidanand believes that this would open the gates to a massive influx of asylum seekers and immigrants, especially from Latin American countries. Consequently, he believes there might also be a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment across the US..Imran Khan’s arrest and SCO meet Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday, May 9, outside Islamabad High Court by Rangers on the National Accountability Bureau’s warrant in the Al-Qadir Trust case. Chidanand believes this is yet another instance in a long sequence of events that have rendered Pakistan unstable. He believes that Pakistan’s depleting foreign reserves and continuing political turmoil are a matter of grave international concern, especially in the South Asian neighbourhood, given how the country is in possession of nuclear weapons, and has a long history of army-led coups. Chidanand also highlights the verbal spat between Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Pakistan counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet in Goa. Audio production: Shantanu Nanoti