Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary who has been the public face of some of the Trump administration’s most contentious policies, has resigned.
Related: Identifying separated migrant families may take two years, US government says
Continue reading...It could take the US government up to two years to identify potentially thousands of children who were separated from their parents by the authorities at the southern border, the government said in a court filing.
The filing late on Friday outlined for the first time the Trump administration’s plan for identifying which family members might have been separated by assessing thousands of records using data analysis, statistical science and manual review.
Continue reading...Donald Trump has once again claimed there was a state of emergency while on a visit to the US-Mexico border in California, saying the US immigration system is 'full' and 'when it's full, there's nothing you can do about it'. The US president travelled to Calexico on Friday to view a section of the border barrier, which he described as new, even though it was a long-planned replacement for an older barrier
Continue reading...Former vice-president makes joke at union event in Washington, while 20 states move to block funding for Trump’s border wall
A source tells CNN Donald Trump is willing to fight all the way to the Supreme Court to block a House Democratic request for his tax returns.
“This is a hill and people would be willing to die on it,” the official said.
California has filed its 50th lawsuit against the Trump administration. This one targets the feds’ withholding of data on the weakening of car emission standards, CNBC reports.
California files 50th lawsuit against Trump administration - Office of Gov. Gavin Newsom just announced state is suing fed govt "for withholding data on efforts to weaken vehicle emission regulations that place the health of millions of kids, families and communities at risk."
Continue reading...Dee Margo warned Donald Trump that closing the border would have a ‘detrimental, almost draconian’ impact on the region
The Republican mayor of El Paso, the largest American city on the US border with Mexico, has warned Donald Trump that if he goes ahead this week with his threat to close the border it would have a “detrimental, almost draconian” impact on the entire region.
“It would be a critical killer to us, frankly”, the mayor, Dee Margo, said.
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A fight between Donald Trump and Democrats over hurricane relief for Puerto Rico is imperiling a widely backed disaster aid bill that’s a top priority for some of the president’s southern Republican allies, the Associated Press reports.
More from the AP:
Democrats should stop fighting Sen. David Perdue’s disaster relief bill. They are blocking funding and relief for our great farmers and rural America!
From my colleague Lauren Gambino, an update on progressive superstar and perhaps the only member of Congress known by her initials, AOC:
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has raised more than $90,000 for progressive, swing-district Democrats less than 24 hours after she urged supporters to donate to their re-election campaigns.
Last night @AOC helped raise 3 candidates in tough districts more than 30k each in a few hours. Corporate PACs can give candidates 5K - & it comes with strings. Grassroots $$ lets us stay accountable to the people. That’s the power of this movement — let’s keep building, together
Can’t thank my friend @AOC enough for helping me to reach my Q1 goal. We rise by lifting others. Onward!! https://t.co/AoI7PM2vC0
The @DCCC’s new rule to blacklist+boycott anyone who does business w/ primary challengers is extremely divisive & harmful to the party.
My recommendation, if you’re a small-dollar donor: pause your donations to DCCC & give directly to swing candidates instead.
Some great ones:
The fact that I challenged an incumbent meant a lot of folks were told not to come anywhere near my campaign. But I was lucky to build a dynamic, innovative team of staff & consultants who understood the challenges our campaign faced, and who were willing to take a risk (4/x)
Continue reading...President says there is a ‘good likelihood’ he will close border this week if Mexico does not stop immigrants from reaching US
US consumers would run out of avocados in three weeks if Donald Trump makes good on his threat to close down the US–Mexico border.
Trump said on Friday that there was a “very good likelihood” he would close the border this week if Mexico did not stop immigrants from reaching the United States.
Continue reading...The Trump administration reiterated on Sunday the president’s threat to close the border with Mexico, regardless of potentially severe consequences for the US economy.
Related: Under the bridge: migrants held in El Paso tell of dust, cold and hunger
Continue reading...Deep in the deep Rio Grande Valley, plans for president Trump’s wall would cut through towns and communities. In Madero, families fear the loss of their livelihood but vow to resist
Rey Anzaldua walks the path, through a pluvial afternoon on the Rio Grande reach opposite Mexico, towards the little church where he has worshipped “since I was five years old”– the lovely chapel of La Lomita, built in 1865 on a Spanish land grant of 1767. It is a jewel: candle smoke and the musky scent of whitewashed stone wrapping the Virgin of Guadalupe icon and offerings of flowers and corn.
Rey’s family has been here since the 1750s. His extended family “had three Spanish land grants between 16,000 and 18,000 acres along the Rio Grande river and the bridge between,” Rey said. “We don’t have much of that now.”
Continue reading...El Paso officials, aid workers and churches are scrambling to find shelter and legal counsel for a surge of Central American migrants
US authorities’ failure to keep up with a steep increase in Central American families seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border has left El Paso aid workers, churches and city government scrambling to respond.
After a sudden surge in arrivals, migrants have been crowded into hotels, churches and even held under a bridge behind a chain-link fence and razor wire while their asylum claims are processed.
Continue reading...Brazil president endorses hardline US immigration policy, saying ‘Vast majority of … immigrants do not have good intentions’
Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has endorsed Donald Trump’s immigration agenda on the eve of their first meeting at the White House, saying he supports a wall on the US-Mexico border and that most immigrants to the United States wish to do harm.
Bolsonaro, a far-right congressman who rode to the presidency with a brash, anti-establishment campaign modeled on Trump’s 2016 run, has pledged a new era of pro-American policy in the southern hemisphere’s second-largest country.
Continue reading...Court rules 5-4 that authorities can detain immigrants awaiting deportation anytime after they have completed prison terms
The US supreme court on Tuesday endorsed US government authority to detain immigrants awaiting deportation at any time – potentially even years – after they have completed prison terms for criminal convictions, handing Donald Trump a victory as he pursues hardline immigration policies.
The court ruled 5-4, with its conservative justices in the majority and its liberal justices dissenting, that federal authorities could pick up such immigrants and place them into indefinite detention at any time, not just immediately after they finish their prison sentences.
Continue reading...As investigators close in, the president invokes the support of the military, police and vigilantes. This is a perilous moment
What does a megalomaniacal president of the United States do when he’s cornered? We’ll soon find out.
Related: 'It's a small group of people': Trump again denies white nationalism is rising threat
Continue reading...Carrie Gibson has written an exhaustive corrective to historians who seek to whitewash a story of settlement and conflict
The subtitle of Carrie Gibson’s book is The Epic and Forgotten Story of Hispanic North America. El Norte lives up to it.
Related: These Truths review: Jill Lepore's Lincolnian American history
Continue reading...Donald Trump will be making a significant request for border wall funds and seeking money to stand up his “Space Force” as a new branch of the military in the White House budget being released next week, an administration official said on Saturday.
Related: SXSW: Warren tells tech audience plan to break up giants is 'like baseball'
Continue reading...February was the busiest month since April 2008 – but is the government equipped to respond to an influx of families?
The US Department of Homeland Security announced this week that February was the busiest month for apprehensions at the US-Mexico border since April 2008, a staggering increase driven by Central American families.
Related: Inside America's biggest facility for migrant teens
Continue reading...Experts say officials have failed to acknowledge violence and instability in Central America and say system of ‘metering’ is not working
A staggering increase in the number of families apprehended at the US-Mexico border in February has highlighted the Trump administration’s failure to respond to the rise in Central Americans seeking protection in the US.
In February, 66,450 people were apprehended at the US-Mexico border by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency announced on Tuesday – 17,800 more than were apprehended in January and double the number who were apprehended in February last year.
Continue reading...At least four Republicans say they will defy president’s move on the Mexican border designed to fund his wall
Donald Trump’s declaration of an emergency on the Mexican border will be rejected by the Senate, the most senior Republican in the US upper chamber has admitted.
The Democratic-controlled House has already voted to reject the national emergency declaration. A rejection in the Republican-controlled Senate would send a powerful signal that Trump’s control of his own party may be slipping.
Continue reading...Move follows intense campaign by refugee advocates for all children sent to the island by the Australian government to be taken off
The last four children living in Australian government-run offshore processing on Nauru have now left the island, amid a group of 19 people flown to the US for resettlement.
The group includes a number of Iranians, according to refugee advocates, contradicting persistent suspicions that Donald Trump’s travel ban on six nationalities was blocking refugees from the resettlement scheme.
Continue reading...Allegations ranged from adult staff members having relationships with minors to forcible touching, HHS documents show
Almost 5,000 complaints of sexual abuse and harassment of migrant children in US custody have been filed over the past four years, according to government documents released this week. The allegations range from adult staff members having relationships with minors, and the showing of pornographic videos, to forcible touching.
According to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) documents released on Tuesday on Capitol Hill by the Florida Democratic representative Ted Deutch’s office, the reports date back to October 2015, during the Obama administration. However, most of the sexual abuse and harassment reported occurred since Donald Trump took office.
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