A new series in which we (will aspire to) offer a sampling of today’s headlines on immigration, race, and related stories.
August 25, 2018
Saturday Edition
Top Story:
Trump administration officials are meeting weekly at CBP headquarters in DC to draft new plans for separating families and/or detaining them indefinitely – but in a way that avoids the recent PR disaster at the border. “We need to be smarter if we want to implement something on this scale,” is the attitude of officials, implying that it was not the policy itself but the incompetence of the roll-out that caused the public backlash. Because these are preliminary, officials have been instructed to disregard current laws and protections (yikes) as they develop proposals. Asked if the negative public reaction to this summer’s round of family separations surprised them, one current official said:
“The expectation was that the kids would go to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, that the parents would get deported, and that no one would care” (... yikes).
The Churches:
A New Yorker profile of a Pakistani family offered sanctuary in a Connecticut church, living in the church basement for 159 days now in an effort to avoid deportation.
TIME profiles Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Humanitarian Respite Center, an organization in McAllen Texas that helps asylum families that have been released from ICE detention centers.
The Courts:
American Muslim woman files suit against CBP for seizing her iPhone and keeping it for 130 days without explanation.
Trump administration appeals Judge Sabraw’s injunction against family separation.
Emails reveal conflicts between federal agencies during intense debate over the terminations of Temporary Protected Status programs. The emails were obtained as part of a lawsuit to halt the termination of TPS for Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, and Sudan.
The Policies:
A deeper dive on the proposed controversial rule-change that would expand the definition of “public charge” for determining eligibility of legal immigrants for citizenship.
The Talking Heads:
Bump corrects the record after FOX News host Tucker Carlson’s misleading rhetoric on immigration, crime, and federal prisons.
Conservatives have been quick to politicize the recent murder of an Iowa college student, with FOX News leading the charge. But even FOX’s own Geraldo Rivera is chastising the network for its coverage. “This is a murder story, not an immigration story,” Rivera demanded, adding “I’m begging you to have compassion and not brand this entire population by the deeds of this one person.”
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