74º

LIVE

HENRY CUELLAR

US plans for more migrant releases when asylum limits end

The Department of Homeland Security said more migrants may be released into the United States to pursue immigration cases when Trump-era asylum restrictions end next week in one of its most detailed assessments ahead of the major policy shift. The department reported faster processing for migrants in custody on the border, more temporary detention tents, staffing surges and increased criminal prosecutions of smugglers, noting progress on a plan announced in April. More are expected with the end of Title 42 authority, under which migrants have been denied rights to seek asylum more than 2.5 million times on grounds of preventing spread of COVID-19.

news.yahoo.com

Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar declared winner in Texas recount

A recount in Texas affirmed Democrat U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar as the winner Tuesday of his primary race against progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros, who had trailed by fewer than 200 votes following a runoff in May. Cuellar, a nine-term congressman, defeated Cisneros by 289 votes, according to results of the recount announced by by the Texas Democratic Party. It is the second time that Cisneros, a 29-year-old immigration attorney who once interned for Cuellar, has lost a challenge to her former boss, whose moderate record along Texas' heavily Hispanic southern border has aligned him at times with Republicans on issues including abortion and guns.

news.yahoo.com

Democrat supports reopening detention center for unaccompanied migrant minors in Homestead

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The detention center for undocumented unaccompanied migrant minors in Homestead remains closed and a few protesters who want it to stay that way were standing outside on Monday. One said she was horrified when Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Democrat, asked President Joe Biden’s administration to reopen the facility to house the migrant children. What may complicate the decision for the Biden administration: Then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris visited the site in June 2019, and she criticized the use of private detention facilities. “HHS has not had the capacity to intake the number of unaccompanied children we have been encountering.”HHS is supposed to hold the child for coronavirus testing, shelter, and placing with a sponsor. In the past administration and in the present administration, until we solve the problem at the border,” Salazar said.

EXPLAINER: Why is media access at the border an issue?

WHY HAS MEDIA ACCESS BEEN BLOCKED? The Associated Press, for example, has asked Homeland Security officials for access to Border Patrol facilities at least seven times, without a response. Some of them aren't coming from the professional media but from people with special access. The customs locations are considered much more crowded, and journalists have still not been allowed access to them. He says: “It is more important than ever that journalists be allowed the necessary access to report accurately and independently on the border patrol's response.”___David Bauder is the media writer for The Associated Press, based in New York.

Photos of migrant detention highlight Biden's border secrecy

The photos were released by Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat from the border city of Laredo. The photos from Donna show some of the same detention areas as in the images released by Cuellar. The following year, hundreds of families and children detained at one West Texas border station went days without adequate food, water or soap. The AP has also petitioned Psaki to open border facilities. The newly published photos released by Cuellar’s office show groups of children crowded together inside the partitions.

Photos of migrant detention highlight Biden's border secrecy

President Joe Biden's administration faces mounting criticism for refusing to allow outside observers into facilities where it is detaining thousands of immigrant children. Cuellar said he released the photos in part because the administration has refused media access to the Donna tent. The following year, hundreds of families and children detained at one West Texas border station went days without adequate food, water, or soap. The AP has also petitioned Psaki to open border facilities. But lawyers who have interviewed children detained at Donna say some can go days without being allowed outside.

House OKs Dems’ immigration bills for Dreamers, farm workers

They then voted 247-174 for a second measure creating similar protections for 1 million farm workers who have worked in the U.S. illegally. While Dreamers win wide public support and migrant farm workers are a backbone of the agriculture industry, both House bills face gloomy prospects in the evenly split Senate. Nine House Republicans joined all Democrats in voting for the Dreamers measure but 30 GOP lawmakers backed the farm workers bill, giving it a more bipartisan hue. AdMaine Rep. Jared Golden's vote against the farm workers measure made him the only Democrat to oppose either bill. The other bill would let immigrant farm workers who've worked in the country illegally over the past two years get certified agriculture worker status.

House approves pro-union bill despite dim Senate odds

But it faces an all-but-certain Republican blockade in a narrowly divided Senate and is unlikely to become law. Ad“I’ve heard Democrats argue that it’s the unions that built the middle class,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the senior Republican on the House labor panel. And what this bill does is take away their freedom.”Labor unions have long been a bedrock of Democratic support. “This far-reaching legislation is nothing more than an union boss wish list,” said Foxx, who led Republican debate on the bill. Virginia Republican Rep. Bob Good excoriated the bill, saying it would effectively “funnel money to Democrats” by allowing unions to collect additional dues.

House OKs George Floyd Act as Democrats avoid 'defund' clash

Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – House Democrats passed the most ambitious effort in decades to overhaul policing nationwide, avoiding a potential clash with moderates in their own party who were wary of reigniting the “defund the police” debate they say hurt them during last fall's election. Approved 220-212 late Wednesday, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is named for the man whose killing by police in Minnesota last Memorial Day sparked demonstrations nationwide. “We want to feel safe when we encounter law enforcement. “Our law enforcement officers need more funding not less,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis. Another possible point of contention is provisions easing standards for prosecution of law enforcement officers accused of wrongdoing.

With Biden's backing, Dems revive bill to overhaul policing

House Democrats are hustling to pass the most ambitious effort in decades to overhaul policing. The bill would ban chokeholds and “qualified immunity” for law enforcement and create national standards for policing in a bid to bolster accountability. “Our law enforcement officers need more funding not less,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., said during Wednesday's debate. AdPolice unions and other law enforcement groups have argued that, without such legal protections, fear of lawsuits will stop people from becoming police officers — even though the measure permits such suits only against law enforcement agencies, rather than all public employees. California Rep. Karen Bass, who authored the bill, understands the challenge some House members face in supporting it.

Democrats consider piecemeal approach to immigration reform

WASHINGTON – After decades of failed attempts to pass comprehensive immigration legislation, congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden are signaling openness to a piece-by-piece approach. They unveiled a broad bill Thursday that would provide an eight-year pathway to citizenship for 11 million people living in the country without legal status. “Even though I support full, comprehensive immigration reform, I’m ready to move on piecemeal, because I don’t want to end up with good intentions on my hands and not have anything,” said Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin has said that any final Senate bill likely “will not reach the same levels” as Biden’s proposal. AdIndeed, comprehensive bills negotiated by bipartisan teams of lawmakers failed multiple times during Republican George W. Bush’s administration and again in 2013 during Democrat Barack Obama's.

How Democrats came up short in bid to expand House majority

"It's the Trump factor," Nearmyer said about how Democrats lost House seats. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)MONROE, Iowa – This swath of southeast Iowa isn't supposed to be a nailbiter for Democrats. Instead, it appears Democrats made a serious miscalculation in assuming their antipathy toward Trump would fuel victories across the country. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which supports the party's House candidates, is beginning a “deep dive” examination into what happened. Voters for months watched Republican ads featuring unrest with narrators ominously attacking Democrats as anti-police, often with little response.

Low expections in Mexico as US election approaches

FILE - In this June 23, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump tours a section of the border wall in San Luis, Ariz. During his 2016 primary run, Trump sought to mark his ground as a hard-line immigration enforcer who would build a great, great wall on our southern border. Nearly four years later, Trump still has work to do completing his wall and much that has been completed has been paid by U.S. taxpayers despite promises otherwise. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Low expectations in Mexico as US election approaches

For example, when Mexico was on the brink of defaulting on treaty obligations governing water-sharing this month, the Trump administration provided a graceful exit. Trump made Mexico an immigration waiting room for the U.S. and some say effectively pushed the U.S. frontier south for immigrants. Thousands of asylum seekers were forced to wait out their cases in Mexican border cities before the pandemic allowed the U.S. to effectively suspend its asylum system at the border. Mexico might expect greater recognition of shared responsibility from a Biden administration, but Mexico’s own security strategy has been difficult to decipher. The Trump administration has focused on deporting undocumented immigrants and narrowing the path to legal entry.

US crackdown on nonessential border travel causes long waits

Cars wait in line to enter the United States at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Tijuana, Mexico. Waits soared across the border last weekend, with California crossings hit hardest. The measures dont apply on the Canadian border, which is also subject to the nonessential travel ban. We need people to think twice about nonessential travel and to ask themselves if the travel is worth risking their lives and the lives of others, CBP spokesman Rusty Payne said. Christopher Landau, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said many people are crossing the border to visit family, shop or dine out.

US crackdown on nonessential border travel causes long waits

Cars wait in line to enter the United States at San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Tijuana, Mexico. Waits soared across the border last weekend, with California crossings hit hardest. The measures dont apply on the Canadian border, which is also subject to the nonessential travel ban. We need people to think twice about nonessential travel and to ask themselves if the travel is worth risking their lives and the lives of others, CBP spokesman Rusty Payne said. Christopher Landau, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said many people are crossing the border to visit family, shop or dine out.

How Sanders is helping keep the progressive movement strong

FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2020 file photo, Democratic presidential candidates, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and former Vice President Joe Biden, talk before a Democratic presidential primary debate in Charleston, S.C. Sanders, who will speak at the Democratic National Convention Monday, was the last primary challenger standing against Biden. He retains the partys largest cohesive constituency in a progressive base unwavering in its support. Most importantly, young people in this country, whether theyre Black or white or Latino, Native American, Asian American, young people strongly support the progressive agenda.The progressive movement is still far from the driving force of the Democratic Party. One example is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who will help nominate Sanders at the convention and is widely seen as his successor in leading progressives.