With immigration bill in flux, Democrats mull executive action
WASHINGTON — As Democrats’ chances of passing major immigration legislation this Congress dwindle, lawmakers and advocates are eyeing another strategy.
Many are ramping up calls on President Joe Biden to use executive action to deliver immigration relief through temporary protected status, a designation that provides legal protections to immigrants fleeing countries in crisis.
The move could provide stability, for the interim, to hundreds of thousands of immigrants — and give the Democrats something to tout in the midterm elections. Immigrants who hold temporary protected status are protected from deportation. They’re eligible to apply for work authorization, and can travel outside the U.S., but do not have a guaranteed path to permanent residency or citizenship.
“In the absence of other Hill action, this would give the immigrant community something that it’s really needed,” said Vanessa Cardenas, deputy director of the advocacy group America’s Voice. “It will also — in light of everything that’s been happening, the fact that we don’t have a path forward on the legislative front — just be a benefit to reengaging the immigrant community and moving forward.”
Democrats had hoped their sweeping plan to legalize millions of immigrants and cut visa backlogs would be permitted in a broad budget reconciliation package, but the Senate parliamentarian rejected three separate attempts to include them. Meanwhile, the package itself is in flux as Democratic leaders seek consensus with a handful of moderates who oppose it.
—CQ-Roll Call
A revised Kentucky bill aimed at critical race theory moves forward. What’s in it?
LEXINGTON, Ky. — With the sponsor saying he has been unfairly accused of being “a racist” and “a fascist,” a revised Kentucky bill aimed at critical race theory gained approval from a Republican-led Senate committee Thursday.
Senate Bill 138, The Teaching American Principles Act, introduced by state Senate Education Committee chairman Max Wise, was approved by that committee with a 9-4 vote.
The bill says instruction on controversial topics will be non-discriminatory and age appropriate.
The legislation would require several curriculum documents and resources to be added to the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies.
The bill also calls for a reading list across middle and high school curricula. It includes the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, The Monroe Doctrine, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” speech by Frederick Douglass, two pieces by Martin Luther King Jr. and “A Time for Choosing” by Ronald Reagan.
Wise, R-Campbellsville, said he rewrote certain parts of the original bill, which now goes to the full Senate, because there were “misunderstandings.”
Wise said the bill gives school employee guidance on materials, but as a result of the revisions “we are not telling teachers what they can and cannot teach and what our students can and cannot learn.”
—Lexington Herald-Leader
Coast Guard shows what $1 billion of cocaine and marijuana looks like
MIAMI — The Coast Guard and other federal officials showed off more than a billion dollars' worth of cocaine and marijuana Thursday that was confiscated from smugglers during several recent operations in the Pacific Ocean and more nearby in the Caribbean Sea.
The agency seized 54,500 pounds of cocaine and 15,800 pounds of marijuana, officials said Thursday at a briefing at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. The total street value is estimated to be $1.06 billion, the Coast Guard said.
A haul that large means “a lot of sad walks to doors that will never have to occur,” said South Florida Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, referring to overdose deaths that might be prevented with the drugs off the street.
The congresswoman made the remarks at the media briefing and was joined by other officials in front of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter James, which was docked at Port Everglades.
It wasn’t the Coast Guard’s largest seizure, but it was for the James, a “national security cutter,” which is the largest and most technologically advanced type of ship the service deploys.
—Miami Herald
Israel refuses to cooperate with UN probe into Gaza conflict
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel is refusing to cooperate with a U.N. probe into a conflict that broke out in the Gaza Strip in May, according to a document seen by dpa.
A letter from the Israeli side addressed to Navi Pillay, who is leading the international commission of inquiry, says "there is simply no reason to believe that Israel will receive reasonable, equitable and nondiscriminatory treatment" from the commission.
Pillay will also be barred from entering Israel as part of the investigation.
"We will not allow her entry to Israel as she requested," an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday.
"We consider Miss Pillay to be anti-Israeli activist (who) should not be chairing this commission," he added.
Pillay is a South African jurist who served as the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights from 2008 to 2014.
—dpa
