ICE Slips Past
February 4, 2021
The Good News
- Vaccine milestone as global Covid jabs pass number of confirmed cases (Financial Times)
- The Denver STAR program that replaces police with mental and behavioral health counselors is working (Denverite)
“No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land.” — Warsan Shire
“It is the obligation of every person born in a safer room to open the door when someone in danger knocks.” — Dina Nayeri
ICE Slips Past Federal Orders
(Spencer Platt via Getty Images)
On his inauguration day, President Biden signed an executive action ordering a 100-day suspension on immigrant deportations. 48 hours later, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued, arguing the moratorium was unconstitutional. The following Tuesday, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Corpus Christi blocked Biden’s suspension order. Left in place were previous guidelines stipulating deportations should be limited to suspected terrorists, convicted felons deemed a “threat to public safety,” and migrants who arrived after November 1. Paxton was ecstatic, tweeting that his team had stopped a “seditious left-wing insurrection.”
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) faces multiple allegations of human rights abuses and charges it has disproportionately targeted black migrants. The day before the inauguration, ICE sent a deportation flight to Haiti carrying people who fit none of the stipulated criteria. One targeted deportee was Paul Pierrilus, a 40-year-old financial consultant from New York who has lived in the US for 35 years, had never been to Haiti, and is not a Haitian citizen. Pierrilus was taken off the January 19th flight at the last minute after intervention by his local congressman, Mondaire Jones.
Despite the temporary reprieve, Pierrilus was flown to Haiti early Tuesday. “There was nothing we could do to stop it,” Jones said. Defining ICE as an uncontrolled “rogue agency,” Jones added: “There is no world in which an agency under the control of the leader of the executive branch should continue to deport people after the President of the United States signed an executive order halting deportations for 100 days.”
Monday, a coalition of rights groups presented new allegations of ICE’s abuse of Cameroonian asylum seekers, forced to sign their own deportation orders. The fresh information added to last October’s claims by Cameroonians that officers had choked and threatened to kill them during the Trump administration’s frenzied, pre-election removal drive.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said Tuesday: “ICE is accelerating pending flights for many of these asylum seekers who escaped torture and death in their home countries, only to be sent back into imminent danger without fair or complete consideration of their asylum requests.” He added the practice goes against our nation’s values and must be stopped.
Cameroon is a dangerous country in the midst of a years-long civil conflict. Of hundreds of Cameroonians deported last Fall, many are still missing; others had their papers confiscated and faced arrest. Nevertheless, another deportation flight left Wednesday, carrying English-speaking Cameroonians who rightly fear for their lives on return. (Guardian)
Hong Kong’s New Surprise Parties
(Li Zhihua via Getty Images)
- Hong Kong officials have undertaken a radical new strategy to contain coronavirus outbreaks: “ambush” lockdowns. For nearly two weeks, with no warning to residents, squads of Hong Kong police officers have sealed off entire residential blocks, locking down homes and forcing everyone to be tested for Covid-19 or be fined HK$5,000 ($645).
- No one is allowed to leave until everyone tests negative, but thanks to increased testing capacity the lockdowns last just a day or two. The government defends the strategy despite criticism that it’s causing anxiety and alarm for little impact, since only about a dozen cases have been detected out of more than 10,000 tested.
- The secretary for food and health said the snap lockdowns allowed authorities to quickly identify and isolate cases and close contacts. “We don’t think this put a heavy burden on people or was a waste of public money,” she said. One epidemiologist reminded that the quick turnaround and release doesn’t necessarily mean an area is coronavirus-free. While the typical incubation period is three to four days, it can take as long as 14. (Guardian)
France Caught Red-Handed For Not Being Green Enough
- An administrative court in Paris ruled Wednesday that France had failed to take sufficient action to fight the climate crisis. The court recognized ecological “deficiencies” linked to climate change and held the state responsible for failing to fully meet its goal in reducing greenhouse gasses.
- The decision was cheered as “historic” by the four non-governmental organizations (NGOs) bringing the lawsuit. President Macron has been very vocal about his support for climate change action, but the NGOs — which included Greenpeace France and Oxfam France — said his words hadn’t been accompanied by sufficient domestic measures to curb emissions.
- Wednesday’s decision should help others using the law to push their governments in the fight against global warming. (AP News)
Additional World News
- ‘Their goal is to destroy everyone’: Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape (BBC)
- China looks to Winter Olympics as chance for rare soft power win amid COVID, rights concerns (Reuters)
- Rights groups call for boycott of Beijing 2022 Winter Games (AP)
- China to send 10 million coronavirus vaccine doses abroad (AP)
- EU goes soft on China in hopes of a climate ‘partnership’ while the US plays hardball (Politico)
- After Coup, Myanmar Military Charges Aung San Suu Kyi With Obscure Infraction (NYT, $)
- Health workers in virus-hit Myanmar start anti-coup protests (AP)
- Mario Draghi Gets Nod to Form New Government and Guide Italy Out of Crisis (NYT, $)
- Decades of progress on extreme poverty now in reverse due to Covid (Guardian)
Covid-19
- Slow Pace of Vaccinations Pushes Europe Toward Second Economic Slump (NYT, $)
- An Illustrated Guide To Coronavirus Variants That Worry Scientists (NPR)
- Belgian regulators advise against giving AstraZeneca Covid vaccine to over-55s (Guardian)
- Herd Immunity For COVID-19 Won’t Be Easy To Reach (NPR)
- The AstraZeneca vaccine is shown to drastically cut transmission of the virus. (NYT, $)
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That’s One Big Tent You’ve Got There, Mitch
- In a brewing House battle over the shape of the GOP in the wake of the Trump presidency, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urged House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday to sideline conspiracy theorists and secure a place for anti-Trump voices in party leadership.
- McConnell had denounced the extremist rhetoric of Georgia’s QAnon-championing freshman representative, Marjorie Taylor Greene, while offering a gesture of support for Wyoming representative Liz Cheney. Cheney is the No. 3 House GOP leader who voted last month to impeach Trump, and ever since has been pummeled with criticism.
- McConnell and other Republican stalwarts warned that crippling Trump critics while tolerating purveyors of social-media-driven paranoia would be a “cancer for the Republican Party and our country.”
- Regardless, on Wednesday, McCarthy declined to take any action against Taylor Greene — as Democrats were acting to remove her from House committees over her past extremist statements — signaling that Republicans intend to turn the issue into a partisan brawl rather than police the rhetoric inside their own ranks. (WaPo, $)
Sometimes The Name Says It All
- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Tuesday repealing a 1976 anti-loitering statute — nicknamed “Walking While Trans” — that was intended to curb prostitution, but wound up with a broad interpretation that police used to arrest someone because of the clothes they wore or where they stood on the street.
- Politicians and LGBTQ advocates said the law had resulted in decades of discrimination by law enforcement. In 2018, for example, 91% of people arrested under the statute were Black and Latinx, and 80% identified as women, many of whom were transgender.
- In a statement, Cuomo said: “Repealing the archaic ‘walking while trans’ ban is a critical step toward reforming our policing system and reducing the harassment and criminalization transgender people face simply for being themselves.” (NPR)
Additional USA News
- Biden, Yellen say GOP virus aid too small, Democrats push on (AP)
- Biden’s opportunity to nominate federal judges (WaPo, $)
- Jeff Bezos will have a second act after leaving as Amazon CEO (Vox)
- Florida’s protest bill raises concerns about unequal treatment of left- and right-wing activists (WaPo, $)
- When will schools reopen and what will it take to make them safe? (Vox)
- FTC orders Amazon to pay $62 million over pocketing driver tips (Vox). Funny how many euphemisms newspapers can find for “theft.”
- ‘A Long Time Coming’: Given DHS Warning, A Look At U.S. Domestic Extremism Threats (NPR)
- Opinion | Biden’s surprisingly successful first two weeks (WaPo, $)
- Sean Hannity is the face of the post-Trump identity crisis at Fox News (WaPo, $)
- Your Daily Dose Of Data: Homicides rose 30 percent in 2020, survey of 34 U.S. cities finds (WaPo, $)
Climate
- U.S. Cities Are Vastly Undercounting Emissions, Researchers Find (NYT, $)
- Biden team in talks with utilities, car companies about emissions (Reuters)
- Biden Wants To Move Fast On Climate Change. Is It Fast Enough? (NPR)
Immigration
- Opinion | It’s good Biden is ending for-profit federal prisons. Detained immigrants deserve no less. (WaPo, $)
- Trump Loyalists Across Homeland Security Could Vex Biden’s Immigration Policies (NYT, $)
- Biden Administration Faces Backlog of 380,000 Waiting to Immigrate (NYT, $)
- Obama’s deportations and immigration battles could haunt Biden (Vox)
- Listen: Uncovering a $1 Billion Deal to Detain Unauthorized Immigrants (ProPublica)
Aspiring Musicians Are Really Starting Early These Days
- The Grammys may have to come up with a new category.
- Luca Yupanqui is an American toddler whose parents recorded the sounds she made while still inside her mother’s womb. Mom is Elizabeth Hart, a member of psych-rock band Psychic Ills. Dad is Iván Diaz Mathé, a musician who has worked with Lee “Scratch” Perry and others.
- In five hour-long “joint meditation” sessions, Hart and Diaz Mathé recorded Yupanqui in utero via electrodes on Hart’s abdomen. Using “biosonic MIDI technology,” they transcribed the vibrations they picked up into synthesizers.
- The recordings were then edited down, with as little intervention as possible, “allowing Luca’s message to exist in its raw form.” The toddler’s debut album, Sounds of the Unborn, will be released on April 2. Because April Fools’ Day was too risky. (Guardian)
Additional Reads
- ‘It’s sheer! It’s queer!’: redesigning and diversifying beauty ads of the past (Guardian). But defying conventional beauty standards hasn’t been easy breezy.
- Impossible Foods cuts prices for its plant-based meat offerings (Vox). No way, that’s impossible!
- McDonald’s is testing the ‘McPlant’ burger in Denmark and Sweden (Verge)
- Plant-based diets crucial to saving global wildlife, says report (Guardian)
- Thailand’s Sex Workers Are Losing Their Livelihood Because Of The Pandemic (NPR)
- Why the GameStop affair is a perfect example of ‘platform populism’ (Guardian)
- New study cracks the case of why food sticks to center of nonstick pans (ArsTechnica). Not all heroes wear capes. These wear lab coats.
- Miami won’t be the next Silicon Valley because we don’t need another one (TechCrunch)
- Up in flames: SpaceX Starship test flight ends in fiery crash, again (Guardian). Move fast and break things, right?
- A Second SolarWinds Hack Deepens Third-Party Software Fears (Wired)
- Comcast lifts uploads to 5Mbps amid complaints its low-income plan is too slow (ArsTechnica)