Tag: Trump racism

Plaintiffs ask court to block Trump efforts to add citizenship question to census

The Hill logoPlaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Department of Commerce over the 2020 census are asking a federal court to block the Trump administration from delaying the printing of census forms or changing them to include a citizenship question.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the motion Friday with the state of New York and other groups seeking to block the citizenship question from being added.

The Supreme Court blocked the citizenship question last week, ruling the administration’s argument that the query is necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act was unsatisfactory. However, Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge Friday that the Trump administration is reviewing “all available options” for adding the question.

View the complete July 5 article by Tal Axelrod on The Hill logo here.

Top USCIS official suggests census citizenship question could help with ‘burden’ of illegal immigration

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director, Ken Cuccinelli, on Friday seemed to add confusion to the White House’s position on including a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, saying it would help “with the burden of those who are not here legally.”

It’s unclear exactly what Cuccinelli meant. The Trump administration’s stated reason for wanting to ask about a person’s citizenship on the 2020 questionnaire has been to get a better sense of the voting population, not to gauge legal status.

But Cuccinelli, appearing on Fox News Business, suggested otherwise.

View the complete July 5 article by Colby Itkowitz and Maria Sacchetti on The Washington Post website here.

Justice says it is reviewing ‘all available options’ on census

The Hill logoJustice Department lawyers told a federal judge Friday that the Trump administration is reviewing “all available options” for adding a controversial citizenship question to the 2020 census after the Supreme Court blocked the query’s inclusion last week.

“The Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Commerce have been asked to reevaluate all available options following the Supreme Court’s decision and whether the Supreme Court’s decision would allow for a new decision to include the citizenship question on the 2020 Decennial Census,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a filing Friday.

“In the event the Commerce Department adopts a new rationale for including the citizenship question on the 2020 Decennial Census consistent with the decisions of the Supreme Court, the Government will immediately notify this Court so that it can determine whether there is any need for further proceedings or relief,” they wrote.

View the complete July 5 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Trump considering executive order on citizenship question for census

The Hill logoPresident Trump told reporters on Friday that he is considering an executive order to ensure a citizenship question is included on the U.S. census.

Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that he has four or five options and is “thinking about” an executive order. He also said his administration could begin printing the 2020 census and later include the question as part of an addendum.

“We’re thinking about doing that, it’s one of the ways,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House for his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., noting that administration officials are “doing very well” on the issue.

View the complete July 5 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Trump Says Migrants Are ‘Living Far Better’ in Overcrowded Border Facilities

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — President Trump said on Wednesday that migrants were “living far better” in Border Patrol detention centers than in their home countries, one day after his own administration reported that children in some facilities were denied hot meals or showers, and that cells were so crowded that migrants begged to be freed.

In a series of posts on Twitter, Mr. Trump criticized Democrats who this week visited Border Patrol facilities in Texas, and reported that migrants had been forced to drink from a toilet. Customs and Border Protection officials have disputed that claim.

“Many of these illegal aliens are living far better now than where they came from, and in far safer conditions,” Mr. Trump said over multiple tweets. “No matter how good things actually look, even if perfect, the Democrat visitors will act shocked & aghast at how terrible things are.”

View the complete July 3 article by Zolan Kanno-Youngs on The New York Times website here.

DOJ reverses, says it’s trying to find ways to include citizenship question on 2020 census

The Hill logoA lawyer with the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Wednesday that agency officials have been ordered to determine whether there is a way the administration can include a citizenship question on the 2020 census, hours after a tweet from President Trump raised confusion over the status of the question.

Joseph Hunt, an assistant attorney general with the DOJ’s civil division, said Wednesday that the department has been “instructed to examine whether there is a path forward, consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision, that would allow us to include the citizenship question on the census.”

“We think there may be a legally available path under the Supreme Court’s decision. We’re examining that, looking at near-term options to see whether that’s viable and possible,” Hunt said, according to a transcript of a teleconference held in federal court in Maryland.

View the complete July 3 article by Jacqueline Thomsen on The Hill website here.

‘This is bizarre’: Trump flagrantly contradicts his own administration on census forms

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump contradicted two of his cabinet agencies to deny “fake” reports that his administration had agreed to print census forms without a citizenship question.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration had not offered a compelling legal argument to include the question, and the president at first claimed the White House lawyer would seek to delay the census process.

But the Department of Justice and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said this week the administration would go ahead and print forms without the question to meet the constitutionally mandated deadline.

View the complete July 3 article by Travis Gettys from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Trump dismisses furor over conditions for migrants

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Wednesday came to the defense of border agents and scoffed at Democratic lawmakers’ furor after an internal watchdog report found detained migrants are living in dismal conditions in federal detention facilities.

In a series of tweets, Trump credited Border Patrol with doing a “great job” and going “above and beyond.” He blamed Democrats and existing immigration laws for ongoing issues at the border.

He further claimed that many immigrants detained in the overcrowded facilities are “living far better now than where they came from, and in far safer conditions.”

View the complete July 3 article by Bett Samuels on The Hill website here.

Five critical findings from watchdog report on border detentions

The Hill logoAn internal report describing dismal conditions at detention centers holding migrants at the border is stirring tensions between the Trump administration and Congress over Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) handling of the growing crisis.

The report from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) showed little progress in conditions at the centers run by Border Patrol and CBP, its parent agency.

The report described standing room only cells for migrants, who were not fed hot meals or given showers.

View the complete July 3 article by Rafael Bernal on The Hill website here.

Trump: Commerce, Justice positions on Census are ‘FAKE’

Administration officials said census would go forward without citizenship question

Contradicting his own Justice and Commerce departments, President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration is moving ahead with an effort to place a citizenship question on the census amid a fierce legal battle.

After the Supreme Court called the administration’s census plan “contrived,” administration officials on Tuesday said they were dropping the proposal. But the president tweeted Wednesday he will continue the push.

Despite his own subordinates saying the citizenship question effort had been scrapped, the president called media reports of their plans to end the push “incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE!”

View the complete July 3 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.