SCOTUS To Rule On Muslim Ban, Workers
Supreme Court poised to rule on Trump travel ban, other cases. Reuters: "The U.S. Supreme Court, winding down its nine-month term, will issue rulings this week in its few remaining cases including a major one on the legality of President Donald Trump’s ban on people from five Muslim-majority nations entering the country. The nine justices are due to decide other politically sensitive cases on whether non-union workers have to pay fees to unions representing certain public-sector workers such as police and teachers, and the legality of California regulations on clinics that steer women with unplanned pregnancies away from abortion. The justices began their term in October and, as is their usual practice, aim to make all their rulings by the end of June, with more due on Monday. Six cases remain to be decided. The travel ban case was argued on April 25, with the court’s conservative majority signaling support for Trump’s policy in a significant test of presidential powers. Trump has said the ban is needed to protect the United States from attacks by Islamic militants. Conservative justices indicated an unwillingness to second-guess Trump on his national security rationale. Lower courts had blocked the travel ban, the third version of a policy Trump first pursued a week after taking office last year. But the high court on Dec. 4 allowed it to go fully into effect while the legal challenge continued."
Trump Wants To Deny Migrants Due Process
Trump advocates depriving undocumented immigrants of due-process rights. WaPo: "President Trump on Sunday explicitly advocated for depriving undocumented immigrants of their due-process rights, arguing that people who cross the border into the United States illegally are invaders and must immediately be deported without trial or an appearance before a judge. Trump’s attack on the judicial system sowed more confusion as lawmakers struggle to reach consensus on immigration legislation and as federal agencies scramble to reunite thousands of migrant children and their parents who were separated at the border under an administration policy that the president abruptly reversed last week. The House is preparing to vote this week on a broad Republican immigration bill. Although the White House supports the proposed legislation, its prospects for passage appeared dim Sunday, both because Democrats oppose the measure and because Republicans have long been divided over how restrictive immigration laws should be."
DHS Reunites Handful Of Families
U.S. says 'still working' to reunite children with families. Reuters:"The Department of Homeland Security issued a fact sheet late on Saturday in the face of criticism from lawyers for parents and children who have said they have seen little evidence of an organized system. A total of 522 children in the custody of U.S. border officials have already been reunited with parents, according to the fact sheet, which was published three days after Trump ended his policy of separating families on the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump’s shift came after images of youngsters in cages triggered outrage at home and abroad. On Sunday, Trump renewed his hardline on immigration calling for people who enter the United States illegally to be sent back to where they came from immediately without any judicial process. An administration official said on Sunday 522 children were able to be reunited because their parents came back from court proceedings quickly enough that the children had not yet been transferred to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, where the more than 2,000 children who remain separated from their parents are now."
Migrant Boy Escapes Texas Detention
15-year-old migrant boy runs away from Texas child care facility. NBC "A 15-year-old boy ran away from a Texas shelter for migrant children, police said Sunday. The boy is now in Mexico, according to a source with direct knowledge of the incident. The boy ran from Casa Padre, a child care facility in Brownsville, on Saturday, and was in conversations to be reunited with a man whom he called his father, the source said. Details about the man, such as if he had already been living in the United States and for how long, weren't immediately clear. There had been a discrepancy in a DNA test, and before they could be sorted out, the child ran away, according to the source. The source said that the boy is in Mexico and that the man whom he calls his father is sending him money to get him back to Honduras."
Undocumented Workers Support U.S. Economy
Why care about illegal immigrants? For one thing, they keep the US economy afloat. The Conversation: "While it may be impossible to know what Melania Trump meant when she wore a coat emblazoned with that statement during a recent visit to a children’s shelter in Texas, to many the message was clear: This administration does not care about the fate of over 2,300 or so migrant children who have been separated from their detained parents. But it’s still worth taking the coat question seriously. Why should people care about the undocumented children Trump visited? Or, for that matter, the millions of kids and adults currently living in the U.S. without legal documents. Far from the dangerous threat the president makes them out to be, undocumented immigrant workers play vital roles in the U.S. economy, erecting American buildings, picking American apples and grapes, and taking care of American babies. Oh, and paying American taxes. So if our shared humanity isn’t enough to care, let’s examine the other reasons."
