Latest news with #Dreamer
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democracy Upside Down
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Last month, President Donald Trump's administration scrapped a long-standing Texas law that provided access to financial aid for 'Dreamers'—undocumented immigrants, brought into this country as children, who grew up here, graduated from local high schools, and are committed to becoming permanent residents. The administration's allies tried and failed to persuade the state legislature, which is controlled by Republicans, to repeal the law, which has had nearly a quarter century of bipartisan support. So the administration made an end run around Texas's democratic process: The Department of Justice hatched a plan with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to kill the law, filing a joint motion that asked a federal court to declare the Texas Dream Act unconstitutional. A judge approved the motion the very same day. The whole process took just six hours. Whatever one's views are on Dreamer policy, the fact is that this maneuver went against the will of the people of Texas. The organization I lead, Democracy Forward, has, along with several other groups, filed a motion to defend the law. Texans deserve to have the constitutionality of their Dream Act judged in court, not killed off via a collaboration between the president and the state attorney general. And even more alarming than the Trump administration's dismantling of this law is that it's part of a broader effort to short-circuit democracy at the state level. State-level democracy is essential to America's federalist system. During another time in U.S. history when a majority of the Supreme Court was imposing barriers to the public's ability to self-govern, Justice Louis D. Brandeis famously observed, 'It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.' Later, Justice William Brennan argued that states have the 'power to impose higher standards' under state law 'than is required under the Federal Constitution.' Throughout America's long history, state-level innovations have pushed the country forward: Some states abolished slavery long before the Civil War, granted women the right to vote before the Nineteenth Amendment was adopted, and legalized marriage equality years before the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. Of course, states have not always been on the side of human freedom and progress. Appeals to 'states' rights' have served as rallying cries for enslavers, segregationists, and others seeking to deny the rights of people and communities since the nation's founding. 'No state,' the Fourteenth Amendment proclaimed after the Civil War, shall 'deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' When America's system of government works as it should, the federal government steps in to prevent states from undermining human freedom. [David Frum: The courts won't save democracy from Trump] That's what America saw in 1957, when President Dwight Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard to implement a Supreme Court ruling to desegregate schools; the governor, an avowed segregationist, had refused to comply. President John F. Kennedy similarly federalized the Alabama National Guard to carry out desegregation orders at the University of Alabama, again over the objection of a pro-segregation governor. Now the president and his political appointees, not a state's governor, are ignoring federal-court orders. In April, a federal court found that the government had exhibited 'a willful disregard for its Order' that planes carrying migrants who had been denied basic due process be turned around until the court could hear the migrants' case. (Democracy Forward and the ACLU represent the migrants in that matter.) Two months later, in early June, Trump federalized the California National Guard and deployed active-duty Marines to Los Angeles without the approval of Governor Gavin Newsom, who argued that local law enforcement was fully capable of managing anti-ICE protests. Trump's move was a federal flex that made a mockery of state sovereignty and democracy, and created more chaos than it solved. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that what she saw in a local park 'looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation.' To justify its actions in California, the administration invoked Eisenhower's 1957 move to enforce federal-court orders on civil rights. Yet Trump's actions aim for the opposite of Eisenhower's. Instead of using federal power to protect people's rights, Trump is misusing federal power to undermine them. That is democracy upside down. Similarly, when Maine insisted that it would defend transgender athletes' participation on women's college-sports teams, the president brazenly interfered. Maine was following the law as it argued was set forth in Title IX and the state's Human Rights Act, but Trump sought to force a new interpretation of the federal law through executive actions, including a February order. That month, Trump pronounced, 'We are the federal law,' at which point the administration began a process to cut off funding to Maine's public-school meal programs as punishment—funds appropriated by Congress to help children in need. 'See you in court,' Maine Governor Janet Mills told the president. She did, and Maine won. The administration has also attempted to usurp the power that the Constitution provides both Congress and the states. Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution mandates that only states and Congress can make or alter the 'times, places, and manner' of holding federal elections. Ignoring that, Trump, in an executive order, has sought to impose federal time, place, and manner requirements that create barriers to the ballot box. Much of this executive order has been blocked by two federal courts in response to litigation filed by 19 states, among other parties. One federal judge found that the requirements Trump is seeking to impose would create time-consuming burdens on states and could chill voter participation— 'the antithesis of Congress's purpose in enacting' federal election laws. (The Trump administration is also pressuring Texas Republicans to redraw congressional districts in the middle of the decade, outside the normal cycle, to skew the midterm elections.) [Adam Serwer: Trump is wearing America down] The Trump administration has called lawsuits filed against its actions 'frivolous' and 'vexatious.' But as with so many of Trump's attacks, this is really a confession. The Texas ploy is just one of many ways the administration is undercutting the checks and balances in the U.S. constitutional system. The administration has eviscerated agencies and programs created by Congress, attacked judges and the legal profession as a whole, and attempted to stifle a free and open press through intimidation tactics. It's all in keeping with a theme: To empower one man, you need to disempower everyone else, everywhere else—including in states where laws are counter to the president's political agenda. What's happening in Texas, California, Maine, and other states goes beyond normal political disagreements or turf spats. This isn't the typical tug-of-war of federalism. The Trump administration is undermining foundational democratic principles and turning what are supposed to be 'laboratories of democracy' into laboratories of repression—something that should have no place in a nation founded on the promise of human freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
Democracy Upside Down
Last month, President Donald Trump's administration scrapped a long-standing Texas law that provided access to financial aid for 'Dreamers'—undocumented immigrants, brought into this country as children, who grew up here, graduated from local high schools, and are committed to becoming permanent residents. The administration's allies tried and failed to persuade the state legislature, which is controlled by Republicans, to repeal the law, which has had nearly a quarter century of bipartisan support. So the administration made an end run around Texas's democratic process: The Department of Justice hatched a plan with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to kill the law, filing a joint motion that asked a federal court to declare the Texas Dream Act unconstitutional. A judge approved the motion the very same day. The whole process took just six hours. Whatever one's views are on Dreamer policy, the fact is that this maneuver went against the will of the people of Texas. The organization I lead, Democracy Forward, has, along with several other groups, filed a motion to defend the law. Texans deserve to have the constitutionality of their Dream Act judged in court, not killed off via a collaboration between the president and the state attorney general. And even more alarming than the Trump administration's dismantling of this law is that it's part of a broader effort to short-circuit democracy at the state level. State-level democracy is essential to America's federalist system. During another time in U.S. history when a majority of the Supreme Court was imposing barriers to the public's ability to self-govern, Justice Louis D. Brandeis famously observed, 'It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.' Later, Justice William Brennan argued that states have the 'power to impose higher standards' under state law 'than is required under the Federal Constitution.' Throughout America's long history, state-level innovations have pushed the country forward: Some states abolished slavery long before the Civil War, granted women the right to vote before the Nineteenth Amendment was adopted, and legalized marriage equality years before the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. Of course, states have not always been on the side of human freedom and progress. Appeals to 'states' rights' have served as rallying cries for enslavers, segregationists, and others seeking to deny the rights of people and communities since the nation's founding. 'No state,' the Fourteenth Amendment proclaimed after the Civil War, shall 'deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' When America's system of government works as it should, the federal government steps in to prevent states from undermining human freedom. David Frum: The courts won't save democracy from Trump That's what America saw in 1957, when President Dwight Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard to implement a Supreme Court ruling to desegregate schools; the governor, an avowed segregationist, had refused to comply. President John F. Kennedy similarly federalized the Alabama National Guard to carry out desegregation orders at the University of Alabama, again over the objection of a pro-segregation governor. Now the president and his political appointees, not a state's governor, are ignoring federal-court orders. In April, a federal court found that the government had exhibited 'a willful disregard for its Order' that planes carrying migrants who had been denied basic due process be turned around until the court could hear the migrants' case. (Democracy Forward and the ACLU represent the migrants in that matter.) Two months later, in early June, Trump federalized the California National Guard and deployed active-duty Marines to Los Angeles without the approval of Governor Gavin Newsom, who argued that local law enforcement was fully capable of managing anti-ICE protests. Trump's move was a federal flex that made a mockery of state sovereignty and democracy, and created more chaos than it solved. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that what she saw in a local park 'looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation.' To justify its actions in California, the administration invoked Eisenhower's 1957 move to enforce federal-court orders on civil rights. Yet Trump's actions aim for the opposite of Eisenhower's. Instead of using federal power to protect people's rights, Trump is misusing federal power to undermine them. That is democracy upside down. Similarly, when Maine insisted that it would defend transgender athletes' participation on women's college-sports teams, the president brazenly interfered. Maine was following the law as it argued was set forth in Title IX and the state's Human Rights Act, but Trump sought to force a new interpretation of the federal law through executive actions, including a February order. That month, Trump pronounced, 'We are the federal law,' at which point the administration began a process to cut off funding to Maine's public-school meal programs as punishment—funds appropriated by Congress to help children in need. 'See you in court,' Maine Governor Janet Mills told the president. She did, and Maine won. The administration has also attempted to usurp the power that the Constitution provides both Congress and the states. Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution mandates that only states and Congress can make or alter the 'times, places, and manner' of holding federal elections. Ignoring that, Trump, in an executive order, has sought to impose federal time, place, and manner requirements that create barriers to the ballot box. Much of this executive order has been blocked by two federal courts in response to litigation filed by 19 states, among other parties. One federal judge found that the requirements Trump is seeking to impose would create time-consuming burdens on states and could chill voter participation— 'the antithesis of Congress's purpose in enacting' federal election laws. (The Trump administration is also pressuring Texas Republicans to redraw congressional districts in the middle of the decade, outside the normal cycle, to skew the midterm elections.) Adam Serwer: Trump is wearing America down The Trump administration has called lawsuits filed against its actions 'frivolous' and 'vexatious.' But as with so many of Trump's attacks, this is really a confession. The Texas ploy is just one of many ways the administration is undercutting the checks and balances in the U.S. constitutional system. The administration has eviscerated agencies and programs created by Congress, attacked judges and the legal profession as a whole, and attempted to stifle a free and open press through intimidation tactics. It's all in keeping with a theme: To empower one man, you need to disempower everyone else, everywhere else—including in states where laws are counter to the president's political agenda. What's happening in Texas, California, Maine, and other states goes beyond normal political disagreements or turf spats. This isn't the typical tug-of-war of federalism. The Trump administration is undermining foundational democratic principles and turning what are supposed to be 'laboratories of democracy' into laboratories of repression—something that should have no place in a nation founded on the promise of human freedom and the pursuit of happiness.
NBC News
24-06-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Dreamer who spent 15 days in ICE detention says she was 'scared and felt alone'
Scared, alone and heartbroken: that's how 19-year-old Caroline Dias Goncalves said she felt the two weeks she spent in a detention center in Colorado after immigration authorities arrested her following a traffic stop. 'The past 15 days have been the hardest of my life," Dias Goncalves, who is a student at the University of Utah, said in her first statement since being released on bond over the weekend. Born in Brazil and raised in Utah since she was 7 years old, Dias Goncalves is one of nearly 2.5 million Dreamers living in the United States. The word 'Dreamer' refers to undocumented young immigrants brought to the United States as children. Her detention gained attention after questions were raised over how Immigration and Customs Enforcement became aware of Dias Goncalves' location and immigration status quickly after a sheriff's deputy stopped her in Colorado, a state with laws restricting coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. Dias Goncalves was driving on Interstate 70 outside Loma on June 5 when a Mesa County sheriff's deputy pulled her over because she was driving too close to a semitruck. The deputy released Dias Goncalves with a warning, but shortly after she exited the highway, ICE agents stopped her, arrested her and took her to an immigration detention center in the city of Aurora. According to Dias Goncalves' statement, one ICE officer who detained her "kept apologizing" and told her he wanted to let her go, "but his 'hands were tied.' There was nothing he could do, even though he knew it wasn't right," she wrote. Dias Goncalves said she forgave the ICE officer "because I believe that people can make better choices when they're allowed to." According to Dias Goncalves, while in detention, "we were given soggy, wet food — even the bread would come wet. We were kept on confusing schedules," she said in her statement. "I was scared and felt alone. I was placed in a system that treated me like I didn't matter." But that changed when officers at the detention center realized she spoke English, according to Dias Goncalves. "Suddenly, I was treated better than others." "That broke my heart. Because no one deserves to be treated like that. Not in a country that I've called home since I was 7 years old and is all I've ever known," she said. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sheriff's deputy who stopped Dias Goncalves was placed on administrative leave last week pending the outcome of an administrative investigation, the Mesa County Sheriff's Office said. Initial findings of their investigation revealed that the deputy who stopped Dias Goncalves was part of a communication group that included local, state and federal law enforcement partners participating in drug crackdown efforts. Federal authorities began using that information for immigration enforcement purposes, according to the Mesa County Sheriff's Office. " Unfortunately, it resulted in the later contact between ICE and Miss Dias Goncalves.' The Mesa County Sheriff's Office has said it was ' unaware that the communication group was used for anything other than drug interdiction efforts ' and has since removed all members of their office from the group. "I hope no one else has to go through what I did," Dias Goncalves said, adding that over 1,300 people still in the Aurora detention facility continue living "that same nightmare." "They are just like me — including other people who've grown up here, who love this country, who want nothing more than a chance to belong," Dias Goncalves said. In her statement, she expressed her gratitude toward her friends, family and church community who "stood up for me" and "never stopped fighting for me." Now at home with her family, Dias Goncalves said she is trying to move forward and "focus on work, on school and on healing." "But I won't forget this," she said. "Immigrants like me — we're not asking for anything special. Just a fair chance to adjust our status, to feel safe, and to keep building the lives we've worked so hard for in the country we call home." Relatives of Dias Goncalves previously told The Salt Lake Tribune she arrived in the U.S. as a child with her family on a tourist visa, which they overstayed. Finding a way to remain in the country legally, Dias Goncalves applied for asylum. That case remains pending. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told NBC News in an email last week that the visa Dias Goncalves had come in with had expired over a decade ago. McLaughlin added that President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem 'are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S.' Dias Goncalves' attorney, Jon Hyman, has said his client ' has no criminal record and she was not shown a warrant ' at the time of her ICE arrest. Dias Goncalves is a recipient of the national scholarship, which helps undocumented youths with financial needs go to college. Gaby Pacheco, president of was in Aurora when Dias Goncalves was released on bond Friday evening. In a statement, Pacheco said she felt relieved when she saw Dias Goncalves walk out of the ICE detention center. "She never should have been there," Pacheco said. "How many more youth are being funneled into this system of cruelty, locked up for simply existing in the only country they've ever known?" Dias Goncalves' case mirrors that of Ximena Arias-Cristobal, a fellow 19-year-old Dreamer and scholar, in Georgia who was also in immigration detention after police in Dalton wrongly pulled her over. Asked about possible plans for immigration protections for Dreamers, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told NBC News in a statement June 4, 'The Trump Administration's top priority is deporting criminal illegal aliens from the United States, of which there are many.'
The Hill
20-06-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Vaccine advisers set to review ingredient in influenza shot
PRESENTED BY The Big Story Coming next week: The first meeting of RFK Jr.'s handpicked vaccine advisory panel. © Photo credit It's the first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) since Kennedy fired all 17 members and appointed eight new panelists, several of whom are vocal vaccine critics. As part of its scaled-down two-day meeting beginning Wednesday, the committee is set to vote on influenza vaccines that contain thimerosal — an ingredient wrongly linked to autism. Kennedy has long advocated for banning thimerosal, a preservative that was widely used for decades in a number of biological and drug products, including many vaccines. In his 2014 book, Kennedy said thimerosal was 'toxic to brain tissue' and likely caused autism. Thimerosal, a compound that contains mercury, is used as a preservative to prevent harmful bacteria in multidose vials of vaccines. The compound has been largely phased out as manufacturers have shifted toward single-use vials that contain little or no thimerosal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Thimerosal was largely removed from pediatric vaccines by 2001, amid concerns that it could be linked to autism in children. But according to the CDC, 'a robust body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the U.S. and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines.' The draft agenda for next week's ACIP meeting revisits issues that scientists and public health experts have long considered to be settled, including the use of the measles mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine in children under 5 years old. It's unclear yet what the panel will discuss regarding the shot. The current CDC childhood vaccine schedule recommends two doses for children, with the first dose at age 12-15 months and the second at age 4-6 years. CDC suggests that the MMR vaccine be given rather than MMRV for the first dose, but both shots have been on the schedule for decades. Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. Essential Reads How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: Trump administration makes sweeping changes to ObamaCare, ends 'Dreamer' coverage The Trump administration is shortening ObamaCare's annual open enrollment period and ending the law's coverage of immigrants that entered the U.S. illegally as children, according to a final rule announced Friday. The Biden administration made it easier and more affordable to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans, causing enrollment to swell to an all-time high. The Trump administration claims those moves opened a wave … New COVID-19 variant causes 'razor blade throat' Patients and doctors say the latest COVID-19 variant spreading in the U.S. in some cases causes a sore throat so painful it has earned the nickname 'razor blade throat.' The nimbus variant, which is officially known as NB.1.8.1., is a descendant of the omicron and is being monitored by the World Health Organization. 'Your throat is so dry, so cracked, it's so painful, it's even hard to drink sometimes,' Muhammad Azam, … ChatGPT use linked to cognitive decline: MIT research ChatGPT can harm an individual's critical thinking over time, a study released this month suggests. Researchers at MIT's Media Lab asked subjects to write several SAT essays and separated subjects into three groups — using OpenAI's ChatGPT, using Google's search engine and using nothing, which they called the 'brain‑only' group. Each subject's brain was monitored through electroencephalography (EEG), … On Our Radar Upcoming news themes and events we're watching: In Other News Branch out with a different read from The Hill: Agencies they can't enforce anti-trans bias policies against Catholic groups: Judge BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Two federal agencies cannot punish Catholic employers and health care providers if they refuse for religious reasons to provide gender-affirming care to transgender patients or won't provide health insurance coverage for such care to their workers, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The ruling from U.S. District … A MESSAGE FROM ALLIANCE FOR AGING RESEARCH Around the Nation Local and state headlines on health care: What We're Reading Health news we've flagged from other outlets: What Others are Reading Most read stories on The Hill right now: Senate parliamentarian knocks pieces out of Trump's megabill Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled that several key pieces of the massive bill to implement President Trump's agenda run afoul of … Read more Supreme Court rules against FDA, EPA 12:30 Report is The Hill's midday newsletter. Subscribe here or using the box below: Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters … Read more What People Think Opinions related to health submitted to The Hill: You're all caught up. See you next week! Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here
NBC News
16-06-2025
- NBC News
ICE detains Utah college student after brief traffic stop, raising questions
Questions are surfacing about the immigration detention of a 19-year-old college student from Utah after a traffic stop in Colorado this month. Caroline Dias Goncalves, a student at the University of Utah, was driving on Interstate 70 outside Loma on June 5 when a Mesa County sheriff's deputy pulled her over. The Mesa County Sheriff's Office did not say why. Relatives told The Salt Lake City Tribune the deputy claimed she was driving too close to a semi-truck. The stop lasted less than 20 minutes, and "Dias Goncalves was released from the traffic stop with a warning," the sheriff's office said in a news release Monday. Then, shortly after she exited the highway, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped her, arrested her and took her to an immigration detention center. "She has no criminal record and she was not shown a warrant," her attorney, Jon Hyman, said in an email. Dias Goncalves is one of nearly 2.5 million Dreamers living in the United States. The word 'Dreamer' refers to undocumented young immigrants brought to the United States as children. Dias Goncalves was born in Brazil and was brought to the United States as a 7-year-old. She has lived in Utah since she was 12 and has an asylum case pending. Friends and relatives question how immigration authorities were alerted to her location. As part of an ongoing "full administrative review," the Mesa County Sheriff's Office determined that the deputy who stopped Dias Goncalves was part of a communication group that included local, state and federal law enforcement partners participating in "a multi-agency drug interdiction effort focusing on the highways throughout Western Colorado." "We were unaware that the communication group was used for anything other than drug interdiction efforts, including immigration," the sheriff's office said. "We have since removed all Mesa County Sheriff's Office members from the communication group." Colorado law restricts coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, but it does not fully prohibit it. Online records show that Dias Goncalves remains in ICE custody at the Denver Contract Detention Facility. ICE did not respond to a request for comment. Dias Goncalves' immigration detention mirrors that of fellow 19-year-old Dreamer Ximena Arias-Cristobal in Georgia. Police in Dalton wrongly pulled Arias-Cristobal over last month, putting her on the radar of immigration authorities and making her susceptible to deportation. Since her release from immigration detention, Arias-Cristobal has been speaking up about the growing risks Dreamers face as the Trump administration steps up the pace of deportations of immigrants who do not have criminal charges or convictions, despite Donald Trump's campaign promises to prioritize deporting violent criminals. Arias-Cristobal and Dias Goncalves are recipients of the highly regarded national scholarship, which helps undocumented youths with financial needs go to college. Dias Goncalves said in a survey of scholars, 'I want to succeed, have a family, make a change living in America.' Gaby Pacheco, president of told NBC News on Monday that scholars like Dias Goncalves are doing everything in their power "to regularize their status." "She has a pending case, which is the aggravating and terrible thing that we're seeing," Pacheco said, adding that the organization is in contact with Dias Goncalves' family. Polls and surveys have consistently found that most U.S. adults favor granting permanent legal status and a pathway to citizenship to Dreamers. Trump even said on NBC News' 'Meet the Press' in December that he wanted to work with Democrats and Republicans on a plan 'to do something about the Dreamers.' Asked about possible plans for immigration protections for Dreamers, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told NBC News in a statement June 4, 'The Trump Administration's top priority is deporting criminal illegal aliens from the United States, of which there are many.'
