Latest news with #LexiBrowning
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ACLU-WV sues Trump administration officials over Marshall student's revoked visa
Marshall University, located in Huntington, (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch) The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Marshall University graduate student whose visa was 'unlawfully' revoked as a part of an immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump's administration. More than 1,000 international students at 160 colleges and universities across the country have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since March, according to a report by the Associated Press. That includes students at colleges and universities in West Virginia. The Marshall student, identified in a Friday news release as S.V., was one month away from graduating when his visa was revoked, according to the ACLU-WV. The student received an email stating that his F-1 visa was being revoked and later learned that he was 'identified in a criminal records check,' the news release said. S.V., 28-year-old data science student originally from India, was sentenced to probation in 2020 in Indiana for operating a vehicle under the influence, a misdemeanor, according to the release. He left the United States and returned in 2023 to study at Marshall. ACLU-WV legal director Aubrey Sparks said that having been identified in a criminal record check is not legal ground for terminating a visa. 'Our client was not convicted of a crime of violence, nor was he convicted of a crime for which the potential sentence is more than one year, meaning that he categorically is not subject to termination of his F-1 status on those grounds,' Sparks said. According to the ACLU, S.V. disclosed the previous charge when re-applying, satisfied all requirements, and was permitted to re-enter the country under the new visa. The student was in the process of applying for post-graduate work in the United States when he received the email ending his visa. The situation caused chaos for his education and career plans, he said. 'I desperately want to complete my graduate degree and pursue work in the United States,' he said in the news release. 'It is clear this wasn't a decision based on my circumstance or experience — this was a predetermined outcome and they just said whatever needed to be said to justify it, even when it didn't apply to me.' The ACLU-WV filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. The complaint names Kristi Noem, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Todd Lyons, acting director of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Across the country, lawsuits have been filed and rallies held in response to the student visas being revoked. Government officials have not specified the reasons the administration has canceled visas, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that participating in protests against Israel's war in Gaza will not be tolerated. 'They're here to go to class. They're not here to lead activist movements that are disruptive and undermine our universities. I think it's lunacy to continue to allow that,' Rubio said. In the news release, ACLU-WV executive director Eli Baumwell said international students and scholars are a vital part of the nation's universities, economy and communities. 'Unfortunately, it has become increasingly clear that the Trump administration is simply taking the law into its own hands in its crusade against noncitizens,' he said. 'Never before has a president taken such sweeping actions to revoke student visas, and that's why we need the courts to step in and protect their rights to due process under the Constitution.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WV lawmakers must fulfill constitutional mandate to provide thorough system of free schools
Lockers in a Kanawha County school in West Virginia. (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch) As an educator and parent, I have seen firsthand the power of public schools to help our students achieve brighter futures and bring our communities together. But I have also watched the underfunding and politicization of public education in West Virginia over the past decade and the consequences for our state's students. While it is certainly true that schools and funding must adapt to meet the changing needs of students and communities, I've never seen any program improve by starving it of funding. Unless policymakers and the public take action now to re-envision school funding and protect community schools, more closures will be on the horizon. The vast majority of children in West Virginia receive and will continue to receive their education through the public school system, which needs to be equipped and well-resourced to serve them well. School staff work hard every day to meet their students' needs, but the diversion of public taxpayer dollars to school vouchers (Hope Scholarship), the expansion of charter schools, population decline and deep revenue losses from tax cuts are exacerbating long-existing challenges. Nowhere is this situation more dire than in rural and low-income areas, where county school boards and communities are having to make impossible decisions with limited funding increasingly across the state. According to KIDS COUNT data, in West Virginia one in five children are food insecure and 25% live in poverty. In the counties I've taught in, like Mingo and Roane, those percentages rise to 37% of kids living in poverty and one in three being food insecure. Our schools are not just teaching reading and math — they are providing essential services to these kids like breakfast and lunch, and some even offer health clinics. Public schools offer a gathering place for athletic events, dance recitals, and more. And notably, they are often among the largest employers and economic drivers within their communities. That means the result of a school closure is not just long bus rides for students—it is also the loss of the heart of the community and one of the most important factors families look at when considering moving to this state. Legislators and the public must consider whether the expansion of the Hope Scholarship vouchers program is fiscally responsible at a time when our public schools are already under-resourced. Should we spend public tax money on a program that has practically no reporting requirements and that allows parents of any income level the option to purchase private music lessons or Clay Center memberships as public schools across the state are closing their doors, reducing extracurricular options, and laying off arts and music teachers, counselors, nurses, and custodians? Should students be forced to sit on buses for over 3 hours a day to simply access their education? If we do have the capacity to increase funding for education, wouldn't it be better spent supporting the public school districts that are struggling to keep their community schools staffed and open — public schools that almost 90% of the families in West Virginia have selected as their school choice? This is a critical moment for state lawmakers to fulfill their constitutional mandate: 'the Legislature shall provide, by general law, for a thorough and efficient system of free schools.' To me and to most West Virginia families, that means investing in community schools and giving all students the opportunity to receive a quality education — especially those who live in rural areas with poor internet, have special education needs, live in poverty or that have other circumstances that make public school their only viable 'choice.' I hope that our legislators will halt any plans to expand the Hope Scholarship voucher program, which is expected to balloon to over $100 million in costs this coming year and then up to $300 million the following year. I urge them to strengthen reporting requirements for this program so taxpayers can see who is benefitting, as well as direct available funding into the public school system that so many students and families in the Mountain State rely upon. Not adequately funding public schools is simply shirking responsibility and giving away $5,000 coupons does not abdicate West Virginia from its constitutional responsibility. We are approaching a point of no return — if state legislators do nothing, there will be an even greater wave of school closures over the next one to two years. And once a school closes, it rarely reopens. I fear what that means for the future of our state's students. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Instead of helping West Virginians, some GOP lawmakers seem intent on passing bills to harm
The Lincoln Walks at Midnight Statue sits in front of the West Virginia state Capitol building in Charleston, (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch) We're almost at the halfway point of the legislative session, so let's take a little look at what our legislators have been doing. Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, is proposing with Senate Bill 109 to incentivize residents to report drug activity to police by offering reward money. The money from the Narc on Your Neighbor for Money Act — whoops, I mean the Neighborhood Assistance and Rejuvenation Compact Act — would come from a new excise tax on naloxone and drug testing strips. Tarr has said the state could market the program by posting mugshots of people convicted of drug crimes to billboards in areas with high drug activity. He said his inspiration came after watching the news and seeing 'bodies hanging off of bridges' in a report on cartels in Mexico. Please don't let this guy watch 'The Handmaid's Tale.' Taxing products designed to prevent people from dying does not seem like the answer here. Narcan, one of the brand names for naloxone, is already prohibitively expensive for some people. And while there are groups that provide both naloxone and drug testing strips for free, why would we want to make it more expensive for them to help people? Instead of shaming people convicted of drug crimes and asking their neighbors to spy and tattle on them, maybe the state should consider not banning harm reduction programs? Helping people instead of shaming seems like the more humane option. Another bill that seems designed to make life harder for West Virginians is House Bill 3016. The state passed a voter ID law in 2016 and when it went into effect two years later, residents could prove who they were with more than a dozen different forms of identification other than a driver's license, including a hunting or fishing license, a utility bill or their Social Security card. HB 3016 would do away with most of those forms of identification and whittles it down to six — all of which require a photo: driver's license, state ID, passport, employee ID, student ID and military ID. The lead sponsor on this bill is Del. Erica Moore, R-Roane. The bill also adds text that a valid voter registration card 'that includes the voter's photograph issued by a county clerk in the State of West Virginia or the Secretary of State' will work. Of course, lawmakers also said during a meeting that this isn't required, and would be up to each county clerk if they wanted to create and issue voter registration cards with photos. This will just add another layer to confusion to voting. Am I registered? Where is my polling place? Is my registration active? What ID do I need? What kind of voter registration card does my county have? Absentee ballots aren't safe either. House Bill 2117 would make it illegal for anyone — including an election official — to mail or deliver absentee ballot applications unless it's been specifically requested by the voter or their family/caregiver. Six Republicans thought this was such a great idea, they sponsored the bill: Doug Smith (Mercer), Mike Hornby (Berkeley), Geno Chiarelli (Monongalia), Chris Phillips (Barbour), Michael Hite (Berkeley) and Kathie Hess Crouse (Putnam). Why is an application for an absentee ballot something that should require consent? Do they not want us to vote? Another head scratcher comes from Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha. His bill would reinstate the death penalty in West Virginia for people convicted of killing a law-enforcement officer or first responder. It has a price tag of $26 million to implement. In the last 45 years, only 21 people would have been eligible for the death penalty. It's odd to me that Stuart, who says he is 'unapologetically pro-life' wants the state to spend about $1.2 million per state-sanctioned killing. But at least, he knows the monetary cost of his bill. That's more than we can say for House Bill 2515, which would require counties to create alternative learning centers for chronically disruptive students. The bill from lead sponsor Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, has advanced to the Senate, but it has no proposed funding to build the centers or staff them. Details, details. Today is day 28 of 60. Will the Legislature do better during the second half of the session? For West Virginians' sake, I hope so. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A message to West Virginia lawmakers: Make it personal
The Lincoln Walks at Midnight Statue sits in front of the West Virginia state Capitol building in Charleston, (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch) Until we make it personal, empathy vanishes. After reading that state GOP lawmakers are seeking to remove rape and incest exemption from West Virginia's near total abortion ban, I was reminded of a conversation I had a number of years ago with a colleague about West Virginia's Catholic bishop facing charges of inappropriate sexual behavior. And recently, another diocesan priest was accused of inappropriate behavior. I will never be judge and jury, yet even as I made attempts to hear the charges from the priest himself, I was accused of passing judgment. I recognized that movement on his part as clear deflection. In discussions with a co-worker, who is the father of young boys, I mentioned that the bishop had apologized for any hurt/pain he may have caused, even as he maintained his innocence, as countless Catholic clergy before him had done. My colleague remarked that maybe the bishop was sorry. It was at that moment that divine intervention slipped in and I said, 'Would you be that forgiving, that accepting, that dismissive if a member of the clergy had acted like that to one of your sons?' His expression turned ashen. That was answer enough for me; and then he said, 'I hadn't thought about that.' When will we think about the laws that are being enacted on a personal level? When will we put ourselves in the situation that's up for debate? When will we move beyond the stark black letters on a stark white background and excavate what lies beneath the surface? As our state lawmakers hold tight to a black and white world, we need to find a way to make certain that they consider the issues by asking themselves, 'What if this situation were to happen to someone I hold dear, to someone I love?' Empathy is on a much too lengthy hiatus. It must be resurrected if we are to have any modicum of decency to combat the starkness of black and white. Very little is that simple. In the summer of 2022, I wrote a commentary for the Charleston Gazette-Mail after the reversal of Roe v. Wade. It is crystal clear to all who know me that I am against abortion. Pay attention to the bold pronoun. That's me. I also firmly believe that every woman has the right to make that choice for herself, along with her physician. My commentary stated that when the reversal was announced, 'I cried in a way that was closer to a howl.' And later that day, I received an email from a co-worker who is fanatically against abortion who wrote, 'Now those women who have been protected as they chose abortion, will die by their own hand, as we take those measures from them, like they have taken the life of a child, and sacrifice their own life. Read the Old Testament.' Read those two sentences again. Almost three years later, those words frighten me even more than when I first read them. They will always frighten me. Let's bury the potential cruelty and judgement and destruction that would most assuredly accompany these proposed laws, if they should be adopted. How did we get here? To reiterate my earlier plea, ask yourself, 'Would I feel differently if a loved one were to be raped or became a victim to incest and a pregnancy resulted?' Make. It. Personal. Because in the end, it's nothing but personal. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit meant to improve WV's troubled foster care system, problems persist
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, located at One Davis Square in Charleston, (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch) A federal judge on Friday threw out a lawsuit brought by foster children in 2019 against the state that sought to mandate changes in the troubled system. West Virginia foster care, which has been overburdened amid the state's substance abuse crisis, continues to house children in hotels and group homes due to a shortage of foster families and appropriate mental health care for kids. There's a shortage of child protective services workers to check on children, and current workers remain overburdened with cases. While problems persist, U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin said that the issues can't be resolved by a federal court. 'This court cannot take over the foster care system of West Virginia,' Goodwin wrote in an opinion dismissing the case. 'West Virginia's foster care system has cycled through inaction, bureaucratic indifference, shocking neglect and temporary fixes for years. The blame squarely lies with West Virginia state government.' 'When elected officials fail, the ballot box is the remedy,' he said. A Better Childhood, a New York-based nonprofit organization that brought the lawsuit with the children, said they will appeal the decision. 'We are stunned and shocked by the court's decision,' said Marcia Lowry, A Better Childhood's executive director. She referenced a recent Kanawha County incident where a child in an abuse and neglect case attempted suicide after being placed in a hotel by state CPS. Goodwin's dismissal order came on the same day that Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Maryclaire Akers ordered a monitor be put in place to oversee CPS placements in hotels and camps. 'Neither the Legislature nor the executive branch have acted to protect children from the horrors of abusive homes, placements in hotels, attempted suicide brought on by despair. Now the court – the last resort to protect constitutional rights – turns its back too and says that it will not protect the children. We plan to appeal as quickly as possible,' Lowry said. The Department of Human Services, which oversees foster care, did not immediately return a request for comment. The lawsuit also alleged that the state failed to properly care for thousands of children by leaving them to languish in the system with no plans for permanent homes. DoHS has tried to have the case thrown out, citing improvements to the system like hiring additional CPS workers. The state has paid more than $6.3 million to Brown and Peisch, a law firm in Washington, D.C. that has provided the state's legal counsel in the case since 2020. Goodwin, in his 19-page order, said he recognized that this result was 'an unsatisfying result to years-long litigation demanding improvement of West Virginia's foster care system.' 'I know that there are children who deeply suffer in the custody of the state,' he wrote. 'This compelled dismissal is in no way an endorsement of the system as it remains … State officials can no longer hide behind this lawsuit to avoid the consequences of their political decisions.' Disability Rights West Virginia also represented children in the lawsuit. 'West Virginia's policymakers and politicians have failed our children, and DRWV has a number of legal initiatives in the works to do what our state leaders fail to do,' said DRWV Legal Director Mike Folio. The organization recently launched a children's first initiative to 'prioritize limited resources to protect West Virginia's children in foster care and the juvenile justice system,' he said.
