Trump immigration plans temporarily blocked

NEW YORK IMMIGRATION COALITION

Several Trump immigration proposals were dealt severe blows Friday.

Trump administration continuing proposals to limit immigration were dealt several blows Friday when the courts blocked a proposal to reject those would-be immigrants who might receive public assistance and another judge blocked the diversion of military funds to build a border wall and California passed a law to ban private prisons detaining immigrants.

Federal courts in New York, Washington state and California blocked a proposed rule that would've made it easier for the Trump administration to reject green card and visa applications filed by low-income immigrants whom the government determines are or might become a burden on U.S. taxpayers.

In addition, another judge blocked the diversion of Pentagon funding to build Trump's border wall and California passed a law that would phase out private prisons, including those holding immigrants waiting for their hearings or waiting to be deported.

“It is repugnant to the American Dream of the opportunity for prosperity, success through hard work and upward mobility,” said US District Judge George Daniels in New York. “Immigrants have always come to this country seeking a better life for themselves and their posterity — with or without help, most succeed.”

“This new definition essentially changes the public charge assessment into a benefits issue, rather than an inquiry about self-subsistence, such that any individual who is deemed likely to accept a benefit is considered a public charge,” he wrote as he issued a issued a temporary nationwide injunction.

“Receipt of a benefit, however, does not necessarily indicate that the individual is unable to support herself.”

“There is no logic to this framework,” he added.

A federal judge in Washington state also blocked the regulation nationwide, while a third district court judge in San Francisco said the administration could not enforce the rule within the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The proposed rule would have  gone into effect Tuesday. It imposed an unprecedented test to assess future benefits use that will penalize immigrant children, immigrant seniors, and all immigrants who are low-income, limited English proficient, and lack access to private health insurance, educational opportunities, and credit. 

According to a report by Migration Policy Institute, more than 941,000 recent green card holders, including 300,000 from Asian countries, would likely have been excluded if the rule had already been in effect when they applied.

The Trump administration has intentionally sought to scare immigrants and their families from using public benefits. Since the rule change was proposed a year ago, over 13% of immigrant adults are reported to have dropped their use of public benefits out of fear of risking their future green card status. 

The outcry from immigration advocates was almost immediate and drew over 260,000 comments.

"Public benefits are essential to helping families thrive," said Asian American Advancing Justice in a statement. "Weighing the likelihood of future benefit use, along with discriminatory factors such as English language proficiency and the age of an aspiring citizen, is unjust. The administration has intentionally sought to scare immigrants and their families from using public benefits."

The proposed rule is simply a new agency policy of exclusion in search of a justification," Judge Daniels wrote in his ruling. "It is repugnant to the American dream of the opportunity for prosperity and success through hard work and upwards mobility."

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Workers update an existing wall on the US's southern border with Mexico.

Another federal judge ruled Friday that Trump violated federal law when he used his declaration of a national emergency to get millions for building a wall on the southern border.

Federal District Court Judge David Briones said the president's order violated a provision of the budget law approved by Congress which said "none of the funds made available in this or any other appropriation may be used to increase" the funding for the wall project.

"The president's proclamation is unlawful," the Texas judge wrote.

In January the president asked for $5.7 billion to build "a steel barrier for the Southwest border," but Congress approved only $1.375 billion. In February, By declaring a national emergency Trump was able to order divert money intended for Pentagon construction projects for his pet project.

The DOJ will likely appeal the Texas ruling.

Also, California's Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 32 into law, which, by 2028 will eliminate the role for-profit companies play in the state’s carceral system, effectively banning private prisons statewide.

Under this law, private prisons in the state would be phased out by 2028 and all other private facilities—including immigration detention centers—would be unable to renew their contracts and eventually be phased out as well. 

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), an advocacy group that supported AB 32’s passage in the California State Legislature, commends Gov. Newsom, Assembly member Rob Bonta, who sponsored the bill, and the grassroots organizations that supported this historic bill that disavows private prison companies.

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Yo-Yo Ma: 'We build bridges, not walls.'

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Yo-Yo Ma played Bach at the border between Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

World-renown cellist Yo-Yo Ma brought Bach to the U.S.-Mexico border recently to celebrate the peaceful coexistence of two cities on opposite sides of the border.

"As you all know, as you did and do and will do, in culture, we build bridges, not walls," he said. After his performance, he gestured to the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, connecting the cities of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. 

Ma played the opening notes of J.S. Bach's "Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello" in a park near the bridge.

"I’ve lived my life at the borders. Between cultures. Between disciplines. Between musics. Between generations," said Ma.

Ma's visit to the border was part of his Bach Project, which uses the composer's 300-year-old music to explore connections between cultures.

Later, Ma told interviewers, “I want to see for myself,” he said, explaining his motivations, “and what I discover is two fabulous communities of people that are giving to one another [and] that care for one another.”

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Federal budget battle over immigration

Border wall prototypes get no funding.

REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS neared agreement on a $1.3 trillion spending bill today (March 21) that undercuts Donald Trump’s $25 billion request for a wall along the Mexican border and turned down his administration’s request for increased funding for immigrant detention facilities and additional border patrol agents.

At the center of the debate is the huge increase sought by the Donald Trump administration for the Department of Homeland Security to build Trump's Damn Wall, expand the number of beds for immigrant detainees and to hire more federal agents to patrol U.S. borders and the increasing the ICE raids in the nation's interior.

Unfortunately, efforts to protect young immigrants known as “Dreamers” have fallen to the wayside, according to several reports, but Democrats appeared likely to sign off on $1.6 billion in border wall funding, albeit with certain conditions, The Washington Post reported, citing anonymous sources.

Congress has until Friday, March 23, to work out how to fund the government for the next six months or face another government shutdown.

Democrats, whose votes in the Republican-controlled Congress are needed to pass the spending bill, are pushing back against the $25-billion Damn Wall that they see as a waste of money.

Interestingly, there is no resolution for the DACA program in the budget debate. Trump blames the Democrats for opposing a legislative solution to the fate of 700,000 to 800,000 Dreamers.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, called Trump a liar said it's not true that Democrats are not helping to end the standoff over the fate of Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program recipients — undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

“The President constantly accuses the Democrats for not supporting DACA when he's the one who created the crisis to begin with and he's the one who defeated the bipartisan bill that would have protected 1.8 million Dreamers,” said Hirono. “But you know, we all know that he lies every single day, so that's that.”

More than likely, court orders to maintain the DACA program until Congress could come up with a bipartisan solution, have reduced the urgency for legislative action. especially when its fate is linked Trump's immigration reform proposals, Trump bogged down the efforts for a DACA resolution when he linked the program's fate with his radical immigration reform proposals.

Although during the election campaign candidate Trump claimed that the wall would cost only $12 billion, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) internal report in February put the cost at $21.6 billion, but even that may be a major underestimate if you factor in the legal costs of lawsuits by civil rights groups and private landowners along the border.

A coalition of 83 Latino, African/American and Asian/American members of the House of Representatives also wrote this week to congressional leaders urging them to “reduce funding to DHS’s detention and deportation machine.”

Republicans need to weigh the cost of Trump's border war vs. the massive increases to the national debt, the latter of which most GOP congressional representatives campaign against.

Republican leaders need Democratic votes in both chambers to pass the bill so Democrats have some leverage. They have rejected calls for increased funding for detention facilities and 850 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

According to Roll Call sources, there wouild be a $1.6 down payment for a border barrier but it would be for “fencing” only, not a concrete wall, and would provide for just 33 miles of new barriers, not the prototypes inspected by Trump last week amidst fanfare and protests at the California-Mexico border.

Trump lost out on his bid for more money to house 10,000 more undocumented immigrants in detention facilities and to hire 850 more Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents. The measure also would not cut off federal funds for so-called sanctuary cities that do not cooperate with federal authorities on immigration law.

Additionally, the budget measure, as of Wednesday, would not cut federal funding for sanctuary cities and states, jurisdictions that limit cooperation with ICE officials despite Trump's heated rhetoric against California's status as a "sanctuary" state.

There are other major items in the budget, which is beginning to look like a bipartisan bill.  That's something Trump needs to realize, in business, the art of the deal is a  win-lose situation all the time. In politics, the art of the deal via compromise, is to reach a position where it is win-win.
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