A DACA Ruling, Ukraine’s Port Strike, & E.T. In Mexico
September 14, 2023
Dreamers Deferred
The Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA, or “Dreamers”) program has long been a focus of right-wing ire, and it’s under fire (again) this week. The program, created in 2012, protects undocumented people who moved to the United States as children and allows them to live and work in the country.
The Biden administration moved last year to codify it as a federal regulation. In January, nine Republican-led states asked Judge Andrew Hanen, of the Southern District of Texas, to block the rule. Immigrant advocates have repeatedly urged Congress to provide protections to DACA recipients, to no avail, but Hanen’s ruling essentially makes the same argument – he wrote, “While sympathetic to the predicament of DACA recipients and their families, this Court has expressed its concerns about the legality of the program for some time. The solution for these deficiencies lies with the legislature, not the executive or judicial branches.”
There were 578,680 immigrants enrolled in DACA as of the end of March, according to government data. Hanen said he feels the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, a law that governs how agencies make regulations. Recently, a federal appeals court largely upheld Hanen’s 2021 ruling finding DACA unlawful, but allowed it to continue for current enrollees while the case was litigated.
Hanen clarified that this is still the case – “neither this order nor the accompanying supplemental injunction requires the (Department of Homeland Security) or the Department of Justice to take any immigration, deportation, or criminal action against any DACA recipient, applicant, or any other individual that would otherwise not be taken.” It will likely be some time before we have a clear answer on DACA – the Biden administration is expected to appeal Wednesday’s ruling and the case is likely to reach the Supreme Court.
Some Good News
- Mount Taranaki: Climber survives 600m fall with minor injuries (BBC)
- Lyft now lets drivers prioritize matches with women and nonbinary riders (The Verge)
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A Strike On Sevastopol
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukrainian armed forces attacked the Sergo Ordzhonikidze Russian ship repair base in Sevastopol early Wednesday morning, leaving two Russian warships damaged. Sevastopol is the largest city in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and was illegally annexed by Moscow’s forces in 2014.
- Mikhail Razvozhaev, Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol, said, “As a result of the attack, according to preliminary information, 24 people were injured, with 4 in moderate condition.” Eight houses were also damaged as part of the attack. The offensive was Kyiv’s most ambitious strike on the port since the war began.
Heading Out Of The Halfway House
- Emma Coronel Aispuro, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s wife, was released from her California halfway house – to which she moved from a federal prison in Texas in June – on Wednesday. Aispuro was convicted of helping run her husband’s Mexican drug cartel, the Sinaloa.
- She was sentenced to 36 months in prison for money laundering and conspiring to distribute cocaine, meth, heroin, and marijuana, and ordered to pay $1.5 million in fines. Aispuro was also accused of assisting her husband in his July 2015 escape from Altiplano prison, and prosecutors said she was helping plan another escape before his extradition to the U.S. in January 2017.
Additional World News
- Guatemala President-elect Arevalo suspends participation in transition (Reuters)
- Cruise ship Ocean Explorer runs aground in Greenland (CNN)
- Over 700 people tested for Nipah virus after two deaths in India (Reuters)
- Hanoi, Vietnam: Fire kills at least 56 in nine-story building (CNN)
- Pakistani police arrest 3 people sought in death of 10-year-old girl near London, send them to UK (AP)
- Exiled Russian journalist hacked using NSO Group spyware (Guardian)
- China, Venezuela upgrade ties to ‘all-weather strategic partnership,’ state media report (Reuters)
“One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.” – Lucille Ball
You Are What You Eat (So, Chemicals)
- The California Legislature has passed a first-of-its-kind bill to ban four food additives – red dye No. 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, and propylparaben – linked to potential health issues by 2027. The FDA has approved these four additives, so it would be a major move for a state to override that approval.
- Red dye no. 3 has long been banned in cosmetics because it’s been found to cause cancer in lab animals, but for some reason, remains acceptable to ingest. Potassium bromate causes a similar issue, while brominated vegetable oil can cause behavioral and reproductive problems for lab animals.
- Governor Gavin Newsom still has to sign the bill for it to become law, but it passed with strong bipartisan support. These four additives are often found not only in foods marketed toward children but also in foods popular among low-income and diverse communities. They are already illegal in the European Union and many other places around the world.
That’s Mitt, I’m Done
- Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney announced Wednesday that he will not run for reelection. In 2020, Romney voted to impeach former President Trump during his first impeachment trial, becoming the first senator in U.S. history to vote to remove a president from their own party.
- In a video announcement, Romney listed many things that ail the country, and said, “neither President Biden nor former President Trump are leading their party to confront those issues.” He also noted that “At the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-80s,” and that “it’s time for a new generation of leaders.”
Additional USA Reads
- Boebert booted from ‘Beetlejuice’ play for causing disturbance (Politico)
- 5 former police officers involved in deadly beating of Tyre Nichols indicted on federal charges (CNN)
- FBI agent disputed key portions of IRS whistleblower claims about Hunter Biden investigation (NBC)
- Trump’s access to classified information restricted as he heads to trial in documents case, federal judge rules (CNN)
- Columnists call for Biden to drop Harris, pick new running mate (Politico)
- Virginia library faces potential shutdown over funding after children’s books are challenged (NBC)
- Women challenge abortion bans in three states after emergency care denied (Guardian)
E.T. Phone Journalist
- Jamie Maussan, a journalist and researcher on UFOs, arrived at Tuesday’s hearing in the Mexican Congress’ lower Chamber of Deputies about the language in the Aerial Space Protection Law armed and ready to argue that extraterrestrials exist. He brought with him two boxes, which (possibly) contained the bodies of extraterrestrials recovered in Peru in 2017.
- The remains had elongated heads and only three fingers per hand, and Maussan claimed that carbon-14 dating carried out by the National Autonomous University of Mexico had determined the remains were 700 and 1,800 years old. He also insisted that DNA testing could prove the remains were from a different planet, but those tests have not been run.
Additional Reads
- Stolen Van Gogh handed to Dutch art sleuth in Ikea bag (BBC)
- Gullah-Geechee people fight against ‘erasure’ of their historical land (Guardian)
- Marvel visual effects workers unanimously vote to unionize (CNN)
- Venice may be put on the endangered list, thanks to human-created climate change (NPR)
- Planning a Day Trip to Venice When It’s Crowded? It’ll Cost You. (NYT, $)
- Coke’s latest mystery flavor is here. It’s created by AI (CNN)
- Biogenesis of America, Tony Bosch and PEDs fallout 10 years later (ESPN)
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