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US widens public benefit restrictions for undocumented immigrants

US widens public benefit restrictions for undocumented immigrants

Health Department says immigrants will lose access to 13 more federal programmes, including an educational project for low-income children. United States officials are cutting down further on undocumented immigrants’ access to healthcare programmes and benefits as part of President Donald Trump’s widening immigration crackdown. On Thursday, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it was broadening its interpretation of a 1996 law that prohibits most immigrants from receiving federal public benefits. The decision means that undocumented immigrants will no longer be eligible for an additional 13 programmes. They include Head Start, a pre-school educational programme, and projects that address family planning, mental health, substance abuse and efforts to reduce homelessness. “For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivise illegal immigration,” HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr said on Thursday. “Today’s action changes that – it restores integrity to federal social programmes, enforces the rule of law and protects vital resources for the American people.” Critics fear the added restrictions will further marginalise a vulnerable group of immigrants who often have scarce resources, exacerbating public health crises in the US. The new restrictions relate to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. That law — passed under Democratic President Bill Clinton — barred those living in the country without valid immigration documents and those on temporary visas, like students or foreign workers, from receiving major benefits from the federal government. Advertisement However, the scope of the restrictions was not spelled out, as the law did not define what counted as “federal public benefits”. To make things clearer, the HHS issued a legal interpretation in 1998, which prevented access to 31 programmes. Medicaid — an insurance programme for low-income households — and Social Security were among them, as was the Children’s Health Insurance Program. In a statement released on Thursday, the HHS claimed “the 1998 policy improperly narrowed the scope of PRWORA”, allowing undocumented immigrants to access programmes which “Congress intended only for the American people”. With Thursday’s additions, the total number of restricted programmes rises to 44. The HHS’s new policy, which is subject to a 30-day public comment period, will take effect when it is published in the Federal Register. Since starting his second presidential term in January, Donald Trump has made it a priority to tackle undocumented immigration. Critics have accused his administration of violating human rights and the US Constitution, as well as exceeding his presidential authority. As part of Trump’s campaign of mass deportation, for example, the president invoked a controversial wartime legislation to deport hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador in March. Opponents argue that Trump falsely declared undocumented immigration to be an “invasion” in order to justify denying the immigrants their right to due process. Adblock test (Why?)

Democrats publish leaked Justice Department messages on US deportation push

Democrats publish leaked Justice Department messages on US deportation push

Democrats in the United States Senate have released a string of text messages and email correspondences that they say raises questions about the executive branch’s commitment to complying with court orders. On Thursday, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, released what he described as “whistleblower” evidence about government lawyer Emil Bove. In his role as acting deputy attorney general for the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bove directed his colleagues to ignore or mislead courts about President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts, according to Durbin. “Text messages, email exchanges, and documents show that the Department of Justice misled a federal court and disregarded a court order,” Durbin wrote on social media. “Mr Bove spearheaded this effort, which demanded attorneys violate their ethical duty of candor to the court.” Bove – formerly a personal lawyer to President Trump during his criminal trials – was recently nominated to serve in a lifetime position as a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. But the Senate must first vote to confirm him to the role. “Emil Bove belongs nowhere near the federal bench,” Durbin wrote. “This vote will be a litmus test for Senate Judiciary Republicans.” Durbin indicated the emails and texts he released come from a Justice Department source: Most of the names in the correspondences have been redacted. But they appear to corroborate allegations made in a complaint in June by Erez Reuveni, a Justice Department lawyer who worked under Bove until his dismissal in April. Advertisement In his complaint, Reuveni alleged that Bove told Justice Department lawyers that they “would need to consider telling the courts ‘f*** you’” if they interfered with President Trump’s deportation plans. The expletive came up in the context of Trump’s controversial use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a law that, until recently, had only been used in the context of war. Trump, however, has argued that undocumented immigration constituted an “invasion” and has attempted to deport people under the law’s authority, without allowing them to appeal their removal. According to Reuveni, Bove explained to the Justice Department that Trump planned to start the deportation flights immediately after invoking the Alien Enemies Act. He “stressed to all in attendance that the planes needed to take off no matter what”. Reuveni understood that interaction as an attempt to circumvent the power of the courts. In another instance, Reuveni said he was discouraged from asking questions about the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an immigrant wrongfully deported to El Salvador despite a court protection order. When Reuveni admitted before a Maryland court that he did not have “satisfactory” answers about Abrego Garcia’s return, he said Trump officials pressured him to make assertions against Abrego Garcia that “were not supported by law or the record”. He was fired shortly afterwards. The documents gathered by Senate Democrats appear to offer a look inside those incidents. In one series of emails, dated March 15, Reuveni responded to a notification that planes bearing deportees under the Alien Enemies Act were still in the air. “The judge specifically ordered us not to remove anyone in the class, and to return anyone in the air,” he wrote back. The emails reflected an injunction from District Judge James Boasberg barring deportations and ordering the planes to turn around. Nevertheless, the planes landed in El Salvador and delivered their human cargo to a maximum security prison, where many remain to this day. In another instance, a member of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) replied to an email thread by saying: “My take on these emails is that DOJ leadership and DOJ litigators don’t agree on the strategy. Please keep DHS out of it.” Text messages also show Reuveni and an unnamed colleague discussing Bove’s request to tell the courts “f*** you”. “Guess we are going to say f*** you to the court,” one text message reads. In another, the colleague appears to react to Trump officials lying before the court. “Oh sh**,” they write. “That was just not true.” Advertisement In an interview published with The New York Times on Thursday, Reuveni underscored the grave dangers posed by an executive branch that he sees as refusing to comply with judicial authority. “The Department of Justice is thumbing its nose at the courts, and putting Justice Department attorneys in an impossible position where they have to choose between loyalty to the agenda of the president and their duty to the court,” he told the Times. The Trump administration, meanwhile, has responded with defiance, repeating its claim that Reuveni is simply a “disgruntled employee” lashing out at the employer who fired him. “He’s a leaker asserting false claims seeking five minutes of fame, conveniently timed just before a confirmation hearing and a committee vote,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “No one was ever asked to defy a court order. This is another instance of misinformation being spread to serve a narrative that does not align with the facts.” Bove himself denied ever advising his colleagues to defy a court order. The Senate is set to decide on his confirmation to the circuit court in the coming weeks. If he passes the Senate Judiciary Committee – in a vote scheduled for July 17 – he will face a full vote on the Senate floor. Adblock test (Why?)

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,233

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,233

Here are the key events on day 1,233 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here is how things stand on Friday, July 11: Fighting Russia’s escalation of drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities led to a three-year high in the number of civilians killed or wounded in June, the United Nations said. The UN verified at least 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded during the month – the highest combined toll since April 2022. Russia unleashed heavy air strikes on Ukraine, killing two and wounding 26, before a conference in Rome at which Kyiv won billions of dollars in aid pledges, and US-Russian talks at which Washington voiced frustration with Moscow over the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s latest assault involved about 400 drones and 18 missiles, primarily targeting the capital. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it had hit “military-industrial” targets in Kyiv as well as military airfields. It denied targeting civilians, although towns and cities have been hit regularly in the war, and thousands have been killed. Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defences had brought down four Ukrainian drones bound for the Russian capital. Three airports in the Moscow area – Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky – suspended operations temporarily but later resumed, Russia’s aviation authority said. In the Kursk region in western Russia, Acting Governor Alexander Khinstein said a Ukrainian drone had killed a man in his own home, two days after four people died in a drone attack on the city’s beach. Russia’s Defence Ministry said 14 drones were shot down over the Bryansk region and another eight over the Belgorod region, which border Ukraine. A later ministry bulletin said 26 Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the Kursk and Bryansk regions. The Vatican’s embassy in Kyiv was slightly damaged during Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital on Thursday, the embassy said in a statement. Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, the Vatican’s envoy to Ukraine, told Vatican News he had witnessed drones circling the embassy grounds and heard several explosions. Advertisement Weapons United States President Donald Trump, for the first time since returning to office, will send weapons to Kyiv under a presidential power frequently used by his predecessor, two sources familiar with the decision told Reuters. The package could include defensive Patriot missiles and offensive medium-range rockets, the sources said. Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has signed a previously announced deal to supply Ukraine with more than 5,000 air defence missiles from Thales. The deal was first announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer on March 2. Politics and diplomacy Participants in a Rome conference on the economic recovery of Ukraine have pledged more than 10 billion euros ($11.7bn) to help the war-torn country, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced. Meloni said Russia should face tougher sanctions to increase pressure on it to halt the war in Ukraine. She also said that firms that have helped Russia fund its war on Ukraine by doing business with the country should be excluded from profiting from Ukraine’s reconstruction. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had reinforced the message that Moscow should show more flexibility in dealing with Kyiv during his 50-minute talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN foreign ministers’ summit in Malaysia. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged President Trump to “stay with us” in backing Ukraine and Europe. Speaking in Rome, where a Ukraine summit was being held, Merz said Germany was prepared to buy Patriot air defence systems from the US and provide them to Kyiv. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has complained that the Trump administration’s contradictory actions and words made it difficult to work with, though Moscow was dedicated to working on improving ties with Washington. However, he denied that there was a slowdown in efforts to normalise US ties. France and the United Kingdom agreed to reinforce cooperation over their respective nuclear arsenals, as the two European countries seek to respond to growing threats to the continent and uncertainty over their US ally. The deal was reached after French President Emmanuel Macron concluded a three-day visit to the UK. The UK has announced that Paris would be the new headquarters for the so-called “coalition of the willing” to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, with plans under way for a future coordination cell in Kyiv. Zelenskyy said he would replace Ukraine’s ambassador to the US and was considering his defence minister, Rustem Umerov, for the post. He said the main task would be to strengthen Ukraine in its defence efforts in the war against Russia, and Umerov was a key figure in doing that. Hungary has summoned the Ukrainian ambassador after a report that a Hungarian-Ukrainian dual citizen was beaten to death during forced mobilisation, an allegation Ukraine’s army rejected, saying he died of a pulmonary embolism. Beijing said it was still “verifying” the case of a Chinese father and son detained by Ukraine for allegedly trying to smuggle navy missile technology out of the war-torn country. Relations between Kyiv and Beijing, a key Russian ally, are strained, with Ukraine accusing China of enabling Russia’s invasion through trade and of supplying technology, including for deadly drone attacks. Advertisement Crime A senior Ukrainian spy officer has been shot in a residential car park in Kyiv before his assailant fled on foot in broad daylight, according to authorities and video footage verified by Reuters. Kyiv’s police force said it was working to identify the gunman and that “measures are being taken to detain him”. Adblock test (Why?)

State Department to begin mass layoffs of about 1,800 employees in coming days

State Department to begin mass layoffs of about 1,800 employees in coming days

The State Department informed U.S.-based employees on Thursday that it would soon begin laying off nearly 2,000 workers after the recent Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to move forward with mass job cuts as part of its efforts to downsize the federal workforce. The agency’s reorganization plan was first unveiled in April by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to eliminate functions and offices the department considered to be redundant. In February, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing Rubio to revamp the foreign service to ensure that the president’s foreign policy is “faithfully” implemented. Employees affected by the agency’s “reduction in force” would be notified soon, Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources Michael Rigas told employees in an email on Thursday. ‘IT WILL HAPPEN QUICKLY’: STATE DEPT POISED TO ACT AFTER SUPREME COURT GREEN-LIGHTS AGENCY LAYOFFS “First and foremost, we want to thank them for their dedication and service to the United States,” Rigas said in the email. “Every effort has been made to support our colleagues who are departing, including those who opted into the Deferred Resignation Programs … On behalf of Department leadership, we extend our gratitude for your hard work and commitment to executing this reorganization and for your ongoing dedication to advancing U.S. national interests across the world,” he added. The department did not specify on Thursday how many people would be fired, but in its plans to Congress sent in May, it had proposed laying off about 1,800 employees of the 18,000 estimated domestic workforce. Another 1,575 were estimated to have taken deferred resignations. SOTOMAYOR BREAKS WITH JACKSON IN SUPREME COURT DECISION OVER TRUMP CUTS TO FEDERAL WORKFORCE The plans to Congress did not state how many of these workers would be from the civil service and how many from the foreign service, but it did say that more than 300 of the department’s 734 bureaus and offices would be streamlined, merged or eliminated. Once affected staff have been notified, the department “will enter the final stage of its reorganization and focus its attention on delivering results-driven diplomacy,” Rigas said in the email to colleagues. The expectation is for the terminations to start as soon as Friday. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters earlier on Thursday that the only reason there had been a delay in implementing force reductions is because the courts have stepped in, as she said the mass layoffs would be happening quickly. “There has been a delay – not to our interests, but because of the courts,” Bruce noted. “It’s been difficult when you know you need to get something done for the benefit of everyone.” “When something is too large to operate, too bureaucratic, to actually function, and to deliver projects, or action, it has to change,” she said. Reuters contributed to this report.