15 STATES, D.C. SUE OVER DACA
Fifteen states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. government Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s plan to end protection against deportation for young immigrants, saying it was motivated by prejudice against Mexicans.
Legal experts, however, say the evidence of bias is not strong in the case involving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“It might be able to muck up the works, maybe push off the effective date of the repeal, but I don’t see litigation being successful in the same way as the travel ban,” Kari Hong, an immigration expert at Boston College Law School, said, referring to the lawsuit this year that limited the Trump ban involving predominantly Muslim nations.
As indications of Trump’s bias, the lawsuit filed Wednesday cited his previous statements referring to some Mexican immigrants as rapists and his decision to pardon former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt for ignoring a federal court order to stop traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.
FEMA still focused on responding to Harvey as Irma looms.
WASHINGTON» Faced with the looming threat of dual disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday ramped up preparations for Hurricane Irma as it barreled toward Florida even as the agency continued the massive recovery effort in storm-battered Texas.
It was a one-two punch of powerful storms certain to strain the agency’s quickly dwindling coffers.
The roughly $1 billion left in FEMA’s Emergency Response Fund was expected to run out as soon as the end of the week, just as Category 5 Irma could be pounding Florida and less than two weeks after Hurricane Harvey caused massive flooding in Houston.
The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed $7.9 billion in Harvey disaster relief as warring Republicans and Democrats united to help victims of that storm in Texas and Louisiana. The 419-3 vote sent the aid package — likely the first of several — to the Senate in hopes of getting the bill to the president before FEMA runs out of money.
Former Manson disciple Van Houten recommended for parole.
Leslie Van Houten, the youngest of Charles Manson’s murderous followers, was recommended for parole Wednesday by a state panel that concluded she has radically changed her life during the more than 40 years she has been in prison for two brutal murders she helped commit 48 years ago and is no longer a threat to society.
The two-member panel’s ruling must still be approved by the state Parole Board and Gov. Jerry Brown, who reversed another panel’s ruling last year.
In blocking her release then, Brown said Van Houten had failed to adequately explain to the panel how a model teenager from a privileged Southern California family who had once been a homecoming princess could have turned into a ruthless killer by age 19.
Trump Jr. to speak privately to Senate staff.
President Donald Trump’s oldest son was expected to meet privately today with a Senate committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, several senators said.
Donald Trump Jr.’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee probably will focus on a meeting he had with a Russian lawyer and others during the final stretches of last year’s campaign.
Emails released in July show that Trump Jr. was told the session at Trump Tower in New York was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father, the Republican nominee.