NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
➊ 1 Asylum seekers: A group of Democratic lawmakers called on the Trump administration this week to stop the expulsion of unaccompanied children and other asylum seekers at the U. S. border using emergency powers granted during the coronavirus pandemic. The letter to acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, comes after reporting revealed that Vice President Mike Pence directed CDC to effectively close the U. S. land borders to immigrants and asylum seekers, according to two former health officials.
➋ Whitey Bulger: Family members of Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger Jr. have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and 30 unnamed employees of the prison system for failing to protect Bulger, who was beaten to death at a West Virginia prison. The family filed the lawsuit against the prison system last week, two years after Bulger, 89, was killed at United States Penitentiary, Hazelton, a federal prison in West Virginia’s Preston County. Bulger died the same day that he was transferred there from another prison. The lawsuit said the prison system failed to protect Bulger by moving him to a prison with constant inmate violence, news outlets reported.
➌ Cemetery vandalism: Michigan police are investigating vandalism that left several headstones at a Jewish cemetery in Grand Rapids spraypainted with “TRUMP” and “MAGA” before President Trump held his final campaign rally in the western city. Grand Rapids police officers on Monday found six headstones spraypainted with red paint at the Ahavas Israel Cemetery. The AntiDefamation League of Michigan said it was working with local law enforcement to investigate the vandalized graves and that it was “appalled by the reported desecration.“
➍ Benefits lawsuit: A federal judge in Chicago struck down a key immigration rule this week that would deny green cards to immigrants who use food stamps or other public benefits, a blow to the Trump administration. In a decision that applies nationwide, U. S. District Judge Gary Feinerman rejected the rule that had taken effect recently after the U. S. Supreme Court reversed a hold on the policy following lawsuits. Feinerman said the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, which makes federal agencies accountable to the public by outlining a detailed process for enacting regulations. The decision marked the latest turn in a legal battle over President Trump’s most aggressive steps in overhauling the nation’s immigration system.
➎ _ Stun gun death: Georgia’s highest court this week found that a lower court was wrong to grant immunity from prosecution to three sheriff’s deputies facing murder charges in a stun gun death dating to July 2017. The three white Washington County deputies — Henry Lee Copeland, Michael Howell and Rhett Scott — were charged with murder and other crimes in the death of Eurie Lee Martin, a 58yearold Black man with a history of mental illness. A first responder found that Martin had no pulse and began CPR. Martin died at the scene.