The Full Belmonte, 3/20/2024
Migrants are taken into custody by officials at the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas.
PHOTO: ERIC GAY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Immigration clashes escalate
“Immigration, an emotional debate in American politics for decades, has dominated every branch of the federal government and Texas state law this week. If there was any doubt that America is tied in knots over who crosses its borders, events prove the point.
Migration issues will help determine a presidential election, harm or help the fortunes of down-ballot candidates in November, could scuttle ambitions in Congress to sidestep a government shutdown this week and are impeding Ukraine’s chances of receiving U.S. arms and munitions that Kyiv insists could turn the tide of war against Russia.
Border politics cropped up as part of President Trump’s legal argument to justices Tuesday arguing he can’t be prosecuted for actions he took as president. ‘Criminal prosecution presents a mortal threat to the presidency’s independence,’ his lawyers wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court, adding that a contrary ruling could lead to the prosecution of the current president.
Is President Biden destroying our southern border and undermining our national security abroad for unlawful electoral purposes?” the Trump brief asked.
Texas was briefly empowered Tuesday to arrest migrants suspected of crossing the border illegally, based on a Supreme Court ruling tied to a new state law. But an unexpected order from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals before midnight halted the high court decision, punctuating a day of legal whiplash.
Other border states are watching including Arizona, which challenged the federal government over immigration in 2010. Legal challenges removed major provisions of the law and left political repercussions in its wake.
President Biden, slammed by critics for ‘open borders’ and a migration ‘crisis,’ wants Congress to reconsider a bipartisan border security measure the Senate abandoned after Trump opposed it. So far, any Senate movement appears unlikely.
The president will be in the Dallas area today looking for contributions during two Texas fundraisers in a state where the Republican governor and GOP-dominated Legislature blame him and his administration for surges in migrants. The president is expected to defend his policies, assail Trump as an extremist and cast Republicans in Congress as too cowed by the former president to reach across the aisle to enact immigration fixes.
The Texas Tribune: Here’s what to know about the Texas law that moved through the Supreme Court and appeals court Tuesday.” [The Hill]
A whirlwind of court orders has left a controversial Texas immigration law on hold once again as many immigrants in the state wake up to a new day of anxiety.
“The law, known as S.P. 4, would give local and state authorities in Texas the power to arrest migrants they suspect to have crossed the border into the U.S. illegally and deport them to Mexico. A federal appeals court blocked the law just hours after the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect. They scheduled arguments for today to decide whether it should be kept on hold. (via KERA)
Valerie Gonzalez/AP
Julian Aguilar from the NPR network's Texas Newsroom tells Up First that local law enforcement officials say they will comply, but many note they don't have a lot of guidance for how to enforce it. Civil and immigrant rights advocates are concerned that S.P. 4 would lead to racial profiling. Mexico says it won't accept migrants who have been deported under this law, and it will file a debrief that highlights the challenges it presents to the U.S.-Mexico relationship.” [NPR]
Voters fill out their ballots at a polling station in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. (Dustin Franz/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Presidential race
“President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, both of whom had already clinched their parties' presidential nominations, picked up more delegates Tuesday in their respective primary contests in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio as they gear up for a rematch in November. In Ohio, businessman Bernie Moreno won the key Republican Senate primary, setting up a high-stakes contest against Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in the fall that will be pivotal to deciding control of the Senate. Trump had endorsed Moreno, and the primary was this year's first test of the former president's clout in a contested Senate race.” [CNN]
Trump-backed candidate wins Ohio's GOP Senate primary, AP projects, setting up a competitive race against Sen. Sherrod Brown (D)
“Bernie Moreno, a wealthy former car dealer backed by Donald Trump, defeated state Sen. Matt Dolan (R) and Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R), the Associated Press reported. Moreno will now face Brown in what is expected to be one of the most competitive Senate contests of the 2024 election cycle.”
Read the story at Washington Post
“Six former Mississippi police officers who pleaded guilty to torturing two Black men in an attack that lasted more than two hours are being sentenced this week. The officers were part of the so-called "Good Squad.” They raided a home last January, shot one of the men and planted drugs and a gun at the scene to cover it up. U.S. District Judge Tom Lee sentenced former sheriff’s deputy Hunter Elward yesterday to 20 years in prison and former lieutenant Jeffrey Middleton, who devised the group’s cover-up plan, to 17.5 years in prison. (via Mississippi Public Broadcasting)
NPR Network reporter Michael McEwen was in the courtroom, where he says prosecutors revealed Middleton told his fellow officers he would have them killed if they told anyone what happened. Jenkins, who was shot in the mouth, says he is desperate to put this period behind him. Eddie Parker, who was sexually assaulted and threatened, says he still struggles with the effects of that night and has trouble falling asleep or going out in public.” [NPR]
“Trump has until Monday to arrange a $454 million bond to comply with a New York Court ruling. A judge ordered him to pay that amount last month in a civil fraud case after finding that the former president, his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and Trump Organization employees engaged in a decade-long conspiracy to lie about their assets' value. Trump doesn't have to pay the money now, but he says he can't find a company to put up the bond. Here's what his legal options are now.
The New York civil trial effectively gave New York Attorney General Letitia James ‘a roadmap to his financial assets,’ former New York Assistant Attorney General Adam Pollock tells Morning Edition. She can send law enforcement to go to a financial institution and empty Trump's bank account. If Trump wants to ‘stave off enforcement,’ he'll have to find a way to raise the bond.” [NPR]
“Alabama’s legislature passed a bill that would ban funding for diversity programs at public universities and limit the teaching of some topics on race and gender.” [New York Times]
Abortion
“Abortions are on the rise in the US, despite more than a dozen statewide bans that have taken effect since the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision that revoked the federal right to abortion in June 2022. There were more than 1 million abortions in the US in 2023 — the highest rate in more than a decade and a 10% jump from 2020, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights. The data also suggests that medication abortion is a more common option than ever. There are currently 14 states with total bans against the procedure while nearly every other state has seen an increase in the number of abortions provided from 2020 to 2023.” [CNN]
An Arizona lawmaker announces her abortion plans on the state Senate floor
“Sen. Eva Burch of Mesa, a pregnant Arizona lawmaker, revealed to fellow lawmakers in a floor speech Monday that she was planning to get an abortion because her pregnancy is no longer viable. She says she wanted to share with her colleagues and the public the practical effects of abortion restrictions passed over the years. Read more.
Why this matters:
Burch criticized restrictions in Arizona as being out of touch. The first-term lawmaker, who previously worked as a nurse practitioner at a women’s health clinic, also described a ‘rough journey’ with fertility and recounted a miscarriage she had suffered.
The Arizona Supreme Court is considering the fate of a pre-statehood ban on nearly all abortions that has been limited or made moot by other statutes enacted over the past 50 years.
Abortion rights advocates in Arizona began a push last summer to ask voters to create a constitutional right to abortion. If proponents collect enough signatures, Arizona would become the latest state to put the question directly to voters.” [AP News]
Drone footage raised questions about an Israeli attack on Gaza journalists.
“What happened? A Jan. 7 strike on a car in Gaza killed two Palestinian journalists and their driver. Israel said it was in response to an ‘immediate’ threat to its troops.
What to know: The Post reviewed drone footage, eyewitness accounts and satellite data and found no evidence of Israeli troops or military activity in the area at the time of the strike.
Zooming out: Ninety Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of the war, according to one nonprofit.”
Read this story at Washington Post
MacKenzie Scott donates $640 million, more than doubling her planned gifts to nonprofit applicants
“Billionaire philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott announced Tuesday she is giving $640 million to 361 small nonprofits that responded to an open call for applications.” Read More at AP News
Students cross the campus of Dartmouth College, March 5, 2024, in Hanover, N.H. | Robert F. Bukaty/AP
“DAZED AND CONFUSED — It was supposed to be a new, simplified federal student aid form, a redesigned application that would make it easier for millions of families to fill out.
It turned out to be an epic flop.
The new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has become a massive election-year headache not only for President Joe Biden’s administration, but for colleges and families just trying to get their kids to college.
The idea was noble enough. The complicated student aid form, long the bane of parents and students, was streamlined to allow some prospective students to answer as few as 18 questions, down from more than 100. And the application redesign updated how federal student aid eligibility is determined.
More students than ever before were expected to be eligible for more aid, the Education Department touted earlier this year, and the form was supposed to make ‘it as simple and easy as possible for families to get help paying for college.’
Instead, the new FAFSA is wreaking havoc on the college admissions cycle.
School counselors have been grappling with a shorter timeline to advise students how to fill out the form, since the Education Department delayed its initial release by nearly three months. Some families have been struggling navigating technical glitches that have barred them from completing the form. Colleges have pushed back their decision day deadlines to make up for the Education Department’s delay in processing the applications.
Education Department officials are still working on processing applications and incrementally rolling out vital financial aid data to schools. They’ve promised to send out hundreds of thousands more student aid records to colleges this week. But even after the records are sent to schools, the vast majority of the work colleges do to create financial aid packages is just beginning.
Education advocates say it could take at least two weeks for institutions to review the data and send out financial aid offers to students. That’s barring any other issues — college financial aid offices have been navigating new software updates from the Education Department this month and long wait times to get help.
At the earliest, some of the most well-resourced colleges may be able to send out aid award letters by mid-April. This means students might only have two weeks to choose a school if their pick hasn’t pushed back their May 1 decision deadline.
Without the financial aid data expected to roll out fully this month, colleges can’t even begin to send out financial aid packages to their prospective students. And in turn, families can’t even begin to understand how they will pay for college.
The Biden administration’s new FAFSA stems from a mandate to implement a bipartisan law Congress passed in December 2020 that overhauled the federal financial aid formula and mandated a new, simpler FAFSA.
So who is to blame for the botched rollout? Lawmakers and administration officials are pointing at each other. The Education Department’s FAFSA debacle has drawn bipartisan criticism from lawmakers who have been demanding answers on when, exactly, the form will be fixed. Republicans have been the most critical of the rollout, arguing that the Education Department did not prioritize implementation of the new form and instead focused on its student loan relief efforts.
Meanwhile, some Education Department officials have blamed the sheer complexity of overhauling the form, a lack of adequate funding from Congress and a last-minute change to the financial aid formula after the agency mistakenly failed to properly account for inflation. They are also privately pointing fingers at a major outside vendor, General Dynamics, which was tasked with building out and operating the new FAFSA processing system, for missed deadlines and delays.
Wherever the blame lies, the effect the new form, its glitches and its delays are having on the graduating class of 2024’s prospects of heading to college in the fall are stark.
FAFSA completion has long been considered correlated with the number of freshmen who show up to campuses in the fall. And through the first week of March, the number of high school seniors filling out the FAFSA was down by more than 30 percent, according to federal data analyzed by the National College Attainment Network, a nonprofit focused on helping students prepare for college. The drop in applications is even steeper at high schools in lower-income communities and those with large shares of Black and Hispanic students.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona isn’t satisfied with those submission numbers, and has urged colleges and school counselors to continue pushing students to fill out the form.
‘I want all your students filling out FAFSA,’ he told school leaders Monday at the Council of the Great City Schools Annual Legislative and Policy Conference.
‘There is a reason we’re having these headaches and these delays, because it’s simpler now,’ Cardona said. ‘It’s not just a new website. It’s a new formula. We’re expecting more dollars to go out, but they have to submit. The delays, in my opinion, once we get this thing going are … going to be worth it.’” [POLITICO]
Gaza’s Dire Hunger Crisis
Displaced Palestinian children gather to receive food at a government school in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Feb. 19.Mohammed Abed/AFP
“The risk of famine in Gaza is imminent, according to a new report published Monday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). Extreme food shortages have reached famine levels, and without establishing an immediate cease-fire and increasing humanitarian aid to the region, mass death may occur by the end of May. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry estimates that at least 23 children and four adults in Gaza have died from malnutrition or dehydration thus far.
‘In my 25 years as a humanitarian this may be, pound for pound, the grimmest analysis I have ever seen,’ Refugees International President Jeremy Konyndyk wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Around half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are projected to imminently experience ‘catastrophic’ food shortages, with 70 percent of Palestinians in parts of northern Gaza suffering from the most severe level of shortages. That is more than triple the 20 percent threshold required to be considered famine. Around 300,000 Palestinians are sheltering in areas facing famine-scale death rates (defined as 2 people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition). The IPC report recorded zero people in Gaza with food security.
‘About 50 percent of buildings – and more than 70 percent in the northern governorates – have been damaged or destroyed. This has included dwellings, shops and infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, as well as water, sanitation and other facilities. Assets and infrastructure necessary for food production and distribution have also been destroyed or severely damaged, extremely limiting the functionality of the food system,’ the report notes. As a result, ‘virtually all households are skipping meals every day and adults are reducing their meals so that children can eat.’
Foreign leaders have condemned Israel’s continued assault on Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis. European Union foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war and ‘provoking famine.’ Martin Griffiths, the United Nations’ top relief coordinator, wrote on X that the ‘international community should hang its head in shame for failing to stop’ the famine. And U.S. President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday against going forward with a planned ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, arguing that it would worsen the hunger crisis and deepen anarchy across the Gaza Strip.
This was Biden’s first phone call with Netanyahu in a month and one of his strongest warnings yet against the controversial operation. Netanyahu agreed to send an Israeli delegation to Washington in the coming days to discuss Biden’s concerns, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to the Middle East this week to aid ongoing cease-fire talks and ‘discuss the right architecture for lasting regional peace.’
As aid agencies have intensified criticism of Israel’s military strategy in Gaza, Israel last week opened another humanitarian delivery route by land, and the United States, Jordan, and other countries and international observers have begun delivering aid via sea shipments and air drops into the besieged territory. Yet humanitarian officials maintain that the trickle of aid is insufficient and is not reaching Palestinians in northern Gaza, where the hunger crisis is most dire.
On Monday, Oxfam accused Israeli authorities of preventing ‘a warehouse full of international aid’ from reaching the Gaza Strip. And last week, the U.N. reported that in the first two weeks of March, ‘12 humanitarian aid missions to northern Gaza were facilitated by the Israeli authorities, six were denied, and six were postponed.’” [Foreign Policy]
“Approving Article 23. Hong Kong on Tuesday passed a new national security law, known as Article 23, in a unanimous vote that rights activists argue will further erode civil liberties. Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing Legislative Council fast-tracked the vote in less than two weeks. According to Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, the new policy protects ‘core national interests,’ allows Hong Kong to focus on economic development, and is necessary for the region’s stability. This is a ‘historic moment,’ Hong Kong leader John Lee said.
Article 23 expands on the national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 following mass pro-democracy protests. It establishes a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for treason and insurrection; increases the maximum punishment for sedition from two to seven years; and broadens the definition of state secrets to include economic, technological, and scientific developments. Critics warn that Article 23 will encourage greater media self-censorship, increase risks for foreign investment, and infringe on Hong Kongers’ freedom of expression both domestically and abroad.” [Foreign Policy]
“No longer negative. Japan’s central bank raised interest rates—from the previous rate of negative 0.1 percent to a range of 0 percent to 0.1 percent—on Tuesday for the first time in 17 years. With the hike, Japan became the last country in the world to abandon negative interest rates; Tokyo cut rates below zero in 2016 to boost the country’s sluggish economy. The bank also announced on Tuesday that it would stop purchasing Japanese government bonds as well as funds investing in real estate or track stocks, and that it would restrict how high long-term bond yields can rise.
Japan has the fourth-largest economy in the world by nominal GDP. After years of deflationary conditions, inflation is rising in Japan. Residents are receiving larger-than-usual wage increases, and economists predict more sustained growth to come. But Japan’s bank maintains that it will follow an “accommodative” policy going forward. “Even if we were to raise interest rates in the future, we would do so at a slow pace,” central bank chief Kazuo Ueda said.” [Foreign Policy]
“More abductions in Nigeria. Armed gangs kidnapped at least 100 people in northwest Nigeria over the weekend, a state official told The Associated Press on Monday. Two villages in Kaduna state were targeted, the same region where nearly 300 students and staff members were taken from a school less than two weeks ago in one of Nigeria’s largest mass abductions in years. No group has claimed responsibility for this weekend’s assault nor the earlier Kaduna attack.
Public pressure is mounting for Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to pay ransoms for the schoolchildren’s return. Last week, Tinubu ordered security agencies to immediately rescue the captives but “ensure that not a dime is paid for ransom” in the process. Bandits are believed to be keeping the children in the nation’s vast forests. Tinubu has not yet commented on the most recent kidnappings.” [Foreign Policy]
It's time for the women to ramp up March Madness
“One day after the men's First Four began, March Madness for the women gets started with two games on Wednesday, with Sacred Heart versus Presbyterian and Vanderbilt against Columbia. The expanded field is fairly new to the women's game, which started the First Four round in 2022. It was one of a handful of changes that the NCAA began making in the wake of a gender equity report showing vast disparities between the men's and women's basketball tournaments. Unlike the men's First Four, who stage all four initial games in one place, the women play each game at a different location, picking four sites out of the top 16 national seeds. Read more
•The Colorado State Rams embarrassed Virginia in the men's First Four.
•Wagner College will face UNC in the men's March Madness first round.
•Here's USA TODAY's bracket predictions for the NCAA men's tournament.
•No Caitlin Clark in the Final Four? Here are 10 bold predictions for the women's tournament.” [USA Today]
Melvin Council Jr. #11 of the Wagner Seahawks and Seth Towns #31 of the Howard Bison in the First Four game during the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on March 19, 2024 in Dayton, Ohio.
Michael Hickey, Getty Images
An open letter in Hollywood condemned Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech.
“What the director said: That he refuted his Jewishness and the Holocaust ‘being hijacked’ to justify Israel’s war in Gaza. His film, “The Zone of Interest,” won two Academy Awards.
Who signed the letter? Hundreds of Jewish actors and creatives. They said Glazer had drawn a ‘moral equivalence’ between Israel and Nazi Germany.
Read this story at Washington Post
Paris will hand out 300,000 condoms at the Olympic Village.
“What to know: The City of Love will end the covid-era intimacy ban imposed on athletes at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The Paris Olympics start July 26.
This isn’t a new tradition: Condoms were first handed out at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. In 2000, Sydney had to order more because an initial batch of 70,000 wasn’t enough.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Banksy’s New Mural Makes It Just 3 Days Before Being Defaced
“A Banksy artwork that appeared in London over the weekend has been defaced and fenced off as of Wednesday. The mysterious world-renowned artist confirmed that the piece on the side of a residential building in the north of the English capital was his doing in a series of images of the work on his Instagram account. The mural featured green paint sprayed onto a wall positioned behind a pollarded cherry tree such that the paint looked like leaves when viewed from the right angle. Local resident Matt McKenna told the BBC that he noticed that the work had been defaced with white paint as he took his dog for a walk on Wednesday morning. ‘It is a real shame,’ he said. ‘It happened overnight.’ Reporter Anna O’Neill shared images of the damaged work on X. ‘This is why we can’t have anything nice,’ she captioned one of the pictures. ‘#Banksy mural defaced after just 3 days.’” [Daily Beast]
Spring break with a twist
One "hurricane" shot coming right up! Photo: Courtesy of Gabriela Barbieri/@gabbycpbphotography
“Spring breakers are lining up to get slapped in the face by a South Florida bartender whose $30 ‘hurricane’ shots have become the hottest ticket in town.
Bartender Aiyana Callas has built a brisk business selling her signature slap shots — liquor chased with a wet smack across the face, Axios Miami's Martin Vassolo reports.
Callas tells Axios she is selling 150–200 hurricane shots a night so far this month at Backyard Fort Lauderdale.
She says she has seen spring breakers migrating north from South Beach amid a government crackdown there.” [Axios]
“Lives Lived: David Breashears was a mountain climber and cinematographer. He reached the summit of Mount Everest five times, including for a 1998 film that became the highest-grossing IMAX documentary ever. Breashears died at 68.” [New York Times]